Martial Arts Crossover: My Wife is the Top Scholar

Chapter 91? How come it's only 70% complete? Am I begging on my knees?
What happened?
What happened?
What happened?
Even cunning individuals like Wan Zhenshan and Qi Changfa were completely confused about the situation at this moment, their minds a jumbled mess. It wasn't until Wan Gui reminded them that they returned to their rooms to bathe and change.

Qi Changfa pulled Di Yun to find a place to sit down.

Di Yun made a loud fuss, demanding compensation for his clothes.

In order to go to the city to celebrate the birthday, Di Yun sold his ox and used the money to buy clothes. After wearing them for only two days, they were covered in filth. Who could bear such an insult?

Di Yun had farmed in the countryside since childhood and had a deep affection for oxen. In his eyes, the clothes he wore were the oxen, which made him even angrier.

Qi Changfa didn't care about any of that.

With his martial arts skills, wisdom, and cunning, if he wanted to make money, his wealth would certainly not be less than that of Wan Zhenshan.

Unfortunately, Qi Changfa was obsessed with the treasure, and he was determined to obtain the Liancheng Treasure. For the sake of the treasure, he wasted his most youthful and healthy teenage years. For the sake of the treasure, he fabricated secret manuals to deceive his disciples and daughter. For the sake of the treasure, Qi Changfa risked his entire fortune.

The Liancheng Treasure is Qi Changfa's obsession.

He could give up his apprentice, his daughter, his youth, and his reputation; all he wanted was the Liancheng Treasure.

He appears to have a family and a career, but in reality, he is all alone.

No one, nothing, or object in the world can threaten Qi Changfa. Let alone clothes stained with excrement, even if he were soaking in a cesspool, Qi Changfa wouldn't blink an eye and wouldn't care at all!

Not long after, Wan Zhenshan changed his clothes, covered up the stench on his body with face powder, forced a smile, and greeted the guests who came to celebrate his birthday. He went from table to table toasting them, and he brushed off all the probing questions from some people.

The more you try to hide it, the more likely you are to be suspected.

Explanation is just a cover-up, and a cover-up is the truth.

As the saying goes, when you doubt the hardness of a piece of glass, it is destined to shatter, because you will test it again and again before it shatters.

A chain of suspicion is bound to form, especially in the martial arts world where evidence is not highly valued. Even if Wan Zhenshan were to slit his throat to prove his innocence, it would have little effect.

I'll beat you up for a whole day.

They confessed because they knew the treasure was hidden.

He's a stubborn bastard who won't admit defeat.

Wan Zhenshan certainly understood this principle. He knew he would have a hard time escaping unscathed. Wan Zhenshan only wanted to know one thing: which bastard was plotting behind the scenes?
The other party knows the secret of the Liancheng Treasure.

The other party knew Wan Zhenshan's background.

The other party knew that the sect's sword manual was a codebook.

The other party knows that decryption requires "Liancheng Jue".

Wan Zhenshan thought of someone.

A fellow disciple who has yet to appear.

Second junior brother, Yan Daping.

Qi Changfa thought so too.

At the same moment, Yan Daping wanted to go to the prison to find the burly man who leaked the information. He had just arrived outside the prison and was about to make up an excuse when a dark figure flashed behind him. The figure patted Yan Daping on the shoulder, and Yan Daping subconsciously made a move to retaliate. As soon as he turned around, his eyes were filled with terror.

"You...you...how did you..."

"I didn't expect it!"

"This is impossible! Impossible!"

"Of the three disciples of the Tang Poetry Sword Sect, you are relatively more conscientious. As a reward, I will not only give you a quick death, but also let you die knowing why."

"Spare me...please...please..."

Yan Daping's throat twitched like a rooster's. He was so terrified that he couldn't say "fate." His body convulsed continuously, and his hands and feet were weak and his whole body was powerless.

"Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!"

Three sword energies shot out from the shadowy figure.

One sword shatters the heart, one sword severs the throat, one sword pierces the chest.

Yan Daping fell to the ground with a bitter smile, half of his expression contorted with terror, and the other half with relief.

"Clap!"

Two bamboo tubes slipped off his sleeves.

Inside are carefully cultivated spotted scorpions.

Yan Daping had been to Miao territory and learned Gu magic. He was skilled at cultivating poisonous scorpions. The poisonous scorpions he cultivated could cause people to suffer from pain and itching for more than a month, causing his enemies to die from the pain.

The most terrifying aspect is that the spotted scorpion has evolved through generations, with each generation being fed antidotes to develop resistance and become immune to various antidotes.

There is only one antidote for scorpion venom that has never been ingested; it is the only antidote for the spotted scorpion. Other antidotes will only act as catalysts for the scorpion venom.

There are forty known antidotes for scorpion venom, thirty-nine of which are poisons and one is an antidote. Who would dare gamble on a one-in-forty chance? Which doctor would dare prescribe medicine to a patient when the situation is unclear?

This is Yan Daping's insidious nature.

It won't kill the other person immediately, nor will it make them lose hope. It will keep them hanging on with the antidote, giving them hope little by little, and then destroying that hope.

This is for my fellow students.

Yan Daping trained two in total, one to deal with Wan Zhenshan and the other to deal with Qi Changfa.

The man in black picked up the bamboo tube and laughed, "This gift is quite nice. I can roughly guess how to use it. I will help you complete it. I'm so kind!"

……

The county government office, the morgue.

Li Zhaoting covered his nose while performing the autopsy.

Prefect Cheng Yantang of Jingzhou smiled obsequiously, hoping that Li Zhaoting would solve the case soon. Given Zhao Zhen's personality, he believed that he could get through this by using subtle and indirect methods.

The new official took office three fires.

After such a huge incident, Cheng Yantang wished he could resurrect Ling Tuisi's corpse and kill him again. "You bastard, you're a fucking moron! Three years ago, I offered you a promotion, but you refused and even bribed your superiors for it."

It’s okay now!
The whole family was killed by assassins!
Most of the officials in Jingzhou were implicated.

Even the martial arts world of Jingzhou is on the verge of a storm.

Not long after, Li Zhaoting finished examining the body, went out to wash his hands, and took out pen and ink to fill in the body compartment.

"Nephew, do you have any leads?"

Cheng Yantang quickly followed. Li Zhaoting rubbed his temples: "There were seventeen bodies at the scene of Ling Tuisi's assassination: Ling Tuisi, Ling Tuisi's daughter Ling Shuanghua, and the rest were maids and servants. It was said that the whole family was assassinated, but in reality, only two people were killed."

"Uh... please continue..."

"Based on my analysis, the maids, servants, and nannies are all locals from Jiangling. You should have had someone identify the body, right? The identities all match up."

However, Ling Tuisi and Ling Shuanghua do not match.

Look at these two corpses.

The body was similar in age, height, weight, and posture to Ling Tuisi. His finger joints showed signs of a scholar holding a pen for a long time, but his fingernails were too dirty.

His wrists and arms showed signs of farm work, and his feet were calloused, clearly indicating that he relied entirely on his own two legs to get around.

Ling Tuisi, as the prefect of Jingzhou, always travels by sedan chair or carriage, living a life of luxury. How could he have such marks on his body? The forgery is too obvious.

Now, let's talk about the corpse.

Ling Shuanghua was a lady from a respectable family. Although she was nearly thirty and still unmarried, there was no gossip about her. She rarely left her home and only liked to grow flowers.

The body was too strong.

Her muscle strength far surpasses that of a lady from a wealthy family.

Calluses on his fingertips, the base of his thumb, and his feet; muscular legs; and fine marks on his fingers.

She must have been a female worker who made a living by weaving cloth.

Check the missing persons records in neighboring states.

Male, aged 45 to 50, a failed candidate in the imperial examination this autumn, and comes from a relatively poor family.

Female, aged 20 to 25, unmarried to date, with a relatively strong personality.

Their family members may have reported the case to the authorities.

Find a few reliable people to review the case files.

Observe quietly, without alerting anyone else.

Finally, there's the martial arts used by the assassin.

The assassin is skilled with a knife, using Tantric techniques. His weapon is a long, thin, curved knife with a narrow blade and a flexible edge, leaving wounds that resemble those inflicted by a wild animal.

The Blood Saber Technique of the Blood Saber Sect.

Go check on something else.

Are there any monks at Buddhist temples, inns, or brothels near Jiangling? I'm mainly looking for brothels, as the monks of the Blood Blade Sect are known for their lust and inability to live without women.

Find me a few old sailors.

Experienced locals who are familiar with the terrain.

Get another map of Gangneung.

There must be a map inside the government office.

I need this map.

You must find the map in the government warehouse.

The last thing, take me to the prison cell.

Find me all the prison guards who are around fifty years old, skilled in torture, generous in spending, and fond of wine, women, and money. Arrest any who don't come.

Uncle Cheng, that's all.

Did you remember that?

Li Zhaoting quickly analyzed what had happened.

Ling Tuisi is the leader of the Lianghu Longsha Gang, a local gang in Jiangling, and has some dealings with the Blood Blade Sect.

This assassination attempt, though ostensibly an assassination, was actually a feigned death to escape. His goal was to find the Liancheng Treasure, and compared to Qi Changfa and others, he had one advantage.

Twenty years ago, Mei Niansheng, the leader of the Tang Poetry Sword Sect, fought a duel with the Blood Saber Ancestor. He defeated the Blood Saber Ancestor but suffered severe damage to his true energy and was seriously injured. Wan Zhenshan and others took the opportunity to launch a backstabbing attack, forcing their master to hand over the Liancheng Manual.

Mei Niansheng jumped into the river to escape.

A young man named Ding Dian saved him.

Ding Dian was a kind-hearted chivalrous man who took good care of Mei Niansheng. Mei Niansheng was grateful for his life-saving grace and passed on the Liancheng Jue and Shenzhao Gong to Ding Dian.

Ding Dian was young and unaware of the dangers of the martial world. He erected a tombstone for Mei Niansheng, which led to his discovery. He was severely injured and all his property was burned.

Ordinary people might think that good people don't get good rewards, but Ding Dian was extremely generous and magnanimous. He would spend all his money and it would come back again. He didn't care about his family property at all, and it didn't affect his mood.

By chance, at a chrysanthemum exhibition, Ding Dian met Ling Shuanghua, and the two fell in love at first sight. When Ling Tuisi learned of this, he thought to himself, "My chance has come!" and used the Golden Wave Flower to drug Ding Dian.

In order to force Ding Dian to hand over the treasure, Ling Tuisi pierced Ding Dian's collarbone with iron chains and locked Ding Dian in the depths of the prison, where he was tortured once on the first and fifteenth of each month.

To prevent Ding Dian from committing suicide, Ling Tuisi built a small window in the prison cell. Through the window, one could see Ling Shuanghua's boudoir. Ling Shuanghua would place a pot of flowers by the window every day to express her feelings.

The star-crossed lovers express their feelings and savor their sweetness through the small window and the flowers.

After years of torture, Ling Tuisi obtained some information and learned that the treasure was located in Jiangling. In order to gain the upper hand, Ling Tuisi refused a promotion.

This time, the faked death and escape was probably because the higher-ups could no longer hide it. After serving as prefect for so many years, you have always refused to be promoted. Are you planning to rebel?
If Grand Tutor Pang takes money to do favors, he can get away with it once or twice, but if it happens too often, even if the emperor has no suspicions, Grand Tutor Pang will become suspicious.

What secrets does Jingzhou hold that make Ling Tuisi refuse promotion and wealth? He'd rather spend money than be promoted—can I, this old man, get a share of this secret?

Who is Grand Tutor Pang?
How can sharing a small portion of the soup satisfy his appetite?

Grand Tutor Pang could only agree to a 30/70 split at most.

Seventy percent belong to Grand Tutor Pang.

Thirty percent is divided among various forces to create a pie.

Ling Tuisi was lucky to get even one bite.

Ling Tuisi, a cunning and treacherous old man, faked his death to dispel Grand Tutor Pang's suspicions, disguised himself as the leader of the Lianghu Longsha Gang, and continued his search for the Liancheng Treasure.

Oh no, Ding Dian is in danger!

When someone obsessed to the point of madness is pushed to the limit by the situation, they will definitely resort to extreme measures. Ding Dian refused to confess and may be killed to silence him.

(End of this chapter)