Zhu Tian: Starting from the World of Zongwu

The old man's smile grew colder upon hearing this, and the veins on the back of his hand where he was wiping the knife bulged. "It's all my fault that I'm incompetent and only know how to kill people, but I didn't realize the master was poisoned.

Young man, do you know what poison the master was poisoned with?"

Song Xuan shook his head. "I don't know either, but I can be sure it's a chronic poison. Mixed in with incense, it takes at least a few years of inhalation for the toxicity to penetrate deep into the lungs and endanger one's life."

The old man recalled for a moment and said, "What you're talking about is very similar to a strange poison in the martial arts world. This poison is called Thousand Day Drunk. It's colorless and odorless and requires years of accumulation to take effect. It's extremely difficult to prevent.

But this kind of poison is also a legend in the martial arts world. I have never seen it in my decades of wandering around the martial arts world. I never thought that such a precious thing would be used on me.

As he spoke, he took out a whetstone from somewhere and started sharpening the knife.

While grinding, he began to mutter to himself, "One, two, three..."

Song Xuan guessed that the old man was not counting how many times he sharpened the knife, but how many heads he would chop off next!

Squeak~~

The door opened. Lin Daiyu glanced at Song Xuan and the others with a bit of embarrassment and whispered, "My father and I lost our composure a bit just now. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, cousin."

"A father-daughter reunion is a happy occasion, why would you say it's a joke?"

Song Xuan smiled and said, "Is your father's mood stable now?"

Lin Daiyu nodded and said, "Father is in good condition now. I wonder if my cousin is free now? My father wants to talk to you."

Song Xuan said, "Then I'll go in first. Your cousin is a person who can't sit still. You can take her for a walk around the area."

Chapter 47 Some people are favored by God

The poison in his body was cured, and he saw his daughter whom he had been thinking about for many years. Lin Ruhai is in very good condition now.

I wouldn't say his face was radiant, but at least he looked in good spirits, no longer in the dying state he had before.

"Song Xuan, meet your uncle!"

After entering the room, Song Xuan clasped his fists and bowed.

"I'm sorry to bother you brothers and sisters this time. We, father and daughter, owe you a huge favor."

Song Xuan waved his hand and smiled, "We are all family, it's polite for my cousin to say this."

Lin Ruhai looked at him with a complicated expression. "When your mother got married, I was busy with the imperial examination and didn't catch up with her wedding. Is she doing well in the Song family?"

Song Xuan said, "Don't worry, cousin. Mother is fine. Don't worry."

Lin Ruhai smiled and said, "My Lin family is not very prosperous. Even if we include the side branches, the population is not large. Although your mother and I are five generations apart, we have known each other since childhood.

She is doing well, so I feel relieved.

"By the way, is your father okay? Is he still the same as before, spending his days hanging around in the Xuanyi Guard?"

Song Xuan was a little surprised, "My cousin is very familiar with my father?"

Lin Ruhai smiled and nodded, "When your father was young, he was a well-known scoundrel in the Imperial Capital's Xuanyi Guard. He would avoid any assignments he could and would slip away when he encountered any trouble. He had no ambition at all.

At that time, I felt that he lacked any youthful vigor and vitality, and I looked down on him.

But now it seems that your father lived a clear life, without any danger or illness, and his family lived in peace and harmony. Isn't that more important than anything else? "

Song Xuan smiled and didn't respond. After all, this involved his parents, and he didn't want to talk too much about it with outsiders.

"I heard from Daiyu that you and your sister are here to take up your posts in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Prefecture?"

Song Xuan nodded, "Yes, a centurion died here some time ago, so I was transferred here from the imperial capital."

Hearing this, Lin Ruhai's smile gradually faded and he said, "The situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Prefecture is very complicated. It's not easy to deal with just the salt merchants.

The Xuanyi Guards, on the other hand, have to deal with not only wealthy individuals like the salt merchants, but also many officials and people in the underworld."

Lin Ruhai's words were rather subtle, but Song Xuan immediately understood what he meant.

"My cousin is saying that the officials and the underworld in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Prefecture have colluded with each other?"

Lin Ruhai nodded and said, "There is definitely collusion, but as to the extent of the collusion and what the real purpose is, it is hard to say for the time being.

In short, you must be more cautious during this period. If you have any questions, you can come to me for consultation at any time.

To be honest, I never thought your father would agree to let you come to a place like this."

Song Xuan smiled, "Uncle, this is an order from the top of the Xuanyi Guard. What can my father do even if he disagrees?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head. "Don't underestimate your father. Although he may not seem ambitious, he has a strong network of connections in the imperial capital. If he doesn't agree with you and your sister coming here, he has plenty of ways to ruin this appointment."

Song Xuan was slightly stunned. In his and Song Qian's opinion, his father was only at the eighth level of the acquired realm, and was a little weaker than him and his sister.

Besides being older and having a good relationship with Zhao Dezhu, Director of the Inspection Department, he actually has other connections?

If someone else said this, he might just think it was an outsider's flattery to his father, but since a local official like Lin Ruhai attached so much importance to his father, it was definitely more than just a courtesy.

Could it be that Dad has some hidden identity that he doesn't know about?

After chatting with Lin Ruhai about the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Prefecture for a while, Song Xuan stood up and said goodbye.

He still has a lot of things to do next, and Lin Ruhai also needs to rest for a while, so it is not convenient for him to talk to outsiders for a long time.

After walking out of the room, Song Xuan waited in the yard for a while.

Not long after, my little cousin Lin Daiyu, who was in a very good mood, and Song Qian came over, each holding a piece of osmanthus cake in their hands, talking and laughing along the way.

Seeing Song Xuan's figure, the little cousin's eyes smiled like crescent moons, and she hurriedly picked up the osmanthus cake in her handkerchief and handed it to Song Xuan.

"Cousin, you must be hungry. Eat some cakes first. I've already asked someone to cook."

Song Xuan subconsciously prepared to reach out, but looking at the osmanthus cake that Song Qian also handed over, he immediately waved his hand and said, "I don't like these sweets very much."

"Oh~" Lin Daiyu said a little disappointedly, "Then cousin, please wait a moment. You can have lunch soon."

Song Xuan shook his head. "Forget about the meal. I still have a lot of things to do today. We can come to the Lin Mansion to bother you again when we are free some other day."

As he said that, he waved to Victoria Song and said, "Come on, follow me to dig up the grave!"

"Oh!"

Song Qian stuffed the osmanthus cake in her hand into her mouth, swallowed it and said goodbye to Lin Daiyu, "Xiao Yuyu, cousin is going to do some business first. Remember to prepare some more cakes at home. I will come to eat them another day~"

"Well, okay, cousin, when you come next time, we..."

Before she could finish her words, she saw that the impetuous brother and sister had already walked away. She put down her hand with some disappointment and sighed with regret.

“They’ve all left…”

In a room not far away, Lin Ruhai watched the scene quietly from the window. After a moment, he spoke softly.

"You just said that the Song Xuan brothers and sisters are very powerful?"

In the room, the old man in black who had communicated with Song Xuan before walked out from the corner and nodded solemnly.

"Very strong!"

"Stronger than a congenital warrior like you?"

“It’s hard to say.” The old man in black murmured, “Logically speaking, I didn’t sense any innate aura from them, so they shouldn’t have broken through to the innate realm yet.

But these two people give me a very strange feeling, how should I put it...”

The old man thought for a moment and said, "Master, you should also know that cultivation is cultivation, strength is strength, and when it comes to a life-and-death fight, sometimes it is not just cultivation that determines it.

Otherwise, when everyone meets, they can just release their cultivation aura to each other and compare with each other. How can there be any fighting?

In reality, there are too many factors that determine life and death, including internal strength, martial arts skills, powerful weapons, external environment, and even the mentality and fighting spirit of both sides, all of which may affect the final outcome of the battle."

Lin Ruhai waved his hand, "Just tell me straight up, if you fight them now, are you sure you can win?"

The old man in black thought for a moment and said, "If we were to fight now, I would probably win, but if it were a life-and-death fight, I would probably be the one to die."

"Oh? Why is that?"

The old man said in a serious tone: "I entered the martial arts world at the age of fourteen. I have been struggling in the martial arts world for decades and have seen too many unusual things.

Some people cannot be judged by common sense. Sometimes, you have to admit that God is really too partial to certain people.

Master, believe it or not, if I fight them to the death today, those siblings will break through in an extremely unreasonable way and kill me!"

Chapter 48 Taking office

Lin Ruhai pondered the words of the old man in black.

After a long pause, a smile appeared on his face. "Everyone has their destiny, and so do nations. So, do you think that the Song Xuan siblings are the kind of people with great fortune and are favored by heaven and earth?"

The old man nodded. "This kind of person is rare in the entire martial arts world, but it does exist. Master, you are not from the martial arts world, so you don't understand that feeling."

It's really hard to feel that decades of hard work are not as good as someone else's sudden enlightenment. "

Lin Ruhai laughed heartily. "So, the Song family did produce a pair of Qilin children... That's right, the heritage of a Xuanyiwei family with hundreds of years of history is truly beyond the reach of ordinary people."

The old man in black approved, "The imperial capital's Xuanyiwei family has always been low-key, but they are the military foundation of the Great Zhou Empire. The centurion who died this time is said to be from the Xuanyiwei family. The Xuanyiwei sent Song Xuan here this time, probably to start a war."

"Oh? From what you said, this Song Xuan is not only powerful in martial arts, but also very capable in other aspects?"

"Indeed." The old man in black murmured for a moment, "The master has been very ill recently and some things are unclear.

Song Xuan has recently become very famous in the Xuanyi Guards in the imperial capital. He was responsible for the first flower-picking case in the Great Zhou Dynasty that caused a lot of controversy some time ago.

No less than three large families were implicated in this case and had their property confiscated and their clans exterminated. Several high-ranking officials above the third rank in the court were dismissed and imprisoned.

This man is meticulous and decisive, and most importantly, he has a strong backing. He can easily transfer those killers from the Xuanyiwei Law Enforcement Department... The Master is related to him, and with the young lady's relationship, he can be a great help in the future, whether he stays in Jiangsu and Zhejiang or returns to the imperial capital."

Lin Ruhai shook his head and said, "The situation with the Xuanyi Guard is much more complicated than the salt administration. Let's see how he can gain a firm foothold first.

The emperor is far away, and the Jiangzhe Prefecture is far from the imperial capital. He is a centurion and has thousands of households under pressure. Whether he can accomplish anything remains to be seen."

After a moment of hesitation, he looked at the old man in black and said, "Mr. Feng, if necessary, I may need your help."

The old man nodded, his expression showing no sign of evasion. "Just because he saved the master, it's only right!"

......

Outside the city of Yangzhou, in a tomb complex, Song Xuan and Song Qian were currently digging graves with great effort.

It was already late at night, and there were trees all around. There was not even the sound of insects or birds singing, and the gloomy environment seemed a bit creepy.

In order not to cause too much noise, Song Xuan and the other man chose to dig the grave at such a quiet time of night.

Half an hour later,

The two men covered the dug coffin again, filled it with soil again, and then left the place quickly without wanting to stay a moment longer.

Even after they walked away, Victoria Song was still shaking her sleeves and frowning, saying, "This stench of corpses is like it's stuck to me, and it won't go away no matter what I do."

Song Xuan said indifferently: "You'll get used to it after seeing it more often."

Victoria Song sighed, "Brother, now we can basically conclude that this person from the Xu family was murdered, right?"

Song Xuan said: "Normally, if a person accidentally falls into the water and drowns, they will inhale some mud and sand into their mouth and nose, but as you saw just now, there is no trace of mud and sand in his mouth and nose at all.

It was obvious that he was already dead before drowning.

And as you saw after the autopsy, his whole body was stiff and cold, with no scars on the surface, but his heart was completely shattered.

It's obvious that he was killed by someone using some unique skill."

Song Qian said, "The Xuanbing Jin (Mysterious Ice Power) passed down in our family can also freeze a person's blood and shatter their internal organs without causing any external damage. This kind of unique martial arts that specifically damages internal organs seems to be quite common in the martial arts world."

Song Xuan hummed, "There's clearly something fishy about Xu Chang'an's death, but the Xuanyiwei Qianhu Division in Jiangzhe Prefecture closed the case as a case of drowning after drinking. Clearly, there's something fishy going on with this Qianhu Division."

Song Qian sighed and said, "The Xu family is also unlucky. Although they are hereditary Xuanyiwei, their population is even smaller than our Song family. It seems that Xu Changan is the only male in this generation.

Xu Changan lost both his parents when he was ten years old, and now that he is dead too, I am afraid that the Xu family will be expelled from the imperial capital's Xuanyiwei family."

Song Xuan sneered, "I guess those people in the dark knew the situation of the Xu family, so they dared to act recklessly. They thought that Xu Changan would be dead if he died. He didn't even have a family, so no one would come to his rescue."

Song Qian touched the long sword at her waist and sneered, "Those people probably don't understand that the hereditary Xuanyiwei families in the imperial capital are all of the same blood. They are not just targeting Xu Changan, but are provoking us, the hereditary Xuanyiwei families!"

Song Xuan was silent. He looked up at the somewhat dark night and sighed.

It seems that this trip to Minnesota will be another killing journey.

......

The next morning, Song Xuan changed into a dark black Xuanyiwei captain's robe at the inn where he was staying.

This robe is not only gorgeous, but also adds a sense of majesty and oppression when worn on Song Xuan's tall and slender body.

When I walked out of the inn, Song Qian was already wearing official uniform and waiting outside with two war horses. When passers-by saw her clothes and the long sword at her waist, they all looked frightened and stayed away from her.