Chapter 137 A Slash That Rises Through the Sky: The Inspector Clashes Head-on with the Wang Family's Elder

Evening at the Governors Mansion side courtyard.

The doors and windows were half-closed, the lanterns under the corridor had not yet been lit, and the twilight seeped in from outside the courtyard wall.

Luo Qing was assigned to the third room in the east wing of the side courtyard, right next to Tao Donger's room. A thin wall separated the two doors, and one could hear the sounds of tossing and turning from next door.

Zhou Tie leaned his iron spear against the outside of the doorframe and glanced down at Luo Qing's back.

"Inspector, this kid hasn't said a word since we left the Provincial Administration Commission."

Lin Chen stood under the corridor, his gaze sweeping from the crack in the east wing door, seeing Luo Qing sitting on the edge of the bed, holding that crooked-beaked wooden bird on his knees, his whole body curled into a ball.

"Let him rest; he will be useful tomorrow."

Zhou Tie grunted, hoisted his spear onto his shoulder, and followed Lin Chen toward the Archives Room.

Liu Buyu had already spread out three blank dossiers on the table, his right wrist wrapped in a cloth strip soaked in cold water. Having written for most of the day, his fingers were stiff.

He looked up and saw Lin Chen enter, immediately pushing the thin yellow paper booklet to the center of the table.

"Inspector, two copies have been traced; the third one still lacks the last seven pages."

Lin Chen sat down behind the desk, his gaze sweeping over the dense list of names in the booklet.

"Seal the original and send it to the Governors Mansion secret Archives Room tonight; use the back door."

Liu Buyu nodded and pushed the cinnabar ink paste to his side for later use.

Two lamps were lit in the Archives Room, and one half of the door was open. Outside, the twilight grew thicker, and footsteps began to gather in the courtyard.

Zhou Tie was the first to return, his spear resting horizontally on the stone steps at the doorway.

He Jian followed behind, the medicinal cloth on his left arm replaced with a new one, whiter in color than the previous days, but his gait still had a slight limp.

Zhao Gang came around from the front courtyard, his scabbard knocking against the doorframe in the twilight with a crisp sound.

Shen Yue arrived last, holding a narrow strip of paper with handwriting that belonged to Escort Officer Lu Qingshan.

Instructor Qi Boyuan did not sit; he leaned against the windowsill, arms crossed over his chest, his brow furrowed.

Lin Chen took the narrow strip of paper from Shen Yue's hand and spread it out on the desk.

"Today, we dug out Luo Qing, and Official Chen Zhili was identified on the spot. The Provincial Administration Commission doesn't have the guts to stop us for now."

His fingertip pressed beside a line of text on the paper.

"Next, Zhang Erzhuang."

Zhou Tie leaned forward half a step.

"Zhang Erzhuang, the head guard of the Wang Family Outer Residence?"

Lin Chen nodded.

Zhao Gang took a breath, his teeth gritted.

"I've seen this guy. That big guy who was standing guard at the gate of the Wang Family Outer Residence last time; his arms are thicker than my thighs."

Shen Yue added.

"He has been at the Wang Family Outer Residence for seven years, managing twelve guards under him. The routes for entering and leaving the inner courtyard are all in his head."

Lin Chen read the contents of the paper strip to everyone present, word by word.

"Zhang Erzhuang's original name was Zhang Tiezhu. Ten years ago, his younger sister, Zhang Xiaoyan, was taken away by the Wang family under the pretext of being sent to school, and her fate remains unknown to this day."

Instructor Qi Boyuan lowered his arms from his chest and pressed his palms onto the windowsill.

Lin Chen continued.

"The awakening token that Escort Officer Lu Qingshan gave him is a copper button."

Zhou Tie frowned.

"A copper button?"

Lin Chen's voice slowed, each word landing on the table.

"The button from the blue cloth jacket Zhang Xiaoyan wore before going to school. There were two buttons sewn on the right cuff because she always wiped her tears with her right hand."

The Archives Room was silent for three breaths.

Zhao Gang pressed his scabbard against his waist, his throat dry.

"What about the awakening code?"

Lin Chen looked at the last line on the paper.

"Xiaoyan's jacket was blue, and there were two buttons sewn on the right cuff because she always wiped her tears with her right hand."

He Jian's short blade spun half a turn in his sleeve, his voice low.

"Has Zhang Erzhuang been in the Wang Family Outer Residence for seven years just to wait for this day?"

Lin Chen folded the paper and tucked it into his sleeve.

"Every one of Escort Officer Lu Qingshan's chess pieces has waited for more than seven years."

Zhou Tie picked up his spear from the ground and patted it twice in his palm.

"When do we act?"

Lin Chen looked at him.

"Zhang Erzhuang's position is three layers deeper than Luo Qing's. He is inside the Wang family, so we cannot use a public summons like we did with Luo Qing."

Shen Yue chimed in from the side.

"We have to wait for him to come out?"

Lin Chen shook his head.

"We have to make him move himself."

Instructor Qi Boyuan spoke, his voice carrying the rasp of old iron rubbing together.

"How do you make a Wang Family guard leader move on his own?"

Lin Chen tapped his fingertip on the table.

"The copper button is delivered to his hand, the code is whispered into his ear, and he will make his own judgment."

His gaze swept across everyone's faces one by one.

"Rest for tonight; I will arrange the delivery route tomorrow."

When everyone dispersed, only Lin Chen and Liu Buyu remained in the Archives Room.

Liu Buyu finished tracing the last seven pages, put down his brush, and the wet cloth strip on his wrist had mostly dried, leaving a pale red mark on his skin.

"Inspector, that move today at the Provincial Administration Commission caused Official Chen Zhili a huge loss; he won't let it go."

Lin Chen picked up the black abyss blade from the edge of the desk and laid it horizontally on his lap.

"If he can't swallow this anger, he will go find the Wang family."

Liu Buyu paused in his action of tidying up the document box.

"The Wang family now knows we have the ironclad proof of the drug trials, Luo Qing's secret ledgers, and Escort Officer Lu Qingshan's diary. What will they do?"

Lin Chen's thumb traced the old scratch on the scabbard.

"Testing."

Liu Buyu looked at him.

"Testing what?"

Lin Chen hung the scabbard at his waist and stood up.

"Testing whether I can be killed."

Liu Buyu's hand stopped on the clasp of the document box, and it took a while before he pressed down to make the metallic click.

At the old temple south of the city, the broken hall door stood open. Moonlight shone in from the gap, spreading a pale, long strip across the floor tiles.

Second Young Master Wang Pei stood inside the temple door, clutching a wax-sealed letter; the private seal of Wang Chongyuan on the seal glowed dark red in the moonlight.

A person sat behind a long table in the hall.

A grey-brown cloak hung from his shoulders to the ground. His hood had been removed, revealing a knife-cut long face, white temples, towering brow bones, and deep-set eye sockets.

The curved blade at his waist rested on the long table, the arc of the scabbard casting a shadow in the moonlight.

Zhao Wuya.

Second Young Master Wang Pei handed over the letter, his tone heavy.

"The Master's intention is to test Lin Chen's bottom line tonight."

Zhao Wuya did not take the letter; he simply used two fingers to pluck the letter paper out from the wax seal, glanced at it twice, and tossed it onto the long table.

"A kid at the Early Stage of the Core Formation is worth me making a trip personally?"

The corners of Second Young Master Wang Pei's mouth twitched.

"Retainer Zhao, this person cannot be judged by conventional standards. Three months ago, he was still in the Tongmai Realm, and now he is already standing at the Core Formation."

Zhao Wuya raised his eyelids halfway, his gaze filled with interest.

"Jumped from Tongmai to Core Condensation in three months?"

Second Young Master Wang Pei nodded, his expression growing gloomier.

"It's not to have you kill him. The Master said it's just to force him to use his full strength to see exactly what tricks he has up his sleeve."

Zhao Wuya picked up the curved blade from the long table and ran his fingertips along the scabbard.

"Force him to use his full strength, and then what?"

Second Young Master Wang Pei's voice dropped to his throat.

"Once we see his trump cards, it will be easier to deal the killing blow later."

Zhao Wuya stood up, his cloak fluttering at his knees.

"Fine, I'll make a trip."

He took two steps toward the temple door, then suddenly turned back.

"The Wang family has kept me for twelve years; there haven't been many times they've needed me. This trip counts as half a favor."

Second Young Master Wang Pei gritted his teeth.

"Retainer Zhao, make sure to retreat unscathed."

Zhao Wuya did not reply; his figure had already melted into the night outside the hall, and even his footsteps were swallowed by the moonlight.

After the hour of the rat passed, only Lin Chen was left in the Archives Room.

Liu Buyu had left, Shen Yue had left, Zhou Tie was on night watch in the front courtyard, and He Jian was squatting at the gate of the side courtyard.

Lin Chen sat behind the desk with three dossiers spread out before him; his brush rested by the inkstone, the ink half-dried.

The familiar notification sound in his mind rang out on time.

"Daily Settlement: Host's duty performance points for today calculated. Basic patrol points: 200; Case advancement points: 500. Total: 700 points."

"Current accumulated available points: 12,200."

Lin Chen closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the System panel.

Three thousand points were poured into the deduction progress of the Shadowless Thunder Blade in one go. Golden light unfurled deep within his consciousness, and the blade path of the seventh form, Space-Rending, changed from blurry to clear, each turning point burned deep into his mind.

The moment the deduction was completed, the Golden Core within his Dantian trembled, and a new surge of Saber Intent gushed from the depths of his bone marrow, flowing along his arms to his ten fingers.

He opened his eyes, his palms pressing onto the black abyss blade. The metallic chill and the new Saber Intent within his body converged at his fingertips.

The wind in the courtyard stopped.

That stop was not a gradual weakening, but as if the airflow of the entire courtyard had been held down by someone.

Lin Chen's nose caught a faint scent of rust.

The smell of blood.

The moment his right hand gripped the hilt of the black abyss blade, the sound of shattering tiles came from overhead.

Shards of roof tiles, wrapped in the True Qi of a Late Stage Core Condensation expert, poured down from the sky. The main beam of the entire Archives Room was split down the middle by an arc of Saber Qi.

The stone table snapped in two.

Dossier pages fluttered in the shockwave.

Lin Chen retreated violently, his boot soles sparking against the rubble. When the black abyss blade was unsheathed, the dark golden light on the blade had already brightened by half an inch.

The True Qi of the Rock Solid Skill at Major Achievement was unleashed, forming a golden True Qi barrier in front of him, forcefully resisting the shockwave descending from the sky.

Zhao Wuya crushed the last roof tile and landed in the center of the Main Courtyard, his curved blade held horizontally at his side. A layer of visible grey-white True Qi was wrapped around the blade edge, flowing in the moonlight.

He looked at Lin Chen, the corners of his mouth pulling into a line.

"Inspector Lin, I have come to ask for a few pointers."

Lin Chen's boot soles ground over the broken bricks, his stance firm, the black abyss blade held horizontally before him. His breathing was half a beat heavier than usual.

"The Wang family's retainer has finally decided to come out from the shadows."

Zhao Wuya thrust the curved blade forward; the tip of the blade sliced through half a zhang of distance, and the True Qi tore a white mark in the air.

"I was just passing by, and thought I'd take a look to see if the Governor's new blade is sharp enough."

Before the words fell, the curved blade had already arrived.

The blade path followed a strange arc, cutting in from the left rib, turning at two angles midway, and slicing along the edge of Lin Chen's True Qi barrier.

Lin Chen blocked horizontally. The moment the black abyss blade met the curved blade, a brute force far exceeding the Tongmai Realm came from the blade, shaking his webbing between thumb and forefinger until it went numb, and he was pushed back two steps.

The second blade followed immediately, the angle more devious than the first, sweeping from bottom to top. The blade edge grazed his sleeve, tearing a hole in the fabric.

The third form of the Jueying Seven-Kill Blade caught the second blade, and the fourth form followed with a counter-cut, the blade light drawing a short arc in the moonlight.

Zhao Wuya sidestepped, his curved blade spinning, and the third blade came from behind.

The True Qi of this blade was thirty percent denser than the first two.

As Lin Chen turned, he took three positions using the Divine Movement Step, his figure dragging afterimages in the moonlight, narrowly avoiding the blade edge.

Two sounds of breaking through the air came from the direction of the courtyard wall.

Zhou Tie's iron spear thrust from the left, and He Jian's short blade cut in from the right. The two surrounded him simultaneously, forcing Zhao Wuya to the stone steps in the courtyard.

Zhao Wuya didn't even look; he swept his curved blade horizontally to the right.

The True Qi brought out by that strike was like a wall, pushing outward.

Zhou Tie's iron spear was hit head-on by the True Qi; the shaft snapped in the middle, and half the spearhead flew out, embedding three inches into the courtyard wall.

Before He Jian's short blade could touch the hem of Zhao Wuya's clothes, he had already been blown away by the True Qi, his back hitting a corridor pillar. The old wound on his left arm burst open, and fresh blood poured from under the medicinal cloth, staining half his sleeve.

Zhou Tie was shaken back five steps, holding the broken spear in his hand, a bloody crack opening in the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.

The chasm between the Late Stage of the Core Formation and the Tongmai Realm was torn open by this one blade.

Lin Chen stepped forward, holding the black abyss blade horizontally in front of Zhou Tie.

"Stand back."

Zhou Tie's mouth opened halfway.

"Inspector..."

Lin Chen did not turn his head, his gaze locked on Zhao Wuya.

"I said stand back."

Zhou Tie gritted his teeth, grabbed He Jian's arm, and dragged him back three steps.

Zhao Wuya rested his curved blade back on his shoulder, looking at Lin Chen's posture, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"Your people are no good, what about you?"

Lin Chen took a breath, the Golden Core in his Dantian operating at full capacity, circle after circle, each circle sending denser True Qi into the Meridians of his limbs.

The dark golden light on the black abyss blade began to undulate, layers of Saber Intent stacked on the blade edge.

Shadowless Thunder Blade, seventh form, Space-Rending.

He took a step.

As this step landed, the stone tiles under his feet cracked from the center, forming spiderweb patterns. True Qi gushed from the blade, condensing into a visible dark golden arc of light in the air.

Then he struck.

One blade.

Only one blade.

The moment the blade light shot out from the tip of the black abyss blade, even the moonlight was cut open.

Zhao Wuya's pupils constricted, his curved blade moved from his shoulder to his front, and True Qi piled up in three layers on the blade surface.

The two blades collided.

The stone tiles in the center of the Main Courtyard shattered entirely at the point where the forces converged; gravel splashed onto the courtyard walls, leaving over a dozen white spots.

A shockwave surged from the impact point in all directions; three lanterns under the corridor were blown out, and the wood lacquer on the pillars peeled off in a layer.

Zhao Wuya's figure retreated three steps.

Three steps.

A sharp pain shot from his hand to the hilt; he looked down and saw a fine crack in his palm, blood beads seeping out from the gap and dripping down the hilt.

A drop of blood was flung by the shockwave onto the spine of the black abyss blade, sliding down along the dark golden blade patterns.

Zhao Wuya raised his head, looking at Lin Chen who was still standing in place, the playfulness on his face gone.

"Early Stage of the Core Formation."

He read these four words slowly.

"Interesting."

Lin Chen did not sheath his blade, the black abyss blade held horizontally before him, the dark golden light on the blade edge still pulsing, and the rotation speed of the Golden Core in his Dantian was twice as fast as normal.

Zhao Wuya returned the curved blade to its sheath and leaped onto the courtyard wall.

The moonlight shone on the hem of his grey-brown cloak, dragging a shadow along the top of the wall.

"Inspector Lin."

He looked back once.

"I've seen your trump card."

He paused for half a breath.

"Next time we meet, it won't be a test."

The figure disappeared from the wall, the residual True Qi dissipating within three breaths, as if no one had ever come.

Only gravel remained all over the courtyard, the broken spear stuck halfway into the wall, and He Jian's blood still dripping onto the ground.

Zhou Tie stood under the corridor clutching the broken spear, his chest heaving rapidly, his gaze sweeping from the rubble to the empty night sky above the courtyard wall.

"Inspector, you forced him back."

Lin Chen sheathed the black abyss blade, a faint metallic hum sounding as the blade entered the scabbard.

His right hand was trembling, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger bruised purple, but not split.

In his mind, the System notification sound rang out in the night wind.

"Detected that the host has confronted a Late Stage Core Formation expert with Early Stage Core Formation cultivation. Fighting will is firm. First-time practical application of the seventh form of the Shadowless Thunder Blade."

"Instant reward: 3,000 points. Shadowless Thunder Blade deduction progress accelerated; seventh form, Space-Rending, reached Perfection."

"Current accumulated available points: 12,200."

Lin Chen suppressed the heat in his palms and turned to walk toward He Jian.

He Jian leaned against a corridor pillar, his right hand pressing on his left arm, blood seeping out from between his fingers, his face pale but his eyes still bright.

"Inspector, I'm fine."

Lin Chen glanced at the burst old wound on his left arm.

"Go to the medical center, now."

Zhou Tie hoisted the broken spear, bent down, and helped He Jian up.

A flurry of rapid footsteps came from the courtyard entrance. Zhao Gang rushed in from the front courtyard, his face ashen, clutching a crumpled piece of paper in his hand.

He saw the rubble all over the ground and the blood on He Jian's arm, paused for a beat, then gritted his teeth and held the paper up to Lin Chen.

"Inspector, something happened to Zhang Erzhuang."

Lin Chen took the paper.

Zhao Gang's throat sounded as if it were being choked.

"News just came out of the Wang Family Outer Residence: Zhang Erzhuang has been thrown into the Wang family dungeon on charges of colluding with outsiders."

The handwriting on the paper was so scribbled it was almost illegible, but those four characters were written clearly.

Colluding with outsiders.

Lin Chen gripped the paper in his palm, his knuckles making a light cracking sound.

"The Wang family is cleaning house."