63: Chapter 63 The bad guy is me?

The words had barely fallen when twenty men surrounded them, and twenty men launched a fierce attack.

“Bang!”

The door shattered, and the guards streamed in, with Jiang Hanwen and Xiang Jie walking at the very end.

“Run!” a panicked voice cried from inside the room.

“Take them down!”

Outnumbered, and with overwhelming strength, the five people inside the room were easily subdued.

“Sir, look, they were just about to assassinate you!”

A guard brought a yellowish-brown map to Jiang Hanwen.

Jiang Hanwen took the map. It clearly depicted his own courtyard, the surrounding burnt Medical Hall, and the expanded houses.

The markings were detailed; only someone high-ranking would know such specifics.

Furthermore, the person who drew the map knew the Medical Hall had been burned down, meaning they must have been there within the last two days!

“Pah!

You dog, you can rise to power, but why drag my master down with you?

As long as you’re in the Medicine Field, just wait to die!”

“My master worked diligently his entire life. If it weren’t for you, the next Chief Steward would definitely have been him.

I even thought you were kind-hearted, offering free medical treatment, but now it seems it was all a deceptive trick.

You rotten bastard, you harmed my master, may you die a terrible death!”

...The crowd erupted in curses.

Jiang Hanwen recalled Gong Qing’s words from earlier: Old Du was dead, Wu Qinghe was also dead, and he himself had risen to power, making him the biggest beneficiary.

Everyone else thought he must know something, or even be the mastermind.

Waking up from a death dream, I realize I’m the bad guy?

“Smack!”

Xiang Jie stepped forward and slapped the speaker hard across the face.

“Your master killed Elder Du; there’s both human and material evidence. How dare you speak!”

“My master was at Mortal Transformation Seventh Layer, how could he kill Old Du, who was in the Qi Induction Realm? Unless it was someone he knew who attacked him, how could it be possible!”

“As far as I know, your master frequently visited Elder Du recently. Isn’t he considered an acquaintance?” Jiang Hanwen walked up to the speaking disciple, lowered his head, and questioned him.

“In any case, my master is dead, and now whatever you say, people will believe.

Jiang Hanwen, it’s bad luck that you caught us this time, but you can’t always be this lucky.”

Before he finished speaking.

“Ring~”

The clear, cold sound of a sword being drawn rang in his ears. The guard standing behind Jiang Hanwen drew his longsword and thrust it forward.

Everyone’s pupils dilated in shock; the speed was so fast that they couldn’t even shout a word.

The longsword aimed straight at Jiang Hanwen’s back, thrusting rapidly, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue. A foul wind assailed them, and the sword tip touched his clothes in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Hanwen seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. His body rapidly shifted to the right, moving later but arriving sooner, his speed surpassing the sword tip.

The sword thrust, his body moved, and the two remained in relative stillness, always maintaining an inch of distance.

Compared to the thrilling assassination, everyone’s eyes were wide open. So fast, such elegant footwork!

The eerie green sword tip was only an inch from his skin, but this inch felt like a divine punishment, always insurmountable.

One inch, two inches, three inches... The sword tip moved further and further from Jiang Hanwen’s back. As Jiang Hanwen dodged the direct thrust, his body spun around fluidly, delivering a whip kick fiercely to the assassin’s wrist. With a cry, the longsword was kicked away.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh~

Clang!”

The longsword flew through the air and plunged heavily into the ground, its hilt vibrating with a hum.

“Do you have any other tricks?” Jiang Hanwen looked at the assassin mockingly. Did he really think he was a soft persimmon to be squeezed at will?

Before the assassin could speak.

“I’ll go!” Xiang Jie shouted and rushed forward.

“Bang!” A heavy punch met another.

Hiss~

Their feet slid back on the floor tiles; both sides retreated a step.

He had thought that brute force would overcome everything, but he didn’t expect the opponent to be able to fight him.

The ordinary guards nearby quickly retreated. The captain could actually fight the black-robed guard, and they were evenly matched!

If the captain was so strong and still couldn’t hurt Chief Steward Jiang, then how strong must Chief Steward Jiang be?

Pairs of eyes secretly glanced at Jiang Hanwen, then quickly lowered their gaze.

After a few exchanges, the assassin kicked Xiang Jie away, then changed direction, willing to expose his back to rush towards Jiang Hanwen.

“I’ll kill you!”

Just as the assassin was only two meters from Jiang Hanwen.

“Whoosh!”

A dazzling silver light flashed across everyone’s vision.

“Thud!”

The assassin, halfway through his charge, fell like a broken puppet, kneeling and crashing to the ground, his head hitting the ground at Jiang Hanwen’s feet.

As his head swung in a semicircle, a trail of crimson blood splattered onto Jiang Hanwen’s pant leg and the face of a guard three meters away.

It was like a strong wind blowing away clouds; only then did everyone see a thumb-sized gash on the back of the assassin’s head, with a three-inch-long crimson blade tip piercing through the bone.

“Please punish me, Sir.”

Xiang Jie stood before Jiang Hanwen, his face full of shame. The family head had sent him to protect someone, but he almost caused a major problem.

“Take them down for questioning. If there are no useful clues, bury them all.” Jiang Hanwen looked indifferently at the five people who were still cursing.

These few people were only focused on killing him, completely seeing him as the murderer who eliminated Wu Qinghe, and they didn’t understand the inside details at all.

They were 100% innocent people who had believed rumors.

However, since they had made their move, that was another matter.

Jiang Hanwen was not a saint; he didn’t have the good temper to keep people around, present them with facts, and reason with them.

His good humor was always reserved for his own people.

Regardless of their innocence, Jiang Hanwen would not leave behind hidden dangers.

If you don’t pull up weeds by the roots, they will grow again with the spring breeze.

Hidden dangers are best nipped in the bud.

Five lives, in the mouth of this once warm-hearted Physician Jiang, were like ants, easily crushed.

The drastic change left the guards swallowing hard, a chill creeping up the back of their necks, and their heads bowed even lower.

“Take the people out. I’ll check the room. Can you give me an update before dark?” Jiang Hanwen looked at Xiang Jie.

Cold sweat trickled down his temples. Xiang Jie felt the same pressure he did when facing the family head.

The guard captain, at the seventh layer, even with a premeditated sneak attack in such an extreme situation, hadn’t managed to harm a single hair.

At least the eighth layer, perhaps even the ninth layer!

This was his assessment of Jiang Hanwen’s strength.

“Yes, I will interrogate them thoroughly!” Xiang Jie bowed and agreed.

Everyone orderly left the courtyard, and Jiang Hanwen began to meticulously search the courtyard inch by inch.

This search indeed led him to discover quite a few things.

Two secret rooms. One secret room contained money, five large chests full, amounting to three to four thousand taels.

The other secret room contained books, two bookshelves. The first bookshelf had the fewest books, all about cultivating Spiritual Plants, twenty to thirty volumes.

The other bookshelf was completely filled with Cultivation Techniques, from incomplete movement techniques to spear techniques, all were present.

One hand for the Dao of wealth, the other for the methods of protecting wealth.

This Wu Qinghe was very well prepared. With these things, he could have completely left the Zhuang family and started his own faction.

Not taking the safe path, but taking the risk to kill someone, was truly unwise.

These two secret rooms had some age to them; they were definitely not set up in the last year or two.

It showed that Wu Qinghe had planned for a long time, not making decisions on a whim.

Why would such a secretive person go and kill Old Du?

Jiang Hanwen finally concluded in his heart:

Something must have made Wu Qinghe lose his mind and abandon his years of planning!

At dusk, Xiang Jie handed Jiang Hanwen the interrogation notes.

The five people were tortured separately, and two of them confessed.