Gongsun Jing felt a surge of anger in his heart. The man in white slightly furrowed his brow, his gaze sweeping over the carriage before bending down again to search the bodies of the White Tiger Hall experts. His expression turned to surprise, then quickly hardened as he looked at Gongsun Jing and said,
"Where is the other White Tiger Hall stronghold, the Stone Hall?"
After Gongsun Jing replied, the man in white stood up abruptly and said,
"The rest of you stay here, there's still much to deal with."
"Gongsun, come with me!"
Gongsun Jing leaped onto his horse, initially confused, but then he suddenly thought of the "Heavenly Inquiry" that had vanished without a trace, and his heart skipped a beat.
The Hall Master's message should have been transmitted with sufficient speed. These people didn't even have time to deal with the corpses, let alone the Heavenly Inquiry Scroll Fragment?
With this thought, an absurd idea suddenly sprang up in his mind.
Could it be that these White Tiger Hall experts were merely hidden expendable pieces?!
After the murder, the "Heavenly Inquiry" had actually been secretly passed on to someone else?!
Passed on to the heretic master behind the Stone Hall?! And these White Tiger Hall martial artists were acting as bait, to delay and confuse if discovered.
In his heart, Gongsun Jing first found the idea preposterous. Sixth Rank Martial Artists, although not the absolute best or first-rate in Jianghu, were still not the type of experts common folk could come across. How could they be used as expendable pieces?
But then he thought again of the word "Heavenly Inquiry," his expression dimmed, and he had a realization.
For that, it could indeed be possible...
Yet, who could have devised such a mad plan, and who could see through it?
The scholar in green flexed his palm, which emitted a cracking sound. His originally slender palm was now riddled with cracks. He frowned slightly and said,
"A high-grade mechanical puppet can indeed only be used once."
The scholar shook his head, murmuring:
"It's much better than being turned into limbs by that thief."
Just about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and halted. His left hand seemed to hold a large jade scroll emitting auspicious Qi, while his right hand used vigorous Qi to outline the bloodstains on the ground. He wrote numbers on the wall with relish, admiring his work, and smirked when he heard the sound of galloping hooves.
His figure suddenly vanished, leaving behind only a Jade Bead rolling on the ground. It hit the corner of the wall and gradually lost its vitality, crumbling away.
Gongsun Jing and his companion dismounted and rushed in.
Inside, the Stone Hall still looked as it had in the past, but the amiable young man, Gu Yuzhai, was nowhere to be seen. In the great hall, a middle-aged man in grey knelt; his body still exuded an exceedingly strong vigorous Qi. His face showed terror, the very heretic sect master who had haunted Gongsun Jing's nightmares ten years ago, forgettable. By then, he should have been close to a Fourth Rank in cultivation, his swift knife striking as fast as lightning and thunder.
Yet he hadn't managed to draw his knife before losing his life.
His eyes were wide open, his throat had a penetrating wound, oozing bright red blood. In front of him stood a tall green bamboo, its leaves still dotted with dew, quite pleasing to the eye. Upon it hung a Black Iron Mask, shaped like a Bi'an, its empty eye sockets staring at Gongsun Jing and the man in white.
The latter clenched his fists tight, his eyes fixed on three characters on the wall of the great hall. Through clenched teeth, he forced out the words,
PS: Second update... I'm about to drop dead...
In Great Qin, the law is like, without evidence, one must not make a move, but once evidence is conclusive, emmmm,