Chapter 5: A Narrow Escape

  The two of them rushed to Yingmou Hall to paint and then went to the dining hall for breakfast, before heading in the direction of the medicine garden.

  As they passed through the maple forest, the two of them saw from a distance that a crowd had gathered there.

  "Huh? What's going on?" Lü Feng asked curiously, "Why are there so many people gathered over there?"

  "I don't know either." Lü Yang's heart skipped a beat, and he knew that the body of the old man in gray had been found. However, he had already made up his mind to keep this matter hidden in his stomach, so he naturally pretended to be completely unaware, calling out to Lü Feng, "Let's go take a look."

  He understood the worldly ways and human feelings, knowing that at times like these, the more one pretends to be nonchalant, the more likely they are to expose themselves. A normal person's mindset is to see a commotion and be very interested.

  "All right, we've made our excuses, it's not too late to head up the mountain a bit later." As expected, Lü Feng nodded his head, looking very interested.

  "Flat uncle, Righteous uncle, Respectful uncle..."

  Two people walked up and found that the onlookers were all fellow attendants working at Yaoshan, so they quickly greeted them.

  "Lyusong, Lyufeng, you two are here as well."

  "Flat uncle, what are you looking at here? Is there gold on the ground to pick up?" After greeting, Lyu Yang asked one of them about the situation.

  "There's a farting gold, and there's a dead body. Look, isn't this just a flying thief who has died?" The Medicine Garden executive pointed to a black cloth on the ground and said.

  The body of the old man in gray clothes that Lv Yang saw last night had been covered with a black cloth.

  "'Flying thief?' Lu Yang asked in feigned puzzlement, pressing on, 'What's going on, tell me about it.'"

  "It's nothing, just that this morning after we set out, we went up the mountain and passed by here, and saw an old man dead under a tree. Alas, you don't know, this old guy died in such a miserable way, first he stepped on a tiger trap, then was hit by wolf fang arrow, and was poisoned to death, when we found him, his whole body had already started to turn black and stink, the flesh had all turned into pus and was flowing everywhere... Ah, I'm telling you two kids, why are you standing so close? Come over here quickly, don't stand too close, it's not good to inhale the corpse smell."

  "Not bad, the highly toxic poison on the Wolf Tooth Arrow is made from the seven spiritual flowers and thirteen poisonous herbs grown in our Medicine Mountain, plus five kinds of Southern Wilderness toxins. The toxicity is so severe that even a martial arts master who has reached the highest level would find it hard to resist, let alone us ordinary people. It's better to stand back a bit."

  "So that's how it is." Lü Yang listened to the crowd's explanations, and suddenly looked enlightened, sighing emotionally.

  Although the weather is fine today, disasters and man-made calamities often occur, causing people to become homeless and struggling to survive. Many have turned to a life of banditry, becoming outlaws and wreaking havoc on society.

  For a warlord family like Lü's that guarded the border, apart from defending against external enemies, another very important responsibility was to suppress bandits.

  The Lü family has been dedicated to eradicating bandits and pirates from all over the country for hundreds of years, accumulating many enemies and even more wealth. Many small sects, bandit lairs, and treasures plundered from all sides have been acquired by the Lü family, greatly enriching their treasury.

  However, at the same time, the various treasures and rare medicines in these riches also attracted the attention of many thieves. The people in the mansion were already accustomed to such incidents.

  Compared to some new servants in the mansion, who would be frightened and flustered by the same thing, these old men like Ping Shu just treated it as a topic of conversation after dinner, and were more concerned about which thief died more unjustly and miserably.

  "What a flying thief, I think it's more like a foolish thief. You dare to rush into the dragon's lair and tiger's den, thinking your life is harder than a cockroach?" Lü Feng also sneered coldly upon hearing this.

  "It can't be said that way, people die for wealth, birds perish for food, this is the common sentiment of the world. If one's eyes are blinded by immediate benefits, even if there are dragons and tigers ahead, they will still rush forward without hesitation. We stand here talking without any discomfort, but when we truly encounter it ourselves, how many can resist the temptation?" Lü Yang listened to everyone's words and also felt a bit moved, saying this with double meaning.

  His words were a response to the crowd, but also a reminder to himself that having obtained a huge windfall, he absolutely could not become arrogant and forget himself, revealing his true nature, or else the consequences would be dire, ending in death without even a burial place.

  "Right, Ping Shu, you've discovered the flying thief, how are you going to deal with it? Have you reported it to the authorities?" Lü Yang asked hastily after a moment of emotion.

  "Of course, it was reported. Although it's quite common for a few thieves to die here, after all, it's still a human life, how can we not report it?" Ping replied, "The official said he would send someone over immediately, but we have to stay and answer questions. You two should take advantage of the time before the official arrives and go up the mountain first, so you won't be delayed by all the questioning."

  "That makes sense. Let's go first then." Lü Yang and Lü Feng thought for a moment, feeling that Ping Shu also had a point, so they bid farewell to the crowd and went up the mountain ahead of time.

  At noon, Lü Yang and Lü Feng came down the mountain again, passing through the maple forest, only to find that the corpse of Fei Zei had disappeared. Several high-ranking housekeepers were on the scene, accompanied by guards from the mansion and craftsmen, investigating the original location.

  "Lyusong, Lyufeng, you two come over here." Just then, a steward who knew the two of them saw them and shouted loudly.

  "Huh?" Lü Yang subconsciously tensed up in his heart, "What did he call us over for?"

  "What a hassle." Lü Feng didn't think too much about it, and just muttered under his breath, "Looks like we can't avoid an interrogation after all. The place where we live is really too close to this maple forest."

  "That's right." Upon hearing this, Lü Yang secretly let out a breath of relief, realizing that he had been worrying excessively and thinking too much.

  As expected, after Lv Yang and Lv Feng walked over, they found that apart from themselves, other slaves living near Maple Forest were also summoned together for questioning.

  "Report to the Grand Steward, all the attendants and miscellaneous servants living nearby have arrived. Please interrogate them, Your Excellency."

  After the two men walked away, the steward who called them back said to one of the people surrounded by the guards and the leader, "Lu Yang recognized this person, his name was Lu Fang, he was in charge of managing the affairs of the outer court, and was also the chief steward of the outer court, responsible for supervising the slaves and servants. He could be said to be a high-ranking official with great power."

  "Did you all go out last night?" Lu Fang, the Grand Commander of the Outer Court, asked sternly as soon as he heard that everyone was present.

  "No." The crowd hastily disassociated themselves from him. A murder case was no trivial matter, and nobody wanted to get involved.

  "Master, I'm Lu Yang from Jiachen Garden. Last night at midnight, I went up the mountain and came down at 1 o'clock." said Fang Wu, a middle-aged manager who had settled accounts with Lu Yang yesterday. The fact that Lu Yang went up the mountain was recorded in the garden even if he didn't mention it.

  "The steward is wise, I did go up the mountain, but after picking the red blood fruit, I went down the mountain to sleep." Lv Yang explained in a fearful and panicked tone. This was not an urgent attempt to clear himself, but rather the best thing he could think of to say at the moment. It's only human nature to want to clear oneself when one's life is on the line.

  "The chief steward, the thief should have died from poisoning at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, estimated time, it was triggered by a mechanism at 1 o'clock, just arrived at Fenglin Temple, and did not go anywhere else in between." A person next to him who looked like a servant whispered to the steward's ear, "This man went up the mountain later than the thief by one hour, the time doesn't match."

  "That's right, the mechanism triggered by the thief is a wolf-toothed crossbow with a poisonous tip that can kill with just a scratch." Another person said.

  The management of the Hou Shan Medicine Garden is extremely strict, and any movement can be investigated. If someone really steals something from Fei Ze's body, they will definitely not escape. However, Lyu Yang knows that he won't be exposed because no one wants to get that unremarkable gray-clothed old man, who turns out to be a Xianmen cultivator.

  The methods of the Xianmen cultivators are extremely abnormal, and it's not impossible for them to linger on for several hours before succumbing to the poison. This means that the usual time frame for the poison to take effect is no longer reliable, but these people don't know this, let alone others in charge or the guards.

  "This matter will probably be settled without any consequences, and that old thief will also be treated as an unidentified corpse." Lü Yang secretly speculated.

  As expected, the Grand Governor of the Outer Province nodded and casually questioned others, until he had asked everyone and hadn't gotten anything useful out of them. He then went through the motions and said: "Since that's the case, you can all go back now. Don't go around spreading rumors and causing trouble, or I won't let you off lightly."

  "Yes." The crowd heard this and felt relieved, hastily dispersing and leaving.