Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Gifting a Jade Flute

"I... I..."

DRIP... DRIP...

The Silk Embroideress couldn’t help but raise her sleeve to cover her nose. "How disgusting!"

Gu Zhao stood up and slapped Liu Qingfeng across the face, knocking him to the ground. "Sobered up yet?"

"I’m awake! I’m awake!" Liu Qingfeng replied instantly, then knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly. "Spare me, Young Master! Spare me, Miss! The one who married Prefectural Magistrate Yuan is my aunt. It has nothing to do with me!"

Gu Zhao nodded and smiled. "You’re a sharp one, at least. You know who you’ve been implicated by."

Liu Qingfeng cried out, "That Yuan Mansion... no, Yuan Wenrui is an insidious villain, a shameless scoundrel! When he first came to Changping Prefecture, he begged and pleaded just to marry my aunt. After he got in with the Golden Wind Sect, he started taking more concubines and has grown distant from my Liu Family.

Moreover, that man is ambitious and cruel, with the heart of a snake! He preys on the common people, treats human life as worthless, is corrupt and bends the law, and brings calamity to the country and its people! I don’t know how many innocent lives he’s ruined. Even dying nine times over couldn’t atone for his sins!

Even though I’m a member of the Liu Family, I have absolutely nothing to do with him! And... and I even have a grudge against him! That’s right, a grudge! He viciously cursed me out last time!"

The Silk Embroideress pursed her lips. "He scolds you once and you resent him this much? You really are a petty person."

Liu Qingfeng cried foul. "But I didn’t do anything! I didn’t seduce his concubine, nor did I sneak off with any of his gold and silver. I was just taking a stroll in the Prefectural Magistrate’s garden and happened to see him enter a secret chamber. It’s not like I followed him in!"

"Hm?" A glint flashed in Gu Zhao’s eyes. He then glanced at Zhuo Qingyan.

Zhuo Qingyan was a clever woman as well. After a moment of thought, she extended a jade-like hand and waved it gently in front of Liu Qingfeng’s eyes.

The hand was slender and soft, fair and delicate. On any other day, he would have gladly toyed with it for four hours straight and never grown weary, but right now, Liu Qingfeng felt the hairs on his face stand on end. A bone-chilling dampness seemed to seep through his skin and into his very marrow.

"Tell us everything you know about Yuan Wenrui, or else..." Zhuo Qingyan trailed off at the crucial point.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Liu Qingfeng didn’t hesitate. He didn’t even try to bargain with conditions like, "Spare my life if I tell you." He just spilled everything out like beans from a bamboo tube.

Although his account was disorganized and incoherent, he truly left no stone unturned, even sharing gossip he’d overheard from Yuan Wenrui’s third concubine about his favorite sexual positions.

Gu Zhao clicked his tongue. "As expected of someone who hangs around with the Golden Wind Sect. That position is actually quite difficult."

The Silk Embroideress kept her head bowed, not daring to look up, while the pale, bluish tint of Zhuo Qingyan’s face seemed to fade even further.

Liu Qingfeng spoke for a long time, and they managed to summarize the key points.

Yuan Wenrui came to Changping Prefecture thirty years ago with the Changping Prefectural Minister. After that, he went to Jiangyang Prefecture to study for the imperial examinations. Twenty years ago, he returned with an appointment from the Jiangzhou governor to serve as the Changping Prefectural Magistrate, and he has held that position for twenty years since.

When Yuan Wenrui first became the Prefectural Magistrate, he had no foundation. He married a daughter of the influential Liu Family of Changping Prefecture and then publicly endorsed the Golden Wind Divine Sect, solidifying his position ever since.

According to Liu Qingfeng, Yuan Wenrui was now in his fifties, but he was very well-preserved, looking like he was only in his thirties. Moreover, he was full of vigor with a ruddy complexion, supposedly from taking Elixirs provided by the Golden Wind Divine Sect.

It was unknown if Yuan Wenrui practiced Cultivation himself, but he did have two Grand Mages in his service at his mansion to ensure his safety.

The last key point was the secret chamber for which Yuan Wenrui had berated him. He had indeed not entered it, but not because he didn’t want to. Rather, he had tried to go in and was discovered.

"I was drunk at the time and just got a little curious!" Liu Qingfeng explained. "It’s not like I actually went inside!"

This secret chamber of Yuan Wenrui’s was not in his bedroom or his study, but located, of all places, in the garden of the rear courtyard, making it quite clandestine.

"If he had built the secret chamber in his study, I never would have even seen it, so how could I have gotten curious enough to want to go in?" Liu Qingfeng felt deeply wronged.

Gu Zhao nodded. "That makes sense."

Liu Qingfeng nodded repeatedly, then licked his lips and asked expectantly, "I... I’ve told you everything. C-can you let me go now?"

"Of course," Gu Zhao nodded, patting Liu Qingfeng on the shoulder. "I’ll send you on your way right now."

Liu Qingfeng’s eyes lit up, concealing the savage glint deep within them. A pure, innocent smile appeared on his face. Then he heard Gu Zhao say, "Be a good person in your next life."

"What?" Liu Qingfeng’s pupils shrank. He was about to beg for mercy when he felt a sharp pain in his head, his vision went black, and he knew no more.

Looking at Liu Qingfeng’s toppled body, Gu Zhao took a deep breath. ’It really is simple for a Mage to kill someone.’

He hadn’t used any Magic just now. He had simply condensed his Divine Sense into a spike of Spiritual Power and pierced it slightly into Liu Qingfeng’s brain, shattering his Divine Soul.

Taoist Yan Song stood up. "The rain has stopped."

Gu Zhao nodded. "Then let’s go."

A moment later, a carriage departed from the dilapidated River God Temple. A fire was set in the side hall of the temple, which, after the rain, quickly burned down and collapsed, burying the bodies of several evildoers who had aided a tyrant.

... 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Liu Qingfeng was just an ordinary person, after all. He wouldn’t know the true strength of those two Grand Mages," Gu Zhao began to summarize. "Besides, Yuan Wenrui is colluding with the Golden Wind Sect, so there might be other members of the sect in his mansion."

"There might be other experts in the mansion as well," Taoist Yan Song added. "The guards you can see are just targets. The hidden sentries are the real key."

Gu Zhao popped a sunflower seed handed to him by the Silk Embroideress into his mouth and chuckled. "The Changping Prefecture Yamen... a den of crouching tigers and hidden dragons!"

Zhuo Qingyan was silent for a few breaths. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Gu Zhao clasp his hands in a salute toward her. "Miss Zhuo, to deal with Yuan Wenrui, I will need your help. It will require you to break your vow."

"Eh?" Zhuo Qingyan couldn’t help but be taken aback.

Gu Zhao opened a cabinet to the side and took out a Jade Flute. "If you were to play music on this dongxiao, would its power be amplified?"

Zhuo Qingyan took the Jade Flute, a little bewildered, and immediately sensed the Spiritual Power and spiritual fluctuations within it.

This was a Magical Treasure with a Spiritual Attribute.

A flicker of light danced in Zhuo Qingyan’s eyes. She subconsciously brought the Jade Flute to her lips. As she played a single, soft note, Gu Zhao and the other two felt their Divine Souls jump.

Zhuo Qingyan held the Jade Flute in her hands and gave Gu Zhao a deep look.

"How is it?" Gu Zhao asked.

"It is a fine Magical Treasure," Zhuo Qingyan said, gently stroking the Jade Flute.

"That’s good." Gu Zhao nodded. "I’m completely tone-deaf and can’t play at all. Among us, only you can bring out the full power of this dongxiao."

Zhuo Qingyan pressed her lips together and raised the Jade Flute once more. A melody filled with tenderness and longing then rang out like a spring rain, gently brushing across the lakes of their hearts and stirring ripples on the surface.

The melody ended, the notes faded, but the echo lingered in the air.

Zhuo Qingyan lowered the Jade Flute, gave a slight nod, and her cherry-like lips moved. "Thank you, Brother Gu."