A Pawn's Passage

The morgue was not far from the medical hall. Those who could not be cured were sent there. The morgue and medical hall were under the joint management of Huasheng Hall and Ecstasy Paradise.

According to the rules, even if the Eighth Tianyang was the senior major of the Green Phoenix Guard, he was not allowed to go to the morgue of the Daoist Order for an autopsy without permission, just as how he could not interrogate Daoist prisoners.

However, these rules are set by people, so they could be broken at the right price.

Eighth Tianyang easily bribed the guards at the morgue, bringing Qi Xuansu and Liu Hu inside.

The guards and the operations staff were outsourced and recruited by Ecstasy Paradise because the Daoist Order did not want Daoist disciples to run this business openly. The Daoist Order turned a blind eye to the Daoist disciples secretly engaging in these illicit activities as long as they did not go overboard because it was difficult to eradicate desire from the masses.

Outsourcing jobs was common, just as The Inn outsourced assassinations to thugs and the Green Phoenix Guard outsourced assassinations to The Inn. The Daoist Order was too big to do everything by themselves. Thus, they left the dirty work to others. As such, the number of people relying on the Daoist Order for a living might be just as much, if not more, than the number of people in the Daoist Order.

Secret society members had an insulting name for Daoist—Daoist dogs. They also had an insulting name for those who relied on Daoists to make a living—Daoist slaves.

Qi Xuansu went to the guard’s body, took over the pair of gloves that Eighth Tianyang offered him, and began to examine the body.

Liu Hu was not afraid of corpses, but she was surprised by Qi Xuansu’s knowledge. She wondered if most travelers had such skills.

In fact, one’s environment would force one to be proficient in everything. Since getting wounded was inevitable when traveling, wound treatment and basic medical knowledge were important. If not, one could only wait for death to befall if one ended up injured in the wilderness. Those who understood this principle survived, while the rest did not live to tell the tale.

The same principle applied to autopsies. The most direct way to determine who the murderer was, was through the cause of death, which required a certain amount of experience. With enough killing experience, one would roughly know what kind of wounds and states of death would be caused by what kind of weapons, techniques, spells, or poisons. It was similar to how a prolonged illness makes a doctor of a patient.

This was one of the reasons why Tiangang Hall preferred recruiting “wild” Daoist priests over the flowerbed priests.

In terms of details, Qi Xuansu could not compare to a professional coroner. However, he had more experience and insights from seeing and inflicting countless deaths.

For example, in the case of a stab wound, a coroner could clearly explain the angle and force with which the blade penetrated the body and guess what type of blade was used. However, they could not tell the specific technique that was used to determine the identity of the killer. This was the responsibility of the Green Phoenix Guard. After all, most coroners would not specialize in martial arts. However, Qi Xuansu and other experienced killers could probably recognize the kind of technique used as long as they had seen it before.

Of course, Qi Xuansu knew a lot at his age. That was because he had Madam Qi as his mentor, which saved him a lot of detours. In addition, Qi Xuansu was smart and good at comprehension, so his theory was always outstanding. With enough theoretical knowledge, he was able to travel alone more efficiently and understand things quickly upon encounter. It saved him the trouble of slowly exploring on his own.

Eighth Tianyang explained, “The cause of death was organ removal. The killer dug out the victim’s heart with bare hands. In addition, the victim’s arms had fractures and muscle tears of varying degrees.”

Qi Xuansu nodded. He could probably imagine how the guard died. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the guard had no power to fight back. This meant that the killer was at least one level higher than the deceased. The chances of the killer being a Diviner, Shaman, Brahma, or Scribe were low. The killer was more likely to be a Martial Arts Practitioner or a Bhikkhu.

Hearing this, Qi Xuansu asked, “What level of cultivation did the deceased have?”

“There are always all kinds of ruckuses in this type of place, so most of the guards here are at the Kunlun stage, which is considered good enough.” Eighth Tianyang replied.

Qi Xuansu pondered. “If so, the killer must be at the Yuxu stage at least. They could be in the Guizhen stage too. This is a bit tricky.”

Eighth Tianyang suggested. “Do you want to see the corpses of the other victims here?”

Qi Xuansu could not help but ask, “Why are the corpses split between the Green Phoenix Guard and the Purple Immortal Mountain?”

“Well, those who died in Shimen County are kept with the Green Phoenix Guard, and those who died in Ecstasy Paradise are kept with the Purple Immortal Mountain.” Eighth Tianyang shrugged.

Qi Xuansu shook his head and muttered, “It’s strange that the Daoist priest in charge of this place still refuses to report this matter to the Tiangang Hall when so many people have been killed in Ecstasy Paradise.”

Eighth Tianyang led them to another corpse.

While Qi Xuansu stepped forward to examine the body, Eighth Tianyang recounted the results of the autopsy. “The heart was dug out, and a tropical pitcher plant was placed where the heart was.”

“A tropical pitcher plant?” Qi Xuansu said in surprise, “If I remember correctly, this plant is not cold-resistant and is only found in Lingnan and the Samudra Kingdom.”

Eighth Tianyang added, “Yes, but the sac of the tropical pitcher plant can be used as medicine and can be found in many medicinal shops.”

Qi Xuansu looked pensive. “Hmm...this seems to be some kind of ritual killing, which is usually a method used by secret societies for blood sacrifices for the Ancient Immortals. But I’ve never heard of a tropical pitcher plant being used in the Cult of Fates, Lingshan Witch Cult, or other secret societies I’m familiar with. I think our key lies in this use of the tropical pitcher plant. Does it have any special meaning?”

Speaking of this, Qi Xuansu twitched his nose to sniff the body. He smelled a faint stench.

Eighth Tianyang also smelled it. He said, “This is the smell of the tropical pitcher plant. It emits a light fragrance during the day and a foul smell at night. I don’t know how it could retain the smell for such a long time.”

“I see.” Qi Xuansu nodded.

Eighth Tianyang was a professional, so he was detailed in his checks. This time, Eighth Tianyang asked for his help because he was desperate and wanted more insights.

While the two were talking, a guard hurried in with a worried look on his face. He warned, “The two superintendents have arrived.”

There were two Daoist priests in charge of Ecstasy Paradise, both fourth-rank superintendents. One of them was in charge of Ecstasy Paradise, while the other was in charge of the Huasheng Hall branch in Purple Immortal Mountain.

The reason Purple Immortal Mountain had a Huasheng Hall branch was to provide medical treatment as well as sell various medicinal ingredients, such as aphrodisiacs used to aid men in sexual stimulation. After all, these drugs were very profitable.

There were some differences between the superintendents in Jade Capital compared to those in the local municipality.

Those who entered the Nine Halls had the opportunity to get promoted quickly, but there were too many high-ranking Daoist priests in Jade Capital. So a superintendent in Jade Capital had limited power to call the shots.

However, a superintendent in a local municipality was different. The superintendents of Ecstasy Paradise and Huasheng Hall branch held great power and were treated like kings. That was because there were limited high-ranking priests in the area.

A superintendent in the Requiem Division might only have a few dozen people under their command, but a superintendent of Ecstasy Paradise would be in charge of the livelihood of thousands of people. At the same rank, the two had such a big gap in power and status.

Generally, Deputy Hall Master would have to be at least in the third rank. However, Zhang Yuelu was an exception. She was restricted under the tenure system and would be promoted to the third rank as soon as the tenure was fulfilled.

However, rank was still useful. Jade Capital had a higher starting point, which had its advantages. If one could transfer out to a local municipality, one would be able to hold real power due to the high rank.

For example, Sun Yongfeng, the superintendent of Tiangang Hall, could ask for a transfer to Ecstasy Paradise. He would still be a superintendent, but he would have much more authority in Ecstasy Paradise compared to Tiangang Hall, where he had to follow Zhang Yuelu’s orders.

However, local Daoist priests would eye the superintendent’s position. As soon as there was a vacancy, it would generally be filled quickly. After all, the local Daoist priests generally did not welcome high-ranking Daoist priests who came from Jade Capital.

Under normal circumstances, Daoist priests from the Nine Halls in the Jade Capital would not be transferred out, except for when training was needed for the selected promising young talents.

All in all, the Daoist priest in charge of Ecstasy Paradise was not of a very high rank, but they had more influence if they could secure this position. In most cases, these superintendents would also have strong backers.

Eighth Tianyang nodded in resignation.

After a while, two Daoist priests walked in, one man and one woman, both in their forties.

Eighth Tianyang briefly introduced the two to Qi Xuansu in a whisper. “The man’s name is Liu Futong. He is the superintendent of Ecstasy Paradise. He is used to having his way around here, so he has a bad temper. The woman’s name is Su Ran, the superintendent of the local Huasheng Hall branch who just transferred here. I don’t know much about her.”

The guard who had been bribed by Eighth Tianyang followed the two superintendents. He was sweating profusely as he said, “Superintendents, I don’t know how they got in.”

At the same time, the guard winked at Eighth Tianyang subtly.

Liu Futong ignored this and snorted coldly. “Senior Major Eighth, I have warned you that you are not allowed to come here to investigate the case without my permission.”

A second later, Liu Futong’s eyes shifted to Qi Xuansu. His tone became more stern. “Who are you?”

Qi Xuansu took off his gloves and took out the badge given to him by Pei Xiaolou. “This is the badge given by Sage Pei himself. Who do you think I am?”