A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu waited patiently for the autopsy results.

The old coroner worked quickly. Within just two hours, the examination was complete.

He walked over to Qi Xuansu, removed his gloves, and reported, “The time of death is estimated to be around midnight. There are no external injuries or signs of poisoning. The soul dissipated naturally, and the Three Corpses escaped the body. But since there was no incense power, there were no signs of ghost transformation. It’s been six hours since the time of death, so any soul-recalling spells are now useless.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “Then how exactly did he die?”

“Qi deviation.” The old coroner was a Xiantian Being with considerable cultivation.

Qi Xuansu frowned.

Qi deviation typically referred to a cultivation mishap, such as when Qi Xuansu practiced his Demonic Blade and lost control due to overwhelming bloodlust. That could be considered a deviation.

But Gao Mingyin was a prisoner facing imminent danger. Why would he still be cultivating? Was he trying to break out of his cell?

Qi Xuansu pressed further. “What kind of deviation exactly? Was it a mental breakdown? Or did his innate qi go awry?”

The old coroner replied slowly, “A mental breakdown might endanger others, but it seldom kills oneself. This deviation is due to internal errors. The prisoner’s lower Dantian was utterly destroyed, and the middle Dantian also suffered damage. Numerous meridians were severed. These are textbook signs of qi deviation. From what I deduce, it appears all the innate qi in his body stopped circulating through his meridians and instead gathered solely in the lower Dantian, eventually causing it to rupture.”

As a Rogue Cultivator with innate qi, Qi Xuansu naturally understood what the coroner was saying.

The innate qi in the human body was never static and needed to flow continuously. While the lower Dantian was a reservoir for innate qi, compressing the entire body’s innate qi into it was disastrous. It was like rivers flowing into a lake—the meridians were the rivers, and the Dantian was the lake. A lake could store water, but if every river poured into the same lake with no outlet, the lake would eventually flood.

That did match the symptoms of qi deviation. But Qi Xuansu did not believe it was that simple. It was like someone drowning. Was it an accident, or did someone push the victim? The difference was vast.

Gao Mingyin was a shrewd businessman, so why would someone like him take such a reckless risk to cultivate at a time like this? Most techniques would not even cause qi deviation under normal conditions.

Qi Xuansu paused in thought, then asked, “Is it possible to fake the signs of qi deviation using external force?”

Cultivation was like riding a horse. If one was steady, nothing usually went wrong. But someone could always spook the horse on purpose and cause a fall.

“It’s very difficult,” the old coroner said after some thought. “Breaking the lower Dantian from the outside is not hard, but the damage would be from the outside in. A Dantian ruptured by internal pressure will incur damage from the inside out. In this case, even if the Dantian is obliterated, many broken meridians remain. Meridians are like narrow tubes with both inner and outer linings. If destroyed by external force, the outer lining is more damaged. If destroyed from within, the inner lining suffers more. I just examined several major meridians, which are thicker and easier to observe. The damage was clearly more severe on the inside, which meant they had burst from internal pressure. That’s why I concluded it was a case of qi deviation.”

Qi Xuansu murmured, “Impressive.”

It was not clear whether he was praising the coroner or the one who silenced Gao Mingyin.

The old coroner said nothing, quietly waiting for Qi Xuansu’s next command.

Qi Xuansu snapped back to the present. “Please put your findings into writing, sir.”

The coroner nodded in agreement.

Qi Xuansu signaled for Ke Qingqing to offer the coroner a large cash note. “Thank you for making the trip, sir. This case wasn’t really within your jurisdiction, so here’s a small token of appreciation. Please don’t decline.”

The old coroner hesitated briefly, then accepted the note. “Thank you, Mage Qi.”

Qi Xuansu added, “If you ever encounter trouble in the future, feel free to come to the Imperial Capital Daoist Mansion to find me.”

The coroner’s eyes lit up. To him, 100 Taiping coins were not much. But a promise from a powerful superintendent was a good deal.

He thanked Qi Xuansu again, this time with much more sincerity.

Qi Xuansu instructed Ke Qingqing to escort the old coroner to the guards’ duty room to write the autopsy report. He then ordered the Diviner to trace the earth qi.

The result of the earth qi recalling did not surprise Qi Xuansu. It seemed that Gao Mingyin had been lying on his side and facing the wall the entire time. It was not until the Spirit Guards outside sensed something was wrong and came in to check on him that they discovered he was already dead.

Qi Xuansu instructed Ke Qingqing to compile all the results with the autopsy report and copy them neatly into a single document for Shi Bingyun.

......

A middle-aged man in an azure robe praised him. “Master Wen, that’s truly impressive!”

Seated across from him was a white-haired elder with a graceful demeanor—the administrator of Prince Liao’s household.

In the current dynasty, each Imperial Prince could appoint one administrator to serve as an advisor and manager of all household affairs. All formal requests—naming, titles, marriage, favors, petitions, tributes—were submitted through the administrator, and if a prince committed misconduct, the administrator was held accountable.

Thus, even though Wen Weng was merely a fifth-rank official, he was not to be underestimated. Even the superintendents of the Tianchen Division respectfully called him Master Wen. Aside from Prince Liao, the Princess Consort, and the heir apparent, the other concubines and children in the Prince Liao household had to tread carefully around this administrator.

Wen Weng took a sip of wine and pushed open a window, revealing a view of the first-floor hall.

This was the main branch of the Taiping Inn in the Imperial Capital, where Gao Mingyin had been arrested.

Wen Weng slowly swirled the wine in his cup and remarked, “In officialdom, having a backer matters. Many people act like dignitaries in front of outsiders, but deep down, they’re nervous because when trouble comes, they have no one to shield them. Instead of protection, they’re surrounded by wolves eyeing their position. Once they slip, it’s total ruin. When nothing goes wrong, everyone is polite and civil. But when a big enough crisis hits, you’ll instantly see whose roots run deep. The same goes for the Daoist sects.

“Just last year alone, I recall nearly 30 cases of sudden deaths by hanging, poisoning, and other ‘accidents’ from regional magistrates down to assistant county officers—all of them gone overnight. The truth is, the moment they dipped their feet into muddy waters, their fates were sealed. Whenever the higher-ups needed a shield, they would become that shield.”

The man in the azure robe was one of the Tianchen Division’s superintendents.

Though Superintendent Cui was a Heavenly Being, he was still a government official. Hearing Wen Weng casually share these grim truths, he agreed inwardly, but also felt a trace of unease.

Du Yuyan, who was still missing to this day, was a scapegoat too.

All creatures grieved for their kind. But in officialdom, who was truly safe? Some had already fallen overboard, while the rest were still standing on the ship—for now. No one could say for sure whether they would ever make it safely to shore.

Wen Weng shifted the topic. “Mage Qi has no fear of trouble at all. Rectifying public morality within the Imperial Capital may sound mild, but it involves every local power player. Anyone lacking the proper backing will end up ruined. Every brothel is a cash cow for the backers, so cutting off someone’s source of wealth is equivalent to making an enemy. It’s not surprising Mage Qi has been a target for assassination.

“That’s why different people handle things differently. Those without backing just go through the motions, gathering enough information to report back to their superiors. But the ones with a powerful backer will make a show of it and assert their authority. After all, human ambition has no limits.

“Outsiders see the big commotion, but only insiders can feel the undercurrents beneath. The higher someone rises without a solid foundation, the more perilous it all is. Call it cautious if you like, call it craven if you don’t. In a storm, all they want is to preserve themselves. In the end, what matters most is not capability. It’s whether one has deep roots, someone to back them up.”

Superintendent Cui frowned. “That’s putting it mildly. Four Heavenly Beings are still unaccounted for. I think his roots are almost as deep as the Li family. Are you sure he’s not from the Qi family of Shuzhou?”

Wen Weng shook his head. “He’s not. The situation is even trickier. The Qi family’s reach ends at Shuzhou. But Mage Qi has the Yao, Pei, and the Zhang families behind him.”

With each name Wen Weng uttered, Superintendent Cui’s expression grew increasingly solemn. By the time he had heard all three big names, the superintendent was completely despondent.

Wen Weng said softly, “I thought he would stop after arresting Gao Mingyin. But it’s clearly not that simple. The Yao and Pei families represent the Quanzhen Sect, and the Zhang family represents the Zhengyi Sect. They clearly have other intentions.”

Superintendent Cui jolted up. “He’s targeting Prince Liao!”

Wen Weng nodded. “Mage Qi is just someone’s blade. I had no choice but to use my channels to silence Gao Mingyin. But it was done in haste, so I fear there will be loose ends.”

Superintendent Cui suggested, “We need to find a way to make him stop. We can’t let him wreck everything.”

Wen Weng replied, “That’s precisely why I invited you here today.”