Urban Martial Saint

Over in Shenchuan City, Ye Qing has had a few relaxing days. Great General Helian Tiehua arrived in Shenchuan City long ago. With him stationed here, no snakes, insects, or rodents dare approach, let alone cause trouble. Plus, all members of the Poison Eel Mercenary Corps have been dealt with, so Shenchuan City has become so calm it’s almost unsettling.

This morning, as usual, after breakfast, Ye Qing planned to visit the orphanage. However, before he reached the orphanage, he received a call from Zhao Chengshuang, informing him that the autopsy results of the Poison Eel Mercenary Corps members had come out.

Ye Qing had been waiting for these autopsy results, so upon receiving Zhao Chengshuang’s call, he immediately changed plans and drove to the police station.

Zhao Chengshuang was in his office, and several top leaders of the municipal bureau were present. When Ye Qing arrived, the municipal bureau leaders were praising him. The incident with the Poison Eel Mercenary Corps was a significant matter, even Su Kaicheng was injured, and this alarmed the Capital, which placed great emphasis on the situation and even communicated with the military department to prepare to deploy troops to handle these mercenaries.

Under such circumstances, the entire Poison Eel Mercenary Corps was annihilated in a short time. Although Zhao Chengshuang was not the one who personally cracked the case, the credit was attributed to him. The higher-ups are only interested in results, wanting only to see these mercenaries dealt with and the security risks eliminated; the process was not important. Thus, Zhao Chengshuang almost received the credit without effort. Now, it’s just the municipal bureau leaders commending him, and later on, there will be commendations from the provincial department and police headquarters. This time, Zhao Chengshuang has indeed gained recognition. This achievement is enough to pave a smooth path for Zhao Chengshuang’s future career, at least bringing him one big step closer to his goal of becoming the provincial department director. Not only Zhao Chengshuang, but the entire Zhao Family was thrilled, as if a pie had fallen from the sky and hit Zhao Chengshuang directly.

Ye Qing knew how much the Zhao Family pinned their hopes on Zhao Chengshuang, so he was genuinely happy for him to have such a fortunate event. Standing outside, he waited for the municipal bureau’s praise session to end and for everyone to leave before he entered Zhao Chengshuang’s office.

Zhao Chengshuang had just seen off those leaders and was about to sip his tea when Ye Qing walked in. He hurriedly stood up and said, ”Ye Zi, come on, come and sit. I have something to show you that you wouldn’t even dream of.”

”What is it?” Ye Qing asked in surprise. ”Weren’t you asking me to look at the autopsy results?”

”Yes, it is the autopsy results.” Zhao Chengshuang took an envelope from the cabinet behind him and handed it to Ye Qing, saying, ”However, the autopsy results will definitely shock you.”

Ye Qing said, ”What could be so shocking? At most, these people were poisoned—it can’t be anything special.”

”What? How do you know?” Zhao Chengshuang widened his eyes in amazement, staring at Ye Qing, and said, ”You… you know the autopsy results?”

”No idea.” Ye Qing pulled out the autopsy report from the envelope and said, ”But it wasn’t hard to guess. So many mercenaries died without any resistance at all—if they weren’t poisoned, what else could it be?”

Zhao Chengshuang gave Ye Qing a thumbs up and said, ”Smart, you even guessed that. You were exactly right, these mercenaries were indeed poisoned. But after the medical examination, the poison was found to be very unusual, not one typically used in medicine. It is a peculiar poison that can damage human organs in a very short time without leaving any trace externally. None of the forensic experts had ever seen this poison before.”

Ye Qing had already skimmed through the autopsy report, and everything was just as Zhao Chengshuang had described. The composition of the poison was marked as ’unknown.’ Evidently, the forensic experts could not even analyze the poison’s composition, proving it was not simple.

Not many people could pull this off, making Ye Qing suspect even more that it was Ning Qianshu’s descendants who poisoned these mercenaries. But why would Ning Qianshu’s descendants do this? It’s known that Ning Qianshu’s people have always hated Ye Qing to the core, wishing to kill him immediately but unable to. These mercenaries came to deal with Ye Qing, surely Ning Qianshu’s people would rather support them than kill them suddenly. Could it be that there’s some kind of grudge between these mercenaries and Ning Qianshu’s people?

Ye Qing of course couldn’t figure out that there was not a bit of enmity between Ning Qianshu’s people and those mercenaries. They killed these mercenaries purely to protect Ye Qing. Bai Li Xi’s words had put Ning Qianshu in a dilemma, compelling him to preserve Ye Qing’s life.

In fact, Bai Li Xi’s words not only bound Ning Qianshu but also dragged the Twelve Green Halls into it. For the legacy left by Divine Doctor An Shiping, the Twelve Green Halls were fully supporting Ning Qianshu, having dispatched Red Snake Yin Fairy into Huaxia, and One-Eyed Ding Lianshun secretly protecting Ye Qing. Otherwise, Prince Wan Yan’s ambush last time would have left Ye Qing in peril.

Once Ye Qing had read the autopsy results, Zhao Chengshuang immediately asked, ”What do you think? Can you find any clues?”

Ye Qing shook his head, handed the autopsy results back to Zhao Chengshuang, and said quietly, ”Although the Poison Eel Mercenary Corps members were all dealt with, this matter isn’t over. This mercenary corps is notorious for taking revenge; since they lost so many men on our side twice, they definitely won’t let it go easily. So, be careful, they might come back anytime.”

”Speaking of which, I meant to remind you,” Zhao Chengshuang said, ”When we examined these mercenaries’ bodies, we discovered something else.”

”What’s that?” Ye Qing asked, indicating that since Zhao Chengshuang brought it up, it must be significant.

”Here, take a look.” Zhao Chengshuang handed a photo to Ye Qing.

Ye Qing picked up the photo; it was a black-and-white image. The picture depicted an ancient-style longsword, with seven gemstones inlaid on the hilt, arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper, unmistakably the Seven-Star Ancient Sword.

”Where did this come from?” Ye Qing marveled. Judging from the quality of this black-and-white photograph, it must be from long ago. It seems the photo was likely a reprint of an older picture, with a lengthy history.

Zhao Chengshuang said, ”This photo was found on one of those mercenaries.”

”Hmm?” Ye Qing was taken aback and asked in surprise, ”You mean you found this on one of the mercenaries?”

”Yes,” Zhao Chengshuang nodded, ”We found it on one of them.”

”Oh?” Ye Qing was taken aback and curiously asked, ”You mean on their bodies?”

”Yes, that’s right. We found these photos on those mercenaries,” Zhao Chengshuang replied. ”And not just on these mercenaries, but also the same photos were found on some other mercenaries who have entered Huaxia recently,” Zhao Chengshuang continued. ”Yesterday, when I reported the Poison Eel Mercenary situation to the province, they mentioned that news of large numbers of mercenaries entering Huaxia has been emerging from many places across the country. Furthermore, some of these mercenaries have even had encounters with local police or the military, and on the bodies of the intercepted mercenaries, we found photos exactly the same as these.”

Zhao Chengshuang took a deep breath and said solemnly, ”Therefore, we have reason to suspect that the massive influx of mercenaries across the country is likely for a single purpose.”

Zhao Chengshuang may not be aware of the situation with the Heaven Earth Man Three Gates, but Ye Qing knows it very well. So, his thoughts are broader than Zhao Chengshuang’s.

The Heaven Earth Man Three Gates has long drawn competition from many, but the most powerful contenders have been the Seven Steering Committees of the Hong Alliance and the Twelve Green Halls. Initially, the struggle was largely between these two organizations, but now it seems foreign forces are also involved.

But why would these foreign forces want to compete for the seven keys? Do they also want to access the Heaven Earth Man Three Gates to become a Supreme? But the Heaven Earth Man Three Gates was established by the Great Sage Guiguzi of Huaxia; could these foreigners really get in as well?

These questions puzzled Ye Qing. However, he began to see why Ning Qianshu’s people killed the Poison Eel Mercenary Corps—it might have been to prevent them from competing for the seven keys.