Compendio de hombres apuestos en el mundo de las artes marciales

Capítulo 59

As soon as they landed, Zhan Yun released his arm and asked softly, "Are you alright?" Duan Chen nodded and thanked him softly, then looked around for the broken branch.

Zhan Yun turned around with a faint smile, and immediately saw Xiao Changqing's somewhat sinister face. Mr. Xiao glared at her and lowered his voice: "Good lad! How does it feel to have a beauty in your arms? You're quite pleased with yourself, aren't you? Let me hold a corpse..."

Duan Chen called out to Xiao Changqing and the other man, "Come and see what this is."

Zhan Yun blinked, his handsome face still bearing a warm smile. He stretched out his folding fan, gesturing for Xiao Changqing to go first.

Duan Chen had already taken out a handkerchief and broken off a thin twig, gently scraping off the ochre powder clinging to the bark's texture. There wasn't much powder; it was estimated that much of it had been scattered when the tree trunk hit the ground. Xiao Changqing held the handkerchief, huddled together with Zhan Yun, examining it closely. Duan Chen calmly said in a low voice, "It seems to have been mixed with quite a bit of something; it smells like blood, and also realgar."

Xiao Changqing and Zhan Yun each dipped their fingertips in the substance, sniffed it gently, and then rubbed it between their fingers. Both having some medical knowledge, they nodded almost simultaneously in affirmation: "It is realgar, but..."

"You go first!" Xiao Changqing pouted somewhat defiantly.

Zhan Yun smiled faintly and pointed to the two of them to look closely: "There is a very small amount of green color inside, it looks like jade."

Xiao Changqing opened his eyes wide and looked carefully for a while, then glanced at his fingertips, pouting as he argued, "I don't have any emerald green here. However, I do see a few other things." Seeing that the two of them were looking at him intently, Master Xiao finally smiled and said, "Pearl, amber, cinnabar, and firethorn."

Seeing that the two seemed puzzled by his certainty, Xiao Changqing rolled his eyes shyly and explained in a low voice, "Well, these are all beauty and skincare products, and they are all somewhat toxic. If they are mixed together, they will produce a special smell. Most people can't smell it, but I make this often, so I'm quite familiar with it."

Duan Chen frowned slightly, seemingly puzzled, but said nothing more. He carefully took the handkerchief from Xiao Changqing and put it away, then the three of them turned and walked towards the crowd.

Awen had gone to Doctor Xia's house to deliver a message, and upon hearing that the three were interested in investigating this matter, he came along. While the three were examining the ochre powder on the tree trunk, Awen had already given a brief account to the people present.

These men were all quite courageous, one of whom was even a respected elder in the town. After the strange occurrences in town, they didn't move, but instead helped out in whatever way they could. Some families, terrified, would flee without even preparing a proper burial for their missing daughters, thinking they would never return. Every few days, these men would gather at the edge of the woods to check on the bodies and help collect them. They dared not do anything more than necessary. Today, upon hearing from A-Wen that strangers had come to help investigate the strange events, they were clearly both happy and worried. The matter of the constables from Suzhou Prefecture still lingered in their minds, and now no one dared to definitively say it wasn't the work of ghosts.

The other body had already been lowered before the three arrived. Duan Chen walked up to the body and squatted down, asking calmly, "May I ask who climbed the tree to untie the knot?"

The deceased was a boy of sixteen or seventeen. Duan Chen untied the belt around the body's waist and peeled back the white shirt, which was already stained with mud, to examine the man's body.

A man with a very honest-looking face stepped forward: "It's me."

Duan Chen looked up at the man: "How was the knot tied?"

The man scratched the back of his head, somewhat confused: "How did you tie it? It's just a regular knot!"

Duan Chen nodded, thanked them, and then turned to the crowd: "We need to examine the body, please wait to the side."

These men had originally come in an oxcart, and they had already prepared stretchers, white sheets, and other such items. When Duan Chen said he wanted to perform an autopsy, they all nodded obediently and walked with Awen to a place a little further away.

Zhan Yun and Xiao Changqing also came over and examined the body with Duan Chen. They saw that the man's wrists, the inside of his elbows, and his ankles, among other key areas, had been repeatedly slashed with a knife. But unexpectedly, many of the knife wounds had already healed and were not fatal.

Upon further examination of the deceased's left chest, it was discovered that the heart had been ripped out with a single, highly professional and skillful cut. Duan Chen's cold, phoenix-like eyes swept over every part of the body, finally brushing aside the man's hair at the side of his neck. He saw two large, oval-shaped gashes on the left side of the man's neck, about two fingers' width apart, with a faint bluish-purple tinge around them.

Returning to examine the wound on the man's left chest, a strange light flashed in his usually aloof phoenix eyes. Duan Chen looked up at the two people opposite him and said, "This man's heart was removed just as all the blood in his body was about to be drained."

Looking at the pale, almost transparent corpse before him, the gruesome slashes on its limbs, and the gaping wound on its left chest, and then at the still youthful and innocent face, Zhan Yun's handsome features gradually darkened. Even the usually boisterous and boisterous Mr. Xiao's expression turned somber, his eyes fixed on the bloody hole in the side of the deceased's neck.

Hearing Duan Chen's account after examining the corpse, Zhan Yun pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "I once read in a book that if you remove a person's heart and cut open the apex, every drop of blood inside will flow out. This blood, along with several extremely rare medicinal herbs, can revive a critically ill person." As Zhan Yun spoke, he shook his head gravely. "However, that was just a small booklet recording unofficial historical anecdotes; most of its content is absurd and lacks any historical basis..."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Xiao suddenly patted Zhan Yun on the shoulder: "Good lad, this time you might have hit the jackpot!"

Xiao Changqing carefully turned the body over, bent down and reached out a finger to probe the large blood hole on the side of the body's neck, then glanced at Zhan Yun: "Come and get a handkerchief to catch this."

Zhan Yun did as instructed, got up and moved to the other side, unfolded a light blue handkerchief in her palm, and handed it to the man's neck. Xiao Changqing pressed his finger on the small patch of skin between the two blood holes, and with his other hand, he reached above one of the blood holes, slowly squeezing it with his finger. After a while, a little silver gradually appeared in the blood hole.

Xiao Changqing's forehead was already beaded with sweat. Seeing this, he couldn't help but smile. However, he didn't dare to move his hands even a little. Without raising his head, he quickly said, "Little Duan, I have a heart-shaped pouch at my waist with silver tweezers inside."

Upon hearing this, Duan Chen quickly walked around to Xiao Changqing's side, took out silver tweezers, reached above the blood hole, aimed at the silver light, and lifted it up. A hair-like needle about the length of an index finger was pulled out.

Carefully placing the needle on the handkerchief, the three of them slowly exhaled. Xiao Changqing took the handkerchief from Zhan Yun's hand and smiled mysteriously: "This is the best proof that the Seven Life Sect has reappeared in the martial world."

After tying the man's clothes back on and covering him with a white sheet from the ground, the three walked over to examine the other young girl's corpse. They found the same bloody hole in the woman's neck, along with a silver needle tip inside. Unlike the previous corpse, the woman only had numerous scratches on her wrists, and the knife marks were fewer and cleaner.

"These ox-hair needles are unique to the Seven Sheng Sect. They're mainly used to insert a special bamboo tube into the side of a person's neck to drain the blood." In the carriage, Xiao Changqing explained to Duan Chen and Zhan Yun, his brows gradually furrowing. Looking at the two again, his expression was unusually serious: "The Seven Sheng Sect has resurfaced, and is even more insane than before. Taking blood, digging out hearts, and that ochre powder... this time, we're probably in big trouble."

“The way the knot was tied indicates that there was more than one person involved, and coupled with the increasingly rampant kidnapping in the town…” Zhan Yun paused slightly, a bitter smile appearing on his lips: “It seems that this Bitter Water Town has become a secret base of the Seven Life Sect.”

Duan Chen kept his eyes half-closed and didn't say anything, as if he was thinking about something.

The carriage was at the very back, moving slowly, when they heard Awen's voice from outside: "The three of you, the house of the girl who died is just ahead." Lifting the curtain, they saw Awen had already jumped down from the oxcart and was waving to the three of them.

They knocked for a long time but no one answered. The others had already driven to another house. Awen was scratching his head in frustration when he heard a neighbor shout, "Stop knocking! They moved away the other day, nobody's home!"

The group exchanged glances, and Awen seemed somewhat troubled: "They've moved again. It seems we'll have to take them back to my house first... If you don't mind, please come home with me for dinner. All the shops in this town close down in the evening, and there's nowhere to eat outside."

Zhan Yun cupped his hands in greeting to Awen, a faint smile playing on his lips: "Then we won't stand on ceremony. Thank you for your trouble, Brother Awen."

Awen hurriedly raised his hand to return the greeting, then waved it somewhat awkwardly, "Don't mention it. You're just helping our town, I'm just doing what I can to help you. When you said this wasn't caused by ghosts, Da Liu and the others were overjoyed!" Awen scratched his head sheepishly, "We're from a small town, we've never seen anyone with such amazing skills as the three of you. While you were examining the body, we were just chatting. Everyone said that since you're skilled and have seen the world, you'll definitely be able to help our Bitterwater Town catch this bad guy!"

Hearing this, all three felt a heaviness in their hearts. These people had just felt a glimmer of hope, unaware that even greater despair might await them. After a moment of silence, Duan Chen nodded slightly to Awen, as if in agreement, and then said, "We'd like to go inside and take a look; perhaps we can find some more clues."

Ah Wen had already witnessed their skills that afternoon and knew that the height of the wall in front of them was no challenge for them, so he nodded generously: "They've all moved out, it's alright."

Xiao Changqing patted Awen on the shoulder, grabbed him by the collar, and walked towards the street, waving to the two of them as he said, "You two, we'll go find an inn. Otherwise, we'll have nowhere to stay when it gets dark."

Author's Note: There will be an update next Monday at 9 AM. Thank you for your support! ~\(≧▽≦)/~

Unlike Zhao Ting and Ranran, Zhanzhan doesn't hold any official position, and his older brother is in charge of the manor, so he's quite free.

In addition, the 300 points per month are approved by the organization and deducted from my account. This is the only privilege I have, so everyone should take it if they want!

Furthermore, the points I give will be directly deposited into your accounts. The system will automatically process the next time you buy a novel, so you don't have to do anything.

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Everyone, please feel free to speak up and make bold guesses! This will give me inspiration.

Also, all you old readers who used to follow this story, show yourselves and let me see you, okay? *wiggle*

I don't even know who's back and who isn't; it feels like I've lost a lot of kids o(╯□╰)o

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