Chapter 17: Chief Criminal Division

The galloping horses and the men in black at night are like the characters in the storytellers' stories, all of whom will never return from the world of martial arts.

At this time, a crow flapped its wings and landed on the roof of a restaurant in front of them. It stood quietly on the eaves, watching Chen Ji and Yun Yang galloping past, without moving, as if it itself was the eaves beast of the building.

The crow's feathers shone in the moonlight, as if covered with a layer of silver gauze, peaceful and mysterious.

Huh, crow?

Chen Ji turned around to look at the eaves again, but found that the crow was already flapping its wings, and he didn't know where it was going.

He was sure that he had seen this crow in the backyard of the clinic before. The way it looked at him was as if it was the scrutiny of a superior.

When he saw the crow at that time, he thought it was an illusion caused by high nervous tension, but now seeing it again, Chen Ji no longer thought so. The mystery of this world is far beyond his imagination.

He thought for a moment and asked Yunyang, "Master Yunyang, you guys in the Secret Service should be knowledgeable, but have you ever seen someone controlling an animal?"

"Never seen it," Yun Yang responded casually.

"Are there people who practice Taoism? I heard the storyteller tell some supernatural stories, are they true?" Chen Ji asked.

"No."

Chen Ji fell into deep thought. He had already embarked on the path of cultivation and was sure that there were definitely other practitioners in this world, but why had he never heard of them?
What is the reason that causes those practitioners to hide among the common people?

A tearing sound.

Yun Yang turned his head and saw Chen Ji tearing off the hem of his robe and tying it around his face.

"What are you doing? Working for my Secret Service is upright and honest, there's no need to hide your identity," Yun Yang said disdainfully.

Chen Ji responded casually: "Lord Yunyang, I am just a small person, it is always right to be cautious. And you have to protect my identity, otherwise the Liu family will retaliate against me, and no one will help you earn credit in the future."

Yun Yang thought about it carefully and realized that this was indeed the case: "Then cover your face more carefully... ouch!"

He suddenly pulled the reins tight, causing the horse to stop suddenly in the dark street.

Chen Ji looked over and saw dozens of people standing on horseback opposite them.

The group of people were wearing straw raincoats and bamboo hats, and each of them had a long sword across his waist, and they looked murderous.

The leader looked up at Chen Ji, and Chen Ji saw that in the shadow under the bamboo hat, the middle-aged man's eyes were like knives, cutting people's cheeks painfully.

"Who are these people?" Chen Ji asked in a low voice while on horseback.

"They are from the 'Chief Criminal Division,'" Yun Yang replied, tightening the reins and saying loudly, "Commander Lin looks exhausted. I guess he must have brought the Yulong Guards with him to rush here from Jinling day and night."

The middle-aged man said calmly, "You and Jiaotu have caused such a big mess. I will take you two back to the capital and let the Minister of Internal Affairs decide your fate."

"Stirred up trouble?" Yun Yang sneered, "Jiaotu and I came to Luocheng to arrest Jingchao spies. What's wrong with that?"

The middle-aged man said solemnly: "You arrested the Liu family, but you couldn't produce strong evidence to convict them. Now the old man of the Liu family is on the verge of death, and this matter cannot be cleared."

Yun Yang was calm and said, "Jiaotu and I have already found the evidence. We didn't show it because we wanted to play it long and not alert the enemy. Lin Chaoqing, you came to arrest us and hinder the investigation at the slightest sign of trouble. Are you a spy planted by the Jing Dynasty in the Chief Criminal Department?"

"You are talking nonsense," Lin Chaoqing said with disdain, "I am the Chief of the Criminal Department and have the responsibility to supervise all officials. Your Secret Service Department is within my supervisory authority. I advise you to stop struggling in vain and follow me back to Beijing!"

Yun Yang said in a serious tone: "Lin Chaoqing, if you want to arrest me, at least wait until Old Master Liu dies."

Lin Chaoqing was a quiet person and didn't want to say any more nonsense: "Arrest them."

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of Fish Dragon Guards riding on horses rushed over behind him.

The horseshoes stepped on the bluestone road, making a thrilling sound.

At this time, the sky was covered by dark clouds and the long street was as dark as ink.

The faces of the Yulong Guards were hidden under their bamboo hats, their eyes were hidden in the shadows of terror. When they were about to reach Yunyang, all of them drew their long swords from their waists in unison!

Yun Yang said to Chen Ji in a deep voice: "Sit tight!"

After saying that, he jumped off the horse and stabbed the horse's butt with a silver needle on his finger like thunder. The horse neighed in shock and ran away in another direction with Chen Ji!

Chen Ji had no knowledge of horsemanship, so he could only crouch down and hold the horse's neck tightly. He looked back and saw Yun Yang, dressed in black, advancing instead of retreating, striding forward to meet the dozens of Fish Dragon Guards!

boom!
The moment he met the first Yulong Guard, the Yulong Guard swung his knife, but before the knife fell, Yun Yang had already lowered his waist and twisted his hips, and punched the horse on the head!
With a mournful whine, the warhorse, as big as a chariot, was shaken by the slender punch and fell on the long street like a collapsing mountain.

"Disobeying orders and resisting arrest is a heavier crime!" Lin Chaoqing suddenly exerted force, stepped on the saddle with one foot, and drew his sword in mid-air to chop it down. His sword was longer and heavier than any other's!

When he stepped on the horse's back and exerted force, the majestic horse could not withstand the force and its knees bent.

On the other side, Yun Yang also leaped up upon seeing this. The collision between the two in mid-air caused a turbulent airflow. No one could see clearly what happened before the two separated in an instant.

Lin Chaoqing fell from the air and stood steadily on his horse's back. A several-meter-long knife mark was left on the bluestone road where the two collided!
On the other side, Yunyang used the force of the collision to jump onto the roof, and in a flash, he caught up with the running horse like a phantom, jumped onto the horse's back and escaped.

On the long street, Lin Chaoqing was not in a hurry to catch up. He sat back on his horse, pressed down his bamboo hat, and asked calmly: "Who is sitting behind his horse?" "I have never seen him before. It should not be someone from the Secret Service."

Lin Chaoqing's voice was as powerful as the interlacing of metal: "Check."

……

……

Chen Ji said with lingering fear: "You said before that you have never seen a cultivator...?"

Yun Yang was about to answer when he spat out a mouthful of blood. He wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve and said, "How can a cultivator's affairs be announced to the world? What you are cultivating, what realm you have reached, you cannot tell others."

"why?"

Yun Yang said meaningfully, "It's nice to practice cultivation to achieve immortality, but that's just a story in a book. On this road, there's only life and death. I think you have a future, and maybe you'll be promoted by some big shot in the future. But remember, if you really embark on this path, don't tell others what you practice."

Chen Ji's heart trembled. There was a deep warning hidden in Yun Yang's words. It must be the life experience that the other party had summed up after going through certain things.

As he was thinking, Yun Yang coughed up another mouthful of blood: "Boy, if you can't find evidence to convict the Liu family's children tonight, I'm afraid we will have to die together."

Chen Ji said, "So the reason you said we must find evidence tonight is because you are worried about being held accountable by the Criminal Division. I thought your Secret Service Division was the most powerful."

"Stop talking nonsense. The Chief Criminal Division is in charge of the imperial guards. Of course these warriors are powerful," Yun Yang said coldly, "but we all work under the Internal Minister. We in the Secret Service Division risk our lives every day fighting with the Military Intelligence Division. What's the point of them investigating their own family members every day?"

The two men had arrived at the gate of Zhou's mansion. Yun Yang jumped off his horse first and pushed open the vermilion lacquered door with force. The creaking sound rang out in the night, making people's teeth ache.

The Zhou residence had been cleaned, with the tables straightened and the chairs put away, as if more than a dozen people had never died here.

Yun Yang stood in the courtyard and turned to look at Chen Ji, saying in a serious tone: "Time is running out. I'm betting on you. I hope you won't let me down. Tell me, what did you find in Zhou's house earlier?"

Chen Ji walked straight to the main house of Zhou's mansion and asked: "Where are all Zhou Chengyi's books stored?"

"All of them are here, not one is missing."

Chen Ji stood in front of the bookshelf and quickly took down the books one by one and looked through them.

Seeing that he was concentrating, Yun Yang walked out of the main room and took out a shadow puppet in a deserted place. He bit off his index finger and painted the puppet's eyes with blood.

The shadow puppet came to life, with a strange smile on his face. He jumped onto the courtyard wall and ran to the east.

He returned to the main room, only to see Chen Ji finally pick out two books: "The clues should be in these two books."

Yun Yang took the book and flipped through it, only to find that the contents of the two books were exactly the same: "Both books are the eighth chapter of the Four Books, Chapter 2 on Governing. One of them should have been copied by Zhou Chengyi himself. I have seen his handwriting."

The common ways of book circulation in this era included buying and selling, borrowing, copying, as well as looting and stealing.

The printing of books was monopolized by wealthy families and was expensive, so borrowing and copying was a very common practice.

But that’s where the problem lies. Zhou Chengyi is not short of money.

Chen Ji pointed to a wall of hundreds of books and said, "Zhou Chengyi is a county magistrate. On the surface, he seems to be honest, but he secretly keeps women in his outer house and has more than ten servants. How could he copy books by himself? I guess that every time Zhou Chengyi borrows and returns books, it is his way of passing on information. This book that has just been copied has not been returned yet. It must contain secrets that he wants to pass on."

Yun Yang looked at Chen Ji with a strange expression: "These were the books you checked first last time. You found this clue at that time. Why didn't you speak up to save your life right away, but continued to look for other clues?"

Chen Ji said, "It's always better to have more information that can save your life. Besides, there is only a quarter of an hour. Although I know there is something wrong with it, I can't guarantee that I can decipher the code of the Military Intelligence Department in a quarter of an hour."

That night, although Chen Ji was frightened, he never panicked. His trump card was like the broken piece of porcelain that he always held in his hand and never let go.

Yun Yang sat on the chair tiredly: "Are you sure now?"

"If there are still two hours, it should be possible," Chen Ji said confidently.

Before he could finish his words, the sound of horse hooves could be heard outside Zhou's mansion. The two looked up and saw Jiaotu dismounting with more than a dozen secret agents. She handed the reins to a secret agent and walked quickly towards the mansion: "Close the door! On my way back, I found that the Liu family was rushing here in a big way, and there were a lot of people!"

Yun Yang was surprised: "What are they going to do?"

Jiaotu said solemnly: "Old Master Liu is dead."

Yun Yang looked at Jiao Tu in shock: "The old man of the Liu family is dead?! Chen Ji, didn't your master pass away? His medical skills were not very good!"

Inside the house, Jiaotu said solemnly, "He died an hour ago. The Liu family is very excited right now."

"Damn it," Yun Yang rubbed his face with both hands, "We are so damn unlucky. It's obviously his own health that's not good, how can he blame us? Why is this shit being put on my head?!"

Jiaotu said: "Two of my secret agents are missing. Maybe they were killed in the chaos. Among these people is the 'official' raised by the Liu family."

Just as he finished speaking, there were dense sounds of horse hooves and footsteps outside again. The Liu family came very quickly and in a hurry!
Someone shouted loudly: "They arrested the young scholar of my Liu family and put him in prison without any evidence and killed him. They made my old master die of anger. They must give us an explanation today!"

"Yes, you must give us an explanation!"

Amid the bustling crowd and the restless firelight, Yun Yang looked at Chen Ji with a strange expression: "Now, I'm afraid you only have a quarter of an hour."

(End of this chapter)