allonlinenovel Chapter 311 Evidence
Chapter 311 Evidence
Chapter 311 Evidence
Shi Potian let the burly man curse and swear, sitting casually in front of him, panting heavily. After catching his breath, he said to the burly man:
"I just don't understand why you're going to all this trouble to target us? We don't seem to have any grudges against each other!"
"We only target people who buy high-grade refining materials," the burly man said painfully.
"There are plenty of refining materials in the world, they don't belong to you, so why do you interfere with other people's buying and selling! Besides, if you have this ability, why don't you just find the seller and intercept them before the public auction? That would be much simpler. Why do you have to make secret marks and follow and rob them!"
"Sellers? We have plenty of refining materials, why would we need them?" the burly man scoffed.
"Do you think you're the Feather Emperor's Palace? You want to control everything. What business is it of yours for us to buy materials to refine spiritual treasures? Besides, can you even manage it?"
"Feather Emperor Palace..." the big man snorted, not responding to Shi Potian's words.
"Did you mark these materials as well? So that once I take them out, your accomplices will come to follow and rob me again?"
"You already know, so why are you asking? Stop rambling and just get to the point. I won't say anything, and you won't get anything out of me."
The great man's cultivation was crippled, with no possibility of recovery. For a mid-stage Heavenly Realm expert, this was practically the same as death. He might as well die quickly, but now he didn't even have the strength to commit suicide, so he begged Shi Potian to give him a final end.
"I won't kill you. Don't you have an uncle named Old Man Yan? When you run into him, it'll be a perfect gift. I'm sure he'll reciprocate in kind," Shi Potian said with a smile.
"Trying to use me as a hostage? Do you think King Wen cares about me? Heh, if he could be threatened, he wouldn't deserve the title of King of Hell. He's one of the most ruthless people among our Earth-level Blood Fiends, and he's already reached the fifth level of the Heaven-level. Just wait to be torn to pieces by him! None of you will escape!" the big man roared excitedly.
"That's true. Since you want to die, I'll grant your wish!"
Having said that, Shi Potian grabbed the burly man by the collar and lifted him up, preparing to strike his head. Suddenly, he noticed a wolf's head embroidered in red thread on the man's clothing beneath his shattered armor. Remembering something, he immediately asked:
"Were you the ones who hunted down those who participated in the Dragon Chef Tournament decades ago?!"
"What hunting down participants of the Dragon Chef Tournament? That's not true!" Although the big man denied it outright, his evasive eyes betrayed him.
"Don't deny it. Even if you weren't involved, it was still you people who did it, because I recognize this symbol!" Shi Potian tore off the wolf head symbol and held it up for the big man to see.
"Tell me, why are you hunting down those who refused to join the Feather Emperor's Palace but still achieved some success?"
"What are you saying? I don't understand!" the big man denied.
"Heh heh, you thought you could get away with it by doing things cleanly? How many years has it been? How many talented young people have you killed? What are you doing this for?" Shi Potian asked sharply.
"If you're going to kill me, then kill me. Don't come up with these nonsensical questions. I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Do you think that just because there are no witnesses left, no one will know what you've been up to? Don't think that all those people you knocked off the cliff are dead. In fact, many of them are still alive and well, and I am one of them!" Shi Potian whispered into his ear.
"Impossible! In all these years, I've never heard of anyone coming out alive from the Valley of Heartbreak!" the burly man exclaimed, losing control.
"Still not admitting it! You said it yourself! If it weren't for you, how would you know about the Valley of Heartbreak? I said the cliff, not the Valley of Heartbreak!"
"Why are you doing this? What is your relationship with the Feather Emperor Palace?" Shi Potian asked sharply, his eyes flashing coldly.
"For the sake of peace in the world! You troublemakers who refuse to submit will bring chaos to the world sooner or later, so it's better to get rid of you sooner rather than later." The big man shouted excitedly when he could no longer hide it.
"Heh, isn't the world chaotic enough already? I think it's your Feather Emperor Palace that wants to dominate and is taking advantage of the situation to eliminate dissidents!"
Shi Potian gently placed his hand on the burly man's head, then gave it a slight jolt. Instantly, a trickle of blood flowed from the man's mouth and nose. Shi Potian used the force of his own shockwave to turn the inside of the man's head into mush, even shattering and annihilating his soul.
Shi Potian knew he couldn't get anything more out of the big man, but he had already gotten what he wanted. So he settled old scores with new ones and killed the big man with a single palm strike.
After taking the big man's storage bag, he also put away the pair of iron maces. The quality of the iron maces was very good, and the material and craftsmanship were even better than the Ghost King Blade.
With the great man dead, his storage bag was now ownerless, and Shi Potian easily broke through the seal. It was a high-quality mid-grade storage bag, with a storage space of five zhang in diameter, belonging to the best quality mid-grade storage bags, worth over 100,000 gold coins on the market. The storage bag contained many treasures, but Shi Potian had no time to examine them. He went to the recess where the Earth Flame Crystal was stored, took the Earth Flame Crystal and the 35,000 gold coins left by the great man from the Qiu family's communal storage bag, placed them in this storage bag, and then straightened his clothes before going to the magic array and signaling the Qiu family members controlling the array outside to dispel it.
As soon as Shi Potian stepped down from the arena, a middle-aged man from the Qiu family immediately approached him and bowed, saying:
"This way, sir. Our Steward Yu would like to invite you for a cup of tea. Would you do me the honor?"
"I've heard that your Qiu family has five chief stewards: Gold, Jade, Silver, Bronze, and Iron. They manage 360 Qiu family mansions scattered throughout the Tianxuan Continent. Each steward is a man of great talent and ambition, with connections that reach the heavens. They are usually elusive and rarely seen. It is truly an honor to be invited by Steward Jade today! Haha!"
After changing his clothes in the clean room, Shi Potian followed the middle-aged man through several doors to the tenth floor of the Great Xia Dynasty. In an extremely luxurious reception room, he met with Qiu's head steward, Yu.
Yu, one of the highest-ranking managers in the Qiu family, was of medium height and build, with a well-proportioned figure. He wore a plain-colored brocade robe with subtle floral patterns. His skin was fair, like that of a scholar, and he had a three-inch-long goatee. If it weren't for his completely white hair and beard, people would mistake him for a young man in his late teens.
The white-haired, scholar-like Steward Yu was sitting on a carved chair inlaid with gold and jade, sipping tea. Upon seeing Shi Potian enter, he quickly cupped his hands in a smiling greeting.
"It is an honor to have such a distinguished guest! Please come in!"
After Shi Potian sat down in the guest seat, Steward Yu immediately brewed a cup of fragrant tea and handed it to him.
Shi Potian took the fragrant tea from the carved white jade cup and sipped it gently. Instantly, he felt refreshed and invigorated; the fatigue from the fight had vanished. He couldn't help but exclaim:
“Good tea!”
"Hehe, this tea is a wild mountain spirit tea that a reclusive old friend of mine personally cultivated and picked. The annual harvest is less than a pound. Several years ago, he asked someone to bring me a small box. I don't dare to drink it normally, and I only invite you to share tea when a learned person like you visits!"
"I am but a humble countryman, a rough and uncouth man. How could I possibly be worthy of the title of esteemed gentleman, sir! You have flattered me greatly!" Shi Potian quickly cupped his hands in greeting.
……
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Shi Potian stated directly:
"It is an honor to be invited by Steward Yu. May I ask what brings you here?"
"Actually, it's nothing. I just wanted to tell you that the batch of Earth Flame Crystals you photographed may have been marked, and the person who made the final bet was just acting on someone else's orders."
The auction house has been in turmoil lately, with some disgraceful incidents occurring. After our investigation, although we determined that our auction house was not responsible, we are not entirely without fault.
However, the rules of our Qiu family auction house are inherited from our ancestors, and there's nothing we can do if someone tries to exploit loopholes in them. Please forgive us, sir.
"I already know about the duel. The person I killed happens to be my nemesis, and a life-or-death battle with them is only a matter of time. We were just worried about where to find them, but unexpectedly they came to us."
But what about the hidden markings? Were they done by the seller? Or is there something else going on? Is it true, as the rumors say, that some treasures sold at auction are tampered with and could be followed by robbers?
"They use this!" Steward Yu took out several thumb-sized jade bottles and handed them to Shi Potian.
"These are what I received from some maids and appraisers at the auction house who have access to the treasures. They're called 'Red-headed Blue-tailed Bee Honey.' The people who gave them these things also gave them a large and tempting sum of money. All they had to do was put a drop on a few specific items among the treasures being auctioned."
These items weren't particularly valuable treasures; while they had some value, they weren't especially rare—just materials for refining weapons. And there were only three or five of them. Therefore, some weak-willed people were bribed. The item the hero bid on was likely one of them.
"Although this wasn't done by the auction house, the victims who don't know the truth won't think that way! And even so, your auction house still has to take the blame, Mr. Yu, what do you say?"
"That's right. So from today onwards, for all items auctioned at my Qiu Family Auction House, we will conduct a final inspection for the buyer after the transaction is completed."
That's the situation. We can't guarantee that the batch you bid on wasn't marked, because the treasures auctioned by the Qiu family every day are determined seven days in advance. We can only make a guarantee after further verification.
"Hehe, it doesn't matter. I actually hope I get marked. I'm just worried they won't come!" Shi Potian said nonchalantly.
"Since you don't mind, then we have nothing more to say. Haha, come on, have some tea!"
"Steward Yu, I have something I would like to ask you. I hope you will be kind enough to enlighten me."
"What is it? Please speak freely!"
"Steward, have you seen this mark before? Have you heard of the Blood Wolf Gang?"
"Blood Wolf Hall?"
Steward Yu took the wolf head insignia torn from the big man's chest and examined it with a solemn expression.
"I've heard of it, but I've never been in contact with it. It's said to be an extremely secretive assassination organization that has existed for over a thousand years. Nobody knows where their headquarters is. The Blood Wolf Hall is just one branch of this organization. It's said that there are other branches such as the Ghost Wolf Hall and the Shadow Wolf Hall. Nobody knows their specific division of labor, and nobody knows how big the organization is."
The fact that such a high-grade material could be used to embroider a mark on the lapel indicates that the person holding a certain position within the organization. Others have seen this mark before, but it was just ordinary silk thread embroidery.
Over the years, there have been very few rumors about this organization, and many people even doubt its existence. Therefore, our understanding of them is also very limited.
"I wonder how much Steward Yu knows about the assassination organizations that have assassinated contestants after the Dragon Chef Competition over the past hundred years?"
"I wonder why you would ask such questions, sir. Do you also have relatives or friends who have been assassinated? Our Qiu family is also very indignant about such assassinations. In the past hundred years, several members of our Qiu family have been assassinated. We have spent a lot of manpower and resources to investigate, but we have never found anything. Each assassination is handled very cleanly, leaving almost no trace."
"So for the past ten years or so, our Qiu family would rather offend the Feather Palace than allow any of our young members to participate in the Dragon Chef Gathering," Steward Yu said angrily.
"Does Steward Yu believe me if I say that the assassination of the contestants and the robbery of the refining materials were both done by the Blood Wolf Hall?" Shi Potian said slowly, taking a sip of tea.
"Does the hero have any evidence?" Steward Yu asked cautiously.
"Of course there is evidence, and I also know some shocking secrets that are unknown to others. I wonder what Steward Yu or your Qiu family will do after learning these truths?"
Instead of answering directly, Shi Potian asked Steward Yu a question. Before the Qiu family's attitude became clear, Shi Potian was unwilling to say more.
"If these things were really done by that organization, our Qiu family will definitely be at odds with them!" Steward Yu said without hesitation.
"What if this organization becomes powerful enough to supersede the nation?"
"To be honest, if what you say is true, we will still consider things from the perspective of our family. We may not confront them directly, but I can guarantee that our Qiu family will never collude with them," Steward Yu said after a moment's hesitation.
"I'm certain that Steward Yu wasn't lying; he was speaking from the heart. He may represent a portion of the Qiu family, but I can't guarantee that all of you Qiu family members think the same way!" Shi Potian said frankly.
"You're the first person to dare speak to me like that. Although it makes me very uncomfortable, I admire your straightforwardness. Perhaps you don't know enough about our Qiu family, but I can tell you that apart from the patriarch, basically no one in the Qiu family will object to what I say."
"I'm not happy about it," said Steward Yu.
"Alright! Since Steward Yu has been so frank, I won't hide it anymore. The one I killed today was an Earthly Fiend from the Blood Wolf Hall. Besides Earthly-level Blood Fiends, the Blood Wolf Hall also has Heavenly-level, Profound-level, and Yellow-level Blood Fiends. Profound-level Blood Fiends are between the early and second levels of the Heavenly Rank, while Yellow-level Blood Fiends are between the seventh and ninth levels of the Earthly Rank. As for Heavenly-level Blood Fiends, they are likely experts above the fifth level of the Heavenly Rank. The highest-level Earthly-level Blood Fiends I've seen so far are all experts between the third and fourth levels of the Heavenly Rank. In addition to Blood Fiends, the Blood Wolf Hall also has Shadow Assassins, presumably people who gather intelligence and conduct surveillance."
The reason I dare say the Blood Wolf Gang is an organization that assassinates contestants is because my friend and I once managed to rescue a junior from their clutches and obtained the most direct evidence—this is it. Last time, I rescued that junior from their hands!