Chapter 13 Someone was killed

　　After parting ways with Zhou Ge, Sheng Huan strolled around the city.

　　Originally planning to rest at the Huanxi Building after a short walk, he encountered an unexpected situation.

　　While watching a performance, he encountered a police officer. The man slipped a note into his hand.

　　Sheng Huan opened the note and felt at a loss. It read: "The police team in Changfeng City was attacked in the northern part of the city." It was signed by Zhou Hong.

　　He wanted to ask the messenger what had happened, but when he looked up, the man had already walked away.

　　After thinking for a moment, he suspected that the message was probably a fake. Not only did the city's residents presumably recognize their own police officers, but also the city's patrol soldiers would have noticed an attack on the police team.

　　However, another thought occurred to him. Maybe he had encountered a powerful adversary who had managed to avoid the patrol soldiers. After some consideration, he decided to investigate and see if anything was amiss. If there was nothing, it would be good for him to clear his mind.

　　When he arrived at the northern gate, everything seemed completely calm and orderly within and outside the city walls. There was no sign of any attack having taken place.

　　He walked about seven or eight li in that direction and saw only scattered households or small villages with a few families gathered together.

　　Just as he was thinking that someone might be playing a joke on him, he heard a sound of wind behind him. He ducked and turned around to see a four-edged dart strike the ground at his feet. Looking up, he saw a man standing not far away on the grass. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the same man who had delivered the message in the city.

　　"Who are you? Why did you lure me out of the city?" Sheng Huan asked.

　　The man looked troubled and said, "Well... I'm a bit of a softie. I couldn't bear to leave an innocent person's body to rot in the wilderness."

　　"Rotting corpse? Where?" Sheng Huan asked.

　　The man slowly walked over to a large tree and brushed away the top layer of soil with his foot. He said, "It's right here. I took care of it a bit; it's better for a person to be buried in a coffin when they die, don't you think?"

　　Sheng Huan drew his fox-ear knife and approached to take a look. Under the thin layer of soil, he saw two bodies - one in a police uniform and the other in undergarments only. When he looked at the man's attire, anger welled up inside him.

　　"Is it you?"

　　"Why are you looking at me like this? Besides, I didn't kill them all......" The man said.

　　As a police officer, Sheng Huan couldn't tolerate this any longer. He swung his fox-ear knife and attacked the man.

　　The man dodged and retreated as he parried Sheng Huan's attack.

　　"Killed two people who had nothing to do with you? As for it? I knew I wouldn't be looking for you. Stop, stop, I have other things to do; I'll go first." With that, he blocked one of Sheng Huan's attacks and fled to a distance.

　　In his haste, Sheng Huan threw two four-edged darts at his opponent's back, but the man was quick on his feet and avoided them. The darts missed their target, so he had to give chase.

　　One chased while the other fled, with the pursuer getting fed up with the chase after some time. When they were close enough to engage in hand-to-hand combat, they would exchange several blows before retreating again when they were too far apart for throwing weapons to be effective.

　　Throughout their pursuit, Sheng Huan could tell that his opponent was very familiar with the surrounding terrain because they never encountered any patrol soldiers during their chase. After chasing for three or four hours, he finally saw another police officer, but unfortunately, the officer believed the killer's story about their altercation and didn't intervene.

　　From daybreak until nightfall, Sheng Huan lost sight of his prey and spent the whole night searching for him. By morning, he discovered that the killer had mingled with the crowd back in the city.

　　The killer was very good at hiding and always managed to shake him off at crucial moments, so Sheng Huan never got his hands

　　He wanted to inform the local police, but he had no evidence.

　　By the time of the 25th, it was discovered that this person had already changed his name to Zhou Hong and participated in the competition using the identity of one of the policemen he had killed.

　　Bad luck, but he also had to participate in the competition with little rest. It was even the first round.

　　Getting on the platform was even more unfavorable. He thought that the other person was too arrogant and seemed to think that no one else was capable except himself.

　　When he saw his opponent's knife coming at him, he immediately countered with his own knife.

　　When it came to knife skills, they were pretty much on par. They were both disciples of famous mirror masters - one was a disciple of Liang Ran mirror master, and the other was a disciple of Piao Yan mirror master. The two styles of knife fighting they had learned were similar in level. Since their skills were so evenly matched, neither of them dared to guarantee victory.

　　The disadvantage lay in the fact that he had been tired out after a day and night of hard work, with little rest before the competition. After 30 rounds of fighting, he showed signs of defeat and even failed to trigger the spells of Bai Lie's sigils.

　　After 40 rounds, Bai Lie executed a move where his knife was concealed in his foot, knocking him to the ground.

　　He sheathed his knife, straightened his clothes, ignored the laughter from the stage, and walked slowly off the platform without acknowledging the jeers and cheers from the crowd.

　　Zeng Gang was puzzled: "Sheng, that's not like you. What's going on?"

　　"Don't worry about me, keep an eye on Zhou Hong."

　　At this time, Piao Yan smiled and walked onto the platform, once again taking out the wooden box.

　　Hao Yun knocked on the bell and climbed onto the stage to announce the result. At this time, Piao Yan took out the wooden token and shouted to the audience: "The second match is between Zeng Gang of Binri City and Zhou Hong of Changfeng City!"

　　Sheng Huan was startled with a cold sweat: "Zeng, don't fight, admit defeat."

　　Zeng Gang saw how he was feeling and guessed that something must be going on. He onto the platform and immediately gave up and came down.

　　In the first two matches, Binri City lost both times, surrounded by jeers from the crowd.

　　At this time, Zhou Ge could no longer concentrate on the competition and immediately led his men out of the crowd.

　　They came to a secluded corner and asked about what had happened.

　　Sheng Huan did not hide anything and told them everything that had happened.

　　Zhou Ge was stunned: "There's also such a thing? What should we do?"

　　"Don't worry about it," Sheng Huan said. "There's no evidence to show to anyone, so it's pointless to say anything."

　　"But what about you? I understand now, Bai Lie really annoys me." Then he asked Sheng Huan to stay in the city and continue monitoring Zhou Hong while he and the other went out to search for evidence.

　　Following the directions, they arrived at the designated location.

　　There were already a dozen people gathered there, discussing amongst themselves. There were also five patrol guards stationed there, with a general standing next to them and a notice posted on the side with a reward for anyone who could identify the bodies.

　　The two men pushed through the crowd and came to the front. The two bodies on the mat were indeed one wearing a police uniform and the other wearing underwear.

　　The general-looking person saw them and asked: "Do you know them?"

　　Zhou Ge greeted politely: "I think so."

　　"You think so? Which city are you from?"

　　"I am Zhou Ge, the inquisitor from Binri City, and this is my colleague Zeng Gang from the police department."

　　"You… you are Junior Zhou Ge?" The man was stunned when he saw the jade pen holder in Zhou Ge's hand.

　　Zhou Ge guessed who he was: "Are you Shi You General?"

　　General Shi You saw his insignia and confirmed it: "Yes, it is I. You're not in the city for the competition, so what are you doing here?"

　　Zeng Gang thought of something bad: "We've already competed..."

　　"You've already competed? So soon, it hasn't been more than two hours?"

　　"Two consecutive matches, and we both lost."

　　Shi You looked at them, his mouth twitching.

　　"Forget it, participation is the key; you came here..."

　　The two men had a reason for coming here, and Zhou Ge took the person to the side to explain what Sheng Huan had gone through and what he was going to do.

　　After hearing this, Shi You was happy, comforted, and excited. Firstly, finally someone had inherited their master's teachings and learned the art of sigils; secondly, his junior brother had improved the art of sigils, displaying extraordinary talent. If their teacher was still in the city, he would definitely be even happier.

　　"Using sigils to interrogate spirits? Do you have any confidence?" he asked.

　　Zhou Ge didn't hesitate: "Yes. Please help me find a secluded place."

　　They found a dilapidated hut and sent the stretcher bearers away. Inside were Zhou Ge, Shi You, and the two corpses who were waiting to be interrogated. The others waited outside.

　　After quickly cleaning the room, Zhou Ge sat cross-legged between the two corpses, placing the mirror flat on the ground and chanting the exorcism and spirit-binding incantations.

　　Less than fifteen minutes, the two spirits had gathered.

　　Shi You was incredibly excited, thinking that this was truly a case of better than the teacher than the apprentice.