Chapter 396: Blood Washes Blood
"Oh!"

On May 17, at midnight, a loud bang instantly broke the tranquility of southern Luoyang.

The tightly closed door of Jinming Garden was kicked open. Then, Xu Heng led hundreds of disciples from Xianwang Mansion and rushed into the garden with murderous intent.

"Search! Don't let even a fly escape!"

At Xu Heng's shout, all the disciples quickly dispersed and rushed towards the rooms of Jinming Garden in groups of three or five.

In an instant, the silent Jinming Garden became lively, with noise, screams, pleas, and curses coming one after another.

Twenty disciples held torches and spread out in a goose-wing pattern, lighting up the dim Jinming Garden as bright as day.

Xu Heng stood in the yard with his left hand on his waist and a shining steel knife in his right hand, with a stern expression. His tiger eyes were piercing, bloodthirsty and sinister.

After a while, driven by the disciples of the Xianwang Mansion, the guys with dishevelled hair and untidy clothes came out in twos and threes from all directions. They walked unsteadily, their bodies swaying, and they looked around with horror on their faces, as if they were frightened by the sudden change and didn't know what to do.

Looking at the anxious crowd, Xu Heng's face darkened and he asked, "Who is the shopkeeper?"

In response to this, everyone looked around with hesitation, but no one answered.

"Who is the shopkeeper?" Xu Heng's low voice sounded again.

Everyone looked at each other, then lowered their heads, still silent.

"Drag him out!"

Xu Heng pointed impatiently at the guy standing in the front, and that guy was immediately dragged to the front by two disciples from the Xianwang Mansion.

Xu Heng pressed the sharp blade against the waiter's neck and said in a deep voice, "Tell me, who is the owner of Jinmingyuan?"

The cold blade frightened the waiter so much that his face turned pale and his legs became weak. He replied tremblingly, "Master, we are doing a serious business here..."

"Don't test my patience." Xu Heng interrupted in a cold tone, "Answer my question."

"This is an honest blacksmith shop. We honor the government and benefit the people of our hometown. We have never done anything that is against the will of heaven or earth..."

"puff!"

Before he finished speaking, Xu Heng's eyes suddenly turned fierce, and he raised his knife and chopped off the waiter's head without mercy. Blood immediately gushed out of his chest, frightening everyone in Jinmingyuan so much that their hearts and souls flew away.

A bloody, round head fell to the ground at the feet of the crowd. For a moment, the terrified and desperate wails in Jinming Garden resounded through the night sky, causing palpitations.

"Next one!" Xu Heng pointed the bleeding steel knife forward and said expressionlessly, "I don't mind killing you all."

"I said! I said!"

Before the second waiter was dragged forward, the man was so frightened that his crotch felt hot, and he collapsed to the ground with a pale face, trembling and saying: "It's him! Shopkeeper Jia..."

Following the direction of the waiter's finger, Xu Heng cast a vicious look straight at Lao Jia who was hiding in the crowd.

At this moment, Lao Jia's face was as pale as paper, his lips were bloodless, and there was an indescribable complexity in his eyes.

"Tell me your name!"

Xu Heng looked him up and down with an unfriendly look.

"My last name is Jia...Everyone calls me Old Jia." Old Jia tried to remain calm and smiled apologetically, "This gentleman looks familiar. I think we have met somewhere before."

"Don't try to get close to me." Xu Heng said coldly, "Let me ask you, what is your relationship with Di Mo, the Black Handler of the Xianwang Mansion?"

"That's right!" Old Jia's eyes lit up and he said hurriedly, "I remember now, you are Hei Zhishan's brother, and I have seen you in the Xianwang Mansion."

After saying that, Lao Jia's face suddenly changed to a relaxed look, and he waved his hand and said, "It turns out that the flood washed away the Dragon King Temple. We are all family members..."

"Bullshit! Who the hell is your ally?" After a disagreement, Xu Heng raised his hand and slapped Lao Jia hard, cursing, "Answer whatever I ask you. If you dare to say something wrong again, I'll chop you into pieces!"

"Yes..." Old Jia covered his face, staring at the ferocious Xu Heng with horror, and said anxiously, "I have met Hei Zhishan a few times. He occasionally came to our shop to forge weapons. Apart from that, we have no other interactions..."

"Forging weapons?" Xu Heng looked around with contempt and sneered, "What magical weapons does the Xianwang Mansion not have? Hei Zhishan is in a high position and has great power. Why does he need to come to you to forge weapons? What for? A hoe or a plow?"

"I dare not lie." Lao Jia said solemnly, "If you don't believe me, you can ask these guys. They can all testify..."

"That's enough!" Xu Heng waved his hand and asked, "How many years has Jinmingyuan been open in Luoyang?"

"This... it's been so many years, I can't remember clearly..."

"You can't remember clearly, but I know it clearly." Xu Heng said, "Jinmingyuan has been in Luoyang City for a full sixteen years."

"Uncle has a good memory..." Old Jia's heart sank, but he still pretended to be calm on the surface.

"It's not that I have a good memory, but some things are too coincidental, so coincidental... like a long-planned conspiracy." Xu Heng stared at Lao Jia without blinking, and Lao Jia was frightened. "Your store has been open in Luoyang for sixteen years, and Di Mo has been in the Xianwang Mansion for sixteen years. Tell me... how can there be such a coincidence in the world?"

"This……"

"What's more coincidental is that in the half month before Di Mo disappeared, the only place he had been to, apart from the Xianwang Mansion and the wine shop, was here." Xu Heng said faintly, "Tell me, why did Di Mo come to Jinming Garden on the first day of May?"

"He came to get a weapon..." Old Jia swallowed hard and laughed dryly, "He once asked me to make a sword for him." "Sword?" Xu Heng smiled coldly, and then said, "We have dug up every place he has been to and searched it thoroughly. Not to mention the sword, we didn't even find a sword tassel. How dare you lie?"

"What I said is true!" Lao Jia said hurriedly, "He really came to take the sword..."

"To take the sword? Or to conspire with you?" Xu Heng shouted, and immediately scared Lao Jia so much that his body trembled.

"Unfair! It's such a huge injustice..."

Xu Heng's fierce eyes were exposed. He grabbed Lao Jia by the collar and said viciously: "I don't want to waste my time talking to you. Just tell me, where is Di Mo?"

"How could I know the whereabouts of Hei Zhishan?" Old Jia said bitterly, "You are his brother, don't you know?"

"Cut the nonsense!"

"I really don't know where the Black Fan has gone, so how can I answer that?" Old Jia looked aggrieved and spoke very sincerely, pretending to be innocent, "But what happened to the Black Fan?"

"I think you won't cry until you see the coffin." Xu Heng laughed angrily.

"Uncle, I..."

"Come on, tie him up and take him back to torture him!"

Xu Heng did not give Lao Jia any chance to explain himself. He gave an order and suddenly turned around and walked out of the yard.

"Master!" A disciple chased outside the gate and asked in a low voice, "How should we deal with the other people in Jinmingyuan?"

After a moment's silence, Xu Heng's eyes suddenly turned fierce, and he said coldly: "If the young master is in trouble and the palace lord is furious, the whole martial arts world will collapse, let alone a small Jinming Garden?"

"What the sect master means is..."

"There are many strange things going on in Jinming Garden. Everyone inside is suspicious and they are most likely the same as Di Mo." Xu Heng was as hard as stone and said sternly, "Kill them all without mercy. Don't spare any one. Remember, burn this place to ashes afterwards. Don't leave any traces behind."

"Kill them all?" The disciple asked in astonishment, "Will it be possible..."

"Have you forgotten the Lord's order?" Xu Heng interrupted, "It is better to kill a thousand people by mistake than to let one go!"

"As ordered!"

……

Late at night, the dungeon of Prince Xian's mansion was bustling with people.

A dozen ragged people were hanging in the air, lined up in a row, their skin torn and bloody, dying, groaning, almost tortured beyond recognition.

Among them was Lao Jia, the owner of Jinmingyuan.

"Meet the Second Master!"

With a series of greetings, Xie Xuan, with a gloomy face, slowly stepped into the dungeon. At this moment, he gently covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief to avoid smelling the bloody smell.

"Second Master, you are here!"

As soon as they saw Xie Xuan, Su Tang, Xu Heng, Ling Qing and Lin Fangda hurried forward to greet him.

"How's the progress?" Xie Xuan's hoarse voice sounded from his throat.

"Except for the disciples in the mansion, everyone who has had contact with Di Mo in the past month is here." Su Tang pointed back at the dozen or so "prisoners" who were about to collapse, and said in a serious tone, "Recently, Di Mo has been to the wine shop, teahouse, herbal medicine shop, blacksmith shop... Among them, the wine shop has been the most frequent, followed by the teahouse, and the herbal medicine shop and blacksmith shop have been the least frequent, only once. Other than that, he stayed in the mansion the rest of the time."

“Who is the most suspicious?”

"At present, it seems that they have nothing to do with Di Mo's disappearance." Su Tang replied, "However, more than one person in the mansion heard from Di Mo that he had complaints and complaints against the mansion master. Among them, Liu Xunyi's testimony was the clearest."

"You mean, the Duanwu incident was done by Di Mo alone? He was dissatisfied with the palace lord's favoritism, so he framed him to vent his personal anger. It has nothing to do with other people?" Xie Xuan's eyes flashed, and there was no emotion in his tone.

Su Tang thought to himself and replied, "Yes."

"Su Tang, you still don't have enough experience and you are too naive. I dare to assert that this matter is not as simple as you think." Xie Xuan raised his eyes slightly, and his deep black eyes scanned Lao Jia and others, and said faintly, "There must be something fishy among them."

"But we have tortured them severely..."

"If you want to pry open someone's mouth, you can't just 'coerce' them, you also need to know how to 'induce' them." Xie Xuan called Su Tang and the others to come forward and whispered, "Use both kindness and force, and both soft and hard tactics. Ordinary people are greedy for life and afraid of death, so even if they make up something, they will make up an answer."

Xu Heng was confused and said, "If that's the case, then the answer is also false, so what's the point?"

"People who can do such things are definitely not ordinary people." Xie Xuan said calmly, "Now, you can't even pry open the mouths of ordinary people, how can you find out the truth? Now, they are all locked up together, and they dare not say anything even if they want to make up stories. Because they are afraid that their lies will be exposed in public, and they will suffer greater torture. Sometimes you have to learn to do the opposite of what you do!"

Hearing this, Su Tang's eyes suddenly fixed, and he said thoughtfully: "Second Master means..."

"Detain them in solitary confinement, interrogate them separately, use coercion and inducement, and let them talk nonsense without exposing them." Xie Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly and said calmly, "Anyone who persists to the end and still refuses to give in... is a ghost!"

……

　New Year Greetings

　　
　
(End of this chapter)