Chapter 41 The Fourth Year’s Spring of Shending

Somebody died in the imperial palace of Dazhou, and it was not a trifle although his identity was not important, so as soon as the young eunuch’s dead body was found, the news was reported to the superiors. The imperial guards dealt with it immediately, but it didn’t cause an uproar in the palace. After all, a banquet would be held in the Evergreen Palace at once to reward the generals and soldiers. Something like this happened, and the emperor would naturally feel embarrassed.

The vice manager of the Ceremony Department, Tan Bao led the imperial guards walking slowly in the Evergreen Palace. The commander of the imperial guards behind him was a retired warrior with meritorious service from the North Army and wasn’t in awe of the vice manager who was just second to the manager of the eunuchs, Su Jin in the palace. But as he investigated the case, he had to be in direct contact with the people in the imperial palace and should get in touch with the powerful eunuchs.

When the two came to the crime scene, the corner, the dead body had been carried away and even the blood stains had been cleaned up. Moreover, it wasn’t even blocked in order to prevent others from knowing it. The commander of the imperial guards asked casually in the corner, “I heard from the people in the palace that this teenager didn’t like talking since he entered the palace from childhood and did everything cautiously. He had never done anything wrong in the past few years or offended anybody. So why was he murdered? And the murderer even cut his heart and lung into pieces.”

Tan Bao was a eunuch second only to the manager Su Jin, and would speak softly to the emperor alone at ordinary times. Now he faced the commander of the imperial guards, but he didn’t get angry. He just said peacefully, “The things in the palace are much more complicated than outsiders imagined. Commander Xu, you work in the palace, but you know little about the hidden rules inside. Although this child didn’t offend anybody since he entered the palace, because he was pretty, many people wanted him to serve them. But I can’t figure out who hate him so much that they would kill him.”

The imperial palace was a seedy world since ancient times, and it was not only about the royal family. The eunuchs who entered the palace since childhood were also implicated. It was just that the relationships in the palace were complicated and difficult to deal with, so nobody considered managing it.

Commander Xu squatted with his back to Tan Bao, sighing, “The post-mortem on the child revealed that he died in a weird way. Although his back was cut open by a sharp edge, and the internal organs were cut into pieces, it appeared that the wounds were from inside to outside. It means that the wound was caused after the chest was penetrated, so the back was cut open, but the post-mortem examiner didn’t find any wound on the chest no matter how he checked, so he doubted that the sharp weapon was inserted into the mouth. It happens that the intestines were destroyed, so it might be possible. But when the weapon was inserted into the mouth, it would make the child uncomfortable. However, we didn’t find any vomit, so it is confusing.”

Because Commander Xu turned his back to Tan Bao, he didn’t know when he spoke, the vice manager looked more and more terrible. After Commander Xu turned around and got up, Tan Bao looked limp.

Looking at the commander of the imperial guards, Tan Bao stated in a sharp voice, “Commander Xu, you said so much to me, but I don’t understand. In my opinion, just find the eunuchs who don’t have a good relationship with this guy and torture them. Then we will get the answer.”

Commander Xu nodded and responded in a deep voice, “If there is no other clue, we have no choice but to do that.”

Tan Bao covered his chest and whispered, “The eunuchs in the palace talked about two strange things earlier. Commander Xu, are you interested in it? Of course, the first one is not something significant, and it was spread. As for the second thing, I hope you will think twice after hearing that. Don’t tell anybody randomly.”

Commander Xu replied in confusion, “I know what I should do.”

Tan Bao nodded and then stated, “Nobody knows when a cat came into the palace. It was no big deal in the first place, but the cat looked strange, with cyan skin and fur all over, so a young eunuch had an idea and wanted to catch it and give it to a concubine of His Majesty, but when he searched in the palace later, he couldn’t find the cat. The young eunuch thought this cat had left the palace, so he didn’t take it seriously. A few days later, the eunuch saw it again, but this time, the cat spoke like a human on the wall of the palace.”

Commander Xu was shocked, “Spoke like a human?”

Tan Bao gave a nod, “This is really unimaginably queer, so nobody in the palace believed it, and everybody took it as a joke, but the second thing is related to the cat.”

Commander Xu stopped talking and waited for Tan Bao to continue.

Tan Bao expressed seriously, “Before this child’s dead body was found, during the imperial court session, somebody heard a cat’s mew in this direction, and somebody saw Manager Su passing by. As the post-mortem examiner estimated, it was about the time of crime.”

Commander Xu asked in fear, “Do you mean that Manager Su is involved in this matter?”

Tan Bao made a gesture to tell Commander Xu to shut up and rebuked, “According to Manager Su’s position in the palace, he doesn’t need to do that. It is not so troublesome for him to make a young eunuch die secretly. I said that just to tell you to be prepared. How dare I implicate Manager Su?”

Commander Xu saluted and asked hesitantly, “Shall we report to His Majesty about what happened today?”

Tan Bao glanced at him meaningfully and answered with a smile, “Commander Xu, you have been working in the palace for more than one day, so you naturally know what you should say. But if there is no explanation for this matter, we’ll have nothing to report to His Majesty.”

Commander Xu showed a complicated expression, but at last he didn’t say anything.

The two didn’t stay here anymore and turned to leave. The emperor was hosting the banquet in the Evergreen Palace, and they couldn’t report to him now. Commander Xu would go back to sort things out.

The two gradually disappeared.

Soon after that, another person came here.

It was the manager of the Ceremony Department, Su Jin.

Su Jin stood there and looked at the two retreating figures calmly. He reached out his left hand, which was full of fresh blood, and the half of the cat’s dead body was still soft. He threw it on the ground, and in an instant, the cat’s dead body got up shakily.

The cat’s headless body turned around and faced Su Jin, “It’s surprising that there is an elder at the Fundamental Stage in such a place. I am stupid and thought that there shouldn’t be cultivators here. It’s a worthwhile death.”

Although it had no head, its voice came into Su Jin’s ears.

Su Jin said coldly, “I don’t want to kill you. I have eaten half of your cultivation, and it’s a punishment for you. You can leave now, but if I find you in the palace in the future, I will take your life anyway and let your cultivation of decades cast to the winds. Then you will know how kind I am to you today.”

The headless cat bowed to express its thanks but didn’t go away instantly. Instead, it asked, “Elder, since you have such a powerful cultivation, you will achieve great attainments no matter if you go to the demonic land or hide on the mountain. Why do you stay in this small imperial palace?”

Su Jin waved his hand and didn’t give a response.

The cat didn’t pester him and soon jumped onto the wall, disappearing from Su Jin’s sight.

Su Jin looked into the distance in the north.

After taking a few steps, Su Jin became smaller quickly and turned into a cat with black skin and fur. It walked on the wall and looked lonely.

All people in this imperial palace thought that Manager Su entered the palace from childhood and had served two emperors, but who knew that before he entered the palace, he had studied in the temple on the Jingkou Mountain as a master’s favorite student? The temple made no social distinctions in teaching, which was true to the saying those years.

He had studied in the temple for a long time, but he was still ruthless and made a mistake then. However, his master couldn’t bear to see that he was driven out of the temple and wanted to cover up for him. Even so, another student at a high stage in the temple found that, and it was easy for him to cope with Su Jin, so he hurt Su Jin in no time. If his master didn’t stop him, Su Jin might be the first demon that person killed.

After that, Su Jin couldn’t stay in the temple. After he was expelled from the temple, he met that person again unexpectedly. That person hunted him all the way till he came into Dazhou and was saved by the late emperor, while that person was brought back to the mountain by the master in the temple. According to what Su Jin had heard, that person didn’t live a good life now, even quite miserable.

Looking at the north, Su Jin asked, “Don’t you regret?”