In June, White Jade City baked under rolling heatwaves. The summer air was so steamy it felt like it could ignite at any moment.
News of the massacre at Yixiang Building was like a ladle of ice water poured into a pot of boiling oil. It instantly set the city abuzz, causing a massive uproar. The story spread with astonishing speed through every street and alley, every teahouse and tavern, and into the deepest courtyards of the grandest manors.
The shockwaves from the event even managed to overshadow the lingering aftermath of the Gu disturbance in the Imperial Palace, not to mention the ongoing wars in the north and south.
This was Yixiang Building, the crown jewel of Fengyue Street! It boasted thousands of beautiful women and was one of White Jade City’s most famous dens of extravagance.
More importantly, the dead weren’t just the staff of Yixiang Building. The victims also included Tu Gang, the Chief Steward of Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion in the Capital City, along with several of the Prince’s Mansion’s elite masters. This was clearly no simple matter.
Who was Tu Gang?
He was one of the Northern King’s most trusted confidants and a Super Grade Late Stage expert. He was a significant figure among the Capital City’s nobility, representing the prestige and power of Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion in the Imperial Capital. His reputation was known throughout the land; he had once even held his own against a Celestial Human at the Super Grade Perfection realm.
Yet now he had died like a stray dog in a pleasure district. He and his men had been slaughtered with ease, like cutting melons and vegetables, and not a single one had escaped.
This wasn’t just murder. It was a slap in the face to Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion. It was a provocation aimed at the Northern King himself—a powerful Border Prince who ruled the Northern Territory, a man of whom even Emperor Xia was wary.
When the news reached the Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion annex in White Jade City, the remaining Vice Stewards and advisors were scared out of their wits. Their first impulse was to flee. This terror was immediately followed by a towering rage and a bone-deep fear, and they rushed to send an urgent dispatch to Iron Wall City.
"Investigate! I want a thorough investigation! The killer must not be allowed to escape!"
The message arrived quickly in Iron Wall City via express channels. The roar of the Northern King, all the way from the Northern Territory, seemed to travel thousands of miles to echo through the meeting hall of the annex: "Use every resource! Mobilize all our experts! I want to see just who has the gall to touch the people of my Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion! Tu Gang will not have died in vain! The experts of my Prince’s Mansion will not have died in vain! A debt of blood must be paid in blood. We will make them pay the price."
Inside the Prince’s Mansion annex, the atmosphere was grim and heavy. Everyone feared for their own safety, and some had already fled in secret.
With Tu Gang dead, they were leaderless. The Vice Stewards were shocked and furious, but more than that, they were terrified the Prince’s wrath would fall on them.
They sprang into action like enraged hornets from a disturbed nest, mobilizing all the Prince’s Mansion’s influence within the Capital City.
Publicly, they used official channels to pressure the Jingzhao Prefecture, the Divine Capture Sect, and even the Shadow Guard, demanding they solve the case and apprehend the culprit within a set time. What they didn’t know was that the Divine Capture Sect and the Shadow Guard had already fallen into the killer’s hands, and even the Jingzhao Prefecture was largely under his control.
In the shadows, the Death Warriors kept by the Prince’s Mansion, the Jianghu informants on their payroll, and the moles planted in various Government Offices all sprang into a frenzy like sharks that had scented blood, searching everywhere for the killer’s whereabouts.
For a time, a storm brewed beneath the surface of White Jade City, and a major conflict seemed imminent.
Merchants who did business with Yixiang Building, officials who had crossed paths with Tu Gang on Fengyue Street, and even some factions that had recently had friction with the Prince’s Mansion—all came under various levels of scrutiny and questioning. No one was exempt.
Many officials who were normally close to the Prince’s Mansion also felt the pressure. Whether willingly or not, they began helping to gather information, some even dispatching their own men.
However, the investigation hit a dead end. They found nothing. The killer had been too clean.
Based on the fragmented descriptions from the survivors—a few terrified Male Prostitutes and Maids, and a handful of guests who had hidden—they could only piece together a vague profile. And even that profile was likely a Disguise.
A gray-brown Cloak. Medium build. Wielded a sword. His Power was terrifying. A merciless, prolific killer.
Beyond that, he left no identifying features whatsoever.
His Sword Technique?
Unrecognizable.
His Lightweight Techniques?
So fast that only a shadow remained!
His accent?
He never spoke a single word.
Other than the bodies and blood that covered the floor, the crime scene yielded almost no clues about the killer. He hadn’t even left a footprint.
The murder weapon, a Top Level Mortal Artifact longsword, had also been taken. It was as if the fiend had briefly emerged from Hell, only to return after the slaughter, leaving not a single trace behind.
As for the Divine Capture Sect, Sun Wuyang of the Celestial Eye had personally inspected the scene. He returned with a deep frown and told the men from the Prince’s Mansion just one thing: "The killer is an expert at the Super Grade Perfection realm. He acts decisively and with veteran cunning, and he deliberately concealed his identity and Martial Arts style. A thorough investigation in a short period of time will be extremely difficult. This is not something that can be solved overnight."
Shadow Guard Chief Zheng Zhicang was even more formal, stating, "Clues at the scene are limited. We have dispatched additional manpower to investigate suspicious experts who have recently entered the Capital, but this will take time. Furthermore, the Shadow Guard has more pressing matters at hand and cannot dispatch our top experts."
Time?
But Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion couldn’t afford to wait. Every day that passed was another blow to the mansion’s prestige, another measure of fury added to the Prince’s anger. And who knew what consequences that would bring, or what punishment they would have to endure.
At their wits’ end, someone thought of the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen.
Although the Third Prince had been deposed, made a eunuch, and had lost all power in the court, he was, after all, the Northern King’s grandson. He was the Prince’s Mansion’s blood tie to the Royal Family.
Besides, the Third Prince had operated in the Capital City for many years. Even in his current state of decline, he surely had some lingering network of contacts and informants that could be of use.
’More importantly, he lives inside the Imperial Palace itself. Everyone knows that information travels far and wide within the Palace. Perhaps he could use internal channels to learn something that outsiders can’t?’
And so, a Vice Steward from the Prince’s Mansion annex personally went to the Imperial Palace to request an audience with the Third Prince, hoping to secure his help.
Wude Palace. Once the splendid, vibrant residence of the Third Prince, it now exuded an air of inexpressible decay and gloom. The number of Palace Attendants had also dwindled significantly.
The courtyard’s flowers and plants were overgrown and messy from neglect. The water in the lotus pond was murky green, with withered leaves floating on the surface, and it even gave off a faint, foul smell.
The few remaining Palace Attendants looked listless, walking with their heads bowed. They had lost their former Essence, Qi, and Spirit, along with their old swagger.
The entire palace was shrouded in an oppressive, dreary atmosphere of just getting by, making it seem even more desolate than the Eastern Palace at present.
Inside a side hall, the windows were shut tight in an attempt to block out the scorching heat, but this only made the room even more unbearably stuffy.
Though a basin of ice sat in the corner, the blocks were melting quickly. It was a completely inadequate measure, barely making a dent in the oppressive heat.
Xia Wuchen was slumped in a recliner, dressed in loose, plain-colored robes. He looked like a corpse.
His face was pale and his eyes were sunken. The once vibrant, high-spirited expression had been replaced by a dejected numbness, making him look more decrepit than some old men.
Ever since he was deposed and his body mutilated, it was as if all his Essence, Qi, and Spirit had been drained from him. He couldn’t muster any interest in anything. He spent his days either in a stupor or staring blankly into space.
He turned a deaf ear to the outside world, with no desire to do anything at all.

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