Gaa-吱, Gaa-吱!

The talisman ship began to shake violently, and cold river water kept seeping in from the cracked seams.

The paper sailor at the bow was still tirelessly operating the oars, but it was as if he was stuck, repeating some meaningless movements over and over.

"The ship can't hold on much longer!" Cui Yu said, grinding his back teeth.

The foundation of the talisman ship was actually Cui Yu's special stacking talisman technique. Now that the ship was badly damaged, Cui Yu's own aura was also紊乱 (wěn luàn, disrupted).

Even if he could stack another ship, it would be difficult to use his techniques again in a short time.

If they were in a normal state, the five of them could still cross the river, but at this time, there was obviously an external force interfering. If they lost their footing, they would be in an even more passive situation.

"Since that ship is solid, let's go up and take a look."

"This old lady wants to know who is playing tricks behind the scenes." Jin Sanniang said confidently, throwing out a scimitar.

The scimitar controlled Qi, splitting open tens of meters of thick fog, and even compressing the air into a transparent air bridge in a short time.

Ye Chuxiao could not achieve such control at the moment.

Even though Ye Chuxiao possessed the talent of shaping energy, he couldn't do it so casually.

Jin Sanniang took the lead and stepped onto the air bridge, walking towards the huge ship.

Ye Chuxiao and the others naturally followed.

After boarding the deck of the ship, Jin Sanniang retracted her scimitar, holding it in her hand, ready to be on guard at any time.

"What a strong smell of blood," Zhao Sibai said, twitching his nose.

Qiao Wuqi's eyes suddenly lit up, like two searchlights, scanning the ship.

"There are many corpses inside."

"Wait... some of them are wearing official uniforms. Judging from the patterns and colors, they are officials of the seventh rank or higher. What a brutal method. The killer is completely venting his anger. No... there's even a fourth rank here!" Qiao Wuqi said as he looked around, his tone gradually becoming heavy.

In Shenjing City, fourth-rank officials were not too rare.

Many sons of noble families, enjoying the favor of their ancestors, could obtain some idle official positions, which, to put it bluntly, was to enjoy a salary and luck, but without much real power.

But in the provinces, a fourth-rank official was already a 'governor' level official, comparable to a regional magnate.

The violent death of such an official would definitely be a shocking case.

The five entered the main hall of the ship together.

Inside the hall, blood was everywhere.

The corpses and body parts of dancers, musicians, guards, yamen runners... and some officials were all mixed together.

The cruel and bloody scene made people feel as if they were in hell.

Among the five, Ye Chuxiao had the lowest tolerance for such stimulating scenes.

Although the Ministry of Justice's prison had an interrogation building, and some methods used were equally bloody and cruel, with Ye Chuxiao's status, when had he ever personally done such work? He wasn't a pervert!

"After more than ten years on the job, the last time I saw such a tragedy was eight years ago, that time..." Zhao Sibai was saying.

But Jin Sanniang interrupted, "Alright! Don't talk about irrelevant things, let's first determine the identities of the victims."

"Then, launch the Restriction-Breaking Golden Talisman and summon the Six Doors constables within a few hundred miles to jointly investigate the case. This matter... is big!"

Zhao Sibai cupped his fist and accepted the order, holding the Restriction-Breaking Golden Talisman, and walked outside to the deck to release the golden talisman.

This talisman was made by the talisman master of the Six Doors himself. Even if it encountered restrictive, concealed, or hidden formations and barriers, it could effectively penetrate and release information in all directions.

The constables of the Six Doors could receive the information through their waist tags and badges, and rush to the location where the golden talisman was released.

In the main hall, Qiao Wuqi put on gloves and frowned as he looked through some pieces of flesh. After thinking for a while, he said, "This method, don't you think it's familiar?"

"Moreover, this time we are traveling to Hedong to put pressure on the Liu family is actually something that the higher-ups had already discussed."

"If I'm not mistaken, the Liu family should have already secretly pledged allegiance. This trip of ours is just a formality, to let us earn some credit. Afterwards, the Liu family will serve as an example to attract more wealthy families into the framework we have set up."

Qiao Wuqi's words were somewhat fragmented. The first sentence and the last two sentences seemed difficult to connect.

But in fact, they were related.

Seeing that only Ye Chuxiao was puzzled, Cui Yu whispered to Ye Chuxiao, "Eight years ago, Minister Yuan sent people to investigate the collusion between the Hedong wealthy families and the Yuanzhi Sect. In fact, he had already received a letter of report from the Hedong Bai family at that time. Sending people to investigate was just to lift the lid."

"There were two gold badges and twelve silver badges in the team at that time. Zhao Sibai was also in the investigation team at that time."

"They also encountered a ship on the Han River. The ship was full of corpses that had been cut up into a chaotic and unrecognizable state."

"At that time, the corpses on the ship were identified by a corpse cultivator as belonging to the direct line of the Hedong Bai family."

"Without the whistleblower, even the Six Doors would have some difficulty in handling cases in Hedong. After a long delay, the investigation of the Hedong wealthy families could only end without a conclusion."

After hearing this, Ye Chuxiao held his breath and stopped breathing in the strong smell of blood in the hall.

Immediately, the feeling of vomiting and nausea was much better.

"Bai family... Bai Mingjian, this is not a coincidence." Jin Sanniang said suddenly.

"Did the surviving members of the Bai family commit such a bloody crime?" Qiao Wuqi asked.

Jin Sanniang shook her head and said, "We can't be so arbitrary, but this matter must be related to the Bai family."

"Similarly, the Liu family is also involved."

"I'm afraid we didn't come here to pick up credit... we're carrying thunder."

As soon as these words came out, the four people present, although all were expressionless, could be seen to be in extremely bad moods.

Zhao Sibai came back after releasing the golden talisman, and seeing the expressions of the four, he did not ask.

Instead, he strode to the very end of the hall and rummaged through the pile of broken corpses, finding an arm that had been twisted into a rope.

Spreading out the official uniform on the arm, Zhao Sibai said, "The cuffs have a fire麒麟 (qí lín, Chinese unicorn) pattern. The owner of this arm should be a Sima. Hedong is an upper prefecture. If this is an official from Hedong, then the owner of this arm should be a fifth-rank official."

"Hedong Sima Xue Dingan entered the Mystical Realm in the ninth year of Kangjian. He has been guarding Hedong for more than ten years, and his cultivation can also be described as unfathomable," Cui Yu said quickly.

"This is an old minister of the previous dynasty!" Qiao Wuqi said.

Jin Sanniang glanced at Qiao Wuqi with sharp eyes.

Qiao Wuqi took a step back and said no more, continuing to look through the corpses.

After another while, he finally found a section of a sleeve from the pile of corpses that could prove his identity.

"Judging from the pattern, it can be determined that it came from an Inspector."

"But Hedong is an upper prefecture, and the Hedong Inspector is a third-rank official."

"And looking at the details of the pattern, this is clearly the official uniform pattern of a fourth-rank Inspector. Only the Inspector of Zhongzhou is fourth-rank," Qiao Wuqi said.

Inside the ship, the corpses were fragmented, and even the clothes were cut up very badly.

If they want to identify the identity of the corpse, they still need to wait for the corpse cultivator who specializes in corpse Dao to come and piece together the corpse before they can find out.