Chapter 33: Another Truth Revealed

The old woman paused, then lowered her voice and said solemnly, "Because your mother was once the top secret guard for Crown Prince Li Hong, as well as a renowned medical saint in the pugilistic world. She held an even more significant identity: she was a disciple of Li Chunfeng.

"It is said that in Li Chunfeng's final prophecy, he predicted who would be able to exterminate the Wu clan and restore the Li Tang dynasty. Only your mother knew the contents of this prophecy."

"My mother?"

Murong Huan seemed to make a connection and asked, "You say that Zhou Xing and his son tortured those young girls to death and branded them with plum blossom marks to preserve the fortune of the Great Zhou. Why is that?"

"Because someone once asked your mother about Li Chunfeng's final prophecy. She did not answer, but instead presented a single plum blossom petal. That person then spread the word that the one destined to influence the fortune of the Great Zhou must be a woman with a plum blossom birthmark."

"To curry favor with the Prince of Wei, Zhou Xing and his son rounded up many girls with such plum blossom marks, operating on the principle that it was better to kill an innocent person than to let a guilty one go. When they finally ran out of girls, they simply branded them themselves for their own amusement..."

Upon hearing this, Murong Huan could no longer remain calm and stood up abruptly.

If this were true, were the deaths of those girls somehow linked to her mother?

Why had her mother given out that plum blossom petal? Was it intentional or accidental?

Better to kill an innocent than to let a guilty one go?

Just because of a baseless prophecy?

Murong Huan had never believed in prophecies. Her master had taught her about the *Tui Bei Tu* (Pushing Back Chart), explaining that human development must follow certain laws, and that the world of Great Harmony—a world without borders, without ego, and united as one—as described in the charts, was simply the natural conclusion of historical progress.

The concept of "Great Harmony" originated from the *Book of Rites*, the wisdom distilled by the sages of old.

Though the old woman could not see, she seemed to sense Murong Huan's shock. She suddenly grasped Murong Huan's hand, her voice filled with tenderness and earnestness. "Young master, may I ask a favor of you?"

"Speak."

"After I die, will you help me look after Xiao Lian? She has sacrificed too much for our Li family, and I do not want her to spend the rest of her life in such a place."

"Although Xiao Lian is not my biological child, she is a poor, suffering soul. She is so young; she should not have to endure so much."

Tears fell from the old woman’s hollow eyes, landing inadvertently on Murong Huan’s hand, which made her think of her own mother.

"Very well, I promise you. I will ensure Li Xiaolian’s safety. However, you do not need to take the fall for the true murderer!"

Murong Huan’s tone shifted, and the old woman started. Though the expression in her eyes remained unseen, her fear and horror were palpable.

"No, the murderer is me! It is me!"

She shouted, rushing out of the interrogation room and stopping before Lu Ling.

"Zhou Jiulang and Zhou Xing were indeed killed by me. These two destroyed my family; I hate them so much I could eat their flesh and drink their blood to settle the score. Please, Magistrate Lu, administer justice and convict me!"

She knelt as she spoke.

"But you are merely a frail woman with no strength to bind a chicken. You lack the physical power to hoist Zhou Xing up to the rafters, and Zhou Xing died of strangulation by hanging."

As soon as Lu Ling finished speaking, he saw a slender figure flash before his eyes, and a sharp palm strike came his way. Lu Ling dodged, and a muffled thud sounded in his ears. When he turned, he saw a deep palm print embedded in the wall.

Lu Shiyilang was aghast.

"You know martial arts?"

"Yes. I was once someone who served in the Inner Guard, just like Wu Lingyue. I hid in Zhou Jiulang’s house as a servant, waiting for this very opportunity to bring these two beastly men to justice!"

She gave a mocking laugh. "Of course, under the current reign, it is difficult for cruel officials like Zhou Xing to be brought to justice by the law. So, I had to become the Yama of vengeance myself, taking their lives with my own hands to pay for my father, my brother, and those innocent girls!"

Listening to the old woman’s desolate laughter, Lu Ling and Lu Shiyilang exchanged confused and uncertain glances, turning their eyes to Murong Huan.

"What is your opinion?" Lu Shiyilang asked first. "Can you paint the soul of the murderer?"

"Could it really be her?"

Before Murong Huan could answer, a constable rushed in to report: "Magistrate Lu, Huo Xiaolian, the top courtesan of the Shaohua Pavilion, is here. She says she has come to surrender!"

Hearing the name Huo Xiaolian, the old woman’s expression turned to one of utter terror, and she began to scream as if demented.

"Why is she here? Didn't I tell her to hide and never come out? Didn't I tell her to live a life of seclusion in an earthly paradise?"

"Why did she come back?"

"It is I, her aunt, who has failed her, ruining her entire life! I used her for my revenge—why did she come back?"

She wept and begged, kneeling before Lu Ling. "Magistrate Lu, let this case end with me, please? My niece Xiaolian is innocent; she was merely one of the many girls harmed by Zhou Xing and his son. Her life has been too bitter—do not let her take on this sin!"

Lu Ling helped the old woman up and comforted her. "Rest assured, as long as the murderer is not Huo Xiaolian, she will naturally be innocent!"

The old woman fell silent, tears streaming down her face.

Lu Ling ordered a constable to guard the old woman and asked Murong Huan to accompany him to meet Huo Xiaolian.

Upon reaching the door, they saw a woman dressed in fine, vibrant robes, yet she appeared exceptionally desolate and haggard. Her hair was disheveled, and there were even traces of blood on her.

"This humble one, Huo Xiaolian, greets Magistrate Lu."

Before Lu Ling, Huo Xiaolian showed no fear or servility; rather, she radiated the composure and poise of a noblewoman, neither humble nor arrogant, possessing a certain elegant charm.

"This has nothing to do with my aunt. I killed both Zhou Jiulang and Zhou Xing!" she stated directly.

Lu Ling invited her into a separate interrogation room, separated from the old woman by a single chamber.

"Then tell me, how did you kill Zhou Jiulang and Zhou Xing?"

Li Xiaolian produced a glass sphere and placed it on the table before Lu Ling, then brought out some broken jade bracelets wrapped in silk. She said earnestly, "I raised a type of *gu* poison inside this sphere. After this *gu* devoured all its kind, it gained a toxicity capable of gnawing through bone and marrow. I only needed to let this *gu* crawl over a person once. While it would not kill them instantly, within six hours, the person’s internal organs would rot and they would die."

"You must have had the coroner examine the bodies of Zhou Jiulang and Zhou Xing; surely you know what caused Zhou Jiulang's death."

"You can examine Zhou Xing’s body now; it will certainly be in the same condition as Zhou Jiulang’s!"

Just as Li Xiaolian finished speaking, the coroner, Xin Wei, burst in. He glanced at Li Xiaolian before saying to Lu Ling, "Magistrate Lu, Zhou Xing’s body is in the same condition as Zhou Jiulang’s. Initially, there were only signs of strangulation on the neck and some burns on the body, nothing else. But now that I have dissected the body, I found that all his internal organs have rotted away."

The faces of Lu Ling and Lu Shiyilang finally changed.

They had suspected the blind old woman, Huo Xiaolian, and even several others who seemed unrelated to the case. They had never imagined that the final murderer would be the seemingly innocent Huo Xiaolian.

"After Zhou Jiulang died, a case involving a corpse found at the bottom of a well caught the attention of your Ministry of Justice. Magistrate Lu reported it to the Saint. Yesterday, Su Silang and Vice-Censor Xiao came to the Shaohua Pavilion to find me. Putting all these events together, Zhou Xing suspected that I had killed Zhou Jiulang and exposed the crimes of his father and himself, so he wanted to kill me to silence me!"

"He was the one who summoned me to his estate. If I hadn't killed him, he would have killed me!"

After speaking, Li Xiaolian showed her blood-stained head to Lu Ling. "Look, this is what Zhou Xing did to me..."

Pity flickered in Lu Shiyilang’s eyes as he cursed under his breath, "That beast, Zhou Xing!"

"I also know that Magistrate Lu and Master Xun have some ties to the Prince of Ze. In particular, Master Xun searched for a long time after the Prince of Ze was murdered and his youngest daughter, Li Xiaomei, went missing. Actually, I knew Xiaomei..."

"You knew Xiaomei?" Lu Shiyilang could not help but interject. "When did you meet her? And how did she fall into the hands of Zhou Jiulang?"

"It was the day Xiaomei entered the Music Academy. She had intentionally caught Zhou Jiulang’s attention, wanting to assassinate him, but she failed and lost her life for nothing."

After saying this, Li Xiaolian took a slip of paper from her sleeve and handed it to Lu Shiyilang.

Seeing the familiar handwriting, Lu Shiyilang’s eyes blurred. It read: *I swear to kill the enemy today. If I succeed, I will retire. If I fail, I shall die. Do not grieve!*

Amidst the shock of Lu Ling and Lu Shiyilang, Li Xiaolian bowed her head and knelt. "I know that the Prince of Wei will not let the deaths of Zhou Xing and his son go unpunished. He will surely drag members of the Li Tang royal clan to take the fall, or even fabricate greater crimes. I do not wish to implicate others, so I have come to surrender and accept my punishment!"

"I beg you, Magistrate Lu, to let my aunt go. Although she hated Zhou Xing and his son and had considered killing them, the one who truly killed them is I, Li Xiaolian!"

Murong Huan could not help but call out, "Li Xiaolian!"

But Li Xiaolian only shook her head at her.

At that moment, a bailiff came from outside to report, "Magistrate Lu, the Prince of Wei has arrived!"