Several days passed, and the capital had reached a point where entry was allowed but exit was forbidden.
The Constables of the Ministry of Justice patrolled every household daily, conducting investigations and inspections.
Jinyi Pavilion was sealed off and had been closed for several days; the other Red Tower establishments were also key areas under scrutiny.
During these days, the city’s common folk were restless and uneasy, as the successive deaths of the prominent families’ heirs became a thorn lodged deep in their hearts.
Since the attack on the Reception Elder of the Five Spirit Sect and the disappearance of Prince Kang, within less than a week, news had spread one after another of heirs from the Five Great Families being murdered.
Though those killed were not particularly important figures within their clans, these were the renowned Five Great Cultivation Families—this was an open provocation, a blatant declaration of war.
The officials of the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Court were overwhelmed; the pressure from the Five Spirit Sect, the Emperor, and the Five Great Families forced them to employ any means necessary to solve the case.
Anyone present at the crime scenes was taken in for questioning; even some suspicious individuals were coerced into confessions.
At night, even without a curfew, the common people would still keep to their homes.
They feared the Dali Court might suspect them, even if they had nothing to do with the case.
During this time, Zhang Yuge and his servants remained hidden inside Wang Quan’s pawnshop.
Zhang Yuge never asked them to pose as employees nor allowed them to leave the secret room.
A small pawnshop suddenly housing several unfamiliar faces was bound to arouse suspicion from the neighbors.
As for food, it was the other maid, Lvzhu, who bore the burden, spending entire mornings running between various markets in the capital to buy supplies in batches.
Buying too much at once or making multiple trips would raise suspicion.
After all, the Five Great Families had decreed that anyone who actively reported suspicious persons and succeeded in their reports would receive a reward of one hundred taels of gold.
Money makes the world go round—commoners, eager for the hefty reward, went mad reporting everyone they found suspicious.
From the intelligence brought back by Zhang Yuge’s undercover servants, he learned that the Ministry of Justice had already visited Wang Quan’s residence.
Originally, Wu De’s death had drawn little attention, but somehow, rumors had been deliberately spread: the attacks on the Five Spirit Sect’s Reception Elder, Prince Kang’s disappearance, and the murders of the Five Great Families’ heirs were all said to be the work of the same person.
Zhang Yuge felt deeply wronged—Wu De was killed by him, Prince Kang was kidnapped by him, but the victims among the Five Great Families were not his doing.
In truth, the matter was not complicated.
Zhang Yuge had already deduced that those insignificant branches of the Five Great Families’ heirs were all under the orders of Emperor Li Yuhan of Great Zhou.
In this twisted country called Great Zhou, the Five Great Families were the true rulers.
The disappearance of the sect elder was naturally investigated by the Five Spirit Sect; the prince, a hedonistic parasite, was of little concern to the Ministry of Justice.
But if the heirs of the Five Great Families were murdered, the case had to be solved at all costs—the entire court would rather offend the Emperor than the Five Great Families.
Emperor Li Yuhan deliberately leaked false information to mislead the common people, claiming that the murders of the Five Great Families’ heirs were committed by the same individual responsible for the previous incidents involving the Five Spirit Sect elder and Prince Kang’s disappearance.
Therefore, every young noble who had participated in the aptitude test that day was exhaustively questioned by the Ministry of Justice.
Wang Quan, Liu Rong, Chen Bin—these official families’ heirs who had only a few encounters with Zhang Yuge—all underwent investigation.
Especially Wang Quan, who had been verbally humiliated by Wu De; he was a prime suspect.
Fortunately, their families held official positions in the court, or else they would have already been subjected to harsh interrogations.
From other witnesses present, the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Court knew there was still one person not yet apprehended.
That individual was the one who had the deepest conflict with the Five Spirit Sect elder—and he was a cultivator who had a good relationship with the son of the Minister of Rites.
According to Wang Quan’s testimony, the man who had a grudge against Elder Wu was named Zhang Qingyao, living in Ningzhou, met only briefly and temporarily.
After leaving Jinyi Pavilion, Wang Quan had never seen Zhang Qingyao again.
Now Zhang Qingyao had become a prime suspect, as the Zhang family of Ningzhou was indeed a cultivation family.
Several dozen skilled constables departed the capital overnight, heading to Ningzhou.
But they had no idea that Zhang Qingyao—actually Zhang Yuge—was still hiding in an unknown corner near the Western City Gate of the capital.
Capital City, Ye Family.
Housemaster Ye Tianlu gathered with several Ye family elders to discuss important matters.
“The people sent to tail the Zhang family youth lost him after only half a day. What a bunch of useless idiots.”
“Tianyang, you can’t say that. After all, that kid is at the Nascent Soul stage, his strength surpasses ours; losing our tail is easy for him.”
“At first, I worried that the uproar caused by the Zhang family youth might be discovered by the other four families, and fretted for a long time. Unexpectedly, the city has been lively these past days—except for our Ye family, each of the other four families has had one or two young heirs killed.”
“With that, the other four families’ attention will surely focus on investigating the culprit, and our Ye family’s scandal will naturally be covered up.”
Housemaster Ye Tianlu frowned deeply, holding a completely different view.
“I think this situation actually works against the Ye family. The Feng, Hua, Yun, and Ji families have each suffered victims—Hua and Yun lost two people each—only our Ye family remains untouched.”
“Wise nephew, you mean the Ye family will become a suspect?”
“Exactly.”
Ye Tianlu nodded.
“What can we do then? Should we sacrifice one of our young ones as a scapegoat?”
someone expressed dissatisfaction.
“Of course, I would never let the children take risks, but we can’t rule out the possibility that the culprit wants to frame us or simply hasn’t targeted us yet. No matter what, during this period, all clan members must be restricted from going out, especially the younger generation.”
“Damn it!”
Ye Tianyang slammed his fist on the table, faint cracks appearing.
“Whoever dares harm the Ye family, I will reduce them to ashes!”
At that moment, someone knocked on the door, claiming to have urgent news.
“Come in,”
Ye Tianlu said.
The visitor entered, half-kneeling respectfully.
“Reporting to Housemaster, the Dali Court Minister sent this message. Regarding the attack on the Five Spirit Sect’s Reception Elder, the preliminary investigation points to Zhang Qingyao as a prime suspect.”
“The Zhang family youth?!”
Everyone in the Ye family was astonished.
“According to eyewitness and physical evidence, the conflict likely originated from a verbal dispute between the Five Spirit Sect Reception Elder and Zhang Qingyao at Jinyi Pavilion. In retaliation, Zhang Qingyao launched a nighttime assault on the Reception Elder.”
“How dare that brat?!”
Ye Tianlu clenched his fists tightly, never expecting Zhang Yuge to be so bold and arrogant.
“Where did the rumor come from that the attack on the Five Spirit Sect elder and the murders of the Five Great Families’ heirs were committed by the same person?”
“Second Elder, the news came from the Imperial Palace.”