Qin Han's anguished scream shook everyone present, and even those crowding outside the courtyard, afraid to enter, started to stir noisily. The lifelong loyalty of Ouyezi's heir was an irresistible temptation—no need to elaborate further. Especially since Qin Han looked quite striking in her feminine attire, which sent many imaginations running wild and made the crowd even more excited. But no one dared to step through the gate, deterred by Jack Young's display of smashing the stone lion with his bare fists; instead, they just buzzed with whispers outside.
"Enough!" The angry shout came from Yan Taixu. This gentle, elegant man didn't raise his voice, but his stern expression was enough to frighten everyone. He angrily slapped the armrest of his wheelchair and pointed at Qin Han, "You're Old Qin's heir, the next Ouyezi—how can you act like this! You..." He suddenly started coughing, his pale face flushing unnaturally, struggling to catch his breath.
The woman in red panicked at the sight, but no matter how much energy she tried to transfer, it didn't help. Jack Young instantly flashed over, his palms tapping and pressing on Yan Taixu's body in rapid succession, finally stabilizing his condition.
Qin Han was startled by Yan Taixu's sudden condition. If something happened to the Phantom Sword Saint because she lost control, the blame would be too much to bear.
Yan Taixu took a few deep breaths and finally calmed down. He said to Qin Han, "Han'er, we'll definitely avenge your grandfather, so there's no need for you to act this way. Right now, the priority is to find the real culprit. Come on, tell us exactly what happened."
Qin Han nodded hard, eyes red, and began to tell her story.
In the Sword Casting Cliff compound, Ouyezi's private courtyard was usually off-limits, but every morning and evening, someone would come to deliver materials and tidy up. No one at Sword Casting Cliff was lazy—the rules were strict. At dawn, a servant came to greet Old Qin. Ouyezi was always punctual and rigid; usually, he'd open the door after three light knocks as the morning sun appeared. But this morning, no matter how the servant knocked, there was no answer.
The servant sensed something was wrong and, not daring to take action alone, called for Qin Han. She shouted twice but got no response, so, worried, she broke down the door. As soon as she entered, she saw blood in the courtyard—and then found Old Ouyezi lifeless beside the Hundred Refinement Furnace.
Qin Han's mind went blank at the sight—she couldn't process anything. By the time she came to, the news of Ouyezi's assassination had already spread like wildfire throughout Eight Directions City, impossible to contain. In no time, every martial artist in the city was swarming toward Sword Casting Cliff like piranhas smelling blood, and Qin Han could only organize a defense to keep these uninvited guests out.
It's been about an hour since Ouyezi's assassination was discovered, and Sword Casting Cliff is in total chaos. It's as if the sky had fallen—servants and disciples are panicking like stray dogs, unable to mount any emergency measures, which is why outsiders managed to rush in. Only Qin Han fought tooth and nail to hold the last courtyard; otherwise, who knows what shape it would be in by now.
While everyone outside was whispering and Yan Taixu was busy analyzing and asking questions, Jack barely paid attention. Most of his brainpower was tied up, gathering every little clue from the scene and piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle in his head.
Totally zoned in, Jack cranked his mental powers to the max. His eyes went kinda blank, his mind slipping into a super precise, almost robotic state—no feelings, no drama, just pure data. The real scene and his mental replay overlapped, and it was like he’d time-traveled back to the moment.
At the third watch, he 'saw' himself leaving, stepping out of Quinn Manor. Old Ouyezi was still chilling in the courtyard, Jade Sword in hand. A few minutes later, fireworks went off—everything seemed normal. From then to dawn, only about fifteen minutes ticked by. Fifteen minutes later, Old Ouyezi was dead beside the Hundred Refinement Furnace, stabbed right through the heart.
Jack's gaze flickered as he instinctively reconstructed Old Ouyezi's wound—the length, depth, tearing, and the final look of the heart—all played out in his mind.
"Yep, it was the Jade Sword," Jack muttered. "The murder weapon was the Jade Sword. The tip pierced the heart, the sword energy snapped the arteries, wiped out every bit of life." He could almost see that cold glint flash through Old Ouyezi's chest.
"Then..." The mental movie kept rolling. He 'saw' Old Ouyezi, stabbed through the heart, stagger back into the house. Jack clutched his own chest, acting it out, determined not to miss a single detail.
Every step landed on a barely-there footprint. The forge room’s fire and ash left just enough dust for prints. "That’s the clue. He tightened his heart muscles to slow the bleeding, so the blood stains look like this—otherwise, a heart wound wouldn’t just drip." Jack retraced the steps, his mental replay following. He 'saw' Old Ouyezi reach the Hundred Refinement Furnace and, with his last bit of strength, start the most crucial step of forging Nirvana.
"The timing, the conditions, and the spiritual energy weren’t right, so the sword embryo couldn’t form. So..." He 'saw' Old Ouyezi straighten up and pull his hand away from the wound. With a final push, blood gushed from his chest, carrying all his life force into the furnace. Instantly, the fire turned from red to blue, melting all the iron embryos together. Old Ouyezi gave it his all, finally sitting down and watching the Nirvana Sword Embryo take shape.
"That’s why he was sitting by the Hundred Refinement Furnace, drained of all blood." In Jack’s mental replay, Old Ouyezi lost all his life, matching the scene before him perfectly. Some mysteries were solved, but the real culprit behind Old Ouyezi's murder was still a mystery.
Who was the killer? And why’d they do it?
Jack could blow off the second question, but there was a third key thing—where was the killer now?
His mental replay rewound fast, back to the moment Old Ouyezi got stabbed—freezing on the sword tip going in. Jack found himself back in the courtyard, scanning every little trace, tweaking his simulation to catch the killer’s trail. No extra clues here; even the best modern forensics folks would be stumped.
But in Jack’s weird, empty state, he brushed away the dust of the past bit by bit. In his simulation, a blurry figure started to form. In a flash, that person lunged—grabbed the sword, killed, all in a split second.
"Old Ouyezi wasn’t a martial artist, but he wasn’t a pushover either. So..." A spark lit up in Jack’s mind and he followed the thread, almost ready to crack the case. But right then, a huge commotion broke out, snapping his focus. Jack jerked out of his trance.
"Huh?" Jack’s deduction got interrupted, and he shot an annoyed look at the source of the noise. While he’d been deep in thought, more and more people had crowded into the courtyard—sect folks, wanderers, martial artists, you name it. Some were yelling to solve the case, ready to storm in. Lingji, Yuxi, and Damei showed up too. Rainy Luo, being a modern gal, actually knew a thing or two about forensics and was busy stopping people from messing up the crime scene.
In all the noise, someone suddenly yelled from the crowd, "Come on, it’s obvious—the killer’s right here!"
Someone shot back, "What do you mean?"
The voice in the crowd sneered, "Think about it—he left at the third watch, and the old master died at dawn. Hardly any time between those. No sign of anyone else in the courtyard. Nobody saw anything when he left, maybe the old master was already dead. The killer grabbed the loot and swaggered out, now he’s back here pretending. Isn’t that shameless?"
"You!" Lingji was stunned, then immediately fired back, "That’s slander! Who said that? If you’ve got guts, step up and say it to my face!"
"The killer’s tough—if I step up, I’m dead meat! And hey, I didn’t name names. Why are you so jumpy? Guilty conscience, maybe?" The voice floated around the crowd, clearly from someone with some serious martial skills. "But with all these martial arts folks here, and Old Ouyezi’s body right in front of us, I say the killer should just confess and get it over with!"
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