161 The Judgemen

Xue Ling finished feeding the first bowl of porridge. As she continued on to the second bowl, Xiao Qi entered the room. She smelled nice.

Chu Li smiled at Xiao Qi, and greeted, "Lady Xiao."

Xiao Qi looked at him coldly. "Such nonsense!"

Chu Li shook his head as he lamented, "I didn't know that the Tempest Temple had this kind of study up their sleeves. I'm quite impressed!"

Xiao Qi scoffed. "If The Tempest Temple was that easy to defeat, The Imperial Court would have destroyed them already. You thought that you'd be safe from them with just good Light-body Technique?"

She sat at the front of the couch. Xue Ling hurriedly made space for her to sit.

Xiao Qi rested her delicate fingers on Chu Li's wrist. She felt a vigorous flow of vitality. She withdrew her fingers and said lightly, "Young (Su) Ru, Xue Ling, please leave the room. I've something private to speak to Chu Li about."

"Understood." Su Ru pulled Xue Ling along and closed the door as they left.

Xiao Qi's eyes were clear and bright as she quietly looked at Chu Li.

He smiled.

Xiao Qi asked: "You killed him, didn't you?"

Chu Li arched his eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"You are getting bolder," Xiao Qi commented lightly.

Chu Li smiled. "If the Tempest Temple's monks didn't appear, I wouldn't have dared to kill him."

"So you wanted to frame the Tempest Temple?" Xiao Qi asked.

"Why do you think I was injured so badly and seemingly was not able to survive?" Chu Li asked back, smiling.

Xiao Qi knitted her brows and shook her head. Chu Li pretended to be dead so he was able to escape being attacked further -- that sounded like a good idea. "Why?" she asked again.

"Thanks to Lu Yurong, who thinks of me highly. I wrote him a letter to get him to kill me." Chu Li shook his head helplessly. "If he doesn't die, then I'll die."

"Can he even kill you? With your Light-body Technique skill level?"

"He used Xue Ling and the Autumn Temple to threaten me," Chu Li sighed. "I had no other choice, I had to kill him."

"Lu Yurong again!" Xiao Qi furrowed her brows.

Zhao Zilai was such a conceit. He figured that if he could threaten Chu Li, he would be forced to fight him but dared not kill him. Zhao Zilai was really asking for death, nobody could blame Chu Li for doing so.

Chu Li asked, "Will the Public House be in trouble?"

The position of High Official of the Imperial Harem was not an ordinary, common one.

Xiao Qi frowned again and said, "The Imperial Court will not let this slide. Zhao Zilai's status was the Imperial Court's pride and honor."

"If nothing works, I'll just act dead to get away." Chu Li shrugged. "This will save me from a lot of problems."

He could imagine how the Imperial Court would pressure the Public House. A Public House was merely a Public House, unable to contend with The Imperial Household.

"Let's just see how it goes." Xiao Qi shook her head and said.

The status of the Public House was supreme, different from that of the courthouse. It was not like the Imperial Court could punish the Public House whenever they wanted to.

Chu Li asked, "Lady Xiao, do you think that I can successfully frame the Tempest Temple in this matter?"

"Are you confident about this?" asked Xiao Qi.

The way Chu Li planned on dealing with it was superior. There were wounds left by the flying blades on Zhao Zilai's body. It looked like Chu Li had killed him but if they examined it carefully, they would have realized that the chest wound was not actually caused by it. That fact alone was very suspicious.

Xiao Qi was confused. The wound on Zhao Zilai's chest was the key.

"What caused the wound on his chest?"

"The Spear Finger Strike." Chu Li smiled as he answered. "This is the Tempest Temple's exclusive antique study."

Xiao Qi's arched her delicate eyebrows. "You know the Spear Finger Strike?"

Chu Li shook his head. "I only know a little about it. I can only activate it when I've reached the Grandmaster's Boundary."

Xiao Qi pondered for a while.

"Fine, we will roll with the punches when the time comes. You make sure you have a good rest and recuperate first."

"No hurry in this," Chu Li replied.

Xiao Qi frowned at him.

Chu Li laughed, and said, "The Imperial Court will assign someone to come over to investigate, right? We need to let them have a good look!"

"The Perishable Touch is malicious. Don't play with fire and burn yourself!"

"Yes."

Xiao Qi looked at him and felt that there was nothing else more to say.

Chu Li did not kill Zhao Zilai on impulse. He had thought about it over and over again and even considered a way to get out of the mess. Even if it were Xiao Qi, she would have done the same too. There is no way that Zhao Zilai should have been left alone because of his position.

----

"Yah!" Six gallant horses with golden waist tags on it galloped into Chong Ming Town. They were in full gallop and the avenue was in chaos. The commoners were shocked and scolded the horsemen as they passed.

The Public House was the most powerful in Chong Ming Town. Not even their own Protectors dared to act so boldly.

Clad in purple, the six horsemen were middle-aged and had a dark expression on their faces. They gazed gravely at those who scolded them.

The commoners were not scared and even returned the glares. No matter how highly skilled you are as a martial arts person, you would have to behave in Chong Ming Town. Should anybody dare to kill, the Public House would have hunted them down for sure. This was why the residents of Chong Ming Town were not afraid of any Masters from the martial arts world.

The six horsemen laughed coldly, and increased the speed of their horse gallop, leaving the commoners' scolding far behind. They arrived at the main door of the Public House in no time.

"Stop right there!" two Protectors came out from the shadows of the stone lions beside the main door. They were armed with their swords as they stood tall and halted the horsemen.

"Neigh…" The six horses brayed and raised their hooves, stopping in front of the two Protectors.

The six middle-aged riders dismounted and threw a shining golden waist tag to one of the Protectors. "We are the Imperial House's Protectors!"

The Protector looked to be about 20 years old. He had narrow features – sharp face shape, eyes. He looked lackadaisical, turning the golden waist tag around twice to look at it before stretching his arms out slowly to give a fist salute.

"Please wait while I report this!"

The two Protectors were disgusted with their presumptuous attitude. If it were not because they were on duty, they would have already dragged them down from their horses.

"Get your High Duke to come out and welcome us!" one of the middle-aged horsemen proclaimed sneeringly.

The two Protectors rolled their eyes and smiled at them leeringly. The narrow-face Protector kept the golden waist tag and entered the Public House in large strides.

The six horsemen glared at the remaining Protector.

This Protector was also in his twenties. He had a joyful, baby face but instead, he was now staring coldly back at them and tried hard to not look weak.

The horsemen's glares were sharp as if it were swords waiting to pierce right through him.

"He has guts." The horsemen stared at him for a while and saw his unwavering stance. They raised their chins and nodded to each other, "He's not a useless one."

The babyface Protector remained steadfast and did not utter a word.

He believed that if he were to make any sound, the horsemen would use it against him and make a huge fuss out of it. He was no match for the six of them. A wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. He could only wait until that somebody from the Public House returned quickly.

The sounds of footsteps hurrying to the main door reverberated in the air.

Xiao Tieying and his men gathered at the door. They greeted the men with a fist salute from a distance.

"Sorry for not receiving you at the door, envoys. Welcome and please, do come in!"

Xiao Tieying was accompanied by Linquan, Zhao Qingshan, and six other Grandmasters. "Our apologies if we offended anyone."

"I thank all of you for making the effort to come all the way here. Come in and have a drink to quench your thirst as you rest. It won't be too late to discuss afterward." Xiao Tieying laughed heartily. He seemed unaffected by their arrogance and coldness.

The six men nodded as they entered the Public House with Xiao Tieying and the others surrounding them.

Iron Eagle Island, main hall.

Everyone took their seats and was served tea.

Xiao Tieying sat at the foreseat, with Linquan standing behind him. Zhao Qingshan and the others sat around him.

The six horsemen put down their teacups and looked at Xiao Tieying coldly.

The leader of the six had a yellowish and sickly face, but he had a vigorous and unyielding spirit to him. His gaze was sharp as he stared at Xiao Tieying.

"Master Xiao, forgive us if we are being offensive, but we want to ask you to hand over the murderer who killed Brother Zhao!"

"Murderer?" Xiao Tieying put down his teacup, and said slowly, "Does Senior Song know who the murderer is?"

Song Siwen said in a cold voice, "It is said a person by the name of Chu Li was with Brother Zhao. Was he the one who killed Brother Zhao?"

Xiao Tieying's handsome face slowly turned grim. He politely, but coldly replied, "Are the six of you suggesting that Senior Zhao was killed by one of my men from my Public House? And that this guy is Chu Li?"

One of the horsemen nodded his head slowly and sneered.

"Brother Zhao is highly skilled in his martial arts. He would not have died for no reason at all. Does the Public House intend to hide the murderer?"

Xiao Tieying chuckled and said coldly, "Senior Song, you and your men came over and asked for the murderer by name. How can any of you not want to take a look at Senior Zhao's body, and know for certain straight away that Chu Li is indeed the murderer?"