Chapter Eighty-Three: What a Tangle of Affairs in These High Circles

Fang Mu walked up to the beggar, but the beggar was still fast asleep.

Yan Xian also came over and tapped the beggar with the blade at his waist.

Disturbed like that, the sleeping beggar instantly woke up.

“The two of you...” After waking, the beggar rubbed his eyes and looked at Fang Mu and the other man in confusion.

Fang Mu took out the long-life lock, let it sway before the beggar’s eyes, and said, “Do you know this thing?”

The beggar froze, staring at the lock in front of him. His expression shifted from stiff to baffled. “What is this? I don’t know it.”

With a sharp clang, the butcher’s knife left its sheath, drawing a streak of cold light through the air as it plunged straight into the ground.

The blade sank deep into the earth, leaving only the hilt exposed.

Fang Mu gave the lock another little shake and smiled. “Three strikes and you’re out. I’ll ask you one more time.”

The beggar swallowed, staring at the butcher’s knife in the ground. After a moment of struggle, he clenched his teeth and said, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Brother Fang, let me handle this,” Yan Xian said to Fang Mu. “I’m familiar with this sort of thing, and I won’t hurt him too badly.”

Fang Mu said in surprise, “Does the Heavenly Watch Office also approve of harsh interrogation?”

“What a thing to say.” Yan Xian coughed as though entirely unruffled. “As long as we get the information, the method doesn’t matter.”

With that, Yan Xian produced two long silver needles.

The beggar’s face turned to terror, and he kept retreating, but behind him was a wall. “What are you doing? I haven’t broken any law. What you’re doing violates the laws of the Kingdom of Ancient Yue!”

Yan Xian smiled. “The human body has many vulnerable places. If silver needles are inserted into them, they can magnify the pain. As for exactly how it hurts, I couldn’t tell you. Anyone who’s endured it and later tries to speak of it faints on the spot.”

Fang Mu stroked his chin. “I should learn that someday. Still, you might want to try a new method.”

“Oh?” Yan Xian said in surprise. “You have a new method?”

Fang Mu nodded with complete certainty. “Yes. I have a packet of medicine here. Once someone takes it, arrange for a few beasts, put the person and the animals together—just thinking about it is fun.”

“Brother Fang is truly an expert!”

“Not at all, not at all. I’m just average. I used it for self-defense back when I roamed the world.”

The two of them traded praise back and forth in perfect harmony, and the beggar in the corner grew visibly more terrified.

Especially at the thought of being locked up with beasts—he could instantly imagine the scene in his mind.

“I’ll talk!”

Watching the silver needles draw nearer and nearer, the beggar could no longer hold out.

Fang Mu smiled, crouched down, and said, “Don’t be afraid. We’re not bad people, after all. Wouldn’t it have been better if you’d said that sooner?”

The beggar glanced fearfully at Fang Mu, then turned his eyes to the long-life lock and said in terror, “This should be the long-life lock of my Duan family.”

“Hm?” Fang Mu frowned. “Be more specific.”

The beggar had just called it the Duan family’s long-life lock—and even used the word “my.” Did that mean he was also of the Duan family?

The beggar said in fear, “I know what you want. You want the Duan family’s secret. I am Duan Lin’s son. I know it. I only beg you not to kill me.”

The Duan family’s secret?

Fang Mu continued, “What secret does the Duan family have? And you say you’re Duan Lin’s son—who is your mother?”

“My mother is Zhao Mei,” the beggar answered weakly.

The corner of Fang Mu’s mouth twitched. This beggar was also Zhao Mei’s son, and he was born from her and Duan Lin.

Having gotten that answer, Fang Mu only wanted to say that this circle was truly a mess.

Zhao Mei and Duan Wei had a son named Sun Wei. Fang Mu had originally thought that story was made up by Duan Gen, but now they had found the beggar through the long-life lock, and by tracking him through his vital aura at that. It was very likely true.

And now another connection had surfaced: this beggar was the son of Zhao Mei and Duan Lin.

If that was the case, then wasn’t Sun Chang standing beneath a double green canopy?

The beggar did not know what Fang Mu was thinking. Right now, he cared only about surviving, and he went on, “This all started a long time ago. My great-great-grandfather somehow obtained a map. There was a mark on it, and he followed the marked location to search for it, but found nothing at all.”

“Yet he was utterly convinced there must be treasure on that map, because ever since he obtained it, he dreamed every night of gold and silver piled into mountains.”

“That map was passed down through the family, and eventually it came into my father’s hands. My father met my mother, and to declare his love, he split the map into two halves. Fifteen years ago my father fell from a cliff and died, and the map was lost as well.”

The more he spoke, the more frightened the beggar became.

Fang Mu frowned. “How did you end up in this state?”

“My mother sent someone to say that people had been asking her about the map,” the beggar answered honestly. “She told me to run, to run out of Eastwind County. But I left in such a hurry that I had no money at all, and I didn’t dare go home to get any, so I became like this.”

Fang Mu asked, “Did your mother say who was looking for her to ask about the map?”

For the moment, he set aside the tangled relationships between them. The person asking about the map was the suspicious one.

“I don’t know.” The beggar shook his head.

Fang Mu asked again, “When did that person ask?”

The beggar thought for a moment and gave a time.

Fang Mu pondered it briefly. At that time, Li Gun was still in Well-Dragon County.

What did that mean? It meant that during that period, the people of the Five Gods Cult were still lying low.

No wonder Zhao Mei could send someone out then. If she had sent someone later, they would likely have been discovered long ago.

Fang Mu thought to himself, During that period, the Five Gods Cult was not yet stirring up trouble. Even if they were making inquiries, they would have done so with the utmost caution. What method would they have used?

The person had to be someone who could arouse Zhao Mei’s vigilance. He should not be an ordinary man.

Fang Mu thought of one person—one very likely person.

Someone who could alarm Zhao Mei while avoiding detection by Li Gun was probably from the Sun family, and not of ordinary standing.

Wu Li.

That person should have been one of Zhao Mei’s closest attendants, someone who could ask without restraint. The most likely was the Wu Li imprisoned in the cell.

As Zhao Mei’s personal maid, Wu Li was the person who could get closest to her, and also the one who could ask at any time without raising suspicion.

With that guess in mind, Fang Mu then considered Wu Li’s perspective.

From Wu Li’s answers at the time, every sentence seemed to carry an implication. She had said so much, all for the purpose of directing Fang Mu’s attention toward Sun Wei.

If not for the corpse-searching art revealing the secret letter, once Duan Gen died the trail would have been completely cut off. At that time, Sun Wei would have been the only suspect left.

Everything that needed to be said had been said. The beggar shrank into the corner, staring at Fang Mu with fearful eyes.

“The map is gone,” Fang Mu said. “Tell me what was written on it.”

The beggar froze. “How did you know...”

Fang Mu said, “If Zhao Mei told you to run, doesn’t that mean you knew something?”

The beggar lowered his head and sighed. “I’ll tell you...”