Skilled in managing a house

The door to the room was closed, and four disciples were guarding the door. These four disciples are all disciples of Yuan Zhenren. After all, the only one who dares to block others from entering is the head disciple.

As soon as the four of them saw Master Yuan arriving, they immediately opened the door, saluted and said, "See you, Master!".

Master Yuan nodded and walked in.

Zhang Yu, Shangguan Ning and Qing Yi also came in with them. The three of them came with Master Yuan, and Master Yuan did not say that they were not allowed to enter, so the four disciples naturally did not dare to stop them. After the four people entered, they closed the door.

This house is not small. There is a lobby room at the entrance, which is antique and not small in appearance.

There are rooms on the left and right sides, needless to say, one is a quiet room and the other is a bedroom.

There was a sound in the room on the left. Yuan Zhenren entered first. After Zhang Yu and others entered, they immediately saw Jia Zhenren and four Taoist priests wearing Bagua fairy clothes, and a young disciple wearing apricot yellow Taoist robes stood among them.

On the futon on the ground, there lay the corpse of a veteran with a dagger stuck in his chest. Zhang Yu could tell at a glance that it was exactly the same handle as the "Flying Star Nine Blades" he saw last time.

Master Jia and the others also heard the voice and were all waiting. When they saw Master Yuan, they also greeted him one after another.

Yuan Zhenren and Zhang Yu were polite to them, especially Zhang Yu. He didn't want to say hello to others, but he had to greet his master Jia Zhenren.

Naturally, Master Yuan was not in the mood to talk nonsense. He quickly came to the corpse and looked at it carefully.

The old Taoist was stabbed in the chest and lying there, it is not difficult to see that he must have been sitting cross-legged on a futon and meditating before his death. Master Yuan glanced around a few more times, as if checking for signs of fighting.

Zhang Yu was also observing, and then he heard Jia Zhenren say: "Senior sister, the Taoist shot in from the back window. Look."

He said, pointing to the window facing Yuan Zhenren's back.

Yuan Zhenren, Zhang Yu and others also looked over. The windows were made of frosted glass with patterns and antique wooden window lattice. It can be said that it is absolutely impossible to see what is going on inside the room from the outside.

One of the small pieces of glass shattered, and the shards of glass were still on the ground, right opposite the futon. Injecting the knife from here and stabbing the person sitting on the futon would be no problem.

Zhang Yu looked at the window and then at the dead old Taoist. He looked back and forth several times but couldn't see any problems. The old Taoist who died was most likely killed by a knife fired from the outside. The only question was whether this knife was really the "Flying Star Nine Blades". To put it bluntly, this is whether this knife is a real magical weapon.

Master Yuan seemed to have thought of this as well. He took two steps forward and came to the corpse. He squatted down and touched the handle of the knife with one finger.

Then, her face became solemn, she stood up, looked at Zhang Yu, and said, "Xiannephew, what happened last time was all thanks to you. Come and take a look now."

"Yes, uncle." Zhang Yu walked over and squatted opposite Yuan Zhenren.

He also stretched out a finger and touched the handle of the knife.

With just a touch, Zhang Yu was startled.

It turned out that Zhang Yu felt that the knife contained rich spiritual energy. This knife is completely different from the one I touched last time. It is definitely a powerful magic weapon.

Zhang Yu then grabbed the corpse's wrist. The skin was already cold. Zhang Yu was able to determine that the person had been dead for about an hour and a half. I looked at my watch and saw that it was now half past five in the afternoon, which meant that the person should have died at four o'clock.

He briefly checked the condition of the body and found no other injuries. The wound on the chest was the fatal injury.

Master Yuan waited for Zhang Yu to finish the inspection before he said, "Xiannie, what do you think?"

Zhang Yu stood up and said: "According to my disciples, the time of death was probably between 3:30 and 4:30 in the afternoon, very close to 4:00. In addition, the dagger used to kill this uncle was a very powerful magic weapon." device."

"That's right, it's the Nine-Blade Flying Star of my White Eyebrow Palace." Master Yuan said in a deep voice.

Now her face is as cold as frost, which shows that she is very angry.

You know, although some people in our sect died under the Nine Blades of the Flying Star before, they were all killed while doing business outside. But this time, he started in Baimei Palace.

Master Yuan then looked at Master Jia and asked, "Who discovered the body first?"

Master Jia immediately looked at the only young Taoist priest in the room who was wearing apricot-yellow robes, and said, "It's Xue Wei, a disciple of Junior Brother Meng."

"Uncle Abbot, the disciple discovered it first." The young Taoist priest quickly bowed and said.

"When did you find out?" Yuan Zhenren asked.

"Ten minutes ago, because our master presided over the fasting spell today, it stands to reason that the master should have arrived at half past four. Seeing that the master has not arrived, I came to respectfully invite the master and go to the fasting hall. " said the young Taoist priest.

Taoist eating does not mean that you need to recite the incantation mantra before eating.

Master Yuan asked, "You came in to greet your master, but when you came, your master should have been dead. Then how did you get in?"

"The disciple knocked on the door but saw no movement inside, so he called Master. However, Master couldn't answer the call, and he couldn't hear the call. So the disciple knocked on the bedroom window, but there was no movement in the bedroom. Quiet. On the other side of the room, there was no window in the front, so the disciple had to go around to the back. He happened to see a broken glass in the window, so he looked inside along the glass, and then he realized that the master was dead." Xue Wei said the last words, tears falling from his eyes. Came down.

Master Yuan nodded, and immediately looked at the other two Taoist priests in the room who were wearing Bagua fairy clothes, "Junior Brother Liang, Junior Brother Qin, if I remember correctly, you two live in the same courtyard as Junior Brother Meng, right?"

"Yes, Senior Sister Abbot." The two veterans said quickly.

"Where were you two at that time?" Yuan Zhenren asked.

The veteran surnamed Liang said first: "I was meditating in my quiet room next door. Suddenly I heard Xue Wei's shout, and I ran out."

Qin Laodao also said: "Like Senior Brother Liang, I rushed out when we heard the shouts."

"Then where were you two between 3:30 and 4:30?" Yuan Zhenren asked again.

"I'm in the quiet room." Liang Laodao replied.

Qin Laodao also said: "I am also in the quiet room of the room."

"You two are both in the courtyard and in the quiet room. Let me ask you two, did you hear any noise at that time?" Yuan Zhenren asked again.

"No." "No." The two said.

"No?" Master Yuan frowned slightly and said coldly: "Even if the voice is not loud, it is not too quiet. How come you two can't hear any movement?"

"Senior sister, I really didn't hear it." Liang Laodao said hurriedly.

Judging from his meaning, he seemed to be afraid that Yuan Zhenren would doubt him.

Qin Laodao also said eagerly: "I really didn't hear it either."

"I didn't even hear it." Yuan Zhenren muttered, his face became more solemn, and there was also a hint of suspicion. Her eyes looked at Qin Laodao, Liang Laodao and Xue Wei from time to time, as if she wanted to see something from them.

Zhang Yu also looked at these three people, and looked at the broken glass from time to time.

These three people seemed a little nervous as Yuan Zhenren kept staring at them.

After a while, Master Yuan said calmly: "Junior Brother Jia, Junior Nephew Zhang, and Shangguan Ning stay, and everyone else can go out. By the way, tell the people in the yard that they have all dispersed. Don't spread this matter to the outside world. It is said that Junior Brother Meng died without any illness and became an immortal and ascended."

"Yes." "Yes." Liang Laodao and others quickly agreed.

They filed out, conveying Yuan Zhenren's message and asking everyone in the courtyard to leave.

Following the footsteps one after another, after a while, the courtyard finally became quiet.

Master Yuan looked at Master Jia, Zhang Yu and Shangguan Ning, and said, "What do you think?"

Compared with these two people, Zhang Yu was an outsider, so it was inconvenient for him to speak. He waited quietly, wanting to see what Zhenren Jia and Shangguan Ning had to say.

Master Jia and Shangguan Ning didn't speak either. Master Yuan waited for a while, and when he saw that the three of them were silent, a look of displeasure flashed on his face.

Her eyes fell on Jia Zhenren and said, "Junior brother, please tell me first."

"I can't say whether Senior Brother is really alive or not. After all, even if someone takes the Nine Blades of the Flying Star, but there is no spell, I'm afraid they won't be able to use it. People in the White Eyebrow Palace who know the spell of the Nine Blades of the Flying Star, I'm afraid they won't be able to use it." Come out with five." Jia Zhenren said a little worriedly.

"When he was buried, his body was rotten. Could he still be alive?" Yuan Zhenren said coldly.

"Then I really can't tell. It can't really be the ghost of senior brother." Jia Zhenren said nervously.

Master Yuan seemed a little dissatisfied with this statement, but she said nothing more and looked at Shangguan Ning, "Xiao Ning, what do you think?"

"Master, I started late. I only heard the legend about the Nine Blades of the Flying Star from my master. The Nine Blades of the Flying Star are the treasures of Taoism. How can Yin spirits control them? Besides, our White Eyebrow Palace is a Taoist holy land. , if the Yin spirit dares to enter, it will definitely disappear, so the disciples think that the crime should be committed by humans. I don’t know who this person is," Shangguan Ning said.

Master Yuan nodded slightly and said deliberately: "Even the juniors know that Baimei Palace is a Taoist holy land, what kind of ghost dares to come in!"

These words are meant for Master Jia, so that Master Jia should not be alarmist and make up random stories about ghosts causing trouble.

Jia Zhenren lowered his head and did not dare to make a sound.

Master Yuan finally looked at Zhang Yu and said, "My dear nephew, what do you think?"

"Disciple doesn't think it's caused by Yin spirits. As for the Nine Blades of the Flying Star," Zhang Yu turned his attention to the dagger on Meng Laodao's chest and continued, "Did it come from the window, or did someone directly insert it into Uncle Meng's chest?" , I’m afraid I can’t do it accurately now.”

"That makes sense." Yuan Zhenren praised.

She then pointed to the window opposite and said, "Let's go over and have a look."

Zhang Yu had long wanted to go over and have a look outside the window. The four of them walked to the window, and Yuan Zhenren opened the window to the left and right in person.

This is the rear window, not the front yard. Outside the window, there is a small garden. Because it is winter, the flowers and plants have withered, leaving only bare flower stems and branches.

There were many footprints on the ground, and it seemed that many people came to check. Further back is the courtyard wall. Although it is not high, it is still two meters long.

Unable to take a closer look from here, Zhang Yu decided to go around and take a look.

Because the buildings here are quite old, there is no back door in the house. If you want to get in, you can only go around the house.

Zhang Yu proposed to go around and have a look, and Master Yuan asked Shangguan Ning to accompany Zhang Yu there.

The two arrived at the back and checked, which made Zhang Yu frown. There were so many footprints at the back that it was impossible to tell who was whose. Even if someone really stood here and shot the fierce Taoist, they couldn't find it through the footprints. Clues.

There are rear windows in the bedroom and the main room, but it is winter and the windows are closed and locked. It is not easy to get in. You can only go through the front door.

Zhang Yu worked hard for a long time, but in the end he got nothing.

He and Shangguan Ning returned to the quiet room. Yuan Zhenren's brows were deeply furrowed and Jia Zhenren's was gloomy.

Zhang Yu has always been a curious person, and this kind of thing especially aroused his curiosity even more. He asked in a low voice: "Uncle, Master, I heard from Uncle Feng and others that the two people who died earlier, and even the Taoist Zhan last time, all went together to clean up the family and kill the senior brother. I don't know. Is this Master Meng the same today?"

Master Yuan nodded and said, "Junior Brother Meng was also one of the people who went with me to clean up the family back then."

"Then let's put it this way. The murderer's actions should have a target. Daoist Zhan may have been an accident, but these three, since there are real Nine Blades of Flying Stars here, most likely they are part of the plan. Disciple, please ask more. , how many people went with you at the beginning, and how many are left now." Zhang Yu said in a low voice.

"There were a total of thirteen people who came down the mountain with me at that time, including my two senior uncles, and ten junior brothers and junior sisters. The two senior uncles have passed away, and four of the eleven of us have been killed. There are still seven left." Yuan Zhenren said.

"Among these seven people, there should be Senior Uncle and Senior Uncle Feng. Who are the other five?" Zhang Yu asked curiously.

"I am the only one, and the others are Senior Brother Hu from the Punishment Hall, Junior Brother Feng from the Sutra Hall, Junior Brother Gao Gong Ma, and Junior Brother Zhao who is in charge of the temple property." This time it was Master Jia who spoke.

After hearing the duties of these people, Zhang Yu nodded first, and then discovered a problem.

Each of these people holds a high position of authority, and they are all first-class errands in the Taoist temple. Even Feng Chongjue, although not very powerful, still has a certain status in the White Eyebrow Palace.

In addition, the dead Taoist Zhan, Zhang Yu had not asked him about his role in the White Eyebrow Palace before, but he dared to withhold the merits of his disciples and even took the sapphire as his own, so he must be number one in the White Eyebrow Palace. Otherwise, don’t dare to do it.

From this, Zhang Yu was able to confirm one thing, that is, the status of those who went with Zhenren Yuan to kill the senior brother had been improved to a certain extent after Zhenren Yuan took charge of the White Eyebrow Palace. It can be said that they are all confidants of Zhenren Yuan.

Zhang Yu also took a deep breath, and he vaguely realized that there was a huge crisis hidden in this.