Shi Hao said slowly: "I'll take you here!"
Du Yuejiao lowered her head and said softly, "Brother Master, why don't you come in and sit for a while? You saved me, and my master will surely be very grateful."
Shi Hao smiled slightly: "No, I haven't been back to the city for a few days, I should go and take a look. Also, I have to tell the Six Gates about what I found last night. Although those people must have withdrawn, maybe the Six Gates can still find out something from there.
"Besides, I also met that supernatural being last night. Maybe someone in the Six Gates knows who that person is."
Du Yuejiao opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but stopped.
Shi Hao said goodbye to her and turned to leave. Behind him, the girl looked at him silently until Zhuo Mulan and others rushed out of the temple, then she turned around and went to greet her master.
—
Shi Hao entered Jin County and was on his way back to his own residence.
As he walked, his brows began to furrow gradually.
Suddenly, he stopped and stood on the street. Figures appeared from the eaves of the surrounding buildings, holding crossbows and pointing them at him.
"Six Gates is investigating the case!" Such shouts caused the entire street to be in chaos, and people tried to avoid it.
A large number of warriors, some in black robes and some in plain clothes, surrounded him.
A man was walking towards us. It was Qiu Jiangping, the chief constable of the Six Gates in this county.
Qiu Jiangping was wearing a black robe with arrow-shaped sleeves embroidered with an eagle. As the chief constable here, he also had the foundation of an eighth-grade constable.
However, because he was not a Taoist, the signs of his practicing external skills were quite obvious. His eyes were as bright as lightning, his skin was bronze, his body was full of lean muscle, and his whole body was as sharp as a blade.
"Captain Qiu!" Shi Hao looked at Qiu Jiangping who was coming towards him and said calmly, "I wonder what crime I have committed that is worth such a big fuss?"
Qiu Jiangping sneered, "You should know what crime you have committed. It depends on whether you want to surrender or resist arrest in the street and force us to kill you on the spot."
Shi Hao's eyes slowly scanned the area.
There were about sixty crossbowmen on both sides, all of them armed with powerful crossbows and sharp arrows.
Qiu Jiangping himself is an eighth-rank expert. It is impossible that he is the only eighth-rank expert in the Six Gates of Jin County. There are also a dozen ninth-rank experts, as well as many mediocre ones who have also been recruited into the Six Gates after struggling in the martial arts world.
In such a situation, there was no possibility for him to escape.
Although there were many people watching from the outside, the constables from the Six Gates were domineering and bullying people on a daily basis, so the people naturally did not dare to say a word.
Further away, there were some sedan chairs that were blocked on the street because of the Six Gates' roundup. Some people came to investigate what was happening here, and some low-level constables explained in a low voice to those who were sent over.
Shi Hao took off his iron sword, threw it aside, and said loudly: "I, Shi Hao, have always had a clear conscience. Although I don't know what crime Chief Constable Qiu wants to accuse me of, but since the Chief Constable has brought so many people here, what's wrong with me going with him?"
His voice didn't sound loud, but it was melodious and spread far away.
Qiu Jiangping snorted, "I, Qiu, have always enforced the law impartially. How could I easily convict someone? If you are truly innocent, there is no way I could wrongly accuse you."
He shouted, "Take it away!"
The constables nearby rushed over, put shackles on Shi Hao, and took him to the cell.
In the cell, Shi Hao sat cross-legged with shackles on his body, thoughts racing through his mind, but he couldn't figure out why the Six Gates were coming for him
But he was not in a hurry. He had saved the Lady of Hongtong County when he was in Hongshan. Deng Liang was also very loyal. He made a big fuss about this matter among the wealthy merchants and gentry. He signed up loudly on the street just to spread the news.
Unless the Marquis's Mansion really doesn't care about its own reputation, it will definitely intervene in this matter.
That night, he sat quietly in the cell, cross-legged and practicing his energy. No one came to see him, and no one came to torture him.
Although the prison guards brought him food, he did not eat a single bite and just relied on his own internal energy to regulate his diet.
On the next morning, Qiu Jiangping led his team to come, looked at him coldly, and said, "Take him to the government office."
Those people came over, pulled him up, and walked out of the cell, marching in a mighty procession to the government office.
There was a man sitting in the yamen, wearing an official uniform and an official hat. It was the county magistrate Shi Yujun.
The yamen runners on both sides shouted "Mighty" in a loud and powerful voice.
Shi Yujun glanced at Shi Hao in the audience, but waved to Qiu Jiangping. When Qiu Jiangping stepped forward and lowered his ear, Shi Yujun whispered, "Are you sure that you didn't catch the wrong person this time? The Marquis' Mansion specifically instructed that torture and humiliation are not allowed.
"Even my wife mentioned it early in the morning. I guess the county lady sent someone to intercede for him. If there is no real evidence, it's better to release him as soon as possible."
Qiu Jiangping also lowered his voice and said, "Don't worry, sir. The evidence is solid. There are witnesses and evidence. You don't have to worry about the county lady. This time we are handling a major case supervised by the rich man from the capital. The brothers below are also counting on this major case to make merit."
Shi Yujun pondered for a moment and nodded. Suddenly, he saw a lot of people pouring in from outside and gathering at the gate of the yamen.
Qiu Jiangping picked up the gavel and slammed it: "Quiet, what are you guys doing? Master, why don't you kick these people out?"
The lawyer next to him came over and whispered, "Master, these are people sent by the gentry of this county, and there are also many ordinary people who are watching the fun. The prisoner is the young lord of Xiaohanshan City. I don't know who spread the rumor that the government arrested him to suppress the local gentry, which made everyone extremely nervous."
Shi Yujun frowned and called Qiu Jiangping over again: "Are you sure that there is no problem with the witnesses and evidence? This man is also a person of status. If you can't make a solid case, you will be responsible for anything that happens."
He was obviously well aware of the behavior of the people in the Six Gates. In the past cases, half of the time, the real culprits were caught, and he was thankful for that. So he looked suspicious.
Qiu Jiangping gritted his teeth and said, "Don't worry, sir, there will be no problem."
Seeing that he was so confident, Shi Yujun nodded, sat up straight, and banged the gavel again: "Silence!"
The whole room fell silent.
Qiu Jiangping approached Shi Hao and shouted, "Shi Hao, I want to ask you, on the night of May 18th, did you go to Luanqi Mountain?"
Shi Hao didn't expect that the first question he asked was this. He was secretly shocked, but he relied on the control of his facial muscles by the Evil Shadow Disguise Technique to remain calm and said, "Not bad!"
Qiu Jiangping turned around and bowed to the stage, saying, "Sir, that night, more than a dozen of our Six Sects were killed in Luanqi Mountain, including Zhao Haisong and the three captains of the Rat and Bat Twins. All of them were killed by Shi Hao."
Shi Hao never thought that such a thing would be exposed. His heart sank to the bottom.
In the past, we only knew that the Six Gates were full of scum who relied on the Barbarian Court and did evil things.
Today is the first time I feel the power of the Six Gates.
He secretly regretted in his heart that he had indeed underestimated the Six Gates.
Everyone outside the yamen was silent.
Although the henchmen in the Six Gates have always had a bad reputation, if they really killed more than ten people from the Six Gates, such a serious crime, even if they escaped for a while, they would inevitably be included in the Six Gates' wanted list and would have no place to hide.
Unless he really reaches the level of "Top Ten Masters on the Black List", the entire Six Gates will avoid him.
People of that level are put on the blacklist just to tell the brothers of the Six Gates everywhere that "we can't afford to offend this person."
Qiu Jiangping pointed at Shi Hao and said sternly, "This man is not only the murderer who killed Captain Zhao and more than a dozen of my colleagues from the Six Gates, but he is also the mastermind behind a major case recently."
He looked around and said sternly, "Recently, a group of criminals took advantage of the large number of people fleeing from their homeland to rob and steal children. They also sold children to make dirty money. We have already found out that this person is the mastermind."
There was a loud commotion all around, but Shi Hao turned his head to look at Qiu Jiangping, raising his eyebrows slightly.
Shi Yujun slammed the gavel to quiet everyone down, and said loudly: "Shi Hao, do you plead guilty?"
Shi Hao raised his head and said, "These are all frame-ups. I never killed Captain Zhao, nor did I commit such a serious crime."
Qiu Jiangping said, "You practiced martial arts in secret, and no one knew about it. That night, many of our brothers in the Six Gates were killed in Luanqi Mountain, and you happened to be in Luanqi Mountain. Is there really such a coincidence in the world?"
Qiu Jiangping stepped forward and presented a stack of documents: "This is the autopsy that Chuzuo performed on those brothers. According to the examination, those brothers all died from a stabbing in the middle finger. The person who did it must have at least an eighth-grade foundation. The wound is thin but deep, and he used his finger as a sword. The wound also shows signs of being frozen.
"When Master Hao was on Red Mountain, everyone witnessed that he used branches as swords. Using branches as swords and fingers as swords are similar. I saw with my own eyes that when he was in the Marquis' Mansion, Miss Du Yuejiao from Mingkun Courtyard had a palm fight with him. His internal force was the orthodox Taoist power, and it also carried an icy aura, which was a perfect match for the villains on Luanqi Mountain.
"This person happened to be at Luanqi Mountain that night. His sword skills and internal strength were all in line with the characteristics of the person. How could such a coincidence happen in the world? If he is not the murderer, who else could it be?"
At the door, people were talking in low voices.
Shi Hao, however, showed a slightly funny look on his face.
For a moment, he was really shocked by the capabilities of Qiu Jiangping and the Six Gates.
He was clearly using different faces and different martial arts, but he was still seen through. The power of these six doors is truly horrifying and unpredictable.
As a result, after all this time, Qiu Jiangping still failed to find out the real murderer, and he still resorted to the method of frame-up.
When Shi Hao was on Luanqi Mountain, he killed Zhao Haisong, the two evil rats and bats and others. Although he used finger techniques, it was definitely not "using fingers as swords", and there was no frostbite on the wounds, but only burns corresponding to the Xuanmei Gong and the Juemai Fenxin Finger.
With Qiu Jiangping's ability, it is impossible for him not to see that this is a completely different martial art.
The confession made by Chu Zuo and submitted by Qiu Jiangping was completely fabricated and was perjured in order to frame Shi Hao.
Qiu Jiangping knew very well that the murderer on Luanqi Mountain could not possibly be the same person as Shi Hao.
Finger techniques and sword techniques, flames and cold air, magic techniques and Taoist internal forces... everything is different.
Qiu Jiangping, however, relied on a false testimony to pin the blame on Shi Hao... on the real murderer!
This made Shi Hao unable to control his expression at this moment, and he subconsciously showed an expression of both laughter and tears... This unexpected success, I really don’t know whether Qiu Jiangping is too lucky, or I am too unlucky
How could the Six Gates "target" him even in this situation
Qiu Jiangping knew that Shi Hao could not possibly be the murderer, but that did not prevent him from simply fabricating lies and falsely accusing Shi Hao of being the murderer.
Shi Hao knew that he was not framed at all, he was really the murderer... but you couldn't know that!
Shi Yujun quickly flipped through the evidence presented by Qiu Jiangping, and then read on: "Shi Hao, what is your defense?"
Shi Hao said calmly: "This is a false accusation, I..."
Qiu Jiangping took another step forward: "Sir, I have other witnesses to prove that Shi Hao wanted to murder more than just the brothers who were killed on Luanqi Mountain."
Shi Yujun said: "Bring it up!"
Qiu Jiangping turned around and said, "Brother Yuan Jia, please come to the classroom."
Shi Hao was wearing shackles. He turned around and saw a thin man with a pointed face and monkey-like appearance, but he was wearing a government official's black robe, walking in with two yamen runners.
It was not until he saw this man that Shi Hao finally understood why Qiu Jiangping suddenly attacked him, and even went so far as to offend the county government and cause disputes, in order to frame him and make him take the blame.
The encounter last night accidentally pushed these people to the edge of desperation...
Chapter 23 Twelve Quanzhen
"Sir!" The thin man stepped forward, raised his hands, and presented a waist badge, "I am Yuan Jia, a patrol officer of the Six Gates. I usually do undercover work, spying, and gathering intelligence from the lowest gangs.
"Recently, I was ordered to investigate the kidnapping and trafficking of many children. I tracked down those villains for several nights until I found one of their bases in Fushe Mountain in the northwest. Unexpectedly, when I was trying to find out more last night, I was discovered by the leader of those people, who wanted to kill me to silence me.
"Fortunately, I have some magical powers. Although I was injured, I was not killed and escaped in time."
Qiu Jiangping said, "Yuan Jia, look in the hall. Is the murderer who wanted to kill you here?"
Yuan Jia pointed at Shi Hao and said, "Sir, the murderer is this man."
At the door, everyone was in an uproar.
Qiu Jiangping said: "Yuan Jia, show us your injuries."
Yuan Jia opened the collar of his left shoulder, revealing the sword wound on his shoulder.
Qiu Jiangping bowed to the hall and said, "Sir, I have checked. The injuries suffered by Brother Yuan Jia are consistent with the sword energy left by Master Hao when he attacked on Hongshan Mountain. They are also consistent with the injuries of many brothers who were killed on Luanqi Mountain. Sir..."
Turning around and pointing at Shi Hao, he said, "This man is the murderer on Luanqi Mountain, and the mastermind behind the serious case of kidnapping children and human trafficking today."
Then he bowed in the court and said, "Sir, this case is a major one, and the capital is also paying attention to it. Now that the certified evidence is here, please make your decision."
Shi Yujun knew that this was a big case, and even the daughter of the Yue Ketai family came with the 18 Thunder Chasing Riders to personally supervise the case. This case could not be delayed, and an explanation must be given as soon as possible!
He slammed the gavel and looked at the man in the shackles below the hall: "Shi Hao, where were you last night?"
Shi Hao said slowly: "I am alone, sleeping outdoors in the mountains."
Shi Yujun asked again: "Is there anyone who can testify for you?"
Shi Hao shook his head slowly.
Shi Yujun shouted, "Did you cause the sword wound on Yuan Jia's shoulder?"
Shi Hao had no expression on his face and shook his head, "No!"
Qiu Jiangping sneered, "It's useless even if you deny it. Brother Yuan saw through you clearly last night."
Shi Hao had a blank expression on his face: "He recognized the wrong person!"
Yuan Jia did not get angry but laughed: "I recognized the wrong person? You actually said I recognized the wrong person?" The court said: "Sir, this person is against heaven and earth, and has done many evil things. He must not be let off."
Qiu Jiangping also bowed in the court and said, "Sir, this Shi Hao secretly practices martial arts, but his origins are unknown. Even if he practices the internal skills of Taoism, it is an unorthodox practice. I have sent people to Xiaohan Mountain City to investigate. In the past, even in Xiaohan Mountain City, no one knew that he practiced martial arts.
"If he had no ulterior motives and was secretly planning to do something illegal, why would he hide the fact that he was practicing martial arts from everyone? Such unorthodox practices..."
Suddenly, a loud laugh came from outside: "Who said he was a heretic?"
The crowd at the door turned around and dispersed. The laughter was loud and powerful, like a tide that instantly poured in, making it impossible to ignore.
Soon, an old Taoist stepped in. He was wearing a blue Taoist robe that was not in order, his Taoist hat was askew, and the whisk in his hand was dangling casually. He looked quite slovenly.
However, this laugh has already proved that he possesses considerable strength.