A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu said, “Suppose it really was a cultist who murdered Mason. Which cult would it be? Since you all work for Shibo Hall, you should have heard about the various secret societies.”

The merchants looked at each other, and the oldest merchant said hesitantly, “Deacon Qi, we have heard about the secret societies. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have suspected that the murderer was a cultist. In our opinion, it may be the Ziguang Society.”

“Ziguang Society? The cult that believes in the Ancient Immortal True Lord Ziguang?” Qi Xuansu frowned slightly. “The members of the Ziguang Society are mainly women. Does this mean that you are suspicious of those courtesans?”

The merchants kept quiet, and Qi Xuansu fell into deep thought. Zhang Yuelu once introduced the Ziguang Society to him in detail. Ziguang Society was so intricately tied to the Daoist Order that it would be very difficult to identify its members if they did not expose themselves.

In recent years, the Daoist Order’s strategy was to capture the high-ranking members of the Ziguang Society and then get a list of members before eliminating them one by one.

In terms of destructive power, Ziguang Society was far inferior to the Cult of Fates. However, the Ziguang Society was good at assassinations and stealing information. They were also difficult to guard against. Back then, an Omniscient Sage had fallen into the Ziguang Society’s trap without realizing it, leaking many secrets of the Daoist Order.

The more important question was, why did the Ziguang Society kill Mason?

Qi Xuansu asked, “Why do you suspect the Ziguang Society? Did Mason have any involvement with the Ziguang Society in the past?”

The merchants remained silent, not denying this. Thus, Qi Xuansu treated it as acquiescence.

Qi Xuansu added, “If Mason is actually involved with the Ziguang Society and everyone here knows about it but intends to hide information from the Daoist Order, the punishment will be serious. I can inform the Shuzhou Daoist Mansion to take everyone into custody, then report it to Tiangang Hall for further judgment.”

A merchant quickly confessed. “No, that’s not the case. Deacon Qi, you misunderstood us. Please listen to our explanation. We don’t know whether Mason was involved with the Ziguang Society. But we know that Mason, despite being married, kept a mistress who was very mysterious and wealthy.

“He mentioned that she was a widow who had inherited a sizable fortune. It was because of this mistress’s strong support that Mason was able to get a successful bid to be a supplier for Shibo Hall.”

Qi Xuansu questioned, “Why do you suspect this mistress?”

The merchant continued, “To be a supplier to Shibo Hall, one must be wealthy enough to be involved in bulk trade. To put it bluntly, Mason was just a small shop owner selling silk and satin before he became a supplier to Shibo Hall. Even if he were given the bid, he wouldn’t have been able to fulfill such a large order.

“But somehow, within a year or two, Mason suddenly had money and managed to win the bid. He expanded his business significantly, so we thought that he received help from someone.”

Another merchant added, “We didn’t think much about it at first. After all, their relationship was consensual. We’re also not Daoist disciples, so keeping a mistress is not against the law. But a few days ago, Mason came to us looking very anxious.

“When he was drunk, he told us that everything he had was given to him by that woman. He felt inferior to her, like he was just her boy toy. He was afraid that his mistress would be jealous of his wife, so he didn’t dare to go home often.

“Now that he had accumulated some wealth, he no longer wanted to listen to his mistress’s whims. But what he said later was the most concerning part. He said that in the worst-case scenario, he would just break up with her, and they could both burn in hell together.”

Qi Xuansu commented, “It sounds like Mason wanted to get rid of his mistress after making a fortune from Shibo Hall’s business. In that case, it’s highly possible for the mistress to hire a hitman to kill him. But why do you say that she’s related to Ziguang Society?”

The mature-looking merchant said, “We didn’t take it too seriously at first. After all, we’ve also seen a fair share of this in our line of business, so it’s nothing unusual. But yesterday, Mason suddenly told us that if anything were to happen to him, it had to be caused by demons. We felt that something was wrong at the time and wanted to ask in more detail, but he refused to disclose anything.

“When we saw him today, he seemed to have forgotten what happened yesterday. He looked and behaved the same as before, and he was no longer anxious. We didn’t think much about it and thought that perhaps he had thought things through. After all, everyone would be inferior to someone, so it was only a matter of getting used to it. But who would have thought that he would be found dead tonight?”

Qi Xuansu asked, “Does Superintendent Tang know about this?”

“Only half of it.” The mature merchant replied, “Because Mason also told us that if anything were to happen to him, we should immediately report it to Superintendent Tang. Since the situation was urgent at the time, we didn’t have time to explain the story in detail and only told Superintendent Tang that the murder may have been related to the demons from the secret societies.

“After Superintendent Tang heard that it’s related to secret societies, he was a little flustered at first, but he quickly ordered the Spirit Guards to seal the villa. Then he invited the two of you here.”

Qi Xuansu was speechless at Superintendent Tang’s reaction. However, it made sense because Superintendent Tang was proficient in doing business, not dealing with cultists. It was only right that he left the demon-slaying to the professionals, which happened to be Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu turned to the other two deacons of Shibo Hall present and questioned, “Do you two also know about it?”

“We weren’t aware of what happened before the incident.” The two Daoist deacons shook their heads and denied their involvement. “We were only invited at the last minute.”

The merchant also vouched for the two Daoist deacons. “I think that Mason invited the two deacons to embolden himself.”

Qi Xuansu finally asked, “Who suggested coming to this villa today?”

The merchants looked at each other and said in unison, “Mason did. He set up the banquet and hired the girls.”

Qi Xuansu thought about it for a moment and summarized their speculation. “To recap what you just told me, Mason wanted to break away from the support of his mistress and was very anxious about it. He even said that he would go to hell with her. Then, he seemed to have noticed something was wrong. But even so, he was determined to have a showdown with his mistress.

“That was why he told you in advance that if anything were to happen to him, it must be caused by demons. Earlier today, Mason invited you all to the villa and arranged everything.”

The merchants present were experienced and understood what Qi Xuansu was getting at.

Qi Xuansu concluded. “In other words, Mason deliberately chose to meet his mistress in this villa to confront her, but he clearly failed. He invited two Daoist deacons and his friends so that the other party would have some qualms about silencing him, but that didn’t work.

“What Mason meant by going to hell with her was probably confessing to you all about his mistress’s involvement with a cult. He was also hinting that the cult was likely Ziguang Society because of the venue he chose to confront her in.”

A merchant with a Northern accent exclaimed, “It must be that Han Yu girl!”

“That’s not necessarily the case.” Qi Xuansu said, “Mage Zhang has inspected Mason’s body and found that he died from the Nightmare Bringer Method, which can be cast from a distance. Han Yu may be an accomplice or scapegoat. There is still a chance that she’s innocent.”

The merchants stopped talking. After all that, they concluded that the murder was related to a cult, but they still had no clue who exactly was the cultist. However, there was no doubt that they needed to investigate this case in depth to find out who the real culprit was.

Someone was supporting Mason to become Shibo Hall’s supplier, but why? It probably was not as simple as being in a mutually beneficial relationship with the Daoist Order. It was more likely that one of the many secret associations was involved.

There was no doubt that Mason was just a puppet of the secret society. This puppet managed to gain both fame and fortune with a new backer, the Daoist Order, and wanted to return to a normal life. Thus, he threatened the secret society in an attempt to break away from them. As a result, he died.

Qi Xuansu felt that this story seemed familiar. Was this not his experience as well? He had relied on the Qingping Society to enter Tiangang Hall. He had a bright future, as he was on track to be promoted to a sixth-rank Daoist priest. If everything went smoothly, he could be promoted to the fourth rank or even the third rank by the time he retired.

With such a promising path ahead, Qi Xuansu increasingly felt the need to leave the Qingping Society and return to a normal life. By then, what would become of him? Would he end up like Mason, dying in a foreign land?

Would the Qingping Society let him go as long as he accumulated 9000 merits? Would they keep their promise?

He also could not avoid being associated with the Qingping Society due to the Xuan Jade. Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu felt a little depressed.

No one else could read Qi Xuansu’s mind. Seeing that he was silent and solemn, they thought he was just thinking about the case, so no one dared to speak for a while.

After about 15 minutes, Zhang Yuelu and Tang Yongde returned to the main hall.

Zhang Yuelu asked, “How’s the questioning going?”

Qi Xuansu roughly recounted the story. After listening to it, Zhang Yuelu said thoughtfully, “There is indeed something fishy with this villa. Superintendent Tang, please notify the Shuzhou Daoist Office immediately and ask them to send some people over to seal this villa for a thorough investigation. No one is allowed to escape.”

Tang Yongde immediately grimaced and wanted to say something, but when he saw Zhang Yuelu’s determined gaze, he dared not object and reluctantly obliged. “Yes, Deputy Hall Master.”

Since this was related to secret associations, Tang Yongde could not refuse Zhang Yuelu’s request.