Peerless ( Meng Xi Shi )

When it came to summoning the winds and storms, no one is nearly as skilled as Cui Buqu.

Just as they left the bureau, rumours of 'the inhabitants of the Gao manor heard cries of ghosts at night, and a strange case surfaced' was already spread all over Qiemo city.

Of course, members from both the Zuoyue Bureau and the Jiejian Bureau contributed much to this, and it was in man's nature to be curious about things that gathered crowds. These sort of ghost stories are indeed most welcomed and would spread even quicker than usual news.

Very quickly, the story of the ghost haunting the inn also spread out. Once Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao returned from the Gao manor and went into the inn, already they heard some guests muttering to their friends in the hall, describing what happened yesterday night.

"Did you see that well at the back of the inn? Those cries came from over there. It really is too scary! Even when I covered myself with blankets, I could still hear those cries. Sighs, this really is too pitiful. We do not even know who abused that woman until she turned into a ghost like this."

"Isn't it? Just now I went to take a look at the well, and I could not see the bottom of it. I could not even tell if it really was dried up. Speaking of it, this inn really is cursed. Ghost rumours came from there frequently. This time isn't even the first time something like this has happened. However, looking back, the bureau is so far away from here, why did that ghost went all the way to the Gao manor?"

"Perhaps it's because its case is incredibly difficult and it was filled with too much resentful energy, yet there was nowhere it could go, so it had no choice but turned into a vengeful ghost, and the longer it's here, the more fiercer it becomes. This Officer Gao is a subject of the Imperial Palace, he definitely has some authority and positive energy on him, so the fact that the ghost looked for him is quite logical when you think of it. Do you think Officer Gao would accept to reinvestigate this case?"

"Could he? Ever since this Officer Gao came to Qiemo, he has never done even one right thing! You are not a local, so perhaps you are unclear about this. Last time, there were two hawkers who fought each other and even killed someone, he even had the guts to turn a blind eye to it! Would he even care about this now?! He might even go to the Shanshan King and instead, ask him to take care of this in his stead!"

Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao sat at the adjacent table and hear every single word clearly.

The Shanshan King was referring to Xing Mao. Although he is currently far away from his own hometown, he was still the descendant of the last Shanshan King. Those people who wanted to earn his favour would call him by this title to flatter him, and after a short while, this informal form of address spread throughout Qiemo. Since this was belonged to no one anyways, he would not mind to claim the city for himself.

Yesterday night, the ghost that Gao Yi saw was definitely the work of Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao, but the ghost that appeared in the inn was not their doing.

So it would suffice to prove that Cui Buqu was not the only one using the rumour of a ghost to sow troubles.

Cui Buqu was not afraid that someone else was using the rumour of a ghost to create troubles, he was only afraid that the trouble wasn't big enough and could not set the next event into motion.

And so he told Feng Xiao and said, "Gao Yi took his wage from the Imperial Court yet he did nothing, so we should help him and give him a little push."

Feng Xiao asked, "You are afraid that all the contribution would be claimed by Xing Mao?"

Cui Buqu smiled slightly, "That is correct. It is only right for a grievance case such as this to be reinvestigate by Gao Yi, only this way is the right procedure."

He rose to his feet to look for the inn's owner, took out a bag of money and ordered the other to order someone to go down the well and look for any skeletal remains.

In the past, the inn's owner did in fact ordered someone to go down the well and search, but the inn's owner had never been able to find anything at the bottom of the well. And since the bureau never investigated or inquired anything, he was happy to leave the matter like that and simply allowed someone to heave a big boulder on top of the well to seal it up so he can avoid curious folks surrounding it.

But since the money Cui Buqu offered was quite a large amount, and he said that these orders came from Gao Yi himself, the inn owner's heart was finally moved, so he quickly ordered someone to move the boulder away and allowed his staff to tie themselves to a rope and let venture down to the bottom of the well and begin a thorough search.

Quite a number of people heard of this and came to join the crowd.

Actually, with Feng Xiao's level of martial arts, even if he didn't tie himself to a rope, he would have been able to finish this task alone, and he could also in fact accomplish it faster than anyone. However, it was unknown how long it had been since the well was abandoned, even if there is no water left, there would definitely be a lot of insects and worms, so the great Commander Feng would never be willing to go down there no matter what.

He leaned back and propped one leg over the other as he sank down and folded his arms behind his head, waiting with Cui Buqu back in the inn near the window and looked down. He said to Cui Buqu, "Let us have a bet, shall we?"

"Bet with what? That will they be able to find anything in the well? There is no need to bet, for you will definitely lose."

Cui Buqu coughed twice. The sandstorm in the outskirts are strong, and the air was dry, without Qiao Xian by his side constantly taking care of him, he would never care much about his own body's condition himself, so after two days of being here, his coughing came back. If in a worse case, his throat would even be dry.

Feng Xiao, "Why is that so?"

Cui Buqu was expressionless, "Because when we just arrived here and heard of the ghost rumour from Chen Cheng, I have already ordered some men to throw a skeleton inside the well, so they would definitely find something."

Whether the skeleton was new or old, normal people would not pay much attention to it. They only knew that if there was a skeleton in the well, then the rumours are definitely no longer rumours, and that there was definitely a case of extreme grievance twenty years ago. The victim of that case was unable to die peacefully, so she turned into a vengeful ghost to come back and demanded her own case to be reinvestigated. After that, this story would only spread further and become wilder.

Gao Yi saw the ghost, so he was unable to stay away from it to save himself, and Duan Qigu would also be involved.

If one were to compare Qiemo's original atmosphere to a pot of warm water, then once Cui Buqu came here, it was like adding a bundle of firewood under this pot, once the fire was lit, the water immediately boiled.

It wasn't difficult to be a sly fox who often pitted others, but the difficult thing is that this sly fox plotted three steps ahead for every single step he took. When it came to pitting others, it was difficult for Feng Xiao to not admire Cui Buqu.

What is there left that Cui Buqu could not plot and calculate?

Feng Xiao wanted to ask this question, but he did not ask.

Suddenly he laughed.

Cui Buqu eyes him suspiciously, "What are you laughing at?"

Feng Xiao, "Nothing important."

If there is something in this world that Cui Buqu thought that he definitely had it in his grip, but in the end the outcome was different from what he has imagined, would that not be very interesting?

...

Just when everyone went to join the crowd around the well, Duan Qigu was laughing coldly back in his own manor at the letter that Cui Buqu sent him.

The letter was written in the name of Gao Yi by Cui Buqu, and the seal on it was also Gao Yi's seal.

Gao Yi refused to stand out, but under Cui Buqu's threat, he finally wrote this letter that mentioned the case of twenty years ago and invited Duan Qigu to the bureau for questioning.

There was no records of the case, and there was no witnesses or existing victims, everything was simply from theory.

Rumours spread in the city that Duan Qigu once betrayed a young girl, so she committed suicide by hanging herself; and there were also rumours that said when Duan Qigu was still a horse thief, he owed someone their lives, so now the victim had returned to claim it back.

Duan Qigu was unable to sleep for the entire night.

Yesterday a ghost haunted the inn, Gao Yi saw the ghost, and he was also disturbed by the ghost and rendered sleepless. After half a night went by and the ghost hasn't showed itself, Duan Qigu still had the delusion of someone whispering in his ear.

He was a practitioner of the martial arts. His body was rigid and sturdy. To lose a night of sleep was nothing to him, but now his mood was incredibly bad and it could only prove one thing:

That Duan Qigu was guilty in heart.

"Master, do you intend to meet Gao Yi?" the housekeeper of the Duan manor asked him.

He is Duan Qigu's confidant. Ever since the Duan manor was established, the housekeeper had already been in service.

Duan Qigu snorted, "Of course not! Who is he, Gao Yi? Others called him Officer Gao in respect, was only because of the Sui Empire who stood at his rear, would he have this calibre alone?"

Housekeeper Lin nodded his head. He was completely loyal to Duan Qigu, so he did not ask anything that did not concern himself. It was only because it was his duty to care for his master, so he had to ask another question, "Then do we have to write a reply, or completely ignore it?"

Duan Qigu, "Send a man to inform him that my body is unwell and I lay on bed heavily ill, ask him to pick another day to meet."

He paused suddenly, "Yesterday, did you hear or see anything?"

Housekeeper Lin said, "I have seen nothing, but I heard crying. The adversary might be someone highly skilled in martial arts, so I cannot trace them at all."

Duan Qigu snorted, "Since when did Xing Mao managed to get in contact with such a skilled martial artist—"

After he was done, he realized something wasn't right.

Even if the ghost was someone sent by Xing Mao, how would the ghost know something that happened twenty years ago?

Once he thought about third in charge, Chen Cheng, Li Fei, and how their deaths followed one after the last, Duan Qigu begin to feel fear crawling up his face.

Housekeeper Lin said again, "I heard that Gao Yi and Yang's Inn were also haunted by the ghost yesterday night."

Duan Qigu laughed coldly, "Where are there so many ghosts in this world? It is definitely Xing Mao's good deed!"

Housekeeper Lin did not understand.

Duan Qigu, "He wanted me dead since a long time ago, but he couldn't find the chance. Last time at the party, his plan failed, so he would definitely think of another plan. Using this rumour of a ghost, he wanted to turn the entire city upside down then send someone to kill me, passing it off as the ghost who did it, then couldn't he prevent himself from getting involved in murder?"

Just as Master and servant were conversing, someone came to report a news, saying that behind the Yang's Inn, in the well, a skeleton was discovered. From the way it looked, it seemed as if the owner had died a long time ago. The skin and flesh had already turned to ash, and all's left were white bones. Every civilian near that area has already went over to take a look.

It was also said that the Kucha King's nephew was currently sending that skeleton to the bureau for Gao Yi to examine it.

Housekeeper Lin furrowed his eyes, "Master, how would we be able to take care of this matter? Otherwise, should I head over to Gao Yi and tell him to avoid from interfering in this matter?"

He could tell that Duan Qigu was incredibly shaken. Something had definitely happened twenty years ago that involved Duan Qigu, but he was unwilling to say it, so Housekeeper Lin would not ask too much, and all he could do was try to solve the matter and reduce his Master's troubles.

Duan Qigu bit his teeth, "There is no need. Gao Yi is a coward, but Xing Mao would use this matter to sow discourse. I have not avenged myself regarding last time, so why not I return everything to him this time? Since he cannot wait any longer, then we should take the advantage of the element of surprise and act first. After tonight, you bring fifty soldiers to the Xing manor and annihilate every single inhabitant of that manor all at once!"

Housekeeper Lin was taken aback, "Should we not plan this movement thoroughly?"

There was something about Duan Qigu was made him looked increasingly anxious. It was like knowing where the enemy lies, but he was unable to rush forward and kill them.

"We cannot wait. It has been long since Xing Mao wanted to rule Qiemo city for himself, so the first step he needs to take is to remove me from this place. Thankfully we have been well-prepared. These years I've instructed you to train fifty strong soldiers, although they are nowhere near top martial artists, their skills aren't bad. Under the fact that Xing Mao is unprepared, with simply a few people by his side, even with the additional martial artist that masqueraded the ghost, they are not your match."

These years as he sat in the comfort of his throne, his heroic ideals and courage were slowly grinded to dust. But right now, after he spoke that sentence, he was slowly regaining the confidence that he once had so many years ago.

"Once Xing Mao dies, at a glance within this city of Qiemo, who will be my match?"

Duan Qigu was positive that his own judgement wasn't wrong, because he has never made a wrong decision while he was establishing his rule within Qiemo, step by step was what took him to the place he was in today.

Housekeeper Lin showed no objection, he was only worried for Duan Qigu's safety, "Once we all leave, who will protect you?"

"Leave A-Bing and A-Ding behind, the rest will follow you." Duan Qigu gave a cold laugh, "Xing Mao would not have an immediate act to respond to this. Even if he does send someone for me, whether it was ghost or man, it needs to come out either way. When the time comes, I want to see for myself, who could escape from my Jingangzhi Technique completely unharmed!"

...

Xing Mao was enshrouded with an air of spring wind, by the looks of it his mood was not bad at all.

"Although Duan Qigu is powerful, but he has grown old. Once a tiger had its teeth removed, it no longer posed a threat." He looked at the man before his eyes and his face gave away a look of familiarity and gentleness. "After all, he has already betrayed everyone, for even you had left him, what worth is there left in him to call me his enemy?"

"Master Xing speaks the truth." The one standing before him bowed with his hands in front of him.

"To think about that year, the Mengchang Jun Group had three thousand members, and he treated them like his friends and family. Yet now, he treated you and me as such. Duan Qigu has placed himself upon a high pedestal and had grown proud, even for you who had pursued him for many years, you still had to lower yourself in front of him. Who is he to sit upon the same table of power as I?"

Xing Mao rose to his feet and walked over to help the other up, "From now on, Master Lin you need not behave so formally in front of me."

The other was extremely grateful, "I grateful for Master Xing's appreciation of me. But those fifty soldiers under Duan Qigu's command are soldiers that are loyal to him, and there are two more confidants by his side, I fear that I cannot make the decision alone."

Xing Mao smiled gentle, "That is not a problem. He sent everyone out, then isn't that leaving the Duan manor like an empty city? This is a good chance for us to act and claim the manor."

"After tonight, Qiemo will change its surname to Xing." The white monk that sat a level below his seat said, and it was if he was congratulating him. His attitude was neither even more mocking, it was difficult for one to see any hints of it being false.

Xing Mao laughed, "Haha, then hence, I should be thankful to Master Yu's word of advice!"

Qiemo will change its surname to Xing: Basically just means that after tonight, Qiemo will wholly belong to Xing Mao.

He leaned back and propped one leg over the other as he sank down and folded his arms behind his head: In the raws, Meng Xi Shi used a term to describe the way Feng Xiao is sitting like the below picture.