Chapter 57: Divine Female Constable
Anyone who held a grudge against Princess Yun Shu, Princess Qing Ling, Xia Chenhua, or Xia Chenguang was under investigation, especially the other Princes and Princesses.
Those who had recently clashed with the three victims were also prime subjects of the investigation, a group that included Xia Wuyang, the "Dying Crown Prince."
However, after a brief investigation, they ruled out Xia Wuyang as a suspect.
Before the three died, he had indeed clashed with them, but they were all minor squabbles. It wasn’t the first time; in fact, there had been even bigger conflicts before.
Xia Wuyang hadn’t acted then, so it was even less likely he would act now.
Furthermore, it was said that the elder Crown Prince was actually quite grateful to Xia Chenhua and Xia Chenguang. He supposedly treated their humiliation of him as a source of amusement and was quite fond of the courtesan Xia Chenhua had sent him.
Therefore, there was no real enmity between Xia Wuyang, Xia Chenhua, and Xia Chenguang.
Most importantly, the elder Crown Prince was in his twilight years and looked to be on death’s door. How could he possibly possess such power and influence?
After some investigation, they dismissed their suspicions of Xia Wuyang and shifted their focus to the other Princes and Princesses, including Xia Wuchen, who had never gotten along with Xia Wushang.
Thanks to Emperor Xia’s "tutelage," there was no shortage of grudges among the many Princes and Princesses, some of which were matters of life and death. It was said that Emperor Xia had deliberately orchestrated this, hoping to find the most suitable heir through such methods.
Xia Wuyang had experienced this himself in the past. Emperor Xia had originally intended for the conflict between the Princes and Princesses to be a form of healthy competition.
But faced with the temptation of immense benefits, especially the lure of that supreme position, how could it possibly remain healthy?
Everything Xia Wuyang had gone through was a cautionary tale: his cultivation was crippled, his properties and resources were stolen, and the people around him were killed... Even his greatest support, his mother, had been dead for years. His maternal grandparents, uncles, and other relatives had also been brutally suppressed, with many of them killed or injured, to the point where they no longer dared to even contact him.
The so-called "healthy competition" was nothing more than empty words.
Relying on his Mental Force Field, Xia Wuyang had long since detected the abnormalities in his surroundings, so he acted particularly well-behaved and kept a low profile.
He spent his days drinking and making merry, even deliberately summoning a new batch of palace maids. Night after night was filled with revelry and debauchery, and he no longer secretly entered the practice room to cultivate.
Only after all the investigators had quietly withdrawn did he return to his previous routine.
However, not long after these secret investigators left, a squad of female constables in official uniforms entered the Imperial Palace.
The woman leading them was in her early twenties, with a posture as straight as a pine. Her features were refined and otherworldly, and her expression held a hint of heroic spirit. She was an absolute beauty.
She was none other than the Divine Female Constable renowned throughout Great Xia, Liu Yiqing. She hailed from a long line of constables, a family with deep-rooted traditions, and several of her elders were Famous Constables in their own right.
Having been immersed in this environment since childhood, Liu Yiqing had developed outstanding investigative skills. With her exceptional talent and qualifications, she had already become a Fourth Grade Martial Artist in her twenties, a feat considered remarkable even among the Princes and Princesses.
They were constables handpicked by Emperor Xia to specifically investigate this matter. The fact that they were women made it more convenient for them to enter and exit the various palace halls.
After arriving at their lodgings in the Imperial Palace and resting for a moment, Liu Yiqing led her team toward Princess Yun Shu’s residence.
They soon arrived at the place where Princess Yun Shu had died. The scene had been preserved exactly as it was when the incident occurred.
Liu Yiqing meticulously searched every detail, from the furnishings inside the hall to the dust on the window lattices. Not a single spot was overlooked.
"There are no marks on Princess Yun Shu’s body. It truly seems she died from the flare-up of a hidden injury. Nothing seems out of the ordinary."
"It’s said there’s a Secret Technique in the Imperial Palace, the Nether Acupuncture Needle, that can kill someone silently and without a trace. But to achieve such an effect, one would have to cultivate it to at least the Great Success stage. That Secret Technique is extremely difficult to practice, and very few in the Royal Family have mastered it."
"According to our files, the few who have mastered the Nether Acupuncture Needle are all Royal Family Clan Elders. It’s impossible that they would have attacked Princess Yun Shu. As for Princess Qing Ling, her body still hasn’t been found. It’s only presumed that she is most likely dead."
...
The female constables by her side relayed the relevant information to Liu Yiqing, trying not to miss a single suspicious detail.
Liu Yiqing carefully investigated every corner of Caiyun Hall, but she couldn’t find a single clue. She even examined Princess Yun Shu’s body again and confirmed there were no signs of her being murdered. It truly seemed as if she had died from a flare-up of a hidden injury.
’But how could a dignified Princess of the Royal Family suddenly have a hidden injury flare up, and so violently that there wasn’t even time to administer aid?’
’What’s more, Princess Qing Ling disappeared shortly after, and the brothers Xia Chenhua and Xia Chenguang both died one after another from Qigong Deviation. The whole thing is just unbelievable.’
’In the past, a Prince or Princess might not die for a year or more. Now, three had died in just a few short months, and the missing Princess Qing Ling is, by all estimates, likely dead as well. How could there be such a coincidence?’
’Moreover, several Princes and Princesses had been robbed during this period. Many people speculated that the thief was most likely the same person who had murdered them.’
’There must be something strange going on here.’ Liu Yiqing’s elegant brows furrowed slightly as she continued her investigation.
She used the Liu Family’s ancestral Tracing Talisman to search everywhere, which could detect even the slightest abnormal fluctuation, but alas, it showed no reaction after sweeping through the entirety of Caiyun Hall.
Next, she went to Princess Qing Ling’s residence. The situation here was even stranger; the entire palace was just as it had been, as if its owner had merely stepped out for a while.
"Was there anything unusual about Princess Qing Ling before she disappeared?" Liu Yiqing questioned everyone who had been close to the princess.
But no matter how hard they thought, none of them could recall anything unusual about Princess Qing Ling. After all, the princess had been planning to do something that couldn’t see the light of day, so how could she have let anyone else know?
Liu Yiqing soon came to the same conclusion. Others thought Princess Qing Ling had been kidnapped and killed, but after her investigation, Liu Yiqing deduced that the princess had likely left her residence on her own and met with misfortune elsewhere.
That would explain why her residence was so clean, without the slightest hint of anything out of place.
Afterward, in the Imperial Palace’s mortuary, Liu Yiqing once again examined the bodies of Xia Chenhua and Xia Chenguang. The corpses had already been inspected by several Imperial Physicians, all of whom had concluded that the cause of death was Qigong Deviation.
’Whether from a surface-level look or a thorough examination, it seems to be death by Qigong Deviation.’
Liu Yiqing checked again and again, but she came to the same conclusion.
This left her feeling a bit helpless. The culprit’s work was too clean, without a single clue left behind. She had never encountered anything like it.
She compiled a list of suspects one by one, which conspicuously included Xia Wuyang. However, among the suspects, Xia Wuyang was ranked rather low, almost as if he were just there to fill a spot.
At the same time, Liu Yiqing also compiled a separate file summarizing the suspicious points she had uncovered during her investigation.