novelnext Chapter 45 You said he's at the 7th rank of martial arts?!
Chapter 45 You said he's at the 7th rank of martial arts?!
Shen Yan arrived at Qin Tieyi's cell.
Just then, Li Jianzhong got up.
"Old Li, how's the prisoner?"
Li Jianzhong shook his head and said, "It's hopeless. The poison has attacked his heart; he's been poisoned by the Three Insects and Three Herbs."
Shen Yan's face was grim. Qin Tieyi was dead. He didn't know what would happen to the officials of the Ministry of Justice, but he was sure that the prison guards would suffer the consequences.
Thinking of Han Shantong and Liu Zhixie.
He quickly asked, "Where are the other two?"
"They have some basic health, which is why they've managed to stay alive for now. But if they don't find an antidote, they won't live much longer."
"How much longer can I live?"
"The King of Hell doesn't care about the time when he takes people. It's not a big problem if it's within three days, but after three days..."
When the topic of poison came up, Li Jianzhong became somewhat excited and began to speak eloquently.
"The most difficult part of this three-insect, three-herb poison is identifying which three herbs were used. I already know the three insects he used, and the person who poisoned him was quite clever, using Gu insects from the Southern Frontier, not ordinary poisons. If I have seven days, I should be able to identify the other three herbs."
A glimmer of hope ignited in Shen Yan's eyes: "Is there any way to let them live a few more days?"
Li Jianzhong smiled faintly and said, "Of course there are. If there are experts with internal energy of the third rank who can protect their heart meridians day and night with their true energy, they can live a few more days."
Shen Yan rolled his eyes. If he could find a master of the third rank, the first thing he would do was to arrest all the suspects and kill them all.
It turns out he was just spouting nonsense all along.
soon.
Xu Shaogong also rushed over upon hearing the news.
Upon hearing that Qin Tieyi was dead, Han Shantong and Liu Zhixie also knew they wouldn't live much longer.
He nearly collapsed to the ground. The fact that a ninth-rank martial artist could lose his composure like this shows how much this event impacted him.
Xu Shaogong glared angrily at Shen Yan and the prison guards.
"How are you doing your job? Who did it? Have you found out?"
Huang Sixi came out and said cautiously, "Wei Shitou, He Jiawang, and Wang Fugui have disappeared today. I sent people to their house to investigate, and found that their wives, children, and elderly parents are also nowhere to be found."
Xu Shaogong's face was deathly pale, devoid of any color. His entire family had vanished; they were either dead or had fled. Finding them was virtually impossible.
"Report the situation to Lord Ding of the Ministry of Justice!"
After saying this, Xu Shaogong turned and left. Shen Yan noticed that his departing figure was somewhat hunched over, like that of an old man in his twilight years.
He was completely different from the spirited, ruthless middle-aged man I first met, who would stop at nothing to climb the ladder.
Upon hearing the news, the Ministry of Justice quickly dispatched personnel.
The visitor was Ding Anzhi, who brought with him the two physicians from the Ministry of Justice, Qi Mingxuan and Fang Jingxing, to the prison.
The person hadn't arrived yet, but their voice had already reached them.
"Xu Shaogong! How could you do such a thing? I trusted you so much."
Before they could go out to greet him, Ding Anzhi had already entered the prison.
Seeing Qin Tieyi's corpse, and knowing that Han Shantong and Liu Zhixie could only live for three more days at most.
His face turned red, and he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
He had seized these three Heavenly Kings of the White Lotus Sect from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Killing rebels was a chance to show off, a rare opportunity that only came around once in ten years. Naturally, he, who wanted to become famous and rise to power, would not let this opportunity slip by.
I never expected things to turn out this way, and now I have nowhere to turn to complain.
Ding Anzhi coldly said to the jailers, "Until the truth is revealed, you will all remain in the Heavenly Prison and are not allowed to go anywhere!"
The reason they weren't locked up was because the prison still needed the jailers to do their work.
After saying that, he left with his men.
When Xu Shaogong saw that Ding Anzhi was so cold during their meeting, not even giving a greeting, his heart sank.
I had originally intended to try and get closer to him, to see if there was any room for a turnaround.
He thought to himself with resentment, "Pah! Not a single official is good! They turn their backs on you!"
……
……
Ding Anzhi led his men back to the Ministry of Justice and saw his mortal enemy Yang Wanli and the Minister of Justice Feng Xiu discussing something.
When they saw Ding Anzhi arrive, they stopped talking and looked at him, seemingly waiting for him to speak.
Ding Anzhi understood that they already knew what had happened in the prison; after all, it couldn't be kept secret any longer.
He dismissed his men, leaving only Feng Xiu, Yang Wanli, and himself at the scene.
"Qin Tieyi is dead, but Han Shantong and Liu Zhixie can live for another three to five days."
Upon hearing Ding Anzhi's words, neither Feng Xiu nor Yang Wanli showed any change in expression.
This whole affair was orchestrated by Ding Anzhi.
Feng Xiu is old. He has been an official in the Ministry of Justice since the reign of Emperor Xuanwu, and he is now in his seventies.
If it weren't for his internal martial arts skills, he should have retired years ago and enjoyed his old age.
After Feng Xiu stepped down, the position of Minister of Justice became vacant, and Ding Anzhi was eager to compete for it, which led to this incident.
Yang Wanli remained silent, picked up his teacup, and took a small sip.
Ding Anzhi understood that this was a way of waiting for him to draw a line and figure out how to handle the situation, and that he would definitely have to pay a price this time.
Ding Anzhi gritted his teeth and said, "This matter is entirely due to Fang Jingxing's incompetence and the dereliction of duty by the prison guards. In my opinion, those who should be dismissed should be dismissed, and those who should be executed should be executed."
Yang Wanli suddenly spoke up, "Whom do you intend to kill, prison guards?"
Ding Anzhi was somewhat surprised, not expecting Yang Wanli to suddenly ask this question.
He originally intended to open his mouth wide and kill them all. Since they ruined his plans, this lowly official deserves to die a hundred times over.
But then he realized that the work in the prison still needed to be done, so he changed his mind.
"Xu Shaogong, as the prison warden, was negligent in his duties and should be dismissed. Shen Yan, as a prison officer, was the principal offender and must be punished. The prison guards on duty also cannot escape responsibility."
After hearing this, Yang Wanli said calmly, "Shen Yan cannot be killed."
Ding Anzhi was furious: "Why can't Shen Yan be killed? Does he think he can escape death just because his surname is Shen?!"
"He's reached the seventh rank!"
Ding Anzhi sneered, "Seventh rank? What rank could a prison guard have? He can't possibly be a seventh-rank martial artist, can he?"
"You're right, seventh rank in martial arts!"
"hiss!"
Upon hearing Yang Wanli's words, Ding Anzhi was shocked and gasped.
Even Feng Xiu's old face showed a hint of surprise, not because he had never seen a seventh-rank martial artist before, but because he had never seen a seventh-rank martial artist working in the Heavenly Prison.
Ding Anzhi seemed surprised that it was this seventh-rank official.
In order to win over martial arts practitioners, the Great Zhou Dynasty once established a rule that any martial artist who had achieved a certain rank in martial arts and held a public office would be regarded as a ninth-rank official and would enjoy the same treatment.
Xu Shaogong used this method to become a prison warden.
He was clearly dissatisfied with this, which is why he tried to curry favor with Ding Anzhi.
Unfortunately, it all came to nothing in the end; there was nothing he could do about it since he had gotten close to Ding Anzhi.
Shen Yan was already a seventh-rank official, but Ding Anzhi knew that he was only in his early twenties and had heard that not long ago he was a weak and helpless scholar.
Reaching the seventh rank in such a short time demonstrates exceptional talent in cultivation; it's not impossible that he could break through to the middle third rank someday.
Ding Anzhi thought to himself, "No wonder Yang Wanli wanted to protect Shen Yan; this man must have already caught the eye of the Duke's mansion."
Feng Xiu said, "It's understandable that Shen Yan didn't notice anything unusual yesterday because he was on leave, so we won't hold him responsible. However, it's Xu Shaogong who is so negligent as a prison warden, failing to recognize talent and failing to manage his subordinates properly. This is truly unacceptable and he cannot be let off lightly."
Ding Anzhi just wanted to resolve this matter as soon as possible; whether Shen Yan was killed or not was not of much concern to him.
Hearing Feng Xiu's words, Yang Wanli had already removed Shen Yan from the discussion and had no further objections. He picked up his teacup and continued drinking tea.
Feng Xiu glanced at Yang Wanli, and seeing that he didn't speak, he spoke up.
"Since that's the case, then let's submit the memorial in this manner! You will write the memorial for Anzhi. I will go to the palace today to deliver it to the Emperor and report this matter as soon as possible."
With just a few words from the officials of the Ministry of Justice, the fate of the prison guards was decided.