Chapter 54: Practical Use of Qi Sight in Solving a Case

At this time, Fang Qinglan was leading the Wei City officers in inspecting the study. They were checking the corners, doors, and windows.

Li Yanchu asked, “Find anything?”

However, Fang Qinglan shook her head. “Everything’s intact. No signs of forced entry, no footprints from climbing in through the window, and nothing unusual on the beams.”

Bai Hongtu chimed in, “Could it be some kind of sudden illness? Maybe a heart attack or stroke?”

Fang Qinglan replied, “We can’t rule that out yet.”

Suddenly, Li Yanchu pointed at the lady of the house. “She killed him.”

Hearing this, everyone was stunned! He reached that conclusion

this fast

?!

The woman’s face turned pale with fear, clearly shaken.

Bai Hongtu objected, “Yanchu, what kind of statement is that? You don’t have any proof, that’s way too reckless.”

The surrounding officers and Fang Qinglan all looked at him suspiciously. In solving a case, one was supposed to collect evidence, inspect the scene, analyze the situation, and track the real culprit through the tiniest clues.

What on earth is this?!

Li Yanchu said solemnly, “This woman was possessed by a malevolent spirit. There’s residual yin qi in the room. The victim most likely died because the spirit drained his essence, qi, and spirit.”

A ghost?!

Bai Hongtu frowned. “Why can’t I see anything like that?”

Li Yanchu glanced at him. “You’ve never studied Qi Sight or Heaven’s Eye techniques?”

Bai Hongtu answered proudly, “Nope. Why, have you?”

Li Yanchu said calmly, “Just a little.”

Hearing this, Bai Hongtu fell silent.

At this time, the mistress of the house cried out in protest, her expression frantic as she loudly insisted on her innocence.

Fang Qinglan frowned. “This alone isn’t enough, we have no real evidence. And even if what you said is true, how would we convict someone based on that?”

Li Yanchu waved his hand. “I don’t know either.”

Fang Qinglan fell silent for a moment, then said coldly, “Take her away!”

With that, two officers stepped forward and restrained the woman. As strange and unsettling as the case was, they still followed Fang Qinglan’s orders without question.

But just as the group was about to exit the residence, Li Yanchu suddenly punched a house servant. He made a powerful strike!

Li Yanchu was renowned across Wei City as a martial arts expert, with the strength to crush stone with his bare hands. Among the common folk, tales of his prowess bordered on the mythical.

But that servant’s figure suddenly shifted. He flipped backward through the air, narrowly dodging the blow! Seeing this, Li Yanchu’s eyes turned sharp, a fierce murderous qi erupting from him.

Boom

! Another punch followed. He striked with full force, as though he intended to end the man’s life right there.

The servant, a man in his thirties with a clean, pale complexion, moved with astonishing agility. He was surprisingly skilled for a mere housekeeper. He raised both fists and blocked Li Yanchu’s strike, a flicker of murderous qi flashing in his own eyes.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three sharp whistling sounds sliced through the air as silver needles shot out from the man’s sleeve, aiming straight for Li Yanchu’s face.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

The qi shield surrounding Li Yanchu’s body flared up like an iron wall, deflecting the needles with ease.

Bang

!

Just then, Li Yanchu’s fist smashed into the man’s chest, sending him flying backward.

This time, he didn’t get up. He lay on the ground, staring at Li Yanchu in horror.

Li Yanchu said coldly, “

He

is the real killer. He stabbed a silver needle into the top of the victim’s head, and this man is likely a wanted criminal.”

With a wave of her hand, Fang Qinglan signaled, and two fierce-looking officers immediately stepped forward and seized the severely injured servant.

Just moments earlier, as everyone was preparing to leave, Li Yanchu had suddenly launched a lethal attack against what appeared to be an ordinary house servant. And not only had the man displayed martial skill, he had even used hidden weapons like silver needles. Now Li Yanchu was asserting he was the murderer. The entire scene had unfolded like something out of a legend, it was utterly unbelievable!

Fang Qinglan asked, “What exactly happened?”

Li Yanchu replied, “Earlier, I noticed a very faint wound on the top of the victim’s head. He was killed by someone stabbing a silver needle into his brain from behind. Since there were no signs of forced entry, the prime suspects would be people within the household. And this man was surrounded by a bloody qi, full of malevolent qi. Yet he served as a lowly house servant? Suspicious, wouldn’t you say?”

Bai Hongtu was stunned. “Yanchu, you can solve cases too?!”

Solve cases? My foot...

Li Yanchu gave a slight smile and said, “I deliberately accused the lady of the house and claimed the death was caused by a malevolent spirit, just to make the real killer drop his guard. Then I struck suddenly to force a reaction. And sure enough, at the brink of death, he used a silver needle. Have the coroner check, the victim’s brain will contain one.”

The room fell silent. Fang Qinglan and the others stared at him, speechless.

This... this is too incredible! The case is solved?!

In such a short time, Li Yanchu had pinpointed and captured the true killer.

Fang Qinglan finally spoke, “Let’s have the coroner confirm it first.”

In a murder case, the coroner always performed a basic inspection. Earlier, the Wei City coroner had only confirmed that the victim showed no signs of injury or poisoning. After all, in an age without formal training systems, coroners relied entirely on experience, so their skills varied widely.

Upon re-examining the body, the coroner did in fact find a silver needle lodged deep in the victim’s brain and was utterly astonished. Whether it was Bai Hongtu, Fang Qinglan, or the officers and officers present, all of them looked at Li Yanchu with newfound respect and awe.

Fang Qinglan said with a hint of regret, “What a pity that you’re a Daoist. If you joined the constabulary, your name would surely spread far and wide.”

If I had a colleague this brilliant at my side catching criminals, it’d be like having divine assistance.

Li Yanchu smiled but said nothing. In truth, it had all come down to his Qi Sight. The man had been wreathed in killing qi and heavy malevolent qi, so he was clearly not someone of good character. On top of that, the thick resentment and blood qi around him indicated recent bloodshed.

The moment Li Yanchu laid eyes on him, he knew he was the killer. Everything after that was just reverse engineering the process. During the examination of the body, he’d paid special attention to the top and back of the victim’s head.

After all, as someone who had watched over a thousand crime dramas, he had a solid grasp of the basics. From there, he simply leveraged human psychology to push the suspect into exposing himself.

Everything unfolded naturally. Of course, a bit of luck played into it too, as Qi Sight wasn’t omnipotent.

Still, this time, Li Yanchu’s performance had utterly stunned everyone. Bai Hongtu, who had been nothing more than a bystander the entire time, pursed his lips tightly, overwhelmed by emotion.

“

Why let Bai Hongtu be born, only to have Li Yanchu outshine him?!”

[1]

The severely injured servant was soon taken away, but not before casting a venomous glare at Li Yanchu.

Just as they were about to leave, Li Yanchu’s gaze sharpened, then he suddenly reached down and picked up a small personal seal.

Just then, a flicker of shock passed through his eyes. Carved into the seal were two words:

Wuling Wanderer

.

No way... the victim was Wuling Wanderer?!

A sense of surreal absurdity rose in Li Yanchu’s heart. The first time he had heard that name was from a letter shown to him by Head Constable Wang. It was an invitation sent to a high-ranking monk, claiming they had found the whereabouts of the Elixir of Immortality.

But that monk had later died on the outskirts of the city, killed by some unknown beast. And now, Wuling Wanderer was lying dead in his own home, murdered by his own servant.

Li Yanchu immediately had the lady of the house brought over. He asked, “What did your husband do for a living? Did he have any aliases?”

In the Kingdom of Qian, scholars typically had not only a given name but also a courtesy name and sometimes an alias.

The woman, still shaken, looked at Li Yanchu with fear and replied, “My husband was a

juren

[2]. Our family has ancestral property and land in the countryside. He usually spent his days reading and painting. Oh, right, my late husband’s alias was Wuling Wanderer.”

Just as he’d thought!

1. This is a poetic and emotionally charged line. It's a lament, often expressing anguish over fate or rivalry, similar in tone to the famous line “既生瑜，何生亮” (Why let Zhou Yu be born, only to have Zhuge Liang outshine him?). This famous line expresses deep frustration or sorrow over being overshadowed despite one’s own brilliance. It can be used in any rivalry where one feels unfairly outdone by a peer or contemporary. ☜

2.

Juren

is a scholar who passed the provincial exam ☜