Stealing The Heavens
chapter-53

As Luo Kedi and Ma Liang led a group of hundred bloody red armor cavalries and slowly entered Little Meng City, depressing clatters resounded throughout the area.

Lu Chengfeng looked closely at the rides of these soldiers. In next second, his expression became awful. These rides looked like the combination of big dogs and horses. They had a muscular chest and hind legs, and a pair of slim but powerful front feet, showing that they were capable of using incredible explosive force for a short distance charge. These animals had horns on their head, and their skin was covered with scales. Their toes had razor sharp claws, and their fangs looked like short daggers.

"Crocotta beast, the distinctive ride of the first Heavenly battalion of the Yulin Army in the Capital of the Lu Kingdom... Each of these Crocottas has the combative strength of a warrior with thirty years of cultivation." Lu Chengfeng lowered his voice and spoke softly, "Lord Puyang is only related to the Lu Kingdom through his wife. What allowed him to maneuver this Yulin army?"

"His wife is related to the Lu Kingdom?" When Wu Qi heard the name of Yulin Army, he knew this was going to be a lot of trouble.

"The wife of Lord Puyang is Princess Yingchuan of the Lu Kingdom, the youngest daughter of the king." Lu Chengfeng replied. He continued, hastily saying, "The youngest sister of Lord Puyang was married to Lord Baishuo, whose real name is Lu Buhuan. Lord Baishuo is the younger blood brother of the Lu Kingdom’s King. He is in charge of the Lu Kingdom’s military."

Lu Chengfeng clapped on his lap, gnashing his teeth and said, "How dare Lord Baishuo, Lu Buhuan maneuver the Yulin army without permission? He really has a lot of nerves!"

Wu Qi didn’t have too much interest in how Lu Buhuan maneuvered the Yulin army without permission, but he did take notice of the complicated relationship of Lord Puyang’s family. Lord Puyang had married with the youngest daughter of the King of the Lu Kingdom, and his sister was married to his wife’s uncle. Therefore, how was his own son going to address him? This was all really confusing. The marriage between these influential families was just a mess.

With a stern and overbearing atmosphere, Luo Kedi and his men, altogether one hundred and two rides, entered Little Meng City. The City Gate was closed immediately. Within the low tower of the City Gate, under the guidance of Wu Qi, the craftsmen of Little Meng City had secretly built a few ballista. Now, each of these ballistae had their strings pulled to the maximum, and pure steel bolts, which were the size of spears, were aiming right at Luo Kedi and his men.

Wu Qi and Lu Chengfeng quickly came down from the City Wall. When they arrived in front of Luo Kedi, Lu Chengfeng bowed toward him and said, "General Luo, Chengfeng welcomes you to Little Meng City!"

Riding on his Crocotta, Luo Kedi looked over at Lu Chengfeng from high up, and without showing any emotion on his face, he shook his head and said, "I am a Brigadier General. A mayor should address me in the way one addresses a superior. You and I don’t have any personal relationship, so addressing yourself to me as ‘Chengfeng’ is not appropriate."

Luo Kedi’s words were like his expression, cold and unfriendly. Lu Chengfeng’s expression quickly changed, turning into a similarly cold and indifferent expression, and he bowed one more time and said, "Your subordinate was being rude. Brigadier General, your subordinate, the acting Mayor of Little Meng City, Lu Chengfeng, welcomes you!"

Luo Kedi raised up his whip and pounded forcefully on Lu Chengfeng’s shoulder. Then he sneered and said, "I’m flattered. Welcome or not, we’ll know later. Where is our Marquis? Bring me to him now. Also, where are Liu Zhong and all the other useless fools?"

The pure steel handle of the whip had made Lu Chengfeng’s shoulder feel pain. He took a step back and said in a deep voice, "Please follow me. The body of Marquis has been well preserved by your subordinate. As for Liu Zhong and all other personal guards of Marquis, they were killed by the barbarians during the siege."

All of a sudden, Ma Liang jumped into the conversation and asked, "All the personal guards of the Marquis were killed?"

Wu Qi took a step forward and answered solemnly, "That’s right. When those barbarians broke through the City Wall, Liu Zhong led all the personal guards and said he wanted to seek revenge for the Marquis. They all dashed into a group of barbarians and, as a result, were all slaughtered by the barbarians."

Ma Liang snapped, "Not a single survivor?"

Wu Qi breathed out a sorrowful sigh and said, "The Marquis had a group of loyal men working for him. When they heard the news about the Marquis’s death, all of them swore to follow in his footsteps. Therefore, none of them made it."

Ma Liang suddenly burst out in a laugh, "I see, it is a worthy death for them. But I never expect that an old fool like Liu Zhong would have the courage to do such a thing. I thought an old fool like that would only cherish his own life, and wouldn’t have the courage to die with his master."

Wu Qi was laughing as he looked at Ma Liang and said, "That’s the reason why we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and also can’t judge a person from the impressions he gives. Old Liu Zhong gave up his life for his honor. This is an example we should all learn from. Lord Puyang was indeed is a worthy man, as all his subordinates were overbearing and loyal. No better example could be set other than this!"

Luo Kedi’s lips twitched. He almost couldn’t hold himself and wished to kill Wu Qi with his whip. On the other side, Ma Liang was also clenching his fist tightly. He too wished he could crush Wu Qi’s skull with the whip. Lu Chengfeng placed his hand on his back and pinched hard on his waist. Only then he was able to hold back the violent laugh that was rising in his mind.

No better example could be set other than this? What a good description.

No one had anything more to say, and they remained in silence until they finally arrived at the Mayor’s Mansion. Along the way, with his eagle-like vision, Luo Kedi glanced through every single street and small alley, looking at those newly built tall archery towers and those permanent street barricades built between the roads.

Since the ‘barbarian siege’ incident two months ago, Wu Qi had led the soldiers of the City Guards and started the construction of these defensive buildings in Little Meng City. He managed to construct an archery tower every two hundred feet, a street barricade every thousand feet, and an emergency escape tunnel, which connected to every single house, in just two months.

Luo Kedi’s face darkened. He estimated in his mind that, just with all these archery towers and street barricades that he saw, if he really initiated a siege with his cavalrymen, they would suffer a lot of damage even if they managed to break into the city.

Ma Liang’s eyes were sparkling as well, and he kept peering at those archery towers and street barricades, his brows knitted in thought. When they arrived at the front gate of the Mayor’s Mansion, Ma Liang suddenly threw out a question, "I heard that those barbarians had slaughtered all the wealthy tradesmen in the city? So now all the businesses of specialty products in Little Meng City are handled by the natives?"

Wu Qi didn’t say too much. He just nodded his head and said, "You are quite well informed."

Ma Liang had his brows knitted even move tightly. What he said just now was like a heavy punch, but Wu Qi’s answer was like soft and light cotton, giving him a feeling of missing a solid target, which was uncomfortable and awful to him.

The gate leading to Mayor Mansion had opened up, and the group of men continued their way inside.

Liu Suifeng’s coffin was placed in the ruined field, which was previously the inner chamber of Yi Yan. The fire had burned everything down on this field, so Wu Qi simply ordered some men to build a huge shed on the field and placed numerous green pines and blue cypresses around it. They were continuously praying while surrounded by a large amount of fresh flowers, joss sticks, and candles. Liu Suifeng’s coffin was placed right in the middle of fresh flowers and green plants. He also hired some men and women to act as Liu Suifeng’s filial children and grandchildren, asking them to cry their lungs out in front of the coffin, thus creating a sad and solemn atmosphere.

Looking at the huge shed in front of them, and the huge coffin made with the whole wood of a Golden Leaf Sandalwood Tree, Luo Kedi and Ma Liang became speechless.

From the position of this shed, one could tell this place was the best place in the Mayor’s Mansion in terms of feng shui. It was supposed to be the residence of the Mayor, but now it had become a temporary shelter for Liu Suifeng’s coffin. Luo Kedi and Ma Liang couldn’t find any problems in terms of formalities.

Green pines and blue cypresses, fresh flowers, joss sticks, candles, and over one hundred filial children and grandchildren, who were crying their lungs out… All the formalities were there, even better than they expected. What could they complain about?

Putting sorrowful looks on their faces, Luo Kedi and Ma Liang offered joss sticks to Liu Suifeng. After that, Ma Liang gritted his teeth and shouted, "Men, perform an autopsy!"

Wu Qi instantly gasped, autopsy? For real? Was this the idea of Lord Puyang or Lord Baishuo? This was so cruel!

Five short and skinny old men walked out from among the hundreds of calvary. They looked ghastly pale and carried the pungent smell of dead bodies. They walked unsteadily and didn’t seem to have much internal energy and cultivation, but all of them had pairs of bright eyes. They looked at the living humans around them like they were looking at a corpse.

They walked in front of the coffin and pushed opened the cover, then they lifted Liu Suifeng’s corpse from the coffin.

Liu Suifeng’s corpse was covered with thick silk clothes, and on top of it was a thick layer of fragrant powder and herbs to prevent the corpse from becoming rotten. These five old men neatly cut through the silk clothes with a small knife, exposing Liu Suifeng’s corpse, which had turned black.

"He was killed by deadly poison… The wound is in his ear!"

"No internal injury, all his internal organs are intact."

"His private part was severely wounded. Besides that, no other injury."

Five old men were using five small knives and dissected Liu Suifeng’s corpse, taking out all his internal organs, including his brain. After that, they used all kinds of strange instruments and carefully examined each of them. They even cut a small piece of Liu Suifeng’s liver and soaked it with a weird color potion. From the color transformation in the potion, they could tell what kind of poison Liu Suifeng suffered from, and how many of poisons were in his body.

When Lu Chengfeng saw Liu Suifeng being sliced and diced up, he immediately turned around and looked somewhere else.

But Wu Qi was standing beside these old men and watching curiously. He was admiring their neat and skillful movements. From time to time, he would ask them what kinds of instruments and potions they were using. In his mind, this was just an autopsy performed by some forensic scientists. What was there to be so surprised about?

After working restlessly with Liu Suifeng’s corpse for nearly an hour, these old men finally stood up and wiped away the sweat from their foreheads.

"General Luo, Mister Ma, the Marquis was killed by a deadly poison from a bug that crawled inside his ear. But the injury on his private part is pretty odd." Five old men lined up in front of Luo Kedi and bowed deeply.

Luo Kedi walked up to the side of Liu Suifeng and stared at body for some time. Then he gnashed his teeth and said, "Lord Puyang has told us that we must get to the bottom of the Marquis’s death. No matter who was behind this, he will have to prepare to face death!"

Turning around, Luo Kedi shouted fiercely, "Where is Lu Quyuan? Didn’t he enter the mountain together with you all? Where is Lu Quyuan?"

Stumped out in fury, Luo Kedi roared out in anger, "The Marquis was under the protection of two Embryonic Breath stage Xiantian realm cultivators. How could he be killed? Why did all of you survive and are now standing alive right in front of me? Get Lu Quyuan here, I want to confront him, now!"

Lu Chengfeng let out a mild cough. At the same time, Zhang Hu brought Lu Quyuan, who had a pale face, and strode over.

Just when Lu Quyuan arrived at the shed, he immediately kneeled in front of Liu Suifeng’s corpse and started to cry out in sorrow.

"Marquis Liu, what a tragic death for you! After you were dead, they still wanted to tear your corpse into pieces! They won’t even let you have an intact corpse!"