There is a god in the sky

Chapter 373 Joint Trial by the Three Judicial Offices 14

Tong Yiwen's gaze shifted from Shen Lan to Li Ye. Seeing that he was wearing the Imperial Guard uniform, he asked curiously, "Is this young general also one of your men?"

Shen Lan did not answer.

He said to himself, "It seems you do indeed have someone behind you. Who is it? Although Xiao Ji is intelligent, he has a strong sense of justice and is not one to spread rumors. Could it be the Second Prince?"

"I have never met the Second Prince."

"That must be Li Ge. He's infiltrating the Empress's inner circle and getting close to the Crown Prince. What is his purpose?"

"Headmaster Tong, do you know about what happened in Guli Town back then?"

"I didn't know beforehand, but I naturally found out later when the Crown Prince obtained the prescription."

"Have you ever reprimanded the Crown Prince and your son?"

"Hehe, what kind of answer do you want to know? Great people don't concern themselves with trifles. Their mistake was that they didn't handle things properly and let a few children escape."

Tong Yiwen pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized and said, "Li Ge is about the same age as you, could it be that he also came from Guli Town?"

Unable to contain himself, Li Ye held his sword across his chest and said fiercely, "Not only him, but me too. All these years, everything we've done has been for revenge!"

Tong Yiwen seemed somewhat surprised, but then relieved. "So that's how it is. It's truly admirable that a few insignificant grains of sand could achieve this!"

"Stop talking nonsense and give me your life!" Li Ye launched the attack.

None of them dared to underestimate Tong Yiwen.

There was no one else here. The internal force just now was so powerful and domineering that even the two of them working together might not be able to win.

"Clang!" Li Ye's knife struck the stone, instantly creating a large gash.

The old man who had been sitting on the stone bed stood behind him.

He struck Li Ye on the back with a palm, but the palm missed Li Ye and was stopped by Shen Lan with a throwing knife.

Tong Yiwen turned to Shen Lan, his gaze sinister, "You're courting death."

Tong Yiwen was extremely fast; Shen Lan only saw a blur before he was already in front of her.

She instinctively sprinkled a handful of pepper powder, and the other person, thinking it was poison, stepped back and instantly moved far away from her.

Shen Lan asked curiously, "How many years has Headmaster Tong been practicing martial arts? Which school of martial arts does he practice?"

Tong Yiwen sneezed, rubbed his nose, and grinned sinisterly.

"Little girl, in the face of absolute power, these little tricks won't save your lives."

I've been practicing martial arts for longer than you've all been alive. Even if you started training from the womb, you still wouldn't be a match for me.

Li Ye stepped forward and fought him for a few rounds, but was quickly defeated.

Shen Lan was certain that even if Zhou Ru were still alive, she would not be a match for Tong Yiwen.

"Is the martial arts that Headmaster Tong practices not orthodox? Could it be some kind of evil art?"

Tong Yiwen stopped, putting his hands behind his back. "You and that Xiao family brat have been investigating me, haven't you? How much have you found out?"

Shen Lan was not surprised. The Tong family must have their own intelligence network, otherwise they would not have been able to find out so much about the privacy of court officials.

"We only found that General Qian, who was suppressing the cult, took something in exchange for his son's future. We suspect it was a cult practice."

"Truly worthy of being a young talent valued even by the Emperor, able to deduce the truth of such a distant matter from a single clue."

Tong Yiwen sighed, wishing there were such talented people among the younger generation of the Tong family, then he wouldn't have to do everything himself.

Shen Lan asked with a solemn expression, "The remnants of the cult all use women's blood to practice their skills. This is nothing but a heretical method and it is impossible to succeed."

Although martial arts have deviated from science, human blood cannot possibly have miraculous effects.

"Yes, they have the secret techniques, but they don't know the proper methods. They give random pointers, thinking that evil arts must be practiced in a lewd way. Little do they know that this is a big mistake."

Tong Yiwen didn't seem to be in a hurry to kill them.

Shen Lan pressed on, "How did Headmaster Tong cultivate? Was the mummified corpse case at Jiufeng Mountain your doing?"

Tong Yiwen burst into laughter.

He clapped his hands and praised, "Miss Shen is truly clever. If you were a man, you would surely achieve great things in no time."

"No, at least I can't understand why you would want to produce several mummified corpses?"

"No success can be achieved overnight; it all requires gradual exploration. I am no exception; I also made mistakes at the beginning."

Shen Lan suddenly realized, "You also used human blood to practice your skills at the beginning?"

He drained the blood from the dead and eventually turned them into mummies, making the bodies look unnatural.

"At least I'm not as stupid as them, insisting on using virgin blood. Human blood is largely the same; it's impossible for the effects to be different depending on the gender."

But later I discovered that blood was useless; the most important things in cultivation were comprehension and diligence.

Li Ye seized the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, but his opponent didn't even look at him. He turned around and struck out with a palm behind him, sending Li Ye flying and crashing straight into the wall.

Shen Lan hurriedly said, "Headmaster Tong, you want to save your family, right? The gold you hid in Qianjia Village has already been dug up, and by now the government must have already sent the illicit silver to the palace."

Tong Yiwen was unaware of what had happened during the night.

"You guys were able to find that place so quickly, and you even knew it was a place where gold and silver were hidden. That's really impressive."

"It was just a fluke."

"If that's the case, then I can spare your life. I wonder if Xiao Ji is willing to exchange those things for your two lives."

Shen Lan frowned. "Lord Xiao is selfless and impartial. Why would he make a private deal with you?"

"Oh? How will you know if you don't try?"

Tong Yiwen swiftly appeared in front of Shen Lan and reached out to grab her neck.

Shen Lan raised her hands and reached out to grab him as well.

A cold glint flashed, and Tong Yiwen noticed that she had razor blades between her ten fingers.

He didn't stop; instead, he laughed even more wildly, "Then let's see if your knife is faster, or my hand is faster."

Shen Lan didn't dare to fight him head-on, and seeing that he wasn't intimidated, she immediately retreated.

With one step back and one step forward, until there was no way to retreat from behind, Shen Lan raised her foot and kicked the other party.

But before she could kick out, Tong Yiwen slapped her ankle, instantly causing her foot to lose its strength.

Her body slid down, but the other person grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up.

The feeling of suffocation and pain made it impossible for Shen Lan to even make a sound.

Despite his injuries, Li Ye rushed over and jumped onto Tong Yiwen's back, wrapping his arms tightly around Tong Yiwen's neck.

Tong Yiwen raised his left hand and reached behind him to grab, but Li Ye had no hand to defend himself, so he stuck his head out and bit his hand.

Tong Yiwen released Shen Lan, his eyes blazing with anger, and grabbed Li Ye's arm with his right hand, forcefully twisting it.

"what……"

Shen Lan's body fell to the ground, clutching her neck and coughing violently, hearing the sound of bones breaking.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she lunged forward and grabbed Tong Yiwen's legs, shouting, "Li Ye, attack his eyes!"