Chapter 81: The Fragrant Heroic Spirit Even in Death
Fifteen minutes ago.
Outside the government office, the night shift officer squinted his eyes, watching the rising sun and feeling a bit annoyed, murmuring to himself:
"Why hasn't the person on the next shift arrived? It's already daylight."
It's not that he's in a hurry to change shifts.
Mainly, Captain Qiao, who has great skills and knowledge, instructed him to do a small task.
Once the other officers come to change shifts, he can leave and deliver the items entrusted by Qiao Mu to Shen Qinghe's house.
Dealing with the silver coins Qiao Mu packed is one thing, but this officer also wants to establish a good relationship with Qiao Mu, so he puts extra effort into this task.
While he was pondering, a thin middle-aged man in official attire appeared at the gate, and it was Shen Qinghe.
"Lord Shen has been here at the yamen for a long time, and he is very diligent."
The yamen officer was startled at first, and then he lifted the bag of things that Qiao Mu handed to him.
If Shen Qinghe also comes to the yamen, then it would be a bit rigid for him to rush to the Shen family mansion in the west of the town to deliver the things later, which might delay the time.
Looking at the sun on the horizon, there is still some time before the "half an hour after dawn" that Qiao Mu instructed, but it is not necessary to be so precise about the time.
"Lord Shen, this is something that Captain Qiao Pifu Qiao instructed me to deliver to you last night." The yamen officer approached and handed the thing in his hand to Shen Qinghe.
"Oh?"
Shen Qinghe nodded, casually took out the items from the bag, and found that they were the bag containing animal fur and cat fur as evidence, as well as a written statement of the case.
"Is there any progress in the 'Case of Impermanent Monster'? Why was Qiao Pifu in such a hurry, even asking the officer to deliver it in the middle of the night?"
"Hmm... it's Chen Yingxue's handwriting."
Shen Qinghe walked into the government office while casually looking around.
As he kept looking, his footsteps slowed down and his expression became serious.
"Could this case involve a cultivator from the Immortal Gate?"
He quickened his pace and headed straight to the conference hall. Since the situation was complicated, he planned to summon Qiao Pifu and the chief constable in charge of the case to ask about the situation face to face.
Just as he entered through the door, his expression changed.
The city's chief constable, Chen Yingxue, was lying on a bench with his eyes closed. His clothes were intact, as if he was peacefully sleeping.
But knowing her temper, she wouldn't come to the government office early in the morning to sleep, right?
"Chief Constable Chen?" Shen Qinghe frowned and woke her up, "How did you fall asleep here?"
When Chen Yingxue first woke up, she was a bit confused, but soon her expression changed. She checked her body and sighed with relief.
When she recalled last night, she immediately felt angry and said through gritted teeth:
"Mr. Shen, last night, while discussing the case with me, Qiao Pifu took advantage of my unguarded moment and knocked me unconscious."
"He actually had the audacity to attack a colleague within these office walls, absolutely audacious!"
Speaking of this, Chief Constable Chen glanced at the empty desk beside her and indeed found that the documents she had been working on all night had vanished.
"That Qiao Pifu must have taken the written statements and case files, and the physical evidence is probably destroyed by him. This person is truly..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Chief Constable Chen saw Shen Qinghe shaking something in his hand with a strange expression.
"You mean this?"
Chief Constable Chen was suddenly taken aback and a bit confused. "How did this item end up in Mr. Shen's hands?"
As the judge in charge of handling the case, if the documents of this case are submitted layer by layer according to the normal process, they can also reach Shen Qinghe's hands, but it may take one or two days.
"Qiao Pifu asked the guard to give this to me... Wait, where is he?"
Shen Qinghe realized what the problem was.
Last night, Qiao Mu boldly attacked the chief constable, and clearly took away evidence and documents. He told the guard to give them to someone else... This action is really confusing, I can't understand what he was thinking.
Is it just that he wants to harm women?
Shen Qinghe and the other person immediately went out and stopped the guard who was on duty last night. They asked him a few questions about the situation at that time, and then furrowed their brows even more.
"Anyway, let's find Qiao Pifu first. If we find him, we'll naturally get some answers." Shen Qinghe didn't continue guessing what Qiao Pifu was thinking.
This person's thoughts seem to be quite different from others. Since coming to Heyang City, his actions have surprised Shen Qinghe, who is known for being stubborn.
So he doesn't plan to guess.
"He rented a house in the western part of the city, so I'll go there directly." Shen Qinghe said.
"No... Lord Shen," Chief Constable Chen suddenly said.
"Maybe we shouldn't go to the west side of the city, we should go to the north side."
Last night, Qiao Pifu's strange behavior flashed in her mind.
Looking back now, Qiao Pifu's transformation was very sudden. He went from being reckless and tough, not afraid of authority, to becoming an ordinary official under the Immortal Gate, bowing his head and protecting himself wisely...
This suddenly gave her a very daring guess in her heart.
This guess seemed far-fetched. Just thinking about it in her mind made her heartbeat accelerate and feel nervous.
"North side of the city?" Shen Qinghe hadn't realized yet.
"North side... where Xuantian Temple is located," Chief Constable Chen said word by word.
Shen Qinghe was taken aback, then his gaze became sharp all of a sudden.
"Then...let's go to the north of the city."
The seventh-ranked government official quickly mounted his horse, even faster than the chief constable named Chen Yingxue. They left one after another, leaving everyone behind.
When they arrived at the street in front of the Xuantian Temple in the north of the city, they saw a scene they didn't expect.
The crowded street was filled with people, who were gathered together and looking towards the entrance of the Xuantian Temple, discussing animatedly.
At the entrance of the Xuantian Temple, there was a large blurry object burning fiercely.
In midair, there was a woman dressed in white, her face hidden beneath her lowered eyebrows, silently watching the burning object.
Further away, there were many martial arts practitioners from the Taoist temple, with strong builds, gathered around the fire. They had complex expressions and nobody spoke.
"Today is the fifteenth day, it's normal for there to be more visitors to the Xuantian Temple. But there shouldn't be this many, right?"
"And when did it become a tradition at the entrance of the Xuantian Temple to burn paper offerings?"
The things in the fire were blurry. Chen Yingxue and the others took a quick look, but couldn't see what was burning in the fire. They thought it might be some kind of paper used for rituals.
Look up again.
On the other side of the nearby street, there was a mess. There were a few bodies on the ground, broken Immortal Xuantian statues, and... the body of a giant tiger with wings.
Shen Qinghe's heart skipped a beat and he quickly took out the shiny white tiger fur from the bag. He compared it for a while and his fingers trembled slightly.
"Mr. Shen," Chief Constable Chen whispered and pointed to something in the middle of the street.
It was a dirty police uniform, still new, thrown casually in the middle of the street.
"Qiao Pifu...," a bad feeling arose in Shen Qinghe's heart.
Chen Yingxue, in the crowded crowd, saw a familiar figure.
"Sheriff Qian," she hurried over and bombarded him with questions:
"What happened to the tiger with wings? Who killed it? Is the person in the middle of the road wearing a soap-colored robe Captain Qiao? Where is Captain Qiao now?"
In her heart, there were so many questions popping up one after another.
Qian Qian stood among the crowd, seemingly unaware. After Chen Yingxue asked three times, he finally snapped out of it and looked at her, but his eyes still seemed vacant, as if he had been greatly shocked.
"Captain Qiao..." Qian Qian tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a bitter smile. He gestured towards the entrance of Xuantian Temple with his mouth.
"Captain Qiao, he came to burn incense today."
"But the incense he burned is too strong, who can endure it?"
"What nonsense... I'm asking you where Captain Qiao is." Chen Yingxue frowned, her voice slightly raised.
"Yes, he's right at the entrance of the Taoist temple." Qian Qian's gaze still lacked focus.
Chen Yingxue frowned, and then she heard a commotion among the surrounding crowd.
"Fallen! Fallen."
"It's burning for a really long time," someone praised.
"Why are you speaking like this? Do you have no humanity?" someone rebuked.
"But he offended the immortal..."
She and Shen Qinghe both looked towards the entrance of the Taoist temple. Upon closer inspection, they could vaguely see the silhouette of a person-shaped object burning in the fire.
With a thud, the object in the fire finally fell down, toppling over at the entrance of Xuantian Temple.
The torch, burning for a long time, has now fallen.
Only the flames still rise.
In the main hall of Xuantian Temple, the immortals on the altar still maintained their graceful and compassionate demeanor, squinting their eyes through the swirling smoke and overlooking the person-shaped torch burning at the entrance of the Taoist temple.
Qiao Mu didn't enter the door of Xuantian Temple, but just looked inside from the doorstep. After taking a few glances, he was burned to death by the approaching Saintess.
The fire gradually died down, and the remains in the fire turned into ashes bit by bit.
The Saintess stood in mid-air with her holy sword, remaining silent. With a brilliant flash, she gathered the corpse of the giant tiger from the street into a storage bag. Then, she swiftly departed, returning to the back mountain of Xuantian Temple.
The gatekeeper at the entrance of the Taoist temple briefly caused a commotion and began to drive away the onlookers.
"Criminal Qiao Pifu, trespassed into the sacred grounds of the Immortal Gate, committed murder in broad daylight. His crime is unforgivable. He has been personally dealt with by the Saintess, burned to death by the sacred fire, and will never be reborn again."
"Criminal Qiao Pifu, trespasser of the sacred Immortal Gate, committed murder in broad daylight..."
The congested crowd gradually dispersed.
Chen Yingxue still stood there, listening to Qian Qian beside her, who intermittently recounted the morning's turmoil.
She gazed at the ashes in the fire, her eyes losing the same luster that Qian Qian had before.
Memories from the past kept flooding into his mind one after another.
This constable, who acted recklessly and always spoke strangely, didn't seem to have any intention of getting along with his fellow constables since he entered the police station.
Every time he started to make a good impression, he would always say something strange.
Looking back at that moment, it was obvious that he was deliberately keeping a distance from those around him.
Finally, when Chen Yingxue began to respect him and discuss details of the case with him, he immediately changed his expression and knocked him unconscious without hesitation.
Then, he bravely entered Xuantian Temple alone, killed the man-eating tiger, and drew his sword against the master of Xuantian Sect.
In the end, he died, his martial artist's qi and blood transformed into fuel for the raging Etching Bones Li Fire.
She remembered the strange words intentionally spoken by Qiao Pifu when they first met.
"Women, don't be curious about me. Curiosity often leads to downfall."
"I always hated evil and treated life and death lightly. In the eyes of a person with a strong sense of justice, this magnificent image is like a firefly shining brightly in the dark... I'm afraid she might really be influenced."
Now, as she looked back on it, a different kind of emotion arose in her heart.
The love between men and women was naturally out of the question.
In reality, Qiao Pifu only appeared to be an ordinary middle-aged man in his forties. If a middle-aged man were to say these words, it would only seem greasy and artificial.
In her heart, there was only a sense of reverence that slowly arose.
"He has the courage and spirit of a young person, full of youthful vigor. But despite his seeming recklessness, he is actually sensitive and thoughtful..."
"Truly a rare and great man in the world."
The young man, fearless like a newborn calf, acted with his passionate spirit.
The middle-aged man had been battered by life for over ten or several decades, and the youthful aspiration that once resided in his chest gradually dissipated.
At the age of forty, it's not easy to remain steadfast, unaffected by external influences.
This is also the reason why those pilgrims remained silent.
The pilgrims aligned with the Immortal Gate are outspoken, while these people are often silent.
Chen Yingxue admired but also felt a heavy sadness in her heart.
However, such a great man had already passed away.
She hurriedly rushed here with Shen Qinghe, but didn't get a chance to see Qiao Pifu one last time. She only saw his lifeless body slowly turning into ashes, disappearing into the air as light smoke.
Storyteller Jiang Chen squeezed into the crowd, listening to their discussions. Unconsciously, he clenched his fist, with his fingernails digging into his flesh.
He had been telling stories of the Qiao Family's father and son in Heyang City for some time. Recently, he had been evading the pursuing officials and had just arrived here after hearing the commotion.
"Qiao Pifu？"
"Qiao family motto, when the world thrives or falls, every man has a responsibility..."
With such a posture, such bold words, it reminded him vaguely of the heroic deeds of the Qiao Family's father and son in Yan City.
At this moment, a breeze blew by, and the remnants of the burning flames were also blown away by the wind, leaving no trace.
However, the previously burning fire, that incense, did exist after all.
This is an incense of an ordinary man.
The incense of an ordinary man burns his own body, showing no respect to the gods and disrespecting the heavens.
This stick of incense was lit by the Immortal Gate's Saintess, and its flickering flames have already entered the sight and hearts of the worshippers.
People have their own scale of hearts. The posture and words that Qiao Pifu had before he died will be remembered by the world.
Even in death, the fragrance of chivalry lingers.
