That sharp cry drew everyone's attention at once. Chan Master Kongming said in shock, "Among the Twelve Yuan Chen, there is indeed a master of concealed weapons. Legend has it that their attacks leave no shadow and make no sound, taking lives before the victims even realize what is happening."
Kang Qiandeng lowered his voice. "Is the weapon still inside Hero Tang's skull? Should we..."
Qian Chen shook his head. "You won't find any weapon in there at all! Trying to deduce the culprit's identity from a projectile is virtually impossible. The reason Hero Tang died instantly without any outward sign is that the killer used an ice needle—a needle so minute as to be imperceptible, shot straight into his brain.
"Once the ice needle melted, every trace naturally vanished into thin air.
"The only reason we can uncover how Tang Zhen died now is that the needle has just melted. The lingering moisture within his skull allowed the clotted blood to flow out. As for the iron nail case I mentioned, the master detective learned of that murder technique only because the corpse of a past victim had decayed, and when the grave was later relocated, an iron nail was discovered embedded in the skull.
"By using an ice needle instead, the evidence truly disappears with time!"
"Even so..." A lingering dread crept into Kang Qiandeng's voice. "Who could pierce Tang Zhen's protective gang qi with a mere ice needle? And who could shoot it from the front, right beneath his gaze and into his nostril, without him noticing a thing? He was the Thousand Hands and Thousand Eyes..."
"That is precisely where the killer was clever," Qian Chen said with a smile. "An ice needle is transparent. You know that human eyes create a curious blind spot—try holding a finger directly beneath your nose, and see if you can see it clearly."
Kang Qiandeng tested it as instructed. He discovered that when his finger drew near his nose, it blurred into a phantom, nearly impossible to discern.
"If an entire finger becomes like that, how much more so a minuscule, transparent ice needle?
"The killer struck without shadow or sound, using a needle of ice that stirred no wind and could hardly be detected with the naked eye. The angle chosen must have been exquisite. The only question is... why kill Tang Zhen first, the hardest target of all? And how did the killer manage it?
"Mind you, though Tang Zhen died of carelessness, he remained one of the most perilous targets for the killer to approach. A wiser choice would have been to strike while Tang Zhen was away. At such a time, launching a sneak attack to kill anyone other than the few great grandmasters would have been effortless. The killer could have even struck from the shadows while someone was engaged in combat with the other Yuan Chen.
"That way, everyone would assume the victim had grown careless and fallen to one of the Yuan Chen. Who would ever suspect foul play within their own ranks?
"Eliminating righteous heroes one by one like that—wouldn't that have been far more dangerous to us?"
Kang Qiandeng lowered his head in thought for a moment, then nodded. "Indeed. A master of concealed weapons of that caliber has every advantage for an ambush. They had only to avoid Tang Zhen, rather than taking such a tremendous risk."
"Since Tang Zhen bore the moniker 'Thousand Hands and Thousand Eyes,' he should never have let anyone slip into his blind spot. I've heard that an eye even grew on the back of his head."
With a bitter smile, Chan Master Kongming parted the hair on the back of Tang Zhen's head. There, remarkably, an actual eye was nestled.
"Hero Tang's divine weapon was this very Heaven-Penetrating Dharma Eye. His vision behind was even sharper than his gaze ahead."
Qian Chen smiled. "The monks certainly keep well informed!"
Chan Master Kongming smiled ruefully. "It is all for the righteous path of the martial world..."
Qian Chen did not press the matter of Shaolin gathering intelligence on martial experts. In any case, he did not belong to this world. Whether Shaolin was righteous or harbored grand ambitions for the martial world would have nothing to do with him once this mission concluded. He continued his deduction, "Therefore, the killer must have felt threatened by Tang Zhen. Yet if Tang Zhen posed such a threat to the killer, he shouldn't have failed to notice their move.
"This is a puzzle hard to unravel."
By now, everyone's attention was held captive by Qian Chen. The gathered heroes gradually formed a circle around him as he spoke with measured confidence, "Unless... the killer is a woman. And a very beautiful woman at that. Tang Zhen was lecherous, so he would stare at beautiful women; and because Tang Zhen was a concealed-weapons master himself, any move she made would normally have been caught by his eyes."
"The Medicine-Pounding Lord!" Chan Master Kongming exclaimed. "The most enigmatic concealed-weapons expert among the Twelve Yuan Chen is their only woman—the Medicine-Pounding Lord! I had thought that person was the Rat Aspect, the Rafter-Troubling Lord, or the Monkey Aspect, the Red-Buttocked Lord."
Qian Chen chuckled. "After all, rats are cunning, and monkeys are nimble. The moniker 'Medicine-Pounding Lord' doesn't sound related to concealed weapons at all, but rather like a Yuan Chen skilled in poisons or the healing arts.
"That also explains why the Medicine-Pounding Lord had to eliminate Tang Zhen first, the most dangerous threat.
"And it explains why Tang Zhen allowed someone he was watching so closely to slip into his blind spot, only to be slain so easily."
At that moment, every pair of eyes turned toward the Jade Rakshasa—Shen Wanjun. The striking widow remained expressionless as ever. Her plain white gown accentuated her cold, composed beauty, making her all the more arresting, like a snow lotus blossoming in solitude upon an icy peak.
Qian Chen continued, "Whenever Tang Zhen leered at Heroine Shen, a single glare from her would make him turn his head away in guilty embarrassment. He placed Heroine Shen in the very position that could cost him his life. What he never imagined was... Heroine Shen, renowned for her swordplay, is actually a master of concealed weapons far surpassing him!
"Heroine Shen is the widow of Fu the Night Yaksha King. Tang Zhen could not rein in his lust, yet he still felt a prick of shame."
"Hahaha..." Shen Wanjun threw her head back in wild laughter. "Brawling, that reckless brute; Ghost-Devouring, that arrogant egomaniac; and Flying Yellow, that self-important fool! So many of the Twelve Yuan Chen, dead at the hands of a nobody—a youth younger even than me! How laughable..."
She lifted her chin with haughty pride. "The rest of you aren't worthy of killing me. If anyone is to take my life, do it yourself!"
Chan Master Kongming asked in deep sorrow, "Heroine Shen, why did you..."
"Old monk, shouldn't you have known long ago?" Shen Wanjun laughed with bitter venom. "Fu Ying died by my own hand."
"Vicious woman! How could you harbor the heart of a viper?" someone roared in outrage.
"The heart of a viper?" Shen Wanjun's expression turned fiercely resolute as her voice cracked like a whip. "Why don't you ask this old monk? Why don't you ask the Shen family? Why don't you ask Fu Ying? Was it I who had the heart of a viper, or was it they who wronged me? Fu Ying was as hideous as a demon—how could I ever have loved him? Do you have any idea how much I wanted to vomit every night when I saw his vile, revolting body upon me? I loathed him!"
"You still married him in the end!" Li Qianqiu could not help retorting.
"Because... he raped me!" Shen Wanjun's lovely face hardened into ice frozen for ten thousand years, radiating endless, bone-deep malice—yet even in her hatred, she remained breathtakingly beautiful.
Chapter 27