Jin Ancheng jumped high and low, backward and forward, left and right, and slipped into a seemingly ordinary yard after almost 30 minutes in Destiny City.
With many years' experience in Jianghu, he habitually moved in circles and changed his directions constantly just to prevent any tracking, not because he had discovered Meng Qi.
Meng Qi landed on tiles lightly like a feather without any noise. Then he observed that Jin Ancheng, who was familiar with the yard, moved quickly and arrived at a wing room. And then Jin Ancheng knocked on the door rhythmically.
"He is so cunning that I almost lost him," Meng Qi quietly muttered to himself in the shadow of the eave.
It was the first time that he had stalked others. If he did not accomplish the Primary Level of Lightning Changes, whose moves were subtle and agile, he might have been discovered already or had lost Jin Ancheng by Jin Ancheng's moves. Tired as if he had practiced for half a day, this tracking made Meng Qi sweat profusely.
"This yard is ordinary, so it must not be Fei Zhengqing's house. Who is the man that Jin Ancheng is really visiting... " Meng Qi frowned while thinking. Fei Zhengqing, the head constable, ranking in the top 10 in Destiny City, could not live in such a shabby house. "Jin Ancheng lied just now?"
"Dong dong dong, dong dong dong!" After a rhythmic knocking, the door opened quietly. Jin Ancheng slid into it quickly and closed the door habitually.
Seeing this, Meng Qi slid down along the beam slowly like an insignificant leaf falling down on a quiet night.
Upon landing on the ground, Meng Qi began his moves like a puff of smoke. Just a few steps brought him to the window outside of the wing room.
He listened carefully and did not hear any noise. So he stood up quietly, poking the white window paper with his finger covered with saliva.
A hole appeared in the window paper after a negligible sound. Meng Qi peered inside with one of his eyes through the hole.
Nobody!
It was a well-furnished but ordinary wing room. But nobody was inside!
No evidence of Jin Ancheng either!
Surprised, Meng Qi checked again. Certain that there was no one inside, Meng Qi opened the window lightly and slipped into the room.
A thought struck Meng Qi when he landed: "Who opened the door for Jin Ancheng just now if there was nobody here?"
Suddenly, clapping broke out from the bedside. Wielding his Buddhist Commandment Blade, Meng Qi was not panicked, but he looked over.
The box by the bed was opened and a black hole appeared. Beside the box stood Jin Ancheng and a middle-aged, long-horse-faced man, who applauded.
There really was a tunnel. Jin Ancheng must have wanted to enter the nearby yard from there, which was his real destination that had a big mansion beside it... Meng Qi roughly figured out what happened just now.
Jin Ancheng lit the match in his hand with a cunning laugh and his sarcomas shaking. He said, "Thanks to my rich experience in Jianghu, I waited a little longer in the tunnel. Otherwise, I probably missed you, Mr. Ennea Monkey."
At that moment, maybe the light had signaled other wings of the building and there came the sound of doors opening. They spoke in low voices and surrounded this wing immediately in perfect order.
"This is?" Without a glimpse at Jin Ancheng, Meng Qi, in his smiling monkey mask, looked at the middle-aged, long-horse-faced man.
"Mr. Ennea Monkey, it's not a good habit to be affected. Don't you, one of the Twelve Beasts, know Mr. Fei?" the middle-aged man said in deep voice incisively.
"It's you, Head Constable Fei. I just feel puzzled why you are here at midnight. To enjoy the moon alone?" The smiling monkey face hid Meng Qi's facial expressions.
Fei Zhengqing smiled and said, "The most mysterious 12 beasts deserve their reputation in Jianghu. If I were you, I would be finding a chance to escape now."
"I just happened to have some tasks to deal with tonight and I planned to go outside through the tunnel. It's quite a coincidence to encounter you, Mr. Ennea Monkey."
While they talked, Jin Ancheng walked in the opposite direction, ready to attack Meng Qi. But he said, "Thanks to the considerate head constable who set the rules of passing through the tunnel, or we couldn't have caught you, Mr. Ennea Monkey."
"Haha, you are also a man of rich knowledge and experience." A pair of Judge Pens appeared in his hands, as Fei Zhengqing casually praised Jin Ancheng and said, "Mr. Ennea Monkey, why don't you surrender? Castellan would show mercy on you for your strength."
Meng Qi replied, "Actually, I just know one thing no matter how considerate you are and how rich of an experience you have in Jianghu."
"What?" Fei Zhengqing was a little grim by his composure.
"I just know you can't defeat me."
Not finishing his words, Meng Qi jumped toward Fei Zhengqing ghostly. His changeable moves puzzled them. He feigned an attack with his Buddhist Commandment Blade but pointed to the neck of Fei Zhengqing directly.
Seeing such moves, Fei Zhengqing praised in his heart that Mr. Ennea Monkey lived up to the reputation. He shunned the attack by turning his body, and hit Meng Qi's key head acupoints hastily with his Judge Pens.
At the same time, Jin Ancheng launched attacks from the other side. His fingers were curved like talons, pointing to Meng Qi's back and heart acupoints.
We know you have Thwart Kung Fu, but attacking your acupoints can control you!
Meng Qi did not move at all. He wielded his Buddhist Commandment Blade from the side, pointing to the breast of Jin Ancheng. Meanwhile, he tilted his head slightly and fully displayed Golden Bell Shield. As a result, his body was covered by a layer of dark gold color like Luohans in the temple.
This move made Fei Zhengqing's Judge Pen miss Meng Qi's temples but it hit the acupoint beside his ears.
Thwart Kung Fu can't help you as long as your key acupoints are sealed. You are not the divine monk Beiku who practiced Chun Yang Child Kung Fu for 40 years!
The nib made of iron hit the side of Meng Qi's ears. A clear sound of "Ding!" resounded like hitting a Golden Body of the Buddharupa.
The dark gold shone under the light made Fei Zhengqing's shocked and scary face even uglier.
Meng Qi wielded his Buddhist Commandment Blade to Jin Ancheng forward and backward quickly and retracted it from an unimaginable angle. After shunning the Judge Pen of Fei Zhengqing, it was another bogus movement just now!
This success made Meng Qi act like a tiger dashing down a mountain. With quick movements of his blade, he caught Fei Zhengqing and Jin Ancheng, who could not break through his protective skill, and sealed their acupoints.
After Meng Qi accomplished the fourth level of Golden Bell Shield, except for key acupoints such as eyes, the acupoints below the navel, temples, and Mid-chest, Meng Qi's acupoints could only be attacked or sealed by weapons of the Enlightenment Level or edge tools.
"I said you couldn't defeat me." Meng Qi grinned under the mask.
As a famous master, Fei Zhengqing had few matched opponents with his renowned Judge Pen. He figured himself the strongest person only second to the grandmaster. But today, Ennea Monkey, one of the Twelve Beasts, gave him a sense of unspeakable fear. Without the characteristics of the grandmaster, Ennea Monkey's strength was so great that it made him scary. What Thwart Kung Fu exactly did he practice?
This battle shattered his confidence.
"It turned out I underestimated your strength." With his rich experience in Jianghu, he calmed down quickly and said, "Destiny City collected related information about the tasks of your Twelve Animal Zodiac Gods to identify your strengths. You must not have fully used your strength. Hehe, bladesmanship is not your best skill."
"Who told you that I'm best in bladesmanship?" Meng Qi asked with a smile.
Fei Zhengqing sensed a kind of jeer in his words. He sighed, "It was our false judgment. You are best in Heng Kung Fu. Do you have any relation with Beiku divine monk?"
"I really admire you," Meng Qi suddenly said with emotion. "If I were you, I wouldn't be calm enough when I was caught to chat with anyone, even to figure out my background information."
Fei Zhengqing smiled ruefully and said, "As a constable, I am used to interrogating. And I know you want to figure out the matter of Lord Duan's missing instead of killing me. So if I tell you everything I know, you won't kill me."
"Yes, Ennea Monkey. I heard that you, one of the Twelve Animal Zodiac Gods, thought that it wasted your time and strength to kill people if they are not related to tasks." Jin Ancheng echoed Fei Zhengqing's opinion, fearing his lies and attacks irritated Ennea Monkey.
Meng Qi said with a half smile, "It depends on my moods. With bright moonlight, tonight is appropriate to kill someone. If you can't satisfy me, this time next year will be the anniversary of you and your family's death."
He had always been wanting to say such scary words because he felt excited about these words when he read novels before.
As the head constable of Destiny City, Fei Zhengqing could well control his emotions. He calmly said, "I'll tell you everything I know."
"I want to know why Jin Ancheng is here so late. Did he lie to me?" Meng Qi asked in low voice. People who surrounded the yard stood still for lack of orders.
Jin Ancheng replied in low voice, "Head Constable Fei told me that I should inform him immediately when someone inquires about this. But, I did lie to you about one thing."
He spoke frankly.
Meng Qi thought for a while, and took Fei Zhengqing to the other side, saying, "Tell me what lies Jin Ancheng has told me. And then I will ask him. If your words are different from his, you know... "
Fei Zhengqing lowered his voice and said, "The only lie he told you was that there was evidence left in the room.
"There was a leaf of Dragon Tree under the table. Only Dabei Temple planted such trees. It must have been brought by the mysterious person accidentally.
"So I deployed my men that very night to search Dabei Temple. But I was too late, missing the suspect. What I found was more clues which all pointed to the remaining evils of the Snow God Palace.
"We suspected that it was they who kidnapped Lord Duan because Lord Duan, who was long interested in the treasures of the Snow God Palace, never gave up his efforts to find any clues."
Meng Qi listened quietly and repeated Snow God Palace in his heart.
Fei Zhengqing laughed suddenly and said, "I asked Ancheng to hide the truth for fear of alerting the enemy. But Mr. Leisure knows about it."
Meng Qi squinted and thought, "Duan Xiangfe knew? Why didn't he mention in the materials?"