261: Chapter 260: A New Beginning 261: Chapter 260: A New Beginning Hou Niao and his companion collected for an entire night and returned fully loaded.
This Demon Fox had some possessions.
With the savings of a century-old demon, if all were converted into mundane gold and silver, it would more than suffice to compensate seven or eight victimized families; the possessions of a being in cultivation and those of a common mortal were completely different concepts.
They left nothing for Jianjia Temple.
Master Nanneng would never accept such wealth; the same was true for the two of them—these items were not to be touched, lest they lose a lot for a little gain.
In solving this decades-old mystery case, they should be enjoying the fruits of their moral action.
Only a fool would handle these items.
The ultimate outcome would probably be to use them for public welfare projects or to compensate victims in other cases; not every cold case finds its perpetrator, and not every perpetrator is as good at managing finances as Hu Wen.
On the way back, Tideng Monk was not pleased, “You knew all along that the Demon Fox was stealing literary essence?”
Hou Niao spread his hands, “Honestly, this is the first time I’ve heard that literary essence can be stolen?
I had my suspicions, but I couldn’t be sure; do you remember I told you I had three questions, but you interrupted me and I didn’t mention the third one?”
Tideng Monk really wanted to tear his mouth apart, “What do you mean I interrupted?
It was clearly you intentionally concealing, unwilling to share information!”
Hou Niao paid no heed to his complaint, “There are many alleged victims, and many are fabrications just to attract attention, akin to regular cases.
There are also some coincidental events, like those who truly were provoked, heartbroken, or driven mad by money.
In the seven or eight cases I could confirm, I discovered an interesting commonality—all the victims were scholars, and all were somewhat famous poets!”
An old hand in criminal investigation always managed to find details others overlooked—it was his profession, and he took pride in his expertise.
“If it were just about gathering yang to complement yin, there are plenty of debauched scions out there who are easier to deceive and easier to target.
All the victims were locally known scholars for their poetry, which is very strange.
As you know, being a scholar is not only about writing poetry, nor do the major exams cover this poetic craft.”
He posited, “So why do all these victims commonality?”
Tideng humphed, “So that’s why you wandered around Jianjia Temple for a day, just studying the inscriptions and postscripts left by the Demon Fox?”
Hou Niao nodded, “Yes, so I wasn’t really hiding anything from you, because I also didn’t know what these questions meant.
I only knew the Demon Fox was interested in human poets, but what exactly their connection was—that was why I came to Jianjia Temple, I just wanted to interact with the demon a bit, to see its reaction?”
The two let their horses lead the way while Hou Niao organized his thoughts.
He didn’t want to keep secrets from the monk, as there were several more mysterious serial cases awaiting their resolution.
He didn’t want to exhaust himself and needed a strong assistant—this monk was no ordinary person.
“Only upon entering Jianjia Temple, luckily Master Nanneng was not present, did I have the opportunity to fully observe everything in the temple; I initially wanted to see if there were any traces of the Demon Fox’s activities in the temple, but while I found no traces, I discovered inscriptions it left to show off.
Some of those inscriptions looked very familiar, some were terms, others were phrases, faintly giving me a déjà vu feeling.
Then it hit me, some of these were actually the creative outputs of those scholars.
This Demon Fox was plagiarizing!
To blend into the human world, it focused on poetry, thinking that if it could compose poetry, no one would regard it as a demon.
However, it probably hadn’t grasped the knack for poetry, so it had to borrow first?”
Tideng Monk looked at him, “Then, you found two poems on those two bamboo slips?
Poems that the Demon Fox thought only it knew, which hadn’t been disseminated yet?
Then you began to dig a hole, crafting two poems of your own according to the meter of those two poems, just to lure out its plagiarism.”
Wait a minute, we have been together all along, and I don’t seem to have seen you take out those two bamboo slips, nor have I seen you, unless…”
Shaking his head with disapproval, “I know now, you ran off to write poems in the privy, didn’t you?”
Hou Niao still obstinate, “Can’t a man write a poem in a few steps?
It’s just basic skills, usually just too lazy to bother.”
Tideng Monk fell silent.
Although this fellow’s actions were always inexplicably bizarre, he had to admit that there was a great deal of wisdom involved, a combination of responsibility, courage, strength, intellect, and a bit of luck.
It seemed like a blind cat finding a dead rat, but if it were him trying, he surely wouldn’t have succeeded.
That’s what capability is all about, finding a perfect entry point.
Once he found the right spot and started pulling the thread, all troubles would unravel effortlessly.
Previously, he had thought it was merely the sword cultivator seeking attention, but now it appeared that anything was possible.
He couldn’t allow himself to remain aloof in such action, letting all the glory go to the Quanzhen Sect.
…Several days later, a piece of news spread through the streets and alleys of Xionger Town: the case of the Demon Fox was resolved, and the truth emerged!
The ceremony at Jianjia Temple proved this point, as the highly respected elder Immortal Nanneng personally admitted fault publicly, revealing the Demon Fox’s skin as clear evidence.
If that alone wasn’t enough to dispel public doubt, what followed next was quite mystical; several victims, including Scholar Qian, began to recover to normal.
Although they would never be able to return to their originally sharp-minded state or ever succeed in examinations to gain fame, living as an ordinary person was no longer a problem.
This was already the best outcome, and the government office even distributed enviable compensations to each affected family, reportedly from the confiscated properties of the Demon Fox.
With all these combined, the people finally understood that the mystery that had troubled the residents of Xionger for decades had been successfully solved, spearheaded by the Shan Country’s township guardian, the Monk Official of Xinye.
Suddenly, the reputation of Shan Country and Xinye in Xionger Town soared, followed by an overwhelming number of appeals for justice.
Everyone hoped to receive fairness, even for trivial issues like losing a chicken or having a spat with a neighbor.
Tideng Monk initially thought that the two of them could now perform well and restore clarity to Xionger, but under the crushing pressure of so many incoming cases, he found himself unwittingly trapped in yet another huge pit.
You couldn’t even refuse, or else all the efforts made earlier would be in vain, but such clerical work was not his forte either.
Several days later, as the two were buried in legal documents, a very unexpected visitor walked in.
Zhi Sun Daoist looked at them seriously, “The changes in Mengdong cannot bypass the Taihao Sect; this is the rule.”