"You are tooting your horn again," Li Hongxiu said, "Although your martial art skill is not bad, but speaking about secret projectiles, you might not necessary be better than Tian'er; speaking about the art of disguise and poison skill, you are absolutely cannot compare with Rong Jie."
Chu Liuxiang laughed and said, "But what this person was hit with was not completely a poison."
Li Hongxiu giggled and said, "If it's not poison, could it be some candy?"
Chu Liuxiang said, "It could be considered candy … syrup, to be precise."
Li Hongxiu stared blankly, "Syrup?" she said.
Chu Liuxiang said, "This is precisely the essence extracted from water of 'Shen Shui Gong' [Divine Water Palace] of [Lake] Tianchi [lit. heavenly pond]. In Jianghu, it is known as 'Tian Yi Shen Shui' [lit. heavenly one divine/sacred water]. And the people from Shen Shui Gong are called heavy water [deuterium oxide]."
Emotionally moved, Li Hongxiu said, "Is this really the 'Tian Yi Shen Shui', which is more poisonous than any poison in the world?"
"Of course it is," Chu Liuxiang replied, "It is said that one drop of 'Tian Yi Shen Shui' is heavier than three hundred buckets of water. Ordinary person only had to take one drop, immediately his whole body will burst and he die!"
He sighed, and then continued, "Not only that, this 'Tian Yi Shen Shui' is colorless and odorless, even if you tested it, you won't see anything unusual, that's why even this 'King of the Desert' cannot escape falling into the plot."
"This … this is Zha Muge?" Li Hongxiu asked.
"Uh huh," Chu Liuxiang said.
Li Hongxiu said, "He had become like this, how could you recognize him?"
Chu Liuxiang said, "Although he is wearing ordinary clothes, but on his feet he is wearing a pair of leather boots, so obviously he belonged to nomadic people. Although his skin is tender, but his face is very rough; evidently because he went back and forth in the desert, subjected to the wind and the dust for a very long time. Although there is a steel ring girdle ornament on his waist, the saber and its scabbard have gone; apparently because he was using precious saber, hence someone took it away."
And then he slowly went on, "Based on these points, it can be said that he is the 'King of the Desert', the Shadowless Divine Saber, Zha Muge."
Li Hongxiu said, "I'll say you ought to change profession to become a police detective, then the way you handle your case will be much more formidable than that presumably the number one catcher in the world, the 'Bald Eagle'."
Chu Liuxiang chuckled and said, "There's more: he is wearing a silver medal, with a winged camel carved on it. If I cannot tell that he is the King of the Desert, then I'd be a fool."
"Pfft!" Li Hongxiu could not help giggling and said, "You really are a gifted child."
But her smile immediately disappeared, replaced with a frown, "Unexpectedly this matter involves the King of the Desert and the Divine Water Palace; it is thus clear that this is not a small matter at all. And now, even the King of the Desert is dead, therefore …"
Chu Liuxiang cut her off by laughing and saying, "You are thinking of persuading me to stop, aren't you?"
Li Hongxiu sighed lightly and said, "I don't want to persuade you to stop, I just hope that you will be a bit more careful. That's all."
Chu Liuxiang cast his gaze on a clump of white cloud in the sky; he smiled and said, "I hear that all disciples of the Divine Water palace are world-class beauty, but I wonder how they are compared to our three ladies?"
Li Hongxiu shook her head and said with a wry smile, "You will never behave, won't you?"
This time close to a sichen passed, there was nothing happening on the sea.
Li Hongxiu leisurely said, "Perhaps you don't need to wait anymore."
Chu Liuxiang said, "If nobody else died, then this matter rest with the Divine Water Palace or its envoy. If these people were fighting over a treasure, then this treasure must have fallen into the Divine Water Palace's envoy."
"And if there's someone else died?" Li Hongxiu asked.
Chu Liuxiang said, "No matter how many people died, as long as we can tell who killed the last one, there will be clues to find."
Li Hongxiu sighed and said, "Were these martial art masters really died because they were fighting over a treasure?"
Chu Liuxiang laughed and said, "People die for riches; these people were definitely humans!"
Li Hongxiu's eyes gaze into the distance; she spoke slowly, "A treasure that can incite this many peerless martial art masters' greed must be an astonishing one."
This matter was really getting more and more interesting; her eyes were flashing brightly.
From the cabin below, Song Tian'er's voice called out, "Do you two know that Rong Jie has an aunt [orig. biaogu, father's female cousin via female line] who belongs to the Divine Water Palace?"
"Oh, Rongrong unexpectedly has an aunt in the Divine Water Palace?" Chu Liuxiang said, "These past couple of days, I wonder if she is feeling better? Does she still have runny nose?"
Li Hongxiu laughed and said, "Do you want her to come up?"
"Forget it," Chu Liuxiang said, "She caught cold; the more she is lying down, the better she will be."
They heard a soft voice saying, "It doesn't matter; I will be better soon. Just hearing you say that, I …"
And then Song Tian'er's loud voice said, "Rong Jie, don't fall into his trick; he knew you were coming, hence he deliberately said something that shows he cares about you for you to hear."
The gentle and soft voice said with a laugh, "Even if it was deliberately spoken, as long as he said it, I am very happy."
Following the voice, a sweet, fair, and graceful shadow floated up the deck.
She wore a soft and spacious long gown, so long that it dragged along on the deck, covering her feet. The setting sun filling the sky reflected on her hair, which was put in a loose bun. Her limpid eyes also reflected her gentle smile. She looked like a celestial fairy that has long ago stopped eating the food of common mortals.
Li Hongxiu stomped her feet and said, "Rong Jie, the wind is strong, why did you come up? Be careful, lest you get so sick that you can't even crawl up the bed, and harm this Passionate Prince of ours to vent our anger."
Su Rongrong said sweetly, "It's so exciting up here, how can I stay in the cabin staring blankly at the walls? Besides, I also want to see whether there really is a Divine Water Palace's envoy coming here."
In her hand was a piece of thick velvet clothes, which she gently draped over Chu Liuxiang's shoulders. "The night is cold, be careful you might catch a cold," she spoke tenderly.
With a smile on his face, Chu Liuxiang said, "You always care about others, but don't know about your own body … if you have the slightest care about yourself, how could you fall ill?"
Li Hongxiu cast him a sideways glance and said with curled lips, "That's right! He would never care about people who are not sick like us."
Su Rongrong gently patted her cheek and said with a laugh, "Why be overly sensitive? You will get old easily."
Li Hongxiu caught her in her arms and giggled, "I am indeed overly sensitive, plus I am the little bad egg [i.e. scoundrel] who can get jealous; why would Rong Jie be that good to me?"
Su Rongrong's slim body was unexpectedly squeezed and lifted up by her.
Just then, the fifth corpse floated over.
Strictly speaking, this one could not be considered 'one' corpse - the left part, from the shoulder down, including the arm, was cut apart.
Fortunately, her face was still intact, so that they could still see her graceful and beautiful appearance. It seemed like the cruel murderer also did not have the heart to destroy her beauty.
The clothes she wore was a beautiful gauze dress, with silver colored ribbon tied on her waist. Her delicate and beautiful feet were wearing silver colored shoes of the same material.
At this moment, the remaining half of the gauze dress has been dyed red by her blood. Were it not for the silver colored belt, perhaps the dress would have been washed off by the sea - even so, her body appeared to be almost completely naked.
Su Rongrong turned her head away, her beautiful eyes were already brimming with tears.
Li Hongxiu also closed her eyes, and said, "Rong Jie, can you tell whether she is a 'Divine Water Palace' disciple?"
Su Rongrong sadly nodded her head.
Chu Liuxiang sighed and said, "Such a beauty, who had the heart to commit such an evil scheme to her like this?"
Li Hongxiu said, "The person who committed the evil scheme to her has already died as well."
"You mean Zha Muge?" Chu Liuxiang asked.
"Naturally it was Zha Muge," Li Hongxiu replied, "Other than him, who has such a fast blade?"
"Oh?" Chu Liuxiang said.
Li Hongxiu said, "When Zha Muge found out that he has been poisoned, at death's door he gathered all he had left, and gave her a saber strike. Naturally he was full of resentment; therefore, this saber strike was so malicious, so heavy."
Looking pensive, Chu Liuxiang said, "Sound like it is not completely unreasonable."
Li Hongxiu sighed and said, "And now, all the clues have been broken, we have nothing."
"We have nothing?" Chu Liuxiang asked.
Li Hongxiu said, "All the people involved are dead, what else do we have?"
"So you think she really died under Zha Muge's hands?" Chu Liuxiang asked.
Li Hongxiu rolled her limpid eyes, and said, "Are you saying she did not?"
Chu Liuxiang said, "Don't forget, after Zha Muge died, his 'Storm Saber' had fallen into other people's hands. After this person took the 'Storm Saber', he killed her, precisely so that others would think that this matter is completely over."
"Ah!" Li Hongxiu blurted out, "That's right!"
Chu Liuxiang spoke slowly, "Since he wanted others to think that this matter is over, it means that this matter is definitely not over. In my opinion, this matter is not even started yet."
Su Rongrong suddenly said, "This matter, he does not want others to intervene. Am I right?"
"In that case," Li Hongxiu said, "Why didn't he destroy these corpses completely? If other people basically could not see these corpses, how could they investigate who killed them?"
Smiling slightly, Chu Liuxiang said, "All these corpses were well-known Jianghu warriors; not only that, they could be considered as having the rank of grand masters. If they suddenly disappeared, won't the children and disciples of their School try to track them down?"
Knitting her brows, Su Rongrong said, "Therefore …"