Chapter 116: Taoist Priest in Charge
The morgue is not far from the clinic, which is reasonable. Those who cannot be cured are sent here directly. Both are under the name of the branch of Huashengtang, and are under the dual leadership of the branch of Huashengtang and "Tianle Taoyuan".
According to the rules, even if the eighth Tianyang is the deputy thousand households of Qingluanwei, he cannot go to the Taoist morgue to examine the body without permission, just as the Taoists cannot go to the Qingluanwei prison to interrogate the prisoners privately.
However, rules are rules. No matter how big the rules are, they are set by people. In the end, they still rely on people to enforce them. Money can communicate with ghosts and gods, especially in this world where people laugh at poverty but not at prostitution. Taiping money is the real sword, invincible.
The eighth Tianyang easily bribed the guards of the morgue and brought Qi Xuansu to the morgue.
The guards here are not Taoist priests with grades. They, together with the operating personnel of various brothels, are outsourced and recruited by "Tianle Taoyuan" itself. After all, it would be shameful for the Daoist sect to let the formal disciples of the Daoist sect do such a business openly. As for whether there are Daoist disciples doing such business secretly, such as introducing to superiors, offering beautiful women, etc., it can only be said that human nature is like this, and it is difficult to completely eliminate it.
As for outsourcing, it is not a rare thing. Even the "inn" has non-staff personnel. The assassination business of the Qingluan Guard has even been outsourced to the "inn". The Daoist sect has such a large foundation that it is impossible to do everything by itself. It is natural to hand over some dirty and tiring work to others. The people who rely on the Daoist sect for food may not be less than the people of the Daoist sect. The Daoists eat meat, and they drink soup.
Members of secret societies often call the people of the Daoist sect "Daoist dogs", and those who follow the Daoists to drink soup are contemptuously called "second dogs".
Arriving in front of the corpse, Qi Xuansu took a pair of gloves handed over by the eighth day and began to examine the corpse.
Liu Hu was not afraid of corpses, but was surprised by Qi Xuansu's "erudition".
Do people in the Jianghu need to know so much?
In fact, it is not that people in the Jianghu must learn these, but the environment forces them to be proficient in everything. Take treating wounds and mastering pharmacology as an example. If you are alone in the Jianghu, it is inevitable to fight with others. If you don’t understand these, once you are injured, and you are in a deserted place, you will most likely be waiting to die. Those who don’t understand are dead, and those who can survive naturally understand.
The same is true for autopsies. It is said that people in the Jianghu are happy to repay favors and enmity. Regardless of whether it is happy or not, just talking about favors and enmity. If you want to seek revenge, you must first know who the enemy is. The most direct way is to judge the origin of the murderer through the cause of death of the corpse. This requires a certain amount of Jianghu experience and experience, and after killing many people, what kind of weapons and moves will cause what kind of wounds, and what kind of death will be caused by different spells or poisons. It is similar to the principle of "long-term illness makes a good doctor".
This is also one of the reasons why Tiangang Hall prefers "wild Taoist priests".
In terms of details, Qi Xuansu certainly cannot compare with professional coroners, and can only be said to be barely adequate, but in terms of some knowledge, he is stronger than many coroners.
For example, for knife wounds, coroners can explain the angle and force of the knife, and can even guess what kind of knife it is, but it is difficult to tell what the specific knife technique is, and then use the knife technique to explore the identity of the person who used the knife. This is already the responsibility of the Qingluan Guard. After all, most coroners do not specialize in martial arts, and even if they do, they will not go to the rivers and lakes. But as long as Qi Xuansu and other people in the rivers and lakes have seen this kind of knife technique, they can probably recognize it, which is the experience of the rivers and lakes.
Of course, according to reason, Qi Xuansu does know a lot at this age. The key is that Qi Xuansu has Qi Niang as a guide, which saves a lot of detours. In addition, Qi Xuansu's comprehension is excellent, but his bones are not good. He only learns these theoretical things very quickly.
After having enough theoretical knowledge, he will naturally understand it when he goes to the rivers and lakes alone. In other words, systematic learning is far better than slowly exploring on your own.
The eighth day Yang said: "The cause of death of the deceased was that his heart was dug out by hand, and the means were very cruel. In addition, the deceased's arms had varying degrees of fractures, and many muscles in the body were torn and strained to varying degrees."
Qi Xuansu nodded, and could probably imagine how the guard died. It was not an exaggeration to say that he had no ability to fight back, which meant that the murderer was at least one realm higher than the deceased, and it was less likely to be a Taoist priest, witch, Brahma, or scholar, but more likely to be a warrior or a monk.
Qi Xuansu asked: "What realm of cultivation was the deceased?"
"This kind of romantic place is most likely to cause trouble, so most of the guards are at the Kunlun stage of cultivation, which can be said to be quite good." The eighth day Yang replied.
Qi Xuansu pondered and said, "Kunlun stage, then the murderer must be at least in the Yuxu stage, or even in the Guizhen stage, which is a bit tricky."
The eighth Tianyang said, "There are several bodies of the victims here, do you want to see them?"
Qi Xuansu couldn't help but ask, "Why do Qingluan Guard and Zixian Mountain each hold some of the bodies of the victims?"
"There is no way. Those who died in Shimen County are under our jurisdiction, and those who died in 'Tianle Taoyuan' are not under our jurisdiction." The eighth Tianyang smiled bitterly.
Qi Xuansu shook his head and said, "It has developed to the point where the murder was committed in 'Tianle Taoyuan', but the Taoist priest in charge here still refuses to report to Tiangang Hall, which is really strange."
The eighth Tianyang led Qi Xuansu to another body.
Qi Xuansu continued to step forward to examine the body.
The eighth Tianyang repeated the results of the coroner's autopsy: "The heart was dug out, and the thunder pot was placed in the original position of the heart."
"Thunder God Pot?" Qi Xuansu said in surprise, "If I remember correctly, this thing is not cold-resistant and can only be found in Lingnan, Posa and Borneo."
The eighth day Yang explained: "Yes, but the capsule of the Thunder God Pot can be used as medicine, which can be seen in many pharmacies."
Qi Xuansu pondered: "In this case, this seems to be some kind of ritual killing, which is usually used by secret societies when blood sacrifices are made to ancient immortals. But whether it is the Zhiming Sect, the Lingshan Witch Sect, or other secret societies, they do not have the habit of using the Thunder God Pot. It seems that the key lies in the Thunder God Pot. Is there any special meaning?"
Speaking of this, Qi Xuansu twitched his nose lightly and smelled a faint fragrance mixed with a faint odor.
The Eighth Tianyang also obviously smelled it, and said, "It's the smell of the Thunder God Pot. It has a light fragrance during the day and a foul odor at night. I don't know why it will remain for such a long time."
"I see." Qi Xuansu also saw that the Eighth Tianyang was a professional after all, and he checked very carefully. This time he asked for help from him, which was somewhat desperate.
While the two were talking, a guard hurried in with a worried look on his face, and whispered, "Oh no, the two chief Taoist priests are here." "Tianle Taoyuan" has two chief Taoist priests, both of whom are fourth-grade priests. One is in charge of "Tianle Taoyuan" and the other is in charge of the branch of Huasheng Hall. As for why Zixian Mountain specially set up a branch of Huasheng Hall, the reason is not complicated. Huasheng Hall is not only for curing diseases and saving people, but also for various other medicines, such as for use in bed, to make men regain their virility, etc., which is quite profitable.
There is another point. The chief Taoist priests here are still somewhat different from those in Yujing.
After many outstanding people from Wanxiang Taoist Palace went to Yujing and entered the Nine Halls, the Taoist rank was quickly improved. Sixth-rank Taoists and fifth-rank Taoists were everywhere, but they were not worth much. Only after becoming a high-rank Taoist, they could be considered to have real power. However, considering that there were too many big figures in Yujing, the real power was quite limited.
But the local fourth-rank priests were different. For example, the chief priests of "Tianle Taoyuan" and the chief priests of various branch halls held great power, like local emperors. However, this position was quite limited, and it might be one among dozens of people, or even one in a hundred.
As fourth-rank priests, the chief priests of Anhunsi might have only dozens of people under them, but the chief priests of "Tianle Taoyuan" managed the livelihoods of thousands of people. The two had the same rank, but their power and status were completely different.
As for the deputy hall master, the third-rank Youyi Taoist was the standard configuration. Zhang Yuelu was just an exception. Once the suspension period was over, he would be promoted to the third-rank Youyi Taoist.
However, it cannot be said that the rank is completely useless. Yujing, which has a high starting point, also has its advantages. That is, if there is a way to transfer to a local position to take up a real position, because of the high rank, you can immediately hold real power.
For example, Sun Yongfeng, the chief Taoist priest, was transferred from Tiangang Hall to "Tianle Taoyuan" as the chief Taoist priest. It is completely in accordance with the rules. No one can find fault with it. The real power is far better than when he was the chief Taoist priest in Tiangang Hall.
It's just that the local Taoist priests also hope to go up one step further and will also keep an eye on these positions, so the local area generally does not welcome high-ranking Taoist priests who are airdropped from Yujing.
Under normal circumstances, except for some young talents with great prospects who need to be put down to experience one or two, the Taoist priests of the Nine Halls of Yujing will not be transferred to the local area casually.
In short, the chief Taoist priest of "Tianle Taoyuan" is not of a very high rank, but he can hold this position firmly, and his power is definitely not small. Not only does he have a backer, but the backer is not small.
How could the eighth Tianyang not understand the reason? He couldn't help showing a headache.
After a while, two Taoist priests came in, a man and a woman, both of them looked about 40 years old.
The Eighth Tianyang said softly: "The man's name is Liu Futong, he is the head of 'Tianle Taoyuan', he is used to being domineering here, and he has a bad temper. The woman's name is Su Ran, the head Taoist priest of the local Huashengtang branch, she has just been transferred here, I don't know much about her."
The guards bribed by the Eighth Tianyang followed the two people, sweating profusely and said: "Boss, I, I don't know how they got in." At the same time, he winked at the Eighth Tianyang in a very obscure way.
Liu Futong ignored this and snorted coldly: "The Eighth Deputy Thousand Household, I have warned you that you are not allowed to come here to investigate the case without my permission."
Then, Liu Futong's sight shifted to Qi Xuansu again, and his tone became more severe: "Who are you?"
Qi Xuansu took off his gloves and took out the token given to him by Pei Xiaolou: "This is the token issued by Master Pei himself, who do you think I am?"