Chapter 24

(Who is the deceased exactly?)

Inside the cave, rustling noises reverberated ceaselessly.

That was the sound of the old man grinding the white slurry at his stone pedestal.

“Did you make all these human skin masks?”

“What are these face skins used for?”

“Why aren’t you answering me?”

Doctor Yu prattled on with her questions endlessly but the old man did not say a single word as he continued to work on the piece in his hands with his head lowered.

Yang Ye glanced between Gu Liang and Doctor Yu before he turned around and walked towards the end of the cave. “There’s a stone tablet here.”

Gu Liang looked towards him and asked: “What’s written on the stone tablet?”

As Yang Ye peered at the stone tablet, he read the text out loud: “The Record of Xiaoyao Sect’s Inmost Secret. Perennial Wang invited a Master of Disguises to make face skin masks. The Master of Disguises usually adopts the identity of a servant to move around, and he creates face skins of all the people he has met before.

“The Master of Disguises is highly skilled and faithful in the discharge of his duties; once the Sect Leader takes away one face skin, he will immediately create another in case the Sect Leader needs it at any given time.”

“Ah, no wonder.” Doctor Yu lamented out loud.

“No wonder what?” Gu Liang asked.

Doctor Yu said: “My script has an excerpt of a story from the rivers and lakes. I thought it was unimportant prior to this, so I didn’t mention it. It’s like this, after I decided to seek vengeance against Perennial Wang, I constantly listened out for the things he had done in the past. The script writes that, through a series of inquiries, I noticed something strange.

“Since Xiaoyao Sect was the first sect under the heavens, numerous descendants from noble families would send their sons and daughters there to practice martial arts. But strangely, these daughters seemed like they had been brainwashed by Xiaoyao Sect; sometimes they would come home to visit their family and relatives but they would secretly take away valuable books and treasures from their homes before they left. The most miserable of the cases was Qingcheng Sect, where the Sect Leader’s wife sent her younger brother to Xiaoyao Sect to become an outer disciple. Not only did the younger brother plunder valuable martial arts books when he returned to Qingcheng Sect, he even slaughtered a lot of people as if he had completely forgotten the fact that he heralded from Qingcheng Sect.

“The script went on to state that it hardened my resolve to kill Perennial Wang because I wanted to rid the world of a scourge. Now I know…”

Yang Ye continued speaking for Doctor Yu. “Now you know that these descendants treated their families in such a manner not because they were brainwashed, but because they were Perennial Wang pretending to be them by donning these facial skins. The Master of Disguises created face skins of every person who came to Xiaoyao Sect. Consequently, no matter if it was my monk’s face skin or Doctor Yu’s face skin, he prepared them for Perennial Wang.”

Half a beat later, Gu Liang commented with furrowed brows. “Because the counterfeit needs to act as Perennial Wang, he has to wear Perennial Wang’s face skin all year round. However, the text on the stone tablet conveyed that as long as there’s one missing mask, the Master of Disguises would immediately make another and put it back on the wall to ensure that the Sect Leader had access to it during his time of need. For instance, if the face skin on the counterfeit’s face were to be ruined, he could come here to retrieve a new one to prevent himself from being exposed. If that’s the case, there should be a Perennial Wang face mask here, why is it gone?”

“Perennial Wang’s face mask is missing?” Yang Ye asked instantaneously, “Who else is missing?”

Gu Liang replied, “Second Martial Brother. His face skin is missing too.”

When Gu Liang’s voice landed, Yang Ye, Oldest Martial Brother and Doctor Yu sidled up to him immediately.

They scrutinised all the face masks and the corresponding names etched on the notches of the rock wall once and confirmed that the six players were accounted for, and that Second Martial Brother and Perennial Wang’s face mask was missing.

Having figured something out, Doctor Yu suddenly jumped up: “Could the deceased be Second Martial Brother, and the current Second Martial Brother is Perennial Wang’s disguise? They had swapped their identities early on and Perennial Wang is the real murderer?!”

Yang Ye’s eyebrows scrunched together. “If the real Perennial Wang is alive, he would already be cursed to death by all of you, how could he possibly pretend to be the Second Martial Brother and investigate the case with us?”

At this moment, regardless of everyone’s thoughts, their four cards vibrated with a reminder.

What followed was a prompt sent by the broadcast:: “There are thirty minutes left to the end of the free exploration. Please manage your time well.”

Five minutes later.

The four of them scattered again. Doctor Yu and Oldest Senior Brother went to investigate another place.

On the other hand, Gu Liang and Yang Ye had been through all the necessary places. Instead of continuing their search for clues, they chose to stay around the fake mountain and man-made lake out of convenience.

The refreshing breeze blew past, scarcely rippling the waters.

They seated themselves close to the banks, shoulders leaning back, and took a hard-earned breather in the midst of the intense investigation.

Yang Ye exhaled a few times before he tossed Gu Liang a sidelong glance. “What do you think?”

Gu Liang said: “Our previous analysis wasn’t wrong. A counterfeit definitely exists, and it’s very likely that the counterfeit is the Youngest Martial Brother, because the scenario wouldn’t give us clues regarding the Youngest Martial Brother without any rhyme or reason. Honestly speaking, after we looked through the books in the steward’s room, I had a brain hole.”

“Tell me all about it?”

“The steward’s records inscribed— There was one instance where Youngest Martial Brother and Perennial went out together. Upon returning, only Perennial Wang was present while the Youngest Martial Brother died in a strange land far away from home. Perhaps back then, the Perennial Wang who returned, was already the Youngest Martial Brother.”

“But the steward remarked that Perennial only went through a huge change in his personality after he went into seclusion seven years ago. When he just returned, there were no changes.”

“That could be attributed to the Youngest Martial Brother being afraid of arousing everyone else’s suspicions shortly after he returned, so he imitated Perennial Wang’s usual behaviour. Whereas if a person were to go into seclusion for seven years, personality changes could be justified, which is why he dropped the pretence after he exited seclusion.”

After listening to his conjecture, Yang Ye nodded his head as well. “Reasonable. How do you explain the matter of the face skins then?”

Gu Liang said: “The words that Doctor Yu said just now was right by half. The deceased is, without a doubt, the real Second Martial Brother. As for the Second Martial Brother who is solving the case with us right now, he’s the counterfeit, who is also the Youngest Martial Brother disguised. This mysterious Youngest Martial Brother initially dressed up as Perennial Wang, and now he’s disguised as Second Martial Brother.”

Yang Ye’s eyes squinted together. “Between the Youngest Martial Brother and Second Martial Brother, when did they exchange their identities, and why did they exchange their identities? If we follow this vein of thought, what is the full story? Why aren’t there any clues pointing towards this particular plot?”

A brief pause. Gu Liang said placidly, “They didn’t exchange their identities a long time ago. They just exchanged it today.”

“Second Martial Brother wanted to kill Perennial Wang. Afraid that the curse did not kill him, he went to Perennial Wang’s room to stab him, but he did not expect that he would be counter killed by the Perennial Wang guised Youngest Martial Brother. In order to cross the sea by a trick, he wore Second Martial Brother’s face skin, appeared in front of us as a façade of the Second Martial Brother and tried to solve the case with us.”

Gu Liang threw a pebble into the lake.

Circles of ripples spread outwards, and Gu Liang slowly restored the past events inside his mind.

Ninth Day of the Ninth Month, dawn, mao shi.

Oldest Martial Brother excused himself to go to the toilet and used his sword on the soil to curse Perennial Wang to death in the courtyard.

Simultaneously, Second Martial Brother was in the room using a brush and paper to curse Perennial Wang to death.

Afterwards, under the pretext of going to the kitchen, Second Martial Brother went to Perennial Wang’s bedroom.

He knew that Beauty Yi and Master Hui were currently having a secret meeting, and only Perennial Wang was inside the room.

Hence, he could check if Perennial Wang had been cursed to death by him without drawing anyone’s attention.

Before he went to Perennial Wang’s bedroom, Second Martial Brother went to the weaponry storehouse first to conveniently grab a knife just in case he needed it.

The reason why he did not bring his partner sword and took a knife from the weaponry storehouse instead, was because if he did this, the murder weapon would come from a public domain where everyone could enter and he could avoid having the suspicion falling on him specifically.

When he arrived at Perennial Wang’s bedroom, Second Martial Brother was surprised to discover that Perennial Wang was not dead, and he was only unconscious because of the knockout drugs.

But how did this happen?

Logically speaking, the curse was supposed to be infallible, why was Perennial Wang not dead?

— Could it be that the person before his eyes was not Perennial Wang?

Once that thought occurred to him, Second Martial Brother inched closer to Perennial Wang and observed him carefully, thus noticing the traces of a human skin mask on his visage.

Second Senior Brother had an epiphany— this Perennial Wang was fake.

This was most probably the Youngest Martial Brother passing off as Perennial Wang.

Originally, the Youngest Martial Brother was asleep due to the knockout drops that he ingested.

However, when Second Martial Brother was observing him, the effects of the knockout drops subsided and he abruptly woke up.

When Gu Liang spoke to this point, Yang Ye remarked: “Therefore, Youngest Martial Brother killing Oldest Martial Brother was an act of impulse. He woke up, realised that the Second Senior Brother had seen through his secret and happened to hold a knife in his hand. In a straightforward manner, he took away the knife by force and stabbed him.”

Gu Liang thought about it before he shook his head. “It’s not completely correct. The Youngest Martial Brother is a kind individual, he probably didn’t take the initiative to kill him, and instead choose to converse with Second Martial Brother properly and persuade him to help him keep the secret. The Youngest Martial Brother might have killed him out of self-defence.”

Yang Ye: “How would you explain the words on the body then?”

Gu Liang went quiet, seemingly deep in contemplation.

After a long moment, Gu Liang opened his mouth to say: “The Youngest Martial Brother stabbed Second Martial Brother twice: once in his lungs, and once in his stomach artery. In order to cover up the nature of the crime, he went to the secret path to retrieve two masks. He placed the Perennial Wang face skin on Second Senior Brother’s corpse and made everyone believe that the deceased was Perennial Wang. Whereas he wore Second Martial Brother’s face skin and pretended to be Second Martial Brother.

“At this juncture, he needed to find a reason for Perennial Wang’s death. Following the previous two knife wounds, he added on the word ‘beast’, wanting to disguise the murder as an act of revenge. Perennial Wang had a lot of enemies, which consequently meant an abundance of suspects, and thus the blame wouldn’t necessarily fall on his head.”

Despite his explanation, Yang Ye did not stop questioning. “Even if that was the case, Youngest Martial Brother doesn’t know Second Martial Brother’s morning timeline. Why was he able to say the timeline with such certitude when we asked him?”

Gu Liang: “He’s the Youngest Martial Brother of Xiaoyao Sect. It’s natural for him to know [Draw a Circle to Curse You], and also be aware that it could be implemented at mao shi today. Moreover, Second Martial Brother directly used a brush and paper to draw the curse and Youngest Martial Brother might have already seen the torn remains of it. Not to mention, he was with Oldest Martial Brother in the morning which gives him the opportunity to inveigle him for facts and he could have a thorough understanding of his two disciples’ lifestyle habits. In summary, it’s not difficult for him to guess Second Martial Brother’s timeline.”

A moment later, Gu Liang rose to his feet to look at Yang Ye. However, his expression was quite grave, and it did not possess the relief from having puzzled out the truth.

Gu Liang asked him: “From how we judge it now, only the Youngest Martial Brother, who is also the counterfeit Perennial Wang, knows about the secret path, which is why he’s the only one capable of taking away the face skins. Don’t you feel like something is amiss here?”