Chapter 743 - 449: A Bizarre Death

Chen Shanmeng had been in charge of the Ministry of Justice for many years, having seen all sorts of bizarre cases. To be honest, the position of the Minister of the Ministry of Justice is not one that just anyone can fill, but at this moment, his brow was deeply furrowed.

The broken part of the stirrup was covered with dense, small holes, even finer than a strand of hair.

Such densely fine holes could only be made with an exceptionally precise inner strength.

Moreover, experts in the Inner Breath Realm are absolutely incapable of doing it. Because Inner Breath cannot achieve such fineness. However, True Qi and Primordial Qi can, as long as one has reached the Micro Realm, they can create such holes on a stirrup.

Chen Shanmeng had long achieved the stage of True Qi Realm Great Perfection, so he could also make such holes. Because True Qi is far finer and more intricate than Inner Breath, which is why True Qi can dispel poison.

If it were a master of the True Qi Realm or the Primordial Qi Realm who made these dense small holes in the stirrup, what was their intent?

Chen Shanmeng’s expression was grave, unable to figure out the key for a moment.

Surely it wasn’t just to embarrass Li Shensi during the hunt?

Chen Shanmeng looked up at Li Shensi again, who was sitting under a large tree resting. An assistant had just fetched a water bag to give him some water. His pale complexion seemed to have recovered somewhat, but his spirit was evidently still listless.

Chen Shanmeng walked over and asked in a soft voice, "Lord Li, with your skills, even if the stirrup suddenly broke, you shouldn’t have fallen. What exactly happened just now?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shensi’s expression was vacant for a moment, merely raising his head to stare blankly at Chen Shanmeng, as if he hadn’t remembered the incident until Chen Shanmeng mentioned it.

"Just now...the moment the stirrup broke, a sharp pain suddenly pierced my head, as if something jabbed into my brain..."

"Sudden sharp pain?"

Chen Shanmeng was secretly alarmed, inhaling sharply, his eyes flickering, and he thought to himself: "Could it be Divine Soul Technique!?"

He stepped back a few paces, looking around at the towering mountains and dense forest, with leaves rustling, but where was anyone to be seen?

"An assassination?" He was almost certain that the small holes in the broken section of the stirrup were definitely made by a master of the Primordial Qi Realm, or perhaps even a Qi Vortex Realm expert!

Li Shensi had only been in office for two months, and how did his predecessor Zhu Shizhong die!

This was evidently another political assassination involving two opposing forces!

Chen Shanmeng, worthy of being the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, leverages logic and deduction, unraveling the complexities.

At this moment, his eyes flickered, and his mind was like a tide rolling over.

Since a hidden expert nearby had already used Divine Soul Technique, why didn’t they just kill Li Shensi? Though Li Shensi looked pale and listless, he seemed otherwise unharmed.

Chen Shanmeng suddenly felt as if he was peering into a vortex, being drawn ever deeper...

He sighed deeply; since it was a political whirlpool involving two opposing forces, he could not get involved.

He was originally unaffiliated with either side, and since the matter before him was not an ordinary case but a political whirlpool involving two forces, he best not meddle.

For years, both he and Mansion Master Wang Maochun adhered to a strategy of neutrality, ensuring their own safety, keeping the Prefecture Chief’s Office and the Ministry of Justice orderly, preventing chaos in Divine Cloud Prefecture no matter how fierce the clash between the two forces got. This was also why both sides tolerated the lack of stance from him and Wang Maochun.

Chen Shanmeng placed the stirrup back on the horse, deciding not to pursue the matter further. After securing the stirrup, he walked over to Ge Hengtai and Jiang Zhuoyun, who were standing there, looking somewhat unfriendly at Li Shensi sitting under a tree nearby.

As Chen Shanmeng approached, Ge Hengtai immediately asked, "Well, Minister Chen, did you find anything unusual?"

Chen Shanmeng shook his head and said, "Let’s hand over the broken stirrup to the Secretariat for investigation later."

Ge Hengtai said, "With his physique, after galloping and shooting down a dozen big game, what’s so strange about breaking a stirrup!?"

Chen Shanmeng glanced calmly at Ge Hengtai but said nothing.

Jiang Zhuoyun, standing beside Ge Hengtai with arms crossed, said in an indifferent tone, "Minister Li, maybe he has some chronic ailment, otherwise, how could he fall from a horse simply because a stirrup broke?"

Upon hearing this, Ge Hengtai glanced disdainfully at Li Shensi resting under a tree not far away and said coldly, "If he’s sick, he shouldn’t show off! What is this, disrupting our hunting fun."

Ge Hengtai had a great passion for hunting, and Li Shensi’s incident indeed disrupted his interests.

But Chen Shanmeng chuckled and said, "It’s not a big deal! Minister Ge can still have his fill of adventure in the next couple of days."

Saying this, Chen Shanmeng’s gaze deepened as he looked over at Li Shensi, pondering to himself: Could Minister Li indeed have a chronic illness?

He found Jiang Zhuoyun’s suggestion somewhat reasonable, but with his years of experience in criminal investigation, he knew that surface-level reasonableness is often not the truth, but rather a smokescreen.

The seeming rationality is usually not the real truth, but rather a fog.

Earlier, at the moment when Li Shensi screamed and fell from the horse, the soldiers initially surrounding the rhino rushed towards the unconscious Li Shensi.

The huge gray rhino seized the opportunity to charge into the dense forest.

It was frightened, moving quickly, fearing that those behind would catch up.