Following this lead, they indeed uncovered quite a few things.
The staff who had handled this item, including those involved in transportation, had all received a significant amount of money in cash.
Their statements were highly consistent. They claimed that the money was just a red - envelope for the transportation. The seller had repeatedly instructed them that they must never touch the item directly with their hands before the auction was successful, saying that it was an antique that had been sealed away for many years and they were afraid that any contact might cause damage.
However, this lead alone couldn't serve as evidence to detain and interrogate anyone. This item had been passed over in the auction three times at the auction house. So, long before Lin Yao came into contact with it, it was very likely that someone else had bought it. They couldn't simply conclude that it was the seller who had tampered with it.
Moreover, being so cautious with an antique was quite reasonable. The seller's identity had also been investigated. He wasn't a wealthy person. His family came from the martial arts world, but later they had fallen into decline. Now they were quite poor. This sword was a family heirloom. The seller's child was seriously ill, so he had no choice but to put it up for auction. The red - envelopes given to the staff were also given later, so the source of the funds was reasonable. It was unlikely that he had been instructed by someone else.
There was only one major mystery throughout this whole thing.
The city where the seller lived also had auction houses. Why did he go so far out of his way to transport the item all the way to Nancheng for auction?
After calculating the costs back and forth, the only thing that connected the seller with Miaomiao and Lin Yao was that the seller's father had once had a brief encounter with Miaomiao's master on the wrestling stage.
At this point, almost all the leads had dried up, and they couldn't find the source of the gu worms at all.
Miaomiao listened to what her second uncle had told her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She had to go and ask her master about this.
Since that wrestling match when she was a child, her master had never allowed her to participate in any more competitions, and he never explained the reason.
After learning about the dark side of the competitions, she had lost all interest in such wrestling matches. So, it didn't matter to her whether she participated or not, and she had never asked about it.
As a result, she knew nothing about the distribution of martial arts families nowadays. Gu worms were related to the witchcraft of the southern border, and there were also martial arts sects there. Starting from this aspect, maybe they could find the source of the person who had cast the gu.
"Second uncle, I'll take this sword away for a while." Miaomiao took the sword and hurriedly left the police station, running towards the martial arts school.
It was already late at night. The martial arts school was quiet at this moment. Miaomiao banged on the door of the martial arts school frantically. Soon, someone came to open the door.
It was her senior sister who opened the door. Although they hadn't seen each other for a long time, when she saw Miaomiao, she said happily, "Hey? Miaomiao, you're back from the imperial capital! Is it a holiday?"
"Senior sister, I need to see the master!"
Miaomiao's hasty appearance was completely different from her usual dull - witted look. Seeing this, her senior sister quickly let her in and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? What happened?"
"Dad... Dad is in a coma. It seems that he was poisoned by gu. I don't know the distribution of the sects. I don't know which sects near the southern border know the gu witchcraft. Master has been in the martial arts world for so many years. He must know. So I rushed here to ask."
"Gu witchcraft? Isn't this thing supposed to have been lost for many years? Miaomiao, don't be in such a hurry. I'll go and call the master right now."
The senior sister quickly pulled Miaomiao to sit in the front hall and then went to the back yard. She knocked on Xuanyuan Qi's door.
Sitting in the front hall, Miaomiao craned her neck, waiting for the master to come.
Hearing what Miaomiao needed, Xuanyuan Qi didn't even dress properly. He rushed to the front hall in a hurry.
"Miaomiao! What's going on? How could your father be poisoned by gu?"
"I don't know either. During the days when I went to school in the imperial capital, Dad was poisoned by gu and has been in a coma ever since. I just found out about it when I came back yesterday. Master, do you know which sects in the southern border still know the gu witchcraft? And have you seen this sword?"
Miaomiao quickly opened the brocade box in her arms. Seeing this sword, Xuanyuan Qi was greatly shocked. He quickly stepped forward, picked up the sword, and examined it carefully.
"How did you get this? Where did it come from?"
"Dad bought this from an auction house. I guess he meant to give it to me. Dad fell into a coma after buying this. So both my second uncle and I think there must be something wrong with this item. But we've investigated it over and over again and haven't found out anything. Master, do you know where this thing came from?"
Xuanyuan Qi's reaction clearly showed that he recognized this sword. Miaomiao quickly explained and asked.
"I do know, but this sword shouldn't be here. And I remember that you're good at boxing and kung fu, your acupoint - striking skills are also good, and you've mastered Taiji quite well, but you never use weapons. Why would your father want to buy such a sword for you? Could it be that someone said something to him?"
"Actually, I'm better at swordsmanship than boxing and kung fu. But swordsmanship is too easy to hurt others and myself, so Dad doesn't allow me to use it. I used to have a sword, but I lost it later."
Xuanyuan Qi was greatly shocked. To use this method to harm someone, one must ensure that Lin Yao would be interested in this sword and buy it. It was well - known that Miaomiao was Lin Yao's weak point, but even he, her master of many years, didn't know that Miaomiao could use a sword. Who else could know?
"Other than your father, who else knows that you use a sword?"
"Nobody, at least not in this country." Miaomiao shook her head slightly in response.
Even when she was living in the martial arts world, she didn't use swordsmanship very often. Usually, she practiced in the mountain villa. She only used it once outside.
So, unless it was someone very close to her or someone from the mountain villa, no one else could know that she could use swordsmanship.
But didn't Dad say that the mountain villa was gone and the senior brothers and sisters in the mountain villa were all gone?
"This is really strange. I've indeed seen this sword. When I was young, I was quite arrogant. After I left my master, I went around looking for people to compete with. This sword was the family heirloom of someone I once competed with. At that time, the other person lost this sword to me as a bet. But later, I suffered a setback and realized how naive I used to be. Later, I returned all the trophies I had won one by one. But when I went to return this sword, that family had already moved away. I didn't know where they had gone. The house wasn't sold, so I hid the sword at their doorstep. After that, I didn't know whether they had retrieved the sword or where this sword had gone. As for the gu witchcraft of the southern border you mentioned, as far as I know, this thing was already lost a thousand years ago. According to historical records, at that time, someone stirred up trouble in the martial arts world, making the people from the southern border the target of public criticism. They were almost massacred, so the gu witchcraft was lost."