[LP CYOA] 傳

[treave]

Regarding the ice needles, once you know how to do it you can make one almost instantaneously.

 

[Absinthe]

I hope Xuezi is willing to teach that technique to Cao'er.

 

[Esquilax]

That brings up a good question; without Xuezi's powers, can she teach that technique to Cao'er? At the very least, can she provide verbal instruction the way Qi Liuwu did for us with the Xianglong Eighteen Palms?

I guess there goes my theory. We can't really tell how skilled the killer would have been at using the Hanbing Needle technique anyways.

 

[treave]

Well, since it requires qi manipulation (the icy part), Cao'er would need to learn the neigong technique that supports it first. But yeah, it can be done through verbal instruction, it'd just take some time.

 

[Absinthe]

What is Cao'er's current neigong technique anyway?

 

[treave]

Emei's. Specializes in resisting internal qi attacks.

 

[Nevill]

I am afraid there wasn't enough hamsterwheeling lately. We need to remedy that ASAP.

B>C, sacrificing the chief is repugnant. Great update, by the way!

Kipeci - C

Now, to lean back and watch the wheel turn.

On a more serious note, the more I think of it, the more I suspect that the wounds on Du Yao were inflicted by chief Zheng himself. Except the ones from the needles, of course.

- It does not make sense for the one that killed Du Yao to employ close combat techniques when his weapon of murder is poisoned needles.
- Zheng did have a sword, and the sword drew blood. Of course he claims that the blood wasn't Du Yao's, but there is a sword injury on the victim.
- The wounds are not mortal and therefore it is plausible that the one who inflicted them didn't want to kill Du Yao. I mean, if the murderer wanted to kill him, he had better tools. If he wanted to implicate the constables, he could have stabbed Du Yao after death or he could have outright killed him with a sword.

There is a matter of chief Zheng walking back inside the mansion after he finished talking with Du Yao. It happened right after Du Yao found something, but didn't tell him what it was. It is plausible that Zheng tried to force the matter and they got into a scuffle, in which Du Yao was injured. What happened from there is up in the air, but one thing is certain - Du Yao was murdered with a needle weapon.

If we discard Xiaofang's injuries inflicted by Jinkong techniques as noise, as there were Jinkong members around who might have beaten him, then with this version of the events we can conclude that the murderer only uses thrown poisoned needles to dispatch the enemies. This would be more plausible than a murderer who runs around with a constable's sword striking people down with Jinkong techniques and kicking them around.

If that is true, then it means that chief Zheng is in an even bigger trouble than we thought he was, and uncovering the truth might still get him executed.

However, this version does not account for how the murderer was injured.

 

[Esquilax]

I disagree, Nevill. We came to see Chief Zheng alone, and I think that he'd have little reason to lie to us, even if there was an altercation with Du Yao. Even if there was such an altercation, why would the Chief put himself in such a dangerous position? Attacking a powerful man like Du Yao in his own manor is a pretty stupid thing to do.

 

[Nevill]

I disagree, Nevill. We came to see Chief Zheng alone, and I think that he'd have little reason to lie to us, even if there was an altercation with Du Yao.

Well, I can't make anything else out of the implied discrepancies that treave pointed out other than he was not entirely truthful with us. And if he wasn't... where is the line where we can say that this is the truth and this isn't?

He is a witness, and he has an interest. He said to trust no one - and these bit of information are pretty damning, if they are really what happened.

Attacking a powerful man like Du Yao in his own manor is a pretty stupid thing to do.

Well, nothing says that it was his intention, but his actions could have resulted in a fight anyway.

These people knew each other, he might have reasons to believe he could make Du Yao talk if he pushed hard enough. It is not like Zheng is not a powerful man himself.

I am just mulling the possibilities over.

 

[treave]

Bandwagoning for a few updates before suddenly deciding to split the votes really thinly is not healthy behaviour.

Oh well, let's see... I might close the votes in a few hours.

 

[Baltika9]

Healthy. Codex. Riiiiight.

 

[Nevill]

The end of the investigation period was rather sudden. If I knew no further opportunities are forthcoming, I'd have questioned Fu Xia earlier.

Hindsight 20/20.

 

[Absinthe]

Huh, so treave had Akkudakku and Kipeci mixed up.

asxetos, Kashmir Slippers, would you be willing to flop or make ranked preference votes for C? Handing over Fu Xia will keep the peace better than turning over Jiang Zheng anyway, as Fu Xia is a lower-profile figure, and we have reasons to suspect Fu Xia is actually guilty.

Tribute, Elfberserker, ScubaV, if B succeeds, the situation is going to look like this: Jiang Zheng is found at the crime scene with a bloody sword. Constables say "the assassin must've run!" as the reason their leader couldn't've done it. Tang garrison says "fuck the trial!" and drags Jiang Zheng out by force. We know what the garrison would do because Treave already said:

in B you're attempting to persuade the garrison commander specifically to go 'fuck the trial, I'm taking the chief home' so it doesn't matter what the other two think there.

With B we basically screw over the trial. But not only does the reputation of constables as impartial and as enforcers of the law go down the toilet, but the reputation of the Tang court and Shun (who created the constables) as a wise and just ruler takes a huge beating too from the fallout. (And if B fails, we have the A scenario where Jiang Zheng dies.)

Would you be willing to reconsider in favor of voting C so that we deliver Fu Xia (who has been suspicious for a number of reasons, completely lacks any alibi while the Du Yao was assassinated and while Xiaofang was attacked, and also possesses a constable shortsword as was identified to have struck Du Yao) and come to a peaceful resolution while we also give them our biggest suspect?

Furthermore, if C wins, we can continue our original investigation in Youxia City with Jiang Zheng to find out what happened to the manual. We won't be able to do this if B wins (because we all have to pull out, as treave said) and if A wins we won't have Jiang Zheng to help us figure out what Du Yao knew before he was killed.

 

[Tigranes]

Posting Uber-Analysis.

 

[treave]

The end of the investigation period was rather sudden. If I knew no further opportunities are forthcoming, I'd have questioned Fu Xia earlier.

There was an opportunity with Yunzi to rake in some important information if Jing didn't see fit to just blurt out something that important to her in a more appropriate place and time (i.e. in between quests), knowing her volatile and stubborn personality, but unfortunately you guys got trolled on that one.

Tough luck.

 

[Absinthe]

Well there's also a bit of a concerted effort to avoid trying to solve the case. I'm frankly surprised how many people went with B given how many people found Fu Xia so overwhelmingly suspicious during the Duck Testimony update as we kept digging up more and more reasons to find him dodgy and discovered he could actually have been at every single crime scene. But now these people are now all trying to avoid interrogating Fu Xia to settle the case properly. Nevill was the one who called Fu Xia Theseus but now he's the one doing his best to avoid having Fu Xia named as our suspect and interrogated.

B is the nuclear option where you wreck the entire trial by having the garrison bust out Jiang Zheng by force.

C is the option where you solve it peacefully by submitting Fu Xia as our suspect, and I think we all agree that Fu Xia is the prime suspect right now.

 

[Baltika9]

Maybe because it's one thing to question a dude and it's quite another to name him the scapegoat and bring down the torture and questioning because of a suspicion. We still have absolutely zero actual, solid, concrete evidence against him. Just our own hunches. As things stand, I'd rather we just bail Jiang Zheng with the commander and his three thousand soldiers (who the fuck is going to stop us?) and let him pursue the real perp. If it happens to be Fu Xia, then Jiang Zheng can pin him on his own.

The end of the investigation period was rather sudden. If I knew no further opportunities are forthcoming, I'd have questioned Fu Xia earlier.

There was an opportunity with Yunzi to rake in some important information if Jing didn't see fit to just blurt out something that important to her in a more appropriate place and time (i.e. in between quests), knowing her volatile and stubborn personality, but unfortunately you guys got trolled on that one.

Tough luck.

Are we at least getting Kinky BDSM Time with her?

 

[Absinthe]

Baltika9, Fu Xia is the prime suspect. If we want to solve the trial, now is the time to name him and see what comes out of it.

Aside from that, if we do vote B, we are hurting Shun bro here. We make both the constables and the military look like "fuck you I do what I want" types who ignore due process and Shun, who created the constables as part of his initiative to be a wise and just ruler is also going to take a rep beating for this. And this is aside from the possibility of a war with the bandit kingdom breaking out which can also weaken borders and lead to other shit.

A bear named spigot, would you be willing to vote C?

 

[Baltika9]

Suspect =/= criminal. Bringing the dude in for a public Youxia Interrogation on hucnhes alone is kinda dumb from our standpoint. Bail the chief and let the grown ups handle that. The fallout will be handled when the real criminals are found. And if the Bandit Kingdom wants to try shit, Shunbro can always drop us a message.

 

[Nevill]

Maybe because it's one thing to question a dude and it's quite another to name him the scapegoat and bring down the torture and questioning because of a suspicion.

Well, if this was intended to play out as a detective novel, there is no one other than Fu Xia who could have done it. It's never mysterious person X, and now that we've found Xiaofang, we ran out of suspects. The question at this point is if we can prove it or not. If we don't, there goes chief Zheng. Maybe it is what the man wants anyway, if it brings the truth out.

Me, I'd rather try to save the innocent than convict the guilty. We'll see how it goes. Regardless of what happens, I think this is the end of the investigation arc.

I guess no one wants to try their hand at theorycrafting and we are back at the hamsterwheeling stage? Tigranes promised to post his Uber-Analysis, but I don't know if he was serious or not.

 

[Absinthe]

Suspect =/= criminal.

No, but prime suspect = probably criminal.

Bringing the dude in for a public Youxia Interrogation on hucnhes alone is kinda dumb from our standpoint.

No it isn't. We're at the trial. They want to know what happened. Mentioning our prime suspect would be the proper thing to do as a constable.

Bail the chief and let the grown ups handle that.

So you're saying "not my problem" to all the crap that can come from this?

The fallout will be handled when the real criminals are found.

Really? You don't think public perception will already be decided by then? If we go B now and discover Fu Xia did it later, we're only going to make him look like a scapegoat. That's nowhere near the same as finding him guilty right now. And it's not just about "we were right see Jiang Zheng really didn't do it." The damage is already done that we resorted to military strong-arming instead of using the court system which is the expected duty of the imperial constables.

And if the Bandit Kingdom wants to try shit, Shunbro can always drop us a message.

You say that like we won't have any other problems to take care of at the time. Or like the bandit kingdom would be his only problem. Shun also has enemies in the court and this can provide them with exactly the sort of moment of weakness they want.

Well, if this was intended to play out as a detective novel, there is no one other than Fu Xia who could have done it. It's never mysterious person X, and now that we've found Xiaofang, we ran out of suspects.

On a metagame level, that's honestly one of the biggest reasons I think it had to be Fu Xia. This has been a detective story plot so it irks me to pull out at the last moment when, as you say, there is no one else who could have done it.

From a logical/realist perspective I'd have to admit there are uncertainties and unknown possibilities. But from a metagame/narrative perspective, he's really the one.

The question at this point is if we can prove it or not. If we don't, there goes chief Zheng. Maybe it is what the man wants anyway, if it brings the truth out.

Except they were already willing to convict Jiang Zheng with that partial evidence (and the Xiaofang + wall evidence suggests it couldn't've been him) while the evidence matches Fu Xia better. So even though we lack conclusive evidence, we still have enough to pin it to Fu Xia over Jiang Zheng. I don't think C can fail to convict Fu Xia even if we don't get any additional information. And if we do resort to that last minute medical investigation of his body to see whether he was hit by Jiang Zheng's sword (Jiang Zheng did cut the perpetrator) and the interrogation we can still glean more evidence about whether Fu Xia really did it.

 

[Nevill]

Posting Uber-Analysis.

I'll withdraw my vote until the analysis is posted, or otherwise vote to maintain a tie.

I refuse to make decisions of that caliber on metagaming and hunches alone. If anyone can create a plausible theory that would explain the list of treave's questions, particularly 3, 5 and 6, I am willing to listen.

 

[Tigranes]

Hooookay. Guys, I think I have some new and useful thoughts on how the murder happened. I haven't DISCUSS!'d in quite a while but I think this one bears reading and discussing. Hear me out.

Calling: Absinthe Baltika9 Lambchop19 Zero Credibility Esquilax ERYFKRAD Smashing Axe asxetos Nevill Kz3r0 Tribute Kashmir Slippers Elfberserker Jester Akkudakku Kipeci TOME XenomorphII profreshinal ScubaV The Brazilian Slaughter Azira skaraher Rex Feral archaen Grimgravy Fangshi LWC1996 GreyViper Nevill

First, a compilation of what we know:

Before the Murder:
-Chief Jiang leaves restaurant.
-Restaurant brawl begins during xu hour. Fu Xia is entangled with monks. Xiaofang watches.
-Fu Xia leaves restaurant.
-Xiaofang leaves restaurant.

-The restaurant brawl ends at end of xu hour. Xi Mukang (Jinkong Sect) is present.
-Chief Jiang asks Xiaofang to meet him at the entrance at start of hai hour.
-Chief Jiang speaks with Du Yao from the end of xu hour to receive orders. They discuss the Jinkong Sect and the Manual. Chief Jiang believes Du Yao is not involved in the theft, but did intuit some fact during their conversation. Du Yao asks Chief Jiang to return the next day.
-Chief Jiang leaves Du Yao around middle of hai hour. He spots Xiaofang missing. He "felt that something was wrong", and snuck back into the study.
-(A man matching the description of) Xi Mukang is present at mansion during hai hour.

The Murder:
-Chief Jiang senses and hears a small tussle in the study.
-As Chief Jiang enters, Du Yao screams and falls. MIB is present.
-Chief Jiang draws blood from MIB, who leaps out window and escapes.

-Du Yao is hit by (probably) a kick on the right arm.
-Du Yao is stabbed (by a short sword very much like the constables') below the left collarbone, and is not a killing blow.
-Du Yao is hit by three ice needles on the side of the neck, not on any pressure points, but nevertheless lethal.
-All injuries, and Du Yao's death, occur in the middle of hai hour.

After the Murder:
-Chief Jiang is found by Du Yao's body, his short sword in hand, by Miss Du.
-[Fu Xia says] Xi Mukang (or his lookalike) is spotted running across the courtyard and leaping over a wall during hai hour. [Lady Suien says] the footprints in the courtyard go from Du Yao's study to the wall, and show an above-average qinggong skill man carrying an injury from a struggle with Du Yao.
-After the murder (after middle of the hai hour), homeless man spots Xiaofang arguing and fighting with MIB (man in black), who (probably) hits Xiaofang with ice needles.

-At the very beginning of zi hour, Xiaofang's body is found to have disappeared.
-Few days later, Xiaofang is discovered in a rundown sickhouse, poisoned.

Other Factors:
-Miss Du and Qilin believe Du Yao's murderer did not have the city's best interests at heart.
-Ice needles are Xueguizi technique, contain fast-acting poison, definitely not from the central plains, carrying traces of a cold yin qi, eliciting different reactions from different victims. Practitioners can form needles instantly, but amateurs cannot hold it for long. The needle 'could' freeze poison in liquid form, or dip a formed needle in poison.
-Chief Jiang first says he asked Xiaofang to meet him for orders, but is evasive about what those orders were, does suspect Xiaofang, and when he was not present, immediately suspected something was wrong, which led him somehow to return to Du Yao's study.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for analysis. I am leaving aside any question of certain knowledge. I am leaving aside any question of motivation, unless it is obvious. I am also leaving aside any explanation that pulls too much in from facts that we do not know from the above summary. I am trying as much as possible to work with what we have above then seeing what is likely and unlikely.

Some Things We Can Estimate:
The murder itself happens before Chief Jiang can interfere at all (he says he hears a small tussle, and the moment he enters, Du Yao screams and falls, likely a result of the fast-acting poison needles). The murder may not have been planned, because instead of using such a powerful weapon immediately, the assailant tussles with Du Yao, wounding him with a kick and a stab of the sword. The location of the stab (below left collarbone) suggests that he was going for the kill, because you wouldn't stab someone there unless you were aiming for their head/neck. In other words, the assailant's original plan was probably to kill Du Yao with a sword - a constable's sword, or a good copy of it - and thereby frame the constabulary - or even Chief Jiang personally, given the timing of the kill. If Jiang never returned, Du Yao's body would ultimately have been found, with Chief Jiang the last known man in the room. Clearly, what happened is that Du Yao resisted, and/or the assailant noticed Jiang's entrance, and panicking, pulled out the backup plan of the needles. He then receives injuries from Chief Jiang, and has to escape ASAP.

Ice needles would have had to be prepared beforehand, or there would be a limited supply of them. This is evidenced by the fact that they can only be poisonous if they freeze existing liquid poison, or dip a formed needle in poison (source: Xuezi). Hence, the assailant either is an expert who fashioned the needles before the attack and dipped them, or carried a vial of poison from which to quickly form the needles. This might explain why MIB did not just use the needles on Chief Jiang, either (since if he raised the alarm himself before being found by Miss Du, he could have then pointed to MIB as prime suspect). Unfortunately, this doesn't tell us for sure whether the assailant is an expert practitioner.

If we now assume that the original plan was to frame constables/Jiang, and that their plan went partly astray (Jiang discovered the MIB, the kill had to happen differently, MIB was wounded). The next question is why/how MIB met Xiaofang and what happened there. One thing we can immediately presume is that Xiaofang must know MIB - otherwise, why would they argue before fighting (source: homeless man)? That means only one of two reasonable possibilities. Either Xiaofang is an accomplice, or Xiaofang is not but recognised the person (e.g. Fu Xia, or even Xi Mukang). If he is an accomplice, then they may have disputed the reward, or the fact that it went awry, etc. However, I find this unlikely. If they were accomplices, why are they meeting in the middle of the street, instead of a designated safehouse / spot? Whether Xiaofang wanted to help the assailant or betray him, this would make the most sense. Therefore, it seems most likely that Xiaofang met the assailant = MIB, who is someone Xiaofang can recognise, rather than being a completely random person.

There is one other strange fact that I think is important. The assailant was dressed in black and concealed. Well, he must have covered his face up too and dressed generally for anonymity - why would you do otherwise when going on a stealth mission? Even if the assailant didn't originally intend to kill Du Yao, this is only sensible. Chief Jiang saw enough of the man to draw blood, but could tell us nothing of his identity. This means that MIB was very well disguised. So, that raises two questions. Firstly, I suggested above that Xiaofang recognised MIB. How could he, if he was disguised? So, again, Xiaofang must know that person quite very well - either because he is an accomplice, or because he has been investigating and tailing the assailant, or because the assailant is someone he knows very well anyway. Secondly, the only clue we have as to the MIB's identity is the testimony that someone matching the description of Xi Mukang, at least a Jinkong Sect member, was spotted leaping over the wall. But who does this come from? Fu Xia. This is the one part of our data which doesn't make sense; why would you dress as a Jinkong Sect member? Perhaps to frame the Sect. But why would you dress as a Sect member, and then hit Du Yao with a constabulary sword? The only explanation would be that it was a member of the constabulary who wanted to frame the Sect. But this still doesn't make sense. If you are planning a murder, you surely have time and resources to get a different fucking sword when you are in a city of crime. Especially if you have the time to fashion a disguise. No, the sword and the sect clothing both are surely means of obscuring the assailant's true identity. One plausible explanation is that Fu Xia gave us false testimony. He is the only one that ever mentions the Jinkong Sect in all of our evidence. He gets this from interrogating servants, but clearly not servants he was speaking to together with Lingshu and Yifang, for he presents it as "haha I did a good job and got unique info!". Another plausible explanation was that the assailant had prepared both Jinkong disguise and constabulary sword in a double obfuscation. In that case, however, it is strange that Chief Jiang saw enough of MIB to draw blood but not notice the Jinkong Sect uniform.

Who Could Have Done It?
Chief Jiang: almost certainly not. Firstly, MIB as a separate entity certainly exists. It is improbable that Jiang was stupid enough to kill Du Yao after his meeting, and hang around, if MIB is an accomplice. It is improbable that MIB is working against Jiang and working also to kill Du Yao. It is improbable that MIB had snuck in specifically to stop Jiang. There are just too many improbabilities and questions.

Xiaofang: unlikely. He could equally have reached the mansion, he also has no alibi during the murder period, he could equally have been sponsored with needles, etc. If this is true, then he must have had an accomplice, the MIB, who he fought with later and was incarcerated by. Furthermore, Xiaofang could not have been the MIB which fled from the study - if so, wouldn't he still be dressed in black until he could reach a safe location? Even if Xiaofang is an accomplice, then, he is not the murderer himself.

Man X: maybe. Everything becomes easier with Mysterious Man X because he has all the time and resources in the world to pull this off. However, to me the big thing ruling this out is the Xiaofang aspect; Xiaofang probably recognised the MIB, which is why they argued before fighting straight away. Sure, it could be Random Man X that Xiaofang knows randomly, but narratively speaking, it seems improbable that treave would set up the clues this way. So, sure, Man X is possible, but I don't believe that is the best answer we have.

Xi Mukang: maybe. He could easily have left the restaurant just before the middle of the hai hour, as soon as Jing left the restaurant (he was there until then). It would explain the presence of the Sect members. He would have the qinggong, and could have again got the needles from a sponsor. He could have forged a short sword similar to the constables' - it's not like their sword is some unique proprietary shape, and given that this murder would have been carefully planned whoever was the murderer, if they had the resources to prepare those needles techniques, I assume they would have researched the sword to frame the constables, as well. Xiaofang, who was sitting and observing quite carefully the restaurant brawl, may have remembered Mukang. However, several factors make Xi Mukang less and less likely. (1) It makes more sense to suspect someone with a constables' sword rather than someone who has to forge one. (2) The assailant was dressed in black, and Jiang himself did not recognise his identity; meaning his face would have been covered. How would Xiaofang recognise him?

Fu Xia: likely. He definitely left the restaurant by end of xu hour when brawl ended, giving him time to reach the mansion. He has a constable's sword. He could have learnt the needles from whoever is sponsoring him. He would possess the qinggong to jump the wall. Given the eunuch spy situation, Xiaofang could have been Fu Xia's accomplice, or, more likely, could have been keeping an eye on the suspicious Fu Xia, and now chases him down / confronts him; Xiaofang was missing for Jiang's rendezvous because of this. The fact that Xiaofang first argued with MIB before fighting him suggests that Xiaofang knew MIB; this makes sense if it is Fu Xia. I do not think there is any concrete proof that incriminates anybody. Even if everything I say is right, there is no hard proof, unless Xiaofang wakes up and can name his MIB assailant - then, the case becomes significantly stronger. But out of the things we do know, he seems the most suspicious.

Remaining Problems
There are also several unanswered questions. Why did Chief Jiang call Xiaofang to the mansion? What did he suspect when he found Xiaofang gone, that he would return to Du Yao's study, rather than return to the restaurant or our lodgings to find the rest of us? Well, Chief Jiang may have suspected Xiaofang to have designs on Du Yao's person - though it seems rather out of the blue to me. However, this can't worry us at the moment, because we are not going to find anything out on this front that will lead us to one person or another.

Another question is where the assailant, whoever it was, got the ice needles and the poison from; but again, it seems clear that if the assailant was somebody we know, they could not have procured it from their immediate environment. It seems whoever is the murderer, they had some sponsors, supporters, masters, in the shadows who could supply them. Well, in the absence of any clear link between any particular person and such factions, it doesn't sway us to one person or another.

The other question is why and how Xiaofang's body disappeared, not immediately, but soon after. My best guess is that because the MIB was injured by Du Yao, and had fought again with Xiaofang (which may or may not have incurred further injuries), he first needed to retreat ASAP to recover - and once he had done first aid, he realised how dangerous it was to leave Xiaofang, and retrieved him. This doesn't solve the problem of why MIB then didn't kill Xiaofang altogether, or why whoever found Xiaofang, if not MIB, gave him to the sickhouse. But again, I don't think these questions or the MIB's behaviour would change whether it was Fu Xia, Xi Mukang, or whoever.

Conclusion
Based on what things we know for sure, I tried to isolate things we can probably be quite sure of. On that basis I went through each suspect, and my belief is that if we have to make the call now, Fu Xia appears the most suspicious, and Chief Jiang appears almost certainly innocent.

This rules A out for me, and makes me lean towards C - though, even if you all agree with my analysis, it's still a different question as to how we should vote. I am going to go ahead and say C > B for now, however.

 

[Absinthe]

Nevill

For #3, I said the reason Jiang Zheng went back to the mansion was because as a detective his first instincts when something goes wrong would be to worry about the investigation, which would have to be Du Yao. I think this is very likely.

For #5, I guess that Du Yao did have some connection with the Xueguizi. It wouldn't surprise me if Golden Fox Leaves were sold at Youxia City and if the Xueguizi have operated in Youxia City, Du Yao would have known about it, which in turn means he probably came to an arrangement with the Xueguizi. Obviously his assailant was connected with the Xueguizi.

For #6, I'm pretty sure it's a Xueguizi poison. Xuezi is a master of Xueguizi techniques, but her herbalism skill is weak according to treave, so she wouldn't know Xueguizi poisons. Chi Qilin told is in no uncertain terms that this is not from the central plains (and Tianshan is not in the central plains), and we know that the Xueguizi operate anonymously and quietly in the central plains (like when they kill someone who betrays their trust).

As for Xiaofang, we know a mole compromised the constables. Gao Ying would probably have wanted to uncover the mole and given Xiaofang orders to watch for suspicious behavior. When Fu Xia vanished, that would have been the trigger for Xiaofang to investigate him. We know Xiaofang left after Fu Xia did: "Fu Xia stands up and tries to talk with them, but instead becomes entangled in a fight with the monks. Xiaofang, on the other hand, is just sitting and staring at the chaotic mess all around her." The next thing that happens to Fu Xia is that the fight drags him out of the restaurant. Sometime later we discover Xiaofang has vanished too. If Xiaofang confronted Fu Xia, this would also accentuate the dislike we detected when Fu Xia told us not to worry about Xiaofang's absence.

Treave, what can Xuezi tell us about the Xueguizi's mastery of poisons?

 

[treave]

Xuezi says that they don't use poisons, or at least, not the liquid sort. They do have poison techniques that utilize qi.

As for what Qilin actually said:

"I am not familiar with the type of poison used, so it’s definitely something not commonly seen in the Central Plains."

“It’s not familiar to me too. Some components of it seem to be similar to our Wudu in origin, but I can say for sure that we do not have anything like this at the moment,” comments Qilin.

She did not say that it was not from the Central Plains, she said that because she is not familiar with it, it cannot be something commonly used around here, nor is it something that the Wudu Cult, with its vast repository of poisons, already has. The Wudu Cult itself does collect foreign poisons whenever they can, as evidenced by the Meihua Poison Qilin used on Zhang Manxing.