Because of his leg injury, Xie Zhifei sent the coffin only to the foot of the mountain before returning to the city with Young Master Pei.

At the city gate, the carriage suddenly stopped, and Zhu Qing leaped aboard.

Xie Zhifei assumed it was about the residence and asked, “How did Yan Sanhe find that residence?”

“Master, Miss Yan suddenly fainted at the residence. Imperial Physician Pei used acupuncture three times, but she still hasn’t awakened. He said…”

Zhu Qing looked at Third Master’s expression. “I’m afraid…it’s not good.”

“What?”

Xie Zhifei felt as if a huge boulder had smashed onto his head, making him dizzy and seeing stars.

He grabbed Zhu Qing by the collar. “You…what did you just say? Say it again?”

“Right.”

Pei Xiao reacted half a beat slower. “What do you mean ‘not good’?”

Zhu Qing looked at his master’s expression and was about to speak when suddenly urgent hoofbeats came from behind.

The hoofbeats stopped abruptly as someone rushed over—it was Chen Yan, the young servant beside Second Master Zhu.

Chen Yan reached the carriage, urgently saying, “Young Master Pei, disaster! Our eldest master has collapsed and won’t wake up no matter how we pinch his pressure points. Where is Imperial Physician Pei?”

What day was this?

A day for everyone to collapse together and meet the King of Hell?

Something wasn’t right!

Pei Xiao’s stiff neck turned inch by inch toward Xie Zhifei, only to find the young man’s face deathly pale, his hands clutching Zhu Qing trembling non-stop.

“My father is at Miss Yan’s courtyard. Take the person there.”

As he spoke, he tried to pry open Xie Zhifei’s hands clutching Zhu Qing, but found those hands gripped so tightly they wouldn’t budge.

“Xie Fifty, let go, let go, hey…”

Seeing his master had no reaction, Zhu Qing quickly pressed a pressure point on his arm.

Xie Zhifei’s hand recoiled. His whole body shuddered violently, then he shouted frantically, “Return to the courtyard, quickly return to the courtyard.”

…

“Sanhe.”

“Yan Sanhe.”

“Miss Yan…”

Yan Sanhe could hear every voice clearly, but unfortunately, she just couldn’t open her eyes.

She felt her soul floating and drifting until it reached beneath a great tree.

In the tree, thousands of crows stared fixedly at her. Their black, hollow eyes held no emotion, yet Yan Sanhe inexplicably felt chilled to the bone.

She had never feared cold, but at this moment she was shivering.

So this was what cold felt like.

Even more unbearable than heat.

It was as if her body had been stuffed with handful after handful of ice shards. Her bones began to ache faintly. Her meridians stopped flowing, so much so that even her heart felt the bone-deep cold.

At this moment, the lead crow suddenly flew over, stopping on the branch closest to her, coldly watching her without blinking.

Yan Sanhe met its gaze.

But after only a brief moment, she wanted to look away. A tremendous sense of guilt spread from her heart outward, spreading and spreading.

Yan Sanhe suddenly understood—

Why had she fainted?

Why couldn’t she wake from unconsciousness?

Why did she feel so guilty?

“I’m sorry.”

She said three words.

After speaking, the cold suddenly disappeared from her body.

Yan Sanhe was stunned. She opened her eyes to see several familiar faces above her.

She looked at one bearded face among them, reached out a finger, and gently wiped away the tear stains at the corner of those peach-blossom eyes.

“Why are you crying? Who bullied you?”

Who?

You!

Xie Zhifei collapsed beside the bed, burying his face in his palms.

Unconscious for four days and nights, couldn’t be called awake, couldn’t be pinched awake, needle pricks wouldn’t wake her—he’d nearly plucked Imperial Physician Pei’s beard clean, hair by hair, in his anxiety.

Li Buyan yanked away Xie Zhifei, that useless crybaby, and sat down beside Yan Sanhe’s bed, eyes wide with fury.

“Speak! Why did you suddenly faint when you were perfectly fine?”

Young Master Pei’s head poked out from behind her. “Do you know how we’ve suffered through these four days?”

Li Buyan said, “If you hadn’t woken up, I was going to buy you a coffin.”

“Mm, at first she wanted to buy one coffin.”

Young Master Pei glanced at Li Buyan. “Later she said one wasn’t enough—she needed to buy another one for herself.”

Yan Sanhe grasped Li Buyan’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Two wouldn’t be enough. Three would be just right.”

Young Master Pei asked, “Who’s the other one for?”

Yan Sanhe replied, “Zhu Yuanmo.”

Pei Xiao jumped up. “How did you know he also…”

Yan Sanhe propped one hand on the bed’s edge and slowly sat up, looking at Xie Zhifei by the window.

Sensing her gaze, Xie Zhifei turned around.

Yan Sanhe very honestly and frankly recounted her entire dream.

“This time was a warning for both of us. If there’s a next time, those coffins will truly be needed.”

Li Buyan was startled. “What do you mean?”

“Buyan.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “What do I do?”

Li Buyan replied, “Resolve resentments and dissolve demons for the dead.”

“The dead wait for me to come. I place my hand on their eyes and say, ‘Tell me, what can’t you let go of?'”

Yan Sanhe continued, “So they take me to the netherworld and tell me their heart demons. What does this equate to?”

Li Buyan asked, “What?”

Yan Sanhe said, “It’s equivalent to me signing a contract with them.”

When Yan Sanhe described that dream, Xie Zhifei had already understood. “Abandoning this heart demon halfway means you’re unilaterally breaking the contract.”

“Right.”

Yan Sanhe smiled bitterly. “The consequence of breaking the contract is that I die.”

Why the four-day coma?

Four equals death.

To stay alive, this heart demon had to be investigated to the end.

“Moreover.”

Yan Sanhe said with some difficulty, “The one controlling this heart demon isn’t Zhu Xuanjiu himself.”

Pei Xiao was shocked. “Then who is it?”

“The crows.”

In that dream, there was no Zhu Xuanjiu at all—only thousands of crows.

If one crow represented one departed soul, then those thousands of crows were thousands of souls.

Yan Sanhe said emphatically, word by word, “The crows are the true masters of this heart demon.”

Young Master Pei listened with horror. “Yan, Yan Sanhe, are you saying…”

“Zhu Xuanjiu was vicious and selfish in his thinking. He harmed even his pillow companion and his own brothers. How could such a person have a heart demon?”

Yan Sanhe sneered. “A so-called heart demon is an obsession in the heart that can’t be let go. What couldn’t he let go of?”

“Right.”

Li Buyan slapped her forehead.

“That bastard ate well, slept soundly, and even asked the Bodhisattva to protect him before dying. What couldn’t he let go of? Let go of Concubine Fu? Bah! Concubine Fu reincarnated long ago.”

“This heart demon is a blood moon. A blood moon signifies major injustice.”

Yan Sanhe said, “Others’ coffins crack open. His? His exploded. Why explode? Because someone didn’t want him to rest in peace. Who? Those thousands of crows.

The crows controlled him. The black tears he shed, that blood moon—they were actually the crows crying out their injustice.

Young Master Pei, do you remember the blood that suddenly appeared and disappeared in the ice cellar?”

“I remember.”

Young Master Pei still felt lingering fear thinking about it—too terrifying.

Yan Sanhe asked, “Do you know what blood flowing like a river signifies?”

Young Master Pei replied, “What?”

(Earlier there was a bug—the current Emperor, before ascending the throne, held the title of Zhao Prince, not Duan Prince. This has been corrected.)