Among the four great Xuan Clans, the Tantai Clan occupied the imperial throne, but their Dao Root bloodline had been diluted over the years — difficult to produce even one in two generations. The odds were even rarer than the Rong Family, and so they had long since withdrawn from the Xuan Clan’s affairs. It fell to the Gong Family, ranked second, to lead and manage matters.
With Gong Tinglan’s Young Master Order issued, the heads of each family sent their elders to deliberate on the urgent matter. Sure enough, the moment they heard that the powerful demonic creature was about to enter the world, there were indeed those who were seized by greed — wanting to capture and subdue it, keep it alive, and simply suppress it within a great formation.
Such a naive idea prompted Gong Qi, who was shamelessly insisting on eavesdropping, to lose his temper on the spot. He unleashed a barrage of insults like a string of firecrackers, and combined with Gong Tinglan’s thorough argument on costs and benefits, they managed to quash those people’s desire to keep the demonic creature alive — though whether they had truly given up the idea at heart was another matter entirely.
With the Xuan Clan’s Black Xuan Order issued, every clan dispatched their mid-to-high-level disciples to surround and eliminate the corpse fiend, and block the evil from entering the world.
Time was short, and the corpse fiend’s location was difficult to trace. Gong Tinglan set up an altar and used the Great Divination Art to cast for the direction of the demonic creature’s whereabouts. It cost him considerable spiritual power and cultivation, but he obtained a result pointing directly to the southwest — following the canal downstream, to the place where two mountains stood cut into the shape of blades, its trail could be found.
Gong Qi, however, took a different approach altogether. He returned directly to Wu Jing, took the Xuan Order straight to the palace, and after receiving an imperial decree, had Shen Qinghe lead men to surround both the Princess’s manor and the Cong Family estate. He did not even bother with excuses — he simply declared that Cong, the Prince Consort, had used the art of cursing effigy-nailing to harm the Princess, and that he intended to capture Cong alive and extract from him where the corpse fiend was hiding.
Simple, brutal, domineering, and direct.
What they found when they closed the net, however, was that the Princess was not the Princess at all — she was an imposter wearing a human-skin mask. The real Princess Zhao’an had vanished without a trace. And the current Prince Consort was equally false — an imposter — because the Cong Family had produced evidence of innocence: a Prince Consort who had already been dead for some time.
The Prince Consort was dead, yet an imposter had been fronting for him — and the Cong Family, instead of reporting it to the authorities, had kept it hidden until it all came out in the open, at which point they cried foul. There was obviously something suspicious. Investigate.
Gong Qi did not follow the officials’ method of establishing guilt through evidence, and paid no mind to whatever laws the Cong Family invoked. He simply barreled through headlong, projecting the attitude that he was not going to reason with anyone, and that he himself was the reason.
In any case, the Xuan Clan was known by many as an entity not to be provoked. And he was already notorious among the Clans as the most unruly little troublemaker. As they say, when you have too many lice you stop feeling the itch — one more charge of the Xuan Clan’s people running roughshod over everyone was neither here nor there.
And what did this reckless charge uncover? Well, the Cong Family had quietly constructed a hidden room beneath their ancestral shrine.
Shen Qinghe followed behind him, eyes already reddened with anger. He understood that Gong Qi had his reasons and had been compelled to put on this performance, but if people throughout the Xuan Clan truly all behaved as he did — storming into the homes of nobles and commoners alike without a shred of evidence — then what purpose would officials serve in governing this world?
Gong Qi saw the dark look on his face and felt a prick of conscience. He said sheepishly: “I am not unreasonable in ordinary circumstances.”
Shen Qinghe spoke pointedly: “One unreasonable person can still be restrained. But if the people of the Xuan Clan all behave like this — leveraging their status and abilities to disregard law and order — then the human world will descend into chaos.”
The human world operates by rules. The law is a shackle that binds all people, but it is also the armor that protects all people and the nation. If the Xuan Clan ignores it, that is an overturning of order, a shaking of the very foundation of the realm — a grave crime.
Gong Qi cupped his hands in a respectful gesture: “This junior has received your instruction.”
Shen Qinghe’s voice was cold and clear: “To shake the foundation of the realm, to throw the world into turmoil, to make the people suffer — regardless of one’s identity, that will only earn infamy that endures for ten thousand years. Heaven’s law will not permit it. May we both take this as a shared admonition.”
He said this and walked toward the Cong Family’s ancestral shrine.
Gong Qi laughed bitterly. Worthy of the name “Shen the Incorruptible” — upright and uncompromising, carrying a body full of righteousness.
News spread of the surrounding of Princess Zhao’an’s manor and the Cong Family estate, causing even greater unease among the people. Especially when some spotted individuals in Xuan Clan attire coming and going — their fear only deepened.
After all, Princess Zhao’an had visited Huguo Temple on the first day of the new year. Could this possibly be connected to the matter of that young lady from the Zhongyong Marquis household?
The storm was coming; dark clouds pressed down upon the city.
A’Piao watched this spectacle from within the Cong Family grounds. Recalling the information he had gathered through sleepless nights over the past several days, entering the dreams of the Cong Family’s people and casting nightmare spells, he glanced at the ancestral shrine and gave a cold snort.
They moved fast.
He left the Cong Family estate, turned toward the Marquis Kaiping’s manor, and made his way unerringly to the small courtyard that belonged to Lang Jiuchuan. He settled himself on the roof of the study, taking in the full layout of the Lang Family estate with a single sweeping gaze.
Suddenly, he sensed a stirring of the five elemental energies around him. He leapt away at once and observed the study from atop the wall.
Well now. She had even set up a formation here.
The door to Lang Jiuchuan’s study opened. She stood in the doorway, looked toward A’Piao where he perched on the courtyard wall, and said: “Come in.”
Inside the courtyard.
Xiao Man, who had just come out from the small kitchen, gave a shiver. Why did it feel colder today than yesterday? And — did the young miss just speak to her a moment ago?
A’Piao entered Lang Jiuchuan’s study. He looked her complexion over carefully and nodded inwardly: “These past few days of rest and recovery look to have gone well enough.”
Thanks to the Little Nine Pagoda, and to the blessings of Luobo the Monk, her damaged spirit and soul had been nourished back in just a few short days — nothing like the misery of suffering heavenly punishment.
Lang Jiuchuan silently praised the Little Nine Pagoda in her heart, then noticed that A’Piao’s soul appeared somewhat depleted. She asked: “What have you been doing? You’re this worn out.”
“What else — helping you gather information on the Cong family members.” A’Piao said with irritation: “I’ve expended quite a bit of soul energy.”
Upon hearing this, Lang Jiuchuan walked to the table, took out two spirit incense sticks, lit them, and placed them between herself and A’Piao: “Speak.”
A’Piao inhaled greedily several times. Ah, that was the scent — she really did know how to conduct herself properly.
He said: “Setting aside the few people who remain permanently within the Astronomical Observatory, whom I was unable to approach — I entered the dreams of several of the Cong Family’s household masters and cast nightmare spells. From the Cong Family’s Madam, I learned that Cong, the Prince Consort, actually has a twin younger brother. Yet officially, she claimed to have given birth only to Cong Jingling. That younger brother was raised elsewhere in secret. Only the husband and wife and Cong Jingling’s paternal grandfather knew of this — the boy was never even entered into the clan register…”
“Is he the corpse fiend?”
A’Piao’s mouth twitched. He met her gaze. She seemed to be saying: if not, then there was no need to mention any of this.
“I was going to work through the Cong Family conspiracy first.”
“I already know the Cong Family is not innocent — whether they are the masterminds or merely accomplices, none of that concerns me. What I actually need is the information about who the corpse fiend is and where it is hiding.” Lang Jiuchuan said with a helpless sigh: “Leave the conspiracy theories to the Xuan Clan and the officials. Let’s stay precise.”
Fair enough — nothing wrong with that.
“That old ancestor of the Cong Family appears to still be alive, and has been hiding inside the Cong Family’s ancestral shrine all along. Beneath that shrine, there is a hidden room with a passage leading out of the city — I saw this in Zhou Shi’s nightmare. I went to check, and the person has already fled.” A’Piao said: “The real Prince Consort has been dead for some time. The one appearing in public these past days has been his twin younger brother. As for the corpse fiend…”
He thought back to the nightmare of the Cong Family’s grandfather and said gravely: “That corpse fiend — it is most likely the old ancestor of the Cong Family’s own biological son. One who never appeared in the Cong Family’s clan register.”
Lang Jiuchuan’s gaze turned cold. A biological son — the old ancestor was still alive to this day, yet his biological son was a corpse fiend. Did that mean the father had killed the son?