The steward, seeing this, was so frightened his hand trembled. Without so much as a glance at the guard captain beside him, he said hurriedly: “A misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! How would we dare hinder these generals from investigating a case? This guard here has a rather rough manner of speaking — he means no offense and would never intend to obstruct official business. As for our Marquis, he has always been a man of principle and would never harbor fugitives. Please, generals, do not take issue with our people — come right in, please.”

He nervously swung the gate wide open and invited Lin Xiao and the others inside.

Lin Xiao cast a flat glance at the dark-faced guard captain, clasped his hands behind his back, stepped over the threshold, and stood in the courtyard. He rapidly surveyed the grounds, and then said: “Search.”

The company of guards instantly fanned out in silence, making straight for the various courtyards.

The steward stood to one side for a moment, fidgeting with anxiety. Then he stepped forward and said with a strained smile, “Young Lord, it is not that we intend to obstruct your apprehension of criminals, but the Marquis is currently not at home, and our young miss is by nature timid and easily startled. Would it be possible to search elsewhere first, and wait until the Marquis has returned before searching the inner courtyard?”

Lin Xiao paid his words no heed whatsoever. Chang Rong stole a glance at Lin Xiao’s expression and quietly sighed. With the little Daoist girl having vanished without explanation, the Young Lord might not show it on his face, but inwardly — one could only imagine the torment. And yet this steward was still shamelessly haggling.

He was just about to speak when, from the direction of the inner gate, a commotion suddenly broke out. A cluster of serving women holding lanterns came forward, accompanying a young miss of striking delicate beauty.

Qin Yuan appeared to have just been woken from deep sleep, her eyes still holding a dazed, unfocused look. At the sight of Lin Xiao and the others, she gave a sudden start, and the last traces of drowsiness vanished entirely.

“What — what is this?” Qin Yuan’s voice could not help but tremble. In fear, she tightly gripped her wet nurse’s hand.

Lin Xiao looked past her as though she were not there. His hand resting on the hilt of his sword at his waist, he walked past Qin Yuan and ordered Chang Rong: “Search the inner courtyard thoroughly.”

“Stop!” From behind came a sudden furious shout.

Everyone present heard it and turned — to see Qin Cheng striding forward with a face full of anger.

Qin Yuan, as though she had suddenly found her backbone, rushed toward Qin Cheng with tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “Father—!”

Qin Cheng gathered Qin Yuan into his arms and gently stroked the top of her head, murmuring a few words of comfort. Presently, he lifted his head and looked coldly toward Lin Xiao. “Might I ask what brings the Young Lord to break into my estate with such a company in the middle of the night?”

Lin Xiao looked at Qin Cheng with icy eyes and said lightly: “A criminal I have been pursuing for some time has slipped into the Jinghai Marquis’s manor. To prevent this person from escaping, I had no choice but to come and conduct a search.”

A perfectly proper and high-sounding justification — and one that was clearly also a display of deliberate pressure. Qin Cheng’s expression shifted several times. After a long moment, he gritted his teeth and said through clenched jaws: “The Young Lord is free to apprehend your criminal. However, my daughter has always been timid and cannot bear such a scene. I must take her somewhere to wait out of the way — you may search as you please.”

Without waiting for Lin Xiao to respond, he turned his cold face and led Qin Yuan away to one side — it appeared they were heading for the flower hall.

Chang Rong and the others, now entirely unhindered, swept deep into the manor in a direct line toward the rear courtyards and elsewhere.

Half an hour passed.

“Young Lord, every corner has been searched — there is no sign of Miss Qu.” Chang Rong led his men in to report quietly, his expression deeply troubled.

Lin Xiao seemed unsurprised. He said in a cold voice: “Hold the front gate and all the side gates. No one is to enter or leave tonight.”

He then asked: “Wei Bo has been gone so long — why has he not found Qing Xuzi yet?”

Chang Rong was just about to reply when Wei Bo came in hurriedly with Qing Xuzi and A’Han. “Young Lord — the two Daoists are here.”

Qing Xuzi looked as if he had aged many years all at once. His complexion was deeply shadowed. He entered, glanced around with barely restrained fury, then strode directly toward Lin Xiao and asked with urgency: “Is this where A’Yao disappeared?”

He had no time right now to probe why Lin Xiao had been the first to know that something had happened to Qin Yao. His only thought was to find her as quickly as possible and confirm she was safe.

A’Han followed close on Qing Xuzi’s heels, his eyes red-rimmed, as though he had been crying.

Lin Xiao took in both their expressions, and the cold remove in his own face softened considerably. He stepped forward to meet them. “Daoist Master, A’Han Senior Brother — A’Yao has now been missing for an hour. Do you know why she would have been patrolling out here in the middle of the night? Was it because of those cases in Pingkang Ward?”

A’Han nodded vigorously, voice still thick with residual tearfulness. “A few days ago, A’Yao went out to a banquet and came back suspecting that the culprit behind the cases lived somewhere near Shuangyan Lane. Every time she went out on patrol, she would always make her way to this area.”

Qing Xuzi, expression dark, took in the surroundings and said: “A’Yao always acts with method and purpose — there is no way she would have come here to investigate without reason.”

He mulled it over briefly and then instructed A’Han: “Bring out the compass.”

A’Han did as told, drawing from his bosom an object Lin Xiao saw to be a round compass the size of a palm, marked with Daoist talismanic inscriptions, with a slender iron needle at its center — perfectly still.

Qing Xuzi took the compass and tested the air in every direction. A look of puzzlement crossed his face. “Strange — the malevolent entity is not here. Can it be there is another hiding place?”

Lin Xiao’s expression changed slightly. He considered briefly, then said to Wei Bo: “Beside the Jinghai Marquis’s manor there is an abandoned estate. Take the men and go there at once to investigate. If you find anything, report back to me immediately.”

Qing Xuzi quickly moved to intervene: “Young Lord, this case involves an extraordinarily sinister rite known as ‘Returning to Yang.’ The malevolent spirit behind it is no ordinary thing. You have the Chixiao Sword to protect you, which is another matter — but these men have no spiritual power at all. If they should accidentally encounter that entity, they will likely not escape with their lives. Best to proceed with caution.”

Lin Xiao’s heart sank heavily. Whatever calm composure he had maintained was beginning to crack and crumble. Qing Xuzi was deeply versed in Daoist arts and was not troubled by ordinary demons or monsters in the slightest — if even he considered the entity in this case to be no ordinary threat, how could Qin Yao’s situation be anything but dire?

He was just about to speak when a sharp, piercing whistle suddenly cut through the night sky, and with a whoosh, a burst of brilliant, multicolored fireworks blossomed overhead.

Lin Xiao and everyone present simultaneously looked up.

A’Han was stunned for a moment, then erupted in wild joy. “It’s A’Yao! It’s A’Yao sending a distress signal!”

Qin Cheng, too, seemed to have heard the sound. He came out from the flower hall, his expression shifting and unreadable, and stared in silence at the night sky for a long moment.

The fireworks had been released close by — they seemed to have come from the abandoned estate beside the Jinghai Marquis’s manor.

A’Han said to Qing Xuzi and Lin Xiao with urgent urgency: “When A’Yao left, she and I agreed — if she found anything wrong, she would immediately send up a signal flare. Master, Young Lord, quickly — let’s go find A’Yao!”

Lin Xiao tensed. He glanced at Qin Cheng, then spoke to Wei Bo and the others: “Leave half the men here to stand guard — no one is to enter or leave. The rest come with me.”

The party quickly reached the abandoned estate. When they entered, Chang Rong and the others lit torches, flooding the vast garden with light.

But the garden was completely empty.

Chang Rong and the others swiftly searched every inch of it, leaving not a single corner unchecked. There was truly no sign of Qin Yao.

Every last hope Lin Xiao had harbored was shattered in an instant. He stood motionless, and for the first time, an expression of bewilderment crossed his face. Qin Yao had clearly sent up the signal flare from this very spot just moments ago — yet in the space of an eye-blink, where in the world had she gone?

A’Han paced frantically. “Could it be that A’Yao was taken away by that evil entity?”

Qing Xuzi furrowed his brow tightly. “If an evil entity had been active here just now, the compass would have shown some reaction regardless. There’s no way it would be as still as it is now.”

Both of them looked simultaneously at the compass as they spoke — the needle was indeed still, quiet and unmoving.

Past the initial confusion, Lin Xiao quickly steadied himself. This estate, while empty, was not particularly large — aside from a few old trees, there was nowhere that could conceal a person. After Qin Yao sent the signal flare, he and Qing Xuzi and the others had not delayed for a moment before rushing here. Even if Qin Yao had left the abandoned estate immediately after releasing the flare, in such a short span of time she could have gotten no farther than Shuangyan Lane outside the walls. And as of now, the lane was already guarded both inside and out by Prince Lan’s manor guards. If Qin Yao had appeared in the lane, they would have spotted her at once and reported back to him immediately.

Which meant Qin Yao was still inside the abandoned estate.

But why could they not find her?

As he stared at the garden that lay open and visible before him, a possibility began to form faintly at the back of his mind. He looked carefully around, then suddenly crouched down and directed his gaze at the ground.

Chang Rong and the others, confused, said: “Young Lord, did you drop something?”

Lin Xiao moved the pommel of his sword slowly over the ground beneath him, not lifting his head. “Fan out and look — see if there is any mechanism such as a tunnel in this garden.”

Qing Xuzi’s eyes lit with sudden understanding. He pulled A’Han along, and both quickly crouched down to begin searching as well, using the handles of their implements.

A short while later, one of the guards called out from beside a towering ancient tree: “Young Lord — the soil here is loose. It seems there may be an underground tunnel beneath.”

Lin Xiao quickly rose and went over. He used his sword pommel to probe the earth there, and indeed found a patch of soil that was slightly different in color from the rest around it. The surface layer of dirt looked very thin — as if someone had deliberately disturbed it not long ago.

Lin Xiao traced the perimeter of the patch, feeling along the edges, and then found a thin plank-like object. He lifted it — and beneath it emerged a tunnel that plunged into unfathomable darkness.

Though the tunnel was deep, the air that wafted up was, remarkably, fairly fresh — not stale or musty at all. The tunnel’s edges were smooth, and there were even handholds carved into the walls to serve as a ladder for descending. Clearly, this tunnel had not been sealed away from light for years — someone had been entering and exiting it with regularity.

Inside was pitch black, nothing to be seen.

Lin Xiao was just about to order someone to bring a light when the Chixiao Sword at his waist gave a gentle tremor and emitted a faint, barely audible hum. At almost the same moment, the compass in A’Han’s bosom seemed to respond in kind, its needle beginning to turn slowly.

Lin Xiao quickly exchanged a glance with Qing Xuzi. He made up his mind without further hesitation. “A’Yao is most likely in the tunnel. I am going down to find her.”

Chang Rong moved to interject with a word of protest. Lin Xiao said coldly: “Stay here and wait. Not another word.”

With that, he tucked the lower hem of his snow-grey patterned robe into his belt at the waist, took his sword in hand, and descended into the tunnel via the wall-carved handholds.

Qing Xuzi watched Lin Xiao’s figure disappear into the tunnel below, his expression complex and unreadable. He was silent for a moment, then followed him down.

A’Han went immediately after.

Lin Xiao descended along the handholds for what felt like the time it takes half an incense stick to burn, and finally reached the tunnel floor. He had expected the tunnel to be cramped and narrow, requiring him to stoop as he walked — but to his surprise, the tunnel was more than a person’s height, quite spacious.

Lin Xiao felt along the walls and found no branching passages — only one path stretching forward. He could only follow it.

He had gone only two steps when there seemed to be a faint glimmer of light ahead. The further he walked, the clearer it became — as though something providing illumination lay not far ahead.

Lin Xiao proceeded slowly, keeping alert to every sound around him as he walked, wary of any sudden change.

After a while, he saw a bend in the tunnel a few steps ahead of him. Propped against the wall at the turn was a short stump of candle, casting a tilted shadow on the wall — the glow in the tunnel came from this candle.

Lin Xiao paused his steps, drew his blade into readiness on alert. He was just steeling himself to move toward the candle in silence when a small, slender figure abruptly came out from around the bend on his right. Both of them started at the same moment. The face of that person was half-hidden in the dim, flickering shadow of the candle, but the silhouette was achingly familiar.

Lin Xiao’s heart lurched and thundered. He heard that person say, in a lowered voice: “Ah — Young Lord, how is it you?”

Lin Xiao heard that voice — like something out of a wondrous dream — and felt his heart and spirit alike set adrift. Before he could even draw a breath of relief, the wick of the candle suddenly let out a small, delicate fft — and went out.

In the darkness, a pair of soft small hands cupped over his mouth. Softly: “Young Lord — don’t make a sound just yet. We are close to the tunnel’s exit — there is a great evil entity outside.”