The smile in Lin Chengyou’s eyes froze.

Before tonight, he had already roughly investigated the backgrounds of the three pregnant victims.

The most recent victim, Lady Jiang the younger, wife of the Rong’an Marquis’s heir Song Jian, was Song Jian’s second wife. His first wife, Lady Jiang the elder, had died in childbirth three years ago. The younger Lady Jiang was the elder Lady Jiang’s sister.

According to reports, when Song Jian initially married Lady Jiang the elder, he faced fierce opposition from the Marquis and his wife. The reason was that Lady Jiang’s father had previously served as an advisor to a certain military commander in Huaixi Circuit. After coming to Chang’an, though he attempted the imperial examinations, he repeatedly failed. Such a family could only be considered of humble status.

However, Song Jian had fallen deeply in love with Lady Jiang at first sight and vowed to marry no other. By coincidence, Madam Peng, wife of Peng Zhen, had come to the capital with her husband to report on official duties. Upon hearing of this matter, Madam Peng took the initiative to visit the Rong’an Marchioness, explaining that the Jiang family were distant relatives of hers. That year in Huaixi Circuit, she had received great kindness from Lady Jiang’s mother, and she had long considered Lady Jiang’s mother as her sister, making Lady Jiang her niece.

With Madam Peng’s guarantee, the Marquis and his wife softened their stance. Though the Jiang family’s status was not high, Lady Jiang was well-educated and knew proper etiquette. After meeting her in person, the elderly couple finally agreed to the marriage.

After their wedding, Song Jian and Lady Jiang were as close as glue and lacquer, soon giving birth to twins – a boy and a girl. When the children were two years old, Lady Jiang became pregnant again but tragically died in childbirth. A month later, the old Marchioness also passed away from illness.

With no mistress to manage household affairs for so long, once his son’s mourning period ended, the Marquis wished for his son to remarry. However, Song Jian adamantly refused to take another wife.

Over a year ago, his sister-in-law, the younger Lady Jiang, stayed at the manor for a period while visiting her young niece and nephew. Not long after, Song Jian suddenly visited his father-in-law, expressing his wish to marry his sister-in-law as his second wife.

According to Investigator Yan’s inquiries, servants at the Rong’an manor privately gossiped that Song Jian wished to marry the younger Lady Jiang not only because she was the children’s maternal aunt, but also because she strongly resembled her sister.

There were also some unsavory rumors, such as that the younger Lady Jiang and her brother-in-law had begun an affair during her stay at the manor, forcing Song Jian to propose marriage to preserve both their reputations… Others said that the younger Lady Jiang was already nineteen when she married her brother-in-law, and her previous reluctance to marry was because she had set her heart on her sister’s husband since she was fifteen or sixteen.

The Jiang sisters were both from Hua Prefecture. The younger Lady Jiang had been married into the Rong’an household for exactly one year and was six months pregnant when the incident occurred.

The second case’s victim, Shu Liniang, happened to also be from Hua Prefecture. Orphaned young, she married a failed scholar from Hua Prefecture at seventeen. Last year her husband suddenly died of illness. Shu Liniang had never gotten along with her in-laws, and with no father or brothers to rely on, she had no choice but to seek refuge with relatives in Chang’an – specifically her cousin Shu Wenliang, who served as a Section Chief in the Capital Prefecture.

Today, Lin Chengyou had originally planned to visit Section Chief Shu and Vice Director Zheng, not only to inquire about Shu Liniang’s past in her hometown but also to understand why a respectable woman would become someone’s concubine. However, he later encountered Naizhong’s reappearance.

As for the first case…

Since Lady Bai was killed together with her husband Wang Cangbao, Judge Liu of Tong Prefecture focused mainly on investigating Wang Cangbao’s background while examining the victims’ histories. For instance, whether Wang Cangbao had made any enemies, why he had abandoned his business in Tong Prefecture to come to Chang’an… But regarding Lady Bai’s character and whether she had past grievances with anyone, the case files were completely silent.

He only knew that Lady Bai was twenty-two this year and five months pregnant.

After reviewing all three cases, Lin Chengyou could barely contain his doubts. Based on Zhuang Mu’s words, had he investigated the three pregnant victims before the incidents occurred?

This differed somewhat from his initial speculation.

After making that statement, Zhuang Mu fell silent. Lin Chengyou waited a while, then got up and took a jar of Xiama Ridge wine from the table. Returning to the iron cage with the jar, he loosened all the bindings on Zhuang Mu, leaving only the shackles on his feet and hands.

After finishing this, Lin Chengyou personally poured a large bowl of Xiama Ridge wine, placed it before Zhuang Mu, and smiled, “Now you can truly enjoy your drink.”

Zhuang Mu swallowed hard. Ignoring the dried blood still on his hands, he picked up the bowl and drank without hesitation, gulping down the wine. After eagerly finishing, he quickly put the bowl on the ground, his eyes gleaming with greedy light as he waited for Lin Chengyou to pour a second bowl.

After drinking three large bowls of wine in one go, Zhuang Mu seemed to regain his composure. He picked up the soup bowl from the other side and buried his head in the steaming meatball soup. After eating and drinking his fill, he didn’t immediately put down the bowl, but quietly raised his eyes to look at Lin Chengyou from above the bowl’s rim.

He gave Lin Chengyou a deep look, then set down the bowl and nodded, saying in a deep voice, “Young in years, but remarkably patient.”

Lin Chengyou’s smile remained unchanged as he waited with perfect patience.

Zhuang Mu was silent for a moment before speaking: “I can tell you everything I know, on the condition that you prepare what I need: two hundred gold pieces, a fast horse, a pass that will guarantee my safe passage through Tong Gate – and my freedom.”

Lin Chengyou smiled mockingly: “You certainly dare to name your price.”

Zhuang Mu twisted his lips: “These four conditions might be difficult for others, but for you, they’re as easy as turning your palm. You must have already guessed that the killer will strike again soon, but this person is too cunning – your Department of Justice hasn’t found any useful clues yet. But I have had real contact with the true killer.”

Lin Chengyou replied calmly: “The true killer allowed you to be captured by our Department of Justice because they were confident that any clues you provided couldn’t lead to them. How can one agree to such unreasonable demands from someone who may not even help solve the case?”

Zhuang Mu laughed coldly: “Though I don’t know the killer’s true identity, what I’ve learned over this past month exceeds what your Department of Justice could discover in a year. I imagine you understand this clearly, which is why you’ve repeatedly brought good wine and food to entertain me in prison.”

Lin Chengyou said: “If you truly had no desires, you could have continued refusing food and drink. Doesn’t accepting my hospitality indicate that you too are eager to deal with that killer?”

Zhuang Mu faltered.

Lin Chengyou poured another bowl of wine for Zhuang Mu: “I’ve said before, that you want to use the Department of Justice to exact your revenge, and I want to use your information to find the killer. We each get what we need. But what you know alone isn’t enough to identify the killer in a short time.”

Zhuang Mu looked at the wine in his bowl with a complex expression.

Lin Chengyou smiled: “To catch the killer, it’s not enough to just tell what you know. At a minimum, you need to cooperate with the Department of Justice to set a trap. If this trap successfully captures the killer, those four conditions you mentioned—”

Zhuang Mu stared intently at Lin Chengyou, who deliberately hesitated before smiling and nodding: “Perhaps we could make an effort to try.”

Zhuang Mu’s expression relaxed slightly, though his eyes flashed with hesitation.

Lin Chengyou looked up at him: “You should know your opportunities are limited. Once the true killer discovers your behind-the-scenes master first, no trap will be of use. At that point, you’ll be worthless to the Department of Justice. Do you think I would agree to your conditions then?”

Zhuang Mu gritted his teeth, drained his wine bowl in one gulp, and suddenly said: “On the first day of the third month, a friend of mine suddenly sent me a message saying that one of his subordinates had lost an important object in another region three years ago. Last month, this object suddenly appeared in Tong Prefecture. My friend suspected the thief was currently in Tong Prefecture and asked me to go immediately to capture both the object and the thief and bring them back to Chang’an.”

Lin Chengyou remained silent; this so-called “friend” was likely Zhuang Mu’s true master.

“By the time I reached Tong Prefecture, the object had disappeared from the marketplace. I stayed at an inn on the busiest street and secretly investigated the matter.”

“What kind of object? How could it be so easily recognized?” Lin Chengyou asked abruptly.

Zhuang Mu remained silent.

Lin Chengyou snorted: “Even if you don’t tell me, I can discover it after a few days of investigation in Tong Prefecture. Why waste both our efforts?”

Zhuang Mu lowered his eyelids and said: “It was a Qiankun Eight Trigrams Mirror, but the mirror’s surface wasn’t round – it was crescent-shaped, called the Moon Phase Mirror.”

Lin Chengyou raised his long eyebrows – another “Moon Phase.”

“This mirror has one dark side and one light side – the yang side is red, the yin side is black. It’s said the mirror contains a demon beast. If you point the yin side at someone who has just died, it can scatter their soul. Even if that person becomes a fierce ghost on the spot, they will forget certain things about their death and become a puppet, willingly controlled by the mirror’s holder.”

Lin Chengyou pondered silently. This sounded very similar to his master’s grandfather’s Infinite Mirror, except that the mirror was used to detect grievance energy. Any object or corpse tainted by evil spirits could be identified with one look from the Infinite Mirror. But this soul-stealing mirror Zhuang Mu described was an evil artifact created through dark arts.

He suddenly thought how this mirror’s method of manipulating and torturing spirits was somewhat similar to how Peng Yugui had tortured the Tang couple with the Seven-Pointed Guide Seal. But such evil arts as the Seven-Pointed Guide Seal had already been eliminated by Imperial Decree from his Imperial Uncle. Only some fragmentary versions remain in circulation today.

About fifteen or sixteen years ago, his Imperial Uncle had heard a minister report a horrific case involving evil arts. Deeply moved, his Imperial Uncle vowed to sweep away all harmful occult practices throughout the realm. He entrusted his master’s grandfather to oversee this matter and decreed that all Taoist temples and the Great Seclusion Temple in Chang’an fully cooperate.

With the cooperation of many Buddhist and Taoist priests, his master’s grandfather deployed forces to expose evil and lay hidden nets. After four or five years, they finally caught all the evil arts practitioners in Chang’an at that time, confiscating over ten secret evil arts manuals while destroying dozens of harmful magical artifacts.

Afterward, his master’s grandfather locked those evil arts manuals in the treasure pavilion of the Azure Cloud Temple. This was done mainly because they feared many evil arts practitioners still lurked in various prefectures and counties. If these people caused trouble with evil arts, they could quickly understand the principles behind them through these manuals.

Having spent his childhood at Azure Cloud Temple, he had long ago picked the lock and secretly read those manuals. One of them was the “Soul Scripture” which recorded the Seven-Pointed Guide Seal. It was only after reading this book that he learned of such powerful soul-binding techniques.

The manual recording the “Heartbreak Gu” evil art was also something he had stumbled upon at that time.

Just as he was thinking this, Zhuang Mu said: “Because this mirror has consumed so many vengeful spirit fragments, it always carries extremely heavy resentful energy. On inauspicious days, the mirror surface will spontaneously leak filthy blood. The mirror’s holder often becomes stained with blood without realizing it. Only my friend and a few of his associates knew this – the thief who stole it did not. The reason my friend knew the mirror had appeared in Tong Prefecture was because several merchants from there were discussing in a Chang’an tavern how they’d seen a Taoist walking through the marketplace when blood suddenly started flowing from his chest and abdomen. Strangely, there were no visible wounds on his face, and after someone pointed it out, the Taoist hurriedly left…”

Lin Chengyou suddenly asked: “With such an evil mirror, are there no particular rules about using it to harm people?”

Zhuang Mu took a drink: “There are quite specific rules. Whether ‘binding souls’ or ‘scattering souls,’ it greatly damages one’s spiritual merit. If the mirror’s holder doesn’t want to harm their cultivation, they should first determine whether their victim did evil deeds in life. If they weren’t good people, then having their souls scattered could be considered karmic retribution, and the karmic backlash on the mirror’s holder would be lessened. Therefore, holders typically only target evil people.”

Lin Chengyou thought for a moment and said: “Is this how you determined those three pregnant victims weren’t good people?”

Zhuang Mu laughed coldly: “This killer didn’t just harm one person, but several pregnant women. Even a scoundrel like me finds such acts too heinous. If that person didn’t want to sacrifice all their cultivation, they would naturally have carefully considered before acting.”

Lin Chengyou was silent for a moment: “How did the killer learn what these three women had done?”

Zhuang Mu said: “I don’t know either, but the mirror’s bleeding incident happened a month ago, indicating the thief had already reached Tong Prefecture. Yet no strange cases occurred during that month, suggesting they hadn’t initially chosen which pregnant women to target. Why they aimed at Lady Bai a month later must have been because they determined killing her would cause the least damage to their cultivation.”

Lin Chengyou fell into silent contemplation. The killer hadn’t just killed Lady Bai – they had also killed her husband Wang Cangbao.

Lin Chengyou pondered: Being so careful in selecting pregnant women, yet not fearing the cultivation damage from killing Wang Cangbao?

According to Judge Liu, this couple had abandoned their business and come to Chang’an because they’d offended local ruffians.

This point had already struck him as peculiar. The Wang couple’s Five Prosperity Shop had been passed down from their fathers and had operated locally for decades. Would they abandon their ancestral business just because they’d offended some thugs over cockfighting?

Unfortunately, these past days he had focused entirely on the Moon Phase Child-Lord and hadn’t had time to closely examine the unusual aspects of this couple’s situation.

“After several days of fruitless investigation, I was planning to return to Chang’an to report, when two travelers at my inn mentioned seeing a Taoist’s robe stained with filthy blood that morning on their way into the city. Others tried to alert him, but the Taoist quickly vanished. I learned this happened at the foot of Black Chicken Mountain in the outskirts, so I hurried there. But that very night after I settled in, a murder occurred at the nearby An’jin Inn – the victims were a young couple.

“After returning to Chang’an to report to my friend, he said this murder was very likely the thief’s doing, though he couldn’t understand why they’d killed the couple. He also said my long investigation in Tong Prefecture might have alerted the person, and to avoid exposing my identity, told me to lay low for a while before returning to the Iron Shop.”

Lin Chengyou said: “But from what I know, you didn’t stay hidden – you went to Spring Peace Lane the day Shu Liniang was killed.”

Zhuang Mu gave a cold laugh: “That was because I fell for that scoundrel’s trap. I suspect they had been watching me since Tong Prefecture. I was in the open, they in the shadows. They wanted to know who sent me to investigate them, so as soon as they returned to Chang’an, they began plotting against me.”

Following his “friend’s” advice, Zhuang Mu found lodging at an inn in Chongren Ward where many out-of-town merchants stayed. One day, feeling stifled, he went downstairs to drink at a tavern. After drinking alone for a short while, he heard two children outside talking excitedly about seeing blood on a passing Taoist’s clothes, wondering if he was injured.

Zhuang Mu hurried out of the tavern and followed the crowd, indeed spotting a Taoist in yellow robes. The Taoist slipped into an alley and emerged wearing clean robes. Zhuang Mu silently followed him to Spring Peace Lane.

The Taoist entered the lane entrance and vanished. Zhuang Mu sat at the entrance, unable to find any trace of the Taoist, but noticed several servants from the lane’s households watching him. Feeling something was wrong, he had to leave hurriedly.

The next day, news spread that another pregnant woman had died in Spring Peace Lane.

“Only then did I realize those two children outside the tavern were likely paid to say those things. When I returned to check at the inn entrance, sure enough, the children were nowhere to be seen. I knew my presence had been exposed, and if I panicked and went to find my ‘friend,’ I would certainly fall into the killer’s trap. So I dared not move rashly. Fortunately, the Mi Yougui Iron Shop had opened, so I returned there to continue working.”

Lin Chengyou contemplated for a moment. The killer Teng Yuyi had seen in the spice shop was short, similar to Zhuang Mu’s height.

“Was the Taoist you saw at the tavern the same one that the merchants in Tong Prefecture had mentioned? Was this person tall or short?”

“That Taoist was in disguise, but the Tong Prefecture merchants said that Taoist was very short, and the one I saw at the tavern was about my height.”

Lin Chengyou nodded. Adult men this short weren’t common – it was likely the same person.

“Why did you go to the back alley of the spice shop the day the Rong’an Marquis’s heir’s wife was killed?”

Zhuang Mu gave a cold snort, his face dark.

After two days at the Iron Shop, he had grown increasingly uneasy. He wanted to send a message to his “friend” but feared interception by the killer. After much thought, he decided to find a ruffian at a gambling house – ostensibly to send them out of the city, but actually to have them unwittingly deliver his message.

He played a few rounds at the gambling house and noticed several tails following him – some were Imperial Guards, others were unknown but highly skilled martial artists.

Zhuang Mu hadn’t done anything nefarious recently and was puzzled. As he was considering his options, he suddenly saw a Taoist in yellow robes hastily leaving the gambling house, as if frightened away after accidentally spotting him.

Zhuang Mu hesitated. This Taoist was much more robust than the previous one but inferior in martial arts. Moreover, his panic at seeing Zhuang Mu suggested he had no accomplices nearby.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhuang Mu decided to give chase. To shake off his tails, he deliberately took a shortcut through a secret passage, injured the Imperial Guards waiting there, and pursued onto the street.

It was the Western Market’s busiest time, and the Taoists blended seamlessly into the crowd.

Zhuang Mu followed the Taoist into a quiet narrow alley. The Taoist seemed to finally notice someone behind him and suddenly broke into a run, but after just a few steps, filthy blood began dripping from the hem of his robe.

Zhuang Mu’s eyes lit up. No wonder this Taoist was so panicked – the Moon Phase Mirror his “friend” sought must be on him. He leaped forward in pursuit, and the Taoist grew even more flustered, frantically pulling something from his robe and tossing it into a wooden barrel in the alley.

Zhuang Mu stopped immediately. The barrel was half full of blood, making it impossible to see if there was a mirror inside. He had to bend down and plunge both arms into the blood to search, but after finding nothing, he suddenly realized he might have fallen into a trap.

Breaking into a cold sweat, he hurried to leave the narrow alley when suddenly someone screamed from a quiet room behind a window, clearly indicating something terrible had happened.

He froze for an instant, about to leap over the wall to escape, when someone on the wall pulled a rope, quickly lifting the blood-filled barrel before his eyes. Zhuang Mu’s face changed dramatically as he realized his arms were covered in blood, but before he could wipe them clean, Lin Chengyou appeared.

This series of events happened in an extremely short time, each step calculated precisely.

Lin Chengyou stared steadily at Zhuang Mu in the cage. Even if he hadn’t been there that day, the killer would have led other Imperial Guards to the scene. Upon seeing Zhuang Mu’s blood-covered hands, they would have reported their “witnessed facts” to the Department of Justice, thus achieving the killer’s goal.

Whether Zhuang Mu was caught on the spot or later through wanted posters, both the Department of Justice and county officials would thoroughly investigate him and his behind-the-scenes master.

The killer had successfully obtained three Moon Phase Child-Lords while delivering Zhuang Mu to the Department of Justice, quietly reaping all benefits.

Thinking of this, Lin Chengyou’s eyes darkened. This person seemed to understand his capabilities, apparently knowing that once Zhuang Mu fell into his hands, uncovering Zhuang Mu’s master would be imminent.

Even Zhuang Mu’s personality and likely reactions had been perfectly anticipated by this person.

By this measure, this person was beyond the level of clever people like Peng Yugui – they were a strategic mastermind capable of commanding troops and deploying forces.

After lengthy consideration, Lin Chengyou rose thoughtfully, mentally reviewing the entire case. He turned back to Zhuang Mu: “Did your ‘friend’ mention which day the mirror appeared in Tong Prefecture?”

“The first day of the second month.”

Lin Chengyou stroked his chin. Lady Bai was killed on the fifth day of the third month, over a month after the Moon Phase Mirror appeared in Tong Prefecture.

This wasn’t hard to understand. With Naizhong sealed in Tong Prefecture, it would have been inconvenient for the killer to transport a Moon Phase Child-Lord from Chang’an for feeding. Therefore, the first Child-Lord had to be obtained locally in Tong Prefecture. However the killer wasn’t very familiar with the area, so selecting a victim took considerable time.

When Naizhong didn’t awaken after consuming one Child-Lord, the killer either found a way to transport it to Chang’an or, fearing suspicion from frequent killings in Tong Prefecture, had to return to Chang’an to obtain the next Child-Lord.

What puzzled him was that only twenty days later, the killer had targeted and killed Shu Liniang.

Chang’an had a vast population of countless pregnant women. Shu Liniang was Vice Director Zheng’s “separate house woman,” hidden in Spring Peace Lane and rarely going out. After learning of her pregnancy, hoping to stay permanently by Vice Director Zheng’s side, she became even more precious and protected.

How could the killer know such a secluded woman wasn’t a “good person”?

Unless…

Unless the killer had known Shu Liniang before, able to find her precisely even hidden in Spring Peace Lane.

After killing Shu Liniang, the killer took only one day before killing Lady Jiang the younger, wife of the Rong’an Marquis’s heir, in the Western Market.

One day wasn’t enough to investigate someone’s past deeds, suggesting the killer had already decided on Lady Jiang as the next target before killing Shu Liniang.

No matter how capable, the killer couldn’t have learned both Shu Liniang’s and Lady Jiang’s past misdeeds in such a short time. This suggested either someone had informed the killer about both women’s backgrounds or the killer personally knew their true characters well.

A flash of insight struck Lin Chengyou – did the shortest preparation time for Lady Jiang’s murder indicate the killer knew her best?

And this point might be the killer’s only weakness.

Zhuang Mu took another drink, looking down at his cup: “Well, not an easy trap to set, is it?”

Lin Chengyou turned to look at him, smiling: “Not easy, but it must be done.”

After a moment’s thought, he stepped forward to rebind Zhuang Mu’s chains, saying before leaving: “Wait here. Let me confirm a few things before telling you how to cooperate in setting the trap.”

***

In the Case Archives Room, Lin Chengyou briefly related their conversation.

Investigator Yan was startled: “This is quite unexpected… but looking at it this way, the killer probably won’t strike again. Chang’an’s pregnant women are now basically all registered – we’ll know immediately if the killer makes any moves. Unable to investigate the women’s backgrounds, they’ll have no way to act.”

But Lin Chengyou said: “That was then, this is now. Naizhong has manifested, and from my encounter with it today, its yin power hasn’t recovered. If the killer wants to use Naizhong to disturb Chang’an, they must quickly obtain another Moon Phase Child-Lord. Now focused solely on speed, they might not be as careful as before. Lady Jiang might be the key to this entire case. I’ll go find Song Jian, the Rong’an Marquis’s heir, first.”

Investigator Yan quickly put down the case files: “I’ll go with you, Officer Lin. When we reach the Rong’an manor, I’ll take notes.”

***

At the Rong’an Manor.

The steward led Lin Chengyou and his party inside, saying: “The Marquis has been unwell recently and retired early. The young master is still handling affairs in the outer study.”

Lin Chengyou observed his surroundings as they walked. Though Lady Jiang’s body remained at the Department of Justice, the Rong’an manor was already draped in white. White gauze lanterns hung from the corridors and eaves, and the servants all wore mourning clothes.

As the servant led them around a corner, they met a handsome man in his twenties or thirties – Song Jian, the Rong’an Marquis’s heir.

Song Jian looked haggard, his eyes full of grief. Though not in mourning clothes, he wore no jade pendants or fan tassels at his waist. Hearing the servants’ report, he had come specially to receive the visitors. Seeing Lin Chengyou from afar, he strode forward to meet them.