Gong Qi’s idea to look into missing persons had only been a spur-of-the-moment decision prompted by Lang Jiuchuan’s divination reading. But what he had not anticipated was that in the period before the New Year, several missing persons cases had in fact been reported to the Capital Magistrate’s Office.

Eight women. Regardless of age, every single one of them had a birth chart of pure Yin — and their fated fate…

His fingers flew through rapid calculations. All of them registered as already dead. And this was only within Wu Jing city. How many more might there be in other counties and prefectures?

Gong Qi’s face darkened like still water. The malevolent spirit had not yet emerged, and yet several women were already dead — all with pure Yin birth charts. Coincidence?

To hell with coincidence. The divination reading was right there, and they specifically had pure Yin birth charts — there could not be that many coincidences.

Then the question arose: since the malevolent spirit had not yet entered the world, these women — had someone been delivering them as fodder to feed it? And who was this person — human, or some demonic ghost?

Whatever it was, it amounted to acts of nourishment on behalf of the malevolent spirit.

To be thorough, Gong Qi set up a soul-summoning formation, using the birth charts of those several women — including the Ding Suqiu mentioned by Lang Jiuchuan — and performed a soul-summoning ritual. Without exception, not a single one came.

A chill ran through Gong Qi’s entire body.

Not a single one could be summoned. That meant not only were they dead — their souls were gone as well?

Gong Qi did not deliberate for long. He immediately took out a precious long-distance voice transmission talisman, formed the seal sign, burned the talisman, and sent word. This matter was of the utmost gravity — just him and Gong Si alone would likely be insufficient.

After finishing the voice transmission with the Young Master, Gong Qi raised his head and looked up at the sky, which had already turned black. Great goose-feather snowflakes drifted down in thick abundance, carrying a piercing cold.

Shen Qinghe, seeing the look on his face, knew things were bad. “Well?”

“They are all already dead.”

Shen Qinghe’s expression immediately sank.

This New Year was not going to be an easy one.

Gong Qi turned and said, “This matter is not something your people can handle. But there is one thing — if Sir Shen dares to pursue it, it may be worth investigating, as it would also be a useful clue.”

Shen Qinghe replied coldly, “If this is the work of an evil entity, we indeed cannot contend with it. But if it is the work of humans, we are officials who plead for the people — there is nothing we would not dare to pursue. We also owe the bereaved families an account.”

“Indeed. I can’t speak to the others, but as for the disappearance of Ding Mangu’s daughter, Ding Suqiu — it must be connected to her husband. That man called Zhuo Yu. If one follows the vine and traces it to the gourd, it should lead to someone in contact with him, and that person is likely connected to all these missing women.” Following what Lang Jiuchuan had said — the one making contact with Zhuo Yu was definitely a person, and what stood behind that person still needed to be investigated.

Shen Qinghe said, “Even if you had not told me, I would have investigated. His wife went missing, yet he — as her husband — did not promptly notify her family. He concealed it, and only after her family forced their way in and could no longer be kept in the dark did the story of her having run off with someone come out. That in itself is a glaring inconsistency.”

For a man whose household honor had been compromised, there were two options: either bury it completely — send a letter of divorce, but the wife’s family still had to be informed, otherwise there would be no grounds. A woman punished for adultery could be handled cleanly, and even her family would likely not dare say a word.

But Zhuo Yu — not only had he concealed it, he had waited until the wife’s family forced their way in and the secret could no longer be kept, and only then claimed his wife had run off with someone, saying he hadn’t wanted to hurt her family and had hoped to find her and figure things out from there?

Who would believe that?

Shortly afterward, Ding Mangu met with trouble, and the evidence chain was remarkably neat and complete — clearly prepared in advance, clearly meant to have him silenced so the matter would sink without a trace.

No matter how complete the evidence chain appeared, Shen Qinghe reserved his judgment, because he did not trust in human nature.

“I hadn’t expected that even a small figure like this would be worthy of a Gong Clan Daoren’s protection.” Shen Qinghe looked at Gong Qi, clearly surprised. “Could it be because he is a family member of one of the involved parties?”

Though slightly stung by the faint sarcasm, Gong Qi shook his head. “Nothing more than acting on another’s commission.”

“Oh?” Shen Qinghe narrowed his eyes. “If Ding Mangu had those kinds of connections, he would not have suffered so in the Capital Magistrate’s prison.”

“He burned incense at the right shrine in a past life, it seems — even amidst a sea of people, he happened to encounter a benefactor willing to protect him.” Gong Qi said with a slight curl of his lip.

“Who is it?”

Gong Qi smiled with an air of amusement. “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t know them. A cunning young woman who’s well-practiced at playing the fool to catch the wise — the ninth young lady of Marquis Kaiping’s household.”

He had nothing he couldn’t say. Someone as wily as Shen Qinghe — if he didn’t say it, the man would surely go ask Ding Mangu himself, given that Ding Mangu was now on his territory.

This man had a righteous spirit — he wasn’t likely to act against a young girl.

Shen Qinghe: “!”

As it turned out, he did know her.

Gong Qi saw the strange look on his face and felt a sudden lurch inside. He reined in his smile. “What — Your Excellency knows her?”

“Where is Little Ninth right now?”

Gong Qi: “……”

That was as good as an admission.

Heavens above, his face was stinging a little — what was he to do?

Gong Qi watched with his own eyes as Shen Qinghe performed a complete transformation. The cold expression dissolved, replaced by a warm and kindly gentleness. He also became considerably more talkative — though everything he said circled around questions about Lang Jiuchuan.

Things like: had she grown taller, had she put on any weight, was she in good health, had anyone been giving her a hard time — all of it, on and on, like a doting father rambling away.

And then — why were the corners of his eyes glistening? Why did they get dewy as he went on, taking on the sorrowful look of a man grieving over how frail and pitiable Lang Jiuchuan was?

Gong Qi hastily took his leave.

Shen Qinghe let out a low huff. Well, his wife didn’t need to return to her own mother’s home on the second day of the New Year anyway, and their daughter wasn’t in Wu Jing either — she never came back on the second day as a rule. Perhaps he, his wife, and their son Shen Peng could go spend a night at Huguo Temple as well, and take the chance for Shen Peng to personally express their gratitude.

That’s what they’d do.

Lang Jiuchuan was as yet unaware that old acquaintances were on their way. She had finished her vegetarian meal and shut herself back in the meditation chamber, arranging a Confusion Tracking Formation inside the room to prevent anyone from forcing their way in. Then she lit incense and summoned the talisman brush.

The Jade Bone Talisman Brush — driven by thought alone, capable of defying fate and stabilizing heaven and earth. It could be used to paint spirit talismans or wielded as a talisman blade to engrave new patterns, and carried within it the intent of the divine.

She need not have gone to such trouble ordinarily, but since the Diamond Pagoda had been stolen from the Feng Family and had been adrift for many years — if it had not come into her hands, it likely would have remained submerged beneath the Ou Family’s waterside pavilion forever, utterly transformed into a vessel of malevolent evil. Now it was hers. To prevent the Feng Family from forcibly reclaiming it in the future, she not only needed to completely purge the pagoda of its bloody and malevolent energy, but also re-temper it from the ground up. She already had a plan for how to do so, but for now — she first needed to add some talisman patterns.

She also had a clear idea of how to remake it: enter the pagoda with her primordial spirit, expel the malevolence and alter the patterns, forge resonance with the vessel spirit so it would recognize her as its master. Only then could it truly become hers.

“Before the hour of midnight — even if the sky falls, do not allow anyone to come in and disturb me.” Lang Jiuchuan said to Jiang Che. “If someone startles me, my primordial soul inside the pagoda will suffer a backlash, and I fear it will be unable to return — leaving it to become the vessel spirit.”

If her primordial soul entered the pagoda and suffered a backlash, she would become the imprisoned vessel spirit inside, waiting for the next master to appear.

Jiang Che said: “Your soul is already incomplete, and yet you want to wager this much? You’ve truly reached new heights of recklessness. What if you really do get trapped in there…”

Lang Jiuchuan fixed it with a steady gaze and said, “If I do get trapped in there, then you help me find the remaining soul and two spiritual fragments.”

Jiang Che paused, then drifted quickly out, leaving behind a single line: “Please. Evil endures a thousand years — you cannot break it.”

Damn it all, this reckless person gave it no end of grief.