That she would encounter Qisi’s death here had also been beyond Lang Jiuchuan’s expectations. She had seen the death calamity hanging over her — but the moment she had spoken of it plainly to Gong Qi, that meant the calamity was not necessarily insurmountable. It all depended on whether the person had the fate to grasp the thread of survival.

Clearly, Qi Minjun had not seized that chance.

That she had died here, and in such a horrifying state, was a surprise to Lang Jiuchuan as well. And now she had run into Gong Qi and his group — she was well aware she had landed herself in trouble.

But to suspect her of having a hand in Qisi’s death simply because she had been walking alone in the mountains at night was far too hasty a judgment.

“This Daoist suspects me of harming Miss Qisi? Then please produce your evidence. Prove that I did it.”

Lang Jiuchuan conveyed that she was perfectly reasonable — you’re suspicious? Fine. Then prove it.

“You, a woman alone—”

“Does the Daoist believe a woman has no right to move about as she pleases?” Lang Jiuchuan said. “If I were to say I came into the deep mountains to absorb the essence of heaven, earth, sun, and moon — to cultivate and meditate — would that not explain why I am here?”

Shengong scowled. Women truly were troublesome.

Huatong said quietly: “Miss, there is no moon tonight.”

So saying you came to feed on the northwest wind would be more believable.

Lang Jiuchuan looked up at the sky: “Who says there isn’t? The moon is about to come out.”

As though answering her words, within just a few breaths, a crescent moon like a curved sickle slipped out from the clouds.

“There, the moon has come out. A sickle moon is still a moon. You cannot deny that, can you?”

Everyone: “!”

Lang Jiuchuan continued: “If that explanation still does not clear my name, then surely this will — the reason you are here is exactly the reason I am here.”

What? How could that be—

They had come because they had sensed a spiritual presence. Was Lang Jiuchuan saying the same?

Gong Qi was not surprised. He thought to himself: how could it not be? Her Dao cultivation is deeper than mine. It is entirely normal that she sensed the appearance of a spiritual creature.

Shengong said coldly: “That is sophistry.”

“Yes it is, and I’m doing it with perfect composure. Now — since this Daoist has no evidence that I killed someone and stole their soul, what grounds do you have to suspect me? I’m a feeble young woman, supposedly boring two bloody holes into someone and draining all their blood and flesh — and stealing their soul on top of that. You give me far too much credit. If anything, you lot are the more suspicious ones. You’re many in number, you have strength in numbers — a group killing is far more plausible than a frail girl acting alone. In fact, perhaps you killed her yourselves and now you’re trying to pin this injustice on me.” For good measure, Lang Jiuchuan took a step back and put on an expression of wary alertness.

The wooden fish, playing dead: “You studied under an actor at some point, didn’t you?”

Jiangche, watching in sheer admiration: “Unhinged, and only Lang Jiuchuan could pull it off.”

The two spirits exchanged a snort and went back to watching the show.

Sure enough, the moment Lang Jiuchuan went off-script, the expressions of the others shifted through several shades.

“Young lady, mind your words!” Daoist Bagui said with a frown. “We are all disciples of the Xuan Sect, righteous cultivators. We would never commit such vile and wicked acts as killing people and stealing their souls.”

He might have been better off not saying that at all. The moment he did, the deep black of Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes grew even darker — like a still, lightless abyss — and a piercing cold light flashed through them like winter frost.

“Righteous cultivators would never kill people or steal their souls? Not necessarily.” Lang Jiuchuan gave a cold laugh. “Are you gentlemen unaware that the Rong Family of the Xuan Sect dispatched their disciples to use wicked arts against my Lang Family — seeking to help a relative vent their grievances and wipe out my entire clan? Daoist Gong personally witnessed it and helped my family survive that ordeal. If you don’t believe me, feel free to ask him for confirmation. And that was done openly. One shudders to think what they get up to in secret.”

Shengong and the others genuinely had not known of this. They looked at Gong Qi, who nodded in confirmation — and their faces turned the color of an overturned inkpot, miserably dark and thoroughly stinging.

Had the Rong Family lost their minds?

Lang Jiuchuan felt the sting still was not sharp enough and delivered another line: “And the last two Daoist men were taken away by something called the Enforcement Hall. Who knows whether any fair judgment was given. Tsk.”

The group heard the mockery clearly, and their faces darkened further.

Gong Qi glanced mildly at Shengong: why did you have to provoke her?

She and my Gong Qi are equally unhinged.

Shengong: “…”

He let out a huff: “No matter how much the young lady argues, you still cannot explain why you are here. We may take your word for it — but the authorities are another matter. And judging by this woman’s dress, she is clearly someone of rank and privilege.”

Meaning: you poor wretch, you’ve bought yourself a world of trouble.

“If the authorities question me, I’ll simply say I couldn’t sleep, noticed a few Daoists acting suspiciously as they came up here, and followed them out of curiosity.”

Shengong had just turned his head away, and now turned it right back, glaring at her. The girl was absolutely shameless!

“Either I was sleepwalking and trailed along behind you, so we discovered this body together — or I was never here at all.” Lang Jiuchuan smiled pleasantly: “Whether the authorities believe it or not, Daoist, that is entirely up to how well you do your own arguing.”

Either we’re accomplices, or you never saw me. Pick one.

Everyone had caught the meaning behind those words. Even the most composed of them was seething now. They had been threatened — by this one slip of a girl who looked like a stiff wind would knock her flat!

“My health is frail and I cannot withstand the cold wind. Whether you report to the authorities or do something else — I leave the rest of this to you.” Lang Jiuchuan gave a casual wave of her hand and turned to leave. She had gone only two steps when she seemed to remember something, and turned to ask Gong Qi: “By the way — did you look into her birth date and hour?”

Gong Qi stiffened slightly: “Her birth year was a yin year, yin month — but not a yin day. Word has it she was born just after the zi hour had turned on a yin day.”

Lang Jiuchuan frowned: “That’s a slight divergence from my calculation, but yin year and yin month are close enough. I only feel that there is something strange about her death. The hexagram I divined was: when the anomaly arises, the evil shall emerge. Yet there have been no anomalies these past days — and yet her manner of death is consistent with fangs. Whether this was truly a jiangshi’s doing or not, I cannot say with certainty. You all look into it.”

She said her piece and headed down the mountain.

Gong Qi stood looking at Qisi’s corpse, lost in thought. Indeed — they had investigated all the way from the sect and found no anomalies either. A corpse like this was something none of them had encountered before.

Those two puncture wounds were certainly not made by human teeth. It was either a demon beast, or the jiangshi they had theorized about — but a jiangshi would not fit the divined omen of an evil entity about to emerge.

If Lang Jiuchuan had made an error in her divination, had their young master also made an error?

Surely two people could not both be wrong at once?

“Could it be that this evil entity is not a jiangshi at all?” Jiangche asked Lang Jiuchuan.

Lang Jiuchuan replied: “Hard to say, but the two are not unconnected.”

Jiangche: “So you’re not going to pursue it?”

“If there’s news, Gong Qi will surely tell me. Or — you could go play spy? That way we’d always have the freshest information.”

Jiangche let out a dramatic groan, then went limp, all four limbs splayed out: “I am small and helpless. I need my rest.”

The wooden fish gave a cold laugh. I always said this was a dumb cat — and it’s getting more cat-like by the day.

Up on the mountain, Shengong and the others shivered in the cold wind and came back to their senses. They glanced down at the dried corpse, then at each other in bewilderment.

What had they just heard?

She divined that an evil entity was about to emerge — and all of it came from that sharp tongue of hers flapping open and shut?