The mountain wind blew gently, stirring their garments.
Amid the flowers and beneath the grass, fluttering butterflies resembled a young girl's skirt hem, lively and vibrant.
Outside Virtuous Cloud Temple, three small stools stood in a row. Yu Qi'an led Li Chu and Little Yue'er, striking the exact same posture with his left hand propping up his chin, and together they stared blankly at the interior.
Looking at it on the first day felt blissful, on the second day it felt fulfilling, but by the third day it felt somewhat boring.
Only Little Yue'er still maintained an enthusiastic demeanor, asking from time to time what this was for and what that was for.
Of course, eight times out of ten it was a question she had already asked yesterday.
Sometimes she even remembered asking this question yesterday, but she still had to ask it again.
Because she didn't remember what the answer was.
Days at the daoist temple were just like that, resembling leisurely stray white clouds outside the mountains.
Drifting past.
Li Xinyi's arrival broke this peace.
Her attire today was extremely eye-catching. The fabric was rose red, dipping diagonally off her left shoulder, leaving her entire white, rounded shoulder and half of her deep collarbone bare. Her chest was perky, and her tight, narrow waist allowed her proud curves to be seen at a glance.
A pair of snow-white long legs appeared vaguely visible where her skirt hem split.
Her long hair was still tied up high, and a pair of beautiful eyes suffused with rippling light, locking onto Li Chu's lazy figure from afar.
As she drew closer, the workers paving the front courtyard all lost their souls. Yet they were not scolded, because the foreman was also staring in a daze.
Only when she got closer did Li Xinyi notice Little Yue'er sitting beside Li Chu.
The young girl's exquisite face and clear eyes made tension rise abruptly in her gaze, like facing a great enemy.
When her gaze fell upon the young girl's chest.
This tension instantly dissipated by seven parts.
Since ancient times heroes have loved high mountains, and no one has ever heard of a fine steed stepping across plains.
"Daoist Yu, Little Daoist Priest Li," Li Xinyi greeted.
Li Chu watched Li Xinyi walk forward with her head held high and chest out, intentionally sweeping a glance right over there.
Mm.
There really was a mole.
This open and unmasked gaze naturally also fell into Li Xinyi's eyes.
She smiled slightly.
Hah, men.
After a round of psychological activities where neither side knew what the other was thinking, she finally clarified the main point of her visit today.
In short, the vengeful spirit case was not yet concluded.
"I came to look for you the day before yesterday, but you weren't in at the time. The incident had already happened then."
The event took place on the second day of subduing evil in Xia Liu Village. Li Xinyi had not yet set off to return to Hangzhou Prefecture at the time.
Two constables were buying sesame seed cakes together on their way to the yamen jail in the morning. Who would have thought that after receiving the sesame seed cake, one of the constables suddenly dropped dead right after turning around.
He died without the slightest warning, frightening the other constable out of his wits on the spot. After shouting for a long time that they should report to the officials, he finally remembered that he was a government runner himself.
Once the corpse was carried to the yamen for examination, it made the coroner doubt his very existence.
Because there was nothing wrong with this corpse. The constable was strong and robust on ordinary days, had no illnesses, no poison, no external injuries, and not even any emotional fluctuations.
A perfectly fine, living man had simply died out of thin air.
It seemed it could only be explained as a weird case.
Just when Zhou Dafu was at his wit's end, a certain matter caught his attention.
The peddler who sold the sesame seed cakes handed all the copper coins the constable had used to buy the cakes over to the yamen, saying he dared not accept dead men's money.
They were merely a few copper coins, nothing major, and usually Zhou Dafu wouldn't have cared. But at that moment he was completely devoid of clues, so he stared at those copper coins in a daze for a while.
With this stare, he abruptly discovered something was wrong.
Normal copper coins all had "Heluo Coin" written on them, yet among these copper coins, there was one that read "Netherworld Coin"—markings never seen before.
He immediately handed the case over to Li Xinyi.
Li Xinyi reported it upward to Facing Heaven Pavilion, and the news she got back was that the "Netherworld Coin" was currency belonging to the ghost kingdom.
The human world ghost country was a realm established in legends by countless ghosts lingering in the yang world, illusory yet truly existing. Passed down from the Archaic Era to the present day, every time it manifested, it brought about immense catastrophe.
Things had gotten big.
When Zhou Dafu went to investigate where this constable had obtained this ghost kingdom copper coin in the first place, he was shocked by what he found.
It turned out this copper coin was related to the previous two vengeful spirit cases.
Back on the day of the Xia Liu Village tragedy, this deceased constable had gone to collect the corpses, and the little girl's corpse was the one he found at the foot of the mountain.
This copper coin was held tightly in the little girl's hand at that time.
When he was gathering the corpses, the copper coin dropped to the ground, and he pocketed it without looking closely. Another colleague had even scolded him at the time, saying that taking advantage of the dead might bring retribution.
However, he was habitually greedy for petty gains and even laughed, saying this could count as his reward for helping her collect her corpse.
Later, he casually used this copper coin to go buy sesame seed cakes, and the moment the money was spent, his life was gone.
Zhou Dafu was also a veteran head constable, and he still possessed the instincts he ought to have.
He immediately went to investigate Xue Family's First Wife's corpse as well.
On the day the first wife took her own life, her body was collected by the Xue family themselves. Zhou Dafu led men to pry open the first wife's coffin and discovered that, sure enough, there was also a copper coin held inside her mouth.
It was precisely a "Netherworld Coin."
Connecting the front and back, the hidden thread in the shadows finally surfaced to the bright surface.
Why did weird cases occur so frequently in Yuhang Town, and why did rare vengeful spirits appear one after another?
There were powerful ghosts making mischief behind the scenes!
Although the case had not yet come to light, this thoroughly proved his innocence. There was no mishandling of affairs, and no false reporting of weird cases.
It wasn't that I was lying, I was being targeted, understand?
Zhou Dafu exhaled a breath of long-suppressed grievance.
Afterward, the role of worrying shifted to Li Xinyi.
She asked her master again and confirmed that this copper coin was a method used by ghosts, called a "Life Buying Coin."
This was an extremely venomous weird art, specially used to bewitch people harboring resentful qi, using this coin to buy away a person's life. After death, that person would transform into a vengeful spirit.
As for the constable's death, it truly belonged to an unmerited disaster. By spending someone else's life-buying coin, he had sent away his own life as well. Luckily for him, he harbored no resentful qi, so he hadn't gone as far as transforming into a vengeful spirit.
She realized that there really was a major case here that she had been anticipating. If she could resolve it, it would definitely be a supreme achievement.
Yet at the same time she also worried whether her own capability was enough to solve this weird case—after all, she had almost capsized last time while dealing with a single vengeful spirit.
That was why she had come to find Li Chu for help the day before yesterday.
Only, she had run into an empty nest at the time, so she had no choice but to think of a way herself.
Piecing together the previous vengeful spirit cases, she deduced that the ghost making mischief behind the scenes ought to have a method capable of sensing resentful qi.
Whenever abundant resentful qi appeared, it would go over and bewitch the person, making them sell their life to it in exchange for the chance to transform into a vengeful spirit to exact revenge on their enemies.
Before a vengeful spirit appeared, someone was bound to die first.
Thus, she had Zhou Dafu and a squad of constables keep a tight watch day and night, ordering them to report the very first instance someone went missing or died within the borders of Yu Hang County.
Sure enough, within two days, news of a new death arrived.
When she narrated these things, the men, women, and children of Virtuous Cloud Temple all gathered around on the side, listening as if to a story.
Hearing her finish, Little Yue'er shrunk her shoulders in fear and said in a small voice, "So picking up other people's money will kill you?"
Yu Qi'an hurriedly patted the young girl's shoulder, soothing her: "Yue'er, don't be afraid. We only pick it up and never spend it, guaranteed to be safe."
If Little Yue'er stopped daring to pick up money when going out from now on just from hearing this story, that would be a huge loss. She was currently the pivotal figure in reviving Virtuous Cloud Temple!
Li Xinyi looked at the young daoist priest's handsome profile: "Can you come help me?"
Li Chu had been staying idly for a few days and felt somewhat bored, so without thinking much, he nodded directly: "Alright."
A smile instantly bloomed upon the woman's face, precisely resembling blossoming flowers.
She voluntarily brought up: "The bounty will be given according to the previous amount, and if we can unearth the true mastermind behind the scenes, we can add more."
Li Chu nodded, detached and untroubled.
With Little Yue'er as a steady source of income, he truly didn't need to care too much about the yamen's unstable bounties.
Making money was so troublesome; how could it compare to picking up money for convenience?
Half of his agreement to help this time stemmed from a sense of righteousness wishing to uphold the peace of Yuhang Town.
Mm, at least a small half.
"Alright, then let's go take a look at the deceased right now." Li Xinyi stood up promptly.
"Where to?" Li Chu asked.
Li Xinyi said, "Spring Full Pavilion."
Before you continue