Pursuing the Murderer

Ganyang Mountain, Li Family Camp.

Li Kefu's face was dark as he looked over the camp. The constables of Shuinui County were bustling about, while the coroner examined the corpses and bones on the ground.

He was Li Xiaoding's father, the assistant county magistrate of Shuinui County. The Li Family wielded immense power; in Shuinui County, everything, high and low, was decided by him. The County Magistrate was nothing more than a decoration.

He had three daughters and only this one son. Yet now, his son was dead!

After receiving word from the Ding Family, he had rushed here, only to discover that his son had been devoured by Sui, leaving nothing but white bones!

Even the seven Imperial Guards who had followed Li Xiaoding had all been buried in Sui's maw!

"My lord, I questioned the Ding Family. They should not be involved."

A young man in his early thirties strode swiftly over. He had swordlike brows, bright eyes, a tall, broad-shouldered frame, and wore red robes and an official's hat. A strange weapon was slung across his back. It resembled a spear, yet not quite: one end bore a spearhead, while three tubes were welded together at the other, making it look like a hammer.

This object was called a Three-Eyed Firearm. Its power was immense, surpassing ordinary spells. Its black iron tubes were packed with gunpowder, saltpeter, and Thunderbolt Pellets. Once ignited, it erupted with the force of thunder; the Thunderbolt Pellets shot forth like sharp arrows for a hundred paces, wounding men from a hundred paces away!

Thunderbolt Pellets were round lead bullets. Ten weighed one liang. Hollow within, they were stuffed with gunpowder and exploded upon striking a target, with tremendous power.

This man was Zhuge Jian, the registrar of Shuinui County's yamen. He was highly capable, but his family background was lacking, so he could only serve as a registrar at the county office.

Zhuge Jian bowed. "Yesterday afternoon, the Ding Family's Fourth Miss sent a maid named Zi E over, intending to strengthen the ties between our two families. Unexpectedly, dusk came and Zi E had yet to return. Fearing that something had happened to her, they sent someone else over, only then discovering that something had happened at the camp. But by then it was already dark, so they had no choice but to retreat to the Ding Family camp. That was why Young Master's remains were desecrated by Sui and wild beasts."

Li Kefu said coldly, "You mean my son did not die at Sui's hands?"

"Young Master was murdered by a person."

Zhuge Jian said, "I inspected the scene carefully. Judging from the evidence, the assailant used neither spells nor talismans. With only a small knife and his fists and feet, he killed nine people in the brief span of a single breath. In that one breath, he struck thirteen times in all. Even the most heavily wounded person had suffered only two blows from him."

His observations had been extraordinarily meticulous. Though only Li Xiaoding's and the others' skeletons remained, he had still determined the number of times Chen Shi had struck from the faint traces on the bones and the footprints on the ground.

Li Kefu's expression was as dark as water. "What else?"

"As he struck thirteen times and killed nine people, no one present had time to cast a spell. They had not even prepared their spells before he killed them."

Zhuge Jian continued, "This person was not tall, only five or six chi in height, but his body was exceptionally powerful and strong. Within ten feet, his fists and feet could arrive in an instant and take a life! His fists could shatter bones directly!"

Li Kefu frowned. Few cultivators trained their bodies.

"A Strength Talisman could create such a formidable physique."

Zhuge Jian said, "Activating a Strength Talisman grants the divine power of a Yellow Turban Strongman in an instant. Rising up to kill, thunderous force crashes down in but a moment! But this man did not use a Strength Talisman."

Then he changed tack. "I examined the ashes left behind by burned talismans. Among everyone in the camp, only two talismans left ashes behind, and both were Body Protection Golden Bell Talismans. Moreover, both users should have been Young Master. Therefore, the killer must have been a short body-refining cultivator! Or perhaps a Golden Core master who wished to conceal the spells he excelled in and deliberately used fists, feet, and a knife to kill."

Li Kefu frowned. "After killing my son, this man fled at once. Amid the vast sea of people, how are we to find this murderer?"

Zhuge Jian said solemnly, "He left a trail, because he also brought a dog."

Li Kefu froze. He had not seen any dog pawprints on the ground.

The several dozen constables of Shuinui County's yamen had not discovered any dog pawprints either.

"There were bones on the ground that had been gnawed by a dog."

Zhuge Jian held up a bone in his palm. "These bite marks were left by canine teeth. There was also cinnabar dust on the table. Then the visitor's identity is plain as day. He must have been a talisman master with a black dog. Young Master invited him here to draw talismans! Drawing talismans requires black dog blood. Black dog blood has the heaviest yang qi and is excellent for grinding cinnabar. Thus, that dog must have been a black dog! A short talisman master with a black dog—finding his identity will not be difficult."

Hearing this, Li Kefu let out a breath. There were simply too few people who fit that description.

"There is another way: summon my son's soul and ask him who the true murderer was."

Li Kefu said, "Go prepare some Soul Summoning Talismans and get ready to summon his soul. I want to see my son too..." As he spoke, his eyes reddened.

Zhuge Jian hesitated briefly. "My lord, I took the liberty just now of attempting a soul summoning already. I was unable to summon Young Master's soul..."

Li Kefu froze and looked at him in confusion.

Zhuge Jian said carefully, "Not only could Young Master's soul not be summoned, none of the others' ghosts could be summoned either. The souls of everyone who died at this talisman master's hands have vanished."

Li Kefu stood there in a daze, his expression deeply mournful. "My son's soul vanished? Could this man have eaten my son's soul while killing him?"

Zhuge Jian considered it. "I have a guess. This person must carry a Sui with him. Only Sui or Sui could eat ghost souls. This talisman master may have raised a Sui, or he may have been possessed by one."

Such incidents had happened before. When Sui possessed someone and mingled among a town's people to eat them, it could devour everyone in an entire town within only a few days!

Li Kefu exhaled a foul breath. "Registrar Zhuge, I leave the capture of this short talisman master with a black dog to you. Do not kill him. I must interrogate him personally, cut open his chest with my own hands, and take out his heart to sacrifice to my son's spirit in Heaven!"

Zhuge Jian bowed and accepted the order. He passed down instructions for the constables to search every road junction, post station, and village for a talisman master with a black dog.

The grandfather and grandson returned to Huangpo Village. As usual, Grandpa brewed and simmered the medicine while Chen Shi took his medicine and soaked in a medicinal bath. Deep into the night, while asleep, Chen Shi suddenly felt his heart spasm. Piercing pain jolted him awake!

His heart pain had flared up again!

Ever since he began cultivating the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, this ailment had not troubled him for days. He had never expected it to return with such ferocity!

The five fingers of the Azure Ghost Hand on his chest clenched tightly around his heart, contracting the muscles in his chest until his heart felt as though it would be crushed apart!

Chen Shi's body trembled and convulsed, turning rigid as veins bulged across it. The pain left him completely unable to breathe, and his face swiftly flushed red from suffocation!

The red gradually turned purple.

He could not open his mouth or make a sound. He could not call for Grandpa to save his life!

After a long while, Chen Shi was drenched in sweat, enough to nearly soak through the bedding, before he finally gasped out his first breath.

With that breath sustaining him, it was as if he had seized a thread of life. He hurriedly activated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art and fought with all his strength against the Azure Ghost Hand gripping his heart!

Only in the latter half of the night did he manage to suppress the Azure Ghost Hand.

The Azure Ghost Hand's fingers, embedded in his chest, slowly spread apart. The pain steadily lessened.

Chen Shi was still shaken. This time, the Azure Ghost Hand had gripped his heart harder and longer than ever before. Had he not managed to gasp out that first breath, he would likely have died of pain right in bed!

"Could it be that I exhausted myself too much when I killed Li Xiaoding during the day, and my body could no longer suppress the Ghost Hand Seal, causing this affliction to erupt?"

Chen Shi thought it over carefully. When he had killed Li Xiaoding and the others, he had indeed felt an intense hunger. He must have consumed too much energy.

"Grandpa's medicine can suppress the Azure Ghost Hand, but its effect seems to be growing weaker and weaker. Only the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art still works. I have to return to the True King's Tomb as soon as possible and obtain the complete Three Lights Righteous Qi Art!"

The Three Lights Righteous Qi Art was the only cultivation method Chen Shi had found that could suppress the Azure Ghost Hand. It was his sole lifeline.

"But obtaining the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art will surely alert the Ghost and God Domain." Chen Shi frowned.

Last time, he had made it so far only because the spiritual power in the spirit jerky Second Miss Zhao gave him had sustained him. Now that he had no spirit jerky, he could only rely on his own strength. With his current abilities, he likely still could not reach the stone stele before the Ghost and God Domain in the True King's Tomb opened.

"I must first cultivate at the Desolate Mountain Temple for a while and make my body stronger before I brave the True King's Tomb again!" Having made up his mind, he finally went back to sleep.

Chen Shi's life returned to how it had been before: rising early to eat, dueling every dog in the village, stealing watermelons, offering sacrifices to his Godmother, listening to Scholar Zhu answer his questions, then going to the Desolate Mountain Temple to cultivate the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art before returning home at night to take medicine and bathe.

That day, Chen Shi had just finished worshipping his Godmother outside the village and was listening to Scholar Zhu expound the scriptures when the clatter of hooves suddenly sounded. More than ten constables galloped down the post road at full speed, kicking up dust that rolled like patches of mist as they headed toward Yellow Earth Slope.

"Six Doors again!"

Chen Shi looked over curiously. "Weren't Xinxiang County's Six Doors all killed by the Godmother of Fangdian Village? Their corpses were even taken away by the Ghost Bride."

Strangely enough, the Ghost Bride, that Sui, had vanished without a trace after that night. No one had asked about the New Mountain Ruined Temple that had suddenly appeared, and there had not even been any news about the deaths of over thirty Six Doors officers. It was most peculiar.

Chen Shi had originally been uneasy over killing Li Xiaoding, terrified that someone might trace it back to him. Yet that matter too seemed to have sunk like a stone into the sea, without any news at all.

Scholar Zhu sneered. "What is strange about that? The so-called Six Doors are merely toilet paper for wiping one's ass in an outhouse—nothing but expendable goods. Every year, Western Ox Continent produces more than a million poor scholars like them. A few dozen dying is no great matter. So long as the County Magistrate posts a notice, countless scholars will sharpen their heads and squeeze their way in."

Chen Shi knew he was right. After cultivators passed the scholar examination, if they could not pass the provincial examination and become juren, they could only scrape out a living everywhere. At least yamen constables were public servants of Great Ming. Whenever there were vacancies, scholars flocked to them like ducks.

"Whoa—"

The dozen or so constables suddenly reined in their horses. The leader dismounted and quickly came up Yellow Earth Slope, smiling as he said, "Little brother, I am Zhuge Jian, registrar of Shuinui County. What is your name?"

"Chen Shi."

"Little Brother Chen Shi, may I ask whether there is a talisman master named Chen Yindu in Huangpo Village?"

Chen Shi blinked. "There is someone named Chen Yindu. What do you want with him?"

Zhuge Jian's face was full of smiles. "How tall is this Chen Yindu?"

Chen Shi said, "About as tall as you."

Zhuge Jian frowned slightly. Several constables behind him spoke up in succession. "Chief, looks like Chen Yindu did not commit the crime. What do we do now?" "We have run through all the nearby villages these past days, and people have been dispatched to the counties and towns too. Could that murderous talisman master have grown wings and flown away?"

Zhuge Jian also had a headache. Over these past days, he had investigated everywhere, yet no suspicious person had been found in any county seat or town. He had thought there might be one in the countryside, but after searching villages large and small, he had found no talisman master fitting the description of being short and accompanied by a black dog.

"Could I have been looking in the wrong direction?"

Just as he was about to turn back, he suddenly saw a large black dog trotting all the way up Yellow Earth Slope, wagging its tail at the little boy beneath the tree.

The black dog had such a kind and benevolent face that it actually seemed to be smiling.

The little boy beneath the tree looked up and smiled. "Registrar, my grandpa told me to go home for dinner."

Zhuge Jian nodded. As he watched the little boy and black dog depart, thunder suddenly rumbled through his mind.

"What if the killer was not a short adult, but a child? A child talisman master with an overwhelmingly powerful body!"