Xuan Yun Showing Off

Mountain rain came swiftly, and passed just as swiftly!

At County Lieutenant Qiao Mingyuan's warm invitation, Mo Chuan gladly decided to descend the mountain and head for Qingshui County to investigate the truth behind Magistrate Qin's death by having his head pulled off.

Huayin Mountain, washed clean by the rain, was fresh as if newly scrubbed, its greenery like jade.

Yet though the deep mountains were beautiful, the paths were rugged and difficult to traverse.

For Mo Chuan, possessing Old Daoist Priest Yanzhen, the journey down the mountain was particularly arduous.

Fortunately, the Qiao family servants supported him. Though the mountain road was perilous, if they walked slowly enough, it would eventually come to an end.

As dusk was falling, the party finally reached a farmhouse at the foot of the mountain. They decided to rest for the night and enter the county town the next day.

Before Mo Chuan had even settled in, someone from the Qiao family came to visit. It was Qiao Yuhong's younger brother.

He wanted Mo Chuan to perform rites for his niece, who had died an unnatural death.

It turned out that Qiao Yuhong's daughter had died so miserably that everyone who saw her was terrified. Some even feared her corpse might transform and give rise to a zombie or vicious ghost.

To soothe the people's hearts, Qiao Yuhong's younger brother had no choice but to take this desperate measure and respectfully ask Mo Chuan to perform the rites.

Mo Chuan had no reason to refuse. He nodded and went with him.

In this era, an unmarried young woman who died suddenly was not qualified to have a mourning hall set up or be buried in the ancestral graves.

Though the Qiao family was a prominent clan, its rules could not be overstepped either.

Thus, the Qiao family had merely erected a simple mourning shed before their gates and prepared a thin coffin. The next day, she would be sent to the watery ground—the mass graveyard.

Under the Qiao family's reverent gazes, Mo Chuan recited a passage from the Taishang Jiuku Sutra, ignited several talismans from thin air, put on a show to calm everyone's nerves, then turned around and returned.

Night lay like water, insects chirped, and grasshoppers leaped.

By the dim light of a bean-sized candle flame, Mo Chuan took out the Thunder-Struck Peachwood Five-Thunder Token. After inspecting it closely, disappointment appeared on his face.

This Five Thunder Token, obtained from Chong Shizi, had completely fallen into an ordinary object after the Nine Heavens Thunder power contained within it had been triggered.

Only a faint trace of thunderous aura remained upon it, like a wine jug that had once held fine liquor, its lingering fragrance still curling through the air.

"This thing is useless to me now. If given to an ordinary person, it may not ward off great calamities, but it could at least frighten a few little ghosts! Pity its origins are improper. I fear giving it away would bring someone an undeserved disaster!"

After considering it, Mo Chuan tossed it back into the Sacrificial Dao Furnace, treating it as a collectible.

Nothing happened that night.

Early the next morning, at County Lieutenant Qiao Mingyuan's invitation, Mo Chuan entered his carriage.

The two discussed scriptures and the Dao along the way.

Having been influenced by Fu Luan Temple, Mo Chuan could be considered half a disciple of the Daoist sect. He did not have much learning in his belly, but it was more than enough to bluff outsiders.

When the carriage reached the execution ground, Mo Chuan called for it to stop. He lifted the window curtain to look outside, then told the carriage to continue.

"Daoist Priest, did you discover something?"

"Has Qingshui County ever executed any troublesome bandits?"

"Qingshui County's administration has always been clean, and executions by beheading are rare... Ah, I remember now. Ten years ago, a great bandit named Qian San seemed to have been beheaded."

"Then it was most likely him."

"Daoist Priest, you mean?"

"Magistrate Qin had his head pulled off and died at the execution ground in broad daylight. It was likely the work of a Headless Ghost possessing him. I just examined the execution ground and found faint remnants of Ghost Qi. The result should be more or less as I have said."

Mo Chuan spoke with calm indifference.

He remembered that Qingshui County's yamen runners had once visited Fu Luan Temple.

Qingshui County had presumably invited all the cultivators from the surrounding villages and towns.

Since that was the case, he might as well report the conclusion early and seize the initiative.

If Qingshui County appreciated the favor, after Old Daoist Priest Yanzhen's body died, perhaps Mo Chuan could even earn him a fine patch of geomantic land. That would not be a waste of the favor of borrowing his body.

"A Headless Ghost?" County Lieutenant Qiao Mingyuan looked utterly stunned. "Daoist Priest, are you saying that Headless Ghost is Qian San?"

"A Headless Ghost is one of the four great evil ghosts of our Daoist sect. Unless a person was addicted to killing, it would be difficult for one to take shape. So it was most likely him."

Mo Chuan explained.

"There is actually such a saying?"

Qiao Mingyuan muttered in astonishment. Only after a long while did he cup his hands and say, "Thank you, Daoist Priest, for clearing my confusion. May I ask if you have found any trace of that Headless Ghost?"

Mo Chuan shook his head. "It is not here. By rights, a Headless Ghost would linger at the place of execution. Thus, after killing Magistrate Qin, that Headless Ghost either satisfied its resentment and vanished like smoke and clouds, or..."

"Or what?"

"Or it was taken away by an expert!"

"Daoist Priest, could that Headless Ghost have concealed itself and be waiting to harm people after nightfall?" Qiao Mingyuan asked worriedly.

"That is possible, but unlikely."

Those words were as good as saying nothing.

Qiao Mingyuan pressed him for more details. Only when the carriage arrived at the Qiao residence did he finally stop asking.

After getting down from the carriage, Mo Chuan entered the main hall under Qiao Mingyuan's respectful invitation.

Only then did Mo Chuan discover in surprise that the hall was already packed with distinguished guests. Aside from the county town's officials of every rank, people from every walk of life filled the surrounding seats.

He even spotted two familiar figures among the crowd.

—Fu Luan's old Daoist priest and Xuan Yun the Daoist Boy.

When everyone saw County Lieutenant Qiao enter, they rose and saluted him.

Looking at the roomful of guests, Mo Chuan showed a trace of disappointment. At the same time, he abruptly realized that his understanding had likely been misplaced.

There were more than thirty guests in the hall.

Monks, nuns, Daoist priests, Daoist priestesses, even crudely dressed peasant women... the list went on.

Yet most of them were shrouded in murkiness, with no spiritual radiance visible around them.

Only a very few showed faint fluctuations of Mana, but they were exceedingly weak, much like the Thunder-Struck Peachwood Five-Thunder Token in his hand after it had lost its power.

Were great masters playing the pig to eat the tiger? Or did they possess inherited foundations from their ancestors?

In other words, the overwhelming majority here were either frauds or people whose inheritances had been lost.

Mo Chuan had reason to believe that Qingshui County had gathered all the capable people from the surrounding villages and towns.

There might be a few fish that had slipped through the net, but certainly not many.

Yet even with all these talents gathered together, there was still such a jumble of fish-eyed impostors among pearls. It was clear enough that cultivators were even rarer than he had imagined.

No wonder Fu Luan's old Daoist priest had been so excited after drawing the Ghost Subduing Talisman.

The reason Mo Chuan's understanding had been misplaced was that nearly every time he intercepted ownerless incense offerings, he encountered spirits, monsters, or vicious ghosts.

He had even run into an expert like Chong Shizi, so he naturally assumed that cultivators in this world were formidable and ghosts and monsters were everywhere.

Little did he know, it was like working at a crematorium: seeing corpses every day naturally made one feel that the world was full of malice.

Back to the matter at hand.

As Mo Chuan sized everyone up, their eyes also fixed uniformly upon him.

Because among all those present, he alone had received such courteous treatment from the County Lieutenant.

Not only had he arrived in the same carriage, he had even been invited to the seat of honor.

Still, no one opened their mouths to question it.

That was because Mo Chuan's appearance was truly quite impressive at the moment.

Old Daoist Priest Yanzhen was at death's door, but in everyone's eyes, he looked more like a Daoist master who had attained the Way.

Coupled with the brand-new Daoist robe he had changed into before his death, clothes making the man, he appeared even more extraordinary.

"Today, I have invited you all here, and I trust you already know why. Magistrate Qin's death has left Qingshui in a state of panic. To soothe the people's hearts and resolve their doubts is my duty from which I cannot shrink. I ask you all to assist me in uncovering the truth and restore Qingshui's bright and clear heavens."

County Lieutenant Qiao's impassioned speech brought everyone to the main subject.

The moment his words fell, someone immediately leaped out impatiently.

"County Lieutenant, in my opinion, a villain must have committed this outrage. I possess an art that can observe the trail left by the murderer. May I inspect the Magistrate's corpse up close and find the killer?"

"You may." County Lieutenant Qiao nodded without saying anything further.

"County Lieutenant, in my opinion, Magistrate Qin was clearly afflicted by an evil ghost taking possession of him!"

"Oh? Do you have evidence?"

"This..."

"County Lieutenant..."

For a time, the hall brimmed with impassioned heroes, each offering their own claims.

The scene was like a marketplace, leaving Mo Chuan dumbfounded.

Well then. He had deliberately seized the initiative, only for it to turn out to be useless effort.

Of course, calling it entirely useless effort would not be quite right.

Amid the clamoring voices, four or five groups swore with absolute certainty that Magistrate Qin had been possessed by a Headless Ghost.

One of them especially caught Mo Chuan's attention.

This person looked like a rural old woman, restrained and timid, yet her eyes glinted with slyness.

When the Daoist priest from Tianling Temple bluntly declared that a Headless Ghost was responsible, she hurriedly echoed him.

When others asked how she could prove it,

she said that her cult leader had told her so.

It turned out that this woman was a disciple of a Chuma Immortal, and her cult leader was a Ghost Immortal.

Speaking of Chuma Immortals, they were rather similar to Fu Luan Temple's Ghost Immortal Spirit Mediumship.

The difference was that Fu Luan Temple summoned the Patriarch.

Chuma Immortals summoned Grass Immortals instead, most often formed from Hu Huang Chang Mang Ghosts, also called a spirit hall.

They seized those with spiritual sensitivity as disciples, established spirit halls, received incense offerings, and handled yin affairs.

After the Tianling Temple Daoist priest spoke of the Headless Ghost, County Lieutenant Qiao finally grew interested and asked, "May I ask, Daoist Priest, is this Headless Ghost still here?"

The Tianling Temple Daoist priest replied, "In response to County Lieutenant, when I passed by the execution ground today, I examined it closely and saw no trace of the Headless Ghost. I presume this Headless Ghost was formed from Li Guanqi. Once its resentment was dispelled, it vanished like smoke and clouds."

County Lieutenant Qiao subconsciously looked toward Mo Chuan. Did that not sound more or less the same as what Mo Chuan had said?

It was only that Mo Chuan had said the Headless Ghost was the great bandit Qian San, and had mentioned the possibility that it had been taken away by an expert.

As County Lieutenant Qiao pondered this, he suddenly heard a child boasting in the hall, "A Headless Ghost is one of the four great evil ghosts of the Daoist sect. How could it be an ordinary vicious ghost that vanishes merely because its resentment is gone? To tell you the truth, that Headless Ghost has actually already been taken away by my family's Patriarch... Mmph..."

Before the child could finish boasting, someone covered his mouth.

The one boasting was none other than Xuan Yun the Daoist Boy.

And the one covering his mouth was none other than Fu Luan's old Daoist priest.

It would have been better if Fu Luan's old Daoist priest had not covered his mouth. The instant he did, every eye in the hall turned toward them.