Cursed to Death!

Though this strange tale hadn't ended in success, it hadn't failed either. Xiao Ran figured that after some time to calm down, Weird Hair Lord might come looking for him again.

At any rate, Xiao Ran was in a pretty good mood overall.

Humming a little tune, he slung a shoulder pole over his shoulder and ambled home.

When the outline of the salt shop appeared in the night, Xiao Ran's footsteps suddenly stopped.

The door was open.

After spending some time together, the embroiderer had learned a few of his habits. If Xiao Ran came home late, she would close the door and sit behind the counter, waiting up until late into the night before going to bed.

But now, the front door stood wide open like a gaping black mouth. No warm yellow lamplight spilled out, and the embroiderer wasn't leaning against the counter to chide him for "staying out till such an hour again." There was only dead silence.

Xiao Ran's brow furrowed. His spiritual power burst outward like a web, instantly blanketing the entire salt shop.

Inside, the shelves had collapsed, and salt was scattered across the floor, its grains gleaming a ghastly white in the moonlight. Every drawer in the counter had been ripped out, the chair where the embroiderer usually sat lay toppled on the floor, and the account books had been torn to shreds.

"Something happened?"

Xiao Ran's spiritual power swept through the back courtyard, but he couldn't find the embroiderer. Instead, he saw that the rooms there had been ransacked as well.

Xiao Ran's expression darkened at once.

He stowed the shoulder pole and hurried to the front door. Only then did he notice a notice pasted beside it, the paste still wet.

Xiao Ran tore it down. The vermilion seal on