Old Fox's Deep Scheming

The deepest hour of night came before dawn. It was late spring, early summer, and the wind still carried a trace of chill. Those still busy on the streets at this hour were usually the poor: night watchmen, and people driving donkey carts from door to door to collect night soil.

The stench drifted from behind the cart, but Old Jiang was used to it. He drank a few coins' worth of cheap liquor to drive away the cold, softly sang an aria, and steadily guided his old donkey.

Suddenly, his vision blurred. He thought he saw a figure flash past and couldn't help shivering, convinced he'd encountered a ghost.

He looked around fearfully and spotted a sheet of yellow paper stuck to the wall at the street corner.

Was that there the last time I passed...? Old Jiang's heart lurched. As the donkey cart slowly drew closer, he saw strange patterns covering the yellow paper, annotated in the sort of writing found all over the city.

"A ghost-summoning charm?" Old Jiang thought of the yellow talismans in the Daoist Temple. Terrified out of his wits, he whipped the old donkey into a frantic dash!

Not long after he disappeared, a night patrol constable dressed in Six Doors garb arrived and spotted the yellow paper as well.

"Map to the entrance of the Nine Heavens Ruins..." The constable murmured the opening words, as if he still couldn't believe he wasn't dreaming.

Yellow maps covered the entire city. Beneath the calm before dawn, undercurrents surged!

"Blood Fang Divine Constable" Yuan Lihuo received the news and saw the yellow paper at the same time. He saw the map of the entrance to the Nine Heavens Ruins drawn on it.

"Searching high and low without finding it, only to stumble upon it