Shadows Abound

The rag doll lay askew on the ground, its faded blue skirt stained with mud. The doll's eyes, embroidered with black silk thread, were ridiculously large, taking up half its face, while its mouth curved upwards in a strange grin—identical to the expressions of the two deceased in the morgue.

Ye Yun took a deep breath, his 8th Rank martial artist's Essence Qi surging through his meridians. He advanced slowly, stopping three paces away from the doll.

A chilling aura pierced through his clothes, biting into his skin. Even more horrifying, the doll's button eyes... seemed to have moved.

"Head Constable Ye!"

A shout echoed from a distance. Ye Yun spun around, spotting Zhao Hu waving in the front courtyard.

In that split second of distraction, a soft sound came from behind him.

When he turned back, the rag doll was gone. Only a few withered leaves trembled on the bluestone slabs.

"What are you doing here?" Zhao Hu jogged over, his young face etched with confusion. "Captain Yan asked us to gather; he's assigning night watch positions."

Ye Yun scanned his surroundings impassively. "Did you see a little girl just now? About six or seven, holding a rag doll?"

"A girl?" Zhao Hu scratched his head. "The young ladies of the Wang Mansion live in the east wing. This West Wing has always been..." He suddenly lowered his voice. "They say it's forbidden territory, not even servants are allowed near."

Ye Yun's gaze fell back on the ancient well. The claw marks on the well's rim were clearer in the twilight. Embedded in one of the marks was half a broken fingernail, glinting grayish-green in the setting sun.

"Let's go," Ye Yun clapped Zhao Hu on the shoulder, casting one last look at the closed courtyard gate.

As he turned, his peripheral vision caught a fleeting black shadow in the gap of the gate—definitely not human.

Dusk settled, and the Wang Mansion lit its lanterns early. Strangely, no matter how bright the candlelight, it only illuminated a three-foot square within the mansion's courtyards, as if an invisible mist devoured the light.

In the main hall, Yan Xiao Liu was assigning tasks. "I and Ye Yun will guard the mourning hall, Zhao Hu and Li Si will be responsible for..."

"I suggest we focus our guard on the West Wing," Ye Yun interrupted. "That ancient well is problematic."

The hall fell silent. The steward Wang Fu's teacup clattered to the ground, splashing brown tea onto his brocade shoes, which began to emit wisps of white smoke.

"The West Wing?" Wang Fu's voice suddenly sharpened. "That courtyard has been sealed for thirty years! No one can get in!"

Ye Yun keenly noticed that when Wang Fu spoke the words, the maidservant pouring tea in the corner flinched, scalding tea spilling onto her hand unnoticed.

"Why was the courtyard sealed?" Yan Xiao Liu asked, frowning.

Wang Fu's Adam's apple bobbed. "The, the old house had termites... yes, termites! The master said we'd repair it in the spring..."

Ye Yun and Yan Xiao Liu exchanged a look. Even Zhao Hu wouldn't be fooled by such a clumsy lie.

"Then we must investigate it even more," Yan Xiao Liu slammed the table. "With a murder case, how can we..."

"Impossible!" Wang Fu shrieked, the sound piercing their eardrums. To everyone's astonishment, he tremblingly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat. "I mean... that courtyard is old and dilapidated, too dangerous. You adults should... should..."

His words trailed off. A muffled thud suddenly came from outside the hall, like something heavy falling into water.

Immediately after, a series of laughter erupted from all directions, the sound seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere, sometimes like children playing, sometimes like an old woman's wheezing cough.

Ye Yun was the first to rush out. The scene in the courtyard made his hair stand on end—all the lantern flames had turned a ghastly green, casting their shadows long and distorted on the walls. Even more terrifying, those shadows... were moving on their own!

"Alert!" Yan Xiao Liu drew his saber. The moment the blade left its sheath, all strange noises ceased, and the lanterns returned to their normal orange hue.

It was as if everything that had just happened was a collective hallucination.

But Ye Yun had seen it clearly—the moment the lights turned green, a strange smile identical to the deceased's appeared on Wang Fu's lips.

"Careful!"

Ye Yun's roar exploded like thunder. Before his words even fell, Wang Fu's hunched body suddenly straightened like a puppet.

Veins bulged on the old steward's wrinkled face, his lips splitting into an impossible arc, revealing a mouth full of yellowed teeth—that smile was identical to the deceased's!

"Hh... hh..." Wang Fu made beast-like gasps, his cloudy whites instantly filling with blood.

His emaciated hands formed claws and lunged at the nearest house servant, his fingernails cutting through the air with an eerie whistling sound.

"Ah—" The young servant's scream was cut short. Wang Fu's right hand clamped around his throat like a vise, lifting the robust youth entirely.

A chilling sound came from the servant's neck. His face rapidly turned purple, his legs kicking feebly in the air.

Ye Yun moved like lightning, his 8th Rank martial artist's Essence Qi surging through his meridians.

He formed his right hand into a blade and unleashed a palm strike of Qi towards Wang Fu's wrist.

The chilling blade energy struck its target precisely, but it rang with a crisp sound like metal striking metal—Wang Fu's skin had inexplicably developed a layer of grayish-green keratin!

"Everyone back!" Ye Yun shouted sternly, using his left hand to pull the limp servant and toss him backward. Only then did he see that black viscous fluid seeped from Wang Fu's wrist where the blade energy had struck, and the skin around the wound was wriggling and healing at a visible rate.

Yan Xiao Liu had already drawn his saber, its blade shimmering with pale blue Essence Qi.

"Brother Ye, this old man is not right!" His voice held a rare tension. "My Ninth Rank Breaking Wave Slash couldn't even break his skin!"

Wang Fu tilted his head, his neck emitting a bone-chilling crack.

He suddenly dropped to all fours, crawling rapidly like a human spider. The bluestone slabs cracked wherever he passed. A maidservant who failed to dodge was sent flying thirty feet, her back slamming heavily against a corridor pillar, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Don't kill him!" Ye Yun flashed forward, blocking in front of everyone. A flash of inspiration struck him, and he quickly took out a Qi Condensation Pill, placing it under his tongue. His eyes immediately felt a cool clarity—around Wang Fu's contorted figure, dozens of semi-transparent gray threads were entwined, their other ends extending towards... the ancient well in the West Wing!

Yan Xiao Liu understood and sheathed his saber. "I'll do it!" he grunted, his body twisting like a kite, precisely evading Wang Fu's flailing claws. The Ninth Rank martial artist's Essence Qi condensed into a point of cold light at his fingertips, using the Meridian-Severing Hand technique to strike directly at Wang Fu's vital point on the back of his neck.

With a dull thud, Yan Xiao Liu's face contorted. He felt as if his fingers had struck cast iron, the recoil numbing his entire right arm.

Wang Fu turned with a sinister grin, his withered claws whipping up a foul wind as they lunged for Yan Xiao Liu's heart!

In the nick of time, Ye Yun's figure slipped between them like a phantom. He brought his right index and middle fingers together, a wisp of pure blade energy flickering at his fingertips.

With a soft hiss, this blade energy precisely pierced Wang Fu's brow—the very nexus of all the gray threads.

"Ah—" Wang Fu let out an inhuman shriek, thick black mist spewing from his seven orifices.

His body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily before the screen wall. The threads connected to the ancient well snapped one by one, dissolving into wisps of smoke in the air.

The scene fell into a deathly silence. Everyone stared, wide-eyed, at what had just transpired, forgetting to even breathe. The first to break the silence was the rescued servant. Trembling, he pointed at the unconscious Wang Fu: "Steward... Steward, he... he doesn't know martial arts at all!"