March 19th, nightfall.
In the west of the city, the lights of the Lin Residence were like ghost lanterns, scattered high and low, whimpering in the wind as they swayed across the entire estate.
Yet there was no rain that night. The spring rain that had fallen without cease for days had unexpectedly taken a brief respite.
The servants of the Lin Residence could not help saying, "Perhaps even Heaven cannot bear to see our Second Young Master die so young, and has stopped the rain for a few nights to see him off."
No one knew that a rainless night was just right for Chen Xu's Mud Pill Dao Soldier to travel.
His cultivation was still shallow. For a period of time, he could only use Spirit Imbuement on one Puppet Dao Soldier, and when releasing the Dao Soldier, it could not stray more than ten li from him.
Ten li was neither a short distance nor a long one.
Ping'an Alley lay just over ten li from the Lin Residence.
Chen Xu decided to strike first. He carefully considered Granny Lai's words, then recalled Lin Yuan's obsession with Lin Qi's life and death. He surmised that if Lin Qi simply died like this, Lin Yuan would likely refuse to let the matter rest.
If he went to the Lin Family as agreed tomorrow morning, who knew what the Lin Family might do? What if they had laid some trap?
Of course, Chen Xu could also go back on his word and simply not attend Lin Qi's funeral.
But such avoidance would, first, inevitably damage his reputation, and second, treat only the symptoms, not the root cause.
In short, a thousand evasions were no match for taking the initiative!
Chen Xu decided to settle the Lin Family matter tonight. Tomorrow, he would return to his hometown to deal with his elder brother's canal-digging matter. After that, he could cultivate in peace and focus wholeheartedly on the examinations.
He would go to a higher, farther stage and behold the vastness of the world.
At the fourth watch, the moonlight vanished behind the clouds.
The cool breeze of the spring night drifted through the air as Chen Xu entered Shengyu Workshop alone, three streets away from the Lin Family.
Shengyu Workshop was also known as the Nevernight Workshop.
In the small city of Jichuan, Shengyu Workshop was the most prosperous place in the entire city.
It was also the only market district in the city not subject to a curfew.
Wine shops glittered with lantern light; strings and flutes filled the entertainment halls; musicians played pipa through the night, while dancing girls flicked their flowing sleeves.
There were also gamblers throwing away fortunes in the brightly lit back rooms. They entered proud and high-spirited, only to emerge hanging their heads, their hearts as dead as ashes.
Both sides of Shengyu Workshop's streets were lined with stalls of every kind. Most sold food and drinks, while others sold lanterns, offered ring-toss games, put on monkey shows, and more.
When Chen Xu entered such a Shengyu Workshop, he was utterly inconspicuous—more natural than a single drop of water flowing into the sea.
He strolled and looked around Shengyu Workshop, occasionally watching dancing girls wave their sleeves from across the towers and terraces, and sometimes buying snacks from roadside stalls to sample their flavors.
He also casually chatted with the vendors, listening to their insights on making their snacks.
No one knew that in the darkness, a tiny gray-armored figure carrying a long spear hopped and skipped over high white walls and dark tiled roofs, crossed flower-lined paths, and followed some wondrous sensation to a mourning hall whose lights shone especially brightly.
At that moment, there was not a single person outside the mourning hall.
No servants stood night watch, nor were there guards keeping watch.
Only rows of candles, scattered high and low, burned amid layer upon layer of white drapes hanging like flowing water.
The little armored figure silently approached this strangely empty mourning hall. Like a nimble spirit monkey, it climbed lightly to the window, pressed an ear against the papered pane, and carefully listened to the sounds within.
Inside also seemed to be empty, save for a coffin that had not yet been fully sealed.
Knock, knock, knock—
Suddenly, strange tapping sounds began to ring faintly from within the coffin.
The little armored figure did not move, only one of its ears twitching slightly.
The tapping inside the mourning hall was hollow and disorderly—knock, knock, knock; tap, tap, tap... After several such sounds, the rustling of crickets and insects in the garden outside abruptly fell completely silent.
It was as though every crawling creature in the world had died at that instant because of those hollow knocks!
Only the little armored figure, soulless and spiritless, without life itself, remained unaffected.
"Ah..."
After who knew how long the tapping continued, a faint sigh suddenly sounded within the mourning hall.
At first hearing, the sigh sounded very young, yet it carried a strangely old-fashioned air and was somewhat shrill as well.
Once the sigh faded, a thin, faint young man's voice said, "It is done. Now, not to mention living people, even a single bug outside must be dead. We can finally have our talk."
"Many thanks, Daoist Master Hu," said another young voice. It was slightly low, but Chen Xu, hearing it from afar in Shengyu Workshop, recognized it in an instant as Lin Yuan's voice.
Lin Yuan asked, "Daoist Master Hu, can you truly not deduce the origins of the one who killed my younger brother?"
Daoist Master Hu's thin voice replied, "I already told you, your brother plainly died when his natural lifespan ran out. He was not killed by anyone. Yet you refuse to believe it. Where am I supposed to find a killer's origins for you to deduce?"
Lin Yuan said, "It is not that I refuse to believe Daoist Master Hu. It is simply that my younger brother's death was far too strange. Most importantly, before his death, he clearly spoke those two words. I have already investigated them. Those two words must have been... Kill Chen!
"He bore a grudge against someone surnamed Chen. Daoist Master Hu, I do not ask you to avenge him directly now.
"You need only do as we originally agreed: question that Chen fellow inside this coffin and frighten him into revealing the truth."
Daoist Master Hu said faintly, "But I am a Fox Demon. With only a little guidance from me inside the coffin, whether the visitor feels guilty or not, I fear he will admit that he killed someone."
Lin Yuan said nothing. After both sides fell silent for a moment, Daoist Master Hu giggled again. "Ah, I understand what you mean. You scholars truly are interesting. When you have matters to settle, you do not speak plainly; when you have grudges, you do not avenge them directly. You insist on making a demon like me play the villain.
"But who told me to owe your ancestors? What else can I do?"
This time, Lin Yuan spoke. With his hands clasped, he bowed to Daoist Master Hu amid the roomful of white drapes. "Many thanks, Daoist Master Hu. From tomorrow onward, the debts of gratitude between Daoist Master Hu and the Lin Family shall be wiped clean. Neither side will owe the other anything."
"Hee..." The Fox Demon merely laughed.
The laughter was thin and faint, stirring open the mourning hall's white drapes like a flickering shadow of flowing light, vanishing into the tranquil night.
Tap, tap, tap—
The Fox Demon said nothing, but that wondrously rhythmic tapping sounded once more from within the coffin.
Standing beside the coffin, Lin Yuan suddenly shuddered from head to toe. He secretly gritted his teeth and told himself that he had done nothing wrong.
Only then did he clasp his hands, bend at the waist, and slowly retreat backward.
Not until he had left the mourning hall did Lin Yuan turn around and stride away.
Lin Yuan was a scholar, yet he held no academic rank. His aptitude was even inferior to Lin Qi's. Left with no choice, he had taken over the family's business affairs and placed all hopes of earning rank upon Lin Qi.
Now that Lin Qi was dead, Lin Yuan's original plans had been thrown completely into disarray.
His heart was filled with boundless hatred. Unless he found some outlet to vent it, he would never let the matter rest.
Lin Yuan walked down the corridor and reached a small path beneath the eaves, chewing over a name. "Chen..."
Suddenly, his knee inexplicably flared with pain, and his entire body pitched forward.
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