Faceless

As soon as night fell, Li Yunxin left the house, saying he was going to sound out the Qiao Household. Just as Liu Laodao was about to tell him again that the Qiao Household refused to see visitors, he saw Li Yunxin standing on the bluestone paving of the little street. After looking left and right and seeing no one, Li Yunxin tapped the ground with his toe and vaulted over the ten-foot wall.

Only then did Liu Laodao realize that this master was not only highly skilled in his methods, but also in martial arts. I really am old—how had I never thought of going to eavesdrop?

Half an hour later, Li Yunxin returned.

It was difficult to read his mood from his face. Liu Laodao asked apprehensively, "Brother Xin, what should we do about this?"

Li Yunxin picked up the pot, poured himself a cup of tea, and said, raising his eyes, "From a legal standpoint, your friend was not wronged. He did kill someone and try to kill the mistress."

Liu Laodao's eyes went wide, his grizzled beard trembling slightly. "Ah? How can that be? He's just a lame old man..."

"His name is Meng E. He once had a nickname: Murder Ghost. Did you know that?"

"...Ah?"

"Oh, you didn't. That doesn't matter, though. But from a moral standpoint, he was rather wronged. Those two Qiao women committed adultery, murdered their husband, and plotted to seize the family property." Li Yunxin curled his lip. "Lunatics. They even set their sights on this place. They wanted this courtyard."

Liu Laodao said "ah" again. Clearly, he could not take in such a thing all at once.

A month ago, the Qiao Household had still been flourishing, and Qiao Duanhong had been fairly polite. Yet now, even Liu Laodao himself had been marked.

"Then Old Meng... acted out of righteous indignation..."

"Mhm." Li Yunxin set down his teacup and stood. "I'll pay the prefectural magistrate a visit in a while. Tell me how to get there."

"Brother Xin, you mean to...? Ah, you can't reason with them. You said yourself that the magistrate was greedy for money too. This, this..."

"I'm not going there to reason with anyone. I'm going to take a look. If there's a way, I'll use some methods. If there isn't... well, I can still find one. I'll be back in an hour. Tonight I still want braised beef. I heard Qiao Wangshi say that Munan Residence got several more cattle, and more cattle died again. Strange. Which one has this been in recent days?"

"Get some other dishes too. No offal. No ginger."

More than ten days after arriving in Weicheng, Li Yunxin took his first "long trip."

Back in the mountain village, there had been little of the world's ways for him to see. Now that he was in a city, he greedily took note of every detail. He knew that this world was not an ordinary world as he understood it.

He did not mean that it had immortals and Daoist arts. He meant that, perhaps long, long ago, someone influential enough had once tried to change this world. They might have failed, but they would certainly have left behind marks that could not be erased.

He wanted to find those "marks."

Along the way, he truly saw scenes like those in movies and television dramas—men and women strolling out at night, a night market. The fragrance wafting from the snack stalls even made him crave food. It was hard to imagine that such scenes truly existed in this kind of society, rather than streets dominated by men while young ladies remained secluded in their chambers awaiting marriage.

This world was more enlightened, more open, than he had imagined.

By the time he spotted the prefectural yamen in the distance, it was probably a little past eight in the evening. At eight o'clock in this world, there were already few people on the streets. A river lay before the yamen—the Green Willow River. It was fairly broad, wide enough for three painted pleasure boats to pass abreast. Its banks were paved with bluestone and planted with rows upon rows of green willows. New shoots had sprouted in this season, a hazy stretch of green like drifting mist.

A white stone bridge led to the street before the yamen. It had been built with imposing grandeur, broad enough for two carriages to travel side by side.

From this side of the bridge, Li Yunxin saw from afar that quite a few people were still walking about on the street before the yamen on the other end. He found it somewhat strange, but did not dwell on it. After all, he had yet to fully understand this world's customs—perhaps they were petitioners?

More people was a good thing. There were roughly seventy or eighty people on that street. He planned to mingle with the crowd, survey the terrain first, then decide where to slip in.

So he crossed the bridge.

After coming down the bridge and taking three steps, just as his toe was about to touch the street, he stopped.

Because these people...

Did not seem to be people.

As he had come down the bridge, someone turned out from a small street to the west. Dressed in a light robe and small cap, he looked like a servant from a wealthy household who had come out at night to shop—perhaps his master had suddenly taken a fancy to some street snack.

After this young servant rounded the corner and saw Li Yunxin, he glanced in his direction, then turned away and softly hummed a tune as he walked with brisk steps.

Then, the people on this street moved. With extraordinarily light and swift steps, they closed in around him one after another, surrounding him as though escorting him along.

But they were not escorting him. They were sniffing him, observing him, examining him.

Yet the servant was utterly unaware that he had been surrounded by a group of "people." As he passed in front of Li Yunxin, he even smiled at him. Only after he left that street and exited the yamen's vicinity did the "people" surrounding him scatter away from his side.

By then, five or six "people" stood before Li Yunxin.

"People" without facial features.

They stretched their necks long, "staring" at him with rapt attention.

They were... Faceless Ghosts.

Li Yunxin sucked in a breath. Those who died and had their bodies possessed became Faceless Ghosts. There were seventy or eighty ghosts on the street before this yamen—perhaps more on all sides. How could there be so many?

Let alone a heavily guarded place like the yamen—even ordinary wealthy households consulted feng shui when building a residence. With so many ghosts gathered on this street, ordinary people would surely feel that something was wrong when passing through—perhaps a chill, perhaps a sinister air. Yet these things were simply gathered here...

Li Yunxin realized that one or several people within the yamen might know about this.

There were also outposts of the Dao Tradition and Sword Sect schools in the city. They should know as well.

This ought to be some kind of formation. He frowned slightly, did not step into the street, and merely walked some distance along the riverside willows, sensing the extremely faint fluctuations of spiritual energy.

Some kind of Yin Spirit Grand Formation. Anything involving yin spirits was not necessarily an evil art. But a prefectural yamen was already one of the most heavily guarded places in the mortal world. Why had they set up something like this as well?

He had originally intended to sneak inside and see what Prefect Li had to say. But now, he abandoned the idea. Using spiritual power within such a formation might expose him. Whether the Dao Tradition discovered him or the Sword Sect did, neither would be a good thing.

After pondering for so long, the servant who had passed by earlier returned. He still walked along this street.

But this time, the yin spirits no longer followed him.