Heart-Slaying

The moment those words left his mouth, the old Daoist hastily made as if to cover his mouth.

But thankfully he did not truly lose his wits. He merely inclined his body, then sat back down. Still lowering his voice, he said, "Brother Xin, ah... how can you speak such nonsense! What kind of person is the Prefectural Governor... the father and mother official of Weicheng! Even in the Great Qing Dynasty, how many Principal Fifth Rank officials are there? Brother Xin, do not mention such things again in the future... If Prefect Li were to suffer some mishap, leaving aside everything else, Brother Xin, you surely would not want..."

"I do not want people noticing me." Li Yunxin poured the old Daoist a cup of wine and smiled faintly as he shook his head. "But if this matter keeps developing, I will not be happy."

"The best outcome would be for the two of us to move out of this residence and find another place to live. If it comes to that, my thoughts will not flow freely. I do not bully people, but neither do I want to be bullied. I am standing here perfectly well, and you run over and kick me—what kind of nonsense is that?"

"A worse outcome would be not only losing the residence, but the two of us having to eat prison rations. By then... it would be hard for me not to expose my identity. In all my life, I only slept on straw bedding for a few days in Qinghe County. Let me tell you, I am picky about beds, and I get up on the wrong side of it too. Once I do not sleep well, I want to mess people up."

"So you see, we can only kill him. A fifth-rank prefectural governor of the Great Qing Dynasty—how impressive. Who would imagine that a little Daoist boy like me killed him—or that an old man like you had such ability? Outside his residence, there are masters from the Dao Tradition and Sword Sect who set up a great formation of yin spirits!"

"He has enemies, and powerful ones at that. Once he dies, anyone who is not brain-dead will think those enemies did it. What does it have to do with me? When the time comes, we will deal with those people from the Qiao Household as well. If they stop making trouble, who will remember whatever happened with the Hongfu Escort Agency? Your old friend, if his life is still big enough, can get out of his predicament too. What are you staring at for? Drink the wine and think carefully—am I right, Li Jufu?"

The old Daoist did not know who "Li Jufu" was. But after thinking it over, although Li Yunxin's analysis seemed perfectly logical, he still felt that something was off.

After drinking that cup of wine and smacking his lips, he realized where the problem lay.

"But Brother Xin... how, um... would you... deal with him?" The old Daoist still did not speak the outrageously treasonous words aloud. "Brother Xin said it yourself—he has that great formation protecting him. Tonight, you did not dare use any methods for fear of being discovered. If ordinary methods are used... there will always be traces to follow. Those coroners and constables are not paid to eat for nothing. They would eventually trace it back to us. And there are people from the Dao Tradition and Sword Sect as well... who knows what divine methods they possess..."

Li Yunxin drained the remaining wine from the jug, tossed it back in one gulp, and stood.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Liu Laodao felt his face radiating a strange light—even... something that could be called somewhat demonic.

"I do not know what divine methods those people have." Li Yunxin seemed to think of something and looked as though he were about to laugh. His eyes seemed filled with some emotion brimming with malice and exhilaration, yet mixed with an impulse toward destruction. "But they do not know what divine methods I have either. Let me tell you. My divine ability... is called Heart-Slaying."

Liu Laodao did not quite understand what he meant.

But he understood one thing. He had once thought he more or less understood the temperament and preferences of this young master. But now he knew... perhaps what he understood did not even amount to a little bit of the surface.

This youth... was not as gentle and easygoing as he appeared.

Deep in his bones, perhaps...

Liu Laodao shuddered faintly and forced himself not to look at Li Yunxin just then.

Deep in his bones, perhaps... some terrifying demon was hidden there...

When the third-watch clapper sounded, the night wind rose.

Li Yunxin set down his brush and looked at a sheet of paper on the table by moonlight.

On it was information he had organized—information concerning Prefect Li.

Liu Laodao did not know how he could accomplish it,

killing Prefect Li under the protection of masters from the Dao Tradition and Sword Sect without leaving the slightest trace. But for Li Yunxin, this matter stirred certain memories from his previous life that had long been sealed in dust.

Killing people... killing people.

Li Yunxin smiled in the darkness.

He had liked doing this most in the past.

From the servant Ah Ze, he learned that Prefect Li was forty-six this year.

Slightly fat, and suspected of having high blood pressure and fatty liver. His family had served as officials for generations, and an ancestor had once become a second-rank grand official. Yet from his father going back four generations, almost none had died a natural death—three ancestors had been "frightened to death," while his father had lived somewhat longer and died of "palpitations and shortness of breath."

Heart disease. Probably hereditary through the Lineage.

Ah Ze said Prefect Li resembled his father greatly, both in appearance and manner. So the possibility that he was surnamed Wang could be ruled out...

Recently, he had suddenly stopped liking fish. When eating chicken, he had to remove the skin.

A few days ago, funds were needed to repair the Dragon King Temple at Three Rivers Mouth. He first berated the people harshly, then allocated the funds—an amount even somewhat greater than requested.

There was one more thing.

Five or six days ago, there had been a torrential rainstorm. That night, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and a bolt of lightning struck down the main hall of the prefectural yamen. Then, according to Ah Ze, "Milord no longer liked his usual snacks. Only today had his appetite improved a little, and he ordered me to buy sour soup noodles."

Li Yunxin stared at the paper for a while, then rose and took down the sword Bai Yunxin had given him from the western wall. The blade gleamed softly in the moonlight as he gripped it and swung it a few times.

"I hate this feeling most," he said quietly.

Over the next two or three days, fewer people came to the temple. Li Yunxin wandered about the front courtyard as usual, but he was no longer solely focused on breaking through his seal.

For one thing, the pain brought him by such a small amount of wish power was not enough to require his "full attention." For another, he was trying to inquire about certain matters. But people seemed to have begun keeping a respectful distance from him and Liu Laodao. With his sharp ears and keen eyes, he would occasionally hear passersby, after seeing them and avoiding them with strange expressions, say things like, "...colluding with bandits..." and "I hear they will arrest people soon."

Such a development truly surprised him.

In his impression, the government in this sort of feudal society ought to have been vicious and ruthless—if they wanted to arrest someone, they would throw chains over their head, bind them up, and send them straight to prison.

Yet he actually heard idle chatter from passersby saying things like, "...they say the old servant has not confessed, and the evidence is inconclusive." At the time, he had practically stared dumbfounded—"evidence is inconclusive"??

In an era like this...

They talked about "conclusive evidence"??

But thinking back on what had happened in Qinghe County... it already seemed somewhat strange. In such a remote county where the mountains were high and the emperor far away, Constable Xing, the local tyrant, had actually made such a grand show of deceiving him into escaping prison... only to kill him afterward!

He had also been concerned with...

"conclusive evidence," had he not?