Yin Muhua Did It!

"How would a humble woman like me dare lie? The wound on my face came from a flying stone," the woman said, her voice trembling with tears.

"Another flying stone?" Han Tai frowned. The person who had killed Rong Futong had also used flying stones to injure his enemies. Now it had happened again. Was it a coincidence?

Han Tai could not be sure. The Flying Stone Technique was the most common of hidden-weapon methods. Trying to identify the killer from that alone was wishful thinking.

He said nothing and walked around the courtyard. The heavy rain had washed away most traces of the fight, but a few clues remained.

Another Constable Chief from the Soul-Calming Office walked beside him, studying the scene. Deng Feng had a thin mustache, a sallow face, and two sabers at his waist.

"Brother Han, found anything?" Deng Feng asked.

"The fight was almost entirely one-sided. The killer was probably a Hidden Strength Martial Artist," Han Tai said gravely.

"Agreed. The killer was powerful, but there are only a handful of Hidden Strength Martial Artists in the city. Who would go after Jiang Baihe? I can't think of anyone." Deng Feng looked puzzled.

"Could it have been an outsider?" Han Tai asked suddenly.

"An outsider? Very possible. I'd say Yin Muhua did it!" Deng Feng declared.

"What makes you say that, Brother Deng?" Han Tai raised an eyebrow.

"Yin Muhua may have been hiding in the city all along. So many of her subordinates died—would she just let that go? And as a Constable Chief of the Night Patrol Office, Jiang Baihe must have had plenty of leads concerning the Buddha Statue. It makes perfect sense that she'd attack him to force the information out of him," Deng Feng said.

"You make a good point. Yin Muhua did it!" Han Tai nodded.

In truth, he knew it had nothing to do with Yin Muhua. His Han Family had close dealings with the Yinyuan Sect in secret. Yin Muhua had vanished after the battle at Cao Village, and all contact with the sect had been severed. She was most likely dead. Besides, Jiang Baihe had secretly been one of the Han Family's men. Unless Yin Muhua had lost her mind, she would never have attacked him.

But Han Tai had no desire to investigate further. Jiang Baihe was dead, and that was that. People died all the time these days.

Was a Hidden Strength Martial Artist capable of killing Jiang Baihe someone to provoke lightly? If they pressed too hard and brought disaster down on themselves, what then?

Deng Feng felt the same way. Once he realized how strong the killer was, he lost all interest in pursuing the case.

Unless his superiors ordered him to investigate, why risk his life for a dozen or so taels of silver a month?

Night fell.

At the Han Family estate.

In a side chamber, two men drank together. Musicians played the zither and flute nearby, while a dozen or so dancers with graceful figures and fair skin danced in gauzy veils, utterly alluring.

Han Shantong sat on the left, rolling a string of prayer beads through his fingers. His eyes were calm, his bearing stern. No one could tell what he was thinking.

On the right—or rather, reclining on a cushioned couch to the right—was a middle-aged man of immense girth. Layers of fat piled across his body. From afar, he looked like a mountain of flesh; up close, even his features seemed crumpled together, a frightening sight.

Two maids beside him served him fruit and pastries without pause. The moment he opened his mouth, food went in. He ate so quickly that a whole box of mung bean pastries would vanish in three or five breaths.

"Brother Han, a Constable Chief from the Soul-Calming Office died recently. Was it the Yinyuan Sect's people?" County Magistrate Lu Xingyun asked, turning his head.

Han Shantong continued rolling his prayer beads, his expression composed. "Yin Muhua is dead. It has nothing to do with the Yinyuan Sect."

"Oh? That's strange, then. Who would be so bold?" Lu Xingyun asked, puzzled.

"He's dead. We can appoint another Constable Chief. What matters now is that people from the Prefectural City Soul-Calming Office are coming. If the truth gets out, my Han Family will be destroyed, and you'll be implicated too, County Magistrate Lu," Han Shantong said gravely.

Lu Xingyun smiled. Over the years, he and Han Shantong had joined hands in countless dirty deeds. If word got out, he would not escape death either.

"You always have a plan, Brother Han. I'm guessing you've already thought of something. Tell me what to do, and I'll give you my full cooperation."

"There are two paths. The first is to throw our full support behind the Bai'e Cult and strengthen ourselves through its evil arts. If the people from the prefectural city uncover the truth and refuse to cooperate, we kill them too!" As Han Shantong spoke, killing intent rose from him.

"You've got nerve, Brother Han. Those people from the prefectural city are powerful, and you'd still dare attack them?" Lu Xingyun was stunned. He would never have entertained such a dangerous thought.

"Our current strength isn't enough. But I have a Spirit-Devouring Demon Visualization Diagram that I obtained from Yin Muhua. It depicts an Evil Spirit worshipped by the Bai'e Cult, one far stronger than the Red Embroidered Lady worshipped by the Yinyuan Sect. If we can receive the Spirit-Devouring Demon Child's blessing, our strength will soar. We may well have a chance to kill the arrivals from the prefectural city," Han Shantong said coldly.

"You really do have a plan, Brother Han. But I've heard that in the Bai'e Cult, the stronger an Evil Spirit is, the harder it is to gain its blessing. What ritual does the Spirit-Devouring Demon Child require?" Lu Xingyun swallowed another large piece of mung bean cake as he spoke.

"The Hundred-Child Feast. Infants must be offered as sacrifices to please the Spirit-Devouring Demon Child. The more infants, the greater the blessing, and living infants are more effective than dead ones," Han Shantong said evenly.

A chill ran through Lu Xingyun. He had heard that sacrifices endured terrible pain when offered to Evil Spirits, their blood and vitality drained from them while they still lived. To sacrifice living infants—how much evil would that bring into the world? Yet Han Shantong could speak of it so calmly. Lu Xingyun found even that terrifying.

"You truly have no sentiment to hold you back, Brother Han. You're a man who can accomplish great things. But if we start gathering infants now, will there still be time?" Lu Xingyun asked.

"If you cooperate, there will. The Soul-Calming Office and the magistrate's office are both in our hands. So what if someone notices something amiss? We kill them. Power is all that matters. Righteousness and conscience are nothing but mist and shadows." Han Shantong narrowed his eyes.

"We'll do it your way. What's the second path?" Lu Xingyun asked, his voice deepening.

"The Hundred-Child Feast might fail, so we need a fallback. I intend to bring Jiangyin County's major factions together. If we become a solid wall of iron, even the people from the prefectural city will have to think twice, no matter how strong they are," Han Shantong said.

"Well said, Brother Han. Even a mighty dragon won't crush a snake on its own ground. Once the leaders of every major faction are in the same boat, what can those people from the prefectural city do, even if they uncover the truth? Kill us all? They wouldn't dare. There's actually a third path, too. Yin Muhua may be dead, but the Buddha Statue might still be in Jiangyin County. If we find it and present it to the prefectural city, that will be a great achievement. Even if we're arrested, it could spare us punishment," Lu Xingyun said.

"The Tathagata Sutra is little more than mist and shadows. Yin Muhua kept insisting it was in the county seat, but I'm not so sure. Still, it's a path worth considering." Han Shantong nodded.

"Then we start tomorrow. Do you have a plan, Brother Han?" Lu Xingyun asked with a smile.

"We begin with the Soul-Calming Office and the Ma Family. Once those two submit, the other factions won't matter." Han Shantong gave a cold laugh.

The Ma Family was the county's second-largest Lineage and had long been at odds with the Han Family. But because the Ma Family also had holdings in the prefectural city, the Han Family had never dared strike at them directly. Their clashes had remained confined to business.

Now that the Han Family was in danger, Han Shantong had no choice but to take a desperate gamble. The Ma Family became the first obstacle he had to remove.