"Let me tell you a story."
Ye Qianfan did not argue with Shi Guang. Instead, he used a short story to make his point. "Legend has it that there was once a prime minister who submitted petitions day after day to protect his dynasty, urging the emperor not to lose himself in a beauty's charms. That beauty, who was a Fox Demon in disguise, grew resentful and wanted to get rid of him!"
"Later, while dining with the emperor, the Fox Demon pretended to cough up blood and collapse, then had the imperial physician declare that only medicine made with a loyal minister's heart could cure her."
"Out of concern for his beloved beauty, the emperor issued six imperial edicts in succession, summoning the loyal minister back and having his heart cut out."
"The loyal minister did not die. He simply walked home with his hands hanging low. On the way, he met a peasant woman selling hollow-hearted greens and asked her, 'Greens can live without a heart, but what becomes of a man without one?'"
"The peasant woman replied, 'A man without a heart dies.' And so the loyal minister coughed up blood and died!"
"I'm afraid you two brothers are in much the same situation as that loyal minister. When you slept in the Mortuary helpers' room last night, your hearts had probably already been dug out. But because you were asleep, you never noticed!"
"Then, just now, Li Pu happened to mention the heartless corpses hanging from the ceiling that we encountered shortly after entering the tomb. Ye Tiandi took those words to heart, and just like that loyal minister, he realized he could not live without a heart."
Ye Qianfan had thought of the story of Bi Gan because he had carefully reviewed what had just