The courtyard of the old Land God Temple in Luo County's town was utterly quiet that night.
Du Xiaolin, sitting cross-legged beneath a tree in the courtyard, opened her eyes. A streak of light flew from her sleeve and turned into an unopened lotus flower in her hand.
"He died after all."
After murmuring those words, Du Xiaolin turned toward the temple hall. He would never return.
With that thought, Du Xiaolin rose and quickly walked into the hall. Just then, the Land God's statue spoke.
"Girl, this is a matter of the mortal world."
"It's a family matter for me, too!"
As her words fell, Du Xiaolin crooked a finger, and the letter in the Land God statue's hand flew out amid a scattering of incense ash.
At daybreak the next day, someone discovered two people floating in the E River. Initially mistaking them for corpses, someone reported it to the authorities. Only after pulling them out did they discover that both were still alive.
The two were lucky to have survived, and woke shortly after being brought ashore. But the sight of the constables around them triggered an immediate reaction, and they attacked at once, preparing to escape.
Their bodies were simply too weak. After injuring several constables, they had barely run any distance before their legs gave way and they collapsed beside the road again.
The local government had initially taken them for ordinary drowning victims, but now it had no choice but to take the matter seriously. They were thrown into prison like criminals of the Rivers and Lakes. Several days later, officers from the Ministry of Justice arrived and took them away.
At almost the same time, a peculiar letter inexplicably appeared at the Luo County government office. The County Magistrate dared not delay and