"..." Li Piaoqing's heart sank to rock bottom.
In her haste, she had only managed to roll the pages torn from the ledger inside it, with her fingers covering the small corner of paper that still showed.
"I took it from that table." The girl pointed inside.
The man said nothing, and the atmosphere grew colder.
Suddenly, she felt a slight emptiness beneath her fingers. With a helpless smile, she immediately held the scroll before her and slowly opened it toward the man.
"Look, it's this painting-this is Xifang Tian's seal."
The scroll slowly unfurled, its time-stained figures gradually revealing themselves before the man. Nothing fell out. Inside the still-rolled portion, dark blue threads of flame spread like a membrane across those ledger pages, silently and invisibly reducing them to something that left not even ashes behind.
Chapter 280: Yinyang
Bowang Prefecture's capital.
At a three-story inn, even the street outside, clamorous by day, had fallen silent. Behind tightly shut doors and windows, the man sat at the table, the geomantic map of Bowang City still spread before him.
It was the same map, yet in just three days, it seemed to have grown considerably more withered and worn. One glance filled the eyes with desolation.
The man's long, thin fingers slowly stroked the map as he murmured, "All grieve in the bitter autumn. Who has won their heart's desire?"
Autumn's breath began to churn.
The young man stood quietly beside him. He could see no change in the map, but mysterious transformations were already surging through the man's pupils.
A moment later, the man lifted his brush, dipped it in ink, and marked a residence in the city's southeastern corner, leaving a bright red circle.
At this result, the young man's chiseled face grew colder and harder.
"He is