The disturbance at Three Harmony Tower had been considerable, but ultimately it had not threatened the survival of an entire prefecture. The Prince's Manor's Attendants still focused their work on the demonic aura at Purple Emblem Mountain.
After leaving the county office, Linghu Qingmo hurried to the Dan King Pavilion. He headed upstairs, and had only just reached the second floor when he heard discussion coming from the hall:
"Dan Prefecture covers a vast area. Ordinary soldiers and constables would struggle to recognize a great demon even if they encountered one. With just us searching county by county, village by village, it would take a month or so..."
"Could it have gone north?"
"Impossible. The footprints headed toward Dan Prefecture..."
"The footprints might simply have belonged to a hunter. Would a Transcendent Grade demon even need to walk? Have you ever seen Mister Mu go out by 'turning true qi into a horse' and riding it around?"
"Uh... you seem to have a point. Our cultivation is still too low to imagine the sights at the mountaintop..."
The Prince's Manor had seven retainers and advisers of the third grade or higher. Besides Chief Steward Zhu Wenyuan, there were the scholar Huangfu Qi, Military Commander Tie Fengzhang, Mysterious Fox Temple's guest elder Ji Shiqing, and others.
When Linghu Qingmo reached the doorway, he saw that everyone except Military Commander Tie Fengzhang was present, along with a few lower-grade retainers. Unable to find any trace of the great demon, they were gathered around a map of Dan Prefecture in the center, brainstorming.
Zhu Wenyuan stood at the head of the group, his brow furrowed over their fruitless search for the demon. Seeing Linghu Qingmo at the doorway, he asked warmly:
"Qingmo, do you have something to report?"
"My respects, seniors."
After bowing, Linghu Qingmo entered the hall:
"I just went to examine the body. Xie Jinhuan said the unidentified floating corpse connected to the Demon Bandits died from Corpse Flies, and seemed to have been cultivating some sort of 'Gu Flower.' I don't know the details, so I came to ask you seniors."
"A Gu Flower?"
At these words, all the Attendants present fell silent.
Holding his folding fan, Zhu Wenyuan knitted his brows. After carefully searching his memory for a moment, he said gravely:
"The method of cultivating Gu Flowers is a secret the Witch Cult's sects never pass to outsiders. Anyone able to learn it must have reached at least the third grade. Are you sure Xie Jinhuan wasn't mistaken?"
Huangfu Qi, who taught the heir and the commandery princess, ranked second only to Zhu Wenyuan. He had served at the Prince's Manor for over twenty years and was deeply respected by the Pill King. Stroking his goatee, he questioned:
"Daoist Ji examined that corpse as well. It had been decomposing for days, leaving no clues to follow. The coroner searched it inside and out without finding any Corpse Flies. How did Xie Jinhuan tell?"
Ji Shiqing came from the renowned Daoist Mysterious Fox Temple. In his youth, he had spent years traveling through the Southern Border Wasteland, and dealing with the Witch Cult's sinister practitioners was his greatest specialty. Although he did not throw his seniority around, he still nodded:
"If the person had only recently died, identifying a Gu Flower as the cause would not be impossible. But maggots had eaten that corpse and it had rotted beyond recognition, which was tantamount to destroying the body and erasing the evidence. I truly cannot imagine what young friend Xie could have seen to tell that it was cultivating a Gu Flower."
Linghu Qingmo did not know how Xie Jinhuan had figured it out either. After thinking, he replied:
"Xie Jinhuan is learned and talented. Perhaps it came to him in a flash of inspiration."
That explanation was clearly a little far-fetched.
Who among those capable of becoming retainers at the Prince's Manor was not learned, talented, and widely experienced?
Zhu Wenyuan did not believe that so many advisers present could have less discerning eyes than a twenty-year-old youngster.
But someone had offered evidence, and however outlandish it sounded, they had to consider the possibility. Zhu Wenyuan carefully searched his memory:
"Six or seven kinds of Gu Flower use Corpse Flies as nourishment. It would be difficult to determine which particular flower caused his death."
Ji Shiqing did indeed know the Witch Cult well. He replied:
"The Demon Bandits were collecting Dragon Whisker Grass. Only two Gu Flowers use both Corpse Flies and Dragon Whisker Grass.
"Setting aside Soul-Calming Grass, which is impossible, that leaves Spirit Dew Valley's Mad Corpse Flower. Following that line of investigation might yield a clue."
Seeing his colleagues following this line of thought, Huangfu Qi considered it and joined in:
"According to the Essence of Plants and Trees, the surroundings of a Mad Corpse Flower must be strewn with corpses. There could be no place within Dan Prefecture where large numbers of human corpses were piled up. Perhaps they are using livestock carcasses at a slaughterhouse or livestock market to nurture it. As long as we find where the flower was grown, we can prove that the Li Household was framed by the Demon Bandits, and that someone else was behind it."
Hearing these experts' opinions naturally gave Linghu Qingmo a direction. He cupped his hands in salute:
"Thank you for your guidance, seniors. I'll lead a team to search every place in the city where livestock are kept."
Zhu Wenyuan nodded. A Transcendent Grade great demon posed a far greater threat than a mere third-grade Gu Master. With Linghu Qingmo leading the search, if the Gu Master dared show himself within the city, they could arrive in the blink of an eye. He wasted no more words on the matter and continued discussing how to search for that demon...
Outside Danyang City.
A carriage sped upstream along the official road, occasionally passing escort companies and merchant caravans heading into the pass. Horse bells rose and fell:
Jingle, jingle~
Xie Jinhuan sat outside the carriage, holding a Thousand-Li Telescope he had bought on the street and carefully searching both banks of the great river. He had left all the driving to his personal servant.
Coal Ball crouched beside him, clutching the reins in its claws, its large amber eyes full of bewilderment. Their meaning was probably-was driving a carriage my job? Why didn't you go let people pet your head instead?
Inside the carriage, Lin Wanyi was also looking around through the window, searching for somewhere Mad Corpse Flowers might be cultivated.
Though her expression was focused, she kept feeling a chill beside her, as though she was not the only person sitting in the carriage!
But she could not see the red-robed A Piao before her. Apart from occasionally pulling her collar tighter, she did nothing else.
After they had searched like this for a while, a scenic garden appeared beside the river. Colorful large boats filled the water outside it, while its buildings were magnificent, and countless visitors walked and gathered within.
Xie Jinhuan turned the Thousand-Li Telescope toward the garden. Seeing the densely packed figures, he asked:
"What is that place?"
"Peony Pond. This year's Mid-Autumn Gathering will be held there. It isn't time yet. On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, there will probably be tens of thousands of people."
"Really."
Since it had nothing to do with him, Xie Jinhuan paid it little mind.
After scanning the riverbank for a while, Lin Wanyi still felt uneasy. She turned toward the empty seat beside her again and said quietly:
"Xie Jinhuan."
"Hmm?" Xie Jinhuan looked back into the carriage.
"Do... do you feel anything strange about this carriage? As if there's an extra person?"
"Gooji?"
Coal Ball turned its head, its eyes probably saying-only now did you notice something unclean was here?
Xie Jinhuan hurriedly held his personal servant down. Looking at the two flowerlike, jade-fair beauties inside the carriage, he asked in puzzlement:
"Is there? Have you perhaps not recovered from yesterday's poisoning?"
Lin Wanyi thought that was possible. She tightened her clothes again and asked:
"By the way, when did you get back yesterday?"
Xie Jinhuan had returned fairly early and even entered the bathroom. But if Lin Wanyi found out, wouldn't she plant a Love Gu in him and turn him into the Lin Household's live-in son-in-law?
"I came back fairly late yesterday. Miss Zisu arrived just as I entered."
"Oh..."
Lin Wanyi could not distinguish dream from reality either. Apparently, it had only been a dream. She dismissed her distracting thoughts and resumed searching the riverbank.
The two people, one ghost, and one bird continued along the official road like this. After they had traveled some twenty li, the red-robed A Piao inside the carriage suddenly spoke:
"Wait."
"Whoa~"
Xie Jinhuan immediately pulled the reins and stopped the carriage beside the road. Looking around, he saw a shaded trail beside the weed-choked official road. It appeared to have been trodden out by people and led deep into the distant hills.
Noticing that the carriage had stopped, Lin Wanyi poked her head out and looked toward the distant hills:
"I think that place is called Cockscomb Ridge. A small river flows out of the mountains and joins the Huai River. You think it's here?"
Xie Jinhuan was not sure. He got down and carefully examined the trail. On the dirt covered with fallen leaves and weeds, he saw scattered hoofprints and droppings. Livestock must have passed through recently, but all the tracks headed into the hills-there were entries, but no exits.
"This is a little suspicious. Let's go in and look."
To avoid rustling the grass and startling the snake, Xie Jinhuan first led the carriage farther away and parked it beside an old bridge. Only then did he head down the trail with the woman and the ghost. Before long, they found a small stream crossing its end, its source lying deep in the hills.
Xie Jinhuan had Coal Ball fly high to scout. Only after confirming there were no living people in the hills did he search upstream.
Lin Wanyi followed close behind, lifting her skirts. She kept feeling that something was wrong around them and repeatedly glanced from side to side:
"There won't be anything unclean here, will there? Why don't we go back and notify the yamen, and bring more people?"
Xie Jinhuan glanced at his ghost wife drifting about as she searched and replied:
"In broad daylight, beneath clear and shining heavens, how could there be anything unclean? Even if there were, what are you afraid of with me here?"
Lin Wanyi was actually also worried about being lured into a little grove by a man, then becoming a woman.
But in a place like this, Xie Jinhuan might not be able to do anything to a direct successor of the Witch Cult like her. She soon cast the thought aside.
The two people and one ghost followed the rugged stream for roughly half a quarter-hour and reached a pool.
The pool measured three zhang across, with tangled vines surrounding it. Part of the hillside beside it had collapsed, piling earth and rocks along its edge. It looked like a natural landslide.
Standing beside the pool, Xie Jinhuan examined the area. A faint rotten stench drifted through the air, seemingly coming from beneath the landslide.
Ye Hongshang floated above the pool and nodded slightly:
"This is it. The flower-growing site is behind the pool. It's been buried. There are no living people inside."
Although Lin Wanyi had not heard the Succubus's whisper, she carefully examined the surroundings and agreed:
"This place is shaded and close to water, with heavy yin energy. It certainly suits growing Mad Corpse Flowers."
Having confirmed that they had found the place, Xie Jinhuan wasted no words. After inspecting the landslide and making sure there were no mechanisms or traps, he drew the Heavenly Gang Mace from his waist, came to the edge of the pool, and drew a deep breath.
Seeing this, Lin Wanyi hurriedly retreated to the edge of the pool and covered her ears.
Boom-
The next instant, a thunderous crash rang through the mountain hollow.
Xie Jinhuan brought his mace down with all his strength. The pool instantly exploded, sending spray towering into the sky!
The force swept up boundless flying water and smashed into the side of the fallen earth and rocks, blasting an opening through them in an instant, only for tumbling stones to bury it again.
Rumble-
Only after three such rounds did he blast a gap through the collapsed mound, revealing a deep, dark cave entrance behind it. A thick stench of corpses rushed into their faces...
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