The Case Wasn't Over

The stone statue, still dressed in black, was carried back.

The steward was reporting to Huang Huaji. He said gravely, "I counted everyone. Lao Ruan is missing. He must have been killed by the mountain spirit along with Xiao Jin last night. The one who came back was a fake."

Wang Qilin was shocked and furious. "What exactly is this Mountain Puppet? The Mountain Puppet that turned into Lao Ruan spent a whole day and night with us, and not one person realized he was an impostor? It's too cunning!"

The steward said, "It is extraordinarily cunning. I checked when Lao Jiu died. It was precisely when we went after the ghost. It took advantage of the chaos in the manor to strike."

Xie Hama said, "Mountain Puppets are a kind of mountain spirit or water monster. They take people's souls and leave their bodies behind. Take this Lao Ruan, for example. The one who came back was him, yet wasn't him. And the one you killed last night was probably Xiao Jin."

Huang Huaji slammed the table angrily. "A pity I've been out of the army for years. Otherwise, I'd lead the First Assault Battalion to slaughter every last one of those ghost bastards."

The matter could be considered perfectly resolved, and the three were shown to guest rooms to rest.

Wang Qilin was surprised. Huang Huaji wasn't going to do anything about the missing Six-Step Qi Jade?

That wasn't right, was it?

Xu Da noticed this too. He sneered at the other two. "No wonder we couldn't find the jade. Huang Huaji hid it himself!"

Xie Hama said, "If there was no Six-Step Qi Jade in the coffin, why were the Mountain Puppets and ghosts chasing it?"

Xu Da waved a hand. "It must have been in the coffin yesterday. He took it out after we came back."

Xie Hama nodded. That explanation made sense.

But then he gave Wang Qilin a meaningful look, leaned closer, and whispered, "The Spirit-Communing Holy Child's death was strange. He died of poisoning!"

Wang Qilin frowned. After a moment's thought, he said, "It's late. Let's sleep first."

He slept well all night.

He was still sleeping soundly in the morning when Huang Liufeng suddenly rushed in, flustered. "Sir, sir! Sir, get up! Please go and see my sister! M-my sister isn't right. She's-she's so weak."

Wang Qilin joined Xu Da and Xie Hama, and they hurried to Huang Qingyun's bedchamber.

Huang Qingyun was already awake, but her face was as pale as gold paper and her eyes were lifeless. Her lips, which had been fairly red during the day, had turned grayish white. She could no longer even sit up.

Xie Hama flicked his Daoist robe. "This shouldn't be happening. The ghost haunting her has already been killed..."

"Daoist Master, that talisman water from yesterday?" Huang Liufeng interrupted anxiously.

Xie Hama said, "That talisman water restores righteousness, expels evil, and greatly replenishes yang qi. In principle, once the ghost was killed, there should have been no evil qi left in her body. She shouldn't keep growing weaker."

As he spoke, he used another talisman on a cup of tea.

The Eight Trigrams talisman water appeared again.

Huang Huaji hurried to feed it to his granddaughter, but Xie Hama stopped him. "The Sweet Dew Righteousness-Restoring Talisman's effectiveness diminishes with each use. Give her only a little. This isn't medicine for curing illness."

Yet the talisman water worked even faster than good medicine. After two sips, color returned to Huang Qingyun's face.

Huang Liufeng asked with aching concern, "Sister, did you run into trouble in your dream again?"

Huang Qingyun shook her head gently. "No. I was still falling. I reached the fifth floor."

Xie Hama stood and began pacing with his hands behind his back. "This shouldn't happen. How could this be?"

Wang Qilin covered his forehead, looking as though something was troubling him.

In truth, he knew nothing at all.

He was just a noob who had joined the Heaven-Listening Bureau less than a month ago.

A case at the general's manor shouldn't have been his responsibility. He was bearing worries and pressure that he shouldn't have had to bear at his age.

But something occurred to him, and he asked, "Does Miss Qingyun have a habit of sleepwalking?"

Huang Qingyun's maid, Hua'er, shook her head. "No."

"Not even once?"

"Never!"

Xie Hama froze at this, then gave him and Xu Da a meaningful look and walked out. "This is bad. It wasn't this young lady wandering at night earlier. It was her yin soul! No wonder she's so tired and her yang qi is so badly depleted. I thought a ghost was haunting her, but her yin soul has actually left her body!"

As the old saying went, when the yin soul left the body, death was not far off.

Xu Da understood. "No wonder she made no sound when she walked. No wonder it was so cold then! But why would her yin soul leave her body?"

Heaven had clouds and clear skies, earth had yin and yang, and people had fleshly bodies and souls.

Knowing how little Wang Qilin understood, Xie Hama explained, "There's an expression, 'losing one's hun and po.' Losing either a hun soul or a po soul is common enough, and both can be treated. But losing them together is another matter. The three hun souls and seven po souls combine to form the yin soul, though while it's inside the human body, it should more properly be called essence, qi, and spirit."

"As the saying goes, heaven has three treasures: the sun, moon, and stars; earth has three treasures: water, fire, and wind; man has three treasures: essence, qi, and spirit. So how could someone normally lose their essence, qi, and spirit? Only the dead have none. Understand?"

Wang Qilin nodded. "Then why would Huang Qingyun's yin soul leave her body?"

Xie Hama shook his head in bewilderment.

Still wanting to investigate for clues, Wang Qilin went back and asked Huang Qingyun, "Miss Huang, think carefully. Apart from seeing that villain from the Su family, was there nothing else strange in your dream?"

Huang Qingyun said, "If you mean strange, the things inside the pagoda were a little strange. It was full of Buddha statues."

"What's strange about enshrining Buddha statues in a Buddhist pagoda?"

"What I mean is, it was all Buddha statues inside! Whenever I fell past a window on each floor, I looked inside and found nothing but Buddha statues! I started falling from the top of the pagoda, and I've seen six floors so far. All six were crammed full of Buddha statues!"

Wang Qilin was about to ask another question when Huang Huaji suddenly stood in alarm, knocking his chair over with a clatter.

Everyone turned to look at him. Putting on a calm front, he said, "All Buddha statues inside? How strange."

Wang Qilin continued, "Miss Huang, you must have remembered incorrectly. Either you didn't fall from the top, or it wasn't five floors you saw."

Huang Huaji asked instinctively, "What do you mean?"

Wang Qilin smiled. "Pagodas always have an odd number of floors-three, five, seven, nine, eleven. But according to Miss Huang, she fell from the top and reached the sixth floor yesterday, then the fifth today. She also said she had already seen six floors. Wouldn't that mean the pagoda has ten floors?"

Huang Qingyun said, "You're quite good at arithmetic. The pagoda does have ten floors."

"Ten floors? Are you sure?" This time, Huang Huaji rushed to ask.

Huang Qingyun said, "Of course I am. I only fall one floor each night. It's terribly boring, so I counted all the floors long ago. What's wrong?"

Xie Hama's expression grew increasingly grim.

Huang Huaji looked grim too. He left with the steward. Before long, the steward returned and said, "Gentlemen, you have already slain the Su family's little ghost. The strange happenings in the manor have now come to an end. Thank you for your assistance. In time, my master will certainly request commendations for you."

Something was wrong!

Wang Qilin shook his head. "Forgive my bluntness, Steward Ding, but the case isn't over."

Xu Da said heavily, "Exactly. And what do you take our Heaven-Listening Bureau for? These days, even if you visit a brothel and hire a girl, you can't just summon her and dismiss her at will, let alone us!"

Xie Hama leaned over and told him, "Even if you stay, there's no Innate Jade left for you."

Xu Da was deeply saddened.

Steward Ding gave a bitter smile. "Sir Wang, allow this old man to presume on his age. I hope you'll call me uncle. Please do your Uncle Ding a favor. Too much has happened in our manor lately, and my master is very distressed. Can we leave anything else for another day?"

Xie Hama tugged at him too. "Sir Wang, since our host has spoken, let's leave for now."

Seeing this, Wang Qilin gave the Huang siblings a long look, then looked at the steward and cupped his hands. "Uncle Ding, we'll take our leave, then."

He had some suspicions but no evidence, so it was not appropriate to voice them.

Besides, this matter involved a second-rank official, the General Who Guards the State. As a mere Minor Seal, he did not dare say too much.

Every man knew that too much drinking made your backside hurt, and too much talking made your neck hurt.

Huang Huaji hadn't discarded them after getting what he wanted. He still prepared gifts for them.

In particular, after learning that Wang Qilin's home was in Paifang Township, Steward Ding arranged a horse-drawn cart for him outright.

The cart carried fine silks, grain, wine, and meat, and even a young woman's dressing table-all things needed for life in the countryside.

The cart bore the general's manor's insignia. As it swayed into Great King Village, the Wang clan elders hurried over with people to receive it.