Chapter 162

Chapter 162

Ren Fengjue’s words made Xia Ximo pause for a moment.

That familiar feeling welled up in her heart again, and she could not help but take another deep look at him.

In the end, she did not respond. She simply turned and left.

No explanation. No instructions.

Ren Fengjue, however, had long since grown used to the way she did things. Only after watching her figure disappear into the distance did he tuck the handkerchief he had used to wipe his sword back into his robes, then turn and head for the town office.

Inside the Soul-Ferrying Lantern, Wuyou could not hold back any longer.

“What a pity. It would have been so much better if you two hadn’t broken off the engagement back then…”

“It’s true your time in the mortal world is limited, but some things-feelings, for instance-really are something you can only encounter by chance. You can’t force them.”

“Now that your soul has fully merged with your body, you ought to experience more of what it feels like to be human. Only then will this trip not have been in vain.”

Xia Ximo’s steps faltered, but she did not immediately refute it.

After her soul and body had merged, there were indeed more and more things she could feel.

The five senses and six perceptions all became thoughts.

And having too many “thoughts” was no good thing.

She could not be bothered with these baseless entanglements. Casting all those distracting notions to the back of her mind, she asked, “You said just now there was the aura of a wrongfully dead soul at the street corner. Where is it now?”

Only then did Wuyou remember the proper matter at hand. “Oh, right. That Yin Soul seemed to have been following us from a distance the whole time. It’s just ahead, at the corner…”

It was rare for a Yin Soul to seek them out on its own.

Xia Ximo narrowed her eyes slightly, then quickened her pace toward the street corner.

Sure enough, at the end of the corner, a Yin Soul stood trembling beside the wall. Sensing her approach, it could not help but retreat a step.

“Speak. What grievance do you have?”

Hearing her question, the Yin Soul hesitated for a moment, then came forward and knelt on the ground. “I want to ask you… to help me.”

–

At the fifth watch, Axia drove the carriage back to Yunxia Town.

Inside the carriage, aside from Yu Lang and the coroner, there was one more person: Ge Chuan, the county magistrate of Kaiming County.

When Ge Chuan learned that something had happened in Yunxia County, and that both Yu Lang and Ren Fengjue were in the county, he immediately thought of the plague from half a month ago. How could he possibly sleep after that?

And so he volunteered to come along with the coroner and assist with the investigation.

As the saying went, whatever one feared most was bound to happen. After Magistrate Ge arrived in town and asked around, he learned that the waiter’s death truly was connected to the “plague” from half a month earlier.

After daybreak, a public notice was posted, leaving the townspeople utterly baffled.

The notice said there might be insects spreading trouble in town and ordered the residents to be on guard.

But the prescribed method for dealing with the insects was not the usual worm-repelling items like mugwort or camphor wood. It was glutinous rice.

This was because Yan Zhengchu had suggested that every household in town had glutinous rice. Sprinkling it evenly around the entrances and exits of the home would happen to repel Corpse Worms.

Though the townspeople did not understand, they were very obedient.

In less than half a day, all the glutinous rice in the town’s rice shops had been swept clean.

After hearing Yu Lang’s opinion, Axia had also wanted to buy some glutinous rice as a precaution, but in the end, he made the trip for nothing.

When he returned, he saw Vice Minister Yu sitting listlessly in the inn’s main hall, his face pale and his body looking terribly weak.

“Young Master Yu, if you’re tired, why don’t you go rest in a guest room first?”

At that, Yu Lang forced his eyes half-open, but he truly could not muster any energy.

“What if there are bugs in the guest room? I’d rather doze off here.”

Axia was helpless. He was just about to head upstairs when he saw Yan Zhengchu come down with a grave expression.

Yan Zhengchu walked straight up to Yu Lang and said, “Let me look at your wound again.”

Yu Lang was so sleepy he could barely keep himself upright. Hearing this, he lazily held out one hand, unwilling to move even a bit more.

Yan Zhengchu had no choice but to pull his sleeve up himself. The moment he did, his expression changed.
Axia followed behind Daoist Yan and took a look as well. He, too, noticed that something was wrong with the wound-it was already beginning to fester.

Startled, he quickly asked, “How did Young Master Yu’s wound get this bad?”

Yan Zhengchu sighed. “Like Shopkeeper Wang, he’s been poisoned by gu poison. Fortunately, the wound is shallow, so the poison shouldn’t spread through his entire body.”

If this had been any other time, Vice Minister Yu would have leapt up the moment he heard that.

But now, he lay sprawled over the table without moving, as though he had heard nothing at all.

Axia grew anxious on his behalf. “Then… what will happen to him?”

Yan Zhengchu could only make an estimate. “I went to check on Shopkeeper Wang just now. His body has already begun to rot. If we can’t find a way to treat him, he’ll likely die with his entire body festering.”

He glanced at Yu Lang again. “The poison in Young Master Yu is spreading slowly, but we still need to find a cure as soon as possible.”

Hearing this, Axia felt a lingering chill of fear.

“Daoist Yan, you have to save Young Master Yu.”

“Don’t worry.”

Yan Zhengchu patted Axia on the shoulder and said, “Stay at the inn and keep an eye on Young Master Yu. I’ll return to Mount Yunhe first and ask my master for a way to save him.”

Meanwhile, outside Yunxia Town, at the entrance of Tu Family Village.

Mountains ringed the area, and the lingering mist hung thick in the air.

Following Ge Chuan’s account, Ren Fengjue finally saw the place where the corpses had been burned that day.

There were even ashes still left on the ground.

He asked, “Do you know the identity of the Taoist priest who told you to burn the corpses that day?”

At the question, Ge Chuan grew extremely nervous and immediately lowered his head. “This humble official does not know. At the time, I merely thought the situation did indeed resemble a plague, and the Taoist priest’s words were reasonable.”

Ren Fengjue cast him a sidelong glance. “You burned the bodies before even determining the cause of death. With one fire, you destroyed the evidence outright.”

“…”

Ge Chuan’s heart filled with dread. He exchanged a look with Li Cheng behind him, but he did not dare answer.

“Let’s go. We’ll take another look inside the village.”

“Yes…”

After passing around the place where the bodies had been burned, Ren Fengjue had intended to take the narrow path beside it into the village.

However, after only a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

Ge Chuan and Li Cheng were following close behind him step by step, and when they saw this, they hurriedly halted as well.

Following Lord Ren’s gaze, they also noticed two wheel tracks pressed into the muddy path.

If they were not mistaken, they should have been left by a handcart…

Ren Fengjue asked, “The last time it rained here was around three days ago, correct?”

Ge Chuan did a quick calculation. “Indeed. It rained four days ago.”

The moment he said it, he realized it himself.

Ever since the so-called “plague” incident half a month ago, the authorities had sealed off this place.

Everyone in Yunxia Town knew about it, and because of that, no one would dare enter without permission.

Any previous footprints would already have been washed away by the rain. That meant these wheel tracks had to be recent…

So someone had secretly entered Tu Family Village not long ago?

Ge Chuan immediately waved a hand. Li Cheng, the town official behind him, along with a dozen or so constables, promptly moved ahead.

Morning light pierced through the lingering mist, lending the entire village a secluded, otherworldly stillness.

Ge Chuan had the constables pair up and begin searching the houses one by one. The village was not large, with only eleven households in total.

Thus, it did not take long before they had searched everything, but they found not a single person.

Just then, a woman’s figure suddenly appeared at the village entrance.

Ren Fengjue’s brows had been tightly furrowed, but when he turned and looked over, his expression immediately relaxed.

“Miss Xia?”