The next day, the sky turned gloomy once more.
Jiang Mu had just finished the breakfast his aunt had prepared when a torrential downpour began pelting against the window.
Naturally, such weather made it impossible to go out investigating cases.
He had no choice but to stay indoors, reorganizing the information from the three households he had visited the previous day to see if he had missed any clues.
After sorting through the information, with nothing else to do, Jiang Mu began practicing the Five Beasts Scripture in his room.
Though crude, this cultivation art was still effective for strengthening the body.
Since his ex-wife had already "agreed" to let him take a new wife, he naturally couldn't be too weak in the bedchamber department.
He recalled that in his previous life, he had been a super-upgraded version of Lao Ai.
By noon, the previously pouring rain had transformed into a hazy drizzle.
After washing off his sweat, Jiang Mu headed to the neighboring house of Shi Baolu, planning to call him out to continue the investigation together.
As soon as he stepped into the small courtyard, the aroma of food assailed his nostrils.
In the kitchen, a slender figure was busy working at the stove.
The woman wore a plain dress with a thorn hairpin. Her figure was tall and slender, her waist so narrow it seemed it might snap with the slightest force, yet beneath the cloth skirt, the curves of her hips were unexpectedly round and full.
With lowered brows stirring the ladle, her profile was as gentle as water, possessing both the soft charm reminiscent of a young wife and the pure beauty of a maiden.
She exuded a beauty rooted in the mundane smoke and fire of daily life.
She was Shi Baolu's eldest sister, Shi Yurou.
Shi Yurou was a few years older than Mu Jiang and Baolu. In Mu Jiang's memories, she had always been a gentle, intellectual elder sister with an exceedingly soft and kind temperament.
No matter how mischievous Shi Baolu and Jiang Mu had been in their youth, he had never seen her truly lose her temper.
She had been especially considerate toward the young Mu Jiang.
In his childhood, Jiang Mu often stayed overnight at the Shi residence. Whenever there was a thunderstorm, he and little Xueying, afraid of the thunder, would crawl into Elder Sister Yurou's quilt, which smelled of soapberry blossoms, seeking a sense of security.
And Shi Yurou would always set down her needlework, embrace them gently, and pat their backs soothingly.
Even after Jiang Mu had grown up, Shi Yurou still treated him like a blood brother, often making tasty snacks for him—completely unlike her younger sister Shi Xueying's deliberate or unintentional distance.
"Elder Sister Yurou, what special occasion is it today? Why are you making so many good dishes?"
Jiang Mu looked at the several delicate dishes already prepared and casually picked up a slice of meat from one plate, tossing it into his mouth as he asked curiously.
Smack!
Just as he was about to steal another piece, the head of a pair of chopsticks lightly tapped the back of his hand.
He looked up to see Shi Yurou glaring at him with feigned anger, her almond-shaped eyes like water, while her other hand gestured in sign language: "Little glutton, if you want to eat, go wash your hands first." A few strands of black hair that had come loose from her busyness clung softly to her sweaty neck, lending her a somewhat bewitching softness.
Meanwhile, a mischievous bead of sweat rolled down from the woman's delicate jaw, tracing across her collarbone.
Following the slightly indented curve...
It quietly slipped into the slightly open collar, disappearing into the undulating shadows within.
Shi Yurou had been born mute.
The kind who couldn't scream even if she tore her throat.
"I already ate," Jiang Mu said with a smile, then asked, "Where's Stone? Could he still be sleeping in?"
Shi Yurou wore a helpless expression, pointing toward Shi Baolu's room and signing: "The chick he was raising the day before yesterday ran away. He searched all day yesterday but couldn't find it. He was upset all night last night and only just fell asleep."
The chick was lost?
Jiang Mu recalled the baby chick Shi Baolu had been carrying in his bosom the day before yesterday.
He had even said it was their child.
For the simple-natured Shi Baolu, it was indeed a treasure.
Jiang Mu smiled and said, "Then forget it, I won't disturb him for now. Oh, right—Baolu's appointment to work at the yamen has come through. From now on he'll follow me and Uncle An. I'll take good care of him."
He took out the official document and handed it to Shi Yurou.
Shi Yurou's beautiful eyes brightened, and a joyful expression immediately spread across her clear, pretty face.
She wiped her hands and carefully accepted the document, looking up at Jiang Mu with eyes full of gratitude, signing: "Thank Uncle An for me."
She went back inside and took out a small cloth bundle.
Inside were bits of silver she had saved up. She pressed them toward Jiang Mu, signing at the same time: "Uncle An must have spent money to arrange this. I don't know if this is enough..."
Jiang Mu waved his hand. "Elder Sister Yurou, don't stand on ceremony with family. Uncle An is at least a head constable, one of the 'Divine Catchers' in Swallow City with some face to spare. Why would he need extra bribes for something like this? Just let me freeload more meals here in the future."
Shi Yurou felt rather awkward, but only put the money back after Jiang Mu repeatedly insisted.
However, upon hearing "family," her eyes dimmed slightly.
Obviously, she had thought of her younger sister's attitude toward Mu Jiang.
Shi Yurou signed again: "Little Jiang, Xueying will be bringing her master and senior sister over as guests shortly. Don't leave yet; stay for a meal."
"No wonder you made so many good dishes."
Jiang Mu shook his head with a smile. "No can do, Elder Sister Yurou. I still have to investigate a case."
Shi Yurou hurriedly grabbed him, shoving into his hands a packet of osmanthus shortcakes wrapped in oil paper, while smoothly straightening his slightly wrinkled collar, her brows and eyes full of gentleness.
"Hehe, Elder Sister Yurou still understands me. I love these."
Jiang Mu accepted the shortcakes and waved his hand. "I'm off!"
Shi Yurou saw him to the door, watching the man's figure disappear into the hazy rain and fog, and let out a soft sigh.
...
Without a partner, Jiang Mu had no choice but to continue his "secret journey of visiting widows" alone.
After ruling out the three households from yesterday, this time Jiang Mu arrived at a secluded residence in the southern part of the city.
The family was surnamed Shen and had a seventeen-year-old son.
Their background was ordinary; the husband had been a member of the Circuit Yamen and had sacrificed himself years ago while handling a spirit disaster case.
The authorities had provided quite a bit of consolation money.
Jiang Mu saw the courtyard gate was half-open. Just as he was about to raise his hand to knock, a scream suddenly came from inside the house, followed immediately by chaotic sounds of things being knocked over, mixed with a woman's urgent cries.
Jiang Mu was stunned. He drew the iron ruler from his waist and darted into the courtyard.
Following the sound, he entered the side room from which the scream had emanated. There, a young scholar-looking man was being pinned to the ground by two burly men, howling in pain.
Another young man in a cyan daoist robe was bent over the table streaming with sweat, wielding a cinnabar brush and writing furiously on a yellow talisman paper, his expression tense.
Beside them, a delicate-featured woman stood helplessly, her eyes full of tears.
"What are you doing?"
Jiang Mu's first thought was that this was a kidnapping or assault.
But seeing the scholar's glabella was dark and his neck was turning blue-green, he realized the fellow might be poisoned.
Jiang Mu's sudden intrusion startled everyone in the room.
The two burly men pinning the scholar saw he was a constable and subconsciously loosened their grip.
In that gap, the young scholar, suddenly free, violently sprang up. His eyes were blood-red as he tackled the daoist to the ground, opening his mouth to bite at the other's neck!
Holy shit!
A zombie?
Jiang Mu's heart jolted in shock.
Fortunately, the daoist reacted swiftly, desperately using his elbow to block the scholar's lower jaw, and roared at the two burly men: "Quick! Pull him away! Hurry!"
The two burly men woke from their daze and rushed forward, expending great effort to pull the young scholar away again and press him firmly back to the ground.
The daoist climbed to his feet, still shaken, his daoist robe torn askew. With some embarrassment and anger, he complained to Jiang Mu, "How could you, a constable, not knock first? You nearly got me killed!"
Jiang Mu stared at the scholar still roaring and struggling on the ground, frowning as he asked, "What's wrong with this guy?"
"He's possessed, what else?"
The daoist irritably straightened his robe, picked up his cinnabar brush again, and warned, "You'd better stay far away. If he bites you and baleful qi enters your body, you'll become just like him."
Possessed?
Jiang Mu frowned.
The woman wiped away tears and choked out:
"Constable, my son suddenly began having headaches since last month, growing worse by the day. We sought many doctors to no avail. Later, he didn't even recognize me, his own birth mother. This humble woman had no other recourse, so I went to the Heavenly Reverence Temple to request an immortal elder. Last time it was the old immortal elder from the temple who came and applied a talisman, which finally calmed my son."
Heavenly Reverence Temple?
Jiang Mu had heard this name—it was the most famous sect in Swallow City.
It was one of the six apex sects of Great Qian.
They possessed true ability.
The young daoist continued while focusing on drawing the talisman:
"This boy is too deeply possessed. Last time my master came, he applied a 'Suppressing Baleful Qi Talisman,' but that talisman only works for seven days. After seven days, a new talisman must be applied to suppress it. The previous two times, Master came personally to replace it. Today Master had other important business, so he sent me. But somehow, the talisman I just applied doesn't seem to be working. I'll draw a new one and try."
Jiang Mu walked over to the pinned-down scholar and observed carefully.
The other's eyeballs were scarlet, filled with savage violence.
The black mark on his glabella was already half the size of a palm, and its color seemed to be continuously deepening.
"Could it be a spirit creature causing this?" Jiang Mu speculated.
The daoist didn't stop drawing, not raising his head as he said:
"Master already used secret arts to investigate. There are no traces of a spirit creature attached to him. He should have accidentally been contaminated by corrupted baleful qi polluted by some spirit creature previously—that's why it's so difficult to eradicate."
"Why not have the Circuit Yamen handle this?"
Jiang Mu asked again.
The young daoist laughed derisively:
"I don't deny the Circuit Yamen's ability to catch criminals, but when it comes to the delicate work of exorcising evil and suppressing baleful qi, our Heavenly Reverence Temple is the professional. Besides, they have limited manpower, focusing mainly on pursuing spirit creature entities. These indirect contamination-induced evil symptoms are mostly handled by our Heavenly Reverence Temple's assistance in normal times."
While the daoist was speaking, he finally finished drawing the talisman.
He took a deep breath and stood up, preparing to apply the talisman to the scholar's forehead.
Jiang Mu stared at the talisman, feeling its patterns were vaguely familiar yet strangely foreign and awkward, and couldn't help asking, "What talisman is this?"
The daoist first used his cinnabar brush to quickly tap twice on the scholar's forehead center, then applied the talisman, saying:
"This is our Heavenly Reverence Temple's secret legacy 'Suppressing Baleful Qi Talisman,' unique under heaven. A petty yamen runner like you wouldn't understand even if I told you."
Jiang Mu didn't make a sound, observing the talisman closely.
As fragmented memory shards in his mind gradually pieced together clearly, he murmured:
"It looks like the Kan-Li Ji-Ji Evil-Dispelling Talisman, adopting the water-fire completion hexagram, drawing the Kan water pattern above and the Li fire pattern below..."
Jiang Mu suddenly said, "This talisman is wrong."
Everyone in the room immediately looked at him.
The daoist was stunned for a moment, then sneered:
"Constable, do you understand talismanship? Ever since I entered the Heavenly Reverence Temple to study, I have copied this talisman daily for seven years without ever making a mistake. You say it's wrong? Could it be that my master taught me wrong?"
Jiang Mu shook his head. "The talisman's framework itself indeed has the effect of suppressing evil, but the set of seal script you've learned is incomplete and damaged. Many places have brushwork that is stiff and forced, with blocked qi resonance. When encountering a lightly possessed person it's fine, but when facing a severely possessed one, drawing it this way not only fails to dispel evil, but instead causes baleful qi to accumulate and breed. The previous two times it seemed to work, but in reality it was forcibly suppressing with talisman power, causing the evil qi to lurk even deeper while the backlash grew stronger. Today, using this defective talisman again, naturally it won't take effect."
Hearing Jiang Mu speak so methodically, even the woman looked suspiciously toward the daoist.
The young daoist flushed red, both angry and anxious:
"What does a petty runner understand of talisman mysticism! Our Heavenly Reverence Temple has been established for a hundred years, suppressing evil and vanquishing baleful qi, protecting the region, accumulating boundless merit! Who in Swallow City doesn't know, who doesn't revere us? No one has ever dared to question our temple's secret transmission talisman arts like this!"
As the daoist's words fell, the young scholar who had just been struggling gradually stopped his roars, his body no longer twisting, his breathing seeming to calm somewhat.
Seeing this, the woman let out a breath of relief.
She hurriedly bowed and thanked the daoist: "Many thanks, Immortal Elder, for saving my son."
A smug expression appeared on the young daoist's face. He glanced provocatively at Jiang Mu and snorted, "Hmph, see that? An ignorant yamen runner dares to wield his axe at Master Ban's—"
However, before the final word could leave his mouth, a sudden aberration occurred!
The scholar who had just quieted down violently opened his eyes, blood light surging within them, even more horrifying than before.
He let out a beast-like roar, his strength surging explosively. He directly flipped over one of the burly men pressing down on him and lunged toward the woman beside him!