Chapter 52: The Missing Ancient Book

The room, at first glance, showed no major changes.

The bed was neatly made, and against the wall at its foot stood a cabinet holding a television.

Further inside were three large wardrobes.

It was clear the room had gathered a thin layer of dust, yet no handprints or footprints marred it.

Chu Tianshu opened the door, raised a hand to stop the Second Grandfather, and stepped inside alone.

His gaze fixed on the bedsheet, especially the area near the head of the bed.

Though no one slept in his grandfather’s room, Chu Tianshu had often wandered in there after meals, just to stroll and aid digestion.

Especially the bed—he would sometimes, when bored, align the horizontal stripes on the sheet to intersect perpendicularly with the grain of the bedframe.

It wasn’t just talk—he’d measured it with a triangle ruler.

His own bed, soaked daily with sweat and tossed about, had long since warped, no matter how many blankets he rotated; he could never make it so perfectly straight and neat.

His grandfather’s bed was easier to manage, so he kept it exceptionally tidy.

Now, the stripes on this sheet were clearly crooked.

Chu Tianshu walked to the wardrobe, opened the rightmost door, leaned in, pressed against the wood, and unleashed his mental force—triggering a hidden mechanism that slid open a secret compartment.

The compartment drawer was completely empty!

This was where the original copy of the “Commentary on Ghost Gate Witch Medicine” had always been stored.

That book was practically an antique; Chu Tianshu himself had learned from a handwritten copy kept in his own room.

The original antique had remained always by his grandfather’s side, occasionally consulted and kept safe in this hidden drawer.

After his grandfather passed, Chu Tianshu assumed the ancient text was safest and most familiar right where it was—no need to move it.

Now it had been stolen!

Chu Tianshu stared at the drawer, his breathing heavy, eyes suddenly sharp.

Using his Insight Technique, he drew in deep breaths, sensing the faint, unnatural aura left behind by the thief—residual energy clinging to the drawer and the room.

Chu Tianshu carried the drawer into the living room.

Chu Erye sensed his fury and saw the empty drawer; after a moment’s thought, he spoke.

“Did something your grandfather left behind go missing? What could be worth stealing—was it the original scripture?”

“Yes.”

Chu Tianshu grunted in reply, placed the drawer on the table, walked to the corner, and took a transparent plastic box—free with instant noodles—and went to the wall.

In the living room’s corner stood several large glass jars of medicinal wine, each fitted with a water dispenser tap.

He estimated the quantities, poured three kinds of medicinal wine, then filled it with mineral water, and stirred with a silver needle.

“Still the heart, cut the water; water cut, heart still. Clear mind, calm waves… Reach the end of the water, sit and watch the clouds rise; heaven’s light pure, robed in radiant Xia .”

Chu Tianshu muttered incantations as his hands kept stirring.

The amber liquid, half the box’s volume, gradually turned clear under his chants and stirring, like purified water.

He placed the plastic box inside the drawer.

The liquid still swirled, but slowly.

Yet after a full ten seconds, it continued spinning at that same steady, unhurried pace—strangely uncanny.

Soon, fine particles like bamboo charcoal ash appeared in the liquid.

The vortex slowed further.

Chu Erye could clearly see the particles rising from the bottom, as if materializing out of thin air.

The “Radiant Robe Protects the Heart” incantation, when used on a person, calms the spirit and repels external evils.

But when applied to medicinal wine, it produces a peculiar effect akin to “yin-yang attraction.”

It draws the essence of external evil into the wine.

“Not enough!”

Chu Erye knew this method well.

“The thief didn’t come recently—you’re only catching a trace of residual aura now.”

Chu Tianshu thought, then walked to the bedroom door.

Only his own footprints remained inside.

The thief must have, after finding what he wanted, used a minor wind technique to stir up all the dust, let it settle again, and erase all traces.

If he’d brought an electric fan and blasted the room, Chu Tianshu might have been helpless—but since he used magic indoors…

Chu Tianshu activated his Insight Technique again.

The Inner and Outer Insight Technique could capture minute external details, but it also drew in a sliver of evil energy.

Yet that sliver, the moment it touched his body, was instantly neutralized by the martial artist’s powerful yang energy.

Chu Tianshu lingered at the door, gathering his thoughts: “Second Grandfather, help me—if you sense any abnormal aura, take it in.”

Chu Erye walked over, pulling a jade pendant from around his neck.

One side carved with a crane, the other with a crow—black on one face, white on the other—he’d bought it at great cost in his youth.

“Dragon Spirit Seek Mountain Formula: Spirit is spirit, Dragon is substance. Don’t say only high mountains hold dragons—sometimes the true trail vanishes on flat ground…”

“When the dragon reaches the plain, don’t ask for tracks—just watch where water winds. Recite the Dragon Scripture without insight, ten thousand scrolls are empty.”

Chu Erye held the black side upward in his palm, formed a hand seal with his left hand, chanted, and swept the jade horizontally before his eyes—yet his face showed confusion.

“I sense no abnormal aura in this room at all.”

“Don’t rush!!”

Chu Tianshu’s eyes flared with a brief flash of light, then drew in a deep, prolonged breath.

The length of that breath made Chu Erye’s gaze shift from confusion to astonishment—he couldn’t help staring.

As he inhaled, the faintest auras in the room—too subtle for Chu Erye to detect—flowed toward the doorway.

Like condensing vapor into dew!

Chu Erye felt a strange aura flickering faintly before Chu Tianshu’s nose and mouth.

The black jade pendant shot forward, flicked once before Chu Tianshu’s face, and snatched up the aura.

“That should be enough.”

Chu Erye hurried to the table, pressed the black side of the jade against his forehead, slid it down to his nose, inhaled sharply, then blew gently onto the wine.

On the wine’s surface, invisible fingers seemed to jab with a black brush—dozens more particles appeared.

A mere sorcerer could use mental force to activate yang energy—or suppress it temporarily to contain external evil.

When necessary, they could complete simple rituals using only their mouth and nose.

His grandfather had always been clean when piercing people with needles, but when piercing evil things, he’d liked to lick the needle tip first.

That lick might have boosted yang energy—or drawn in the evil itself.

Only the licker knew what effect it added—extremely convenient.

Chu Tianshu had no such habit; he simply held the needle in his hand, recited the incantation several more times, then placed the silver needle on the water’s surface.

The needle did not sink—it floated at the center, then suddenly spun, like a compass.

But its point now pointed southeast.

Chu Tianshu sealed the plastic box, grabbed it, and walked out.

“Wait—you should ride a bike. Walking all the way’s too exhausting.”

Chu Erye went to the hallway to push out Chu Tianshu’s electric scooter. “Where’s the key?”

Chu Tianshu glanced at it. “It hasn’t been charged in a month.”

His grandfather had once left a car, but Chu Tianshu had wrecked it while treating a patient possessed by evil.

Though he received compensation afterward, his medicine dosage increased, so he never replaced it—only bought two spare electric scooters.

“Second Grandfather, go home. I walk fast enough now.”

As he stepped beyond the river, he saw a vehicle marked “Public Security” descending the high slope at the village entrance.

How convenient—he stopped and waited a few minutes.

The car pulled up, and Lin Suozhang stepped out.

“So, you really had a break-in?!”

Lin Suozhang handed Chu Tianshu a sealed plastic bag containing a phone, then noticed the box in his hand.

“Still using the silver needle tracking method? You didn’t even see the thief—how can this work?”

Chu Tianshu said: “This isn’t an ordinary thief. Can you give us a ride?”

Lin Suozhang tensed. “If it’s not ordinary, what did he steal?”

“Don’t tell me it’s some big case—I’m about to retire.”

Still, he opened the passenger door and added, “Let me call the station, get a few officers to join us.”

Chu Erye walked over: “No need. Your local officers don’t even carry guns—just flashlights, sticks, and riot forks. Calling others won’t matter.”

“I’ll go with Tianxu. We’ll check the place first—no need to rush into action.”

Chu Erye opened the back door and got in.

Once inside, Chu Tianshu watched the silver needle’s direction for guidance.

They climbed the village slope, turned a corner, drove onto the road a short distance, then turned onto a narrow lane leading to the neighboring village.

As they descended the entrance of the neighboring village, Lin Suozhang suddenly remembered.

“Driving the Public Security vehicle straight there—won’t that be too obvious?”

Chu Erye sighed: “Old Lin, you’ve been too comfortable these years—everything makes you jump. This is just a village security car, not one of those sirens-wailing city bureau vehicles.”

The security office’s vehicle driving through nearby villages was not uncommon.

Director Lin rebutted: “The city bureau’s cars aren’t all blaring sirens—they usually go undercover, and you wouldn’t recognize their vehicles.”

Just as they said this, they spotted it in the distance.

About two hundred meters ahead, several cars were parked on the bridge and path of one household in the village.

A large crowd was coming and going, some in plainclothes, others in uniforms.

Chu Tianshu glanced at the silver needle—it pointed directly to that household.

Director Lin’s expression changed.

“Damn, it really looks like the city bureau.”

He drove closer, unbuckled his seatbelt, and got out to inquire.

Chu Tianshu also got out, but stayed away, standing beside the car and watching the household.

He focused intently; not only could he hear Director Lin’s conversation with the others, he could even hear every sound inside the house, room by room.

Second Master Chu got out, his expression startled: “Isn’t this Kong Wenju’s home?”

Chu Tianshu turned his head: “Do you know him, Second Grandpa?”

“He lives in the neighboring village—we’re all insiders, so we’ve dealt with each other before.”

Second Master Chu said, “But what exactly he cultivates, neither I nor your grandfather knew—we only heard he had some expertise in antiques and curios, and ran an antique shop in town.”

“Bah, his house might have some real pieces, but everything in his shop is pure craftsmanship.”

Second Master Chu grew angry, “Back then, your grandfather even treated him for illness—if this scoundrel stole from your family, I’ll spit right in his face!”

Chu Tianshu murmured: “You probably won’t get the chance to spit on him.”

According to the city bureau officers, Kong Wenju had indeed committed a major crime, but this case didn’t fall under Director Lin’s jurisdiction.

Because Kong Wenju stole calligraphy, paintings, and rare books from several collectors in the city.

His methods were bizarre—victims couldn’t explain how they’d been robbed; even their safes had been opened, as if they’d taken out the items themselves and handed them to the thief.

But he seemed to be a first-time offender, lacking experience in such matters.

Bizarre methods alone weren’t enough—he stole only from people he already knew and frequently interacted with.

After questioning the victims, the city bureau drew a network of connections and immediately narrowed the suspects to a few, including him.

Then they checked: his antique shop had been closed, and he’d left town several days ago—essentially confessing without a word.

As for exactly where he’d gone, the city bureau officers were cautious and didn’t reveal it.

Chu Tianshu got back in the car, borrowed Second Master Chu’s phone, and called Baishui Ge.

(End of Chapter)