Chapter 125: Fa Wu

The population within Champa City approaches four hundred thousand, far surpassing what Shanhe County Town could ever compare to.

Most buildings in Southern Jiaozhi are low, single-story structures, so the city covers a vast area; the Champa Office sits in the city center, directly adjacent to the Champa Prefecture Zhancheng Yamen.

Several other government offices surround it.

For convenience in handling affairs, the Champa Office established a "Patrol Duty Room" on each of the four sides: east, west, south, and north.

Normally, at least one deputy patrol inspector is stationed there, with seven or eight to over a dozen Captains under his command.

Today, He Jun'an is on duty at the Southern City Patrol Duty Room.

Xu Yuan and the others were deeply puzzled; ordinary evil spirits cannot even enter a house with door gods posted, yet this one actually managed to kill someone within the Purification Bureau's territory?!

Lin Zi and the others had already rushed ahead; that Captain led Xu Yuan and the other two, leaped onto horses the moment they left the yamen, and galloped away at full speed.

Although the Imperial Ming explicitly forbade riding horses at full speed within the city, urgency demanded exceptions, and there was no time to worry about such rules.

The Southern City Patrol Duty Room is a two-courtyard compound, now completely surrounded by nearly a hundred Purification Bureau Captains; every Captain wore a face of grief and indignation, hands resting on their scabbards, radiating murderous aura!

Unfortunately, they could not find that evil spirit to fight and vent their rage.

Xu Yuan and the other two displayed their waist tokens and entered directly; behind them inevitably arose a murmur of whispered discussion:

"Are these the two individuals the Commander personally cultivated?"

"This evil spirit is cunning and ruthless; they are so young, I fear their experience is insufficient..."

"He Jun'an is one of our own from the Champa Office; how can you still expect outsiders to avenge him for us? I must personally investigate exactly what thing killed He Jun'an!"

"Only you, Zhou Leizi, have such backbone? Who doesn't want to avenge He Jun'an? But we have investigated for over three months and found not a single clue."

That Zhou Leizi said in a huff, "In any case, I do not trust these two outsiders!"

Xu Yuan and Seeing Fu Jingyu did not hear the Captains' discussion; as soon as they entered the courtyard, a Captain approached to greet them: "Two lords, this way."

He Jun'an died in the side room of the rear courtyard.

Before Xu Yuan even reached the doorway, he smelled a pungent stench of blood.

Lin Zijin and the others all wore very grim expressions.

Xu Yuan gave a slight nod to the crowd, then entered together with Seeing Fu Jingyu.

The room was about ten paces wide and four paces deep.

Hanging limply from the roof beam, one zhang above the ground, was a person—not suspended by a rope as in suicide, but like a mountain leopard that had caught prey it could not finish in one meal, dragging it up to hang on a tree branch.

Fresh blood dripped down from the corpse; a long wound gaped on the belly, flesh and skin turned outward, and all the internal organs had been eaten away!

This was He Jun'an, the deputy patrol inspector of the Champa Office of the Purification Bureau!

A deputy patrol inspector of the eighth rank, one of the honorable "Three Zhancheng Yamen of Strange Affairs" of the Purification Bureau, yet he was hollowed out and eaten by an evil spirit right inside his own yamen!

He Jun'an's face was turned downward; Xu Yuan and Seeing Fu Jingyu stood beneath the beam, looking straight up at his face.

From this angle, the light was dim; his face was filled with terror, eyes bulging extremely wide, facial muscles twisted like hemp rope, and his skin had turned a deep purple-black, radiating a chilling, eerie horror that chilled one to the bone.

Seeing Fu Jingyu had more experience handling cases; he spoke quietly to Xu Yuan: "Before the evil spirit ate his internal organs, he was still alive.

The evil spirit did it on purpose!"

Blood was everywhere in the room, yet strangely, there were no traces of any battle.

Two coroners from the Purification Bureau waited nearby; after waiting a while, they cautiously approached and bowed, saying, "Two lords, night is falling soon."

With He Jun'an in this state, once darkness falls, a supernatural transformation is certain.

The two examined the corpse carefully once more, circling it, then stepped back and said, "You may handle it."

The coroners lowered He Jun'an's corpse; Xu Yuan suddenly saw the corpse's mouth move.

Xu Yuan stopped: "Wait." Then he stepped forward to look more closely, feeling that He Jun'an's mouth seemed slightly different from before.

The corpse had not yet undergone rigor mortis, so changes occurring during transport seemed normal.

But Xu Yuan refused to overlook this detail; with a slight movement of his hand, a small knife appeared.

Xu Yuan gently used the knife tip to lift He Jun'an's lips.

Lin Zijin led the entire Champa Office contingent at the doorway; among those present were two patrol inspectors, one deputy patrol inspector, and six or seven investigators.

Every face wore a mixture of indignation and awkwardness.

They could not solve the case on their own turf and had to request aid from the Southern Office; the two individuals sent by Elder Ma were absurdly young.

Yet not a single fool stepped forward to question whether Xu Yuan and Seeing Fu Jingyu possessed the qualification.

If these two also failed to solve the case, it would simply mean two more people to share the blame. Since both were direct loyalists of Ma Tianshou, the punishment from above would be somewhat lighter.

But at this moment, as Xu Yuan used a craft object to pry open the corpse's lips, several people secretly shook their heads and looked toward Lin Zijin.

Lord Lin remained outwardly calm; secretly, he spread his five fingers, and a small ox-horn mosquito-net hook slid out from his sleeve, firmly grasped in his hand—this was Lin Zijin's "Fa Wu."

Once a Daoist cultivator reaches the Seventh Rank or above, they can condense a Fa Wu based on their own "Dao," yet forming a Fa Wu is far more difficult than a Rank Dan Xiu's sword pill.

If Xu Yuan mishandled the corpse and an accident occurred, Lin Zijin would act swiftly.

It was not that they looked down on Xu Yuan; a corpse that has been gnawed and eaten by an evil spirit implies extreme danger!

Tampering with such corpses without authorization carries a high probability of triggering a supernatural transformation prematurely!

Elder Ma had spoken of Xu Yuan's background, so everyone understood that Xu Yuan was completely unfamiliar with many "rules" of the Purification Bureau.

For instance, why did colleagues like Lin Zijin not lower He Jun'an's corpse themselves? It was not out of pride in their status, but because only coroners may perform this task.

The coroners' guild possesses its own set of methods, ensuring the corpse does not undergo supernatural transformation during transport or examination.

Even these methods can go wrong; the number of coroners who die in the line of duty each year under the Imperial Ming never falls below fifty.

Seeing Fu Jingyu and Elder Yan certainly knew these rules; in Ghost Wushan, they could not bear to leave their fallen comrade's corpse in the mountains to be devoured by evil spirits, so they risked bringing it out to burn.

As the small knife pried open the corpse's lips, the tongue automatically extended outward.

It was dark green-black and thick, yet the tip split into four finger-thick fleshy tendrils, all covered with dense, tiny barbed teeth!

In an instant, Lin Zijin appeared beside Xu Yuan; the mosquito-net hook Fa Wu in his hand was already raised, pointing at the corpse.

Yet after the corpse's tongue extended, no further supernatural transformation occurred.

That strange tongue hung by the mouth like a dead snake.

Everyone let out a breath of relief; Lin Zi glanced at Xu Yuan beside him with some surprise, thinking inwardly: Good luck?

Xu Yuan said nothing; just now, the "Bai Wu Jin Ji" fate pattern had stirred, its resistance to诡术 stemming from the pattern itself.

The ability of the fate pattern had interrupted the corpse's诡变 once.

"This tongue..." Xu Yuan frowned, speculating, "Did Inspector He violate a taboo before he died?"

Today's ban was on "excessive speech"; the change in He Jun's tongue looked as if, after violating the taboo, his诡变 had reached halfway before being interrupted by another evil spirit!

The others rushed in as well, gathering around the corpse in shock.

Monthly votes are running low...

The effect of the "Bai Wu Jin Ji" fate pattern will gradually increase as Xu Yuan's level rises; after all, this isn't a wish-fulfillment novel where everything starts at the peak—characters grow slowly.

Also: Guess what cultivation method Lin Zi practices? What abilities does this artifact possess?





(End of this chapter)