Chapter 823

The wind was so strong that after running a few steps with the kite, it rose straight into the air.

Pan Yun watched the kite fly higher and higher, nodding in satisfaction; her gaze passed through the throngs of festival-goers to a carriage passing along the road.

By the river, village elders were offering sacrifices to the Water God; beside them flowed a small stream diverted from the river, where literati and young girls occupied opposite sides, playing the game of flowing cups on the water.

No one knew that inside the carriage passing by the roadside sat a prince.

Prince Lu had always been discreet; after the verdict on the assassination of the envoy team, he became even more so.

Local officials, even if they knew Prince Lu was passing through, dared not approach.

Prince Lu also went to great lengths to dispel any suspicion of forming cliques and pursuing private interests, so even though it was the Shangsi Festival, he did not stop in the city but continued his journey, spending the night at an inn outside the city.

Pan Yun did not wish to ruin such a beautiful festival, so she waited until after midnight before taking Xiao Hong and Sister Hong Yan to the inn to meet Prince Lu.

Mainly, Xiao Hong would confront him, Sister Hong Yan would come along for the spectacle, and Pan Yun would clean up the aftermath.

Xiao Hong stood before Prince Lu's bed, studying him intently; cold air continuously seeped out, and the prince on the bed remained motionless for a long while—so she angrily reached out and touched his neck…

Prince Lu could no longer hold back; he suddenly opened his eyes, pulled the quilt tight, and scrambled backward: "Who are you? What do you want?"

Xiao Hong lifted her head; blood instantly poured from all seven orifices, her face smeared red as she stared at him with chilling malice: "Prince Lu, you ruined me so thoroughly—now you dare ask who I am…?"

Prince Lu turned pale and shouted toward the door: "Someone! Someone—!"

Outside the door, not a sound stirred; inside the room, it was eerily silent, so quiet it made the heart tremble—besides Prince Lu's cries for help and Xiao Hong's mocking laughter, he could not hear even the rustle of a single insect.

Pan Yun had set up a soundproofing formation; Sister Hong Yan had added an illusion array; Prince Lu's room had become an isolated space.

Seeing no one came to his aid, Prince Lu realized this was her doing; his lips trembled as he whispered: "You… you're the female ghost Zhao Yan from the mass grave case…"

"So you're not entirely ignorant—just willfully blind."

Prince Lu raised his voice again: "Pan Yun! Come out! I know you're here!"

Pan Yun lay still, not moving.

Prince Lu: "You dare command a ghost to kill me—if the Dao Dao Lu Si finds out, they will punish you severely! State your demands—I'll fulfill anything within my power!"

Pan Yun lay on her back, gazing at the starry sky in silence.

Sister Hong Yan urged Xiao Hong: "Hurry up—the rooster will crow soon."

Xiao Hong gave Prince Lu a chilling smile: "Those who do evil must pay the price."

Inside the room came a flurry of crackling sounds—but no one in the entire inn heard them except Pan Yun and Sister Hong Yan, who guarded the array.

Prince Lu died of fright in the end.

Pan Yun entered the room last, restored everything to its place, and erased all traces of Xiao Hong's presence.

Prince Lu was right—if he died by ghostly hands, the Dao Dao Lu Si would certainly intervene; they never cared about right or wrong, only that if anyone in the common folk raised ghosts to take lives, it was a grave taboo—punishable by expulsion from the Daoist order, or worse, death.

So Prince Lu could die of illness, suicide, or murder—but never by ghostly killing.

Pan Yun looked at Prince Lu, eyes wide open, lying dead on the floor; she did not move him, only shook her head and stepped over his body: "Killing you costs me only ten merits—same as killing a Japanese pirate."

Xiao Hong protested: "I scared him to death—why is it counted as yours?"

Pan Yun pointed to the still-active formation.

After erasing all traces, the one human, the one ghost, and the one demon left—oh, the accessory Pan Xiaohei was dragged along too. With Prince Lu dead, they now had much more time.

The group no longer used the Three Treasures Cauldron to travel, but instead relied on rented carts or their own feet, training along the way toward Guangxin Prefecture.

Aside from Seeing Miao Zhen, all of Pan Yun's companions had to take the license examination.

This time, Seeing Miao Zhen helped them review.

Xue Shao found this very interesting and wanted to take the exam too.

Pan Yun said bluntly: "At your age, if you take the exam, your parents will get beaten."

Xue Shao gave up.

Along the way, they most enjoyed visiting taverns and teahouses to listen to gossip.

Great Ming's freedom of speech was still decent; bold and well-informed storytellers would recount gathered news in taverns and teahouses—perhaps not secrets to officials and gentry, but vital sources of information for the lower and middle classes.

Unfortunately, Pan Yun and her companions now belonged to the lower and middle classes.

Recently, taverns and teahouses across the land paid special attention to the Ji'an mass grave case and the ambush on the envoy team; wherever they went, storytellers would mention a segment.

Finally, one day, they heard a fresh update: "His Majesty, mindful that Prince Lu is of the imperial clan, even if he was suspected, chose to let him off lightly—only reducing his stipend for half a year. But unexpectedly, Prince Lu's fortune was thin; he fell seriously ill and died on the way back to Yanzhou…"

"Seriously ill? Could he have been frightened to death by the Emperor's ruthless methods?"

"I think it's karma for all the evil he did."

"Shh, be careful—the case is settled. Even the Emperor declared Prince Lu innocent—don't speculate recklessly."

"If you're here to listen to stories, why come if you won't speculate?"

"I heard Prince Lu was murdered. Word is, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has been mobilized."

"Who would kill him? The case is closed—the Emperor didn't even charge him."

"I heard Prince Lu was accused of colluding with the Northern Barbarians—could there be hidden conspiracies no one knows about? Maybe his own accomplices silenced him?" The man lowered his voice and pointed toward Jingcheng: "Like that one…"

Though unspoken, everyone knew: in Great Ming, you could gossip about the Emperor—but you had to be cautious about that one, because he truly abused his power…

His name was Wang Zhen!

Pan Yun clicked her tongue and placed a finger to her lips, whispering quietly to Seeing Miao Zhen and the others: "That man clearly looks like a scholar—looks like the pure stream faction is working hard…"

Even Pan Yun herself hadn't expected that the person suspected of killing the man they killed would be Wang Zhen.

After that man proposed the hypothesis, Wang Zhen became the public consensus as Prince Lu's murderer.

The rumor spread from the provinces to Jingcheng; apart from the Emperor and the actual party involved, Wang Zhen, every official—anyone with even slightly sharp ears—heard it.

Thus, Pan Yun and her companions ate their messy gossip all the way back to Guangxin Prefecture, joining a group of fourth- and fifth-year senior students from the Imperial Academy to take the exam.

Results came out quickly; Pan Yun, Mo He, and Tao Yanbai once again failed.

Pan Yun was deeply frustrated; she believed she had answered every question perfectly.

She refused to accept it and went to ask.

The chief examiner of the Dao Registry lifted his eyes to glance at her, then flipped open the register, scanned it, and said, "Oh, Pan Yun of Mount Sanqing — you're tied for first."

Pan Yun planted her hands on her hips: "If I'm tied for first, why wasn't I selected?"