WHEN MO XI exited the Chamber of Ice, the warden felt his soul was about to evaporate.
After Wangshu-jun the Cruel had come to interrogate Gu Mang earlier, he'd come out wearing a set of pristine, sapphire-blue robes. Even the moonstone pendant at his chest had been perfectly straight. But once the warden had gone in to look, good heavens, Gu Mang had been drenched in blood.
Wangshu-jun had left Gu Mang in that terrible state without getting a drop of gore on himself, so if Xihe-jun's martial robes were completely soaked through, then didn't that mean that Gu Mang was—
At this thought, the warden's knees went weak, and he nearly fell to the floor. Fortunately, a nearby disciple stepped up to support him in time, so he managed to remain upright, if barely, as he shakily bowed to Mo Xi. "Xihe-jun, safe travels."
Mo Xi stalked wordlessly out of that cold and ghastly prison corridor, his face ashen, lips pursed. He didn't look back. Those military boots, inlaid with iron plating, clicked crisply against the icy brick.
"Divine Tincture of Life, Divine Tincture of Life! Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!"
The warden's hands shook as he grasped this spiritual medicine that could regrow flesh and reverse necrosis. Leading a dense flock of healers, he rushed into the Chamber of Ice. Before he could get his bearings, he stopped short, shocked.
Gu Mang lay on the stone bed, covered by a warm black-and-gold fur coat. The thin face visible within the depths of the fur…was clean.
The disciple was shocked. "Shifu, wh-what happened…?"
The warden swept a glance over the coat, and his gaze landed on the intricate golden snake totem on its sleeves. His heart pounded. Wasn't that the insignia of the Northern Frontier Army?
Come to think of it, Mo Xi had plainly worn a warm greatcoat when he entered the prison, but when he left, he had been wearing a practical set of fitted black robes. So was it possible that this coat…was…
Swallowing, the warden took a few steps forward and timidly lifted a corner of the coat. Gu Mang was curled up asleep underneath, his breathing even and his wounds no longer bleeding. The warden was astonished. He had a faint feeling that something wasn't quite right…
But when he thought of Mo Xi's usual countenance of icy pride, and then of how Gu Mang had once mercilessly stabbed Mo Xi, this brazen conjecture was rapidly extinguished.
The disciple craned his neck for a better look. After staring for several seconds, he jerked back in surprise. "Aiya! Isn't that Xihe-jun's outer robe?"
The warden didn't immediately respond.
"Shifu, Shifu, don't they say Xihe-jun is a clean freak? That he never lets anyone touch his belongings?"
The warden turned, rather speechless. "Don't tell me you think he wants this coat back?"
"Oh…" The disciple scratched his head in embarrassment. "Of course not." After a second, his curiosity got the better of him once again. "But didn't Xihe-jun come to interrogate Gu Mang? Why would he treat a prisoner so well?"
"It's not like he's an official with a penchant for torture." Although the warden was still apprehensive, he had a keen understanding of what should and shouldn't be speculated on. Patting the little disciple's shoulder, he said meaningfully, "Not everyone is as fond of bloodshed as Wangshu-jun."
"Oh…"
The warden turned to give instructions to the rest. "With regard to what transpired today: You must all be careful; don't spread word of it to outsiders." He shot another glance at the flying snake flashing gold on the fur coat and lowered his voice. "Remember, too much talk brings trouble."
Mo Xi walked along the snowy main road. The west wind whipped across his face. He didn't have a coat, but somehow he didn't feel chilled. His penetrating gaze was all ablaze, and his heart thundered like a drum as Gu Mang's low murmur reverberated endlessly in his ears.
I want…a home...
A spark seemed to have landed on the mess of kindling that was his heart. The flames roared up from his chest and burned so fiercely that even the rims of his eyes reddened slightly.
Mo Xi's belief that Gu Mang's mind might not have been damaged rooted ever deeper. Why else would he mumble those words in his delirium?
The flames dancing in his chest were both torment and hope. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice his blood-soaked clothes attracting the furtive glances of passersby.
The snow fell faster, but the light in Mo Xi's eyes only grew brighter. He decided that no matter what, once this case concluded, he had to wrest Gu Mang from Murong Lian. Only then could he observe Gu Mang from dawn till dusk; only then could he determine if Gu Mang truly was faking stupidity or whether he was genuinely insane.
As he walked, consumed by these thoughts, a sudden shrill scream rose in the distance.
Mo Xi stopped and looked up, searching for the source of the sound.
The capital was in a state of high alert, so he hastened in the direction of the scream. It was a tavern. The chairs and tables were splintered and broken, and a good number of the wine jugs piled in the corner were smashed. Aged pear-blossom white wine seeped into the floor, and the sharp scent of alcohol pervaded the room.
The customers were pushing and shoving one another to run out. Only a few cultivators, who'd happened to be drinking there, were still on the premises. They were in a private room on the second floor, and their number included Yue Chenqing.
Yue Chenqing had a hand pressed over a still-bleeding wound on his arm, and he was cursing furiously. This was a true rarity; he had a good temper and wasn't easily angered. But at the moment, Yue Chenqing was fair smoking with rage, his mouth full of frustrations. "Scaredy-cat! Little turtle! No friend at all!"
Being a simple and cheerful person who so rarely cursed at people, he repeated the only swear words he knew over and over again, among which even "little turtle" counted as profanity.
"Good heavens it hurts!"
Mo Xi reached the second floor with all speed, where he bumped straight into Yue Chenqing, who was still shouting with anger. "Big bad dog!"
When the young man raised his head, he found he had happened to curse directly at Mo Xi.
Mo Xi stared at him.
Yue Chenqing was startled, his round eyes growing even wider. "Xihe-jun? How come you're here? Um, I wasn't referring to you…"
"What happened?" Mo Xi's gaze swept over Yue Chenqing. "You're injured?"
"Yes, yes! There was a formidable man in black here a second ago who flipped in through the window to kidnap the tavern's Xiao-Cui-jiejie," Yue Chenqing spoke in a rush. "Xiao-Cui-jiejie is always so cute; every time we buy wine, she gives the bros extra. Sometimes she even gives us peanuts and kidney-bean cakes, even though kidney-bean cakes aren't that tasty, but still—"
"Get to the point."
"Oh, right, the point." Yue Chenqing mulled it over, still steaming mad. "The point is, as soon as I noticed things weren't right, I rushed up to stop the man in black with a few of my friends. But that ruffian used some kind of strange demonic techniques—I couldn't even touch his sleeve before he slashed me with his sword. Some friends I've got! As soon as they saw me injured, they all ran off! Can you believe it? They're all little turtles!"
The more he spoke, the angrier he got, until he looked as though he was about to spit blood.
"It turns out the Chonghua Youth Society is a gang of phonies— seriously, they're so shallow!"
Mo Xi was speechless.
The Chonghua Youth Society was a little group that consisted of Yue Chenqing and a crowd of young juniors—a crowd of gongzi bros whose hobbies were social climbing and putting on airs, and who spent their days parading themselves around together. They even secretly gave themselves jianghu sobriquets, things like "Proud Dragon" and "Brocade Tiger."
Mo Xi had always felt that this was very stupid, and upon hearing Yue Chenqing decry them, he naturally added his own stern rebuke. "I told you not to mess around with those people, but you wouldn't listen. Is your wound serious?"
"It's fine, it's fine." Yue Chenqing wore a lifeless expression. "It's just that I feel such bitter disappointment over my brothers' betrayal. Now I can finally experience what you felt, Xihe-jun, back when you…"
He realized mid-sentence that he was headed in a dangerous direction and hastily shut his mouth, peering wide-eyed at Mo Xi.
Mo Xi considered for a moment, then asked, "Where did the man in black go?"
"I don't know. He moved too quickly. He didn't even seem human. There was just a whoosh, and even his shadow had disappeared. Oh, my poor Xiao-Cui-jiejie… Xihe-jun, do you think he was that two-pump chump guy…?"
Mo Xi frowned. "What?"
Only then did Yue Chenqing realize that given how busy Mo Xi had been, he definitely hadn't heard that particular storyteller's embellished version of the brothel murder case. "I meant that Mansion of Beauties murderer," he explained.
"Let me take a look at your wound."
Feeling sorry for himself, Yue Chenqing showed him.
Mo Xi examined Yue Chenqing's injury, his sharp brows furrowing deeper. "It's the Water-Parting Sword…"
Yue Chenqing started. "The Water-Parting Sword zongshi, Li Qingqian?" he asked in astonishment.
Mo Xi shook his head, neither confirming nor denying. All he said was, "Go home for now. The capital has been especially chaotic recently. Unless you have an urgent matter to attend to, don't go running around outside."
"My dad went to Rongliu Mountain to cultivate in seclusion, and my fourth uncle is so aloof he ignores me completely. I can't stay in that manor alone."
"Then go to your brother's."
Yue Chenqing hesitated, then mumbled, "He's not my brother…"
Yue Chenqing had been influenced by the Yue Clan since he was young, so his impression of Jiang Yexue wasn't particularly good. He thought of him as a good-for-nothing who'd brought shame to the Yue Clan. But he couldn't say as much in front of Mo Xi, so he was compelled to change the subject. "Right, Xihe-jun, where did you come from? Why are your clothes all bloody?"
Mo Xi looked down. After a long while, he said, "I dealt with someone."
"D-dealt with someone?" Judging by those red-soaked robes, Xihejun might've beaten that person to death.
"No more questions," Mo Xi said. "Can you draw a portrait of the girl who was taken, that Miss Xiao-Cui?"
"Yes, let me give it a try!"
Yue Chenqing asked the tavern's proprietress for paper and a brush. At once, a youthful girl's features appeared in vivid detail on the paper. Mo Xi watched from the side, but even up until the last brushstroke, he couldn't identify what was special about this maiden. Just as he was planning to ask the proprietress about her background, Yue Chenqing seized the brush he had set down.
"Wait a minute! Something's missing!" He hastily added a mole at the end of Xiao-Cui's eye. Only then did he pronounce himself satisfied. "Right, now it's perfect."
Mo Xi widened his eyes slightly. "She has an eye mole too?"
"Huh? What do you mean too? Who else has one?"
"Of the five escorts taken from the Mansion of Beauties," said Mo Xi, "one of them had a similar mole."
As he explained to Yue Chenqing, a thought occurred to him: as far as the "rapist" was concerned, this eye mole might be an extremely important attribute. It might have even bought that prostitute's survival.
He was still considering this when he heard Yue Chenqing speak up hesitantly once more. "Actually, Xihe-jun, there's something else I wanted to tell you."
"Speak."
"Well…um, I might be mistaken, but when I was crossing blows with the man in black, I couldn't see his face, but I kept feeling that he had a certain odor, something I'm very familiar with."
"What odor?" Mo Xi asked. "Where did you smell it before?"
"It's not quite an odor. It's more a type of…uh…I don't know how to describe it. A type of aura. I felt like I'd experienced it somewhere before, but I was fighting too intently, and he left too quickly, so I didn't have time to carefully analyze it before he disappeared." Yue Chenqing sighed. "Xihejun, do you think he really is that Mansion of Beauties murderer?"
"I can't be sure." Mo Xi thought about it further and said, "How about this: Yue Chenqing, go to Shennong Terrace to get your wounds treated, then stop by the Bureau of Public Safety and pass on a message."
"What message?"
"If my guess is correct, that rapist is looking for women with certain characteristics," Mo Xi said, studying Xiao-Cui's portrait. "The eye mole ought to be one of them. Have the Bureau of Public Safety inform the city and ask maidens who share those characteristics to go to the bureau for temporary protection."
"Oh, okay, okay." Yue Chenqing agreed. He was about to leave when he thought of something and turned on his heel. "Right, Xihe-jun, I heard Murong-dage received His Imperial Majesty's authorization to interrogate Gu Mang whenever he wanted. Did you know about this?"
"…Mn."
"It seems like Gu Mang is still useful to you, Xihe-jun, but if Murong-dage goes to interrogate him, I'm afraid he'll interrogate him half to death. Do you want to…"
"It's of no consequence." Mo Xi shook his head, unconsciously caressing a black silver thumb ring as his eyes slowly darkened.
When he had treated Gu Mang's wounds just now, he had planted a tracking talisman exclusive to the Mo Clan within his body. So long as it was active, whenever anything unusual happened to Gu Mang, this silver ring would heat up and tell Mo Xi where Gu Mang was, as well as his condition.
He very truly had no wish to see Gu Mang in the aftermath of such torture again.
"I've already made my preparations," Mo Xi said. "Whatever Murong Lian does next, I'll know about it. You needn't worry."
After leaving Yue Chenqing, Mo Xi returned to his manor, where he again took out the jade scroll with the likenesses of those five prostitutes. He placed Xiao-Cui's portrait next to the songstress with an eye mole and stared at the other four faces.
None of the other four had any noteworthy features. There was no way to discern further details from these paintings.
But that didn't remain the case for long. As the number of missing women in the city steadily increased, Xihe Manor received more and more portraits. Once they were sorted, their similarities became apparent—for example, their lips had the same shape, or their noses were identical.
Based on these patterns, Mo Xi had the imperial guards invite every woman with these attributes to the Bureau of Public Safety for protection.
Soon after, women stopped going missing. Only a few maidens who hadn't yet been taken into custody by the bureau were kidnapped by the "rapist" now and again. Instead, it was the cultivators who started to worry.
"If Chengtian Terrace's Elder Yu was no match for that scoundrel, what would we do if he tried to carve out our hearts?"
"Ah, I've become too scared to cultivate alone in the woods."
As the year came to an end, the usual hustle and bustle of Chonghua City ground to a halt. People went out only in groups and rushed back home before night fell, and the Yue Clan's barrier talismans sold faster than ever. Many of those who failed to snag a talisman in time refused to sleep apart from their weapons.
As for those who couldn't afford the talismans, they could only cry and shout and beg at the gates of Yue Manor for mercy, to let them buy on credit and pay them back later.
Yue Chenqing wasn't entitled to make decisions regarding such things. His father was away, so his paternal uncle came out to furiously shoo off all the penniless little cultivators. "The hell is all this?!" he cursed at them. "Who do you think you are, behaving like this before an elite cultivator's manor? Yue Manor's talismans are unbreakable. They're worth what we charge and no less! Can't afford it? Go borrow money from your brothers and friends!"
The storytellers were too afraid to tell stories anymore. Besides, the situation was getting worse and worse, so who would dare come to listen and laugh?
The red paste paper outside Yuelai Teahouse that said Enraged Brothel Guest Kills Seventy gradually disintegrated in the wind and snow. Rainwater soaked into the brushstrokes, rendering the words forever illegible…
Then one night, it stopped snowing. The capital was an expanse of pure moonlight.
Mo Xi sat in Xihe Manor's courtyard, reading the intelligence reports that had accumulated in the past few days as he unconsciously spun and caressed the silver soaring snake ring on his thumb.
He had often found himself doing this of late. The tracking ring felt like a secret, selfish tie linking him to Gu Mang, and he was only at ease when it was safe.
However, on that silent night, just as he was about to roll up a scroll and retire, the ring burned with searing heat.
Mo Xi immediately looked down to see the snake insignia on the ring begin to twist and turn, slowly transforming into an arrow that pointed toward the southwest of the capital. The silver snake's body began to change color, flickering and gleaming until every one of its scales finally flashed jade green.
The scales turning green meant the one being tracked had been drugged. This wasn't unexpected; Murong Lian often gave the prisoners he interrogated a variety of illusion-inducing medicines.
The issue lay in the direction. The prison was not in the southwest of the capital; rather, that was where the resting place of Chonghua's heroes lay: Warrior Soul Mountain.
Why would Gu Mang be taken from the prison and be sent toward Warrior Soul Mountain?
Practically simultaneous to this thought, Mo Xi saw golden light burst from every guard barrier in the capital as the warning bell in the imperial city rang out. Clang, clang, clang. One chime after another, thirteen in total before it stilled.
A dangerous criminal had broken out of prison.
Gu Mang had escaped?!