**Chapter 38: Retribution and Death**
Takahashi Masao knelt beside Sato Kenji's corpse, trembling as black tendrils of *sha qi* seeped from the 72 wounds that had spontaneously split the young onmyōji's skin. Blood pooled beneath the body, staining the tatami crimson.
*How?* Takahashi's mind raced. The Earth Fiend Ox-Dissection technique was Sato's masterpiece—a ritual requiring five days of meticulous calculations to pinpoint the 72 Earthly Fiend positions. Yet someone had dismantled it in mere hours.
Had they used advanced technology? A rival sect's intervention? Takahashi's thoughts spiraled until a cold realization struck: *The Chinese have protectors older than our empire.*
---
**Shiniu Village**
By dusk, the stone oxen's bleeding had ceased. Villagers clustered around Li Chengfeng, their earlier skepticism replaced by awed gratitude.
"Will… will the deaths stop?" an elderly woman asked, clutching her grandson.
Li Chengfeng traced a finger over a crack in the larger ox's flank. "The array's restored. But guard them—" He glanced eastward, where crows had fled. "—*they'll return.*"
Unbeknownst to him, Sato Kenji's body was already cooling in Qingzhou's Japanese liaison office.
---
**Wang Bin's Home**
Over a dinner of braised pork and steamed buns, Wang Bin's mother fretted. "Eat more, child! You're too thin for this *feng shui* business!"
Li Chengfeng smiled, the warmth of family momentarily easing his tension. Yet when the dishes cleared, Wang Bin cornered him.
"Out with it. You didn't trek here for nostalgia."
Li Chengfeng hesitated, then confessed: "I need a featherless crow and a starved bat."
Wang Bin nearly dropped his tea. "*What?* Are you brewing plagues now?"
"A curse," Li Chengfeng admitted. "**Three Corpses Blocking Wealth.** To punish the gold scammers."
As he explained the forbidden ritual, Wang Bin's initial shock morphed into grim resolve. "Bastards deserve worse. I'll help."
---
**Qingzhou City, 3:17 AM**
In a luxury suite overlooking the neon-lit business district, Sato Kenichi—elder brother to the deceased—unwrapped a silk bundle. Inside lay nine chrysanthemum-shaped iron spikes, their petals razor-edged.
"*Li Chengfeng…*" He tested the name gleaned from Takahashi's panicked call. "Your bones will feed China's soil."
The spikes glinted under moonlight, ready to impale a new target: Suiyuan Hall.
---