"By the way, if I remember correctly, there shouldn't be any ancestral tombs in Muyun County."
Lou Mu nodded: "Most of the large tombs of nobles are concentrated in the west. This is the eastern part of the Great Chu, and according to historical records, there should be no such tombs here."
"I think that cauldron is not something an ordinary family could make; it seems more like a burial object used for funerary purposes."
Footsteps sounded outside the door. Tang Nian stood up and straightened her clothes: "It seems Ming Huan has returned. Then I shall take my leave."
Pushing open the door, Tang Nian saw the girl walking up with Ming Huan. She raised an eyebrow slightly, gesturing for Ming Huan to follow her.
Tang Nian returned to her room and sat down at the table.
Ming Huan breathed a sigh of relief after closing the door.
"Sister Tang, why did you change your clothes? Did something happen?"
Minghuan knew Tang Nian's personality; she wouldn't suddenly change her clothes unless they were stained.
Tang Nian shook her head, clearly not wanting to bring up what had just happened outside the city.
"Tell me, what did you discover?"
Ming Huan sat down opposite Tang Nian and poured a cup of tea for both of them: "We found some strange footprints, but they look like they belonged to ordinary people."
For some reason, the first person Tang Nian thought of was the young man who sat silently in the corner yesterday.
But she had observed that the man was just an ordinary person, someone without any abilities, not even having opened his third eye. What reason could he have to go to the old man's house?
Speaking of this, Ming Huan also found it a bit strange. Those faint footprints showed that the person who left them didn't even know martial arts. After this incident, everyone who could move away from the old man's house had moved away. Judging from how afraid of death city dwellers are, no one should have gone to the old man's house.
"What about the fox who was with you? Did she find anything?"
"Ah...you mean Jingyao?" Minghuan scratched his head, recalling the scene. "She seemed to keep glancing at the open space in front of the woodpile, intentionally or unintentionally. I checked before I left and didn't find anything wrong."
Tang Nian didn't think so. The fox's sense of smell far surpasses that of the Bifang, so judging from the appearance, the fox must have discovered something.
However, Tang Nian was in no hurry to find out what she had discovered. This time, the evil spirit's strength was immeasurable. If Lou Mu and she wanted to help Muyun County, they would have to join forces.
Since she is currently unable to go out and investigate, it is convenient to hand over these arduous tasks to that Lord Lou.
"By the way, what was that fox's last name?"
"Your surname is Jing? Is there something wrong, Sister Tang?"
Of course there's a problem.
Tang Nian thought it was just an ordinary Qingqiu fox, but she never expected to encounter a fox from the Jing family, whose status in Qingqiu was second only to the Fox King.
At this age, the Three-Tailed Fox should be considered a highly talented individual in the Jing family and should be given special attention. So why would it follow Lou Mu to the human world to make its way?
And that Lou Mu guy...
It would be plausible to say that Lou Mu was also a fox of high status, but Tang Nian did not smell any unpleasant fox odor on him, nor did he have the seductive charm of a Qingqiu fox.
"So what do you think of Lou Mu?"
Ming Huan quietly raised his head to look at Tang Nian and found that Tang Nian's expression was normal. Then he carefully thought about the few times he had met with Lou Mu.
"I don't think he's as...eccentric as the rumors suggest?"
Tang Nian nodded, her opinion was the same as Ming Huan's. Compared to Xiang Liu, she felt that Lou Mu might be more suitable as a "smiling tiger".
At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Ming Huan stood up to open it and saw a yamen runner holding several scrolls of bamboo slips.
When the yamen runner saw Ming Huan open the door, he tremblingly handed over the bamboo scroll in his arms: "Young Master Ming... Lord Wang sent me to deliver the scroll to Master Tang... Master Tang."
Ming Huan frowned as he looked at the constable in front of him, his slightly chubby face wrinkling up.
The bailiff's hands trembled even more violently as he was being scrutinized, and his calves were shaking.
"Minghuan, bring it in."
"yes."
Ming Huan gave the yamen runner another deep look before taking the file: "Please thank Lord Wang for us."
He then closed the door.
The constable breathed a sigh of relief, turned his head to look at the room next door, and after receiving instructions, scrambled out of the inn.
"Sister Tang, there's clearly something wrong with this constable!" Ming Huan angrily threw the dossier on the table.
Tang Nian glanced at Ming Huan indifferently, then casually picked up a file and flipped through it.
"They were just scared by those two next door, there's nothing to investigate."
As soon as the door opened, Tang Nian keenly smelled the fox scent on the constable. While Ming Huan was sizing up the constable, she released her aura to test him and confirm that he was human.
To be honest, the fact that the yamen runner was so afraid was probably related to the intimidation he had just exerted.
The case file contained mostly autopsy reports of the four deceased. Tang Nian read it quickly, but suddenly stopped.
She murmured, "According to the villagers of Muyun Village, the five people went on an adventure to Muyun Mountain..."
Ming Huan quickly stood up, moved closer to Tang Nian, and looked down at the words on the bamboo slip.
"Five people? But only four people have died so far."
Tang Nian and Ming Huan both suspected that the fifth person in the case might be the key, but the entire case file did not mention who the fifth person was.
The people in the county government should have noticed this, unless... they also couldn't figure out who the fifth person was.
But is that even possible?
There aren't many people in Muyun County, and even fewer in Muyun Village. Based on her previous investigation, the villagers of Muyun Village should know each other, so why don't they recognize this fifth person?
And that old man—Tang Nian's intuition told her that the old man was also involved in this matter.
Tang Nian put the file aside, stood up, stretched, and squeezed out a few tears.
Suddenly, she remembered something, sat back down, and opened the file to start reading.
Burying alive corresponds to earth, hanging by vines is wood, arrows and iron ore are metal, and burning alive is fire.
Tang Nian had heard of the evil art of the Five Elements Altar before in her clan. It used five people corresponding to the five elements as the core of the array. However, she remembered that this evil art not only had extremely high requirements for the five people who were to be sacrificed, but also for the person who would initiate it.
Is it really possible for such a coincidence that all four people who have connections happen to meet this requirement?
Tang Nian regretted not having thoroughly consulted the ancient books in the clan back then. There must have been descriptions of this kind of evil magic in the ancient books collected by the Xiangliu clan.
Now I can only explore it on my own.
“Sister Tang…?” Ming Huan looked closely at Tang Nian for a long time, but couldn’t find anything wrong.
Tang Nian shook her head, tidied up the files on the table, and placed them in Ming Huan's hands: "Take these files back to the county office, and while you're at it, ask where there's a stream nearby."
Shouldn't the question be, "Where is Muyun Mountain?"
Ming Huan was slightly taken aback. After confirming that he hadn't misheard, he nodded and left the room with a puzzled look on his face.
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