When Qin Xuanjiu ordered the body to be carried into the city, it was already bright daylight, and the road leading into the city was bustling with merchants. Along the way, the onlookers were shocked by the scene.
As for the earlier rumors about Qin Xuanjiu mistreating the soldiers, they were naturally debunked — it turns out there was such a monster enticing the soldiers to jump into the river! Fortunately, General Qin showed his bravery by entering the river and killing the monster. Truly deserving of the title of a brave and heroic general!
With such a mighty General stationed there, it was a blessing for the people! Watching the drenched Qin Xuanjiu return to the city, its clear that he had personally fought the water demon in the river.
The people eagerly cheered for General Qin, creating a lively scene. If it weren't for the guards protecting him, they might have even knocked down the Imperial Envoy Li, who was standing in front.
As for the disciples of XiShan, they kept a low profile and quietly entered the city with the crowd. They then went to a porridge shop to have breakfast.
However, Gao Cang felt a bit disappointed. Looking at the distant cheering crowd, he felt that the flowers and accolades should have been for them.
Ranran comforted her senior brother, "If it weren't for Shifu, we would be floating on the river now, probably also carried into the city and watched by a crowd. So, sitting together like this having breakfast is better than being a spectacle."
After hearing her junior sister's words, Gao Cang recalled the danger of last night. He quickly drank the porridge to calm himself, feeling that this blissful moment did not come easy.
Ranran also attentively served some side dishes to her senior brother.
Afterwards, Ranran suddenly noticed Shifu staring at her, with great displeasure in his eyes. Not understanding why, she quickly placed some food into Shifu's bowl with her chopsticks as well.
Usually, Su Yishui didn't like eating outside food from street vendors or restaurants. However, seeing his disciple serving him out of filial piety, he reluctantly ate it slowly.
Ranran silently noted down in her heart: Shifu doesn't like disciples serving each other dishes; at the dining table, we should only serve Shifu!
Although Shifu didn't say it explicitly, but another peculiar rule from XiShan was added.
After accepting their heroes welcome, Qin Xuanjiu reported to Envoy Li about last night's battle. When Li saw the half-human, half-fish monster, he was quite horrified.
He came here intending to bring charges against Qin Xuanjiu; there were instructions from above, hoping General Qin would relocate. Originally, everything was falling into place; even though there were no soldiers in the camp accusing him of cruel treatment, the deaths of so many people in two months were strong evidence.
But who would have thought that in just one night, Qin Xuanjiu would suddenly catch a water monster from the Wangxiang River. Now, the soldiers' inexplicable actions of jumping into the river had an explanation; it was this water monster's ability to enchant hearts, luring the soldiers to lose their senses and jump into the river.
Qin Xuanjiu said he had already written a report and had it expedited to the emperor. The body of this female water monster would also be wrapped in lime to prevent decay and sent to the capital.
As for being framed for mistreating soldiers, he officially objected to accusation and had already requested his former superior — the current Minister of War, General Zhou Dao — to seek justice for him.
Envoy Li, knew that now charging General Qin and investigating him would seem untenable. The Emperor would surely be alerted to such a strange incident and likely to prompt deeper inquiries.
So, he couldn't immediately convict him as planned; he had to report back first and then make new plans.
Qin Xuanjiu had just sent away the envoy when one of his subordinates hurriedly reported that the village's chief constable, while watching the water monster's body being paraded, recognized her as the missing widow Yue'e from their village.
This widow took on the task of delivering meals to the nearby military outpost for construction work, cooking three meals a day near the military outpost's large stove with three women from the village.
But three months ago, she suddenly disappeared and never returned. At that time, it caused quite a stir; her elder brother even said that soldiers in the camp fancied his sister's beauty, which is why they abducted and imprisoned her.
Unexpectedly, when they saw her again, not only was she dead, but she also turned into that ghastly appearance, which was truly frightening! The chief constable felt this matter was significant and didn't dare to conceal it, so he immediately reported it to General Qin.
Upon hearing this, Su Yishui asked if there could be a mistake.
The chief constable thought for a moment and said affirmatively that the female demon had a black mole on her cheek, identical to Yue'e's, which was too coincidental.
Su Yishui then inquired about what kind of person Yue'e was in daily life.
The chief constable said disapprovingly, "She was young and could have married a young man, but she chose to marry the 80-year-old rich widower in the village. Unfortunately, less than a year after their marriage, the old man died. She conspired with her brother to try to take over the family's fortune but was ousted by the old man's daughter, as she did not manage to birth a child. She failed miserably and became a laughingstock in the village, so she went to work at the military outpost to make a living."
Knowing that this water demon was an ordinary village woman just three months ago made the situation even more suspicious.
Upon hearing this, Su Yishui asked the chief constable to summon the women who worked with Yue'e.
The chief constable nodded and called the women who worked with Yue'e to the General's residence for questioning.
At first, these women were a bit fearful, but once they saw Su Yishui, their eyes widened in astonishment— my my, there's a man who looked like a handsome immortal from a painting, how is he so handsome!
Ranran, seeing this and fearing that they were staring at him for too long, which may annoy Su Yishui, stood in front of them and waved her hand, saying, "Excuse me, do you know Wang Yue'e?"
These women, after recovering their senses, looked at the young girl in front of them — My my, how could she also be so beautiful?
One of the women said honestly, "We know her, but we don't know who kidnapped her. It's been a long time since we've seen her."
Ranran asked again, "Do you remember the last time you saw Yue'e? When was it?"
After thinking for a while and discussing with each other, they finally remembered. It was at the beginning of the month, three months ago when Yue'e had dressed up nicely, put on a new dress, and said she was going to the town to buy things. She rode on a donkey and went by herself.
Listening to the women's words, it didn't sound like she was buying things but rather meeting a man in secret.
So, when she didn't return for a long time, they speculated privately that Yue'e had eloped with a man. But it was strange because during those days, they were so busy working in the military outpost, cooking for over fifty craftsmen three times a day; where would she find time to meet a man? Could she have met a man from the army camp?
But she insisted on dressing up every day, wearing pretty dresses, looking very cheerful, and occasionally standing by the Wangxiang River, smiling foolishly.
After further questions, nothing substantial could be gleaned from the women. Furthermore, based on Yue'e's daily activities, it seemed to have nothing to do with any activities linked to sinister spirits or talismans.
Why did she suddenly mutate into a demon who killed countless people?
However, as for who was behind this female water demon, that needed to be thoroughly investigated. Otherwise, if similar events happened again, innocent soldiers would be killed. To investigate thoroughly was quite simple; all they needed to do was examine the origin of the talisman symbols on her neck.
Su Yishui had already instructed Yu Tong to copy down the symbols for him to search through ancient texts. But after a thorough search, he still couldn't find anything similar.
There was another thing that Ranran couldn't understand. If the water demon wanted to frame General Qin, why were those three nights he was on duty peaceful?
Regarding this, Su Yishui had an explanation. He mildly said, "His destined lot is good; he was born in the Year of the Cat and can escape nine dangers. The three days that he was on duty happened to coincide with a cold wave, which caused the Wangxiang River to freeze. The water demon absorbs water vapor to generate her power, she will hibernate when the water surface freezes."
After hearing this, Ranran looked at General Qin with respect. Such a great fortune was truly rare. However, General Qin had already risked his life on the battlefield many times before; who knows how many of these nine lives he had left?
As for why Mu Qingge had made an exception to accept such an ugly disciple, could it be because she saw value in his remarkable destiny lot?
As for this incomprehensible talisman, it seemed they needed to find an expert to decipher it.
Su Yishui remembered a person, conveniently living not far from the Wangxiang river in the Cuiwei Mountain, which can be reached in a day.
That person was an expert in taslimans; consulting him might provide some clues.
So Su Yishui, accompanied by his entourage and disciples, went to visit. Qin Xuanjiu also followed them.
After a day's journey, when they reached the foot of Cuiwei Mountain, there was a cultivated farmland, and as far as the eye could see, it was filled with lush green wheat seedlings and vast patches of sweet potato seedlings.
Bai Baishan looked at the farmland in shock and muttered to himself, "Now… isn't it almost winter? How are these seedlings growing so well?"
This place was not the water-rich region of Jiangnan, and approaching winter, barren fields were the norm; how could there be such fresh wheat seedlings?
Gao Cang saw several farmers wearing straw hats weeding in the fields and walked over to inquire.
But no matter how he called out, that person didn't respond. Gao Cang got a little angry and reached out to pull the person.
Unexpectedly, the person was as frail as paper glued together; with a little force, the person fell straight down.
Scared, Gao Cang also jumped, then quickly squatted down to help the person. But when he turned the person over, Gao Cang screamed in horror and jumped up again.
It turned out that person… was actually made of straw, dressed in clothes and wearing a hat, but there were no eyes or nose on the face, just lying there like that, scaring the living daylights out of people.
Ranran was also startled; she stared at the "people" working in the field and found that their movements were stiff, each one emitting a strange bizarre vibe.
Just then, a strong wind blew, and several "people" floated along with the wind, spinning in the air. When the wind subsided, those "people" fell to the ground again, picked up their hoes, and continued working methodically.
It seemed that these "people" were all made of straw. Ranran noticed that there were talismans attached to their backs, apparently someone was controlling them to work in the fields.
At this moment, a crow suddenly landed on one of the straw figures, tilted its head, carefully scrutinizing Su Yishui and his group. It then opened its long, sharp beak and cawed, "Who goes there?"