Zhong Qianying returned hastily from Haiyan Pavilion, saying she overheard that some refugees from Bashu were beaten and driven out of the capital. This deepened the suspicions between Xiao Ji and me, so we decided to leave the city to investigate. The city guards claimed they hadn't seen any refugees leave, but mentioned a carriage carrying some poorly dressed and emaciated servants heading to the outskirts earlier—it seemed likely they were the refugees.
The guards pointed us in the right direction. Zhong Qianying took the lead with her lightfoot skill, and I discarded my candied hawthorn to use my aerial technique and bring Xiao Ji along. In the outskirts, we indeed found an abandoned carriage. Following a trail of blood, we discovered four assassins surrounding a group of refugees. The refugees were about to be slaughtered when I cast a binding spell to immobilize the killers, saving the refugees.
The refugees ran toward us in a panic. Zhong Qianying detained the assassins, but they had already taken poison to commit suicide. She recognized them as killers from the Killing Hall, known for only acting for a hefty price. If a mission failed, they would take their lives by biting on the poison concealed in their teeth.
To hire such expensive assassins just to kill a few refugees meant someone was desperately trying to cover up the Bashu disaster. Xiao Ji frowned and decided to take the refugees back to Yiqing Court.
The refugees knelt before Xiao Ji, who was dressed in noble attire, pleading for him to save their compatriots. They revealed that Bashu had suffered from a drought for over a year, leaving the people with no harvest. Corrupt officials not only concealed the truth but also imposed excessive taxes. With Bashu being mountainous and distant from the emperor's reach, the people had no one to turn to and dared not speak up.
To make matters worse, a plague had broken out in recent months, claiming more lives as corpses piled up in the wilderness. The wealthy fled, while the poor scraped by eating bark and digging for roots. Desperation drove the refugees to risk their lives traveling to the capital to expose the truth. However, the corrupt officials had informants in the capital who persecuted the refugees before they could report their plight.
But why would someone report the Bashu drought half-heartedly a month ago if the corrupt officials were so intent on hiding it?
Xiao Ji entered the palace to discuss this with the emperor, while I, worried about Xiao Yi contracting the plague, left for Bashu alone without waiting for his return. Unfamiliar with Bashu's exact location, I used the description of the route and the celestial anomalies caused by the drought to guide me through the air.
The skies above Bashu were indeed filled with a thick, ominous aura. Vital energy on the ground was stifled, and malevolent forces thrived, cutting off the auspicious celestial essence from the northern heavens. The area had become a cursed domain with an overwhelming increase in ghostly energy. My limited knowledge of the art of reading atmospheric flows already left me shaken; the situation on the ground must have been far worse.
Descending on the outskirts of the city, I was greeted by a horrifying sight—mounds of corpses piled high. Though the sun had not yet set, the air was thick with ghostly presences.
"Save me... please..." A faint, mournful cry startled me. While I wasn't afraid of spirits, the scene sent chills down my spine.
Listening closely, I realized the voice belonged to a living person. Following the sound, I found a tattered woman barely clinging to life. Her cry was driven by sheer willpower, making it sound eerily like a ghost's lament.
"Save my... child..." The woman looked at me desperately, as if my mere promise would let her pass away in peace. In her arms, she cradled a baby.
But the baby was already dead.
The woman likely believed the child was still alive, which gave her the strength to survive thus far. I couldn't bring myself to tell her the truth.
"Don't worry, sister. I will save both of you," I assured her, my heart heavy. I transferred spiritual energy to her, but her organs were beyond saving. My energy sank into her body like a stone in water, doing nothing.
Realizing her fate was sealed, I sighed and used a healing rain spell to ease her pain.
"Thank you... I can't hold on... I'm sorry... my husband... I couldn't wait..." she whispered before drawing her final breath.
What did she mean by apologizing to her husband? Why were she and her child abandoned here before they passed? Though numerous vengeful spirits lingered nearby, they hadn't harmed her—perhaps they shared a similar fate and couldn't bring themselves to add to her suffering. Even ghosts could show compassion. But what about people?
Natural disasters are terrifying, but the cruelty of a hardened heart is far more frightening.
"Little girl, leave this place—it's dangerous here," a booming voice suddenly called out from behind me.
Turning, I saw a tall general. If I wasn't mistaken, he was the Northern Frontier General, an old friend of Xiao Yi's. When he saw my face, he gasped, "Saintess?"
"No, I'm not her," I corrected, explaining the refugee incident in the capital and my reason for coming. He frowned, saying that he and the crown prince had already sensed something amiss but lacked the troops to act without exposing their suspicions.
The Northern Frontier General ordered his men to handle the refugees' bodies before leading me into the city. Bashu was a shadow of its former self—shops closed, streets deserted. The pale moonlight illuminated emaciated figures wandering aimlessly, their faces etched with grief and numbness. They were like the walking dead. If not for the occasional cries and groans of pain in the distance, one might mistake it for a dead city.
"Miss, do you know where Little Juan's mother went?" A grimy little girl suddenly approached me with tearful eyes, tugging at my hand.
Before I could answer, an elderly man with a cane hobbled over. "Little Juan, why did you run off again?" he scolded gently, pulling her into his arms and apologizing to us profusely.
The general handed them some rations, which the elderly man accepted with teary gratitude.
"Grandpa, I'm not hungry. I just want my mom..." Little Juan sobbed as the old man's tears fell silently.
Kneeling, I gently placed a hairpin in her small hand. "Your mother asked me to give this to you. She said she'll return when you're older, but only if Little Juan listens to her grandfather and doesn't cry."
"Really? Did my mother really say that?" Little Juan clutched the hairpin tightly, her face lighting up with hope.
"Yes," I forced a smile. Comforted, she promised to be good and wait for her parents to return.
The old man led her away, but my heart felt heavier than ever. How many families had been torn apart by this disaster? How many lives destroyed?
"Xiao Xie, why are you here?" a familiar voice broke through my thoughts. I turned to see Xiao Yi standing beneath a withered tree, his presence as elegant as ever despite his simple attire. Moonlight enhanced his delicate features, making him seem almost ethereal.
"Brother Xiao Yi…" I whispered before bursting into tears.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He rushed over in concern, and I forgot all about my reservations as I threw myself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Don't cry; I'm here," he murmured, gently stroking my hair.
Though the night breeze carried a chill, his touch was warm. Yet he soon began to cough, trying to stifle the sound.
"You're ill?" I asked, alarmed.
"It's nothing," he replied with a faint smile, but as he took a step forward, he collapsed. I caught him as he fell, my heart pounding in fear.