WBICDPH Chapter 33 Part 1

Chapter 33: Every Evil Has Its Reckoning

Mantingchun.

Lin Jin had run off for no apparent reason, leaving Han Ao, Liu Fuxin, and a puppy behind, staring helplessly at one another amid the many people inside and outside Mantingchun.

Zhui Tang had finished her story. After a few sighs of sympathy, the onlookers gradually dispersed. Han Ao knew they should continue pushing the case forward, but when he glanced at Zhui Tang and then at Liu Fuxin, he couldn’t help feeling nervous.

From start to finish, it had been Lin Jin who investigated everything. Han Ao had merely followed along, carried by the momentum. Now the “brain” of the operation was gone, leaving him alone to face this cruel world. Worse still, he hadn’t even paid much attention in his basic training—his grades were always at the bottom. In a case like this, he was basically blind. He couldn’t exactly act carefree in front of Liu Fuxin, but he also couldn’t afford to embarrass himself.

Han Ao fidgeted so badly he nearly started biting his fingers. Fortunately, just as the awkwardness grew thicker, Liu Fuxin spoke first.

“Miss Fang, there’s something I still don’t understand. Where is Miss Xu Third’s body now? After all these years, has there really been no trace at all?”

Zhui Tang frowned slightly, worry clouding her eyes.

“I don’t know either. Back then, Mama sent everyone away and dealt with Third Miss’s body without anyone knowing. To the outside world, she insisted that Third Miss had run off with her lover. All these years, even when I tried to look into it, I never found a single clue. As for the body…” She hesitated, then asked softly, “Little Immortal, I’m just a mortal and don’t understand these things. I only want to ask—does a body matter that much to a ghost?”

Liu Fuxin shook her head, paused, then nodded.

“Not necessarily to ghosts in general. But to Miss Xu Third, who died unjustly—it matters very much.”

Zhui Tang fell silent. Han Ao thought for a moment, then suddenly said,

“So that means the only one who knows where Third Miss is now is that crazy old woman from earlier, right?”

The “crazy old woman” he referred to was the madam he’d locked in the small dark room at the end of the corridor. Earlier, Han Ao had seen chains hanging on the door and casually wrapped them up before leaving. At this moment, the madam was inside, pounding wildly on the door. After screaming for so long, her once-shrill voice had turned hoarse.

Her curses mixed with the creaking of the door and the clanking of chains, creating an especially chilling sound.

With his back to Liu Fuxin, Han Ao undid the chains on the door, deliberately putting on a fierce, menacing expression in hopes of frightening the madam into confessing.

When the madam saw his “I’m-going-to-eat-you” look, she was genuinely startled. Fear crept into her heart, and she stumbled several steps backward.

Han Ao pressed the advantage, snarling as he demanded,

“Speak! Where did you hide Miss Xu’s body?!”

“What? Who’s Miss Xu?” The madam retreated to the corner, playing dumb in front of the two of them.

Liu Fuxin stepped forward. The smile she usually wore was nowhere to be seen.

“Xu Dongsi. Miss Xu. The person you killed with your own hands. How could you forget?”

“Oh, so you mean that little slut Dongsi.” The madam sneered. “What do you mean, ‘killed with my own hands’? Don’t talk nonsense! I just taught her a small lesson. She was useless and died on her own—what does that have to do with me?”

Her eyes darted between the two of them. After a moment, her earlier fear vanished. She suddenly stepped forward, lifting her chin defiantly.

“Well? Aren’t you all-powerful immortals? Don’t you have boundless divine powers—commanding wind and rain? If you want revenge for that little bitch, then kill me! Come on—kill me!”

She squeezed her eyes shut. After a brief pause, she cautiously opened one eye. Seeing that neither Han Ao nor Liu Fuxin moved, she became even more convinced of her guess.

A twisted smile slowly spread across her face as she swayed closer to Liu Fuxin, forcing her to instinctively step back half a pace.

Seeing this, the madam burst into smug laughter.

“Hahaha! You don’t dare! You don’t dare kill me! You’re immortals—you can’t harm mortals like me! You can’t scare me!”

Han Ao and Liu Fuxin exchanged a look, both seeing helplessness in the other’s eyes.

She was right. Cultivators in the mortal world could not harm mortals unless the situation was extremely urgent and life-threatening. If the sect found out, punishment would be minor compared to the greater issue—tampering with karmic fate and creating unpredictable consequences.

Han Ao knew this well, but seeing a villain run rampant right in front of him while he could do nothing made his teeth itch with hatred.

He clenched his fists, grinding his teeth, about to say something—when suddenly Lin Jin’s voice filled his mind:

“Han! Help! I’m going to die!!”

The moment he heard it, Han Ao’s anger vanished without a trace. He had no patience left for this nonsense.

He knew better than anyone how fragile Lin Jin’s body was. In a crisis, even a second’s delay could mean death. Without hesitation, he said to Liu Fuxin,

“Lin Jin’s in danger!”

Her expression changed instantly.

“Lead the way.”

They came like a gust of wind—and left just as quickly. The madam stared at the suddenly empty room and let out a long sigh of relief.

She straightened her hair and clothes, intending to take advantage of the absence of those meddling priests to go teach those emboldened little sluts a proper lesson.

She brushed the bits of straw from her skirt, adjusted her posture, and looked up—only to see a small black shadow dart into the doorway.

Upon closer inspection, it was a palm-sized black puppy.

The madam was just about to lose her temper and demand who had let such a beast in when, in the next instant, the room suddenly dimmed. At the same time, the temperature rose strangely, and even the wooden door that had been wide open slammed shut with a loud bang.

She had never seen anything like this. Her eyes widened in terror as a strange black mist appeared out of nowhere before her. Then, a nine-foot-tall monster materialized in front of her.

Looking up into Xiao Lanqi’s blue-green eyes, the madam’s legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the floor.

Xiao Lanqi looked down at the old woman with irritation, raising an eyebrow.

“Answer the question they just asked you.”