Chapter 219: He Chunhua's Methods

The smoke was undisturbed by wind, and something seemed to be taking shape within it.

If the He brothers were here, they would probably be greatly startled, having no idea their father could perform such tricks.

But just then, the candlelight burst with a hiss, the wick flaring up.

Butler Old Mo immediately felt the atmosphere shift. He watched as the blue smoke slowly dispersed and completely vanished, no matter how many times He Chunhua recited his incantations.

Clearly, this spell was encountering some obstruction, preventing it from proceeding smoothly.

Old Mo watched eagerly from the side, unable to help but ask, "What happened?"

He Chunhua wiped the sweat from his forehead. "It refuses to answer the summons," he said, "saying there's a more powerful presence nearby."

Old Mo was surprised. "A more powerful presence?" he echoed. "This is just a small county town; what formidable presence could there be here? What do you plan to do, Master?"

"Before midnight passes, we should find another place, preferably to the east."

Old Mo packed up the items, He Chunhua put on his large cloak, and they hurried out.

However, they had only descended two steps of the stairs when Madam Ying woke up. Her eyes heavy with sleep, she walked out and asked, "Oh, where are you going so late?"

"I'm going out to take care of something; I'll be back soon," He Chunhua said in a low voice. "Go to sleep; don't worry."

When he lowered his voice, it meant there was no room for discussion. Madam Ying was very familiar with her husband's style, so she didn't think much of it. She simply said, "Be careful," and returned to her room.

He Lingchuan, fast asleep, turned over.

He knew he was dreaming again, but this time he didn't go directly to Panlong City. Instead, he returned to the scene from several months ago when he fell into the ruined pond-well.

At that time, in the Panlong ruins, He Chunhua, his son, and Sun Fuping led the Blackwater City army, capturing prey from the sandy sea and draining their blood into the pond.

After the spirits of the Great Wind Army appeared, He Lingchuan accidentally fell into the pond, and water was everywhere around him.

Dark red blood-water.

This was no mere well; it was clearly an unfathomable deep pool.

He Lingchuan floated in the water, utterly bewildered, while above, a green light seemed to flash, about to plunge into the water.

At least, He Lingchuan felt the uppermost layer of the pond water seemed to turn light green.

This light green rapidly spread downwards.

But just then, He Lingchuan noticed the pond water beneath his feet beginning to surge.

He looked down, and in the depths of the pool, a massive red figure was swaying.

With every movement, the pond water churned into enormous whirlpools.

The calm deep pool instantly filled with countless rapid currents and hidden eddies, interacting with each other.

That speck of green light in the upper layer was immediately shattered, disappearing completely.

He Lingchuan swam downwards, wanting to quickly see the red figure's true form. After several months away, he had almost forgotten there was such a massive entity at the outermost layer of his dreams.

What exactly was it doing here?

The closer he swam, the more massive it appeared.

But the light grew dimmer and dimmer, and soon he couldn't see anything at all.

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on a bustling street in Panlong City. A peddler carrying a pole with goods, selling jewelry, smiled at him stutteringly: "G-g-guest, young sir, w-would you like to buy a beaded flower as a g-gift?"

Ru County, this small place, had no curfew. The night was deep; the night watchman had just left, and there wasn't even a stray dog on the road.

It was already the first month of the lunar calendar, and snow easily accumulated to a foot deep on the ground.

It had snowed again tonight; someone would only clear the streets tomorrow morning. The snow on the ground reflected light, preventing the surroundings from being completely dark. He Chunhua and Old Mo walked eastward on the snow, their boot soles creaking.

They had brought no attendants.

The further east they went, the sparser the houses became.

Later, Old Mo pointed to a dilapidated civilian house and said, "This is the one I've seen with the thickest snow piled at its entrance; it should be empty."

The snow was almost piled up to the latch, clearly indicating the door hadn't been opened for at least half a month.

"It's over a hundred zhang from the inn," He Chunhua said. "Let's try it." He nodded and climbed over the courtyard wall with Old Mo.

The courtyard was also filled with snow. The trees and crops had long withered, the house door was ajar, and there was no sign of human presence.

With times being bad, there were a hundred reasons for a house to be empty.

The two entered the small house, closing the doors and windows.

The window gaps were wide, and cold wind still seeped in, accompanied by a low howling sound, like a rock wolf's cry. Old Mo had to get straw to block them. The wooden door was slightly warped; they worked together to close it and then braced it with a millstone.

This all took some effort. He Chunhua rubbed his hands and said, "Hurry, time is running out." If they missed the time, they would have to wait another day, and they didn't have spare time to waste in Ru County.

He Chunhua righted the overturned table, relit the green candle, and began chanting the incantation.

Old Mo also took out his Shoushan stone paperweight, clutching it tightly in his hand.

This time, the blue smoke solidified smoothly, finally forming a vague pattern that was hard to distinguish—whether a ghost face or a dog face, it had a nose and a mouth.

The indoor temperature suddenly dropped again, and frost flowers formed on the tabletop.

Although this face only had two empty eye sockets, both men could sense it was observing them, subtly harboring ill intentions.

As expected, the next second, the face lunged forward without warning.

Old Mo, having been briefed by He Chunhua beforehand, did not move.

Just as the blue smoke was about to cross the table, He Chunhua flicked his left hand, revealing the Mandate Token of the Land in his palm.

The luck of the nation can suppress evil spirits!

The blue smoke recoiled in surprise, swiftly retreating, keeping at least four feet away from him.

Since this person couldn't be touched, it turned to Old Mo.

Old Mo was a loyal servant of the He family, but not an official appointed by the royal court, so naturally, he wouldn't have vital energy protecting him. However, the paperweight in his hand suddenly emitted a blue light, and the carved kite's head turned, its red eyes directly facing the blue smoke.

Held by its gaze, the blue smoke suddenly froze in mid-air, nearly dispersing.

After a while, the smoke gathered again, and the ghostly face became clearer, staring intently at He Chunhua, tilting its head as if asking a question, but its expression no longer held its previous disdain. He Chunhua said gravely, "I'll offer you a delicious meal, but he's protected by a talisman and an array, so you might not be able to find him."

He held up a slip of paper with Li Zhao's birth information written on it and lit it over the candle:

"These are his Bazi."

The paper met the flame and quickly turned to ash. The blue smoke rolled across the tabletop, sucking up all the ash, not a single speck remaining.

The flame trembled intensely, showing its keen interest.

He Chunhua asked, "Can you find him?"

The blue smoke gave no response.

Indeed, merely the Bazi was not enough. Li Zhao was protected by a spell, preventing evil spirits from tracking him directly.

Only then did He Chunhua take out the thimble-sized porcelain bottle.

The stopper was surprisingly tight; even He Chunhua had to exert some effort to pull it out. This also showed the deep revulsion of the person who took the sample.

Steward Qian was not wrong; after brewing for two or three days, the liquid poured from the bottle was pungent, foul-smelling, and yellow.

He Chunhua pinched his nose and dripped two drops onto the candlewick, careful not to extinguish the flame.

To be honest, this smell was nowhere near as overpowering as the "fragrant pellets" self-made by the Red Cliff Road bandits; those things were true biochemical weapons.

With a "hiss," the candlelight shot up very high, and its color turned dark green, casting a ghastly green glow on the two faces at the table, quite frightening.

The blue smoke became even more solidified, and eyeballs grew out—three vertical pupils appeared in each eye socket, with light seeming to shift within them, impossible to look at closely.

Its eyes could see, indicating it had a target and direction.

"He has committed no small number of wicked deeds, both publicly and privately; he should be your favorite prey," He Chunhua reminded it. "In his youth, he encountered a great flood and betrayed his close brother, causing him to drown. This might be a lingering trauma for him; you might as well start there."

The three vertical pupils on this ghostly face suddenly merged into one, and the face became very clear. It slowly opened its mouth, forming a smile.

But the mouth opened too wide, about 140 to 150 degrees, pulling the cheeks, eyes, and even the corners of the forehead stretched long. The muscles were twisted and wrinkled, looking like a wax figure just before it melts.

More terrifying than encountering a ghostly face was this ghostly face silently cackling at them.

Butler Old Mo felt a chill down his spine, and goosebumps erupted all over him.

He Chunhua, however, remained unfazed. "Found him? Go, before dawn breaks."

The ghostly face glanced at the two men again, then suddenly turned and drifted outwards, its form growing increasingly faint.

Before it reached the door, it vanished.

The candle extinguished along with it.

Butler Old Mo blinked, as if waking from a dream. Looking at the room again, it felt subtly different from before, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Hmm, it seemed that eerie atmosphere was gone.

He Chunhua turned to him and said, "You fell asleep just now."

Asleep? How could that be? He had been guarding his master, completely focused.

Seeing his disbelief, He Chunhua pointed to the corner of his mouth.

Old Mo reached up and felt it; it was wet.

He had actually drooled, and a long string hung from his mouth. He hadn't even noticed.

In other words, he had indeed been muddled earlier.

"Did Master also see the blue smoke?"

"Of course, we were in the same dream." He Chunhua pointed to the kite-shaped paperweight in his hand. "If it weren't for the protection of this treasure, you wouldn't have woken up."

Old Mo shivered. "How powerful!" he said. "I didn't even realize when I was affected."

He had been on guard, yet this happened; what about Li Zhao, dozens of miles away?

"Li Zhao has a magical artifact protecting him; ordinary evil spirits cannot get near him, otherwise I wouldn't have to go to such great lengths." The green candle had burned down to a short stub. He Chunhua put it away. "This thing is its sustenance; otherwise, why would it answer my summons? Unfortunately, this candle is hard to come by, and there's not enough left for another use."

Old Mo asked him, "Master, why did you only mention one of Li Zhao's lingering traumas?"

"He wouldn't care about the 'one corpse, two lives' incident." He Chunhua waved his hand. "It was just a concubine; if she died, she died. Do you think he lacks women or descendants?"

As he spoke, he remembered something, and his brows furrowed tightly: "But what about the inn? Is there something nearby that can suppress my magic?"

Old Master Li dreamed again of that unforgettable summer of his life.

He hadn't had this dream in a long time. His brother was even kinder to him than usual, giving him a particularly beautiful belt. The children stripped off their shirts on the rocky bank and jumped into the river to play in the water. The cool river water could utterly defeat the scorching summer heat.

Everyone was having fun when human voices came from afar.

Li Zhao looked up and saw a girl carrying a medicine basket. She was standing halfway up the mountain, frantically waving and calling out.

They were too far away, and the sound of the water was loud, so no one could hear what she was saying clearly.