Chapter 468: Her Relics

Jiao Yu, of course, did not object. General Antelope, on the other hand, spat on the ground and said, "Fair enough! That kid wouldn't tell us if he found anything either."

He Lingchuan flipped to the end of the notebook and suddenly felt something was off. "This isn't an account book," he said.

From the outside, this notebook looked ordinary, but inside, there were only a few thin pages. What was recorded wasn't the collection of pulp beads, but rather some strange numbers, such as:Seventy-six forty-one;Two eight one.And so on.A group consisted of three numbers, accompanied by two delimiters, and each page contained only a few such groups.

"It's a code," he said.

Both demons looked at him expectantly. "You can decipher it, right?"

"You give me too much credit," He Lingchuan said, his eyes fixed on the page. "This code must be used with a key to be translated into text."

"A key?"

"A companion book," He Lingchuan explained. He had attended an open lecture at Wenxiantai where an old scholar explained code compilation. "Or rather, this code system was designed specifically for that book."

"We're doomed!" General Antelope exclaimed, immediately annoyed. "Books, ledgers—anything with paper has been taken by that Zhongsun!"

"Then we'll have to find Zhongsun Mou again," He Lingchuan said objectively. "He might have found something useful."

Jiao Yu said, "I saw him arrange some people, disguised as civilians, loitering around this courtyard. He's probably still hoping to get lucky and see if Mr. Mai will return."

"He probably won't," He Lingchuan said, without any particular basis, just an inexplicable certainty.

He still had two scrolls beside him, which he had pulled out of a vase in the study.

He Lingchuan tossed them aside. General Antelope eyed them for a moment, then, unable to resist its curiosity, grabbed the string end with its mouth, tugged it off, and nudged the scroll with its head, trying to unroll it.Not having hands was indeed inconvenient.He Lingchuan had to help it unroll the scroll. This old goat was really fond of paper.

The first scroll was a landscape painting: tall mountains, a small moon, and a stream hitting rocks. The artistry was good, but He Lingchuan wasn't interested.He was a common man; he couldn't appreciate it.

The second scroll unfurled into a portrait:The person in the painting appeared to be a noblewoman, dressed in fine silk, with an elaborate coiffure and an elegant face, standing by a lake and playing a flute.

Even without much discerning taste, the two demons could tell that this portrait was drawn with far more care than the landscape painting; every stroke aimed for perfection.

Then they heard a "snap." They looked back and saw...He Lingchuan had broken off the edge of the table.

He stared intently at the painting, his eyes wide, but his pupils constricted, as if he had seen a ghost.Fierce Tiger quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

Even the still life with hidden mechanisms and the coded ledger hadn't made him lose his composure like this.It leaned closer and saw it was just a portrait. Could this person possibly emerge from the painting?There were no special signatures or seals.

He Lingchuan took a long breath and shook his head. "It's nothing," he said, though his gaze remained fixed on the person in the painting.Strictly speaking, he was staring at the flute in the figure's hand.

The front half of the flute was obscured by the noblewoman's hand, but the back half was drawn in exquisite detail: it was jade-white, with distinct nodes, and two striking red rings!

When He Lingchuan first saw this flute, his blood rushed to his head.This was Sun Fuling's Heavenly Centipede Bone Flute!She had not only played it in front of him but had even used it as a teaching tool for him.How could he possibly be mistaken?

How could Sun Fuling's flute be in the hand of the noblewoman in the painting?Given that the paper was slightly yellowed and showed no special preservation, the painting couldn't be more than thirty or forty years old.

He Lingchuan had enjoyed his time with Sun Fuling in Soul Village and had always intentionally or unintentionally ignored her ultimate fate. This sudden appearance of the portrait immediately reminded him:All people die eventually, and all cities fall.But who had picked up her belongings? How did this woman obtain it?

"Do you recognize this woman?"Both Fierce Tiger and General Antelope shook their heads.

He Lingchuan quietly put away the scroll, a vein throbbing twice on his temple.The answer lay with Mr. Mai; he had to find this person!

"Is there anything special about this woman?" Fierce Tiger asked. "Does the envoy like this type?""Never mind, it's nothing," He Lingchuan said, composing himself and bringing his thoughts back to the main task. "The old gatekeeper said that Mr. Mai spent a long time in the courtyard. So, with Wan Song's elusive abilities, it's very likely he gave Wan Song instructions near his home, or even inside it."

General Antelope wondered, "But Zhongsun Mou's subordinates have already searched the courtyard, and found nothing.""They search their way, we search ours."

Mr. Mai's residence wasn't large. The study was empty, and there were also a bedroom, a kitchen, side rooms, and two courtyards, front and back.He Lingchuan and the others searched again.The guards left by Zhongsun Mou stood by the door, watching them move about with cold faces and a hint of mockery in their eyes.

Indeed, there was no harvest. The people from Lingxu City had already packed up everything, useful or not, and taken it away. In the bedroom, only a bed and a small table remained; in the kitchen, only pots, bowls, and basins.The front and back courtyards had been turned upside down, covered in mud.

General Antelope muttered as it inspected, "What are we looking for? We need a target, right?""Naturally, clues related to the demon-eating beast," Jiao Yu's voice came from the backyard, "Like this."

Everyone rushed over and saw it lying by the trellis in the backyard.Some gourds and herbs were planted in the courtyard. This season, they should have been thriving; gourds had already climbed the vines, and selfheal had bloomed with small purple flowers. But Zhongsun Mou's subordinates hadn't spared this area either. The garden soil had been dug up, the ground was covered in mud prints, and the flowers and plants were crushed.If Mr. Mai had hidden anything in the ground, it would have been found.

Jiao Yu's tiger head was pointed towards the base of the wall.This was the north wall, where the sun never reached, making it the dampest spot. Consequently, the wall base was covered in moss.

It was here that He Lingchuan spotted a faint, oily sheen."Slime, but the trail is very narrow, probably left by an ordinary snail," He Lingchuan said. Just as he was about to stand up, he unexpectedly noticed a stone urn about a foot tall lying by the trellis.

Such stone urns were made from a single block of stone, polished smooth and carved into various shapes. Ordinary families might place them at home, some as feng shui stones for good luck, others for decorative appeal among plants, and some simply to weigh down jars for pickling vegetables... their uses were diverse.

This particular one should have been sitting quietly under the trellis, but it had been mercilessly overturned by Zhongsun Mou's subordinates, half-buried in the soil.However, the side facing He Lingchuan had a spiral pattern carved into it.

He simply reached out and brushed all the dirt off the stone urn.The spiral pattern became even clearer.

The two demons also saw it and came closer, asking, "Is this a conch shell? Or a snail shell?""A snail shell," He Lingchuan replied. He had caught many candy snails in his Panlong Dream, so he could distinguish between the two.

To be honest, it was quite artistically carved, indicating the craftsman's skill. But placed in Mr. Mai's backyard, it seemed to hold a deeper meaning.There was also some moss growing on the stone urn, suggesting it had been there for a long time.He Lingchuan thought for a moment, then simply put it into his storage ring.

The courtyard had been completely turned upside down; there was nothing left to search.

Night fell.As the inn lit its lamps, Zhongsun Mou was busy writing.

"Someone!"A guard immediately appeared.

"Take this letter to the capital of Chiyan and present it to the Monarch."

The letter's content was simple: it complained that the special envoy sent by Crown Prince Fushan Yue of Chiyan was rude and unrefined, obstructing the investigation.He knew that the Monarch of Chiyan had always disliked his eldest son, so receiving a complaint from the Inspector of Lingxu City should prompt some action.

After the guard left with his orders, Zhongsun Mou began to enjoy his dinner.He disliked hot food, so the chef who accompanied him had prepared crystal slices for him that night—thinly sliced raw fish and clam feet. Each slice had to be thin enough to be translucent to be considered acceptable. When eaten, with julienned peppers and garlic slices, dipped in some sauce and mustard, it was Zhongsun Mou's preferred flavor.

The demons of Lingxu City had coexisted with humans for centuries, and their culinary and living habits had become more refined. However, they still didn't enjoy the vast array of flavors like humans did. Zhongsun Mou was considered quite open-minded; most merfolk disliked human sauces.

While eating, he examined the ivory ball in his hand.Fushan Yue's special envoy had been quick to retrieve the ball and was clearly reluctant to hand it over. Was there something unusual about it?He had studied it for a long time, even dripping some potions on it, but found nothing special.He simply had someone cut it open.It was solid, with no hidden mechanisms inside.The appraisal confirmed it was indeed ivory, and nothing more than ivory.What a waste of his time.

After dinner, a thought struck him, and he had Mr. Mai's old gatekeeper brought over for further questioning.

This time, he mainly asked about Mr. Mai's daily routines and habits, also checking if the old man was lying. A question would often pop up unexpectedly, at times when the old man's guard was lowest. If his answers were inconsistent, he would surely suffer.

If He Lingchuan had been present, he would likely have recognized the technique. Both Uncle Hao from Blackwater City and the Great Wind Army often interrogated suspects this way.But the old man didn't make a single mistake in his answers.

Finally, Zhongsun Mou asked about Mr. Mai's diet.The old man said Mr. Mai preferred noodles to rice and would order soup-based dishes for a late-night snack. "Every time he comes to Frost Dew Town, he brings a very fine, very white rice noodle for me to cook for him. This noodle cooks instantly in boiling water. Mr. Mai always insists on having dried shrimp with it."

"Very fine, very white? Where is it from?""I don't know that."

So Zhongsun Mou sent a guard back to Mr. Mai's house to retrieve the fine noodles.

The candle on the table had just burned down.As the guard replaced it with a new one and lit it, Zhongsun Mou caught a fleeting green glint in the old man's eye."Hmm?" A thought struck him. "Are your eyes usually uncomfortable?"

The old man often blinked; Zhongsun Mou hadn't been surprised by it before, as people tend to develop more ailments in old age.But now, Zhongsun Mou pinched out the candle flame with one hand, then told the guard to light it again.He was the master, he could play however he liked, and the guard naturally had no objections.When the candle flame flickered back to life, Zhongsun Mou indeed saw the green light flash in the old man's eye once more!

It was only for an instant, but it didn't escape his sharp eyes.Zhongsun Mou let out a cold chuckle, suddenly grabbed the old man by the neck, pulled him closer, and with his other hand, snatched a spoon from a dish and pressed it into his eye socket, scooping!