Chapter 319: Divination Signs

Having been released from prison, Li Huowang arrived at the backyard of the Cangling County Yamen. As soon as he got there, he saw Mantou sticking its head into a horse trough, competing with a horse for water.

Smelling a familiar scent, Mantou turned its head and looked at him innocently. It was hungry.

Li Huowang took Mantou to the streets. Although the entire Cangling County was in a state of panic due to the stolen infants, at least people were still doing business.

"Red Oil Wontons?" Li Huowang looked at the unfamiliar dish, then took Mantou to a second establishment. "Thorn Noodles?"

Two bowls of wide, green noodles speckled with black dots were served, topped with a fragrant chili sauce.

After seeing Mantou happily eating, Li Huowang finally took out chopsticks from his bamboo basket and began to eat.

The wide noodles were peculiar; they caused a numbing sensation in the mouth. However, this wasn't due to peppercorns, but rather tiny thorns in the noodles scraping the tongue. The noodles’ green color came from thorns, and even more surprisingly, the thorns quickly softened once eaten.

As Li Huowang ate this specialty of Daliang, two men entered nearby. Their voices were low, accompanied by a peculiar laugh that only men seemed to understand.

"It's true! I, your brother, am not someone who would lie to you. Not only male ghosts came out of the Gates of Hell, but female ghosts too! And those female ghosts were incredibly beautiful, hehehe~"

"That female ghost was also in distress... hehehe, how could your brother not help? The next day, I was eight *liang* lighter!"

Hearing this, Li Huowang couldn't help but frown. The common folk of this world lived muddled lives and died muddled deaths, believing such rumors and completely unaware of what was truly happening around them. Listening to the man boast about his amorous encounter, Li Huowang continued eating his noodles.

After quickly finishing his noodles, Li Huowang, recalling that his previous talisman divination had worked, decided to try it again. The divined talisman was re-ignited, and Li Huowang swallowed the ashes again. However, this time, it didn't work as it had before.

"Why is this talisman sometimes effective and sometimes not? Did I draw it incorrectly?" Li Huowang pondered, examining the talisman handbook in his hand. Being only his second time using such an item, Li Huowang was clearly unfamiliar with it.

"My Lord, the owner of Shuxin Hall has also come to report!"

The constable's voice was barely out before Magistrate Lou pulled him away. "Don't disturb His Lordship's ritual!"

"I simply don't believe it's that difficult to catch whatever is stealing the infants!" Since divination was ineffective, Li Huowang decided to use the straightforward method of staking out. But after several days of staking out, it was as if the perpetrators knew Li Huowang was coming; the infant thefts in Cangling County mysteriously ceased.

In a hazy state, Li Huowang, sleeping in the guest room, was awakened by human voices. When he pushed open the window and looked out, swarms of people were hurrying eastward along the street, each person's expression exceptionally excited.

"What is this...?" A puzzled Li Huowang turned and left his room, following them.

Not long after following the crowd, Li Huowang understood what they were going to do. The people had completely surrounded the crossroads, and in the center of the intersection was an "embroidered man" tied to a wooden stake.

"Execute!" Magistrate Lou, looking righteous, tossed a red token, immediately eliciting continuous cheers.

Upon seeing Li Huowang approach, the dignified Magistrate Lou immediately sat upright and offered him a seat. "My Lord, you've arrived? Capturing this criminal is largely thanks to you!"

"Are they going to behead him? So soon? Wasn't it said he'd be executed after autumn?"

Magistrate Lou looked at the embroidered man, a look of utter hatred on his face. "This man is utterly wicked! How could we simply behead him! To avenge the people of Cangling County, he deserves to be *lingchi*!"

Just then, a burly man in a red tunic stepped forward. After taking a bowl of yellow wine and drinking it down, he raised the slicing knife in his hand and began his work. With every piece of flesh sliced from the embroidered man, cheers erupted from the surrounding crowd.

"What does it mean that those people are slipping copper coins to the constables?" Li Huowang asked, pointing towards a corner.

"Oh, those are family members of the victims. To ensure the scoundrel never reincarnates, they plan to buy the villain's flesh and bones to feed to dogs. If the hatred is truly deep, some even eat the enemy's flesh and drink their blood."

"Alas, by Daliang law, this shouldn't be allowed. But when I think about how that scoundrel almost defiled my innocent daughter, let alone them, even I want to rush over and take a bite! He's truly despicable!"

The embroidered man's body was gradually dismembered, becoming extraordinarily gruesome. Yet, people of all ages and genders not only showed no fear but grew increasingly excited, their cheers incessant. The scene was utterly bizarre. With each cut, accompanied by the surrounding cheers, the embroidered man let out heart-rending screams.

As he screamed, his eyes turned venomous as he looked at the surrounding crowd. He stopped screaming and instead began to curse, the pain making him shout even louder. "What are you putting on a show for?! What's wrong with me having some fun?! I've done this so many times, and not a single one was untouched! All your women here are sluts! They're all worn-out shoes!! They're all cheap harlots!!"

These words immediately provoked outrage, drawing a torrent of curses. If not for the constables holding them back, they would have likely rushed forward and killed him long ago.

"Hmm? Wait a minute!" Li Huowang seemed to notice something and quickly walked down. When he reached the embroidered man, he was shocked to see that the bloody knife marks on his body barely formed the very divination symbol he had previously obtained using human bones! "Are you telling the truth?"

"If I'm lying, I'm a bastard! Hundreds of women, not one was a virgin! Your women in Cangling have long been ruined!"

This sounded like a dying man trying to be offensive, but seeing the divination symbol on his body, Li Huowang didn't think so.

"Loss of virginity... loss of virginity..." Realizing something, Li Huowang quickly rushed to Magistrate Lou and said, "Magistrate Lou, you mentioned earlier that besides women being defiled and infants stolen, other things were also taken?"

"Yes, why? Has Your Lordship made a discovery?"

"Find all the stolen items! How much was stolen, and what was stolen, I need to know it all!"

Hearing Li Huowang's resolute words, Magistrate Lou promptly went to carry out the order. Stolen children were hard to recover, but the stolen goods were easy to itemize. Before long, Li Huowang had a list of all the stolen items in his hand.

"Angelica... Cunyun... Cinnabar..." As Li Huowang looked at the items, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Connecting the embroidered man's words about no one being a virgin, the earlier talk of enchanting female ghosts, and the missing children, Li Huowang finally picked up a brush and wrote a few words on the paper in his hand: "Red Pills, Five Nectars, and Bone Rot."

As he looked at everything recorded in his hand, Li Huowang's eyes widened. "The medicinal properties... and this proportion... this is a prescription for alchemy! Someone is using these ingredients to concoct elixirs!!"