Chapter 87:
The Crown Prince’s Late-Night Visit
CLOUDS SWALLOWED the moon as Li Jinglong rushed into the dimly lit Department of Exorcism. Mergen stood shirtless in the courtyard, sporting a set of nasty claw marks on his left arm. After confirming that there was no poison in the wounds, Hongjun thanked the heavens and hurried off to prepare medicine.
“I told you to keep your distance,” Mergen snapped at Lu Xu. “Why do you refuse to—”
“That bastard would never have had a chance to attack us if you weren’t so reckless!” Lu Xu shot back, plainly furious.
“If you had listened to me, would he have gotten away?!”
“Fine! Next time, go by yourself!”
“Stop fighting.” Li Jinglong’s head was spinning. They had finally gotten their hands on a real clue, only to find that Mergen and Lu Xu had alerted the yaoguai in the mausoleum. And now the two were arguing in the middle of the courtyard with no signs of stopping.
Just as Hongjun stepped in, trying to soothe Lu Xu and pull him away, Mergen exploded. “Lu Xu! I always spoil you. I let you do whatever you like—when have I ever breathed a word of complaint? But this was a mission for the Department of Exorcism, do you understand?!”
“Did you ever ask me for my opinion during the mission?!” Lu Xu gave no quarter as he shouted back, “Did you discuss it with me before charging in?!”
Incredibly, the fight only seemed to escalate.
“Shut up, both of you!” Li Jinglong barked, putting an end to their squabbling.
Hongjun dug through his medicinal ingredients as he listened to Lu Xu’s account and gained a rough idea of what had happened. It seemed that, while at the Xian Mausoleum, Lu Xu and Mergen had run into the same type of yaoguai he and Li Jinglong had encountered in the Ding Mausoleum. To protect Lu Xu, Mergen had ordered him to stay put while he rushed into the burial chamber, where he was attacked by the yaoguai, which transformed into a mass of demonic energy in the darkness. Worried for Mergen’s safety, Lu Xu had cast a spiritual technique to drive it back. What he hadn’t known was that Mergen had planned to use himself as bait to lure the yaoguai over to Lu Xu, and was prepared to suffer some minor injuries.
The moment Lu Xu attacked, the yao realized the danger and seized the opportunity to escape—hence their current argument. Mergen was furious with Lu Xu for failing to follow his orders, while Lu Xu was equally incensed to have been kept in the dark.
Hongjun finished preparing the medicine, then turned to Lu Xu. “All right, all right, calm down.”
“I am never working with him again,” Lu Xu fumed.
Torn between laughter and tears, Hongjun was about to console him when Ashina Adarvan, A-Tai, and Qiu Yongsi returned as well.
“Since everyone’s here,” Li Jinglong called out, “meeting—now.”
Mergen was still shirtless, baring the wounds on his shoulders and back. Hongjun handed the medicine to Lu Xu, who refused to take it, shrinking away when Hongjun pressed it into his hand. He wouldn’t so much as look at Mergen.
Li Jinglong frowned. “Lu Xu! That’s enough!”
Lu Xu straightened up at once in response to Li Jinglong’s rebuke. This was the first time Hongjun had ever seen Li Jinglong lose his temper at one of them, and the main hall immediately plunged into a pin-drop silence.
Since the Department of Exorcism’s re-establishment, Li Jinglong had rarely reprimanded his subordinates. Everyone waited for the inevitable tongue-lashing, but he merely said, “Our mission’s success depends on all of us working together and trusting each other. We’ve alerted the enemy, but what’s done is done. What use is there in arguing about whose fault it was?”
The silence stretched uncomfortably. Finally, Li Jinglong said, “Let’s verify the information we’ve gathered. How did the other teams do at their mausoleums?”
The atmosphere eased slightly. “We lost our target,” A-Tai answered.
A-Tai and Ashina Adarvan had waited inside the Qiao Mausoleum for half the night and encountered the same mysterious yaoguai as the other two teams. Qiu Yongsi, meanwhile, had remained outside as support to keep him from ruining their plans when he inevitably screamed in fright. According to the evidence they had gathered so far, two yaoguai had appeared at the Ding Mausoleum; one at the Qiao Mausoleum; one at the Qian Mausoleum; one at the Zhao Mausoleum; and one at the Xian Mausoleum.
“The numbers don’t match,” Li Jinglong muttered.
“Maybe one of the yaoguai we saw at the Ding Mausoleum tonight showed up at the Qian Mausoleum last night?” Hongjun suggested. “Maybe it was just accompanying another one tonight.”
“Even so, the numbers are still wrong,” Qiu Yongsi said. “There are too many.”
“In any case, the Zhao Mausoleum was the first to be breached,” Li Jinglong said.
After a moment of thought, he spread out a map and drew a rough sketch of the five peaks that held the mausoleums with a piece of charcoal. “Let’s assume there’s a large number of these yao. The first entered the Zhao Mausoleum on the thirteenth. By the time the case was delivered to the Department of Exorcism, it was already the seventeenth. That’s four days after the incident. But when Hongjun and Lu Xu entered the Zhao Mausoleum, they ran into Xie Yu.”
“It was a trap,” Lu Xu interjected. “He was waiting for us.”
“It was a trap,” Li Jinglong agreed, “but perhaps not for the two of you.”
Mergen started in surprise.
“I was struck by a thought tonight,” Li Jinglong continued. “Consider: What if Xie Yu and these four yaoguai are not allies working together, but enemies from opposing factions?”
“Then everything would make sense,” Qiu Yongsi murmured. “Xie Yu wasn’t waiting for Hongjun, he was waiting for the yaoguai that slaughtered the guards at the Zhao Mausoleum to return.”
Li Jinglong hummed approvingly. The truth, previously wreathed in fog, seemed to slowly emerge.
“So that’s how it is,” Mergen said, brow furrowed. “A yao entered the Zhao Mausoleum first, killing the guards. Xie Yu hurried over… Perhaps there’s something in each of the imperial mausoleums that they want. Based on what we saw tonight, it must be located inside the burial chamber. That first yao that entered the Zhao Mausoleum—we don’t know whether it found what it was looking for or failed in its mission.”
“I’m guessing it failed,” Li Jinglong said. “That’s why Xie Yu went in. Maybe our previous assumptions were all wrong. Xie Yu never intended to lure Hongjun and Lu Xu into the Zhao Mausoleum; it really was just a coincidence.”
“That’s right!” A-Tai drew a circle around the five imperial mausoleums. “As things stand, Xie Yu has no other yao at his disposal, right? There’s no way for him to guard five mausoleums. That’s why he chose to stay in the Zhao Mausoleum and wait for the other yaoguai to return.”
“In the meantime, the yaoguai seized the chance to check the four remaining mausoleums,” Qiu Yongsi said. “They knew Xie Yu was guarding the Zhao Mausoleum on the night of the seventeenth, so they sent one of their number to the Qian Mausoleum and found what they were looking for.”
The timeline of events now became clear: On the night of the seventeenth, Xie Yu had gone to the Zhao Mausoleum to lie in wait, where he had run into Hongjun and Lu Xu in the course of their investigation. That same night, the yaoguai they were seeking avoided Xie Yu and entered the Qian Mausoleum. Then, the following night—that was, tonight—one of the yaoguai that had broken into the Qian Mausoleum entered the Ding Mausoleum with its cohort, while the remaining two had gone to the Qiao and Xian Mausoleums respectively.
As Hongjun finished applying medicine to Mergen’s wounds, he couldn’t help but marvel at everyone’s deductions. To think they would be able to piece together so many scraps of evidence, and so quickly!
“There’s no need for us to return to these four,” Li Jinglong said, crossing out the Ding, Qiao, Qian, and Xian Mausoleums. “Chances are, they’ve already taken whatever it is they’re looking for. Tonight, they’ll probably—”
“Is the Marquis of Yardang here?” a voice called from outside.
Everyone jumped. It was just past midnight, and the visitor’s voice was crystal clear in the quiet night. The main gate of the Department of Exorcism was sealed with a spiritual array, so any guests had to wait outside to be let in.
Li Jinglong started in shock as he recognized the voice and immediately got to his feet.
“I need to speak with you,” the man outside called. This time, Hongjun recognized the voice too—it was the crown prince, Li Heng.
Li Jinglong motioned for everyone to stay where they were and hurried out to greet him.
“Let’s go to the study,” Mergen suggested.
Mergen’s arm wasn’t seriously injured, so the group swiftly removed to the study, and Li Jinglong ushered the crown prince into the main hall. “Has Your Highness heard, as well?”