Whisper of praise

They returned to their bedroom after taking one of the bloody robes, but otherwise leaving everything the way they'd found it.

Xie Bian floated on clouds all the way there, relieving Fan Wujiu's quiet, "that's a good idea," to his suggestion of asking someone from the Underworld for help.

He really was born to be an Underworld General. Or was dead to be one, rather. The semantics weren't relevant, but they inflated his chest with pride all the same. Slowly but surely he was coming into his own. Yanluo wouldn't have chosen him on a whim. He'd clearly seen Xie Bian's potential.

He waited expectantly while Fan Wujiu took out a round gold mirror from his infinity pouch and placed it on the low table in front of him.

"Chujiang, are you there?"

There was no immediate answer. Fan Wujiu tapped a rhythm with his knuckles across the wooden table, while Xie Bian inspected their golden reflections in growing anticipation.

"Maybe she's busy, should we call someone else?"

"The Underworld is not supposed to interfere with the mortal world," Fan Wujiu reminded him.

"Too late for that."

"Which is why I only want to involve people who already know about out mission. Chujiang is our best best, Yanluo can be... difficult."

"How long are we supposed to wait?" Xie Bian asked, chancing a sideways glance at the mirror after pacing in silence for a time.

"As long as it takes, do you have any other pressing matters to attend to?"

Xie Bian shot him a level look. "I just think we should consider calling Yanluo, this investigation is dragging on as it is, we've been in the mortal realm for near a month and are no close to finding the reason behind the missing souls."

"We must be careful not to expose ourselves," Fan Wujiu retorted.

"Maybe we're being too careful."

A third voice interrupted them, "By all means, continue this riveting discussion, I'm sure I was called to play witness to it."

Chujiang was watching them closely from the mirror, elbows forward as she supported her chin between her open palms.

"We need your help," Fan Wujiu said, and explained the entire situation in a few short sentences.

Chujiang's little smirk was soon replaced by a scowl. "That does complicate things."

"We found the robes in a locked room inside locked chests," Fan Wujiu deadpanned. "Either they don't want to risk discarding them in a way that might attract attention, or more likely the resentful energy caused by the murders is such that they can't destroy them at all."

"So many deaths but we only have the record of three missing souls...," Chujiang mused aloud, taping a manicured fingernail against her chin. "What does that tell us?"

"People die every day," Fan Wujiu said, matter-of-fact. "None of the Underworld's courts is tasked with finding out why. We just mete out punishment or rewards."

"Yes, I'm not saying we would have noticed if dozens of people were murdered on the same day," Chujiang said, "that's outside our purview. We get the souls, we allocate them, it's out of our hands. We don't ask them how they died, that's a question for the murderer on the day of their death."

"But," she worded the word meaningfully, raising her index finger alongside her chin. "What if all the deaths were the result of an array?"

Fan Wujiu's shoulders straightened. "I've been thinking the same thing. Arrays can be used for a number of things, but cultivators, especially less powerful ones, often use them to refine items to high levels of spiritual purity."

"You're thinking they used human sacrifices to compensate for their own limited spiritual energy? Why not go with the usual: gather a group of other cultivators?" Chujiang volunteered, eyes narrowed. "Everyone is left alive, and the combined spiritual energy refines the item to a high grade of purity anyway."

Xie Bian was well aware that Fan Wujiu was naturally suspicious of cultivators, but he couldn't help thinking there was some merit to his theory. Something odd was happening in the Wei household, and Wei Liang was clearly desperate to establish himself. Desperate enough to kill for it?

Would presenting Dancing Carp with an unique spiritual item, maybe even disguising it as priceless treasure raise his standing within the sect? Would it buy him entry into Jade Dragon Manor?

"What if they couldn't get anyone else involved?" Xie Bian said, meeting Chujiang's inquisitive gaze in the mirror. "What if it had to remain secret, thus the deaths."

Fan Wujiu met his eyes for a brief second, gaze flickering with approval. "It makes sense." He turned to Chujiang. "Can you help us track down one of the dead? If they haven't taken Meng Po's soup yet..."

She laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her wrist. "Oh, you're asking me to stick out my neck for you."

"Yanluo knows we're working on this case," Fan Wujiu said, pushing.

"You know as well as I, that he's not the problem."

"We don't know how long ago this happened," Xie Bian said, cutting in. "Maybe you won't even find anything, maybe all the dead have already taken Meng Po's soup and forgotten all their memories..."

"I can see where this is going," Chujiang said, smirking at him expectantly. "Go on..."

"I'm just saying...maybe while just walking around you stumble into something interesting, you can strike up conversations with all manner of ghosts."

"Can I?"

"Youdu is a big city, anything can happen. I wouldn't call having a random chance conversation 'meddling'. "

She was openly smirking at Xie Bian now, but she turned to Fan Wujiu when she said: "He's a fast learner."

"And he's right too."

It was a mere whisper of praise, but it still sent a pleasant pulse of warmth coursing through Xie Bian's limbs.

Chujiang let out a long-suffering sigh. "I'll have a casual stroll through the night market, and inquire if anyone knows any new arrivals hailing from Longbei."

"As anyone might," Xie Bian said, nodding along.

She winked at him and disappeared from the mirror's reflection at once.