Ye Huohuo's eyes widened, staring in disbelief at the person standing behind her. Li Mohan, though still wearing his usual cold expression, had a chilling glint in his eyes.
This was different from his usual detached coldness; a murderous aura surged in his gaze. The flash of light earlier had been a leaf he’d thrown, which was now embedded half a centimeter deep into the trunk of a tree behind Wang Chuan. A common leaf, yet it had penetrated the wood with such force.
This level of skill...
"Boss..." A Cheng's mouth hung open as he looked at Li Mohan. When had his boss become so formidable?
"If you lie again, the next leaf will pierce your throat." Li Mohan stared at Wang Chuan's throat, the leaf in his fingertips seemingly glinting with cold light.
Wang Chuan was on the verge of wetting himself. He dropped to his knees with a thud. "Grandfather, spare me! I dare not lie again. I... I am in charge here, but I am only responsible for the formations. Nothing else is my concern."
Li Mohan's gaze shifted to the person beside Wang Chuan. That person, seeing his stare, quickly nodded. "He's telling the truth. We haven't lied either."
The focus of the interrogation had shifted. Li Mohan had taken over, and Ye Huohuo's role was eclipsed in an instant.
Previously, when he was with Ye Huohuo, he mostly stood silently by her side, an observer. Only when Ye Huohuo made a mistake that required his intervention would he act.
But now, with Ye Huohuo barely halfway through her questioning, he had intervened and seized control of the situation.
Ye Huohuo said nothing. Fang Fang, who was about to speak, was pulled back by her, and Ye Huohuo gently shook her head, signaling her to keep quiet.
"Since you are not the supervisor here, where is the supervisor?" Li Mohan asked in a deep voice, unfazed by the curious glances from others.
Wang Chuan swallowed. "We don't know his name either. He told us to call him Boss. He gave me a formation diagram and instructed me to set up the Big Dipper formation here according to the drawing. He comes sometimes, but not at fixed times. When he arrives, he goes into the room of Tianshu, and we don't know what he tinkers with inside.
Oh, and those severed heads and female corpses, he brought them."
"Female corpses?" Li Mohan's brow furrowed slightly. He glanced at the sack holding the female corpses on the ground, its opening loose, revealing half of a body. He pointed at the corpse. "Like this one?"
"Yes, this is the third one. There were two others... We were quite puzzled. Although corpses naturally decompose, for some reason, the ones he brought decompose so quickly. A body that was perfectly fresh one day would be in that state the next.
This corpse was brought in by him yesterday, and after just one day, it's already like this." Wang Chuan was now terrified of withholding any information, desperate to pour out everything in his mind.
"Where are the other two corpses?" Fang Fang interjected quickly.
"Those two? They had already decomposed beyond recognition, so we buried them." Wang Chuan, fearing he would be implicated, quickly added, "The Boss brought the corpses. We didn't kill anyone. We don't know where he got them from."
Fang Fang didn't want to hear any more of his rambling. She grabbed his collar, her slender arm containing surprising strength, nearly lifting him off his feet. "Speak quickly! Where did you bury them?"
Wang Chuan's legs went limp. How could these people be even fiercer than the last? This woman looked like she could devour someone. "I... I'll take you there. It's on the other side of the mountain..."
Before Wang Chuan could finish, Fang Fang kicked him in the backside, causing him to stumble and almost fall face-first.
"Hurry up and take us! If you dawdle any longer, we'll dig a hole and bury you alive!"
Wang Chuan led the group to the other side of the mountain slope, where, as expected, there were signs of two recently disturbed patches of earth.
Wang Chuan directed his subordinates, and they quickly dug up the soil, uncovering two corpses.
Both were female corpses, their states of decomposition differing. The most decayed had already become skeletal. This was indeed abnormal; the rate of decomposition was too rapid.
Ye Huohuo looked at the two corpses, both so ravaged they were unrecognizable. It was impossible to tell which one was Du Lihua. Or perhaps neither was.
Fang Fang was in the same predicament, staring blankly at the highly decomposed bodies, unable to identify them.
Li Mohan pointed to the bag Ye Huohuo was carrying. Ye Huohuo blinked, confused by his gesture. When she saw her bag, she gasped and slapped her forehead. "I'm so foolish. We don't know them, but there's someone who does!"
She quickly opened her backpack and took out Du Lihua's soul. Du Lihua's soul emerged from the small bottle as a wisp of smoke, gradually solidifying until it formed a faint human silhouette.
She politely nodded at Ye Huohuo and Fang Fang, but when she saw Li Mohan, she took a large step back.
Ghosts, being semi-ethereal, were said to have no feet. If Du Lihua were a person, that step back would have been at least seven or eight paces. Moreover, Du Lihua's face showed a look of terror.
Ye Huohuo glanced at Li Mohan from the corner of her eye but said nothing. She walked over to Du Lihua's soul and pointed at the two corpses on the ground. "Take a look. Which one is yours?"
Du Lihua's spirit finally settled slightly and looked at the corpses on the ground. She lunged towards the most decayed one, her form flickering. It was clear her emotions were in turmoil.
The cries of ordinary ghosts are inaudible unless they are vengeful spirits. Du Lihua, having shed her malevolence and become a mere wandering soul, could not cry out in her grief.
Her last lingering attachment was gone; her revenge was complete. Du Lihua had no regrets or resentment towards the world. She looked back at Fang Fang and Ye Huohuo. Though silent, her lips formed two words: Thank you!
Finally, with a soul-sending talisman from Ye Huohuo, Du Lihua's spirit gradually vanished into the night, entering the path of yin and yang to be reborn.
"In your next life, keep your eyes clearer! Alright, my task is done, and my debt of gratitude is repaid." Fang Fang turned to Ye Huohuo, a hint of an unreadable emotion flashing in her eyes. "I must be going now, but little girl, I believe we will meet again. Though, I wonder if you'll recognize me next time."
Before Ye Huohuo could respond, Fang Fang turned to Li Mohan again. "Mr. Li, take good care of my little sister. It won't be long before I take her away. If you can't, I can."
As she spoke, she lost her usual flirtatiousness and adopted an indescribable air of authority.
"I will handle Ye Huohuo's affairs. You needn't worry. As a thousand-year-old demon, you should focus on protecting yourself, lest someone drains your millennia of cultivation!" Li Mohan said coldly. "I let you off once, but that doesn't mean I'll let you off a second time."
"You are?!" Fang Fang's eyes widened. She opened her mouth, her gaze shifting strangely. Then, she let out a bitter laugh. "I should have known it was you!"
She said no more and turned to leave. As she departed, she squeezed Ye Huohuo's hand.
"Fang Fang..." Ye Huohuo reached out, trying to hold her, but as her hand brushed against Fang Fang's sleeve, Fang Fang simply vanished before her eyes.
Ye Huohuo turned to look at Li Mohan, who had been standing not far away.
"You're not Li Mohan. Who are you?"
As Ye Huohuo finished speaking, A Cheng slowly moved to stand beside her, a half-step ahead of her, clearly in a protective stance. His face was now turned towards Li Mohan, marking the first time he stood in opposition to him.
Li Mohan looked at them calmly, his expression arrogant. His gaze was not that of a human, but more like a deity looking down upon all creation.
Ye Huohuo narrowed her eyes, her gaze filled with wariness. "Who are you?" she asked again, her tone more forceful this time.
Li Mohan still showed no inclination to answer. He raised his head and looked at the moon in the sky. "It's been a long time since I've seen such beautiful moonlight. Excellent, excellent."
After saying this, he closed his eyes, and without any warning, his body collapsed.