Chapter 23: Prize

MURONG LIAN LAZILY rolled his eyes. Without even turning to look, he smirked and said, "Then Xihe-jun can anticipate further conflict with this lord."

Murong Lian's shift in self-address was a transparent attempt to intimidate Mo Xi with "this lord's" imperial bloodline.

Mo Xi was fully aware of this. His expression grew frostier and his aura more terrifying. There were a few beats of silence in the palace hall, a hush that was broken when Mo Xi next spoke:

"Remember this: Gu Mang carries countless secrets and owes countless blood debts, but because of your selfishness, this incident occurred while he was in your custody." Mo Xi paused, his gaze darkening like ice as it shattered. "I will not let you have him. If Wangshu-jun has more to say, I wait with bated breath."

"You…"

Of these two people, one was a prince of the aristocracy while the other was a general of the military. Their exchanged glance flashed like lightning and disappeared just as quickly.

Murong Lian's face was almost translucent in its pallor, the clenching of his jaw extraordinarily stark against his skin. He ground his teeth for a long moment before barking with laughter.

"Very well! You still dare to claim you're not protecting him? You dare to claim you hate him?" Murong Lian's eyes glinted like poison-feather wine, and his smile tightened on his face. "Mo Xi, haven't you noticed? What you're saying to this lord right now is exactly what Gu Mang said when you were the one floundering, and he was shielding you!"

Mo Xi looked down at Murong Lian calmly, something subtle in his expression.

"To claim that you hate Gu Mang is utterly laughable. If he's handed to you today, sooner or later, calamity will befall Chonghua!"

Unexpectedly, Mo Xi started smiling as well. His smile was almost upsettingly handsome, but his eyes were terribly cold. "How did Gu Mang ever protect me? I only know that he left a scar on my chest that will never fade. I only remember that he tried to kill me. I hate him." Mo Xi spoke evenly, his eyes as clear as fresh-fallen snow. "You say he once protected me. My apologies, Wangshu-jun, but that happened so long ago. This general doesn't remember anymore."

He turned, took a knee before the imperial throne, and lowered his gaze.

"Your Imperial Majesty, none in Chonghua know Gu Mang's spells better than I. Moreover, Wangshu-jun has failed in his supervisory duties, which resulted in today's disaster. I request to be allowed to detain Gu Mang and enforce stricter scrutiny upon him in my manor."

Murong Lian turned. "Mo Xi, you've been working tirelessly to protect him from the moment you returned!" he snapped. "What exactly are you planning?!"

Mo Xi chose not to dignify Murong Lian with any further response.

The emperor thought it over.

Just as he was about to speak, an imperial guard sprinted to the door and whispered anxiously to the herald. The herald's expression instantly changed as he hurried deferentially up to the throne. "Your Imperial Majesty, an urgent report from the capital!"

The emperor nearly kicked over the table. "This is the second time tonight! What now?"

The herald's face was drained of color. "There's been a massacre at the Mansion of Beauties in the northern quarter. Almost everyone was killed—i-including Official Yu of Chengtian Terrace…"

"What?!"

The crowd was shocked.

Even the emperor rose shot up from his throne, wide-eyed. "Who is responsible?!"

"N-no one knows… By the time the imperial guard discovered the situation at the mansion, the criminal had escaped. They even l-left a message on the wall…"

"What message?!"

The official was still petrified, and he stammered out his answer. "'Th-this humble one is lonely; sincerely seeking wives.'"

"'This humble one is lonely; sincerely seeking wives'?" The emperor repeated it twice, his temper flaring. "What nonsense! What deranged old bachelor would write this kind of thing and murder a bunch of people? Does he want to kill or does he want women?" He paused, and when he spoke again it was in a still more irritable tone. "Are there no other clues?!"

"N-not yet."

The emperor once more resorted to his favorite catch phrase: "Useless trash!"

He sank back against the throne and collected himself for a while. His lashes fluttered as his attention fell again on Mo Xi and Murong Lian. An idea had popped into his head.

"The matter of Gu Mang will be temporarily set aside." The emperor sat up slowly as he spoke.

This Mansion of Beauties incident had come at an inopportune time, but perhaps it could prove useful. Of the two men fighting in front of the hall for control of Gu Mang, one was a blood relative and the other an important subject. Nothing good could come of refusing either. This case was the perfect opportunity—he could toss the responsibility of decision to a third party.

"An atrocity such as this, within the imperial capital, is an insult that cannot be borne. We command the two of you to go forth and investigate at once. Whosoever catches the culprit first may return to ask us for Gu Mang."

"Your Imperial Majesty intends to make him a prize?" Murong Lian asked.

The emperor glanced at him. "You two are already at each other's throats merely to settle a personal grudge. Or will he not suffice?"

Murong Lian smiled. "He will. However, while I do this for revenge, Xihe-jun's motives are yet unknown."

Mo Xi said nothing.

"Enough, Murong Lian. Xihe-jun has always been a gentleman. Stop throwing around accusations over some petty grievance." The emperor impatiently waved a hand to cut him off, then pointed at Gu Mang, asleep within Shennong Terrace's shield array. "Xihe-jun, we also want to see which of you possesses the greater skill," he said. "If you have no objections, then let it be done."

"I accept," Mo Xi said.

"Then you should get on with it." The emperor spun the beads in his hand. "Whoever wins can take him away."

Thus the still insensible Gu Mang became the incentive for these two noble lords to crack the case. Murong Lian wanted him to suffer, whereas Mo Xi wanted…

Forget it. He didn't know what he ought to do after bringing Gu Mang back to his manor either. Nor, at present, was it something he ought to think about.

Inside the Mansion of Beauties, Mo Xi, clad in a set of black imperial commander robes, stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the words scrawled on the wall in fresh blood.

At the emperor's command, the healers from Shennong Terrace were handling the corpses that had died tragic deaths within the brothel, while Mo Xi and Murong Lian had accompanied them to investigate the matter and catch the killer.

"Among the dead are fourteen prostitutes, thirty-seven clients, and seven mansion employees." One of the healers was giving Mo Xi the casualty report. "After cross-referencing with the directory, we determined that five prostitutes are missing."

Murong Lian frowned. "Missing?"

"Yes."

"Seeing as everyone in the brothel was killed, and even Official Yu couldn't escape…those five prostitutes can't have gotten away on their own. It's likely that the killer took them away," Murong Lian said thoughtfully. "Why did the killer take those five? Is he really taking women captive to be his wives?"

Mo Xi walked to the side of the bloodstained staircase, where a few healers were handling Elder Yu's corpse. As he approached, they all performed obeisance. "Xihe-jun."

"Mn. What traces of magic remain on Elder Yu's body?"

"Xihe-jun, they are similar but not identical to the black magic spells of the Liao Kingdom. Please come take a look." As the healer spoke, he lifted a corner of the cloth covering the corpse. "Official Yu's eyes have been taken and his heart dug out. The flesh around the wounds has festered with unnatural speed, faster than injuries caused by ordinary weapons. In fact, it seems like…"

"A cannibalistic vengeful ghost," Mo Xi finished with a frown.

"Yes. It does look like the work of a vengeful ghost."

Mo Xi's gaze swept over the evidence of Elder Yu's violent demise. The two hollows of his eyes and the hole in his chest had begun to seep black liquid. But vengeful ghosts were rarely lucid. Writing something like "This humble one is lonely; sincerely seeking wives" didn't seem like the behavior of a vengeful ghost.

As he thought, his gaze slowly traveled down, stopping at the Elder Yu's mutilated chest. "Are the other bodies like this as well?"

The healer flipped through the records and shook his head. "No, only seventeen people had their eyes and hearts dug out."

"Show me the names."

The first one who had died this way was Elder Yu. Mo Xi wasn't familiar with all the names that followed, but those he did know were young masters from influential families.

"The ones who lost their hearts were all cultivators?"

"We can't yet be sure, but that seems to be the case."

A cultivator's heart was where their spiritual core resided, and after hearts, eyes were the strongest source of spiritual energy. When devoured by vengeful ghosts and demons, these organs could serve as potent cultivation amplifiers.

Mo Xi lowered his head, murmuring to himself in thought.

At this moment, an imperial guard pushed open the door. He had been running hard, and despite the cold outside, sweat beaded his forehead. "Xihe-jun! Wang-Wang-Wang—" *(Chinese onomatopoeia for barking dogs)

Murong Lian flicked his peach blossom eyes to the side, smiling with keen interest. "Wang wang? Why are you barking? Are you calling our Xihe-jun a dog?"

The guard swallowed. "Wangshu-jun!"

Murong Lian's smile vanished. "Catch your fucking breath before you speak!"

"Yes sir!" the imperial guard hastily replied. "There's been a new development. After Gu Mang went berserk, the warning barrier at Luomei Pavilion was broken. Just now, when the manager was accounting for the pavilion's occupants, they—they discovered someone missing!"

Murong Lian bristled and grabbed the guard by the lapels. "What happened? They checked three times and said that despite the chaos, no one escaped! How is someone missing now?!"

The guard didn't get a chance to respond before another team rushed over through the snowy night on horseback. As it turned out, they were escorting Madam Qin, manager of Luomei Pavilion. She fell to her knees as soon as she dismounted, shivering on the ground. "Wangshu-jun, this servant deserves death! This servant deserves death!"

Murong Lian was about to pass out from pure rage. "If you want to die so badly, do it later! First, tell me clearly: Are you blind or are you stupid? When you took attendance the first three times, you said no one was missing—so how is that now no longer the case?! Explain!"

"Wangshu-jun, please forgive me," she sobbed, "This servant was only counting the prostitutes and courtesans, and she attentively checked on them so many times. They were all present and accounted for, but—but this servant forgot…"

"What did you forget?!"

Madam Qin wailed. "This servant forgot there was a bedridden cook in the kitchen side room!"

"A cook?" Murong Lian was stumped.

"Yes—a month ago, when you punished Gu Mang to confinement and reflection and reduced his meals, he couldn't stand the hunger and went to the kitchen to steal food," Madam Qin cried. "That cook bumped into him, and hit and cursed him. But he set off Gu Mang's sword array and was cut to ribbons."

Everyone was silent.

"The doctor said those wounds required at least a few months of bedrest, so—so at first, I didn't expect that he could possibly do anything. How could I guess that he would sneak out when Gu Mang broke th-the barrier…"

"Useless trash!"

Murong Lian was infuriated. He kicked Madam Qin in the chest and sent her flying into the swirling snow. Pointing at her, he bellowed, "Do you know what manner of disaster you've unleashed?!"

All the servants and prostitutes of Luomei Pavilion were prisoners who harbored deep loathing for Chonghua. Although their cores were destroyed when they entered the pavilion, every country had their arcane secrets. It was said that there had once been a black magic practitioner from the Liao Kingdom who could even repair shattered cores, so a great many barriers were layered around Luomei Pavilion.

No one could have predicted that Gu Mang's rampage would let him break through every single one of those barriers. Moreover, it would have been one thing for them to be broken, but then a "bedridden" man had suddenly jumped up and taken the opportunity to escape, and the manager had only just figured it out. Even worse, not long after this cook disappeared, there had been a bloody massacre in which almost a hundred citizens of the capital had lost their lives—

If the emperor were to take a closer look at this, who would he blame?

None other than Murong Lian.

Despite himself, a red flush stained Murong Lian's pale face. He felt nearly faint. "Gu Mang…Gu Mang…" he raged. "Once again it's all your fault!" He turned on his heel. "Go get that cook's file and bring it to me to examine! Where did he come from?! How old is he, what's his life history? I need to know every detail, down to how many women he's bedded! Hurry up!"

"Yes! Yes!" Staggering to her feet, the madam mounted her horse and galloped away in a panic.

Shaking out his sleeves, Murong Lian returned to the Mansion of Beauties in an anxious fury. He tilted his head and stared, panting, at the words written on the wall: This humble one is lonely; sincerely seeking wives.

One of Murong Lian's personal attendants found himself compelled to offer a suggestion. "My lord…"

"What do you want?!" Murong Lian snapped, irascible as ever.

"This isn't right."

Mind a jumble, Murong Lian was briefly bewildered. "What's not right?"

"Gu Mang injured that cook a month ago, and now Gu Mang's gone berserk and the cook took the chance to escape…" The attendant's voice lowered as he glanced cautiously at Murong Lian. "Don't you think it's a little too much of a coincidence?"

Murong Lian considered this, narrowing his eyes. "You're saying that the cook planned this? That he made use of Gu Mang?"

"Or…what if Gu Mang wasn't the one being used? If you look at all the evidence, my lord, should we not imagine the worst? Is it not possible that Gu Mang and that cook planned all this together?"

Murong Lian's heart tightened. "What country was that injured cook captured from?"

The attendant had been worried for precisely this reason. He lowered his head. "The Liao Kingdom."

So that cook was another dog-bastard from the Liao Kingdom?! Murong Lian's back was drenched in cold sweat. At this moment…at this moment, Gu Mang was still in the palace!

It was better to be safe than sorry. If Gu Mang really had devised some unknown scheme with that cook, and if the two of them were working together to create a diversion and lure the tiger from the mountain, then…

The blood drained from Murong Lian's face. After a breath, he strode out into the snow. "Summon my golden-winged snow pegasus! I must go to the palace at once to see His Imperial Majesty!"