Volume Eight: Judgment of Hell Chapter Seven: Lovers Who Destroy Each Other

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“Phoenix, what’s the situation?” Xuan Chen walked over as the police who had followed him began searching the area.

“We’ve found a Ghost Sect corpse,” Yaoguang replied.

“Sis, didn’t you say there were two bodies? Why is there only one?” Huo Mingkun asked.

“There’s another one in the tree,” Jiang Yun said, pointing above Huo Mingkun’s head.

“In the tree?” Huo Mingkun looked up. “What the—how’d they even get it up there? Sis, is the killer Peter Pan or something?”

“Instead of wondering if the killer is Peter Pan, you should be figuring out how to get me up there, or how to get the body down,” Lele said, staring gloomily up at the treetop.

“Are you ready?” Yaoguang walked over and checked on Lele.

“What? Ah—ahhh!” The next minute, all that was left was Lele’s shriek, because she realized her feet had left the ground and, after dropping down, she was standing on the treetop. “Phoenix, hold onto me!”

“Don’t worry.” Yaoguang formed a hand seal, and a shimmering glow spread beneath Lele’s feet. “Go ahead, it’s solid.”

“You really are something else,” Lele said as she began to examine the corpse in the tree. “So many wounds—sharp weapon injuries, a lot of them. No restraint marks, no signs of strangling or ligature on the neck. The victim is female, looks to be around twenty. The rest will have to wait for a full autopsy back at the station. Lower me down.”

“All right.” Yaoguang grasped Lele with one hand, the corpse with the other, and with a light step, they landed back on the ground.

“How was your first flight?” Huo Mingkun teased.

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“Go away,” Lele shot him a glare, then turned to the body under the tree. “Male victim, lots of sharp weapon cuts, no restraint marks, no blunt force trauma, no strangulation or ligature on the neck. He looks to be around twenty-five. The rest will need further autopsy.” Lele stood up.

“Move the bodies aside first,” Yaoguang ordered, then had people dig into the soil beneath the corpse. When they reached the roots—deep down—they found something glowing. Yaoguang reached in and pulled it out. “The fifth one.”

“The fifth. I think our theory is correct,” Ghostwhisker said.

“But why is the murderous aura in this Ghost Spirit Blood Jade so weak?” Yaoguang wondered.

“Let me see.” Ghostwhisker grasped the jade, sensing it intently. After a long while, he opened his eyes. “This jade is under a spell. It takes time for it to activate; when the time comes, it’ll activate on its own. This one hasn’t reached that point yet.” As he spoke, Ghostwhisker took out a talisman, chanted an incantation, and pressed it onto the Ghost Spirit Blood Jade. “Sealing it now, so it can’t be activated. Let’s go back.”

“We need to return and sort things out,” Yaoguang said.

“Alright.” Ghostwhisker nodded.

Back at the police station, Yaoguang and the others took part in the autopsy. Lele removed the victims’ clothes, and everyone involuntarily drew in a sharp breath. Both young bodies were crisscrossed with sharp weapon cuts. The skin, once peeled back, revealed a gruesome sight.

Lele examined carefully. “No restraints, no blunt force injuries, no strangulation or ligature. All the sharp weapon wounds show physiological response; the two fought fiercely before death. Both died from a single fatal wound to the chest—a sword wound through the heart.”

“If this is the Suffering of Love’s Separation, then I suspect these two were lovers who killed each other. Beloveds, forced to slay one another—what cruelty,” Ghostwhisker said.

“So this is the fifth suffering, Love’s Separation?” Yaoguang asked.

“Yes, you’re right,” Ghostwhisker nodded.

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“Alright, let’s have a meeting,” Yaoguang said.

“The toxicology report shows nothing unusual, and as before there’s no DNA match for the victims in the database,” Lele reported.

“We examined the victims’ clothing and found that all the sharp weapon wounds were inflicted by the same weapon—a sword. The bloodstains on the victims belong only to these two, likely splattered during their struggle. There were no tire tracks found on Mount Xiling, but there were footprints—two sets this time. One is size 44, the other size 43; both are men’s sizes,” the trace analyst said, glancing at the tech team.

“We pulled surveillance footage. There’s a lumber yard on Mount Xiling, so surveillance cameras caught a black Honda passing through at 11:33 last night, heading up the mountain. Forty minutes later, the car came back down. The license plate is fake. The registered owner of the real plate is a thirty-five-year-old woman who’s been out of the province for meetings and confirmed with the local authorities to have an alibi. She’s ruled out as a suspect. The footage shows two people in the car, both dressed in black, with black baseball caps and black masks. The caps were pulled low, so their faces weren’t captured,” the tech said. “We also checked surveillance near the previous four cases and found traces of this same Honda. According to the dealership, there haven’t been any recent sales of this model—it’s an eight-year-old model, no longer in production or sold new. It’s a used car; we’ve already started combing through the used car market.”

“Good. Keep investigating and try to find the owner,” Yaoguang said, then called the meeting to an end.

“Senior, what’s your take?” Yaoguang noticed Ghostwhisker deep in thought.

“It’s now clear that the deaths are arranged according to the Eight Sufferings of the Human World. This is indeed an Eight Sufferings Soul-Locking Array. The discovery of these five Ghost Spirit Blood Jades means these victims were not just sacrifices—Ghost Sect is using the Eight Sufferings Soul-Locking Array to forge a much larger formation. Now I’m wondering what role these Ghost Spirit Blood Jades play. If we can figure out their connection, we’ll know what comes next. Phoenix, tonight let’s re-examine the previous four dumping sites.”

“Re-examine? Did you find something?” Yaoguang asked.

“The main use of the Ghost Spirit Blood Jade, apart from being a formation core, is to gather yin energy and malice. At two locations in Golden Wave Bay, we’ve already found traces of soul fluctuations. Maybe we can find some clues from there,” Ghostwhisker said.

“Alright.” Yaoguang nodded.