Rumble,!
A brilliant bolt of silver lightning tore through the night sky, and the thunder of the awakening of insects exploded. Rolling waves of sound, wrapped in a torrential downpour of rain, crashed against the pitch-black coffin in front of the Dali Temple yamen, producing a muffled impact.
Dozens of armored guards tightly surrounded the entrance of the yamen, locked in a tense standoff in the rain with the Dali Temple bailiffs who were attempting to block them.
The oppressive, murderous atmosphere caused the ordinary citizens of the market streets to hurriedly bolt their doors and windows shut.
Inside a small tavern directly across from the yamen, a waiter was hurriedly ushering a customer who had been watching from the veranda back inside.
Come inside quickly, neighbors! The waiter urged. When nobles engage in magical duels, ordinary folk like us cannot afford to offend them. It’s best to stay far away.
Little brother, what on earth is happening at Dali Temple? a customer asked.
The Shi residence held a wedding banquet just yesterday, and the Marquis of Anping’s newly wedded younger son died right inside the bridal chamber! The wedding hall turned into a mourning hall overnight!
That Shi Wuxie immediately became the primary suspect. He should have been thrown into prison to await trial, but somehow he escaped! And on top of that, he wants to perform the autopsy himself! Look, the Marquis of Anping has brought troops here to seize his son’s corpse!
The few customers left inside the tavern broke into heated discussions:
I heard about this long ago. This Shi Wuxie was extremely dissatisfied with the marriage arrangement. How could anyone force a fourth-rank high official to take a male wife? Isn’t that just cutting off someone’s ancestral line?
Shh,! That was an imperial decree! Do you have a death wish?
Someone lowered their voice: If you ask me, there’s a good chance he’s the one who killed him!
So what if he broke out of prison? Instead of running away to save his skin, he actually wants to perform an autopsy himself. What a lunatic!
I wonder what the Marquis of Anping was thinking, daring to petition the Emperor for a marriage alliance with this madman? Isn’t that pushing his own son straight into a fire pit?
I know! I heard from a fortune teller that the young master’s destiny was too weak, and he wouldn’t live past twenty, so he needed someone with an exceptionally hard fate to suppress and balance it.
Speaking of a hard fate, I’ve heard that Shi Wuxie is deeply ominous, and ghosts haunt the yamen year-round. Do you know why he’s so miraculous at solving cases? The speaker said mysteriously, It’s because his primordial spirit is a judge from the underworld! Remember that headless corpse case from not long ago? Someone actually saw a ghostly figure floating around the yamen…
The tavern’s lights flickered erratically, and whispers mixed with spine-chilling gasps drifted out the window, swallowed entirely by the thunder and rain of the awakening of insects.
Inside the Dali Temple Office
The cold, spacious room was brightly lit with candles, illuminating the night as if it were broad daylight.
A corpse, still dressed in wedding robes, lay stretched across the ice-cold autopsy table. The air was heavy with the thick stench of blood and a peculiar herbal scent.
Standing beside the stone table was a man. His slender and upright figure resembled a lonely, unyielding blade. Over a moon-white, arrow-sleeve-long robe, he wore a coarse hemp autopsy gown.
Thousands of strands of black hair were gathered with a wooden hairpin, and beneath a scattering of stray bangs lay a face of cold detachment. His facial features were so sharply defined they bordered on ruthless, resembling a jade statue from the halls of Yama. A pair of tranquil, ancient, well-set pupils, black as the night, indifferently reflected the stiff, cold corpse on the table,
Even though its complexion was as pale as paper, it still failed to conceal the deceased’s astonishing handsomeness. His long, drooping eyelashes cast shallow shadows, outlining dark bruises beneath his eyes. His bloodless lips were pressed into a straight line, the corners of his mouth curving slightly and naturally upward, imbuing his entire person with a desolate, deadly beauty.
Shi Wuxie unbuttoned the corpse’s robe, exposing the chest cavity, and then picked up the dissection knife.
Just as the bright silver blade tip was about to descend, a guard completely soaked in rain suddenly pushed the door open, calling out urgently: My lord, the Marquis of Anping has brought armed guards and broken in! Our bailiffs couldn’t hold them back!
The moment the words fell, a deep, cold, and stern voice pierced through the curtain of rain: Shi Wuxie! Hand over my son’s body!
The clanking friction of armor approached like a tide, and a dozen elite armored guards broke through the door. The biting cold wind mixed with moisture surged inward, blowing the indoor candlelight to flicker unsteadily, casting swaying shadows.
A robust figure dressed in python robes stepped leisurely across the threshold.
The Marquis of Anping wore a grim and solemn expression, exuding oppressive pressure throughout his entire body.
Shi Wuxie acted as if he hadn’t heard, not even lifting his gaze.
He took an extremely light breath and reached out to shield a candle that was swaying from the draft. Only after the flame stabilized did he nod slightly, as if satisfied with the lighting. Then, holding the tip of the blade, he aimed it precisely at the center of the corpse’s chest and pierced down.
The tip of the knife broke the porcelain-white skin, instantly seeping a trace of blood onto the chest.
Upon seeing this, the Marquis of Anping’s pupils constricted, and he shouted sternly: Stop!
Shi Wuxie slowly raised his head, looking at the Marquis of Anping’s tense and distorted face. Yet, instead of stopping his movements, he tentatively dragged the blade downward a little bit further.
Marquis of Anping: ?!
He watched the newly bleeding cut slowly oozing on his son’s chest, his mouth twitching a few times. With a shua sound, he drew his sword, gritting his teeth: I said, stop!
With a flick of his wrist, the Marquis of Anping sent his sword flying with a whistling wind directly toward Shi Wuxie.
The blade gleamed like a bolt of silk, cutting through the air with a biting sound. It brushed past Shi Wuxie’s cheek, and the tip instantly buried itself into the brick wall, the snow-white blade vibrating violently and emitting a low, buzzing hum.
A bloody scratch appeared on Shi Wuxie’s fair cheek. His knife-holding hand finally paused, and he lowered his eyelashes, watching a few strands of his severed hair gently fall onto the corpse’s chest.
He frowned, used tweezers to gently remove the loose hair strands, and checked to ensure there were no other contaminants on the body. Only then did he slowly raise his head: My lord, you have contaminated the evidence.
The Marquis of Anping was choked with anger: You call my son evidence?!
Shi Wuxie nodded slowly, his pitch-black eyes, which had been calm like deep pools until now, finally revealing a hint of dissatisfaction, though not because of his recent brush with death.
He earnestly lectured Chu Ji: A corpse is crucial physical evidence and must not be damaged.
The Marquis of Anping stared at him for a long moment, gritting his teeth: You madman.
With a wave of his hand, he commanded: Men! Shi Wuxie has long harbored resentment over the imperial marriage decree. Now he has murdered my son and attempted to destroy the corpse. Take this man into custody at once!
The armored guards drew their swords in response.
Yet Shi Wuxie still didn’t move. He lifted his gaze to look at Chu Ji, his slender eyelashes slowly fluttering.
Within his line of sight, standing right beside Chu Ji was a pale-faced ghostly figure. A deep, bloody gash nearly severed the middle-aged man’s neck, blood flowing continuously, and his head hung crookedly at a bizarre angle, as if it could drop off at any second.
That head leaned close to Chu Ji’s neck, a pair of hollow eyes staring fixedly at the pulsing carotid artery.
Then, the head twisted bizarrely and slowly around, its bloody lips splitting all the way to its ears, flashing a silent and terrifying smile at him.
Yunu, I really want to bite him to death.
Shi Wuxie blinked slowly, as if hearing an interesting suggestion. His tone was flat yet carried a trace of instigation: Then give it a try.
The ghost instantly grew excited, opened its bloody maw, and lunged fiercely toward the Marquis of Anping’s neck amidst a gust of gloomy wind.
Then, like an illusory puff of smoke, it passed straight through the Marquis of Anping’s body without any hindrance, drifting far away.
The ghost missed entirely and froze in place.
Unwilling to give up, it transformed into a ball of black qi, darting back and forth across the Marquis of Anping’s body, passing from the left shoulder to the right, from the front chest to the back, like a restless mosquito unable to find a landing spot.
In the end, it failed to cause any harm whatsoever.
Ghost: …
It silently drifted back to Shi Wuxie’s side, transformed back into human form, let its head droop, and said dejectedly: I don’t have a physical body, so I can’t bite him…
Shi Wuxie’s eyes, which had just lit up, instantly dimmed, filled with undisguised disappointment.
Man and ghost dropped their heads in unison.
Everyone around remained completely oblivious to this bizarre scene.
At that exact moment, as if sensing something, the ghost transformed its black qi back into human form, drifted toward the autopsy table, and let out a soft: Eh?
Shi Wuxie followed the ghost’s gaze and saw the eyelashes of the corpse on the autopsy table tremble slightly before opening its eyes.
Those were fox-like eyes, with pupils of a very deep shade of brown, reflecting amber tones under the candlelight.
The moment they locked gazes with Shi Wuxie, the previously scattered pupils gathered focus, like a beam of light suddenly illuminating a deep pool, or a spark of soul-fire igniting in the silence of death.
Shi Wuxie’s expression remained unchanged, though a trace of imperceptible ripples flashed within his bright eyes.
Oh, interesting.
The bizarre voice by his ear suddenly began to giggle.
Yunu, the corpse is coming back to life,
The corpse suddenly tilted its head, its cervical vertebrae producing a teeth-grating, crunching crack as it turned its neck.
The office instantly plunged into an eerie silence, broken only by the pattering sound of the rain outside the window.
A few moments later, with a clatter, a guard dropped his sword hilt, staring in horror at the corpse as he backed away, trembling.
It, it’s a corpse coming back to life!
Only then did the others snap out of their daze, every single one of them losing all color in their faces. Even the timid ones grew weak in the knees and collapsed straight onto the ground.
Only Shi Wuxie remained.
He still lowered his eyes calmly, his gaze fixed upon the corpse,
Those amber eyes were shifting slightly, the dead gaze sweeping across the room full of frightened birds. Immediately afterward, a gleam of realization and eager excitement flashed across the depths of those pupils.
As if discovering something amusing, the thin line of his lips curved into a cunning arc.
The next second.
Right under everyone’s watchful eyes, the corpse exerted force through its back, slowly and stiffly sitting straight up.
The candlelight cast a swaying shadow behind the corpse, stretching its sitting figure long and short in turns. With its long hair disheveled, its complexion appeared even more paper-white, resembling a vengeful ghost crawling back from hell.
Gasps of intake echoed all around.
Hiss,
The corpse suddenly split its mouth open into a stiff, exaggerated smile, its eyeballs staring straight at the terrified soldiers while a strange giggle escaped from its throat.
The soldiers, frozen in terror, were jolted back to their senses by the laughter. Letting out a few miserable screams, they scrambled and scrambled over one another, fleeing head over heels toward the entrance.
A ghost… a ghost!
Run,!
Panic spread like a plague.
Seemingly quite satisfied with everyone’s reaction, the corpse retained a smile at the corners of its lips, slowly and stiffly sliding down from the autopsy table, its bare feet stepping onto the cold floor.
Wherever it walked, the crowd retreated in panic like a tidal wave. Some collapsed to the ground with weak legs, while others cried and wailed, throwing the entire office into absolute chaos.
In the span of a few moments, the crowd had scattered into disarray.
Seeing that everyone had practically run off, the corpse paused its steps, suddenly changed direction entirely, and moved toward a rigid, unmoving figure. As it walked, it drew out its voice: I died such a miserable death,
Watching his dead son walk toward him, Chu Ji forced himself to remain steady, though his voice trembled uncontrollably: Xi’er… Father will definitely avenge you, you… Rest in peace!
Catching the self-address Father, the corpse tilted its head slightly, its gaze locking firmly onto Chu Ji’s terrified pupils as it whispered hollowly: Father… your child… died with everlasting grievances!
As the words fell, the corpse suddenly thrust its arms straight out, its pale fingers lunging toward Chu Ji’s neck.
Ah! Terrified, Chu Ji staggered backward, panicked and grabbing the dropped sword hilt from the floor to slash out blindly.
Yet the corpse sidestepped it like a phantom while simultaneously striking Chu Ji’s already unsteady wrist with a palm strike.
Clatter,
The sword hilt hit the floor with a crisp sound.
Father, Father, the corpse drew out its tone. Could it be that you wish to kill your own child? How truly cruel of you,
Chu Ji’s psychological defense crumbled completely the moment the sword hilt dropped. Letting out a soul-frightened scream, he tumbled miserably to the ground, looking up in terror as the crimson-clothed figure slowly walked toward him.
The wind and rain whipped the wedding robes into a flurry, casting a shroud of shadow right before his eyes.
Rumble,!
A thunderclap exploded at that moment, a pale flash of lightning sweeping across the lattice window and illuminating the towering, condescending face with an even more terrifying aura, making it look precisely like a vicious ghost stepped out of the netherworld.
Chu Ji’s pupils dilated in panic. After a moment of blank shock, he finally abandoned all restraint. Scrambling and crawling frantically toward the door, he shrieked: Xi’er, Xi’er, wait for Father! Once Father finds help, he will definitely come back to rescue your corpse!
Before the words fully faded, Chu Ji dove headfirst into the rain curtain and fled for his life.
Watching the flustered figures retreating in disarray, Chu Yunxi’s shoulders shook slightly, a low laugh spilling out that sounded exceptionally hair-raising amidst the stormy night.
Pfft, hahaha!
The laughter became completely unstoppable. Chu Yunxi’s entire body curved over with laughter, trembling continuously in the wind, which only added a layer of bizarre eeriness to the terrifying atmosphere.
After a long while, seeing that everyone had run off completely, he finally reined in his laughter. Stretching out leisurely as if no one else was around, his stiff bones emitted clacking sounds with the movement.
Gazing out at the pitch-black, empty, rain-drenched veranda, he muttered under his breath: They all ran off just like that? Really can’t take a scare.
After a bit of limbering up, some color returned to his pale face.
As he twisted his neck, he turned around casually, only for his gaze to freeze instantly upon hitting the side of the autopsy table.
Huh?
There was still one person lingering there.
A gray-white, refined figure hadn’t moved a single step the entire time, merely tilting its head slightly to watch him quietly.
That face, carved like cold jade in the dim light and shadows, was perfect yet icy, as if utterly devoid of life. It made his chest tighten inexplicably for a brief moment.
He narrowed his eyes, a sharp glint flashing across his pupils. Dropping his shoulders once again, he dragged his feet forward step by step, dragging out his voice as he walked: I died, so wrongfully,
However, Shi Wuxie merely watched him. When only a single step remained between them, Shi Wuxie spoke calmly: Lie back down.
Chu Yunxi stopped dead in his tracks:?
Before he could react, Shi Wuxie moved with lightning speed, precisely locking onto the acupuncture point on the side of his neck while stepping forward with one foot to kick the numbness point behind his knee.
The movement was too fast and too tricky for Chu Yunxi to react in time. Feeling half his body go numb and his knees turn weak, before a gasp could escape his lips, he was smoothly pulled along by that momentum. Amidst a spinning world, he was effortlessly laid back down onto the autopsy table.
Shi Wuxie leaned over, a restless excitement flickering in the depths of his eyes: Rest assured, since we bowed to heaven and earth, I am your husband. Once I finish the autopsy, I will certainly clear your name.
Chu Yunxi: …Huh?
While he was still stunned, Shi Wuxie swiftly drew out a rope from goodness knows where, binding his arms securely and firmly.
The next second, a gleaming, razor-sharp dissection knife appeared before his eyes, its blade heading straight for his exposed chest.
Chu Yunxi’s scalp went numb: Wait!
The sharp blade halted mid-air.
Chu Yunxi closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and forced a flattering smile at Shi Wuxie, curving his extremely pretty fox-like eyes into crescents that shone with bright, twinkling light.
Um… you might find this hard to believe, but I think I’m still alive. Perhaps… we could still try resuscitation?
As those words fell, Shi Wuxie’s pitch-black eyes abruptly lit up, sparkling with an eager, excited radiance.