C21

Chapter XXI

When Wei Guang and his men arrived, it was already night time, but at this time, a cold wind blew. Other than Xiao Qinglang and Xu Chu, all the village elders and young masters had long hid back home.

Wei Guang brought over a hundred people, including the yamen runners and local soldiers. Due to Xiao Qinglang's special identity and the authority he had from the emperor, even if he did not have the military talisman, the barracks would still give favors and seek out dozens of people to help him.

Just as Liulin Village and the Cang Yan County Lord were about to be led towards the southern shore by Wei Guang, the two of them were almost scared to the point of peeing. But no matter how much the two of them begged, it was not enough to make the cold face Wei Guang soften his attitude. In the end, when he was trying to save his life, the two of them could only support him while trembling in fear.

The incident of the ghosts on the south coast of Liulin Village, not just the villagers knew about it, how many people in the entire county had not heard of it?

Thus, even though the county magistrate wanted to show his face in front of the prince and act calm, when the situation really came to an end, he could no longer hold on.

At this moment, the two of them suddenly felt a cold wind blow past them. The surrounding rustling leaves rubbed against each other, causing them to unconsciously feel goosebumps all over. However, before the two of them could comfort each other, they saw a hazy figure with a faint blue flame approaching them from afar on the ghost house that had long been abandoned.

This time, there was no need for Wei Guang's cold face, the two of them directly hugged each other while crying out in fear, and there was even a whiff of urine in the wind.

Wei Guang frowned in disgust, but because of the King and his orders, he still stopped and carried him to the south shore.

At this time, the torches in the area were connected and the flames were swaying. Other than the Xu Chu who had the Ghostly Flame on her body, there were actually a few other robust youths digging something out from the ghost house. Under the gloomy and terrifying atmosphere, everyone looked at each other in dismay. Even the bailiffs who came to the yamen were scared, most of them only dared to hold their torches to get a bit away from the weird Lady Xu.

Could it be that the girl was from the Yin Division, but why was she standing together with the King Jing'an?

No matter how frightened and frightened the outsiders were, Xu Chu only listened to the sounds of the people digging in the ruins.

"Your Highness, we've found something." Suddenly, one of them shouted excitedly.

Following that, there was a continuous stream of people digging out everything from bones to skulls. Only after they had all collected them did the few of them feel some lingering fear.

The bones under the fire were muddy and dirty, but there was also a place that was suffused with a ghastly white light. Especially those skulls, each of them had two empty eye sockets facing towards someone, which made them absolutely terrified. Those who were timid were already scared out of their wits and ran away with their heads turned back with a scream.

What was even more terrifying was that the woman who still had the ghostfire on her body was currently squatting down with a calm expression. She extended her hand and took the skull to examine it.

"The bony walls are thin and smooth, the brow and bow are smooth, the cheekbones are round and smooth, and they are the skulls of women. The hyoid bone is broken and the wounds are neat and tidy. Xu Chu placed her gaze on the skull, and continued after a moment of thought, "According to the degree of wear and tear of the skull, we can conclude that the age of the victim is between twenty to twenty-five, and the time of death is at least twenty years ago."

Next, Xu Chu looked at the remaining skulls. Other than their gender, the rest were similar.

As more and more bones were dug out, Xu Chu's speed of assembling the boxes increased. Several of the dead were of different ages and sexes, so it was easier to tell them apart. While rising and falling, Xu Chu had already reassembled the greyish white skeletons.

"The top of the skull is flat, the forehead is vertical, the bow of the eyebrows is protruded with small concave holes, the cheekbones are square …" Male sex of the deceased … "He's about twenty-five years old." With that, Xu Chu turned the skull over, and the eerie white bones of her turned over in her white and slender hands, giving people an endless amount of vision in the darkness. However, when paired with Xu Chu's serious expression and quick movements, it made him feel much less afraid.

Xiao Qinglang suppressed the shock in his heart, and when he looked at Xu Chu who was focused on the autopsy, his eyes unconsciously became deeper.

Xu Chu did not care about the gazes and thoughts of the people around her, she only focused on the tiny details of the skull, after turning it over, her gaze suddenly froze. Her tentacles were flat, but there were obvious wounds, "There are no cracks on the bones, no external wounds. The thick neck bone was cut off by sharp weapons …"

This wasn't an ordinary sharp weapon and there weren't any ripples on it, so it wasn't a saw or anything like that. This was probably the result of a blade or axe hand slicing it down …

When the sky was about to brighten, Xu Chu finally finished inspecting all the corpses. She did not move for a long time, until a galloping hoofbeats broke the silence of dawn.

He saw a black clothed guard rushing over, and behind him were actually two people with messy clothes. Focusing and looking over, he was able to see clearly that the two were Rong Niang and Master Sun who had entered Li Residence.

"Your highness, when your subordinate went to the Wu family, the Wu family was already empty." The guard in black kneeled on one knee and reported, "However, this subordinate has followed the orders of the Prince to check the Wu family. I found out that there are indeed traces of Wu Song's survival."

Hearing that, Xiao Qinglang nodded his head, with a trace of a faint smile on his face as he looked at Xu Chu, the dark color in his eyes surging. Sure enough, it was as she expected.

Xu Chu understood what Xiao Qinglang meant. Such a shocking matter, was very rare in this world. Under the Zhou Dynasty's rule, even if the universe was clear and bright, with no grievances, it was still unlikely that such a tragic case would occur.

And the so-called case they were talking about, was definitely not the so-called Five-elemental Evil Ghost Suo Killings at the moment.

Her face was grave but determined as she gave a slight nod. The strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face became even more disarrayed from the cold wind that blew in at dawn. However, her steps and posture were not the slightest bit disordered.

"Liu Lizheng, fellow villagers, today I will come to unravel twenty years of rumors of ghosts on the south coast of the Liulin Village, as well as twenty years of hidden truths." As she spoke, her gaze swept across the villagers who were surrounded by soldiers. She could not help but feel reassured when she saw that someone had lowered their head to avoid her line of sight.

And those who followed Wei Guang, were all dumbstruck at this moment. It was said that they were ghosts, what could the truth possibly be? Could it be that this girl was truly a sinister person, capable of controlling ghosts?

"I have to start from Sir Sun, who was appointed as County Magistrate of Changping County twenty years ago." Xu Chu's voice was cold, her eyes were like frost as she looked at the paralyzed Prefect Sun Xingwei, and lightly ridiculed, "Sir Sun, twenty years ago, an evil crime was committed in Changping County, a murder and plunder occurred, it involved two hundred thousand taels of silver and two hundred thousand taels of silver … Do you remember that? "

Furthermore, ever since Sun Xingwei had received a shock in his residence, he had already become terrified and uneasy. And now, he was being tied up all the way to the Liulin Village. He sat on the ground with a pale face and glazed eyes, not saying a word.

But Xu Chu did not expect him to confess, so she looked away and continued to raise her voice, "The bandits killed a few prison guards, and spread through the countryside. The officials sent out orders to arrest all those people. In the end, the leader of the bandits was killed by the combined forces of the Zhang, Li, and Liu families of the Liulin Village and was sent to the yamen. Afterwards, Sir Sun reported it to the imperial government, betraying the decision of the bandits … Back then during the Department of the Civil Service's assessment, Master Sun had leveled up continuously because of this case.

"Yes, This King had doubts about this case as well. It's just that This King was still young at that time, and I just overheard a few words but did not know the details. But since then, This King has been very curious about Sir Sun. "

After confirmed his words, Xu Chu took a deep breath, walked up a few steps, and said with a frown: "And twenty years later, the Zhang Family and Li Family, the Liu Family, one after another, were killed by these so-called evil spirits. Does Master Sun know which evil ghost is taking their life?"

Sun Xingwei was called out once again, and his entire body shivered. And under the fierce gazes of the King Jing'an and the guards, he didn't dare be the least bit presumptuous.

"This official … "This official does not know …" With regards to his own life, Sun Xingwei, who had just regained his senses, could only lower his head and speak.

"Heh …" Xu Chu coldly snorted as she squinted her eyes, "Then let's not talk about that matter for now, let's get back to the main topic, let's talk about the Southern first."

"The ancients once wrote that at the age of ten or so, they saw that there was no more will-o '-the-wisps in the countryside than when there was fire in the fields, and that there was often fire in the ears of wheat seedlings. Gai is the time to go to war, not long before the so-called blood for phosphorous, believe not arrogant. "Today, we will never meet again. Anyone who sees you will think that it's strange."

"The so-called will-o '-the-wisp is nothing more than a phenomenon caused by the calcification of the bones of a corpse that has been buried in the ground after its death. The reason why the ghostfire appeared on the south coast is all because there were several corpses buried in the ruins. " With that, Xu Chu turned and returned to the side of the corpses, and pointed at one of them, "If I guessed correctly, these should be the corpses of the Li family from back then. All four members of the Li family were killed, and Li Jin was beheaded and executed. "Then I wonder who exactly Sir Sun gave the silver back then!"

"This... Don't spout lies. As long as you report any fiendish cases to the Ministry of Justice or the Law Department, I have my reasons for giving you the silver. " Sun Xingwei was already completely clear that he could only endure for his life. He truly did not believe that the King Jing'an could convict him just based on Xu Chu's words alone.

"But if I have proof, what then?"