Golden radiance wandered throughout the room.
The light grew increasingly intense, as if a Golden Dragon was soaring through the air.
However, just as Yue Qingqing was about to lift her brush, the Golden Dragon suddenly dispersed, and the yellow paper was instantly burned to ashes.
After all, it had been too long since she had drawn a talisman, so such an outcome was to be expected.
Yue Qingqing was not impatient; she dipped her brush in cinnabar once more and, without taking much of a rest, started to draw the next one.
Perhaps due to her positive mindset, this time she managed to complete it in one go.
The Golden Dragon raised its head, vaguely emitting a roar, and eventually settled obediently on the yellow paper—the talisman was complete.
Yue Qingqing wiped the sweat from her forehead and continued with the next one.
In this manner, one after another, she drew more than a dozen in total.
It was not until the Spiritual Energy within Yue Qingqing was completely depleted, and her fingertips began to tremble, that she finally stopped.
She washed away the cinnabar and disposed of it, burning the remaining yellow paper to nothing with her Spiritual Energy.
Ensuring she left behind no "evidence".
Yue Qingqing took a shower, flung herself onto the bed, and buried her whole face in the pillow.
Despite her body and spirit being utterly exhausted, she felt somewhat more at ease deep down.
Come what may tomorrow, she should be able to protect herself.
Oh, I really only want to lie down and win.
Yue Qingqing sincerely expressed her feelings.
At the police station, in the chief’s office.
The chief was talking with two men.
The pair looked exactly alike, clearly twin brothers.
Their features were unremarkable, but they both had very long and narrow eyes.
Almost starting near the bridge of their nose, extending to a spot two fingers’ width from their temples.
Both eyes occupied most of their faces, somewhat resembling goldfish with squeezed heads.
But the chief was treating these two men with great caution.
"Both victims had relatively simple social circles, making it unlikely they offended some ruthlessly vengeful adversary, but according to their neighbors, neither was exactly good-tempered, and indeed, instances of their curses taking effect were reported, particularly effective at causing misfortune."
Under normal circumstances, the chief would never say such things, as it was far too idealistic.
However, the two brothers before him belonged to a special department: one was named Cui Wu, and the other, Cui You.
With odd names and mysterious origins, they were said to be practitioners from Xuanmen.
Their presence in Zhuancheng indicated that this case was no ordinary matter and could not be approached from a routine investigative perspective.
Sure enough, the brothers focused on the last part of the chief’s statement.
"Cursed? How many people did they each curse?"
The chief shook his head, "It’s difficult to get an exact count, but based on what we’ve uncovered, there are at least five accidents connected to the first victim, Wang Yuanming, and seven to the second victim."
Accidents were considered such because the police could find no trace of human intervention.
Electrocution, falling into uncovered manholes, splashing oil getting into one’s eyes while chopping vegetables, leading to a cut palm.
These were in no way premeditated criminal acts.
Cui You and his brother exchanged a glance and nodded to the chief in understanding.
"Alright, thank you for the information."
The chief sighed, "I know that this matter may be beyond our jurisdiction, and we can only help you find more clues. No matter what, we must uncover the person behind this, or else widespread panic could lead to more issues."
Normally, the police wouldn’t disclose too much about a case before it’s solved, to prevent antisocial personalities from imitating the crime.
But this time, due to the unusually bizarre nature of the incidents, they had to take this last resort.
The chief had been losing hair in handfuls these past few days; at this rate, he would go bald.
Going bald did not matter, as long as the case was solved.
Yet now, not a single effective clue had been found.
"Rest assured, we will do our utmost."
The brothers nodded to the chief and left the office.
"Brother, what do you think this is all about?"
A cold light flickered in Cui Wu’s elongated eyes.
"Definitely an evil cultivator, just not sure from which sect."
Cui You pondered, "Could it be Gong from the capital..."
Cui Wu raised a hand to interrupt, "Gong is timid, at most defrauding money from the wealthy and doing dirty deeds. He wouldn’t dare touch a human life, especially since rumor has it he offended someone he shouldn’t have years ago, and his Cultivation Base was nearly crippled. He has become more cowardly than ever, and he wouldn’t dare commit such a serious crime."
Upon reflection, Cui You agreed, "Let’s keep looking. There must be a clue!"