However, when the talisman paper had burnt out, Shen Luo saw no signs of Yin Qi being drawn out.
“Take me to Miss Shuiyuan’s boudoir,” Bai Xiaotian said to Aunt Feng, a slight frown on his face.
Aunt Feng immediately agreed and led them back into the Shui Nuan Pavilion, up to the room overlooking the river on the second floor. The room was filled with the lingering scent of cosmetics, and everything was in disarray, still bearing traces of the previous night.
Bai Xiaotian once again ignited a Yin Sha Qi-drawing talisman and walked around the room, but as the talisman’s flame gradually extinguished, he still didn’t notice anything unusual.
“It appears that everything is in order,” Bai Xiaotian said with a sigh.
“Don’t jump to conclusions just yet. Didn’t another girl named Qing Guan also drown in the river? Why don’t we go to her room and take a look?” Shen Luo said.
“I have already inspected Silver Sparrow’s room, and found no issues,” said White Water Daoist with a scowl, glancing at Shen Luo with some displeasure.
“Since we’re here, why not take another look?” Shen Luo said with a faint smile.
A flicker of anger passed over White Water Daoist’s face when he heard Shen Luo’s words.
“That… is a fair point,” said the White Water Daoist, his expression softening slightly.
Aunt Feng fetched the key and unlocked the door to the adjacent room.
“After Silver Sparrow’s death, I locked this room and stopped using it,” Aunt Feng explained.
Shen Luo and the others entered and saw that the room had already been tidied, leaving only tables, chairs, and a bed, all of which were covered in a thin layer of dust.
Bai Xiaotian once again ignited a Yin Sha Qi-drawing talisman and began to walk around the room.
Shen Luo approached the bed and pushed open the tightly shut window. He immediately caught sight of the Qinhuai River and upon looking down, he saw the body of the obese man.
The river water next to the corpse was a deep green, tinged with an eerie black undertone, giving off an ominous feeling the longer one stared.
“There’s no Yin Qi. It seems that this was probably just a coincidence, nothing strange,” Bai Xiaotian said as his talisman burnt out.
“Just because we can’t perceive any lingering Yin Qi doesn’t prove that there’s nothing strange going on. I believe there’s more to this than meets the eye. Don’t rush to conclusions,” Shen Luo said, furrowing his brows as he shifted his gaze away from the river.
“Hmph, where did this lofty monk come from? The young master and I have both inspected the situation and found no issues, yet you insist there’s a ghost. Why don’t you tell us what’s so weird about it?” White Water Daoist said coldly, clearly annoyed.
Aunt Feng also looked at Shen Luo with a measure of anger. They were in business and naturally didn’t want to be associated with ghostly affairs for no reason. They remained silent only because of Bai Xiaotian’s presence.
Just as Shen Luo was about to argue, he saw Bai Xiaotian give him a look, suggesting not to say more.
Meanwhile, a sudden commotion arose from outside the window.
“What’s going on? Let’s go check,” Bai Xiaotian said as he pulled Shen Luo towards the stairs.
The old Daoist and Aunt Feng hurriedly followed.
When they arrived at the riverbank in the backyard, they saw the crowd who had been observing the drowned corpse were now surrounding a white-faced scholar in a scholar robe and loudly reprimanding him for something.
After listening for a bit, Shen Luo realized that the scholar had climbed onto the stone platform of the River Guardian Beast in order to get a better view of the corpse of the headshopkeeper, an act viewed by the crowd as disrespectful towards the River God.
“You young chap, how could you be so ignorant? Being so disrespectful to the gods despite being a scholar!”
“Exactly, a scholar with no manners from books, just coming here to join the chaos!”
“Disrespecting the River Guardian Beast, you’re simply seeking death! If the water ghost comes looking for a life, you’ll be the next one…”
“Ghosts and spirits are not to be talked about; all of this talk of gods and ghosts, it’s just nonsense…” The scholar, his face red and ears burning, couldn’t help but defend himself.
Little did he know that his quiet voice was heard clearly by the White Water Daoist, who immediately scolded him.
“Where did this ignorant scholar come from, uttering nonsense there, get down now!”
This shout, indeed a voice of one man, overpowered the hustle and bustle of dozens of people on the bridge, startling the scholar who couldn’t help but shudder.
The surrounding crowd paused for a moment, then began to scold the scholar loudly.
The white-faced scholar, having been thoroughly embarrassed, could only reluctantly get down from the stone platform under the water beast, cast a glance in the direction of the old Daoist, his eyes unintentionally meeting with Shen Luo’s, and then hastened into the crowd and disappeared.
Seeing the scholar’s demeanor when he left, and recalling his brief eye contact with him, Shen Luo felt a strange, familiar feeling, but couldn’t recall anything when he tried to think more about it.
Upon returning to Shui Nuan Pavilion, Bai Xiaotian instructed the White Water Daoist to stay vigilant and not relax his guard before he left with Shen Luo.
Once they were back in the carriage, Bai Xiaotian noticed Shen Luo’s silence and, thinking that he was upset from the encounter with the White Water Daoist, attempted to lighten the mood:
“The White Water Daoist has been serving our family for many years and is always diligent. I must respect him.”
In reality, what Shen Luo was still contemplating was the white-faced scholar.
“Do you really believe that there’s nothing strange about what happened at Shui Nuan Pavilion?” Shen Luo asked, snapping out of his thoughts and furrowing his brows.
“I’m not a fool. Four people have died in just over half a month. How could there be nothing strange? It’s just that since no Yin Sha Qi was found, it’s not something you can casually mention.” Bai Xiaotian gave a bitter smile and replied in a low voice.
“What do you mean? Do you think that this incident was not caused by a supernatural force?” Shen Luo asked, puzzled.
“The Bai family is the number one demon-hunting family in Jianye City. Over the years, both the Lin family and the Du family have constantly been challenging us, openly and secretly.” Bai Xiaotian hinted, but didn’t say more.
Shen Luo realized that he was suspecting someone was targeting the Bai family and had orchestrated these incidents. However, he felt that there might be more to the situation here.
However, at present, these were all just his instincts. Without evidence, he couldn’t just blurt it out.
“You mentioned earlier that you wanted to go out. What are you planning to do?” Bai Xiaotian asked.
“I’m thinking about going to the shops in the city to look around and see if I can buy some materials for talisman paper,” Shen Luo replied.
“We have plenty of talisman paper at home. What kind of spiritual material are you looking to buy?” Bai Xiaotian asked, confused.
“I haven’t decided yet. I’ll decide when I get there. I’m just going to broaden my horizons,” Shen Luo said, smiling nonchalantly.
“Alright, since I have nothing to do at the moment, I’ll take you there to have a look around. Otherwise, God knows where in Jianye City sells such things,” Bai Xiaotian laughed.