This was Bai Ci's greatest shortcoming now, and also her unique weakness.
Ming Yi's eyes narrowed slightly as he kept this fatal weakness to himself. He would never let anyone, including those present, find out about Bai Ci's background.
The thought vanished as quickly as it had come. Ming Yi's impatient gaze fell back onto the innocent-looking Ou Li, his voice carrying an unquestionable dominance.
“Since you brought this trouble upon yourself, no matter what happens next, you will have to bear it alone.”
His words were cold and harsh, devoid of any sympathy, yet they were fair.
Ou Li was left speechless by his rebuke, her head drooping.
It was indeed an issue caused by her own skill; no matter how aggrieved she felt, she had no way to argue.
Seeing the atmosphere grow tense again, Bai Ci reached out. This time, instead of tugging at his hem, she pulled on his sleeve.
She diverted the conversation away from the potential deadlock, smoothly pulling everyone's attention back to the main investigation.
“Alright, don't make things difficult for her. She didn't do it on purpose.”
“Rather than dwelling on this currently unsolvable magical anomaly, don't we have more important things to do?”
“We need to go examine Old Mr. Yun's body.”
“You said the soul of that stalker from this afternoon was abnormal. What about this old gentleman, who seems to be connected to him? Will his soul be in the same state?”
Ah? There was a clue like that?
What was up with this NPC? Why was she hiding clues?
The moment she spoke, the players present wished they could perk up their ears to catch every single detail.
Ming Yi was persuaded by Bai Ci and made his way toward the room where the old man's body was kept.
Bai Ci followed him.
The others, except for the spirit medium, couldn't see Ming Yi, but they could see the current Bai Ci. So, they followed her instead.
The room where the body lay was simply furnished, clean and plain. Only a makeshift wooden bed stood inside, upon which Li Yunqi's body lay quietly.
In an ordinary place where a corpse was kept, even if the deceased had passed away only recently, a faint death energy and chill would naturally linger. The room temperature would be several degrees lower than the surrounding environment, which was a normal phenomenon of the transition between yin and yang.
Yet, in this room, the temperature was completely normal. There was not a trace of corpse energy or death energy. It was spotless, and the body lying on the wooden bed seemed to serve as nothing more than a prop.
Previously, the spiritual nature of the entire forest around the cemetery had been completely erased. Now, the deceased's former residence and the place where his body lay were also impeccably clean.
The methods of the mastermind behind this were far too meticulous. Sweeping the clues so clean actually made the whole situation look riddled with flaws.
It was so obvious that it was practically like writing “there is something fishy going on here” with midnight fireworks in the sky.
The crowd stood at the doorway, none of them daring to step forward. They all turned their gazes toward Bai Ci, waiting for her and Ming Yi's investigation results.
Although Ou Li could see Ming Yi, she followed the others' lead and chose to look at Bai Ci.
This one had a better temper and was safer.
What if the bad-tempered one got angry because she stared at him too much and decided to stab her?
Isn't that how conflicts usually start?
“What are you looking at?”
“So what if I'm looking at you?”
Ming Yi raised his hand, and his invisible Ghost Immortal power quietly spread out, soundlessly covering the corpse on the wooden bed.
Within just a few breaths, the investigation yielded a definite result.
“His soul has completely dissipated.”
Ming Yi spoke to explain.
Bai Ci glanced at the reactions of the other players and Wu Daoqing, understanding that he was only speaking to her.
“The path of this person's soul dissipation is bizarre. It wasn't a natural reincarnation or return to the earth, but was completely and utterly erased by human hands, pulled out by the roots.”
“However, the residual anomalous traces cannot be completely wiped away.”
Compared to that shifty-eyed middle-aged man, Old Mr. Yun had left behind more traces. Perhaps it was because of his advanced age, or perhaps because when the secret art was used on him in his youth, the technique of the caster was not yet fully mature.
Regardless of the reason, Ming Yi had grasped an obvious thread. Next, he only needed to pull along this thread.
By following the clues, they would eventually find the source.
Bai Ci pointed to the others behind her. Ming Yi clicked his tongue but nodded, signaling his agreement.
She immediately turned around and relayed every single detail of Ming Yi's findings to the others waiting behind her.
Hearing this, everyone felt their spirits lift. The oppressive feeling of hitting dead ends all night dissipated slightly.
Ou Li was the first to lose her patience. Letting her imagination run wild, she blurted out her most intuitive guess in disbelief, “My god! Does that mean these people have really lived for hundreds of years just to seek revenge?”
“It's been hundreds of years since the Ji Dynasty. Enduring and lying low generation after generation, specifically targeting the Zhao family for revenge... That's some incredible perseverance.”
Hearing this, a trace of faint mockery flashed in Ming Yi's eyes as he spoke coldly.
“You're overthinking it.”
“Their physical lifespans and soul ages are entirely within the range of normal mortals. There isn't the slightest trace of a long-lived species staying in this world.”
“What I call abnormal is a lingering shadow attached to the surface of their souls, as if they have been marked with a displaced brand.”
Ou Li was stunned and nodded obediently. But her wild imagination could not be stopped, and another new theory soon popped up. She asked tentatively,
“What if I look at it from another angle?”
“Is it possible they deliberately bypassed reincarnation? For instance, maybe they found a secret art to make the Meng Po Soup ineffective against them. Although they successfully reincarnated in every lifetime, they retained their memories from their past lives.”
Hearing this wild theory, even the usually stoic Ming Yi was amused to the point of laughter.
“You underestimate the foundation of the Underworld far too much, and you think too highly of these petty scoundrels.”
“Although the Underworld has declined and its rules have loosened, it is still not a place where ordinary mortal secret arts can easily alter reincarnation and bypass the Meng Po Soup.”
“If they truly possessed such heaven-defying means, why would they need to endure for hundreds of years just to target a mere Zhao family?”
Ming Yi's logic was straightforward and sharp, instantly shutting down her theory.
Ou Li pouted and reluctantly suppressed her imagination, muttering, “Fine, fine, I won't make wild guesses anymore.”
She lowered her head and pondered for a moment. Unable to suppress her curiosity, she blurted out a random guess that was purely meant as a complaint, not expecting to be right at all. It was just a casual mutter.
“Then if this isn't right and that isn't right, could there be some sick secret art that forcibly stitched two souls together?”
“Is that why the surface of their souls has shadows of varying depths, looking all wrinkled and full of stitching marks?”
The moment her words fell, the air around them seemed to freeze slightly.
Ming Yi, who had already withdrawn his thoughts, suddenly narrowed his eyes. It seemed that through this half-complaining remark, he had grasped onto something.
Ming Yi took a deep look at Ou Li, who was completely bewildered and had no idea she had stumbled onto the truth. His tone carried a hint of surprise and approval. “A blind cat finding a dead mouse.”
“Your nonsense actually hit the mark.”
Ou Li's eyes instantly lit up. She straightened her back on the spot, her energy fully restored. “Really?!”
In the next second, her imagination ran wild again, and a brand-new theory immediately followed. The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. “I knew I was right!”
“Then here's my new theory: could a dying person stitch a part of themselves onto someone else, slowly possessing their body to return to life?”
“Heh...” Ming Yi scoffed.
There was no need for Ming Yi to refute such foolishness; Wu Daoqing spoke up first to explain.
“A remnant soul seizing a living body to possess it is a taboo that violates the natural order. The laws of the Heavenly Dao would never allow it.”
“Once discovered, it would be met with various degrees of divine punishment and lightning tribulations. No matter how large that remnant soul is, it wouldn't be able to resist for long.”
“If it's an extremely tiny fragment of a remnant soul, though it wouldn't be discovered easily, its mass would be too weak to support a possession and rebirth.”
“At most, it could slightly influence the host's emotions or disposition, or gradually alter the host's aura. It could never take absolute control of the body, let alone carry on an obsession.”
“So, the idea of possessing a body to return to life is completely impossible.”
“Altering their aura?”
Wu Daoqing's explanation fell softly into everyone's ears, instantly opening Bai Ci's eyes.
She thought of a possibility.
A bold yet fitting deduction slowly formed in her heart.
What if, from the very beginning, when the anomalies were placed within those souls, the opponent's goal was never possession, extending their lifespan, or reincarnating for revenge?
What if he, or they, did all of this simply to affect their aura?
By using a bizarre secret art to stamp the aura of the Li family onto the souls of ordinary people generation after generation, they altered their auras, allowing these ordinary people to bypass the laws of the Heavenly Dao and completely transform into a different kind of person.
To become... members of the Li family?
Bai Ci's heart shook. Following the logic of this deduction, she continued to dig deeper.
Why did it have to be the Li family?
Was it to hide the true mastermind?
Using puppet-like “fake Li family descendants” generation after generation to carry out the plans, thereby concealing the truly surviving remnants of the Li family?
Or did the old case from hundreds of years ago hide some unknown secrets, with certain taboo matters that could only be activated or completed by someone carrying the Li family's aura?
Having figured this out, a whole new set of questions cropped up. Bai Ci raised her eyes, looked at the players present, and spoke up to remind them.
“Perhaps you should continue investigating the Li family's past.”
Although Wu Suowei couldn't fully understand what Bai Ci meant, since the Ghost Immortal had said so, she must have her reasons.
Otherwise, why would she be a Ghost Immortal while he wasn't?
Beside him, Zheng Gang pondered for a moment. He pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, building upon the direction Bai Ci had pointed out to suggest a more practical approach.
“Since we're investigating the Li family, we can use the Zhao family's experiences as a benchmark and trace it back in reverse.”
“The mastermind's schemes have always revolved around the Zhao family. Whether it's revenge or something else, there must be a deeply bound connection to them.”
“As long as we uncover the intersection between the Li and Zhao families—aside from the corruption of relief grain that the Zhao family's ancestor exposed—we can tear away the final disguise and find out what other unknown secrets or taboos exist.”
Everyone nodded in unison, completely settling on the subsequent direction of their investigation.
The group carefully searched the side room and the courtyard once more. They inspected everything from the indoor furnishings to the corners of the yard, specifically looking for places where the pattern of the bird clutching a branch inside a ring might appear, but they found no further clues.
Fortunately, though the clues were scarce, they were already sufficient.
After confirming nothing had been missed, they stopped lingering. They departed and drove back to the ancient Zhao estate on Fog Mountain.
On the way back, they discovered an unsolvable problem: Bai Ci had been forcibly separated, leaving her in a special, semi-physical and semi-spiritual state.
In other words, she could no longer follow them silently like a soul, floating wherever she pleased.
From now on, she had to walk before everyone in an independent human form.
Upon arriving at the Zhao estate, the members of the Zhao clan, who had been waiting anxiously for a long time, were eager to know the results of the investigation.
Faced with the questions from their employers, Wu Suowei, who was skilled at handling people, spoke up calmly.
With a mixture of truth and lies, he systematically reported their progress. He detailed Li Yunqi's sudden passing, the severed clues, and the mastermind's bizarre and ruthless methods, perfectly reassuring the Zhao family.
Toward the end of his explanation, he calmly brought up Bai Ci, fabricating a reasonable identity for her to cover up the flaw of her sudden appearance.
“Everyone, there is no need to panic. Although we encountered obstacles during this investigation, we have also figured out the other party's background.”
“Further, during our investigation, we were joined by a new companion. This young lady beside me is named Ming Ci, a devout believer of Lady Ming.”
“Lady Ming was worried that her junior brother would face danger alone while training in the mortal world, so she specially sent her to accompany and protect him.”
“Miss Bai is only here under orders to protect him, not hired to investigate the case, so there is no need for the Zhao family to pay her any compensation.”
“She will only trouble you for a temporary stay tonight, in the guest room previously reserved for Lady Ming's shrine. A set of chopsticks and a place to stay are all she requires; she asks for nothing else.”
The Zhao family was already filled with guilt and gratitude. Hearing this, they agreed repeatedly, not daring to be negligent. They quickly had someone tidy up the guest room and respectfully settled Bai Ci in.
The night passed peacefully.
The next morning, as the first light of dawn broke, Bai Ci woke up to the tangible sensation of a soft bed.
It was rare for her to have a normal sleep. Previously, as a soul, she had no physical sensations and only knew she had slept when she closed her eyes. How could that compare to the comfort of a bed?
She got out of bed, and the first thing she did was carefully wash up and tidy herself.
Ever since Bai Ci had moved into the room the previous night, Ming Yi had been floating quietly in the corner of the guest room. Adhering to the principle of not looking at what is improper, he sat in silence with his eyes closed.
It was only when Bai Ci finished tidying up and turned around that she spoke softly with a fresh smile, “How is it? Do I look like a real, ordinary person like this?”
Hearing her voice, Ming Yi opened his eyes. After sizing Bai Ci up, his gaze grew calm. He pondered seriously for a moment before replying honestly.
“I didn't see anything, but listening to your footsteps, movements, and breathing, you are no different from an ordinary mortal. You are very much like a human.”
After his words fell, a brief silence filled the room.
In the next instant, as if suddenly remembering something, Ming Yi softened his voice. Carrying a trace of curiosity he had never shown before, he slowly asked:
“Do you... like being human?”
Bai Ci was slightly taken aback by his question, then her eyes curved into a smile. Her tone was gentle and firm, without the slightest hesitation.
“It's alright, just feels quite novel.”
“But I am your benevolent soul, after all. I won't leave you behind on your own.”
“Even if the day comes when I truly reincarnate as a human, it must be together with you, finally reuniting to become a whole you once more.”
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