Mei Rulan arrived in Yafan several weeks ago, and incognito, begun her investigation of everything related to Songshu sect, Shuangshan sect, and the mysterious character of Bai Caoren.

She also set up reconnaissance arrays all over the area, endeavoring to take track of everything and everyone that might provide clues related to her mission…

The following locations were of especial interest to her:

First was the Bai mansion, which seemed abandoned, and was only ever visited by servants and janitors doing the absolute minimum to maintain it… it was the most obvious place to go look for Bai Caoren, who was said to have died over two years ago. However, there was an array of sigils and wards set up in a wide permitter around it, not very different from the ones utilized by Mei Rulan.

Proceeding there might be both dangerous and undeeded, but it was obvious they were hiding something. Thus, she decided to leave investigating that place for the last- and not before she produced a suitable distraction…

Next were the main Songshu pavilions. The local sect’s school was a network of pavilions and small buildings connected by narrow pathways and separated by tiny gardens and plazas. It constituted a district of its own and was located in the central part of the town. It enjoyed high traffic day and night, both from cultivators and the mundane people, so setting up and hiding array sigils was especially easy.

However, that also made it difficult to track who and what enters and leaves…and with the current assembly ongoing, the total headcount inside was in hundreds.

Thus, she gave up on monitoring it.

That being said, the purpose of said assembly didn’t evade her- they were considering uniting and going to war with the south.

But why were they foolish enough to provoke such a thing in the first place? How could they hope to win?

The clue to that was found in the next location on her priority list, the newly built ‘museum’ where the suspicious status and dolls were put on display. What shocked her was discovering traces of qi within some of them. What could that mean?

An army of animated dolls immediately came to her mind. However, the technical details of such resolution eluded her….

To manipulate qi of the living creature was considered abhorrent, demonic, and all kinds of swear words. The noble sects of the north were probably beyond it…however, the statues weren’t alive.

An inanimate object filled with trace amounts of qi, as long as it didn’t affect any living person, wasn’t a demonic artifact. It would fall under the category of magical, or perhaps enhanced, objects and there was nothing in the treaty of Changan that forbid the creation and utilization of these…

The more troublesome question was the particular method involved in their creation. Forging just one small magical device called for many days of tiresome work. To forge a single human sized statue, provided it really could move on its own, would take weeks.

It’s not just the issue of creating its body- that’s the easiest part- but actively breathing the energy of life into it in such a way that it wouldn’t escape, was the most difficult process only a few were capable of…

And yet, within the last year, hundreds of these appeared in Yafan. Moreover, their intelligence network didn’t notify them of the qi within what was merely downplayed as “the new doll fad” even though their intelligence officers such as Chen Mengyao were well known as masters of qi detection, and there was no way they wouldn’t have realized that.

That only certified Bai Zihan’s theory that the northern network is, indeed, compromised. But since when..?

Last but not least, she investigated the Yafan graveyard, where Bai Caoren was said to be buried. This place was usually abandoned, though some wealthier families hired servants to occasionally tend the graves of their deceased loved ones….

However, she was quite surprised when she observed that the very same catgirl who tried to spy on them during the tournament arrive from Chenfei with the newly appointed leader of Shuangshan. And the very next day, she began tending the forgotten grave on a daily basis as if it was the most natural thing to do.

And, thanks to that, Mei Rulan discovered that she wasn’t the only one observing the cemetery. Every move of this Zhanzhan was closely monitored by several Songshu disciples, who, in their agitation, betrayed their location to Mei Rulan.

….and just like her, they never crossed the protective barrier around the Bai mansion.

Could they be therefore allies? Or is this particular offshoot of the Bai family still loyal to Wuyun? Or perhaps there was something else going on…

The knowledge that Songshu sect was going out of their way to track a servant of this particular offshoot of Bai clan, who were thought to be their allies, was particularly interesting, and this situation prompted her to devise a plan which would help her get all the birds with one stone….

Her mission was to confirm whether Bai Caoren was dead or alive, and report the results to Kiyi city. As a high-ranking intelligence operative, she was allowed to use whatever method was available at her disposal, and with the north going hostile, there was nothing stopping her from utilizing radical means and scorched earth tactics to accomplish her objectives…

Thus, she decided on a risky gamble….

But first, she wrote a letter detailing everything she observed and learned, and singing it under a fake name, sent it back to Bai Zihan, using a regular messenger not to arouse suspicion.

The postal system connecting the major cities was both efficient and guaranteed anonymity, but if her actions were, unbeknownst to her, spotted by forces unknown, this messenger’s life was in danger…as was hers. Of course, the possibility of that was quite low, as Mei Rulan considered herself quite a pro, but given everything that she took note of so far, she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling….

Finally came the evening of that faithful day she put her plan to motion. With most of the cultivators attending the assembly and a perfect distraction in her mind, she put on the cold-hearted face of the professional, and proceeded with her grim job….

Before confronting Zhanzhan and investigating the contents of Bai Caoren’s grave, she had to dispose of the four disciples stationed around the cemetery. They were clearly inexperienced, their scouting arrays were inferior to hers, and thus, they didn’t sense her approach until it was too late…

The first one ended up with a slit throat.
She approached him from behind, careful to suppress her qi, and walk silently until she put a blade to his neck and slit it in one, smooth motion. As he was bleeding to death, desperately gasping for air and not being able to scream a word, she gave him a cold glance, and a mocking smile- the purpose of that was not to truly mock him, as in her eyes he was just in a wrong place and the wrong time, but to make his death as cruel and unfair as possible in the short window of time available to her.

The next one’s life ended in a similar way, except it was even more brutal, as he actually managed to sense her in the last moment, and wiggled brutally to the side when she slit his throat, making quite a mess out of it, and only causing his death to be that more painful.

The third one seemed to be their leader. He was older and gave a stronger qi signature, even though he was clearly trying to suppress it. He sensed her approach and wordlessly threatened to use a flare if she comes any closer.

Of course, it was a bluff. He would have fired it anyway, regardless of what she did. Thus, his flare hand was chopped off first, and then, the lunar blade found its new home inside one of his lungs.

Coughing out blood, he muttered an empty threat:

“Master Yao…is not like others, h-he will….”

Mei Rulan didn’t care what and quickly ended his misery. Although interrogating people who might know something was a matter of course, the short time limit she had didn’t allow such luxury.

The final man sensed the death of his comrade and was sprinting back along the main road as fast as he could. That was the shortest route to Yafan, after all. Unfortunately for him, she made precautions in case something went wrong, and set a couple of fire sigils along that obvious route. He went up in flames, but in the dark evergreen forest, his screams were heard by none…

Next, she quickly removed all the warding signs and talismans around the walls, hoping that there were enough fresh corpses buried within to create a decent ‘distraction’. The souls of the people who died many years ago surely already passed further in the cycle of reincarnation, and their physical shells crumbled to dust a long time ago. However, at the very least, those who died this year, should still be lingering around….all they needed was a bit of encouragement in the form of resentful energy.

Not to mention, the cultivators she just killed. She threw their corpses, already steaming with impurity, over the cemetery walls. In the worst-case scenario, the number of living dead who will come back and spread havoc will count four…

Now then. The speed of the deceased soul coming back to unlife depends, among the other factors, on the strength of their soul. The more refined the life energy coursing within their meridians while they were still alive, the faster they’d return to haunt the living… the guys she disposed of were mediocre at best, so they should rise up within two to three hours, just as the assembly would normally end.

At least normally. But the warding signs plastered around the burial ground held back a significant amount of resentful energy within, and who knows what would actually happen…

All that to safely infiltrate the Bai mansion. Even if alarm rang, if what was between her and whatever cultivators were aware of the intrusion was an army of dreaded undead, it would at the very least slow them down(which was less than ideal) or pin them down entirely, which was the perfect solution she was hoping to achieve, civilian casualties be damned….

But first, she approached the catgirl, who was still ignorant of everything, and not being able to sense the black mist enveloping the graves, continued carrying out her assigned task diligently.

Throwing a shovel at the dumbfounded servant, and pointing the white blade that a few months ago belong to Bai Lianfei at her throat, she order Zhanzhan to start digging….

The purpose of having her do the work was obvious. If that Bai Lianfei, Yao Erzhan, Chen Mengya, or Bai Caoren herself had anything to hide, it was there. And without a shadow of doubt, there were some precautions set in place to ward against an unwanted investigation.

For example, what if the grave was rigged with explosive sigils?

While the catgirl was heave-hoing the dirt, Mei Rulan chatted her up casually.

“Yo, how have you been doing lately? Pretty cool?”

“Not thanks to you, that’s for sure…” mumbled Zhanzhan, clearly unamused.

“Whaaat? Can’t hear you over the sound of the shovel hitting the gravel!”

“You are a beast, a monster!”

“Said the one with animal ears!”

Now then. Mei Rulan totally intended this precious time to be an actual interrogation, but there was something about this particular specimen that just brought a smile to her scarred face.

But, work is work…containing her amusement, she got to the point…

“So why are you tending to this particular grave?”

“Master asked me.”

“Who are you even? First, you were spying on us in Chenfei, now you’re in this most unexpected place….are you actually a pro operative, capable of fooling even elites such as myself?”

“Are you a spy?”

“My, how perceptive!”

Really perceptive. Or perhaps it was Mei Rulan who was stressed and fatigued, and said a bit too much…

No matter. This girl would not live to see the next sunset anyway.

“However, I was not the only spy around. The person buried here, was actually our top operative. However, she died two years ago…or so we thought. You know what we’re getting to here, right?”

“…..”

Defiant silence, huh. If Mei Rulan had more time, she’d use other methods of persuasion…alas, time was something she most certainly didn’t have. The resentful energy was gathering briskly, perhaps even faster than she anticipated, and for her own safety, she could tolerate no delays…

Finally, the shovel hit the wooden surface of the coffin.

“…I’m actually surprised nothing blew your face off…”

“Why would it!?” screamed Zhanzhan, her tail wagging furiously and tears prickling her eyes “You’re desecrating the grave of my master’s Lady Mother…”

“No, actually, you are doing it~” a smug smile graced Mei Rulan’s face. Zhanzhan had no retort to that, so she went quiet. “Good girl! Now open the lid!”

Reluctantly she did as she was told. And soon, the contents of the grave revealed….

….absolutely nothing. Mei Rulan grimaced. Though it was expected, it was still quite bothersome. She’d actually prefer there to be bones, that way she’d just pack them up and call it a day….or a night, as it wasn’t even midnight yet.

The way things were now, she’d have to venture into that suspicious mansion after all. Fortunately, she had a perfect guide now!