“Are you accusing Granny Ju of causing the disappearances?” the Village Head budged into the conversation then. “But how can she in her feeble state?”

  “Did you know that she’s a cultivator herself?” Zeng Fei questioned in turn. “Not particularly powerful but a genuine one all the same.”

  Words weren’t needed for an answer as the locals turned to Granny Ju in surprise.

  “Esteemed One, I can understand why you’re suspicious, but you see, I joined a sect in my youth, only I was unable to advance my cultivation beyond the paltry third layer and was let go off.”

  Her answer made Zeng Fei scoff. “Of course you would have good reasoning - it’s pretty damn clear you’ve crafted this entire scenario rather well. I’m sure you’ve got a book that has a description of this Astral Hopper as well, just in case we questioned your advice, or excuses ready as to why it took you so long to hear about the disappearances occurring in the village. But it doesn’t matter because I see through you, hag.”

  Granny Ju was about to respond but was beaten to the punch by Sun Ru. “Even if she’s hiding something or the other, what’s to say she carried out the murders? Especially considering they are her own kin?”

  “The events and circumstances here work too perfectly in landing us in her hands and listening to her advice to be a coincidence. And I do know that anyone learned in healing concoctions would also be knowledgeable about creating poisons, including the sort to rapidly incapacitate targets. And I do know that the disappearances here point towards a local human mind, not an exotic beast one: how else did the grave digger-upper know which graves belonged to those who’d died recently versus those from a long time ago - don’t tell me Astral Hoppers can read too?”

  Zeng Fei paused, eyes narrowing. “And why were the victims each time of a different phenotype? Grown men, then women, amputees, children, pregnant women, bodies at varying levels of decomposition - such a selection doesn’t speak of taste testing, but of there existing a functional output that can be gained from each one. It’s like somebody was testing to find out which ones gave the most output, the best bang for the buck. Well, from mortals at least. Because she knew from the start what she really wanted: cultivator bodies. That’s why she didn’t kill everyone from the start - it would have escalated the situation too quickly and scared us off, or had our seniors, who are well out of her capability, come over instead.”

  “You mean that her current cultivation base is built from her victims?” Sun Ru’s demeanour suddenly grew serious. “She’s a cultivator of devilish arts?”

  Since Zeng Fei didn’t know if that was the case or not, he elected to give a knowing smile instead, giving Sun Ru the freedom to glean whatever answer she liked from it. “How do you reckon she’s kept hidden all this time while carrying out murders? Or how is it she’s been teleporting bodies? Or how has she been observing the happenings in the village?”

  “How?”

  “Let’s find out, shall we.” Zeng Fei showed a predatory grin towards old Granny Ju, and threw the entire prepared story arc on its head.

  What should have happened was they’d discover clues that it was someone inside the village or that someone inside the village was helping the demon beast, all the while enduring attempts on their lives. More villagers would die while they were here. And finally, when their suspicions landed on Granny Ju, she would disappear, perhaps to a secret lair with a hostage in haul to set up the final confrontation.

  But Zeng Fei couldn’t be bothered with all that fluff, so why not just skip to the ending and accuse the culprit, Spanish Inquisition style?

  He just needed Sun Ru’s approval to act, but he could tell he almost had her. One more push, that was all it’d take.

  Luckily for him, he had just the thing.

  Cai Ling stood before the Chief’s desk where he’d placed down the VIP’s lethal jade slip.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  She stared at it with a distant gaze.

  His anxiety blossomed as the minutes passed, and still she didn’t say a word. By the time she did, his back was soaked in sweat.

  “It’s a carrot and stick in one.”

  “Sorry?”

  The Chief glanced at him and sighed. “Do you know what this is Vice Chief?” She gestured towards the jade slip.

  “I don’t think I do, Chief,” he admitted, bowing his head.

  She hummed and leaned back on her chair. “It may look identical to the jade slips the VIP has always sent, but this is in fact a talisman. To be precise, it’s a Fool’s Execution Talisman.”

  “The VIP is mocking us for daring to ask them to prove their strength?”

  “No, no, no.” The Chief chortled at his suggestion. “An Execution Talisman causes grievous harm to your target, with the aim of killing them outright. They enjoyed brief popularity 3000 years ago, before falling out of fashion when it became known the numerous ways in which they could be deflected, or worse, reflected. The Fool’s Execution Talisman was a variant that was created by Bai An of the Radiant Glass Emporium Sect.”

  These were names Cai Ling recognised at least. The Radiant Glass Emporium Sect was an Immortal Sect, which was best described as the world’s greatest refinery for magical treasures, weapons, and talismans.

  Bai An was a Grand Elder who’d significantly advanced the Dao School of Talismans during his time: he’d disappeared from the world roughly 1500 years ago and therefore had long been presumed to be dead.

  “I see that you know of Bai An,” the Chief continued. “This variant was crafted back when he’d been competing for the Grand Elder spot with another individual within the sect, both prodigiously talented in the Dao of Talismans. His opponent was infinitely better at making use of conventional talismans in ingenious ways, whereas he was the undisputed greatest talisman crafter in the world.”

  “After coming up with the Fool’s Execution Talisman, Bai An proceeded to play dirty and swap out his competitor’s authentic Execution Talisman for it without them noticing, and then challenged them to a duel. On that day, his opponent executed themself in front of the entire sect.”

  “Naturally, the news spread like wildfire and led to the practice of talisman users always double-checking their tools before going into battle, negating all future effectiveness of the Fool’s Execution Talisman. Though it didn’t matter as Bai An had already proven himself as having the guile of a Grand Elder and earned his promotion.”

  Vice Chief Cai Ling took a moment to digest all of this. “So you’re saying the VIP is Bai An? Meaning that he never died and has been in hiding this entire time. Which would mean that the fact he’s now brazenly revealing his identity to us is a show of trust.”

  “Potentially, yes,” the Chief said, “But note that although Bai An never shared the formula for the Fool’s Execution Talisman, we can’t cross out the possibility that other talisman masters - for example the First Grand Elder of the Treading Infinity Sect - have since deduced how to craft it.”

  “But that’s only a possibility. Whereas we have the genuine talisman in front of us!” the Vice Chief interrupted in excitement.

  “Indeed, we could deconstruct it and reverse-engineer its formula as long as we don’t open it, hence it can be considered a valuable gift, even if it is only a half-completed version.”

  “What?! Are you sure, Chief? Already this would kill me if I opened it, so how could it be half-completed?”

  “The lethality would be the same with a complete one, only you wouldn’t have known of its deadly nature until opening it. You would have had to be a skilled tailisman crafter to notice in time. Meaning that the creator deliberately skipped the masking step here.” She met his gaze. “Now do you understand their response?”

  He gave a solemn nod. “Here is something for your trouble, but don’t push your luck because I can kill you without any difficulty. Could it be the VIP was irritated we had the gall to ask them to prove their power? So they rewarded us, threatened us, and proved their ability to carry it out, all in one.”

  “Without fully compromising their identity either,” the Chief finished. “Regardless of whether this is Bai An or another reclusive eccentric, there is no question of their viciousness and cunning. If anything, the fact that they responded like so to our innocuous request implies they are unhinged, or worse, that this is a casual move in their eyes.”

  There was a beat of silence as the two highest officials of the premier information brokerage stared at each other.

  The Vice Chief broke the silence. “I’ll go and send them their desired information regarding that Outer Sect Disciple Zeng Fei. He was reported leaving his sect recently, so maybe the information of where he went will appease any irritation the VIP has with us.”

  The Chief did not respond, and watched with a blank expression as Cai Ling left her office. She had much to ponder on.