Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

35. And Then There Were Three

As Su Shimeng peeled back the layers of flesh, a strong odor of earth and blood filled the air similar to the blackened jade. Mo Yixuan covered his nose as he peered into the cavity and saw a row of white bones—the ribcage.

"This stench again," he muttered.

"Yeah, smells angry," Su Shimeng said offhandedly.

"Angry?"

"You don't think so? I can feel the bloodlust radiating off him like crazy."

"It just smells like death," Mo Yixuan creased his brows and tried to peer inside the chest cavity. "I can't see a thing."

"I'll break a few of his bones," Su Shimeng said decisively and snapped two ribs before Mo Yixuan could stop him.

"......" Where do you think we are, a biology dissection lab?

"It really is gone," Su Shimeng said moments later. "Have a look."

A blank-faced Mo Yixuan leaned over and checked. As predicted, the heart was missing. In fact, it seemed to have been cleanly snipped off its arteries, which were still inside the body and leading to nothing.

"No essence, no blood, no heart," Mo Yixuan listed off the traits of the corpse. "Could a ghost have done this?"

"Not so quickly and definitely without leaving signs," Su Shimeng replied. "The living are full of vitality; ghosts can wear them down over time with their auras of death, but it's impossible for them to kill a healthy man overnight and take his heart."

"What about demons?" Mo Yixuan asked next.

"Hmm...too roundabout," Su Shimeng decided. "They wouldn't go to all this trouble and leave the corpse behind. They're more likely to just take the heart by force and burn the body afterwards. Eh, they'd probably burn down the whole estate for kicks."

"And a ghost-demon hybrid?" Mo Yixuan suggested, thinking of their jade ghost.

"Now that I can't say," Su Shimeng admitted. "What bothers me is that we don't even have a motive. Whoever they are, why are they doing this? Things would go faster if we knew." He quickly patted the skin back in place and redid the robes on the corpse, making it look more or less untouched. "Thanks for the help," he addressed the body.

Mo Yixuan stood up and backed away a few paces to get some fresh air. "I don't like the feel of this. We need to hurry up."

"Right," Su Shimeng agreed. "I couldn't get any intel from Ye Zhi, but I'll try asking the head steward if he knows anything. You?"

"I've already finished my questioning, so I'll track down Nan Wuyue," Mo Yixuan said. "We can meet in the original meeting spot when you're done."

"Then wait a while so we can go together," Su Shimeng suggested. "I won't take long."

Mo Yixuan thought that made sense, so he stayed outside the ancestral hall while Su Shimeng went off to track down the other man. His mind played over the particulars of the case: the ghost girl, Old Madam Su's coma, the various haunting incidents—but couldn't find any thread to connect them together.

No, wait.

All of the victims he'd interviewed today were male and had some relations with the Su Clan. The Ye Family also worked with the Su's jade business, but they were closer to a partner than a business rival. If he recalled correctly, Nan Wuyue's list was full of males too.

So, was this a specter that only haunted men?

Then there was the smell. He was reminded of Nan Wuyue's description of the scent lingering around Su Shiyu and the ghost girl and wondered if this was similar. Earthy and bloodthirsty with a metallic tinge, was how the teen had described it. Mo Yixuan hesitated and turned back towards the corpse. He wrinkled his nose and took a few more swiffs, finally catching a whiff of something sharper beneath all the blood and dirt.