[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 68

The monk broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead, his lips pale as he stammered, “Master… master…”

Li Xuanci let out a cold snort, cutting him off. “If you can’t say it, then I’ll say it for you.”

“Your master has disappeared, and you deliberately concealed it. Naturally, you are the prime suspect.” Li Xuanci pointed the tip of his sword directly between the monk’s eyebrows.

“I’m also deeply worried about my master’s sudden disappearance. I hid it not because I’m guilty, but because Lumiang is hiding here. I was afraid that if I reported it to the authorities, I wouldn’t be able to keep her hidden any longer. I admit I acted selfishly, but my master truly disappeared on his own.” The monk argued urgently.

“Have you thought it through? You won’t change your story?” Li Xuanci shot him a sidelong glance, speaking with utter indifference, as if observing meat on a chopping block, considering where to make the cut.

The monk clearly grew wary, but before he could respond, Li Xuanci continued.

“You’re somewhat clever. You know that appearing too innocent would be suspicious, so you admit to selfish motives, retreating in order to advance. After all, a young man consumed by personal feelings, disregarding his master’s kindness, is much more believable than a completely ignorant disciple.”

“However, you are ultimately foolish, and both foolish and lazy.” Li Xuanci’s sharp eyes held a casual arrogance as he watched the mosquito-like figure buzzing eagerly before him.

“You’re not tall and are still young. If you truly wrestled with your master, you probably wouldn’t gain much advantage.”

“So, you chose a clever method. You waited until your master was chanting scriptures in the main hall, his back turned to you, eyes closed, mind focused on the sutras, and then you smashed the back of his head.”

The monk’s eyes reddened, his lips moving as if to argue. But the moment he took a step back, he bumped into Lumiang, whom he was shielding behind him. Lumiang timidly grabbed his sleeve, clearly terrified. A flicker of hesitation crossed his face, he bit his lip, and fell silent.

Li Xuanci simply stopped there, waiting to hear his feeble defense. However, the monk clearly understood the power imbalance and only muttered, “I didn’t.”

Boring.

Li Xuanci’s merciless eyes indifferently assessed the two kneeling on the ground. Even their death throes were so weak it robbed one of the desire to trample them.

Coincidentally, Shiliu in his arms quietly shifted her bottom on his arm, finding a more comfortable position. Li Xuanci looked down at this fool and raised an eyebrow.

The world is full of fools, but this one is particularly interesting—impervious to steaming, boiling, or flattening; shamelessly and stubbornly testing his limits.

Having lost patience, Li Xuanci laid out the truth in a few sentences.

“The base of the large Buddha is somewhat mottled. Probably, brain matter mixed with blood splattered onto it, and when you scrubbed it later, you were too rough, rubbing the gilding until it became so patchy.”

“The wooden fish and alms bowl are both on the platform, but the mallet for striking the wooden fish is missing. This wooden fish is so large; the mallet must be sizable too. You used the mallet to strike him, didn’t you? The mallet was stained with blood, impossible to clean properly, so you discarded it.”

A scene of splattered brains was described by Li Xuanci with the utmost nonchalance. He then wore a mocking smile.

“I’ve always despised these so-called sentimental entanglements, and you have merely confirmed this once again.”

“Obtaining a woman addled your brains. After killing, you couldn’t be bothered to re-gild the statue, nor did you remember to replace the mallet. I imagine these past days, you haven’t had a spare moment to chant a single Buddha’s name, have you?”

His words were extremely sharp and sarcastic, insulting Lumiang as well.

Lumiang trembled violently, her head bowed, her expression unseen, but her shaking was transmitted through their touching fingertips.

The monk’s face became agitated, like a molded wax mask melting again, turning twisted and strange. He finally spoke, but not in his own defense, “The relationship between Lumiang and me is pure! Do not defile her!”

A smile tugged at Li Xuanci’s lips, his words utterly callous.

“Pure? As pure as the filth in that cauldron?”

“Fools like you can’t even handle something as simple as murder properly.” The disdain in Li Xuanci’s eyes grew stronger. “Burning the body to destroy evidence is one method, but the fire in that cauldron couldn’t possibly consume the bones completely. Instead of thinking to pick out the remaining bones, crush them, add oil, and burn them again, you simply covered them with ashes and called it done. Now, with the rain, the ashes have mixed with mud, and fragments of bones are exposed. Fool.”

Such third-rate methods couldn’t possibly deceive Li Xuanci, whose experience with killing was excessively vast.

Hearing this, Jin Zhan immediately and shrewdly braved the rain to go into the courtyard. Using his robe to carry them, he picked out some bone fragments from the ashy mud and spread them on the ground.

But Li Xuanci couldn’t even be bothered to glance at them. His deductions had been verified; he had no desire to personally handle some old monk’s ashes.

He Chong became the manual laborer, squatting down to carefully examine the bones. The Taoist tradition involved considerable study of the human body, and he could tell at a glance that these were indeed human bones.

He Chong diligently turned them over for inspection. Shiliu poked her head out from Li Xuanci’s embrace, curiously looking at the pile of broken bones mixed with black mud on the ground. She even reached out a hand to touch them, but the moment her finger appeared, Li Xuanci smacked her hand, and she withdrew it timidly.

At that moment, He Chong’s expression suddenly changed. “Something’s wrong. These aren’t the remains of just one person. There’s also a woman, and an adult woman at that.”

His words caused everyone’s expressions to shift again. The monk’s face turned ashen, and he instinctively moved slightly, shielding Lumiang, who was hiding behind him, even more thoroughly.

Jin Zhan pressed, “Are you sure? The bones are so fragmented. How can you tell?”

He Chong didn’t avoid it; he picked up several bone fragments and carefully pieced them together. Soon, the shapes of two pelvic bones emerged.

“The human pelvis is relatively large and not easily burned to fragments, so with a little piecing together, you can see these are two pelvises from different corpses. The female pelvic outlet is wider than the male’s to accommodate childbirth. Moreover, this pelvic bone has depressions and scars on the inner side, caused by the pressure during pregnancy. This indicates this person must have given birth or at least been pregnant.”

In this era, matters concerning human corpses and remains were taboo. Only sects like Taoism, which pursued cultivation, possessed such detailed knowledge. To others, it sounded shocking. Jin Zhan listened intently, while Li Xuanci lowered his gaze, pondering something.

After a long moment, he looked up, a flicker of interest in his eyes, like a beast catching the scent of blood, baring its fangs.

“Interesting,” he said with a smile.

Tomorrow, Shiliu should recover.