Wen Mingtang’s figure suddenly dwarfed, and she was half-kneeling on the ground. Although her position was much shorter, a silver light flashed in her hand, and the soft sword from her waist was suddenly drawn out. The soft sword drawn from his waist suddenly wrapped around the sharp blade like silk, pulling it away.

At the moment the sharp blade slipped from his hand, the young woman, who moments before seemed weak and injured, her face slightly changed. Instinctively, with a single hand, she pushed herself backward, avoiding the silk-like blade of the soft sword, and landed steadily on the ground.

The alluring charm on her face remained, yet she swept away the inherent weakness from earlier. With a cold smirk, the young woman looked at Wen Mingtang. “Seems I misjudged you. Turns out you’re quite skilled! When you caused trouble for me in the alley earlier, you were screaming and crying like a little girl, making me think you were just an ordinary one!” Here, the woman reached up and flicked her hair, scoffing lightly. “See, women can still deceive, even if they’re just little girls!”

When she heard the young woman say, “She did something bad to me in the alley,” Wen Mingtang said to herself, “Sure enough.”

This woman really thought she was Tangyuan.

From the beginning, she stared at the waistbands of her and Ah Bing and determined that he and Tangyuan were from Dali Temple, so the woman set her sights on them.

Or, to be precise, it wasn’t them, it was her.

Since she regarded her as Tangyuan and wanted to deal with her, the identity of this young woman was also obvious.

“You are the one…” Wen Mingtang recalled the name Liu Yuan mentioned, and then thought about it, “That Jing’an?”

The young woman, or rather, she had not married, so she couldn’t be called a woman. But to call her a nun would be incorrect; she wasn’t truly a nun either. Wen Mingtang looked at the calm yet alluring face before her, silent for a moment, then nodded. “It seems you’re quite similar to what I imagined.”

Since she was associated with Lady Rouge, and even knew how to apply it, Jing’an’s makeup skills must be quite good. Her pale face resembled a sketch, perfect for painting.

Wen Mingtang could imagine what this face would look like after being treated by Jing’an’s masterful hands, coupled with a full body of amorous feelings.

The appearance of a succubus that ate people must be captivating.

Now this man-eating painted-skinned monster was facing her. She probably thought Tangyuan had seen her appearance that day. Wait… In this case, after Tangyuan bumped into Han Jun’s body that day, many people gathered to watch. This “painted skin monster” was probably among the crowd of people watching at that time.

Wen Mingtang sighed “It’s a pity”, but it was a pity that the incident occurred too late, there was thick fog at night, and there were many people and the person was not caught in time.

But now that the painted-skinned monster jumped out to kill someone, she confirmed Liu Yuan and the others’ guess that Jing’an was indeed the real murderer.

Lin Fei and the others ran out to catch the murderer early in the morning. No one knew where they went, but the real murderer was now with her.

Wen Mingtang smiled bitterly and said, “Lin Shaoqing has always been a very reliable person, but now he seems so unreliable!”

Lin Shaoqing? Thinking of the crimson figure she had caught a glimpse of when she first met in the nunnery, Jing’an pursed her lips and smiled: “So the little sister is still young after all, and is obsessed with skin.” The amorous feelings in her words seemed to be engraved in her bones, Jing’an raised her hand to cover her lips, sneered softly, and said, “You can’t believe the words of a man like this!”

Wen Mingtan looked at Jing’an, who exuded a natural charm with every move, widened her eyes, and asked seriously, “With so many people liking someone like you, why would you still say such things?”

“Like?” Jing’an laughed as if she had heard an extremely amusing joke, unable to contain her amusement. She raised her hand, her fingers lightly brushing like orchid petals, and looked up at her. “Are you talking about those men who became flower fertilizer? They’re nothing but lustful fools who are mesmerized by appearances! Anyone who likes me can like someone else too, what kind of liking is that?”

“Were turned into flower fertilizer?” Wen Mingtan’s hand holding the soft sword trembled slightly. It seemed that more than just Ruan Zhan and Han Jun were involved in this. Jing’an had been killing people for a long time, but no one had noticed until now.

…

…

With a “boom”, a hole was opened in the ground, revealing the dark hole under the feet, and a shrill cry for mercy rang out again.

“Bodhisattva…Bodhisattva, I was wrong, I was wrong!”

A sour smell gushed out from the entrance of the cave. Even though he called himself a “rough man”, Liu Yuan, who had not showered for many days after being busy, could not bear the smell. He couldn’t help pinching his nose, turned around, took a deep breath, and then asked: “How long has it been since the people down here took a bath?”

On one side, Wei Fu and Lin Fei had already brought torches to illuminate the entrance of the cave. Below was a square cellar, with occasional faint rays of light sprinkling down from the top, indicating that it wasn’t completely sealed. This also ensured that anyone locked inside wouldn’t suffocate due to lack of air.

Looking at the woman who was tightly locked by the iron chain and hiding in the corner with disheveled hair shivering, Wei Fu was silent for a moment and said: “This… I don’t know which is better, living or dead.”

On one side were some dry rations and cans of water of unknown cleanliness. Next to the water cans were some wooden barrels, presumably for the woman to handle all her needs inside.

Suddenly seeing so many people, the woman screamed again and hurriedly shrank and hid in a corner.

Because of her shrinking movements, several people saw what seemed to be something painted on the ground beneath her.

Lin Fei took the torch from Wei Fu’s hand and looked down, finally making people see clearly the dark red totem under the woman’s body.

This totem… also somewhat resembles the ghostly painted talisman in the “Encyclopedia of Talismans”.

Lin Fei held the torch and shined it for a moment, then said: “It’s a soul-suppressing talisman.”

Liu Yuan and Wei Fu: “…”

After a moment of silence, Liu Yuan said, “The murderer seems to be quite fond of using these talismans and such, probably believing in the concept of karma. If she believes in that, why would she still harm others? Isn’t she afraid of retaliation?”

Lin Fei glanced at the woman for a moment, then handed the torch to Zhao You, saying to the group of constables, “Let’s rescue the person first before anything else.”

Several officers responded.

Lin Fei turned around and took Wei Fu and Liu Yuan out of the wing, and stopped when he passed through the hosta flower garden in full bloom.

Seeing Lin Fei stop and look at the hosta flower bed in front of him, Wei Fu stepped forward and asked, “Lin Shaoqing?”

Lin Fei said “Hmm”, looked at the hosta flower bed in front of him, and said, “There are still some things missing.”

Shaoqing got something? What was missing?

“There is nothing in the Buddhist hall at the front. There is only one woman locked up in the cellar under the wing at the back.” Lin Fei looked at the moon-white hostas in the flowerbed in front of him and said, “Except for Ruan Zhan and Han Jun, the bodies of the missing scholars are where did they go?”

“This!” Liu Yuan and Wei Fu looked at each other with a look of confusion on their faces.

Lin Fei looked at the hosta flower bed in front of him and said, “Ask Zhao to get a shovel!”

(End of Chapter)

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