Before coming here, David Reed had the county yamen’s kitchen make a big pot of ginger soup, saying it was to ward off the cold. At the time, Lucas Ethan thought he was just being dramatic, but now it seemed he really did have some foresight.

After drinking a few sips of ginger soup, Lucas Ethan felt it was even more effective than that trace of Shaoyang inner energy, and a wave of warmth immediately spread through his body.

At that moment, for some unknown reason, he suddenly felt as if someone was talking near the old locust tree not far away. He instinctively turned to look, but saw nothing—there was no one under the old locust tree, not even a shadow.

“Lucas, what’s wrong? Hurry up and catch up!”

Because he had stopped for a moment, he had fallen a bit behind. George Martinez tugged at him, pulling him back into the group. “Lucas, today Henry is leading the two of us as a team. You’d better remember, no matter what happens, don’t panic, understand? Just listen to Henry in everything, got it?”

“Yes, yes, I know!” Lucas Ethan nodded and hurried to catch up with the main group. But again, a faint whisper seemed to drift over from the old locust tree, sending a chill through his heart. He shivered and dared not linger any longer, quickly taking a few steps to follow behind George Martinez.

The mass grave was vast; no one knew how many people had been buried here over the centuries, so the place was thick with yin energy. Aside from a few annoying crows in the sky, even city foxes and rats avoided this haunted place.

When they reached the edge of the mass grave, David Reed began assigning tasks. Every three constables formed a group to search separately, to see if they could find that black-robed Daoist. But clearly, no one had much hope, and some were even reluctant. Lucas Ethan knew that everyone just wanted to get it over with and report back. The real reason they came today was to have something to show their superiors from the court: to say they had searched here, but found nothing. After all, the experts from Six Doors would arrive soon—at the latest by tomorrow—to take over the case, and then they’d be off the hook. Though they’d still be errand boys, at least they wouldn’t have to take responsibility anymore. At most, they’d just run errands, and since the Six Doors experts always looked down on them, they probably wouldn’t even be needed for that. That would be a relief.

The teams had been assigned before setting out. As expected, Lucas Ethan was grouped with Old Henry and George Martinez, and they started heading toward the eastern side of the mass grave.

Old Henry held an iron ruler, George Martinez drew his waist knife, and Lucas Ethan also carried a knife in his hand. The three of them moved forward cautiously, as if facing a great disaster.

“Lucas, relax, don’t be nervous, it’s fine. Today we’re just here to go through the motions, to give the higher-ups an explanation. If this really is the work of an evil cultivator, even if we all died here, it wouldn’t help. But those cultivators look down on us anyway. As long as we don’t cross paths with them, they won’t bother us.”

“You know about evil cultivators too?”

“Didn’t Ethan ever tell you? All these cultivators have their own rules. Even evil cultivators won’t harm ordinary people for no reason, unless you really provoke them.”

“Why?” Lucas Ethan asked, puzzled.

“Because of things like karmic retribution and heavenly tribulation. The more innocent people they kill, the more trouble they’ll have when tribulation comes. So whether they’re righteous or evil, they all have their limits.”

“Limits? This guy harvests placentas for cultivation—he has limits?”

“It’s exactly because what he’s doing is so wicked that he’s even more careful about these things,” Old Henry said with a bitter smile. “Don’t ask me why. I heard all this from the Six Doors experts back in the day. As for whether it’s true or not, honestly, I’ve lived this long and never actually seen a real cultivator myself,” Old Henry said self-mockingly.

The three of them patrolled the mass grave for a while. Aside from gusts of cold wind and a few old crows, they really didn’t find anything. Just as they were about to call it a day and head back, a sudden scream came from not far away.

“Damn, it’s Leo, something’s happened!”

At the sound of the scream, all three faces changed at once, and they instinctively ran toward the source. But after just a few steps, they all stopped and looked at each other.

They were all scared. As they’d said before, if they really ran into an evil cultivator, even if everyone here died, it wouldn’t be enough. Now there were only three of them—going over there would be suicide. No one was stupid enough to want to die.

So, after stopping, Old Henry turned and bolted, not forgetting to grab Lucas Ethan and hiss, “Run, or it’ll be too late.”

Lucas Ethan had been hesitating, but when Old Henry pulled him, he instinctively ran too. Of course, this was just how he comforted himself—he was scared as well.

The three of them fled in panic, and after about a hundred steps, they ran straight into David Reed and the others, who were rushing over after hearing the scream.

“Old Henry, what happened?”