The Hexagram in the Flesh

When Li Huowang emerged from the jail and arrived at the rear courtyard of the Cangshui County yamen, he saw Mantou with his head buried in the horse trough, competing with the horse for water.

Catching a familiar scent, Mantou turned his head and looked at Li Huowang with an innocent expression. He was hungry.

Li Huowang led Mantou out onto the street. Even though the baby-snatching incident had the whole of Cangshui County on edge, there were still people doing business along the road.

“Red oil wontons?” Li Huowang stared at the unfamiliar dish, then led Mantou to the next stall. “Thorn-side noodles?”

Two bowls of green, wide noodles dotted with small black specks were set in front of them, topped with a layer of fragrant chili oil.

After watching Mantou eat with gusto, Li Huowang finally took a pair of chopsticks from the bamboo basket and began to eat.

The wide noodles were peculiar—they left his mouth feeling numb, but there was no Sichuan pepper in them. The numbness came from the tiny thorns inside the noodles scraping against his tongue.

The green color of the noodles came from being dyed with brambles, and what was even more strange was that the thorns softened quickly once in the mouth.

Just as Li Huowang was eating this Da Liang specialty, two men walked in and sat down nearby. Their voices were low, carrying that particular laugh only men share.

“No joke, would I lie to you? It's not just male ghosts coming out of that Ghost Gate—there are female ghosts too~! And those female ghosts—gorgeous, I tell you, heh heh heh~”

“She was suffering too, if you know what I mean... heh heh heh~ Could I just ignore her? Next morning, when I got out of bed, I was eight maces lighter!”

Hearing this, Li Huowang frowned. The people of this world lived in a daze and died in a daze, believing all kinds of rumors without the slightest clue what was really happening around them.

While the man boasted about his supposed conquest, Li Huowang kept his head down and finished his noodles.

After wolfing down the meal, Li Huowang thought back to how the talisman divination had worked last time. He decided to try the same trick again.

The burnt talisman was relit, and the ashes were once again swallowed by Li Huowang. But this time, it didn’t work like before.

“Why does this talisman work sometimes and not others? Did I draw it wrong?” Li Huowang stared at the talisman manual in his hand, scrutinizing it carefully.

This was only his second time using the thing, and it showed.

“Your Honor! The owner of Shuxin Hall has also come to report a crime!”

The constable’s cry was cut short as Magistrate Lou pulled him away. “Don’t disturb the adult while he’s working his magic!”

“I refuse to believe it’s this hard to catch whatever is stealing the babies!” Since divination wasn’t working, Li Huowang decided to use the brute-force method: stake out the area.

But after several days of watching, it was as if the thief knew he was coming. The baby-snatching in Cangshui County simply stopped.

Half-asleep in his guest room, Li Huowang was woken by the sound of a crowd. When he pushed open the window and looked out, a sea of people was surging eastward along the street, every face alight with excitement.

“What’s this…” Frowning, Li Huowang left his room and followed the crowd.

It didn’t take long after following them to figure out where they were going. The people had packed the crossroads so tightly not a drop could spill through, and in the center of that crossroads was the embroidery man, tied to a wooden post.

“Carry out the sentence—!” Magistrate Lou, his face full of righteous indignation, tossed a red signing stick. A roar of approval erupted from the crowd.

When he saw Li Huowang approaching, the magistrate, who had been radiating official authority, immediately sat up and vacated his seat.

“Your Honor, you’re here! Capturing this criminal was largely due to you!”

“You’re executing him? This fast? I thought it wasn’t until after autumn?”

Magistrate Lou glared at the embroidery man with a look that said he wished he could devour him. “This man’s crimes are heinous! How could a simple beheading suffice! To avenge the people of Cangshui County, death by a thousand cuts is the only fitting punishment!”

Just then, a burly man in a red short-sleeved jacket stepped forward. He accepted a bowl of yellow wine, tipped his head back and drank it down, then raised his slicing knife and set to work.

Every time a strip of flesh was carved from the embroidery man’s body, the crowd roared its approval.

“What are those people doing, stuffing coins into the constable’s pocket?” Li Huowang pointed toward a corner.

“Ah, those are the families of the victims. To ensure this scum never reincarnates, they plan to buy his flesh and feed it to the dogs. If the grudge is deep enough, some even eat the enemy’s flesh and drink his blood.”

“Normally, this isn’t in line with Da Liang law, I’ll admit. But whenever I think about how this bastard almost defiled my precious daughter… even I want to bite into him! It’s unforgivable!”

The embroidery man’s body was gradually dismembered, becoming grotesque. But instead of being horrified, the crowd—men and women, young and old—only grew more excited. The cheers never stopped. The scene was nothing short of bizarre.

With each cut, accompanied by the crowd’s cheers, the embroidery man let out a heart-wrenching scream.

But then, as he screamed, his eyes turned venomous as he looked at the crowd. He stopped crying out and started cursing instead. The more it hurt, the louder he cursed.

“What’s your problem?! I just had a little fun! I’ve done it so many times, and not once was any of them untouched! The women in this city are all sluts! They’re all tramps! Whores selling it on the street!”

This outburst only stoked the crowd’s fury. A torrent of insults rained down on him, and if not for the constables holding them back, the mob would have torn him apart.

“Huh? Wait a second!” Li Huowang’s eyes narrowed. He quickly strode down.

When he reached the embroidery man, he stared in shock at the bloody cuts covering his body. They had formed, almost exactly, the hexagram from the bone divination he had performed earlier!

“Were you telling the truth?”

“If I’m lying, I’m a son of a bitch! Over a hundred women, not a single one had any blood! The women of Cangshui were already ruined long before me!”

It sounded like the spiteful words of a dying man. But looking at the hexagram carved into his flesh, Li Huowang wasn’t so sure.

“Falling red… falling red…” Something clicked. Li Huowang rushed over to Magistrate Lou and said, “Magistrate Lou, you mentioned earlier that besides the defiled women and the stolen babies, there were other things being stolen?”

“Yes, that’s right. Have you found something, Your Honor?”

“Bring me a record of everything that was stolen! How much, and what exactly—I need to know it all!”

Hearing the iron certainty in Li Huowang’s voice, Magistrate Lou hurried to carry out the order.

Stolen children were hard to track down, but stolen goods were easy enough to inventory.

Before long, a list of everything stolen was placed in Li Huowang’s hands.

“Angelica, poria cocos, cinnabar…” As Li Huowang read through the items, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

Connecting the embroidery man’s claim about no “falling red,” the stories of the seductive female ghost, and the stolen children…

Li Huowang finally picked up the brush and added a few more words to the paper: Hymen pill, five nectars, bone-to-rot.

Staring at everything recorded before him, Li Huowang’s eyes grew wide.

“These properties… and this proportion… this is an alchemical recipe! Someone is using these things to refine a pill!”