After the Yun matriarch’s command, the gathered members of the Yun family each went on their own task. Yun Moxiao accompanied Yun Lan to pick out the pills that the kidnappers had requested, then set off for the Minghuang Mountain.

The Yun matriarch asked Qin Jianmei to return with her to her cottage and wait for news together, but Qin Jianmei declined. Her face crestfallen, she said that she would go back to her own cottage and pray to Buddha that Yun Ruoyu might be released safely.

“Grandmother, you don’t look too good. Shall I send for a physician?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

The Yun matriarch shook her head. “It’s nothing. I was woken up during my afternoon nap, so I’m just feeling a little tired.”

“In that case, Grandmother, I won’t disturb you any longer. Rest well and I’ll visit you later.” She walked the Yun matriarch back to her rooms, then returned immediately to her own cottage, informing Xi Lan and Peony that she was going to cultivate and was not to be disturbed.

She entered her rooms to find Li Mo quietly seated at the table, waiting for her. He wore a pure white suit, accentuating his height and physique. His hair no longer draped down his shoulders; instead, he tied it back in a ponytail, framing his forehead, sharp brows, and deep, thoughtful eyes.

Li Mo’s attire instantly made him look almost a decade younger. He was only in his early twenties, but his usual outfit made him look as though he were in his thirties or forties.

“Yan’er, what’s the matter? Is there a problem?” Li Mo asked, noticing that Yun Ruoyan appeared to be looking at him in a daze.

“N-No, there’s no problem at all!” Yun Ruoyan immediately shook her head, but her eyes remained fixated on his appearance. “Li Mo, you look really good like this! Can you keep dressing up this way in the future?”

Li Mo smiled coolly. “And lose all my reputation as the Slaughtering King? I’m only dressed like this to mislead Yun Lan.”

Although Yun Lan was known for being sharp-eyed, no one would ever relate Li Mo’s current appearance to the Slaughtering King.

Li Mo then retrieved a green demon’s mask and wore it on his face. “Alright, let’s get ready.”

While talking to Li Mo, Yun Ruoyan had dressed herself in a dark robe, then threw on a cloak to hide her body shape. From her silver bracelet, she took out a red demon’s mask and wore it on her face.

Li Mo flew Yun Ruoyan toward the foot of the Minghuang Mountain—not to the bakery, but to a teahouse about three miles away.

As for Qin Jianmei, after she returned to her own cottage, she changed into riding gear, vaulted over the wall by her cottage, bought a horse from the streets, and then rushed off. Her destination was a teahouse by the foot of Minghuang Mountain.

When she found out that Yun Ruoyu had been kidnapped in the morning, there were two letters on Yun Ruoyu’s bed, not just one. She had shown one letter to Yun Lan, but the other was addressed to her: it told her to head toward the teahouse, that an old acquaintance wanted to see her again.

Because of her concern for Yun Ruoyu, Qin Jianmei ventured into the teahouse alone without any hesitation.

Meanwhile, Yun Lan and Yun Moxiao had arrived by the bakery at the foot of the mountain, where they met with Su Nan, disguised as the baker. “What can I get you, dear sirs?”

“We’re looking for someone,” Yun Moxiao began, as Yun Lan glanced all around them. There were only four or five customers in the bakery, all of whom seemed perfectly ordinary in appearance and aura.

“May I ask for whom?”

Yun Lan turned to the baker and immediately identified him as someone suspicious. Although Su Nan had retracted his aura to the best of his abilities, he couldn’t hide from Yun Lan’s unusually penetrating gaze. Whether he was a master could be detected just from his eyes alone, and Yun Lan could see, reflected in his eyes, the composure and confidence that only a master would possess.

“The goods are ready. We want the girl,” Yun Lan murmured, before Yun Moxiao could speak.

“Sirs, please follow me.” Su Nan motioned toward the interior of the bakery.

“Where is my daughter, Yun Ruoyu?” The moment they entered the back of the building, Yun Lan’s aura exploded from his body. His hand tightened around Su Nan’s neck like a vise, and he slammed him into a neighboring wall.

Su Nan didn’t retaliate, and neither did he intend to. After a brief struggle, he forced out, “The third miss of the Yun family isn’t here. I’ve prepared a carriage on my master’s orders, and he has promised a fine show for both sirs.”

Qin Jianmei galloped all the way to the foot of the Minghuang Mountain and entered the empty teahouse.

“I’m here! Where’s my daughter?” she hollered, kicking open the front doors of the teahouse.

Two shadows walked out from behind a screen on the second floor. The man was dressed in white and wore a green-faced demon’s mask. The woman had an expansive cloak around her, and she wore a red-faced demon’s mask.

“Madam Qin, you’re very timely,” the white-robed man stated. His voice was hoarse and rough, and it was difficult to discern whether it was natural or artificial.

“You’re the Demonic Duo? Where’s my daughter? What are the two of you planning?”

“Don’t worry, your daughter’s safe for the moment,” the man replied. “We’re in search of you because of an incident from a decade ago that we’d like to understand better.”

“An incident from a decade ago?” Qin Jianmei’s tone was perplexed. “I’ve been in the Yun family for over a decade, and I almost never step out of the manor. Whom could I have offended, and what incident could there be?”

“More accurately, it was something that happened thirteen years ago—perhaps a little earlier. Can’t you think of anything incriminating that you might have done about fifteen years ago?”

Li Mo’s piercing gaze scrutinized Qin Jianmei carefully through his demon mask.

Qin Jianmei stilled. Fifteen years ago was a… tumultuous time, and she had carried out many shameful deeds, enough to last her for an entire lifetime. However, Qin Jianmei didn’t have a particularly strong sense of guilt or shame.

She stood straight and prim, holding her head up high. “I, Qin Jianmei, have led an honest and upright life. I have no guilty conscience to speak of.”

“You’re lying!” Yun Ruoyan called out, directing an accusatory finger at her. “Do you want your daughter to suffer the price for your lies?!”

“What do you want? If you want to deal with me, come at me directly! My daughter’s the third miss of the Yun family. If you dare hurt her, there will be consequences and reprisal from the Yun family.”

Yun Ruoyan, made even more incensed by Qin Jianmei’s words, was about to interrogate her when Li Mo pulled on her cloak. “Yun Lan’s watching the scene from a distance. Don’t speak lest he detect something amiss. Let me deal with the situation.”

Yun Ruoyan forcefully quashed her anger and nodded, then took two steps back.

“Debts must be repaid, and grievances righted. As you say, a parent’s debt shouldn’t extend to her children—so how can you justify your use of the carmine embrace?”

Qin Jianmei’s face, flushed from anger, froze and turned pale. “What’s this carmine embrace? I don’t understand what you’re saying at all! Are you trying to accuse me of a crime I didn’t commit?” she hurriedly yelled, defending herself.

Li Mo knew that Qin Jianmei wasn’t an easy person to deal with, but that made it all the more interesting.

“If you’re unaware of the carmine embrace, then do you know of a shamanic tribe deep within the Yueli Mountain, or the idol of reincarnation?”

“Of course not!”

“In that case, I have something to show you.” Li Mo clapped his hands thrice, and a masked, black-clad servant emerged from the back of the teahouse and handed a tray to him. The object in the tray was covered in black cloth. Li Mo unwrapped it to reveal two Buddhist statues, one of Guanyin and the other of Buddha.

From afar, they looked no different from the statues that graced many a religious household, but a careful inspection would quickly highlight one distinction: both statues had a feeling of malice about them. Despite their smiling faces, they gave off an eerie sensation that didn’t seem to have a source.

As she looked more carefully at the statues, Yun Ruoyan realized that those were the two statues that had been in Qin Jianmei’s prayer chamber!

When Qin Jianmei saw the statues that she had worshipped day and night for the greater part of a decade in Li Mo’s hands, she stumbled, and her face turned even paler than before.