"Um... this hexagram..." Li Huowang furrowed his brows as he looked at the crack on the skull, comparing it with the talisman book in his hand.
"Qian is heaven, Tiantian Feng, Goutian Shan, Zhuzhu..." This was the hexagram Li Huowang had divined.
However, strangely enough, the book did not record how to interpret the hexagram, only saying to burn the talisman paper to ashes and swallow it.
Glancing at Lou Zhixian waiting beside him, Li Huowang thought for a moment before taking out his fire sickle from his pocket and rubbing it forcefully on a corner of the yellow talisman.
As the talisman was ignited by the eerie green flames, Li Huowang suddenly felt uneasy and tilted his head back.
Then he heard some delicate voices speaking, but when he listened carefully, he heard nothing.
The talisman burned, and the remaining ashes did not scatter but twisted and gradually turned into a black-gray object that looked like a wrinkled black baby.
After hesitating for a moment, Li Huowang threw the object into the nearby tea and drank it in one gulp.
Then he stood here quietly, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.
At this time, a rooster crowed outside, and Li Huowang and Lou Zhixian stared at each other in the room.
"Does this talisman book work or not? Isn't it for divination? Where is the hexagram?" Li Huowang looked at the object in his hand and began to suspect.
Feeling Li Huowang's frustration, Lou Zhixian immediately said kindly, "Sir, you have been busy all day. Why don't you rest first?"
Li Huowang, who was still energetic, continued to flip through the talisman book in his hand with a furrowed brow.
But at this moment, a petite girl walked out from the door, shaking Lou Zhixian's clothes gently. "Daddy... why aren't you sleeping again?"
Facing his daughter, Lou Zhixian naturally couldn't be tough. He quickly coaxed her with a gentle voice. "Oh, good daughter, go have breakfast with your mother first. I'll be there in a moment."
"Um~ I don't want to. Daddy, you said the same thing yesterday." The girl pouted and spoke intimately to Lou Zhixian. Just then, a low drink scared the father and daughter, causing them to tremble.
As Li Huowang walked towards them, Lou Zhixian's face turned pale instantly, and he quickly stood in front of his daughter. "Sir... this is the official's daughter."
Li Huowang pushed him aside and rushed to the girl, pulling a colorful cloth bag from her waist in front of her shocked eyes.
He stared at the pattern on the cloth bag and asked, "Who made this?"
Part of the pattern on this cloth bag was surprisingly the same as the previous hexagram.Lou Zhixian's daughter was obviously frightened by the fierce man. She first glanced at her father and, seeing that he did not come to her rescue, she trembled as she said, "This sachet was made by my embroiderer."
"Embroiderer? Bring her here!" There could not be such a coincidence in this world. Perhaps the talisman really worked. This was the divination Li Huowang needed!
Soon, the so-called embroiderer was brought to Li Huowang by the constables. She looked older than Lou Zhixian's daughter, but she had a gentle and delicate appearance, as if she would fall over with a light breeze.
"Did you make this sachet?" Li Huowang held up the object and questioned the woman.
"Um..." The embroiderer answered softly, not daring to look up.
"Why is there a bird with this design on the sachet?"
"It's mandarin ducks..."
"Why did you embroider this design?!" Li Huowang's roar frightened everyone present.
The embroiderer looked like she was about to cry, with tears rolling in her eyes. "Mandarin ducks... are always embroidered like this..."
Li Huowang stood up and walked towards the embroiderer. The sound of his footsteps was accompanied by the friction between the sword and its scabbard. As he drew the Zisui Sword, Li Huowang, filled with malevolent energy, became terrifying in the eyes of everyone in the room.
Standing in front of the embroiderer, Li Huowang's almost tangible pressure instantly crushed her. "I don't know! My grandmother taught me to embroider like this! Mandarin ducks have always been embroidered like this."
But then, the room fell silent. Whether it was the constable holding his knife, or the teacher stroking his beard, they all stared wide-eyed at the embroiderer.
The first half of her voice was fine, but the second half was actually a man's voice!
The constable rushed forward and groped the embroiderer's chest. Then, with a shocked expression, he turned to Lou Zhixian and said, "Your Honor! This woman is a cross-dresser!"
Lou Zhixian was horrified to hear this and immediately looked at his daughter.
Li Huowang grabbed the cross-dressing embroiderer by the neck and slowly lifted him up. "Lou Zhixian, it looks like we've found the culprit who defiled the woman!"
"Throw... throw him into the dungeon and interrogate him! Interrogate him harshly!" Lou Zhixian's voice trembled as he gave the order.
Having finally found a clue, Li Huowang could not let it go. He followed the cross-dressing embroiderer, who was being escorted by the constables, to the prison in Cangshui County.
Not long after, the prison was filled with the cross-dresser's miserable screams.
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".
"Tell me! Who are your accomplices? Where are they hiding now? Why did you steal the baby?!"Looking at the red branding iron that was making a sizzling sound against his skin, as well as the whip soaking in the saltwater barrel, Li Huowang couldn't help but frown.
"Alright, everyone can leave now," he stood up and walked towards the unrecognizable embroidered man.
Completely ignoring the branding iron that the historian had handed over, Li Huowang walked up to him and took off his hat.
His wounds had healed quickly, and most of the skin on his face had already grown back, but this made Li Huowang even more terrifying.
The embroidered man, who had been tortured to exhaustion, seemed to have regained some strength when he saw Li Huowang's appearance, and he desperately leaned back, as if afraid that Li Huowang would eat him.
"Clang clang..." With the sound of metal hitting metal, the various torture instruments slowly opened at his feet. "Speak."
"I really don't know! I admit to raping women, but I didn't steal any babies!" The embroidered man was so scared that he wet himself, but his words remained unchanged.
"Is that so?" Li Huowang picked up a small saw and pressed his head against the wall with his hand, then began sawing left and right.
If the embroidered man's voice had been a human scream before, then for the next period of time, his voice became a complete ghostly howl.
Half an hour later, Li Huowang recited the Fire Coat Scripture and began to heal the dying embroidered man.
"Weird, why is this? This guy really doesn't know?" Li Huowang was sure that the man was telling the truth, and even he himself might not have been able to withstand this round of torture.
"Could it be...that the person who raped the women and the person who stole the babies were actually two different groups of people? It's just that they happened at the same time, so they were mistaken for happening together?"
As soon as he thought of this possibility, Li Huowang's mood became extremely bad, and the clue was broken again.
Li Huowang had never felt so difficult before. Regardless of the other party's strength, the fact that they were avoiding him was very annoying.
He now realized that the work of the Monitor Division was different from what he had imagined before.
At this time, Li Huowang's stomach growled. He hadn't eaten three meals already, and he was afraid he would starve if he didn't eat soon.
After looking at the unrecognizable embroidered man again, Li Huowang turned and walked towards the prison gate.
The historian, who was watching dumbfoundedly, saw that Li Huowang was leaving and didn't go to see him off. Instead, he suddenly kicked the nearby prison guard's butt.
The panicked guard had no choice but to put on a smile and send Li Huowang off.
"Take care, come back often, your hands are really skilled, sir!"
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