Lan Jing Forest (12)

Tan Yan scoffed, "Ridiculous! Are you suggesting that I diverted the curse from myself to him? I'm flattered, but I am not even that talented enough to cast that curse. It's too delicate to handle. And it's land magic! I'm not an expert at that!"

Shin Minji laughed with a low voice.

"I am the expert at that," she declared.

Tan Yan kept his mouth shut.

Being the head of a leading clan in the Western Valleys known for their land magic, it is undeniable that Shin Minji is the most knowledgeable on the subject.

"Do you know why this curse is not considered as dark magic? In some places, it might even be called a healing spell."

The elders looked confused, some of them shook their heads.

Shin Minji asked another question.

"Have any of you heard of the 'shared pain' spell?"

From behind the trees, Zhou Xin was surprised when she heard that.

It must have shown on her face, because Chen Liang chirped, "What is it? What did you hear?"

Zhou Xin mumbled, "Shared pain."

"Huh?"

Tan Ren replied, "You mean the spell? I hate that. One of our classmates kept using it as a prank."

Zhou Xin nodded.

She knew that spell as well. It was a popular spell amongst children.

At that time, Elder Xinyuan also responded to Shin Minji's question.

"Yes, it is a very troublesome spell."

And the others were familiar with it too.

"My students are fond of that."

"Mine too. I've tried to ban it in class, but I actually found it useful to help them practice at times."

It appeared to be a simple spell that even children can use. It was odd as to why Shin Minji would bring it up.

"Right," Shin Minji said. "It's an old trick that even children use. It was popularized first in the Western Valleys. A kid, a beginner in magic, yelled out, 'Shared pain!' before using the spell and slapped himself. Interestingly, his friend experienced the pain of the slap. Just like its name, the target will feel the slap even though nothing touched him. It was as if the caster could 'share' his pain with the target."

Elder Xinyuan's eyes widened when he realized.

"Wait… So you're saying…"

It seemed that they started to understand.

"As you all know, the trick uses a minimum amount of spiritual energy. It needed some kind of medium. For children, the easiest thing to get would be a single strand of hair, and it would be enough. And depending on the spiritual energy released, it would determine the amount of pain transferred. The caster could share fifty-fifty, or even all of the pain towards the target.

"When mages discovered this trick, it was regarded as a curse, despite not using any resentful energy. Simply because the potential of this spell was dangerous, but years ago, a mage that specialized in medicine from the west studied this spell and modified it to cure her patients. She successfully transferred a common cold from a person into a dying bird.

"The news of her invention was groundbreaking at the time, but the details of her research weren't publicized because it was misused by a rogue mage who transferred his incurable disease to a regular civilian. Since then, only members of very few clans in the west knew of the spell. Then again, it is hard to keep information to oneself."

Shin Minji walked towards Tan Yan, her sword unsheathed.

Tan Yan grimaced and argued.

"How would I know of that spell? I don't have any connections to the west! I didn't even know about the invention of that healing spell!"

Shin Minji clicked her tongue.

"Don't you understand? Even children understand the basics of this spell. It's just a matter of time until mages find ways to modify it, be it a cure or a curse. In your case, you used it as a curse."

"You have no proof of that!"

"The founder of that healing spell was my great grandmother."

"..."

Slash!

Shin Minji had swung the sword to rip clean a small part of Tan Yan's robe sleeve.

On his wrist, there was a thin scar that looked like the mark of a small knife cut.

Shin Minji continued, "Every curse has its backlash. 'Shared pain' creates the same exact wound on the caster and the target at the exact same spot. Earlier when I examined Tan Ming's body, he had that identical scar."

Tan Yan's face turned red with anger, and he started to yell.

"Is it wrong for me to want to live?! I deserve to live! I deserve to live more than that bastard! I told you! All of you! This is all because of that damn Chen Clan! I don't deserve to die just because of doing their dirty work!"

All of a sudden, someone laughed.

"Hahahaha!"

Everyone turned to where the laughter came from.

On top of a low branch of a tall tree, sat a dirty looking thief laughing amusedly.

He seemed to have returned to his body and was listening in on their conversation.

"You don't deserve to die from doing their dirty work? Why did you agree to work with them anyway? To get power? Isn't that why all the victims are buried in this forest? It's not like the Chen Clan could access this forest freely without the Tan Clan noticing!"

For someone who had just drained his blood for a large array, and was just possessed by over a hundred spirits, Kou seemed full of energy.

Bham!

Shin Minji had casted an attack spell, but Kou didn't dodge it, resulting in him falling over from the tree whilst still laughing. Before he hit the ground, Shin Minji invoked the ground to mold and form another dirt trap to catch him safely, and restraining him at the same time.

"Hahahaha!"

Behind the trees, Zhou Xin was glad that Kou's soul had returned, but she also didn't expect how full of life he was. How did he even break out of Shin Minji's binding back at the array?

Chen Liang was impressed, "Whoa! Since when did he get here?"

The elders looked at the cheerful thief, confused at whether they should be terrified that he was in full spirit, or relieved that Shin Minji had already detained him.

Kou rambled on, "By the way! I saw what you did, you know? How you had tortured someone by crushing them with boulders over and over until they died. Is that how desperate for power you were?"

Tan Yan glared at him.

He mocked, "Are you all going to listen to the words of this pirate? Are you going to believe what comes out of his mouth?"

But before any of them responded, Kou replied.

"It doesn't matter that I'm a pirate if I know the truth."

Although Tan Yan was a culprit in this case, Kou was still a criminal. They didn't have a reason to listen to his words. Realizing this, Elder Xinyuan spoke up.

"How can you prove that what you saw is the truth?"

With a grin on his face, Kou answered, "I know that Tan Ming is his grandson. And that he doesn't accept him as a 'Tan' and made him use the name 'Xu Ming' outside of the residence."

Kou observed their expressions and found that some elders knew of this as they had uncomfortable looks on their faces.

The sect leader nodded, "Yes, Tan Ming is his grandson. That is true. What else do you know?"

Most of the details of Jiajia's life wouldn't really help them with the case. Kou tried to remember some information that might actually help them to find something.

"Xiao Xi village," he said.

Tan Yan's face immediately paled.

Kou continued, "He, and whoever else behind this had been targeting small, unknown villages. How clever. One of them is Xiao Xi village. It's headed east, about a two-hour walk from here. You can probably find information about it from a nearby town."

That should be enough, he thought.

It should be enough for them to investigate. At the very least, the people from the town near that village should know something.

Like that old lady as the shopkeeper of a magic store. 

For a great clan with a lot of resources, the Tan Clan should be able to easily prove that people of the Xiao Xi village were innocent. It would take more time, but Kou was sure they would be able to find the mastermind behind these unfair 'purge' acts.

Other than that, it would be best for them to dig up the corpses in the forest and give them a proper burial. Kou had found that most of the bodies were just piled up in a large hole.

The ground where he had drawn the array was one of them.

One spot held about twenty to thirty corpses. He wondered how many small villages were wiped out with the victims just tossed into the forest without a care.

As he thought about it, his mind pictured another empty village he came across a few days ago around Chunfeng Alley. He remembered that it was a small village that he didn't really know about.

He remembered that he got there because he was chasing Zhou Xin.

And he remembered what Madam Su had said about her.

About how Zhou Xin's village was lost to the sea mage purge.

Kou shook off his thoughts before it continued further and observed his surroundings.

The elders had been instructed to drag Tan Yan back into the residence. Except for Elder Xinyuan, who was talking to the children about something, although Zhou Xin seemed to be spacing out and was looking over with a frown towards Kou.

Kou smiled at her brightly, in which he received a glare in return.

What is wrong with that kid? Aren't you worried about me?

He then looked over to the other side.

Shin Minji seemed to be discussing something with the sect leader, when the sect leader suddenly turned towards him.

Then, the sect leader gave a slight bow.

Kou was confused.

What was that?

A 'thank you'?

Kou thought about it from the perspective of the elders. From their point of view, it really looked like he was just passing through the forest, when he noticed the dark energy and got possessed to absorb them, before finally letting the mages do a quick exorcism.

There was no good reason for a thief like him to do all of that.

It was as if he was doing a good deed.

But wouldn't they assume that it was all just a coincidence? Maybe I was just annoyed by that dense dark energy and tried to get rid of it.

The look on the sect leader's face as he bowed seemed too sincere.

Also, Tan Yan had called him 'brother' earlier. It's so weird to think the culprit behind everything was directly related to the sect leader.

I remembered the head of the Tan Clan was not the current sect leader back then. Wasn't it his eldest brother?

Then that makes Tan Yan the third brother. No wonder he got so power hungry. He was the youngest despite being in the direct line for the clan head.

Hmm… Was the sect leader not suspicious of him at all?

If the sect leader was Tan Yan's brother, Then he was Tan Ming's granduncle. Kou thought that he surely had to notice something.

He was then reminded by the anonymous request sent to the Jade House.

In the end, who sent it?

It could be one of the elders. Or anyone in the residence that knew enough, but couldn't do much to solve the case.

Perhaps, it was someone who knew about the changing energy in the forest, but couldn't really prove anything. Maybe they could dig out where the bodies are buried, but wouldn't they be blamed for that instead?

And perhaps, they already had suspicions against Tan Yan, the true culprit behind the corpses, but maybe they weren't able to do anything, because they had no proof and no information. Especially if he really had the Chen Clan as his backing.

Or perhaps, they were familiar with his manipulative nature, and didn't want to set him off the wrong way to cause harm to other students, just as he did to his own grandson.

That would mean…

Could it be?

Kou watched as the sect leader approached him, Shin Minji was right beside him.

A good sect leader would know when to ask for help for the sake of his clan.

The sect leader still had a look of gratitude on his face. But on the contrary, his words didn't express gratitude at all.

"It seems that we've managed to kill two birds with one stone with this case. We found the culprit behind the incidents of Lan Jing Forest, and the Lone Pirate."

The sect leader turned to Shin Minji.

"Once again, thank you for your help, Shin Minji. As you've caught him, the pirate is all yours. You don't have to pay the bounty."

Kou laughed at the sect leader's statement, "What makes you think I've been caught?"