Within the opulent halls of the Great Qi dynasty, a monument meant to honor loyalty became a harbinger of doom. As the newly unveiled Langhua Pavilion (琅华阁) opened its doors, housing statues commemorating forty-eight devoted ministers, an unspeakable horror unfolded. The stone visages of the four highest-ranking pillars of the court suddenly wept streams of crimson blood. This chilling omen swiftly manifested in reality: each of the tear-shedding ministers met grotesque, untimely ends, branded by the chilling signature of the Night Fiend.
Into this maelstrom of fear stepped Xiao Beiming (萧北冥), the Shenbu Camp's (神捕营) most arrogant investigator, promising swift resolution even as his own wedding day loomed. His pursuit would unravel secrets darker than imagined, leading to a bridal ceremony drenched in betrayal and blood.
Crimson Warnings
The Langhua Pavilion ceremony descended into chaos. Witnessed by the Emperor himself, the blood tears staining the statues ignited superstitious terror. Panic proved prophetic. Lu Wenzhong (陆文忠), dispatched to quell banditry in Jizhou, was decapitated mid-gallop. Near his headless corpse, etched onto a tree, gleamed the characters for Night Fiend. Days later, Qin Ye (秦业) spontaneously combusted while reading scrolls by candlelight, his ashes forming the same ominous signature. Fan Jingzhi (樊敬志) met a watery grave in his own washbasin, the characters appearing in blood-red on his mirror. The terror wasn't confined to court. Fishermen hauled up fish whose bellies contained cloth strips proclaiming "Night Fiend descends, Great Qi falls," moments before the river itself seemed to bleed.
Xiao Beiming, renowned for his brilliance and infamous for his conceit, saw the crisis as a stage. Before the Emperor, he audaciously pledged to solve the case within three days. His reason? His wedding to Zhong Xueman (钟雪漫), was scheduled for the fourth day.
Recognizing Shen Bi’s (沈敝) planned journey outside the capital as the perfect trap for the Night Fiend, Xiao devised a counter-ploy. He dispatched four identical carriages along different routes, using condemned prisoners disguised as Shen Bi. Only the carriage Xiao personally accompanied was attacked, the imposter Shen felled by a needle strike to a fatal acupoint. Yet, when Xiao presented the real, unharmed Shen Bi to the Emperor, he claimed the case was cracked.
Patterns in the Dark
Xiao revealed the blood tears weren't supernatural but a clever trick. A wax called Moluo La (魔罗蜡), applied inside the statues' eye sockets, melted as temperatures rose during the crowded ceremony, creating the illusion of bleeding. The culprit, a bribed minor eunuch, had already committed suicide. The ministers' deaths, Xiao asserted, were meticulously orchestrated murders exploiting specific vulnerabilities. Lu Wenzhong was killed by an almost invisible Blood-Melting Thread strung across his path at neck height, dissolving upon contact with blood. Qin Ye's robes were treated with a flammable compound, ignited by a stray candle flame fanned by wind. Fan Jingzhi's facial medicine was lethally overdosed with wolfsbane, causing paralysis and drowning.
This precision pointed to someone intimately familiar with court affairs and the victims' routines. After planting false information about Shen Bi’s route, Xiao identified three powerful suspects possessing the necessary knowledge, access, and skill.
Confronting such influential figures demanded guile. Xiao proposed gathering them under a pretext, confident he could unmask the Night Fiend. His master, Zhong Yunshi (钟云赤), however, insisted Xiao focus on his impending wedding to Zhong Xueman at the Dingfeng Pavilion (定风阁). Zhong Yunshi declared he would handle the interrogation himself.
Wedding Blades
Amidst the festive preparations at the Dingfeng Pavilion, tension simmered beneath the red silks. Zhong Yunshi invited Yin Erye for a seemingly congenial boat tour on the scenic Fengbo Lake, intending to question them. Xiao Beiming, distrustful, defied his master’s orders to stay with Xueman and forced his way onto the vessel. As the large pleasure boat drifted, surrounded by smaller patrol boats of the Shenbu Camp, Zhong Xueman, whom Xiao had immobilized with acupressure to prevent her following, managed to break free through sheer will, injuring herself in the process.
Driven by dread, Xueman raced across the water towards the boat. What she found inside was a tableau of pure horror. The cabin was a charnel house. Bodies lay strewn, each stitched grotesquely with crimson thread. Her gaze, frozen with terror, finally landed on a figure standing amidst the carnage. Xiao Beiming stood near the stern, a bloody steel needle in his hand. Behind him, held upright by the same crimson threads piercing his body, was the lifeless form of her father, Zhong Yunshi.
Before she could utter a sound, recognition flashed in Xiao’s eyes – a chilling void where her betrothed should have been. The Shenbu archers stationed on the patrol boats, witnessing the scene, loosed their arrows. Struck, Xiao Beiming staggered and plunged into the dark waters of Fengbo Lake. The joyous celebration meant for Zhong Xueman became her father’s funeral pyre and her lover’s watery grave, leaving only the echo of the Night Fiend’s triumph and the blood-red stain spreading across the lake’s surface.
