Chapter 86: Grave Robbing

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The four of them soared above the clouds, hurrying toward Yongzhou.

Bai Qiu was the first to speak. "Qi, do you have any plan?"

Shi Qi pondered for a moment, then replied, "We'll dig up the grave."

Bai Qiu exclaimed, "What? Really?"

"Of course," Shi Qi said. "We need to exhume Yuan Chengtian's body and examine his fatal wounds to discover how he died. That way, we'll find the evidence to clear my name. Otherwise, we can’t just charge into Starpoint Manor and destroy it without reason or justification."

Sun Fanbai nodded in agreement. "Shi is right. Even though Yuan Chenglu and the others attacked you, they claimed to have 'just cause'—avenging Yuan Chengtian. As long as we can prove Yuan Chengtian wasn’t killed by you, we’ll have reason to confront Yuan Chenglu."

Master Yuanwu joined in, his palms pressed together in prayer. "Amitabha. Daoist Sun speaks wisely. We are all righteous cultivators. We cannot resort to the ways of the demonic sects; acting rashly is most improper."

Bai Qiu grinned. "Well, let’s go dig up that old man’s grave! Clear Qi’s name!"

With that, all four sped toward the borders of Yongzhou.

Three days later—

They landed on the backside of Starpoint Manor’s mountain.

The rear mountain of Starpoint Manor was the ancestral burial ground, where generations of the Yuan family’s elders had been laid to rest in the family tomb.

At that moment, only two ordinary disciples stood guard outside the mausoleum.

Shi Qi and the others hid to one side. Bai Qiu stepped forward, affixed with a "Conceal" talisman, and quickly pressed two Sleeping Talismans onto the disciples’ necks. Both fell into a deep slumber.

"Let’s go!"

Bai Qiu beckoned, and the four appeared before the tomb’s entrance.

Shi Qi pushed open the tomb door, and the group entered.

The mausoleum was not large—it was a cave hewn into the mountainside and reinforced with green stone bricks.

"Yuan Chengtian wasn’t cremated, was he?" Shi Qi asked suddenly.

Sun Fanbai replied, "No. All the major sects keep family tombs, large or small, where the bodies of their patriarchs and notable elders are preserved. They are not cremated. Instead, a Corpse-Preserving Pill is placed in their mouths to keep the bodies eternally uncorrupted, looking exactly as they did in life."

Bai Qiu said, "If Yuan Chenglu is the mastermind, might the body not be here?"

Sun Fanbai analyzed, "I doubt it. If Yuan Chenglu truly is behind this, he would have to follow the proper rituals to avoid suspicion. He wouldn’t dare tamper with the body, or it would be a clear sign of guilt."

Shi Qi nodded. "Besides, he would never imagine that anyone would target Yuan Chengtian’s corpse."

Bai Qiu agreed. "Let’s find Yuan Chengtian’s coffin first."

They entered the main chamber, where three coffins lay, all crafted from golden nanmu wood, famed for resisting decay for a thousand years.

The four approached, searching for Yuan Chengtian’s coffin.

"Here," Bai Qiu said, pointing to the coffin on the far right.

They stepped forward. In front of the coffin was a memorial tablet inscribed: "Spirit of Yuan Chengtian, Third Master of Starpoint Manor."

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"Open it!"

Shi Qi struck the coffin lid with his palm. Coffins for cultivators were not sealed with nails, but with true energy.

Under Shi Qi’s forceful blow, the energy barrier dissipated and the lid flew off.

At the same moment, Master Yuanwu pressed his palms together and began reciting the Sutra of Kṣitigarbha's Vows: "Thus have I heard. Once, the Buddha was in Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, expounding the Dharma to his mother. At that time, from countless worlds in all directions, innumerable Buddhas and great Bodhisattvas gathered, praising Shakyamuni Buddha for manifesting inconceivable wisdom and supernatural powers in this evil world of five defilements, subduing the rebellious and guiding beings to know suffering and joy, each sending attendants to honor the World-Honored One…"

Shi Qi leaned in to examine the coffin. Yuan Chengtian’s body lay quietly within, indeed preserved by the Corpse-Preserving Pill. Months had passed, but he looked exactly as he had in death.

They scrutinized the body, searching for any clues.

Yuan Chengtian’s corpse bore many wounds, which Shi Qi examined one by one.

First, the limbs and torso were marked by claw wounds—Shi Qi recognized these as the work of Su Xiaomu’s "Ninefold Instant Kill."

Next, the face and torso bore blade wounds, likely inflicted by Yuan Feixue’s "Shadow Prison Kill Formation."

The shoulder wound was recent, caused by Shi Qi’s ice spear.

Bai Qiu frowned as he looked at Yuan Chengtian’s left arm. "Where is his right hand?"

Meanwhile, Sun Fanbai noticed something else. He opened Yuan Chengtian’s robe at the chest and said, "Brother Shi, it appears this wound at the heart was the fatal blow—stabbed straight through the heart and lung by a sword."

Shi Qi thought for a moment, then said, "I recall clearly that I never severed his right hand during our fight—I didn’t have that ability. The shoulder wound was from my ice spear, and it’s shallow. As for the fatal sword wound in the chest, that wasn’t mine; my cultivation isn’t strong enough to pierce through his body in one strike."

The others nodded, each considering quietly.

Bai Qiu spoke first. "Suppose Yuan Chengtian, after leaving the battlefield with you, encountered a stronger foe, fought and lost, and was killed—could that be?"

Sun Fanbai nodded. "That seems most likely. Yuan Chengtian was wounded and heading for Starpoint Manor. If he reached home and was murdered, someone would know. But from the evidence, he never made it back. So he likely met his end on the road."

Shi Qi added, "Though Yuan Chengtian was injured, he wasn’t fatally so. He still retained half his strength. For a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, even at half power, he would not be easily killed by an ordinary opponent."

Sun Fanbai said, "And as you’ve seen, other than the fatal chest wound and the missing right hand, there are no additional injuries."

Shi Qi nodded. "If he had fought someone else, there should be traces left—wounds not caused by me."

Bai Qiu said, "But aside from the wounds you left, there’s only the fatal blow and the severed hand. Unless…"

All three looked up.

Shi Qi said, "Unless it was someone he knew, who caught him off guard and struck by surprise."

Sun Fanbai nodded. "Furthermore, even with a severed hand, Yuan Chengtian could have used the Mending Technique to heal himself. The only explanation is that he was dealt a fatal injury first, and then his hand was severed—by then, he lacked the strength to heal."

Bai Qiu pondered, "But why cut off his right hand?"

Sun Fanbai examined the arm. "The cut is clean, made by a very sharp blade."

Shi Qi wondered aloud, "Why would the killer take his right hand?"

Bai Qiu rested his chin in his right hand. "The right hand… why the right hand?"

Shi Qi looked up at Bai Qiu and suddenly realized. "Bai Qiu, raise your right hand. What do you see on it?"

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"Hmm?" At Shi Qi’s words, Bai Qiu lifted his right hand. On his index finger was a ring, glittering brightly.

"The Universe Ring?"

Shi Qi nodded. "Exactly. The Universe Ring! And Yuan Chengtian’s right hand wasn’t returned to the coffin. If Yuan Chenglu was the first to find the body, why not bring back the right hand?"

Sun Fanbai reasoned, "The killer wouldn’t need to take the whole left hand—just the ring."

"So," Shi Qi asked, "where did the missing right hand go?"

Sun Fanbai suggested, "Should we search the route from Starpoint Manor to where you fought Yuan Chengtian? See if there are any traces along the way?"

Shi Qi shook his head. "That would take too long. And after all this time, the manor folk have likely searched already. Even if not, a wild beast could have carried it off."

The four fell silent. The trail had gone cold. They could prove Shi Qi was not the killer, but lacked hard evidence. If they attacked Starpoint Manor now, they would break the rules.

Bai Qiu was furious. "Why not wait for Yuan Chenglu to travel alone, ambush him as they did you, and finish him off!"

Shi Qi shook his head. "No. That would make us no better than them. We must respect the rules. I am eager for revenge as well, but not by these means. Besides, we don’t know Yuan Chenglu’s whereabouts… Wait—"

He suddenly frowned and stopped mid-sentence.

Seeing his look, Bai Qiu asked urgently, "Did you realize something?"

Shi Qi frowned. "Whereabouts… whereabouts… Yes, I’ve overlooked something. How did Starpoint Manor always know where I was? The first time, Yuan Chengtian ambushed me on the road from Yongzhou City to Mount Jiazi. The second time, Yuan Chenglu and his group ambushed me at Egret Beach after I left Donghai City. How did they know my destination?"

He looked up. "How did they always know where I was?"

Sun Fanbai asked, "Did you take anything from Starpoint Manor—some artifact with a tracking function?"

Shi Qi opened his storage pouch and rummaged through it. Aside from some herbs, there was only the golden obsidian.

He hesitated. "No… unless it’s the golden obsidian?"

Sun Fanbai shook his head. "I checked the golden obsidian that day—there was no formation on it."

Bai Qiu said, "Then someone must have been tailing you. If Starpoint Manor can hire assassins to ambush you, they could also hire a master of stealth and tracking."

Sun Fanbai considered, "You mean, someone like Shi Cai of the Heavenly Origin Sect—a master of stealth—has been shadowing Shi Qi all along?"

Bai Qiu nodded. "I can’t think of another way they could have tracked him so precisely."

"Who is Shi Cai?" asked Shi Qi.

Bai Qiu explained, "A disciple of the Heavenly Origin Sect. He was born with a physical defect—though in his thirties, he looks like a three-year-old. He joined the sect as a child and mastered both earth-escape and concealment techniques—he’s a top infiltrator and intelligence gatherer."

Sun Fanbai asked, "Shi, do you recall anyone suspicious on your journey?"

Shi Qi closed his eyes, replaying his travels with Su Xiaomu in his mind.

After a while, he shook his head. "No. Either no such person exists, or he hid so well that I could not detect him, even with my cultivation."