"Alright, I understand. Send me the address," Zhao Yan said.
After hanging up the phone, Wang Xianzhi asked helplessly, "Master, why does Lan Jing always come to you with his problems? Doesn't he have any capable assistants?"
Zhao Yan replied, "It's fine. I charge for my services, I don't work for free."
"Disciple, your Taoist temple is quite impressive. I'm no match for you in business, but you need to pay more attention to your skills. Starting tomorrow, you'll be drawing talismans with me."
Upon hearing this, Wang Xianzhi's earlier look of helplessness vanished, and he beamed at Zhao Yan, saying, "Okay, Master."
As he spoke, his phone chimed. Zhao Yan glanced at it and walked towards the Taoist temple.
Wang Xianzhi, following behind, said, "Master, I'll go with you."
"That's fine."
To avoid embarrassing Zhao Yan, or perhaps to enhance her Taoist prestige, Wang Xianzhi called for a stretched Lincoln luxury sedan.
Zhao Yan chuckled wryly, shaking her head at the sight of the long car.
"Master, please," Wang Xianzhi said.
Zhao Yan got into the car and gave the address on her phone to Wang Xianzhi's dedicated driver.
Upon arriving at Jingcheng River, even before getting out of the car, she saw many people gathered by the river through the car window.
Before they even reached the spot, the driver honked the horn.
The people working by the river immediately turned to look at the car.
Lan Jing and the others were displeased; the honking had disrupted their thoughts.
Zhao Yan frowned and said, "There's no traffic jam ahead, honking for no reason will startle people."
She recalled times when she had been startled by the loud horns of inconsiderate truck drivers on the roadside.
Zhao Yan got out of the car and walked towards Lan Jing and his group.
Seeing that the person in the luxury sedan was Zhao Yan, Lan Jing's displeased expression turned into a smile.
Wang Xianzhi maintained a stern face.
The driver apologized, "I just wanted to draw Miss Zhao's attention, and I accidentally tried to curry favor and ended up offending her."
"Hmph! If my master wanted attention, she would be as famous as a celebrity by now."
In Wang Xianzhi's opinion, it would be incredibly easy for Zhao Yan to gain attention if she publicized the matter involving Old Master Long. Why would she ask Lan Jing and the others to keep it a secret?
"If this happens again, you won't have to come to work next time."
After Old Master Long's incident, various rumors circulated within the metaphysical community.
Especially since only two of the eight masters had survived, people were speculating about who was responsible for Old Master Long's predicament.
Old Master Long had immense influence, and after this incident, those behind him had sacrificed him to protect themselves, indicating the extremely negative impact of the event.
If the forces behind it intervened, it could easily incite public outrage.
"Miss Zhao, I apologize for disturbing you again," Lan Jing said sheepishly.
He had only been transferred to Jing City this year and lacked any truly capable assistants.
When he hired skilled individuals, they all acted arrogant and difficult.
Either they were slow to respond, and by the time they arrived, the matter was already over.
Or they demanded exorbitant fees and had inflated egos, making them truly hard to deal with.
Take the Zheng Qinqin incident, for example. Lan Jing had called for assistance, but by the time the matter was resolved, there was no sign of the people he had called.
It was rare to find someone like Zhao Yan, who was skilled and yet not arrogant.
"It's alright, let's take a look at this," Zhao Yan said.
"Right this way," Lan Jing replied.
By the river, a corpse was covered with a white cloth.
Lan Jing said, "Miss Zhao, this corpse looks quite gruesome, you need to be mentally prepared."
"It's fine."
Zhao Yan pulled back the white cloth.
As the cloth was lifted, a skinless female corpse appeared before her. The characters for "筷書閣" were present.
The female corpse's entire body was pale flesh, and her skin had been completely removed from head to toe.
Her ears were pierced by wooden sticks, and a glass bottle the size of a fist was stuffed into her mouth. Her eyes were wide open, as if she had died with unresolved grievances.
Due to intense pain, deep bite marks were visible on the rim of the glass bottle.
Her facial features were contorted to an extreme degree by the pain.
Even though she had seen much in her life, Zhao Yan felt a slight discomfort.
"The victim was likely submerged in water for two days, her body is bloated and her stomach is distended."
Hearing Lan Jing's words, Wang Xianzhi leaned forward curiously, pulled back the white cloth, and took a look.
A putrid smell assailed his nostrils.
Upon seeing the corpse's extremely tragic state, he immediately gagged and vomited.
"I apologize for my rudeness, I'll go over there to recover," Wang Xianzhi said, covering his mouth.
He rushed to the car, grabbed a bottle of mineral water, and rinsed his mouth vigorously.
"For someone like Brother Wang, our staff just experienced something similar," Lan Jing said by way of comfort.
After cleaning himself up, Wang Xianzhi dared not glance at the corpse again. He asked, "Master, the victim's stomach is so distended, did she drink water before she died?"
Zhao Yan squatted down. Lan Jing handed her a pair of disposable gloves.
Taking the disposable gloves, she gently patted the corpse's stomach and then shook it slightly.
"It's not water, there's no sloshing sound from her stomach."
Lan Jing nodded, "Yes, it's not water."
Zhao Yan stood up. Lan Jing said, "According to our staff's examination, there should be grass inside the victim's stomach."
"Grass? Why grass?"
Wang Xianzhi shook his head, "I'm not sure about that. If I knew, I wouldn't need to ask Miss Zhao to come."
Zhao Yan thought of a delicacy.
Using the undigested grass from a cow's stomach as a culinary ingredient.
Could this perpetrator have used a similar method?
"Miss Zhao, this is the victim's information," Lan Jing said.
Zhao Yan took it.
She opened the booklet. Although the handwriting was a bit messy, it was still legible.
"Zhu Cijing, twenty-four years old, residing in Nanyang District, Jing City."
"She was an environmental volunteer."
Lan Jing explained, "A few days ago, she was with several other environmental volunteers picking up trash by the river."
"They were conducting a four-day environmental protection activity."
"After the activity concluded, everyone else went home, and some people saw Zhu Cijing returning home as well."
"They were planning to organize another three-day forest conservation awareness campaign, but they hadn't heard from Zhu Cijing."
"Logically, she was the most enthusiastic participant."
Wang Xianzhi exclaimed, "Grass!"
"Such a good girl is gone just like that."
Zhao Yan also felt a pang of regret and sighed.
She placed her hands on Zhu Cijing's eyelids.
"My name is Zhao Yan. I will handle your affairs. If you trust me, rest in peace."
Then, she softly recited a spell.
"May all four lives be blessed, and the deceased attain transcendence..."
A pain-relief talisman was placed on Zhu Cijing's forehead.
Hopefully, this talisman would alleviate some of her pain as a spirit.
"May your reincarnation in the next life be peaceful, free from such suffering, and filled with happiness and well-being."
Zhu Cijing, whose eyes had been open, slowly closed them.