Holding a lantern, guiding souls across, Lady Hou comes from the underworld.

Yu Lang stood in the snow rubbing his hands together and said, "This place is much colder than inside Liangzhou City."

Xia Ximo glanced at him and handed him the stove.

Just as Yu Shaoqing was about to take it, he felt Ren Fengjue's sharp gaze. Startled, he withdrew his hand and said with a grin, "This stove is too small. Miss Xia should keep it for herself."

Ren Fengjue glanced at him, but said, "I told you to put on that cloak before I left, but you thought it was too cumbersome."

"..."

Despite saying that, Lord Ren still summoned Zhu Peng and asked him if there was a place nearby where he could stay temporarily.

Zhu Peng pondered for a moment, his face clearly showing some difficulty, "At the foot of that mountain there is an abandoned mortuary, quite large, capable of holding many people..."

"However, the mortuary is a place to store corpses, and it is not advisable for the living to go near it. Today is also the first day of the new year, and according to folk beliefs, this will bring bad luck."

Ren Fengjue smiled slightly, "Since we have chosen to come to Zhujia Village to investigate the case today, we will not shy away from these things. We might as well go and see if there are any other clues."

Hearing him say that, Zhu Peng had no choice but to lead the way.

The mortuary was built against the Silent Mountain, and its entrance was almost completely hidden by the surrounding trees, making it quite inconspicuous at first glance.

But once inside, it turned out to be a square courtyard, which was indeed quite large.

Zhu Peng pointed to the main hall, somewhat fearfully: "That's where corpses are stored. It's said that... there are still coffins there."

Yan Zhengchu looked around and said, "Since the deceased has rested in peace, his soul must have found a place. He has not done anything wrong, so there is nothing to be afraid of."

Zhu Peng had seen ghosts before, and after thinking about it carefully, he wasn't so afraid anymore.

He continued, "This mortuary has been empty for over twenty years. I remember seeing the 'coffin keepers' here when I was a child, but then something happened, and they suddenly disappeared..."

Coffin keepers usually need to have a strong birth chart or a disability in their destiny, and be unafraid of being attacked by yin energy in order to deal with corpses.

Most people simply couldn't do that.

Entering this line of work essentially means cutting off all contact with the living, inevitably leading to loneliness and isolation.

Therefore, it is conceivable that after the coffin keeper disappeared, no one would go looking for him, and his fate was extremely tragic.

Yan Zhengchu felt pity and immediately went into the main hall to take a look, and found that there were indeed two empty coffins in the corner.

But apart from that, it was almost completely empty.

Seeing that there was nothing unusual inside, he invited everyone in.

Zhao Wan found the interior too dirty and only moved on after she had the Golden Feather Guards clean the main hall.

Then, the group gathered some dry firewood from the nearby woodshed and set up a fire in the hall to keep warm.

Yu Lang had only warmed his hands for a short while when Ren Fengjue called him away.

"Come with me and look around."

Although Yu Shaoqing was unwilling, he could not disobey, so he went along with her.

In addition to a main hall, the mortuary also had two rooms on the left and right.

One room was used as a woodshed, and the other was the former living quarters of the coffin keeper.

It is evident that the coffin keeper lived a very frugal life. There was not a decent set of furnishings in the room, the bed was made of dry straw, and other utensils were kept to a minimum.

Strangely, the walls of the room were covered with a dense array of bizarre patterns written in charcoal.

Ren Fengjue and Yu Lang couldn't understand it, so they called Yan Zhengchu over.

Master Yan shook his head upon seeing this: "This... isn't a rune. It looks more like an illiterate child scribbling."

After hearing his analysis, Yu Lang also felt that it made sense.

Ren Fengjue remained silent, but his gaze moved from the writing on the wall to the door.

Then, he walked out of the room and looked at the courtyard gate and the door to the main hall.

Yu Lang hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Sir, have you discovered something?"

Ren Fengjue pondered for a moment before saying, "The height of the door seems to have been changed."

All the doors in the mortuary were at least a few inches higher than the doors of ordinary rooms.

And judging from the appearance, it was changed later.

This move is clearly questionable. What happened to make this change?

"Call Zhu Peng over again and ask him."

Yu Lang had not yet figured out the relationship between them, but he still went as instructed.

When Zhu Peng heard them mention the coffin keeper's height, he thought back carefully.

"I didn't think he was very tall, probably only a little taller than an average person. I remember he was standing in front of that gate, wearing a straw hat, so I couldn't see his face..."

Ren Fengjue then asked, "Do you know where he's from?"

Zhu Peng replied, "He's practically half a member of Zhu Family Village. I heard he was once an orphan who was taken in and raised by the previous coffin keeper. After the old coffin keeper passed away, he stayed on to continue looking after the mortuary."

Ren Fengjue remained silent for a moment, then looked up at the unfathomable, silent mountain behind the mortuary.

A feeling began to creep into my heart that this coffin keeper was hiding some secret…

Just then, the faint sound of horses' hooves could be heard outside the door, indicating that the Golden Feather Guards who had gone to the town government to "report the case" had returned.

Sure enough, the group soon arrived at the mortuary.

Ren Fengjue and Yu Lang immediately went out and saw a man dressed in the clothes of a town official leading a group of yamen runners. Judging from the formation, the entire town government had been mobilized.

The town official hesitated as he approached the mortuary, clearly puzzled as to why he would come to such a place…

Upon seeing Ren Fengjue, he visibly paused for a moment, instinctively asking the Golden Feather Guard commander beside him, "And who is this?"

Yu Lang immediately stepped forward, "This is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Lord Ren."

Then, he revealed his Dali Temple badge: "I am Yu Lang, Vice Minister of the Dali Temple."

Upon their arrival, they encountered a high-ranking official from the capital, and the town's officials immediately knelt on the ground.

The town official was so frightened he could barely speak: "This humble official had no idea that you two lords had come to Liangzhou! Princess Fenghua... this humble official will certainly investigate the matter of the princess's disappearance to the very end!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Wan also walked out of the hall.

"I have not disappeared. I summoned you for something else."

The town official was startled again.

But soon he understood, yet he still pretended to be confused: "What does the Princess wish to instruct me on? I will gladly go through fire and water for her!"

Zhao Wan said, "Don't rush to say nice things. I'm asking you, several villages nearby had murders a month ago. Why did you sit idly by and do nothing?"

The town official's eyes darted around and he spotted Zhu Peng standing to the side. Although he was surprised that the other party could actually get Princess Fenghua to help him, he had already thought of what to say.

"I did receive a report, but the case was serious, so I could only report it to the county government. However, I have not received any instructions and dare not handle it on my own."

Ren Fengjue had anticipated their repeated excuses, so he immediately said, "It's alright, you can wait here. I believe the magistrate should be arriving soon."