PD -Chapter 14 Spirit-Gathering Clarity Art

The bloody tears ran down the wall and pooled on the floor. Several servants were currently mopping up the dark-red liquid inside the room.

The moment I stepped into the display room, a faint metallic scent hit my nose. The smell seemed to be coming from the liquid on the floor…

At first, I wasn’t sure whether the red liquid was actually blood. However, that unmistakable bloody odor saved me a lot of trouble. There was no doubt about it now—those stains were indeed blood.

“Aunties, please step outside for a moment and let Mr. Qiu have a look first,” Zhu Zhu politely said to the servants cleaning the floor.

The servants were quite sensible. They picked up their buckets and quickly left. As soon as they were gone, Tang Shanshan patted me on the shoulder and asked, “Well? Did you figure anything out?”

I pointed at the pool of red liquid on the floor.

“It really is blood.”

Hearing that, both Tang Shanshan and Zhu Zhu instinctively took two frightened steps backward.

“But it didn’t come from the masks. Judging from the smell, it seems more like the blood of some animal.”

I continued thoughtfully.

In places where spiritual energy accumulates excessively, imbalances between yin and yang often give rise to supernatural phenomena.

For example, so-called haunted houses or old haunted hotels often have reports of bloody writing appearing on mirrors, or blood flowing from faucets and toilets.

In reality, that “blood” is not actual blood at all. It is merely a kind of medium—or signal—that does not belong to this world.

Its appearance usually indicates that the yin-yang balance of the area has become chaotic, spiritual energy has grown too dense, and something that should no longer exist in this world has appeared.

This medium has no fixed form or color. Environmental conditions, human perception, and various external factors all influence how it manifests.

As a result, it may appear as bloodwater flowing from a hotel restroom sink, or as eerie sobbing winds drifting through a mountain path. What ordinary people witness is merely the outward manifestation of the supernatural signal.

But the blood flowing from these masks smelled rancid and fishy, just like the black dog blood used by fraudulent exorcists.

Clearly, it was not a supernatural medium.

Tang Shanshan and Zhu Zhu looked even more confused after hearing my explanation.

Zhu Zhu cautiously bent down and observed the dark-red blood on the floor for a moment.

“Then why would there be animal blood here?”

I pointed at the masks hanging on the wall, each streaked with bloody tears.

“I don’t think these are tears shed by haunted masks at all. Honestly, it looks exactly like what Mr. Zhu suspected—someone is pulling a prank.”

“A prank? Who would do something so stupid?” Tang Shanshan immediately stopped being scared. Instead, she puffed up her cheeks and angrily complained.

“Zhu Zhu, could you gather all of your household staff together? I’d like to ask them a few questions. Something about this feels off.”

As I spoke, I recalled the scene from earlier when Zhu Shengxing had lifted his shirt and revealed that shriveled, loose, deflated abdomen.

That was the kind of sight that should shock and terrify anyone who saw it.

So why did Zhu Shengxing himself seem completely unaware of it?

And what about his private nurse who had been giving him injections? Or Zhu Zhu?

They must have seen the shriveled skin on his stomach as well. Why were they acting as if nothing was wrong?

And was it really just a coincidence that he fell ill at the same time this “bleeding mask” incident occurred?

Countless questions began fermenting in my mind, pulling me deeper into thought.

Zhu Zhu readily agreed to my request and left to gather the household staff for questioning.

I shook my head, deciding not to dwell on mysteries I couldn’t yet solve.

For now, the only thing I could do was identify whoever had staged this bleeding-mask spectacle and use them as the starting point to uncover the truth behind everything.

Five minutes later, all of the Zhu family’s servants had gathered in the living room.

I stepped out of the mask collection room and found ten people already assembled.

Most were middle-aged women in their thirties and forties. There were also two middle-aged men who appeared to be chefs based on their clothing.

Uncle Tian, the butler who had greeted us earlier, stood at the very front.

I couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.

Zhu Shengxing truly was a local real-estate tycoon. He employed enough staff that when they all stood together in the living room, the scene felt like something straight out of a television drama.

I wasn’t the type of person who enjoyed standing before a crowd and giving orders.

But if I wanted to solve the mystery of the bleeding masks, I had no choice.

Putting on my most serious expression, I stepped forward and addressed them loudly.

“Hello, everyone. Miss Zhu Zhu has gathered you here because I have a few questions.”

I paused and swept my gaze across the room, carefully observing their reactions.

No one immediately appeared suspicious, though several faces displayed obvious impatience.

“Who was the first person to discover the abnormality in the collection room this morning?”

Several seconds passed before a middle-aged woman wearing an apron timidly raised her hand.

Fear lingered in her eyes.

My question seemed to have reminded her of the moment she first saw those masks weeping bloody tears.

“I… I was.”

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

I nodded.

“Ma’am, could you tell me exactly what you saw?”

She shuffled forward a few steps and frowned as she searched her memory.

“That morning, I opened the collection room as usual to clean the floor and dust Mr. Zhu’s masks. But the moment I opened the door, I saw the same thing as last time.”

She paused.

Her pupils contracted slightly, and her fingers tightened around her apron.

Even her voice began trembling.

“The moment I opened the door, I saw blood everywhere. It had spread all the way to the entrance and looked almost dried, dark red in color.

And every mask hanging on the wall had two streams of dark-red tears running down its face.

It was horrifying. They looked like evil spirits.

I screamed on the spot. Uncle Tian heard me and came to investigate. By then my legs had already gone weak, and I’d fallen to the floor.”

“You were also the first person to discover the bleeding masks the previous time?”

“Yes.”

She nodded.

“I’ve always been responsible for cleaning the collection room. The situation was almost identical last time. The only difference was that the previous incident happened on my very first day working here. I was so frightened I nearly fainted.”

“Your first day? Then who was responsible for cleaning the room before you?”

I frowned, extracting the important details from her statement.

At the same time, I ruled her out as the mastermind behind the bleeding-mask incident.

The fear written across her face and eyes simply couldn’t be faked.

If she possessed acting skills that good, she wouldn’t still be working here as a servant.

“The previous cleaner, Sister Liu, wasn’t feeling well and resigned to return to her hometown.”

This time, it wasn’t the woman who answered.

It was Uncle Tian standing at the front.

I nodded and was about to continue when a voice suddenly rang out from the crowd.

“I heard Sister Liu talk about this before. She said there was something unclean in this house.

Especially that collection room. Some of those masks looked creepy just by themselves.

One time she told me that while working night duty, she’d get up from the servants’ quarters to use the bathroom and hear strange noises coming from the collection room.

After that she became kind of nervous all the time. I think whatever was in that room scared her so badly that she quit and went back to the countryside.”

The speaker was another middle-aged woman.

Unlike the frightened cleaner, she seemed completely detached from the matter.

Just from her appearance, I could tell she was the type who loved gossip and spreading rumors.

She looked ready to continue when a sudden shout cut her off.

“Stop talking nonsense! Nobody talks faster than you!”

Uncle Tian’s face darkened.

Turning around, he glared at the talkative woman and barked the reprimand.

The woman jumped in fright.

Unwilling to risk losing her job, she lowered her head and fell silent.

Yet her loose tongue had provided me with an important clue.

If strange supernatural events had already been reported before either of the bleeding-mask incidents, then the situation was exactly as I suspected.

This was not merely a simple prank.

I didn’t particularly care about Uncle Tian’s reaction.

After all, if rumors spread that the Zhu family residence was haunted, it would hardly be good for the household’s reputation.

As Zhu Shengxing’s trusted butler, his response stemmed from loyalty.

After a brief pause, I addressed the servants again.

“There’s another reason Miss Zhu Zhu gathered everyone here today. I want everyone to know that the bleeding masks in the collection room are simply the result of a prank. There is no need to panic. At the same time, I’d like to invite whoever orchestrated this prank to step forward so we can resolve the matter.”

Almost everyone showed surprise.

Many immediately began glancing around at one another, apparently wondering which person beside them might be responsible.

I remained silent, carefully observing every expression while waiting to see whether the culprit would come forward voluntarily.

Two full minutes passed.

No one spoke.

I knew the chances of a confession were practically nonexistent.

So I deliberately shook my head in apparent disappointment.

Then I brought my hands together into a hand seal and lightly tapped the tip of my nose.

The cool air in the room immediately flooded into my nostrils, carrying countless scents with it.

The aroma of chicken soup simmering in the kitchen.

The fragrances of cosmetics and perfume worn by Zhu Zhu and Tang Shanshan.

The unique body odors of each servant.

All of them surged into my brain through my suddenly heightened sense of smell.

What I had just used was the Spirit-Gathering Clarity Art recorded in the Profound Heavenly Secrets Manual.

The technique focused all spiritual power into a single part of the body, enhancing one specific ability to an extraordinary degree.

At this moment, I had concentrated every bit of my spiritual energy and mental focus into my nose.

Instantly, my sense of smell became comparable to that of a police dog.

Without revealing anything, I clasped my hands behind my back and slowly wandered through the crowd, distinguishing each person’s scent.

After excluding the three servants who had cleaned the collection room floor earlier, only one individual remained who carried the scent of blood from the masks.

And that person was the one who should have been least likely to come into contact with the blood.

I returned to the front of the room and waved my hand.

“That’s all. Everyone may go back to work.”

The servants exchanged puzzled looks but began dispersing.

Just then, I reached out and lightly tapped Uncle Tian, who was about to leave.

“Uncle Tian, I’ll still need to trouble you for a detailed conversation.”

At those words, panic briefly flashed across Uncle Tian’s face.

But he quickly regained his composure and nodded.

Behind me, Zhu Zhu and Tang Shanshan looked utterly bewildered and were about to ask what I had discovered.

I raised a hand to stop them.

“Let’s find somewhere else and have a proper talk with Uncle Tian.”