Dong Zi glanced at the materials again, scratching his head. This time, he was anxious, holding the documents up to Zhou Huan: "Look, there are clearly five, and they all look different to me."

Zhou Huan looked where Dong Zi pointed, and his eyes suddenly lit up: "There really are five people. They almost tricked us too. These two footprints are basically identical, but the depth of submersion for the two prints is different."

Xiao He leaned in for a closer look: "I see now. This footprint has an extra protruding part; it was just that one detail missing."

"Exactly. See, these five footprints are all heading in one direction, but one pair veered off in another direction. That must be the person whose hand was severed, because the bloodstains around his footprint are the same as the bloodstains on the urn, and they belong to the same person as the blood on the severed hand," Zhou Huan continued analyzing the data.

The phone rang again. Xiao He answered it, extremely excited: "Brother Huan, our business is progressing very smoothly. Someone just called; they said over a dozen people left right after the funeral that day. We'll have a list shortly. Everyone registered with Old Sun has been checked; there are no signs of anything."

"Listen, Xiao He, they are operating in the shadows, and we have already intervened in the investigation. The scope has become much larger. So, I think we should temporarily set this aside. We don't know the whereabouts of the Golden Basin yet, and the person with the severed hand hasn't been found. I think we should operate on two fronts—openly and covertly—to mislead whoever took the Golden Basin into revealing themselves," Zhou Huan’s thinking was crystal clear, and he explained it to Xiao He flawlessly.

"Sister Wang, we’re done checking the hospitals. This is the report on the severed hand. None of the major hospitals in our city admitted a patient with a severed hand that night. We also sent people to investigate the two towns surrounding the tomb area, but no one went there for treatment of a severed limb," a police officer reported upon entering.

Zhou Huan was also quite surprised by this. Xiao He dismissed the officer who had just come in and said to herself, "The evidence shows that the bleeding person didn't run far before the bleeding stopped. There were no other spots of blood found along the path, which is tricky."

"Did this person just vanish into thin air? Can't you find fingerprints for that hand in your database?" Zhou Huan asked, sounding very professional.

"No, the fingerprint from this hand was just entered into the system; it can only be used as evidence now," Xiao He replied, while Zhou Huan fell deep in thought.

Dong Zi grew bored. He hated thinking about these matters, so he sat to the side and lit a cigarette.

Zhou Huan stood up and said to Xiao He, "How about this: Dong Zi and I will go back to the tomb to check everything again. Meanwhile, send people to check clinics and such. If we make no progress today, we’ll just have to wait for them to show themselves. These fellows won't keep something that valuable hidden for long; they'll be eager to make a move," Zhou Huan explained.

"Okay, I'll arrange it immediately."

Just as Zhou Huan opened the door to leave, Xiao Li rushed in breathlessly from outside: "Director, a body was just discovered at the construction site in Jiang'an Garden. Work has halted, and the surrounding residents are terrified. They are demanding that our station solve the case quickly, or they will start petitioning. If the construction schedule is delayed, the future selling price of the houses will be uncertain."

"Never mind those unscrupulous developers. You take some people and handle this matter. Send me the report later, and keep in touch with me," Xiao He dismissed Xiao Li.

Xiao Li received the instructions and went downstairs.

When Zhou Huan heard about this, he felt uneasy, but he couldn't say anything, as he hadn't seen the scene himself.

A moment later, Xiao Li rushed back in: "Xiao He, could Master Zhou come with us? After all, it’s a dead body."

"Fine, tell Master Zhou. He happens to be here too," Xiao He said, hands on her chest, looking at Zhou Huan. "Master Zhou, would you mind going?"

Zhou Huan smiled and replied resignedly, "Alright!" He then grabbed Dong Zi and headed for the construction site.

Along the way, Xiao Li briefed Zhou Huan on the deceased, mentioning the corpse was quite gruesome-looking and didn't appear to be a suicide, which is why the forensic examiner hadn't started the autopsy, waiting for Zhou Huan's direction.

Zhou Huan was rushed by Xiao Li to the construction site. As soon as he arrived, a pungent smell of blood assaulted his nostrils.

At the main entrance of the construction site, under the skeletal frame of the entire building, was the area for mixing cement and concrete. Usually, there would be a large tin trough specifically for water storage. This construction site had such a trough at the entrance. The water in the trough wasn't full, and a human head was visible resting on the edge of the tin trough. The neck was precisely wedged against the metal rim. Blood had already flowed down the metal to the ground; the color had darkened, suggesting the person had been dead for some time.

"Dong Zi, burn paper! Prepare..." Zhou Huan didn't finish his sentence before he noticed Dong Zi already holding a stack of paper, chanting an incantation while burning it. Dong Zi had improved, which made Zhou Huan the happiest, as he was the apprentice he had personally mentored who sometimes seemed a bit slow-witted.

Zhou Huan stopped speaking and moved closer to the body to continue his observation. The entire body was submerged in the water. The exposed skin was somewhat pale and bloated. Looking into the trough, the water had turned red. But what astonished Zhou Huan the most was that one of the deceased’s hands was severed. The detached hand was floating on the water, some distance away from the body. Zhou Huan took out a small vial from his bag, dripped some thick ** onto his hand, and then slowly lifted the deceased's face.

"Ah!" As Zhou Huan lifted the face, the onlookers simultaneously gasped in surprise.

The face was unrecognizable; the entire visage was burned beyond recognition. Zhou Huan slowly lowered his hand, then took out a small bell from his bag, chanting under his breath, "The soul-summoning bell rings once, the deceased's soul quickly returns."

However, what Zhou Huan hadn't expected was that he couldn't locate the soul at all. Dong Zi also tried using a soul-summoning talisman, but it was ineffective.

"Brother, what's going on?" Dong Zi asked Zhou Huan anxiously, putting away the talisman.

Zhou Huan pondered for a moment, then said, "Dong Zi, go tell the forensic examiner to proceed with the autopsy. They know the procedure: do not cremate the body until the case is closed."

"Understood!" Dong Zi called the forensic examiner over and instructed them to begin. Several police officers started collecting evidence at the scene, then carefully moved the body to the funeral home's specialized investigation room.

Zhou Huan then told Dong Zi, "Go back and bring all the implements I use for opening altars. I need to set one up here to see what's going on with this fellow." Dong Zi followed the police car back to Fushou Hall to retrieve the equipment, while Zhou Huan stayed at the construction site to inquire if anyone had recently quit or gone missing. The outcome confirmed that the deceased was not a construction worker, though he was dressed in laborer's clothes. After investigating the surrounding construction area, they still couldn't identify the man, leaving Zhou Huan deeply perplexed; this matter was truly thorny.

"Brother, I got the things! When do we start?" Dong Zi called out to Zhou Huan while running, holding the implements.

Zhou Huan took the items. In less than three minutes, a spiritual altar was set up. He then ordered Dong Zi, "Clear the area and guard me properly while I perform the rite!"

"Got it, Brother, rest assured!" Dong Zi cleared the onlookers and then sat behind Zhou Huan.

What Zhou Huan primarily needed for setting up the altar was his meditation cushion. This cushion was extraordinary because Zhou Huan always sat on it whenever he practiced or opened an altar, so the cushion had accumulated a significant amount of spiritual energy.

Zhou Huan sat quietly on the cushion. Suddenly, he picked up a Copper Coin Sword from in front of him, dipped it into a little black horse blood from the prepared vial, and chanted, "Black horse move swiftly, bring back the lost soul!"

With a sudden exertion of force, Zhou Huan thrust the Copper Coin Sword forward. The sword drew a circle in front of him and clattered to the ground.

Zhou Huan looked at the sword before him, his expression less composed, and said reluctantly, "This soul has already been sealed. Alas, it seems we must wait until we investigate its origin before we can summon the spirit."

"Brother, aren't we allowed to wait seven days?" Dong Zi remembered what Zhou Huan had initially said; he knew it was much easier to summon a spirit after seven days.

Zhou Huan repeated his earlier statement: "Seven days. In seven days, things we can’t anticipate will happen. Let's go; we’re heading to the cemetery!"

Zhou Huan drove the car while Dong Zi packed everything up, heading straight for the cemetery.

Upon arriving at the cemetery, Zhou Huan immediately took out his Luo Pan (divining compass), then wrote an enhanced talisman and affixed it to the compass. Furthermore, he drew a Taijitu symbol on the compass with his own blood.

"What are you doing, Brother?" Dong Zi asked curiously.

Zhou Huan held the Luo Pan and walked directly toward the tomb. A few newly assigned bodyguards tried to step forward and stop him, but Dong Zi glared at them: "You want another beating?"

After Dong Zi spoke, those who had been beaten before warned the bodyguards trying to stop Zhou Huan, "You can't afford to offend them. Let them do whatever they want; don't interfere!" Immediately, the bodyguards withdrew and respectfully made way for Zhou Huan.

Zhou Huan reached the coffin and pointed the tip of the Luo Pan's needle toward the inside. He then chanted, "Residual soul of Mr. Sun, lead me to find your main spirit. If you hear me, I will reunite you into one entity as soon as possible." Then Zhou Huan turned to Dong Zi and said, "Burn soul-summoning talismans by the handful for me, burn paper ingots by the handful—don't stop for anything. Burn everything we brought!"

Hearing this, Dong Zi understood that his Brother Huan was getting serious. Judging by the scale of this operation, it was no small matter. Thus, he enthusiastically began burning the paper money and ingots they brought, along with the thousand soul-summoning talismans he had prepared earlier. The flames burned so merrily that they illuminated the dim woods brightly.