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Join the ServerLu Hongzhuang’s brows drew together into a tight knot.
“Absolutely not.” She refused without a second thought. “The Demon Prison is a restricted area. Senior Sister Liu specifically warned that you are not to go near it under any circumstances.”
Su Qinghan leaned against her, sensing the stiffness and resistance in her body. She suddenly brought her lips close to Lu Hongzhuang’s ear, her warm breath brushing against the shell of it.
“Oh, don’t just listen to what everyone else says.”
Her voice was a low murmur, carrying a bewitching magic that sent a tingling sensation from Lu Hongzhuang’s ear straight to her heart.
“I have a feeling that if we delay any longer, something terrible will happen.”
Lu Hongzhuang’s body went rigid in an instant, a scorching heat spreading uncontrollably from the base of her ears.
She wanted to argue, to dismiss it as Su Qinghan’s nonsense, but the image of the flayed corpse and Su Qinghan’s words—’You never know what’s in a person’s heart’—surfaced in her mind unbidden.
The courtyard was in an uproar, filled with the frantic shouts of their Demon Exorcism Division colleagues and the city guards, all at their wits’ end over the string of murders.
Lu Hongzhuang gazed at the chaos, felt the faint breath tickling her ear, and the scales of her resolve began to tip violently.
Finally, she gritted her teeth, her grip on Su Qinghan’s arm tightening.
“Let’s go.”
Without another word, she took advantage of the commotion. Supporting Su Qinghan, she slipped silently from the crowd and turned into a dim alley. Once out of sight, she hurried in the direction of the Demon Prison, carrying Su Qinghan on her back.
The Demon Prison was located in the northwest corner of Bluestone Town, remote and grim.
Tall walls were covered in nameless creeping vines, and two dim, yellow lanterns hung from the black-lacquered gate, swaying in the night wind and casting a pair of dancing shadows.
At the entrance, two guards stood expressionless, long sabers in hand, exuding an aura that warned all to keep their distance.
“Halt!”
Seeing the two approach, the guards immediately crossed their sabers to block the path.
“This is a restricted area of the Demon Exorcism Division. Unauthorized personnel…”
Before the guard could finish.
“Swish! Swish!”
Two streaks of yellow light flashed in the darkness.
Su Qinghan had, at some point, produced two paper talismans from her sleeve. With a flick of her fingers, they shot out like lightning, landing with unerring accuracy on the foreheads of the two guards.
Her movements were so swift they were but a blur.
Lu Hongzhuang hadn’t even seen her strike.
Su Qinghan formed a sword seal with her fingers, holding it before her chest as she softly uttered a single word.
“Bind.”
The two guards froze instantly, their saber-wielding stances fixed in mid-air. The vigilant, fierce expressions on their faces had yet to fade, but their eyelids were already drifting shut as they fell into a deep slumber.
Lu Hongzhuang stared, dumbfounded.
“Is this… really okay?” she stammered. “If we had just explained, they probably would have let us in…”
“Getting them to let us in is the easy part,” Su Qinghan said, shaking her head and gesturing for Lu Hongzhuang to get the keys. “But if something were to happen inside or out after we entered, we’d be the ones to take the blame.”
She paused, a hint of mockery in her tone.
“For instance, the recent string of flaying murders? Suddenly, we’re the culprits. Or maybe all the demons in the prison stage a mass breakout—that’d be our doing, too. Or perhaps the magistrate’s cat has a difficult birth—they’d pin that on us as well.”
Lu Hongzhuang, her face a mask of confusion, unhooked the keys from a guard’s waist.
“What does the magistrate’s cat having a difficult birth have to do with us?”
“Smack.”
Su Qinghan gave her a light tap on the back of the head.
“Silly, it was just an example. If someone wants to frame you, they’ll never be short of an excuse. When the time comes, they’ll throw every bit of blame they can find our way.”
Lu Hongzhuang nodded, only half-understanding. She said no more, walking forward with the keys and inserting one into the enormous bronze lock.
“Click—”
The heavy prison door creaked open, releasing a nauseating stench of blood, rot, and demonic energy that assaulted their senses.
The prison interior was dim, lit only by torches set at intervals along the walls.
On either side were rows of cells forged from black iron, housing all manner of grotesque demons. They were bound by thick chains pierced through their clavicles, leaving them listless and weak. Still, at the sight of newcomers, they let out low snarls and strange, grating laughter.
“Hurry inside,” Su Qinghan urged.
Just then, a booming complaint echoed from one of the cells.
“Hey! Newcomers! Something in there has been dead for days! Can’t you clear it out? The stench is killing this king!”
Su Qinghan was puzzled. “A demon died, and you don’t dispose of it?”
As Lu Hongzhuang helped her deeper into the prison, she explained in a low voice, “Demons have tenacious life force; they don’t die so easily. Besides, most of the demons imprisoned here are scheduled for transport to the capital. As for what purpose they serve, lower-ranking members like us wouldn’t know.”
Su Qinghan listened and nodded thoughtfully.
Following the direction of the voice, the two made their way to the depths of the Demon Prison.
In one of the cells, a dark lump was curled up in the corner, emitting a sickening stench.
Lu Hongzhuang frowned, trying to recall.
“Strange, what kind of demon was kept in this cell? How could it have just died?”
“Open it,” Su Qinghan ordered softly.
Fighting the churning in her stomach, Lu Hongzhuang used the key to unlock the cell door.
As they drew closer, the putrid smell of decay intensified.
“Well? Do you see anything?” Lu Hongzhuang asked, pinching her nose.
Su Qinghan didn’t answer. She only stared at the lump for a long moment before uttering a few words.
“This isn’t a demon. It’s a person.”
“Turn her over. Let’s see who it is.”
A sense of dread washed over Lu Hongzhuang. Steeling herself against the nausea, she reached out and turned over the stiffening corpse.
The moment she saw the face, she gasped.
The face could no longer be called a face. The entire layer of skin was gone, leaving only a bloody, mangled mess.
Beneath the body lay a thin booklet.
Lu Hongzhuang instinctively picked it up.
“We shouldn’t linger here. Let’s go,” Su Qinghan said, her voice grave.
The two had just turned to leave when the demons in the cells suddenly grew agitated.
“Hey! You two snuck in here, didn’t you!” a tiger-headed demon bellowed. “If you don’t clean this place up, this Tiger King will report you! Report you for sneaking in!”
“That’s right! We’ll report you!”
“Let us out!”
In an instant, the prison erupted in a cacophony of demonic cries.
Su Qinghan couldn’t be bothered with them. She simply took the Three Purities Bell from her waist and gave it a gentle shake.
She pressed her left thumb to the base of her little finger, holding the mudra to her forehead to protect her own spiritual altar. She began to chant, her voice ethereal yet commanding.
“By mystic light, the spirit is bound! By nether-palace, consciousness is sealed!”
“My decree is issued, your memories shall be lost!”
“By my command!”
As the final word fell, an invisible ripple spread out from her in an instant.
The demons, who had been clamoring just a moment before, fell abruptly silent. As if their souls had been snatched away, their eyes glazed over before they slumped to the ground, snoring loudly.
In an instant, the entire Demon Prison was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Standing beside Su Qinghan, Lu Hongzhuang felt her head grow heavy. Her vision blurred as an overwhelming wave of drowsiness washed over her.
Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and her body began to sway.
Noticing something was wrong, Su Qinghan whipped her head around and was startled to see Lu Hongzhuang’s dazed state.
“Damn it! Don’t you fall asleep, you idiot!”
Without a second thought, she raised her left hand and gave Lu Hongzhuang a solid whack on the back of the head.
“Thwack!”
“Ow!”
The blow jolted Lu Hongzhuang, and she was instantly wide awake.
She rubbed the back of her head, staring at Su Qinghan in a daze.
“What… what just happened? Why did I suddenly feel so groggy?”
Su Qinghan withdrew her hand and said nonchalantly, “I erased their memories of seeing us.”
Lu Hongzhuang fell silent.
A moment later, it dawned on her. She pointed at herself in disbelief.
“Are you saying… I almost got hit by it too?”
Su Qinghan also fell silent.
It seemed that was indeed the case.
She cleared her throat, trying to save face. “Ahem, an accident. Purely an accident. But it’s a good thing I reacted quickly and woke you up in time.”
Lu Hongzhuang remained silent, studying Su Qinghan with an exceedingly strange expression. After a long moment, she finally squeezed out a single sentence.
“Your esteemed Xuanmen sect… is it a legitimate organization? I feel like these methods are… not exactly orthodox.”
“Of course we are!” Su Qinghan retorted immediately, though she didn’t sound entirely confident. “Techniques themselves aren’t good or evil; it all depends on who’s using them!”
As she spoke, she urged Lu Hongzhuang to leave this troublesome place quickly.
Lu Hongzhuang said no more. She merely glanced down at the filth-stained booklet she had picked up from under the corpse, her heart a mix of complex emotions. But this was no place to examine it.
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