Chapter 17: A Burden Shared

With a click, the bronze lock fell back into place.

Lu Hongzhuang pushed the heavy cell door shut, and it closed with a dull thud.

She hoisted Su Qinghan onto her back and hurried away, desperate to leave the grim place behind.

At the entrance to the Fiend Prison, the two guards remained frozen in place, fast asleep on their feet, drool nearly reaching their chests.

“Are we just… leaving them like this?” Lu Hongzhuang asked, hesitant.

Su Qinghan, draped over her back, lazily snapped her fingers.

Snap.

The yellow talismans stuck to the guards’ foreheads peeled off as if pulled by invisible threads, transforming into two streaks of yellow light that flew back toward her.

Su Qinghan extended two slender fingers and deftly caught them before tucking them discreetly back into her sleeve.

The entire motion was as fluid and seamless as flowing water, too quick for the eye to follow.

Almost at the exact moment the talismans left their skin, the two guards shuddered as if waking from a nightmare.

Their eyes flew open, still hazy with confusion, but the moment they saw Lu Hongzhuang and Su Qinghan, their professional instincts took over and they raised their long blades.

“This is the Fiend Prison! No unauthorized entry!” one of them shouted.

The other chimed in, “What are you two doing, skulking around here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping!”

Slumped on Lu Hongzhuang’s back, Su Qinghan couldn’t even be bothered to lift an eyelid.

“If you say so. What’s all the shouting for?”

She patted Lu Hongzhuang’s shoulder.

“Let’s go. Stop staring like a fool.”

Lu Hongzhuang was speechless.

She silently turned and carried Su Qinghan away at a brisk pace, leaving the two guards standing there, staring at each other in bewilderment.

“What was that about?”

“No idea… Were they just messing with us?”

“Must be crazy…”

The two muttered to themselves, scratching their heads. They had a nagging feeling they had forgotten something, but couldn’t for the life of them remember what it was.

The cool night wind swept away the stench of decay that clung to them from the Fiend Prison.

They had just reached the town’s main street when a small figure carrying a lantern came stumbling around the corner.

“Senior Sister Lu! Senior Sister Lu!”

It was Xiao Qing.

She ran up to them, one hand on her knees, completely out of breath.

“I finally found you! What are you doing all the way out here? Quickly! You have to come see, something else… something else has happened!”

A sense of dread washed over Lu Hongzhuang.

Without a word, she followed Xiao Qing toward the scene, still carrying Su Qinghan on her back.

This time, the incident had occurred at the home of Li the Butcher, on the east side of town.

Before they even entered the courtyard, they could hear a man’s heart-wrenching wail from within.

“My baby! My daughter! You damnable monster! Give me back my daughter’s life!”

The courtyard was already crowded. Colleagues from the Demon Exorcism Division and government soldiers had cordoned off one of the side rooms.

Lu Hongzhuang squeezed through the crowd with Su Qinghan on her back, immediately hit by the thick, metallic scent of blood.

A burly, broad-shouldered man—Li the Butcher—was kneeling on the ground, pounding the dirt and sobbing his heart out while a few neighbors tried to comfort him.

Lu Hongzhuang paid them no mind, heading straight for the lit side room with Su Qinghan.

“Get me closer,” Su Qinghan said softly.

Lu Hongzhuang did as she was told, carrying her to the bedside.

The girl on the bed was just like the previous victim, her face flayed, a gruesome mess of blood and flesh.

Su Qinghan reached out, placed a hand on the girl’s wrist, and closed her eyes for a moment.

“Her soul is gone.”

She withdrew her hand, her tone calm.

“Her body’s functions are stable, but her soul has been extracted.”

It was the same method as before.

Lu Hongzhuang’s heart sank further. She subconsciously touched the booklet in her robes, the one she had found under the corpse in the Fiend Prison.

It seemed this was their only clue.

“Let’s head back to the inn first,” Su Qinghan said.

There were too many people here; it wasn’t a good place to examine the booklet.

Lu Hongzhuang nodded. Just as she was about to turn, a cold female voice sounded from the doorway.

“Stop right there.”

They both turned to see a woman in the uniform of the Demon Exorcism Division standing in the entrance. She had a tall, straight posture and beautiful features, but her expression was as cold as ice.

It was Lu Hongzhuang’s senior sister, Liu Ruyan.

Liu Ruyan’s gaze swept across the room, finally settling on Su Qinghan and Lu Hongzhuang.

“You two have been whispering to each other from the very beginning.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an undeniable pressure.

“Do you have a clue that you’re unwilling to share?”

Su Qinghan replied lazily, “You must be joking, Officer. What clues could we possibly have? We’re just as clueless as you are.”

Liu Ruyan strode into the room, closing the distance step by step.

She stopped right in front of Su Qinghan, their faces nearly touching, her icy breath misting on Su Qinghan’s skin.

“Strange things have been happening ever since you arrived in Greenstone Town.”

“This couldn’t be your doing, could it?”

As her words fell, the temperature in the room plummeted.

Before Su Qinghan could speak, Lu Hongzhuang took a sharp step forward, shielding Su Qinghan behind her.

“Senior Sister Liu, please watch your words!”

Her voice trembled slightly, but her tone was unyieldingly firm.

“We’ve been together the whole time! Her legs are injured, how could she possibly do something like this?”

Behind her, Su Qinghan paused.

She looked at Lu Hongzhuang’s back—not particularly broad, but standing perfectly straight—and felt something stir deep within her.

‘This fool… is actually protecting me?’

‘She’s worthy of being the Daoist disciple I’ve chosen. Though her formal training hasn’t begun, she’s already got the right attitude.’

Liu Ruyan stared coldly at Lu Hongzhuang, who stood protectively before her. Finally, she withdrew her oppressive aura.

“It had better be as you say.”

With a cold snort, she turned away from them and issued orders to the other exorcists.

“Seal the scene! No one is to approach! We’ll conduct a thorough search for clues at dawn!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Lu Hongzhuang didn’t linger, quickly leaving the tense scene with Su Qinghan on her back.

On the way back, the moonlight spilled across the stone slabs, casting two overlapping shadows.

It was quiet all around, the silence broken only by the sound of Lu Hongzhuang’s slightly heavy footsteps.

“Don’t mind her,” Lu Hongzhuang said in a low voice, trying to break the silence. “Senior Sister Liu has always been like that. Her bark is worse than her bite; she’s not a bad person.”

There was no response from behind her.

Lu Hongzhuang waited for a long while, but Su Qinghan’s usual cheerful, teasing remarks never came.

Puzzled, she tilted her head slightly to the side.

What she heard was the sound of even, steady breathing.

‘Is she… asleep?’

Lu Hongzhuang stopped and turned her head. In the moonlight, she saw Su Qinghan’s head resting on her shoulder, eyes closed, her breathing deep and regular.

She had actually fallen asleep on her back!

“Hey!”

Lu Hongzhuang was both exasperated and amused.

“You’ve got it easy, don’t you? So carefree! You have me, your free packhorse, panting and puffing as I carry you everywhere, and you’re just sleeping soundly!”

She grumbled under her breath, but the person on her back didn’t stir.

It was too quiet.

So quiet that she could clearly feel the warmth of the body behind her, the soft touch, and even hear the steady beat of a heart.

A faint scent, somewhere between medicine and perfume, lingered in the air.

With this chattering, sharp-tongued person suddenly so quiet against her back, Lu Hongzhuang felt a wave of unease wash over her.

Her cheeks grew warm.

Just then, she felt a tickle at her waist.

A hand was restlessly kneading the soft flesh of her side, gently and unconsciously.

Once, then again.

Lu Hongzhuang’s body went rigid as a rush of heat shot from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head.

‘This… this woman!’

‘Her hands are misbehaving even in her sleep!’

The hand continued its mischief, slowly moving up from her waist as if searching for a more comfortable position.

“You!”

Lu Hongzhuang’s face flushed crimson with embarrassment, and she ground her teeth.

“If you keep that up, I’m throwing you off!”

The person behind her still didn’t respond. Her breathing remained as steady as before, and the hand simply found a new place to rest, ceasing its movements.

Fuming, Lu Hongzhuang turned back, ready to shake the restless sleeper awake.

But when she saw Su Qinghan’s face, the words caught in her throat.

In the moonlight, Su Qinghan’s face was so pale it was almost translucent, completely drained of color. Her brow was slightly furrowed, etched with a deep, weary exhaustion that even sleep couldn’t erase.

An unexpected pang of sympathy struck Lu Hongzhuang’s heart.

She remembered the ethereal and commanding presence Su Qinghan had possessed in the Fiend Prison when she had nonchalantly uttered, “By my decree, your memories shall be erased.”

She imagined that using such an incredible secret art must have been an immense drain on her already weakened body.

Lu Hongzhuang silently turned her head back to the front. She shifted Su Qinghan higher on her back, allowing her to rest more comfortably.

The night wind blew past, rustling the loose strands of hair at her forehead.

She looked at the moonlit path ahead and made her steps lighter, steadier.

“Just this once… I’ll let it slide.”

Her voice was as soft as a mosquito’s hum, and it was unclear who she was speaking to.

“If you try anything like that again, I won’t be so forgiving.”

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