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Join the ServerSu Qinghan moved through the narrow alleys and across the eaves, her form like a wisp of white smoke.
The flagstone paths beneath her feet were cracked, and along the streets, the wooden doors of shops had been smashed to splinters.
A cacophony of terrified screams and demonic roars filled the air.
“Qinghan! Don’t tell me you don’t know where the magistrate’s manor is!”
Jiu Li’s voice, a girlish tone on the verge of tears, echoed in her mind.
“I don’t.”
Su Qinghan’s reply was blunt and simple.
Without breaking stride, she tapped a foot lightly on a tavern sign, launching herself higher to soar over several demons lunging at the empty space where she had been.
“Then where are you running off to?!” Jiu Li was about to lose her mind.
“The eye of the formation,” Su Qinghan’s tone was perfectly calm. “With a formation this massive, the fluctuations from its core are like a searchlight in the dead of night. It would be difficult to get lost even if I tried.”
She followed the dense, central aura, making her way toward the heart of the town.
The closer she got, the thicker the stench of blood and resentment in the air became, so potent it was almost tangible.
At last, she passed through the final chaotic street, and the scene before her opened up.
This was Bluestone Town’s central square, which also served as the execution ground for serious criminals.
In the center of the square stood a stone platform, half a man’s height, still bearing the dark red stains of its past.
And now, the pillar of crimson light that pierced the sky erupted from beneath this very platform.
A man stood silently in the center of the platform, his eyes closed.
He was dressed in the robes of a magistrate, his posture ramrod straight, one hand resting on the hilt of a longsword planted in the ground before him.
He was the town magistrate, Wu Que.
He stood there, untouched by the surrounding chaos and demonic howls.
He was an island unto himself, isolated from the world.
Su Qinghan’s figure emerged from the shadows, landing at the edge of the square.
The white fox tail behind her swayed gently, and the fox ears atop her head twitched with alertness.
On the platform, Wu Que’s eyelids remained lowered, but his lips parted.
“So, you are a fox demon.”
His voice was calm, betraying no emotion.
“Since you already escaped with that girl from the Demon Exorcism Division, why return only to die?”
Su Qinghan was about to explain, ‘I’m not a demon…’
Vmmm—
A faint, almost imperceptible hum of a sword suddenly rang out!
A lethal sense of danger made the hairs on her body stand on end.
She had no time to think; her body reacted on pure instinct.
She snapped backward at the waist in a bridge bend, her body nearly parallel to the ground.
An incomparably sharp wave of sword energy whistled past, grazing the tip of her nose.
The energy sliced into a stone lion behind her.
The hard statue split cleanly in two without so much as a sound.
Su Qinghan didn’t dare linger.
Engaging her core, she twisted and flipped in mid-air, her feet tapping the ground once before she vanished into an afterimage, ducking behind a crumbling courtyard wall.
Leaning against the wall, she could feel her heart hammering in her chest.
“What the hell!”
She couldn’t help but shout toward the platform.
“You’re completely unreasonable! Aren’t we supposed to talk first? Who attacks right off the bat like that?!”
On the platform, Wu Que slowly opened his eyes.
They were eyes devoid of any emotion—indifferent and empty.
He murmured to himself.
“I have nothing to say to a demon.”
“Even less to one that is about to die.”
As his words faded, he raised his longsword high.
A crimson light swirled along the blade, and a destructive aura erupted from it.
Su Qinghan’s pupils contracted.
Without a second thought, she pushed off again, diving to the side.
BOOM!!
The wall she had just been hiding behind, along with half the courtyard, was instantly obliterated by the violent sword energy, dissolving into a cloud of dust and debris.
Her figure was nowhere to be seen in the dust.
“Hey, I said we should talk this out!”
Su Qinghan’s chiding voice came from the roof of a building on the other side.
She was crouched on the curved eaves, her large, fluffy tail swishing back and forth behind her.
“Don’t you have a wife and child in this town? They’re innocent!”
“And what about all the townspeople? If someone wronged you, just tell me, and I’ll go slap them for you! It’s not worth it, really, dragging an entire town down with you to your grave. Think of all the lives at stake.”
“Qinghan…”
Jiu Li’s voice piped up weakly in her mind.
“You… you’re not actually trying to talk him down, are you? It’s obvious he’s made up his mind!”
‘What are you thinking?’
Su Qinghan replied in her thoughts.
‘I’m buying time for Liu Ruyan and the others to place their talismans.’
‘Besides, he’s already committed such a monstrous act. If he could be swayed by just a few words from me, I’d actually lose respect for him.’
On the platform, Wu Que planted his longsword back into the ground.
He looked up at the white figure on the roof.
“If you’ve only come to spout this nonsense,”
“either die here now,”
“or get out while I’m still in a decent mood.”
Meanwhile, near the town walls of Bluestone Town.
The spiritual forms of Miao Beisang and Luo Li gazed from afar at the ominous crimson glow hanging over the town.
The immense, evil aura made Miao Beisang’s fur stand on end, and even Luo Li’s spiritual form flickered, growing unstable.
“It’s too dangerous for Lady Su to go in alone!”
Miao Beisang paced anxiously.
“That magistrate is too strong. We have to find a way to help her!”
Luo Li’s spirit hovered in mid-air, her brow furrowed in thought.
“He has a beloved daughter. If we could find her, you could use your face-stealing technique to approach him in her guise. It might create an opening for a surprise attack… He wouldn’t risk disfiguring his own daughter, so he wouldn’t dare take your life so easily.”
She trailed off mid-sentence and shook her head.
“No, that won’t work. Since he dared to set up such a massive formation, he must have already moved his family to safety. It’s likely too late for us to find them now.”
“A daughter?”
Miao Beisang suddenly stopped pacing.
“I think… I remember something.”
She searched her memory.
“When I was stealing dried fish outside of town, I think I saw a rather impressive-looking courtyard where a mother and daughter lived. The little girl bore a slight resemblance to the magistrate.”
“I remember the courtyard! It was at the foot of a mountain, quite a distance from the town walls!”
Luo Li’s spiritual form jolted.
“Let’s go take a look!”
Back in the square, the standoff continued.
Wu Que closed his eyes, seemingly sensing something.
After a moment, he opened them again, his brow furrowed slightly.
He looked up, his icy gaze once again locking onto Su Qinghan on the roof.
“The blood and resentment… it’s still not dense enough.”
For the first time, his voice held a trace of emotion—a hint of confusion.
“By rights, the town should be overflowing with resentment by now, a river of blood, and the formation should be complete. And yet… most of what has died so far are merely weak, wandering spirits.”
He stared intently at Su Qinghan.
“This is your doing.”
On the roof, Su Qinghan peeked out from behind a stone beast, showing half her head.
She chuckled, her tone flippant.
“Heh~
I couldn’t possibly have that kind of skill.”
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