Chapter 3: A Figure in the Woods

Leaving the small courtyard behind, the path to town gave way to something far less forgiving than smooth flagstones.

It was a rugged, pitted dirt road, and with every stone the wheelchair’s wooden wheels ground over, a violent jolt shuddered through the frame.

Her already frail body protested the rough treatment, and with each lurch, the color drained further from Su Qinghan’s face.

One hand gripped the armrest tightly while the other instinctively shielded her abdomen as she struggled to keep herself steady.

Within her sea of consciousness, even Jiu Li’s voice trembled.

“Goodness gracious! I’m telling you, little Qinghan, any more of this and your bones are going to rattle apart!”

“Does this girl in red have a grudge against you? She’s pushing this chair like she’s racing to her next life!”

Su Qinghan paid no mind to Jiu Li’s clamor.

She lifted her gaze to the horizon, where the last streaks of orange sunset were rapidly sinking, and posed a question.

“Can we reach the town before dark?”

Her voice was quiet, trembling slightly with the constant jolting, yet it retained its characteristic cool clarity.

Behind her, Lu Hongzhuang, who had been pushing the wheelchair with considerable force, came to a halt.

She, too, glanced up at the sky.

The sun had already dipped below the horizon, leaving only the faintest afterglow.

A mist began to rise from the mountain forest, blurring the silhouettes of the distant peaks.

At their current pace, reaching the town before night fell completely was an impossibility.

“Looks like we’ll have to camp outside tonight,” Lu Hongzhuang replied sullenly, her tone tinged with impatience.

She hadn’t anticipated that in her haste to make an arrest, she would completely forget to account for the distance.

And now, not only had she failed to escort her prisoner back to the bureau, but she was also forced to spend the night in the wilderness with this person she considered a demonic charlatan.

Su Qinghan fell silent for a moment.

The creaking of the wheelchair mingled with the sigh of the wind through the trees.

Then, her voice, as calm and placid as ever, sounded once more.

“Since we can’t make it to town, why not rest at my home for the night and set out early tomorrow?”

The question was both direct and perfectly reasonable.

Lu Hongzhuang’s face flushed crimson, as if her incompetence had just been laid bare for all to see.

She had made the arrest with such righteous conviction, yet she hadn’t even managed to plan the basic journey.

If word of this got out, she would be utterly humiliated.

Overcome with shame and anger, she lashed out, kicking one of the wheelchair’s iron-rimmed wheels.

“Thump!”

A dull thud echoed.

“Shut up!”

Lu Hongzhuang’s rebuke was sharp and sudden.

“You’re a prisoner! You have no right to make demands!”

The impact jarred Su Qinghan, causing her to sway, but she said nothing more.

She knew that if she pressed the matter, the thin-skinned, hot-tempered young woman might actually resort to violence.

They traveled a little farther before the sky blackened completely.

The surrounding forest was a pitch-black expanse, like the gaping maw of some great beast.

Wind whistled through the treetops with a mournful cry, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Lu Hongzhuang finally stopped.

She pulled a tinderbox and some kindling from her pack, preparing to start a fire.

But for all her genius as a demon slayer in the Exorcism Division, she proved utterly clumsy when it came to the simple task of lighting a fire.

The mountain air was heavy with moisture, and the firewood was damp to the touch.

She puffed out her cheeks and blew until she was breathless, nearly exhausting her tinderbox, but the pile of wood merely sputtered out a few wisps of black smoke, refusing to catch flame.

“Pfft.”

Within her sea of consciousness, Jiu Li let out an unreserved laugh.

“This is killing me! Is the girl completely helpless? What good are her martial arts if she can’t even light a fire?”

Leaning back in her wheelchair, Su Qinghan observed Lu Hongzhuang’s pretty, soot-smudged face and spoke calmly.

“The firewood you gathered is too damp.”

“Go over there. Find some dead pine needles and dry twigs, and pile them underneath.”

“And you need to leave an opening for airflow, otherwise the fire will suffocate.”

Lu Hongzhuang’s movements froze.

She turned her head, on the verge of snapping, ‘Mind your own business,’ but a glance at the smoldering, lifeless pile of wood made her swallow the words.

She huffed, and though she said nothing, she followed the instruction.

She rose, walked in the direction Su Qinghan had indicated, and returned shortly with an armful of dry pine needles.

Following Su Qinghan’s guidance, she rebuilt the stack of wood, leaving a gap for air, and touched it with the tinderbox.

“Whoosh—”

This time, an orange flame leaped to life, quickly engulfing the entire stack of wood.

The warm glow of the fire chased away the surrounding darkness and chill, illuminating Lu Hongzhuang’s faintly embarrassed face.

She sat back down by the fire awkwardly, pulling out her rations and a waterskin.

She began to eat, pointedly avoiding Su Qinghan’s gaze.

Su Qinghan paid her no mind, her own gaze fixed on the dancing flames.

It was then that her ears twitched slightly.

“Snap.”

The sound was faint, barely audible—a twig breaking in the distant darkness.

It was so quiet it was nearly lost beneath the whisper of the wind and the crackle of the flames.

But Su Qinghan heard it.

“Someone’s here!” Jiu Li’s voice sharpened with alarm. “No, wait… this aura… it’s thick with resentment! Little Qinghan, whoever this is, they mean us harm!”

Su Qinghan’s body tensed instantly.

She leaned forward abruptly, her voice a low hiss directed at Lu Hongzhuang, who was still engrossed in her meal.

“Silence!”

Her voice was low and urgent.

Startled by the sudden command, Lu Hongzhuang froze mid-chew, her hand instinctively going to the hilt of the blade at her waist.

“What is it?” she whispered.

Su Qinghan didn’t answer, merely pointing a finger in the direction of the sound.

Lu Hongzhuang looked where she pointed.

There, in the deep shadows of the woods beyond the firelight’s reach, a tall figure was slowly making its way past.

The person wore the standard uniform of the Exorcism Division; their build and gait seemed familiar.

As the figure passed through a sliver of moonlight, Lu Hongzhuang caught a glimpse of their profile.

She instantly relaxed, a smile of relief spreading across her face as she opened her mouth to call out.

“Senior Brother Liu!”

“Don’t make a sound!”

Su Qinghan’s icy voice cut through the air next to her ear, and a cool hand clamped down on her wrist.

The grip wasn’t strong, yet it made Lu Hongzhuang freeze.

“He’s not right,” Su Qinghan’s voice was barely a whisper.

Lu Hongzhuang shot her a confused look before turning her gaze back to the distant figure.

“What’s not right? That’s my senior brother! Senior Brother Liu of the Exorcism Division!”

“His aura…” Su Qinghan’s tone was heavy with gravity, “reeks of malevolent spirits. It’s thick.”

“So thick… it’s as if he just crawled out of a cesspool of resentment.”

Lu Hongzhuang’s heart sank.

She could neither see an aura nor sense any resentment.

To her, he was simply the senior brother she trained with day in and day out.

But Su Qinghan’s unwavering certainty, combined with the chilling touch of the hand on her wrist, sent an inexplicable coldness seeping into her heart.

She was reminded of her master, who had fallen prey to a malevolent spirit precisely because he had been deceived by appearances.

‘Could it be…’

In the instant she hesitated, the figure had already moved on, about to vanish into the darkness.

“Carry me.”

Su Qinghan’s voice cut in again—decisive, sharp, and utterly devoid of hesitation.

“Follow him.”

Lu Hongzhuang was utterly dumbfounded.

What?

‘This charlatan, my prisoner, is now giving me orders?’

‘Telling me to carry her, no less?’

‘Absurd!’

Yet, as she watched the figure about to disappear and recalled the image of her master’s horrific death, a profound sense of unease gripped her heart.

“Quickly!” Su Qinghan urged, her voice laced with an unprecedented severity.

“Any more dawdling and we’ll lose him!”

Lu Hongzhuang gritted her teeth, her resolve hardening.

She shot to her feet, scooped Su Qinghan up from the wheelchair in one fluid motion, and swung the other woman onto her back.

Su Qinghan’s body was alarmingly light, like a handful of weightless feathers.

“Hold tight!”

Lu Hongzhuang commanded under her breath.

Casting aside her hesitation, she pushed off from the ground, her body moving like an agile cheetah as she silently pursued the dark figure into the depths of the night.

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