Pursuit

That night, faint lights dotted Xingyuan City. Night in this border town was nothing like the bustling prosperity of Bianjing; after the curfew drums sounded three times, the streets and alleys fell deathly quiet.

Only occasionally did armored soldiers march past, their rhythmic footsteps sounding like a gentle reminder, or perhaps a stern warning.

Suddenly, the muffled chime of a bell reverberated several times through the city, startling the patrolling demon suppressors.

“Oh no! That's the great drum from the monastery! Has a demon infiltrated the city?!”

“Stay sharp tonight, everyone. Things haven't been peaceful anywhere lately. If you spot any demon acting suspicious, hack it down first and ask questions later!”

“The warning drum is beating so urgently. Could they have spotted the demon listed on that wanted poster? I heard that demon holds a top-tier wicked treasure—unleashing it could massacre an entire city!”

Someone scoffed,

“Just so you know, that monster slaughtered her own superior, a second-class demon suppressor! We with our low mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivation—if we run into her, who knows if we'll even have our lives or manage to flee back and report to the Lord Commissioner!”

“That demon fled from Bianjing, and our Xingyuan City is so remote. Unless she can travel a thousand li a day...”

Before the words were finished, several sharp barks echoed from an alley in the distance, slicing through the silence like a razor-sharp blade.

The men quickly leapt onto the roofs of the houses, only to see two white figures darting1 diagonally across the rooftops, followed by several pitch-black, beast-like creatures—

Demons really had entered the city!

“After them!”

With their demon suppressor tokens glowing faintly warm at their waists, the four split into two teams without another word and gave chase with drawn long sabers. None of them noticed a shadow flitting past at the far end of the alley.

...

...

At the end of the alley, Nan Zhi only revealed herself after seeing the four demon suppressors lured away by the paper figures and hungry ghosts, their figures gradually disappearing from her sight.

The monk Huiyuan was likely losing his patience.

During the day, with so many eyes around, she had donned a painted skin and slipped into the city alongside an escort caravan. Yet who could have predicted that as night fell, pursuers would arrive once again?

Fearing to attract attention, Nan Zhi had no choice but to use paper figures to draw away the four demon suppressors, enabling her quiet escape.

Across the Twenty Four Circuits of the Demon Suppression Monastery in the Great Song, every single monastery was overseen by at least two commissioner-level figures. For instance, in the Northwest Circuit, Hua Xijian and Shen Luohe's master—Daoist Qinglong—was Nan Zhi's nominal immediate superior.

She had heard Xu Zi mention that commissioner-level demon suppressors generally possessed cultivation around the Golden Core stage. However, most stayed behind to guard the local Demon Suppression Towers and were rarely seen in public.

Though she did not know the exact extent of monk Huiyuan's cultivation, Nan Zhi had witnessed several great demon lords perish at his hands, and he even commanded an Evil Buddha.

—Had he not seemed bound by some apprehension, restricting himself to sending merely a few hungry ghosts and demon beasts in pursuit, she would likely have already perished at the hands of that Evil Buddha.

Tonight, over a dozen hungry ghosts had charged recklessly into the city to hunt her down, disregarding the presence of the Demon Suppression Division stationed there. It seemed monk Huiyuan's patience had been completely worn thin by this half-month chase.

Avoiding the main streets, she darted lightly through the back alleys like a cat. Before long, she found a wealthy household's private residence and flipped over the roof tiles to slip inside.

The wealthy home was brightly lit, with glasses clinking and music playing in the main hall as the master hosted guests. Nan Zhi slipped into the kitchen, nabbed a cold steamed bun and a roast chicken, left behind a few pieces of silver, and then turned into a secluded woodshed in the rear courtyard.

—She really didn't know why rat spirits had such a strange fondness for woodsheds.

Braving the gazes spying on her from the shadows, Nan Zhi pulled out a tuft of reddish rat hair and laid it atop the roast chicken. After she stared silently for a long moment, a fat, sleek rat indeed came rustling out from the depths of the woodshed.

At the sight of the roast chicken, the big rat showed no restraint, tearing into it and devouring it clean in just a few bites. It tossed the meaty bones into the dark corners, where a horde of rat pups swarmed over them.

For a moment, Nan Zhi's ears were filled with the crinkling crunch of gnawing bones.

“Pardon me. I've just arrived in Xingyuan City, and I heard something major happened in Bianjing. Do you happen to have any news on that?”

“You don't know yet? I heard that a few days ago, during the Ghost Festival when the Gates of Hell opened, the demon monk Huiyuan used flesh, blood, and souls on Yin Yang Road to refine a wicked treasure. That caused the ghosts of the Underworld to flee, and many people died around Bianjing! If Nun Miaoyun and State Uncle Cao hadn't been there to hold the line, I'm afraid that very night, corpses would have covered the ground and blood would have flowed like rivers in the bustling capital at the feet of the Emperor!”

Having eaten and drunk its fill, the big rat spoke in a high-pitched, squeaky voice:

“Word on the street says that Huiyuan pulled it off by colluding with Nan Zhi, a fourth-class arrest officer from the Demon Suppression Division. Fearing exposure, the two actually murdered the Well God and River God, and even slew a second-class demon suppressor on top of that!

Now Huiyuan's whereabouts are unknown, while Nan Zhi fled with the treasure, and no one knows where she went.

Right now, every demon suppressor across all Twenty Four Circuits has been ordered to join forces and bring Nan Zhi to justice, dead or alive. However, they didn't go into detail about what actually happened that night.”

“Has anyone actually seen the body of that second-class demon suppressor? Is she really dead?”

Nan Zhi's face darkened, and she asked further,

“And what about the family of that renegade demon suppressor? Did anything happen to them?”

“This... I heard that dead demon suppressor was actually a demon beast, and her true form was beaten right out of her. It was a gruesome death... It shouldn't, shouldn't be a lie.”

The big rat hitched its breath, its long black whiskers trembling, before it finally quavered out after a long pause:

“As... as for that demon suppressor's family, I heard they were taken, taken away by a senior brother and junior sister pair from the Demon Suppression Monastery of the Northwest Circuit...”

The Demon Suppression Monastery of the Northwest Circuit?

It must be Shen Luohe and Hua Xijian.

With those two around, her family at least wouldn't be dragged into this mess.

Nan Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Actually, with a little thought, it wasn't hard to guess that monk Huiyuan must have an insider in the Demon Suppression Division. Ruyi Pavilion had existed on Yin Yang Road for so long; could no one in the Demon Suppression Division truly have known about its ties to Ghost Buddha Temple?

That day's commotion had been massive: not only had the River God and Well God couple died, but even the Dragon Prince was involved.

Yet in the Demon Suppression Division's notice, they only briefly mentioned the demon monk Huiyuan, while thrusting Nan Zhi into the spotlight and emphasizing that she possessed a formidable treasure.

Now, Huiyuan wanted to kill her, the Demon Suppression Division had ordered her arrest, the kin and relatives of the slain demons wanted her dead, and those eyeing the "wicked treasure" from the shadows would surely keep a close eye on her movements.

Even if Nan Zhi wished to defend herself, Xu Zi had reverted to her true wisteria form, and there was no one trustworthy inside the Demon Suppression Monastery. Staying away from home was the best way to protect the Nan family.

Even if she wanted to seek help from the Demon Suppression Division, the most likely outcome was that the moment her front foot stepped into the Demon Suppression Monastery, Huiyuan would get word and arrive on her heels.

The whole world was her enemy.

How thrilling.

Maybe she should find a safer spot first to let Xu Zi recover?

Nan Zhi took a bite of the cold steamed bun, and as her eyes caught a small red dot suddenly appearing on the map, she felt her adrenaline surge.

“Tee-hee-hee-hee...”

“Tee-hee-hee...”

In the air, the White Bone Heavenly Maiden approached gracefully clad in white gauze, holding a flower basket. She spoke in soft, coquettish whispers, full of charm and alluring grace. Flower petals filled her basket, and auspicious clouds floated beneath her feet.

Under normal circumstances, a maiden scattering flowers would be a picture of auspicious beauty. But this "heavenly maiden" had a pale blue face with threads of blood in her eyes—the very picture of a corpse—making the scene all the more horrifying.

Petals scattered down from the basket. The next second, the dew-kissed petals turned into razor-sharp blades, bursting with boundless killing intent as they shot straight toward Nan Zhi!