That night, the lights in Xingyuan City were sparse. As a border city, its nights were not as bustling as those in Bianjing. After the curfew drums had sounded three times, the streets and alleys fell into a dead silence.
Occasionally, armored soldiers marched past, their heavy footsteps sounding like a reminder or perhaps a warning.
Suddenly, a dull bell rang several times within the city. The patrolling demon suppressors were all startled.
“Oh no! That's the great drum from the monastery. Could it be that some evil entity has entered the city?”
“Stay alert tonight. Things haven't been peaceful lately. If you run into any demon with strange behavior, kill it first and ask questions later!”
“The warning drums are so urgent. Could they have found the trail of that demon on the wanted poster? I heard she has a terrifyingly powerful evil treasure that can massacre a whole city!”
Someone sneered.
“Let me tell you, that person killed her own superior, a second-class demon suppressor. For those of us with low cultivation at the mid-stage Qi Refinement, if we run into her, I don't even know if we'd have the life to make it back to report to the Lord Commissioner.”
“That demon fled from Bianjing, and our Xingyuan City is quite remote. Unless she has the ability of A Thousand Miles a Day...”
Before the words could fully leave his mouth, several sharp dog barks suddenly erupted from a distant alley, sounding like a sharp knife slicing through the silence.
The men quickly leaped onto the rooftops. They saw two white shadows darting across the roofs, followed by several charred, living creatures that looked neither like beast nor man.
Indeed, evil things had entered the city!
“Pursue!”
The demon suppressor tokens at their waists grew faintly hot. Without another word, the four men split into two teams and gave chase with their long sabers, failing to notice a figure flashing past at the end of the alley.
...
...
At the end of the small alley, Nan Zhi only revealed herself after she saw the four demon suppressors drawn away by her paper figures and hungry ghosts.
The monk Huiyuan was likely unable to restrain himself any longer.
During the day, with so many eyes around, she had worn her Painted Skin and blended into a merchant caravan to enter the city. Yet, as soon as night fell, more pursuers arrived.
Afraid of drawing too much attention, Nan Zhi could only use paper figures to lure away the four demon suppressors so she could escape quietly.
There were Twenty Four Circuits of the Demon Suppression Monastery in the Great Song. Each monastery had at least two commissioner-level figures stationed there. For example, in the Northwest Circuit, there was Hua Xijian and Shen Luohe’s master, Nan Zhi's nominal superior, Daoist Qinglong.
She had heard Xu Zi mention that commissioner-level demon suppressors generally had cultivation around the Golden Core stage, though most of them guarded the various Demon Suppression Towers and were rarely seen.
While she didn't know the exact level of Huiyuan's cultivation, Nan Zhi had personally seen several great demons fall by his hand, and he even had an Evil Buddha at his command.
If not for the fact that this man seemed to have some lingering reservations and only dared to send a few hungry ghosts and demons to pursue her, she would likely have been killed by that Evil Buddha already.
Tonight, over a dozen hungry ghosts had entered the city to hunt her, completely disregarding the fact that the Demon Suppression Division had men stationed here. It seemed Huiyuan's patience had been exhausted by this half-month of pursuit.
Avoiding the main markets, she moved through the small alleys as nimbly as a cat. Before long, she found a wealthy family's private residence and hopped over the tiles into the yard.
The house was brightly lit, and the main hall was filled with the sounds of clinking glasses and music. The master of the house was likely hosting guests. Nan Zhi slipped into the kitchen to grab some cold mantou and roast chicken, left some silver behind, and then turned toward a secluded woodshed in the back.
She didn't know why rat spirits seemed to favor woodsheds so much.
Ignoring the gazes peeking from the shadows, Nan Zhi took out a tuft of reddish rat hair and placed it on the roast chicken. After staring for a long while, a sleek, fat rat finally scurried out of the woodshed.
Seeing the roast chicken, the large rat didn't stand on ceremony. It tore into the bird and devoured it in a few bites, tossing the bones into the darkness where a swarm of baby rats swarmed over them.
For a moment, Nan Zhi's ears were filled with the sound of crunching bones.
“Pardon me. I've just arrived in Xingyuan City and heard that something big happened in Bianjing. I wonder if you have any news?”
“You don't know yet? I heard that not long ago, during the Ghost Festival when the Ghost Gate opened, a demonic monk named Huiyuan used flesh and souls to refine an evil treasure on the Yin Yang Road. It caused all the ghosts in the Underworld to flee, and many people died near Bianjing. If not for the presence of the nun Miaoyun and State Uncle Cao, I'm afraid that on that night, the Imperial Capital at the foot of the Son of Heaven would have been covered in corpses and rivers of blood!”
The big rat, having eaten its fill, spoke to her in a high-pitched, thin voice.
“The rumors say that Huiyuan was only able to succeed because he conspired with a fourth-class arrest officer named Nan Zhi. The two of them feared exposure and even murdered the Well God and River God. Besides that, they also slew a second-class demon suppressor.”
“Now, Huiyuan’s whereabouts are unknown, and that Nan Zhi has fled with the treasure. No one knows where she went.”
“Currently, every demon suppressor in the twenty-four circuits is under orders to join forces and bring Nan Zhi to justice. They say it doesn't matter if she's dead or alive. As for the details of that night, they haven't been made public.”
“Has anyone seen the body of that second-class demon suppressor? Is she truly dead?”
Nan Zhi’s face darkened as she asked another question.
“And what about the family of that fugitive demon suppressor? Has anything happened to them?”
“This... I heard that the dead demon suppressor was actually a demon herself, and her original form was beaten out of her. She died a miserable death... It probably... probably isn't a lie.”
The big rat’s breath hitched, and its long black whiskers trembled. After a long pause, it said shakily:
“As for... as for that demon suppressor's family, I heard they were taken away by a pair of senior and junior disciples from the Northwest Circuit Demon Suppression Monastery...”
The Northwest Circuit Demon Suppression Monastery?
That must have been Shen Luohe and Hua Xijian.
With those two around, her family at least wouldn't be implicated.
Nan Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In truth, with just a bit of thought, it wasn't hard to guess that Huiyuan must have an informant within the Demon Suppression Division. The Ruyi Pavilion had existed on the Yin Yang Road for a long time; could anyone in the Demon Suppression Division truly claim they didn't know about its connection to the Ghost Buddha Temple?
On that day, the commotion had been so massive. Not only did the River God and Well God couple die, but even a Dragon Prince was involved.
Yet, the Demon Suppression Division’s announcement only briefly mentioned the demonic monk Huiyuan, while pushing Nan Zhi to the forefront and emphasizing that she carried a powerful treasure.
Now, Huiyuan wanted to kill her, the Demon Suppression Division had ordered her arrest, and the relatives of the dead demons wanted her dead. As for those who coveted the 'evil treasure' in secret, they would surely be watching her trail closely.
Even if Nan Zhi wanted to defend herself, Xu Zi had reverted to her wisteria true form, and there was no one she could trust in the Demon Suppression Monastery. Not going 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 would be that the moment she stepped into a monastery, Huiyuan would receive the news and arrive instantly.
An enemy of the whole world.
Truly thrilling.
Maybe she should find a safer place to let Xu Zi recover first?
Nan Zhi took a bite of her cold mantou. Seeing a small red dot suddenly appear on her map, she felt her adrenaline surge.
“Hehehehe...”
“Hehehe...”
A White Bone Heavenly Maiden draped in white gauze appeared in the air, carrying a flower basket as she approached with graceful steps. She spoke with a coquettish, soft voice, her movements full of charm. Her basket was filled with flower petals, and auspicious clouds drifted beneath her feet.
Normally, a scene of a heavenly maiden scattering flowers would be a picture of good fortune, but this “heavenly maiden” had a pale, ghostly face, and streaks of blood marred her eyes. She looked like a corpse, making the scene all the more terrifying.
Swish—
Petals from the basket scattered down. In the next second, the dew-covered petals transformed into sharp blades, carrying boundless killing intent as they shot straight toward Nan Zhi.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Rate on N.U.
