The suspect was escorted back to the yamen.
Upon learning that the ones who had captured him were officials from the Demon Subduing Division, the man offered little resistance. He soon confessed everything from beginning to end.
About a month and a half ago, a mysterious wanderer from the jianghu had sought him out. The stranger gave him a hefty sum of money and asked for his help with one task.
Finding “fated buyers.”
“You just put these two jars out in the black market,” the man had instructed. “If any buyers show up, notify me.”
“What’s inside them?”
“You’d best not know. Remember—if you don’t want to die, don’t open them.”
“If I don’t know what they are, how am I supposed to sell them for you…”
“Heh, if it’s fated, the buyers will come knocking on their own.”
Jars…
Similar fragments had indeed been found in the monsters’ outpost, but no one had figured out what they were for.
Now they knew: the jars were used to store certain “things” that required talisman seals for containment.
“And then?” Yin Luan asked, arms crossed over her chest.
“That girl, Shu Wen—for some reason, she took a real shine to those two jars. So I went back and reported it to the guy, and then, later…”
The gaunt man was drenched in sweat, trembling from head to toe, his words growing ever more garbled.
“Later, I heard Shu Wen had gone missing. Then… the guy seemed really pleased. He gave me another payout and vanished afterward…”
“And how did you know that only someone with enough resentful energy could break the seal?” Du Xuan pressed.
“He… he told me right before he left. And he also said…”
“What else did he say?”
“He said… this might make for some good material…”
They grilled him a while longer, even resorting to the Demon Subduing Division’s interrogation methods, but they gleaned no further information. Snake could tell from the scent lingering in the air that the man was likely telling the truth.
He had known full well something was wrong with those items yet still helped sell them. The gaunt man was undoubtedly guilty of a grave crime, and Fang Qian was all too eager to see justice served.
But a far more important and pressing problem now loomed before them.
Who was this mysterious mastermind—the true culprit behind it all? What was his goal? And where was he now?
“Material,” Little Snake mused. “It sounds like that guy’s aim is some kind of experiment. Could that be possible?”
“I was about to say it’s unlikely,” Du Xuan replied, her brows tightly furrowed. “The Demon Subduing Division’s archives record an evil technique for commanding zombies, but the group that practiced it was wiped out by the Great Zhou Kingdom decades ago.”
Living corpses and zombies were two entirely different “things.” The former possessed a degree of intelligence and could act on their own, while the latter operated on pure instinct: “hunt prey.”
Even ten zombies posed less threat to a crowd than a single living corpse.
“The situation has far exceeded our expectations,” Du Xuan said after a moment’s reflection. “I need to send word to the Demon Subduing Division ahead of schedule.”
~~~
In the days that followed, Little Snake’s life grew far more leisurely.
The Huai City authorities were using the gaunt man as their lead to track down the mysterious person’s trail. Du Xuan barricaded herself in her study, deep in thought as she drafted her mission report.
With early spring behind them, the weather gradually warmed. The gentle sunlight induced a pleasant laziness.
“Mm~”
Yin Luan stretched long and luxuriously, rolled onto her other side, and resumed reading the 《Demon Annals》 in her hands.
This book wasn’t any official tome—just a haphazard collection of folk legends, filled mostly with frightening tales.
Demons devour people.
It was said that human flesh and blood contained a “spirit,” and demons who ate it could enhance their own “comprehension.”
Demons could cultivate as well, ascending to the absolute pinnacle and even rivaling divine beasts and immortals.
Long, long ago—before humans had formed kingdoms—demons ruled the land.
They especially favored disobedient children, as if their flavor was the finest…
“Don’t open the door to strangers at night, or a wolf demon will slip in and eat you.” “Don’t linger by the water’s edge for no reason, or a fish demon will drag you under.” “Any woman seducing a married man must be beaten to death—they’re all fox demons in disguise.”
These were the most common types of demons. Probably because East County’s climate wasn’t suited to them, there weren’t many tales about snake demons.
Snake demons are lascivious creatures. Not only do they seduce humans, but after toying with their victims, they devour them—vicious to their core.
Fox demons, who likewise delighted in toying with emotions, usually fixated on one target at a time. Snake demons were different. Lascivious by nature, they refused no one—the more lovers, the better.
However, snakes also possess this characteristic, and their flesh has the effect of nourishing yin and strengthening yang. Soaking it in wine is very beneficial for the body…
“A biased view.”
Yin Luan commented.
The author of this book clearly harbored a prejudice against Snake. All other demons were innately “evil,” but when it came to her, she was both “evil” and “lewd”? Couldn’t there be a naturally pure Snake?
“Demon Subduing Division Lord, Lady Yin Luan, the master is waiting for you in the front hall. Word is there’s a new lead on the case.”
“Do you think I’m pure?”
“…?”
The Mysterious Person had consigned two jars for sale. The officers turned the place upside down, digging three feet deep through the ruins of the woodland cabin, but they only managed to piece together fragments of one jar.
After considerable effort, they finally located the other in a shallow stretch of Huai City Lake.
Unfortunately, it was empty.
“What clue could an empty jar possibly provide?”
Yin Luan asked, puzzled.
“I’ve shown it to an old potter in the city. Judging by the material and craftsmanship, this jar was most likely produced near Earthstone City.”
Fang Qian explained, straightening his posture a little—as if to say, “I’ve made a contribution to this case too, so put in a good word for me in your report.”
“Where is Earthstone City?”
“Keep heading west past the Eastern Barrier Mountains, and the first city you’ll reach to rest is Earthstone City.”
Huai City lay in the eastern reaches of East County. Little Snake Demon had been traveling steadily westward down from the mountains, and their provisional destination, Nine Li City, was roughly on the western edge of the commandery.
“If I’m right, whatever was sealed inside this jar must have been connected to Evil Spirits,” Du Xuan said as she entered from outside, dark circles under her eyes. “A special vessel like this isn’t something you can just whip up anywhere. To get to the bottom of this, we need to head to Earthstone City.”
“Is writing a mission report really that hard…?”
“Who do you think caused all this?”
It had to be logical and reasonable without implicating Yin Luan too deeply—lest it draw the Demon Subduing Division’s scrutiny. Du Xuan fretted so much she nearly chewed through her brush…
“Earthstone City, is it? Then that’s our next stop,” Little Snake Demon said, her gaze drifting elsewhere to swiftly change the subject. “We’ve rested up enough. Time to hit the road!”
As she spoke, she shot a sidelong glance at the Demon Subduing Division Lord with the corner of her eye.
“Are you waiting for me to object…?”
Du Xuan trailed off, sighed in helpless resignation, and rolled her eyes.
“Fine, tag along if you want. I refuse to believe we can’t find somewhere suitable to settle you down!”
~~~
