The carriage rolled slowly into the city.
There were no market stalls lining the streets on either side, nor were there any pedestrians in sight.
Every house had its doors and windows tightly shut, with scarcely a sound emanating from within.
The weather had grown milder over the past few days, yet the sight of this scene sent a chill creeping over the two women.
They had initially hoped to ask someone about the situation, but given the circumstances, they had no choice but to head straight for the Yamen.
In the territory of the Great Zhou Kingdom, every “city” was home to an official government office—that was the fundamental difference between a city and a village.
Above the city level came the county, where the authority of a county lord held far greater weight. Even the royal family of a small nation would have to show courtesy upon meeting one, careful not to give offense.
The two arrived at the Yamen.
But the place was utterly deserted.
“What in the world is going on?” Du Xuan couldn’t help blurting out. “How could something like this happen?”
All the government officials had vanished? And no one had reported it? What on earth was happening here?
“This feels all wrong, doesn’t it?” The Little Snake Demon craned her neck, peering around. “Should we pull back for now and request reinforcements?”
If their second letter reached the Demon Subduing Division Headquarters on time, the higher-ups would likely dispatch more personnel after reading it.
An incident this bizarre was hardly something rookies like them could handle.
“Perhaps it’s the enemy’s scheme,” Du Xuan mused. “He’s trying to scare us off, buying time to do something even worse.”
Daring to assault the government offices was tantamount to challenging the authority of the Great Zhou Kingdom Royal Family. A brazen villain like that needed to be brought down hard!
That being said, with the officials nowhere to be found, even figuring out where to spend the night had become a problem…
Most of the shops in the city had their doors bolted shut. After driving the carriage around in a loop, the pair finally spotted a lodging called the Earthstone Inn.
They parked the carriage and Du Xuan took the lead, her Spiritual Longsword now sheathed at her waist, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice.
“Anyone here?”
She called out.
The inn was far from small, yet not a single guest was in sight. The tables and chairs bore no dust, but a faint, rotten-wood scent lingered in the air.
“No one’s here either…”
The Little Snake Demon clutched at her companion’s clothing, creeping along on tiptoe behind her.
“Wel…come…to…our…two…guests…”
Abruptly, a hoarse, low, and stiff voice rasped from behind them, startling the Demon Subduing Division Lord so badly that she nearly drew her sword right then and there.
Whirling around, they saw that the speaker was a woman around forty years old. She was dressed neatly enough, with few wrinkles on her face, but her complexion was that of a dying elder—as if she might drop dead and need a coffin at any moment.
“Why didn’t you answer if you’re here?” Du Xuan shoved her sword back into its sheath and wiped the cold sweat from her brow. “Two of us. Two rooms… no, make it one. And prepare a table of hot food while you’re at it—we haven’t had a proper meal in ages.”
“Very well. I’ll prepare it right away for you two.”
The woman’s voice was excruciatingly raspy, as if her throat whistled with wind several times over the course of a single sentence. She headed upstairs, her steps utterly silent.
It was a good thing they hailed from the Demon Subduing Division; any ordinary traveler would have bolted at the sight of such a scene.
“Um, that is…”
Du Xuan’s attention was fixed on the woman, but beside her, Yin Luan tugged at her sleeve, her face flushing red with shy hesitation.
“I’m a pure and innocent girl. I need my parents’ permission to share a room with a man…”
“Aren’t your parents dead?!”
“Then we can symbolically light a couple sticks of incense and ask their opinion… Oh, and if you plan on getting handsy with me tonight, could you do it in the first half of the night? I sleep like the dead after that…”
“If you really don’t want to share a room, I’ll go get another one right now… You know this is just a safety precaution, right? A last resort.”
Who was it that, on her very first night alone with a “strange man,” had snuggled right into his arms for warmth?
The room was ready in short order. They stabled the horse, unpacked their luggage, and Du Xuan intercepted the Innkeeper’s Wife with a question.
“Excuse me… do you run this inn all by yourself?”
“Yes.”
The woman regarded her with eyes devoid of any spark.
“Do you manage okay on your own?”
“Few guests. I manage.”
The Innkeeper’s Wife responded in her slow, perfunctory drawl before heading downstairs to prepare their meal.
“No traces of evil aura on her,” Du Xuan said, propping her chin on her hand. “She’s just listless—more like she hasn’t slept or rested properly.”
She had given the city a rough scan with the Aura Viewing Technique before they entered.
Although a faint wisp of Yin Qi lingered in the skies above Earthstone City, it remained well within normal bounds, with no unusual signs to speak of.
Moreover, if some spell could blanket an entire city, its caster’s power would place them among the top experts of the Great Zhou Kingdom… A force of such inconceivable magnitude was something Du Xuan had only heard might be wielded by the three lords of the Demon Subduing Division.
The meal was ready, and the innkeeper’s wife invited them downstairs to dine.
Two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup—quite a hearty spread, and the colors appeared perfectly fine.
Du Xuan didn’t touch her chopsticks. Instead, she shot a glance at Little Snake.
“Are you treating me like some kind of tool…?”
Yin Luan sniffed the food carefully, confirming there were no anomalies.
With the city in such a bizarre state, even if poison wasn’t a concern, they had to watch out for nightmarish possibilities like human-flesh buns…
They ate their dinner with the utmost caution.
“Would you two guests like some hot water and a bath barrel?” the innkeeper’s wife asked softly once they had finished.
“Yes,” Yin Luan replied with a cheeky grin, “a bath together!”
“Together bath is one thing, but sharing a bed? Absolutely not.” Du Xuan shot her a glare, then turned to the innkeeper’s wife. “No need. We’ll just freshen up simply.”
She did want to wash her body clean… but with her secret, the process would be a hassle.
In the current situation, caution was the wisest course.
After that brief exchange, the innkeeper’s wife said nothing more unprompted.
She spent most of her time huddled in a corner of the inn, utterly still and silent. Without close scrutiny, she was easy to overlook.
Night fell, cloaking the city in gloom.
A place devoid of hearth fires naturally had scant illumination after dark.
The blackness amplified the silence, transforming the city into what resembled a ghost town—or the yawning maw of an abyss, poised to devour any outsiders who ventured within.
Du Xuan fetched a cooling mat and bedding, then laid out a spot on the guest room floor.
“Want to sleep? This bed’s huge~”
Yin Luan propped herself up on one elbow, legs crossed, her proudly thrusting breasts, her slender waist without a trace of excess fat, her exquisite curves, and the shadowed valley between her thighs all radiating an irresistible allure.
The Demon Subduing Division Lord felt a surge of irritation just looking at her, inwardly wondering why some people were blessed with such perfection while others weren’t. She ignored the display, lay down, and went to sleep.
Her teasing rebuffed, the little snake demon muttered that it wasn’t any fun, blew out the oil lamp, and soon drifted off to sleep.
In the dead of night.
A hand crept quietly onto the bed.
It paused briefly over the snake demon’s heaving peaks without making a move, then darted straight for her mouth and nose.
“Mmph!”
