Masterlist of posts and character list
Chapter Two (Continued)
In Chongwu Camp’s dungeon, Wu Yan and Zhen Mei stood beside an empty metal cage. Wu Yan unrolled his copy of the scroll, looking to the red fingerprints stamped at the end. Smiling, he drew a knife and abruptly stabbed it into the empty cage. He twisted the handle sharply, and dragged it down, as if slicing an invisible creature in two.
A strange beast appeared suddenly in the empty cage and let out a terrible shriek!
Wu Yan withdrew the blade. Little by little, blood appeared on the glinting metal, dropping drip after drip. He wiped his dagger, soaking a cloth with wet blood and tossing it aside. “Looks like it’s already dead. Its blood only appears after death.”
A good show was about to start…
In the official conference hall, everyone stood around the scroll, hearts pounding, short of breath, watching as words appeared in black ink.
“The Demon Hunting Bureau hereby petitions Emperor Xiang to make a thorough investigation of the water ghost homicide case. They cannot harm the common people, and there must be no negligence or delay. The Demon Hunting Bureau will spare no effort in solving this case.”
That blank space between the pledge and their fingerprints filled with characters that grew clearer and clearer.
“The Demon Hunting Bureau pledges to solve this case within five days. Failure to solve this case within five days will be considered a dereliction of duty and we here, the undersigned, will slice our own throats and take our lives in penance.”
Day one after signing the pledge.
With the first faint rays of dawn, Tiandu grew more bustling by the hour. On the city’s outskirts, at Qingling Mountain, Wen Xiao and the others had already delved into the morning soil. They dug alongside each other, down in this ravine that wound as though it was left behind by the body of a giant snake. Compared to the rest of the dirt, the soil tossed out of the ravine was blacker and smelled foul.
Bai Jiu covered his nose, retching. He tried to retreat, only to instead dart to the side and vomit. This morning, he’d vomited no less than five times. Whatever might have been in his stomach was certainly gone now. His little face turned ghostly white as he leaned against a large tree, gasping to catch his breath.
A tangerine flew his way and Bai Jiu caught it, then weakly expressed his gratitude to Pei Sijing. “Thank you, jiejie, but I don’t have an appetite.”
“It’s not for eating. Smell it. It can help a little with nausea.” Talking with Bai Jiu only brought memories of her little brother to Pei Sijing’s mind. She couldn’t help wanting to take care of him.
Bai Jiu pressed the fruit against his nose and inhaled deeply. The citrusy scent filled his nasal passages and eased his queasy stomach.
“Thank you, jiejie!”
“Mn.” Pei Sijing’s mouth curved slightly.
On the other side, Wen Xiao and Zhuo Yichen didn’t receive similar treatment. The two of them crouched in the pit, noses covered, to take a closer look. “This is where the first water ghost demon case took place,” Zhuo Yichen said. “The daughter of a wealthy Tiandu merchant was to be married to a man from another region. She left from this spot…”
Wen Xiao reached down to pinch some of the dark soil between her fingers. The sticky, clammy feel of it turned her stomach. She brought it closer to sniff and gagged, frowning. “Why does it have such a strong fishy smell?”
She turned her head, looking, and found Zhao Yuanzhou lounging on the branch of a tree like an immortal lookie-loo. She stood to yell, “Do you know what kind of demon does this?”
Zhao Yuanzhou leapt lightly to her side, smiling cheekily. “Since you asked, I’ll take a look.”
Take a look? Could he have said something earlier if he couldn’t see rather than letting them spend half a day digging in this foul dirt?! Wen Xiao took a deep breath and fought down the anger rising in her chest. She faked a smile. “Forgive us for troubling you.”
Zhao Yuanzhou was quite gratified. He closed his eyes and slowly lowered his hand, palm aimed toward the ground. Quickly, red-tinted threads of malicious energy twisted in the black earth, stretching down from his pale fingertips. He opened eyes that had turned blood-red. At this same moment, the Cloud-Light Sword in Zhuo Yichen’s hand sensed this energy and immediately glowed a bright silver-blue.
Zhao Yuanzhou stared steadily at the black ravine in front of him. Then, as if through a blood-red filter, scenes from the past played out before their eyes…
Idioms that appear in this section:
呼吸急促 (hūxī jícù) – be short of breath
令人作呕 (lìngrénzuò’ǒu) – make one sick; nauseating; revolting; disgusting
嬉皮笑脸 (xīpí-xiàoliǎn) – grin cheekily; smile and grimace; make faces; all smiles
