Song Ciwan toyed with the Tongyou Mirror for a moment before scanning every nook and cranny of her small courtyard with it.
Her small bedroom was indeed free of anything "unclean," as was the small room where the memorial tablets for Song Youde and his wife were placed. However, in the courtyard outside, Song Ciwan detected several wisps of Yin Qi.
When the Yin Qi suddenly appeared in the mirror's reflection, it was grayish-black and translucent. The wisps were thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom, like floating ghost heads trailing long tails as they zipped about. The sight gave Song Ciwan a real fright.
She immediately used Escape into the Night, turned to snatch up the still-snoring Big White Goose, and nearly bolted straight out the door.
The Big White Goose honked groggily, its wings flapping wildly.
As the goose's wings flapped, a gust of wind stirred, and the "long-tailed ghost heads" scattered like smoke in the breeze, drifting away lightly in all directions.
Song Ciwan focused her senses again and finally realized—these weren't "long-tailed ghost heads" at all. This drifting "ghostly mist" was Yin Qi!
Unclaimed Yin Qi didn't even meet the criteria for being a ghost, so there was no need to be afraid.
Of course, she wasn't afraid. She was just being prudent.
Ahem… 'After all, I've never encountered this before. What's wrong with being a little cautious?'
Big White Goose: "HONK HONK HONK!"
Damn it, this is goose abuse!
I was sleeping so soundly, and she just had to wake me up. Is this how a human is supposed to act?
Song Ciwan gave an embarrassed laugh and quickly soothed it, "There, there, Big White. It's okay. Let's go back to sleep."
She held the goose, patting its back as she hurried back inside and placed the Big White Goose back in its coop.
The barest wisp of the Dream-Entering Technique's aura leaked out, and the Big White Goose instantly rediscovered the wonderful feeling of falling asleep. It turned out the Dream-Entering Technique wasn't just for drawing out a person's deepest concerns in their dreams—it was also a divine sleep-inducing technique.
Song Ciwan was suddenly struck by how endlessly fascinating the Dao of magic was.
Feeling as if her mind was being opened up again and again, she walked into the courtyard, contemplated the Blazing Flame Technique, then raised a finger and forced out a wisp of fiery mist.
What was fiery mist? To put it visually, it was a wisp of scorching air. Its biggest difference from a bright, flickering flame was its lack of a conspicuous red glow.
It was more like a traveler in the dark night. Though it was fire, its brilliance was deliberately muted. It couldn't blaze brightly, yet it was like a ferocious taotie. It chased after the drifting wisps of Yin Qi, devouring them one by one until nothing remained.
Every wisp of Yin Qi in the small courtyard was ground away. Song Ciwan withdrew the Blazing Flame Technique and let out a soft sigh of relief.
She felt much more at ease. Having proven its worth, the Blazing Flame Technique's status in her heart soared, rivaling even the Void Illusion Demon Sword.
The Void Illusion Demon Sword was naturally very powerful, but it was often only effective against conscious living beings. The Blazing Flame Technique, on the other hand, lacked the sword's bizarre strangeness but was like a diligent street sweeper. No matter what it encountered, the flames would sweep through and leave everything clean.
Song Ciwan mulled over the magic she had learned, as well as the Yin Qi that had just appeared in her courtyard.
She had actually discovered that it wasn't just her own courtyard that had stray Yin Qi; it was on the streets outside, and even in the yards of her neighbors on either side!
So, was Yin Qi a naturally occurring thing, or was something she didn't know about secretly brewing within Su Yang City?
Song Ciwan had no intention of getting to the bottom of it. For now, all she could do was stay vigilant and look after herself.
She returned to her room and continued to operate the Heaven and Earth Scale.
After killing the giant cockroach, Song Ciwan had obtained a mass of shimmering dark energy.
This mass of energy felt somewhat solid, more like a black ball of yarn made of dozens of wrapped threads. It appeared within the Heaven and Earth Scale.
Song Ciwan sold it: [You have sold thirty-two wisps of Death Qi from a Low Level Lianfei Demon Beast and obtained the Low Level Magical Artifact: Black Armor Saber.]
A completely black sleeve saber materialized before Song Ciwan's eyes. At the same time, the Sacrificial Refining Technique for the Black Armor Saber flooded into her mind.
Holding the Black Armor Saber, Song Ciwan almost leaped to her feet on the spot.
The Black Armor Saber... it was a Magical Artifact!
The late Zhang Ping had drunk the fresh blood of so many living people just to refine a single Magical Artifact. Yet here Song Ciwan was, obtaining a completed Magical Artifact just by selling a mass of Death Qi from a Lianfei Demon Beast.
Although Song Ciwan had long grown accustomed to the wonders of the Heaven and Earth Scale, she couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement at this moment.
She immediately cut her fingertip, dripped blood onto the blade, and bound the Black Armor Saber to her, following the accompanying Sacrificial Refining Technique.
Outside the window, a light snow fell all night. Amidst the sound of the falling snow, Song Ciwan cultivated diligently until dawn.
She didn't yet know what great turmoil the Lianfei Demon Beasts—the very source of her Black Armor Saber—had stirred up in the city that night.
Giant cockroaches the size of bushel baskets swarmed out from every dark corner. Some pounced on livestock, others on living people.
They possessed nimble body techniques, razor-sharp legs like blades, and mouthparts that could cut through gold and devour iron!
Anyone bitten by them would lose their vitality in short order. The lucky ones might only lose a hand or a foot; the unlucky could be bitten into a pile of shattered bones on the spot.
What was more terrifying was that if a giant cockroach bit a person, the person might die. But if a person attacked a giant cockroach, the creatures possessed an extremely tenacious Life Force. Even if cut in two or smashed to a pulp, their mangled remains could suddenly leap up and attack again.
Meanwhile, the Demon Slayer Guard, who should have been on standby, were mostly scattered and off-duty. The Household Guards of the City Patrol Department were run ragged, suffering tragic losses.
Later, people discovered that attacks by fire were perhaps the best way to deal with these giant cockroaches. Only by burning the creatures to ash could they be truly killed.
Unfortunately, the power of ordinary fire was limited, and there were far too few people in the city who could conjure Spirit Fire.
It wasn't that there were no cultivators; it was that the population of ordinary people was so large that the number of cultivators seemed woefully inadequate in comparison.
Of course, it wasn't as if the night was without its shining heroes.
Just as dawn was about to break, Song Ciwan heard a series of terrified screams erupt from the eastern end of the street in Jishan Square.
The piercing screams trailed off into panicked echoes, followed immediately by surprised and tearfully grateful cries.
"It's Qionghua Pavilion! The fairies from Qionghua Pavilion have come to save us! This is wonderful..."
"Fairy, your grace is immense! This humble scholar has no way to repay you..."
BOOM—
A burst of fire shot into the sky, its crimson glow illuminating the pre-dawn darkness.
Song Ciwan pushed open her door and looked up to see a graceful figure leap onto a roof ridge amidst the fiery glow at the end of the street, flitting past like a startled swan under the gazes of the people below.
Someone exclaimed, "It's Chi Hua Fairy, the one who was staying at the Drunken Fresh Residence a few days ago!"
Someone gazed up in a daze. "Chi Hua Fairy is truly a celestial being. Slaying demons and saving people... her merit is truly unparalleled."
And just then, a rustling sound came from the corner of the wall of Song Ciwan's next-door neighbor. A few cockroaches from the swarming army had somehow managed to burrow out from that corner.
Song Ciwan heard terrified shouts from next door, and Chi Hua Fairy shot over in a flash.