The dead of night was quiet—perfect for venturing out.
Song Ciwan donned her Human Skin Mask and Black Cloak. Becoming a wisp of night wind, she weaved through the shadows and vanished.
「Jishan Square, the Yu Family Residence.」
A Night Watchman striking a clapper passed by the door. Inside the room, Niu Jinhua kicked her leg as if in a dream, then suddenly shoved her husband, Constable Yu, who was lying beside her. "Old Yu," she called, "wake up."
"What are you doing?" Constable Yu mumbled, half-asleep.
Niu Jinhua's eyes were glazed over as if she were still dreaming. And because she was, she suddenly began to sob without restraint. "Old Yu, I feel so awful. That poor child, Lady Yue... she's already been through enough, and she doesn't even know. She even earnestly sent money over, saying she wanted to pay us back!"
"But we were the ones who took her money out of greed! What does it matter that she borrowed five taels? It was her money in the first place!"
"Old Yu!" Niu Jinhua sobbed. "Why did you have to take that money? No matter how desperate we are, that was money someone died for! How could we take it? How could we..."
Her flowing tears were like shards of ice piercing Constable Yu, who shot bolt upright out of his stupor.
An inexplicable terror seized him, making his head throb. Constable Yu could only clutch his forehead and say in anguish, "You think I wanted to? The masters in the records department all took a cut, so how could our squad refuse? If we didn't, would the masters feel secure? If we didn't, believe me, we wouldn't have seen a single mace of that pension money!"
He was in agony. A suffocating pressure swelled in his head, and a bitter frustration churned in his heart. "Not only did I have to take it, I had to take the lead! And after I took it, I had to split it with the boys..."
"But don't you dare think I'm the one bullying people!" Constable Yu hissed in a low, furious voice. "We all live with our lives on the line! Today I'm alive, so I'm the one dividing up someone else's pension. If I die tomorrow... someone else will be dividing up mine!"
"Younger Brother Song... Younger Brother Song was a good man, but... when he was alive, he divided up other people's pensions too!"
"Who here isn't like that? And who the hell wants to be?"
"Our squad used to have thirty men. Now there are only fifteen of us left. How much longer do you think I've got?"
Each word was an accusation, a release of pent-up emotion—the desperate whimpers of a middle-aged man cornered like a beast.
Niu Jinhua rolled over and clung to her husband, suffocated by the nightmare. She too began to wail, "Damn it all! Damn it all to hell! When will this suffering end? It wasn't like this in years past! Isn't hunting and killing demons the job of the Demon Slayer Guard? Why do they have to send you constables to the front lines?"
Constable Yu let out a sound that was half laugh, half sob. "The master we serve, Demon-slaying Captain Zhang Ping... he has a Blood-Breaking Saber. Against ordinary Demons, that Blood-Breaking Saber can kill one with every slash. But against a powerful Demon Fiend? Then he turns it on us junior officials, one slash, one kill! Heh, heh heh..."
Niu Jinhua asked, "Old Yu, where does this Zhang Ping live? What's his story? The way he uses other people's lives to build his own reputation... don't his superiors care?"
"The high-ranking officials report to the Lantern Hanging Department's Government Office on scheduled days, and Lord Zhang is no exception. But he's a disciple of the Major Seven Star Sect from our very own Cangling County..."
Constable Yu chuckled grimly again, slowly prying open his heavy eyelids. "It's not unusual for people to die hunting Demons. Lord Zhang doesn't kill them directly. He waits for the Demon to kill someone first. After the Demon has killed, his saber 'drinks the blood,' its power surges, and *then* he kills the Demon. See? He's actually helping people get revenge. Do you understand?"
Do you understand?
Who could possibly understand? Niu Jinhua certainly couldn't. She just felt dizzy, her heart pounding. She wanted to say more, but the words wouldn't come. All she could do was hold her husband tightly, and before she knew it, she had drifted back into a heavy sleep.
The room, moments ago filled with sleep-talking, gradually fell silent again, leaving only the deepening darkness outside the window.
Outside the window, Song Ciwan melted back into the shadows and slipped away. She drifted home on the night wind, and the moment she was inside her room, she violently tore off her Black Cloak and ripped the Human Skin Mask from her face.
The frustration and anger in Song Ciwan's heart were no less than Constable Yu's.
But Constable Yu could only vent in his dreams. Song Ciwan, on the other hand... she could wield the thunder in her hands and cut down the injustice that plagued her heart!
'No, I have to calm down.' Song Ciwan stripped off her disguise, returning it to the space within her Heaven and Earth Scale, then walked to the memorial tablets for Song Youde and his wife.
Three Incense Sticks were burning on the altar, their smoke curling gracefully into the air. Song Ciwan watched the fragrant haze and gradually found her calm.
In the face of great matters, one must first quiet their spirit. One can be brave, but it must be a cautious bravery.
She had to remind herself that even though she now possessed a sliver of power, she was ultimately still just at the Qi Transformation Stage!
Above her were the True Cultivators of Qi Refining, the Divinity Transformation Zhenren, and even some who were living Human Immortals—beings who were Refining Spirit and Returning Void, or Refining Void and Merging Dao. The path was vast and infinite. How could someone at the paltry Qi Transformation Stage afford to be complacent?
Far from being complacent, she had to remain constantly reverent, constantly fearful.
'I'm too weak.'
Song Ciwan took out the Peach and Li Woods and continued carving her Life Replacement Puppet.
No sleep. It was time to grind.
In total, she had ten catties of Peach Wood and ten catties of Li Wood, enough to carve three pairs of Life Replacement Puppets. As she carved, she would have to infuse them with her Lifespan and perform a ritual. It would cost her six years of Lifespan per day, but she could afford it.
While she carved, Song Ciwan summoned the Heaven and Earth Scale. She had been too worked up earlier to sell the seven emotions and six desires she had acquired from the Yu couple.
From Constable Yu: [You have sold the human desires of Sorrow, Fury, and Fear. Weight: two catties and three taels. You have received the Basic Daoist Skill: Blazing Flame Technique.]
This was a Fire Element Dao Skill. After learning it, she could conjure a Spirit Flame. As her Magical Power deepened and her mastery of the Daoist Technique grew, the Spirit Flame's temperature could far exceed that of a normal fire, making it a very practical, fundamental Daoist Skill.
Song Ciwan memorized the Daoist Skill and contemplated its secrets. After a while, she sold the bundle of seven emotions and six desires she had obtained from Aunt Jin Hua.
[You have sold the human desires of Grief, Terror, and Shock. Weight: one catty and eight taels. You have received one year and eight months of Cultivation.]
The profound sensation of time accelerating washed over her again. This time, however, in the rushing river of time, Song Ciwan did not practice the Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting, but rather other Daoist Skills.
Such as the Void Illusion Demon Sword. This Daoist Skill had five layers in total: the First Layer was Heart Demon Illusion, the Second Layer was Demonic Thoughts Arise... all the way to the Fifth Layer, Celestial Demon Illusion Birth.
With each layer she mastered in the Cultivation of this technique, its power would multiply. Upon reaching the Fifth Layer, the victim could even be transformed into a Celestial Demon Puppet for the Caster to command!
For now, Song Ciwan had only just reached the Beginner level of the First Layer. With her current Cultivation at the Qi Transformation Stage, she wouldn't even be able to practice the Second Layer of the Void Illusion Demon Sword unless she broke through to the next Great Realm.
Even so, the First Layer alone was more than enough for her to practice.
The "one year and eight months" of time flashed by in an instant. When Song Ciwan finished her arduous Cultivation and opened her eyes, she felt that her understanding of the Void Illusion Demon Sword had deepened significantly.
If before she was merely at the Beginner stage, now she had advanced to a Skilled and proficient level.
'Excellent.' Song Ciwan set aside the Void Illusion Demon Sword and resumed her Cultivation of the Puppetry Technique, Substitution.
This Cultivation Technique was unusual. Because it required infusing Lifespan and performing rituals at set times, it couldn't be rapidly advanced using the Cultivation time granted by the Heaven and Earth Scale like other techniques.
After a night of arduous Cultivation, dawn arrived.
For a time, Song Ciwan's life fell into a stable routine.
She worked during the day and practiced her Cultivation at night. Though a fire of rage burned in her heart, she seemed to have turned her very being into a crucible—the deeper the anger, the calmer her exterior became.
Whenever she had a spare moment, Song Ciwan would keep an eye on the goings-on around her. For example, the Dingfeng Building on Liuquan Street, which had been on the verge of bankruptcy, had recently come back from the dead.
The Dingfeng Building had hired a new chef of unparalleled skill, one who could turn the most common ingredients into delicacies of extreme flavor. When a young master from the Innate Clan of the Xu Family came for a taste, his praise made the restaurant instantly famous.
Another example was the Huang Family in Jishan Square. Ever since the farce with the gold coins, their lives had gone from bad to worse.
Old Man Huang was paralyzed by a stroke, Huang Erlang's legs had been broken, and Aunt Ge was bedridden with illness. Huang Dalang had to support his own wife and child while also caring for a house full of invalids. His life was already miserable...
Then one day, a group of thugs from the gambling den burst in. With a great CRASH and BANG, they ransacked the Huang Family's home, leaving behind a threat: "Your family has some nerve, trying to cheat our boss with fake gold! You have three days to pay up, or we'll wreck this place!"
But where would the Huang Family find the money?
And so, on a dark and stormy night, Huang Dalang took his wife and child and fled.
When the men from the gambling den returned, all they found were Huang Gui and Huang Erlang, paralyzed and starving to death in their beds, and the hanging body of Aunt Ge.
The neighbors all sighed in sorrow. From then on, their warnings to the younger generation always included the same line: "Don't you ever get involved with gambling! You can't touch that stuff!"
Two more junior officials from the constable squad died. Demon Fiends seemed to be everywhere. Song Ciwan was reaching the end of her patience.
Finally, after forty-nine days, on the first day of winter, Song Ciwan finished carving all three pairs of her Wooden Puppets. Her Cultivation of the Substitution technique was a success!
The Void Illusion Demon Sword stirred restlessly in her heart, letting out a faint hum.