Early in the morning, Song Ciwan pushed open the door and stepped outside.
She took her umbrella and walked down the street, the crisp, cold air hitting her face.
The street, however, was already bustling with activity. Some people were sweeping snow with brooms, while others excitedly carried the corpses of Mouse Demons toward the Demon Refining Platform.
As Song Ciwan walked, she paid close attention to the various bits of news being discussed.
Mouse Demons had appeared last night, and their numbers were even more staggering than the Lianfei Demon Beasts from the night before.
However, the casualties in the city last night were not as severe as the previous night. There were a few reasons for this.
First, having experienced the Lianfei disaster, the city's residents were on high alert. Furthermore, the Demon Refining Platform had proactively increased the exchange rate for Demon Corpses and Qi Blood Elixirs, which greatly fueled the cultivators' enthusiasm for demon hunting.
Second, the City God Temple had sold a large number of House Protection Talismans at a low price. Many martial artists among the populace, even if their Power had not yet reached the Organ Refining Stage, could often fight several rounds against a low-level Mouse Demon as long as they were strong enough and held a talisman.
The more skilled ones could even slay demons with them!
As for the third reason... that wasn't something for public discussion. But Song Ciwan wondered, 'Did Beichen Sword Immortal's distant sword shadow last night also play a positive role in this demon disaster?'
'This world is overrun with Demon Fiends, but humanity isn't without its own experts. They may not deign to look after every single mortal, but their very existence is enough to lift people's spirits somewhat.'
In any case, the entire atmosphere in Su Yang City today seemed energized and optimistic.
That was until Song Ciwan walked into the Washing Room and heard the handymen's numb discussion. "They stirred up a hornet's nest in Lai Mazi Lane last night. A whole bunch of people died!"
Lai Mazi Lane was a shantytown in the southwestern corner of the city, the most chaotic district in all of Su Yang City. Most of the handymen in the Washing Room came from there. Some had fallen from grace after their families' fortunes collapsed, others had fallen on hard times themselves, and still others were refugees who had fled their homes...
The unfortunate each have their own brand of misery, and their district had suffered the most during last night's plague of Mouse Demons.
The handymen asked each other, "A ton of people died. How come you're still alive?"
"Heh, who knows? I'm just tough to kill! Anyway, I'm not dead, and neither are you, right?"
"Yeah, I'm not dead, and I even saw a good show last night! Guess what? The Zhou Family lives next door to me. You know, Aunt Zhou, the one who used to work with us in the Second Wash Room? Said she was working here to save up a dowry for her daughter, remember?"
'I remember.' Song Ciwan remembered her as well.
When Song Ciwan first started working in the Second Wash Room, Aunt Zhou had been the one standing right next to her.
But after Song Ciwan was reassigned to the Grass Washing Room, she hadn't seen much of Aunt Zhou.
The handyman discussing Aunt Zhou continued, "Last night, I was peeking through a crack in the wall and saw everything perfectly. A dashingly dressed man came to the Zhou Family's home, claiming to be some Matchmaking Flower God from the Giant Deer Country. He wanted to betroth the Zhou's young daughter to their Second Prince to be his Consort. Man, you should have seen the pomp and circumstance!"
With a mixture of numbness and excitement, he described the scene: the mountains of gold and silver the Flower God brought, Aunt Zhou's hesitation, the ecstatic joy of her son and daughter-in-law, and the young Zhou daughter's own delighted anticipation.
"Aunt Zhou really didn't want to let her daughter go, but the girl ran right over to the Flower God herself, saying she would sacrifice herself to save the Second Prince!"
"The Flower God put the Zhou's daughter on his back and—WHOOSH—disappeared in a flash. He left behind cart after cart of gold, silver, and jewels in front of their home. Man, can you even imagine..."
It was an incredible tale. Everyone's attention was fixed on the storytelling handyman, and as they listened to his fantastic story, their hearts filled with longing.
One handyman even beat his chest and stomped his foot. "Damn, I regret not having a daughter!"
Someone else jeered, "You can't even find a wife, and you're talking about having a daughter?"
More people roared with laughter. Life was bitter, but there was no harm in finding a little amusement.
The storyteller continued, "Don't be so quick to envy them for having a daughter. Those mountains of gold and silver might have been piled up in front of the Zhou family's door, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing!"
"There were still countless rats scurrying all over the place. Everyone was busy fighting them off, but then they saw all those carts of treasure in front of the Zhou's home. Who'd want to fight rats then? Everyone went nuts! It was a mad dash... 'Hey, grab the gold! Grab the silver!'"
"The Zhou's son and daughter-in-law were only two people. How could they possibly protect that much gold and silver? Not only did they fail to protect their things, they got beaten up pretty badly too."
"Tsk, tsk. It was awful, just awful. Aunt Zhou was so angry she nearly died on the spot. She collapsed and got bitten by the rats. Looked like she wasn't going to make it..."
Unlike the residential wards, where most homes had courtyards, the shantytown was different. Its streets were narrow and uneven, and the dilapidated shacks were drafty. You could see right into your neighbor's home without a proper wall between you.
The handyman had witnessed the Zhou family's entire tragedy. As he reached the end of his tale, he let out an abrupt sigh.
Just then, the Stewards arrived to take roll call, and the handyman's sigh became the story's impromptu ending.
What the handyman hadn't finished saying was that after the crowd had snatched up all the gold and silver, they suddenly discovered that the treasure they had fought so frantically for wasn't treasure at all. It was nothing but scraps of red and yellow paper!
The unfinished story lingered in the minds of the handymen, a rare and rich fantasy in their withered lives.
The story lingered in Song Ciwan's mind as well, but what startled her was entirely different from what captivated the others.
'Giant Deer Country, the Flower God, the Second Prince... and the Mouse Demon's bride. So, I wasn't the only one who encountered a Mouse Demon abducting a bride last night. Other young women in the city experienced it, too!'
'The difference was that I didn't fall for it, whereas Aunt Zhou's youngest daughter had very likely met with a terrible fate.'
'And another thing... I clearly killed that "Flower God" last night. How could another one have appeared?'
'So, is it a swarm of Mouse Demons all impersonating the "Flower God," or is the title of "Flower God" not unique within the Giant Deer Country to begin with?'
But Song Ciwan had no more time for deep thought. Her task for the day was quickly assigned. She had to wash a total of twelve demons—all of them Mouse Demons.
Most of the Mouse Demons hadn't left behind any final, pre-death images. But as she washed the last one, Song Ciwan saw something different.
It wasn't some dark, subterranean place, nor was it the Monster Realm she had imagined.
Instead, exquisitely designed pavilions and terraces drifted through a faded, vintage-like image. 'This must be the most profound scene in the Mouse Demon's memory!'
It was like the most opulent corner of the Mortal World, a veritable Brocade Village. Hot spring pools were nestled amongst flowers and trees, Spirit Maiden Songstresses moved with the tinkling of their jade pendants, and a debauched, bare-chested human male walked past, grabbing a beautiful maiden beside him for an open-air tryst.
The songstresses shrieked and fled, but a man at the head of the gathering—one who looked both handsome and malevolent—raised a hand and pulled a Beautiful Maid toward him. He smashed her skull with a single palm strike, sucking a dragon-like pillar of blood into his hand!
Seeing this, Song Ciwan's mind reeled, and she could no longer suppress the turmoil in her heart.
At that exact moment, the Mouse Demon's residual image began to violently shake. The heavens and earth trembled, and the cries of the Mortal World filled the air.
Amidst the chaotic, fragmented vision, for a split second, Song Ciwan thought she saw a pair of handsome, malevolent eyes. They pierced through the barriers of space and time, seeming to gaze through the mortal coil itself... and look directly at her!
"Erlang..." From somewhere far away in time and space, a soft voice called out from behind him.
The entire vision shattered. Song Ciwan's heart hammered in her chest as the True Qi in her body surged uncontrollably. The Heaven and Earth Scale materialized. A shimmering, cyan-gold mass of qi rested ethereally upon one of its Balance Plates.
[Scrutiny from a Divinity Transformation Expert. Value: two taels and three maces. Available for trade.]
'A Divinity Transformation Expert!'
'This is bad!'
Song Ciwan had no time to be horrified by who she had just glimpsed across the void. The instant the Heaven and Earth Scale appeared, her True Qi began to drain away uncontrollably, like a flood bursting through an open dam.
Song Ciwan had reached the late-stage of Qi Transformation. By conventional measures, she possessed eighty years' worth of Cultivation. While her True Qi wasn't immeasurably vast, it was by no means shallow.
Yet even with a full eighty years of Cultivation, her reserves couldn't withstand the drain for more than a few breaths.
A moment later, her True Qi was completely depleted, and her Essence Qi began to drain away.
The process was so fast she didn't even have time to react.
Song Ciwan's face turned deathly pale. A mouthful of blood rose in her throat, but she immediately forced it back down.
Inside the Grass Washing Room, no one noticed anything amiss. Death was a common occurrence in the Washing Room. Even if she were to spit blood and collapse on the spot, the other workers would, at most, let out a few startled cries.
'What else could they do? Everyone dies sooner or later anyway.'
When no one was looking, Song Ciwan quickly cupped a hand over her mouth. She retrieved Strengthening Pills from the Heaven and Earth Scale's space one by one and swallowed them directly.
But the Strengthening Pills couldn't replenish her qi fast enough to keep up with the drain. Song Ciwan immediately switched to Qi Circulation Powder.
The Qi Circulation Powder barely eased her predicament. She swallowed dose after dose until her meridians began to throb with pain. Only after all nineteen portions of Qi Circulation Powder stored in her Heaven and Earth Scale were gone did the drain on her True Qi finally subside.
By then, Song Ciwan was drenched in sweat. She looked as if she'd been fished out of the water—utterly exhausted and disheveled.
The Heaven and Earth Scale still floated before her. A sudden understanding dawned on Song Ciwan: 'The abrupt drain on my True Qi was because the Heaven and Earth Scale intercepted the "scrutiny from a Divinity Transformation Expert" for me!'
'It's just that my own Cultivation is too low, so the Heaven and Earth Scale was limited and had no choice but to draw on my True Qi.'
She still had sixteen Strengthening Pills left, but Song Ciwan didn't dare take any to restore her True Qi. Her meridians had been severely damaged during the violent internal conflict. She needed to heal her injuries first before she could even think about resuming her Cultivation.
She glanced around. Still, no one in the Grass Washing Room was paying her any mind. Song Ciwan lowered her head and, while continuing the slow work of washing the Mouse Demon, secretly swallowed a Blood Essence Pill.
As the Blood Essence Pill entered her stomach, a gentle warmth spread from its medicinal power, beginning to repair her damaged body.
The process was steady but slow. Song Ciwan silently estimated, 'An injury like this... it might not heal for at least two or three days.'
She couldn't help but sigh to herself. The shock and lingering fear she felt needed no explanation.
'So, it turns out that viewing certain images while Washing Demons can actually attract a powerful expert's gaze in return!'
'If not for the profound power of the Heaven and Earth Scale, which had intercepted it in time, I'm afraid I would have suffered far more than just internal injuries.'
'The consequences would have been unthinkable!'