The damp, earthy stench of the cellar mingled with the metallic scent of blood, clinging stubbornly to the inside of Lin Nan’s nostrils.
Using the Qing Pry, Lin Nan lifted the last stone slab, and Shen Yuer immediately shaped a water technique, seeping it into the cracks of the soil to support the body at the bottom of the pit.
Liu Widow still had breath, but she was unconscious, tangled in a haze of Monster Qi. Around her ankle, beneath the hem of her skirt, was a ring of dark red marks indentations matching the golden thread pattern on the wolf bone altar.
“Save her first.”
Lin Nan’s voice was barely above a whisper. Her fingertips hovered over Liu Widow’s wrist, where the golden flames of the Soul Lock Ring flickered slightly. “The Monster Qi has invaded her heart meridian; suppress it first with the Qingling Talisman.”
Shen Yuer immediately pulled out a talisman from her sleeve. Blue light danced at her fingertips, and the talisman was pressed to Liu Widow’s brow. The woman gave a faint cough from her throat, her eyelashes fluttering.
Huo Yuanyao had already tied Zhang Ergou to a pillar, looking at him with disgust. “Think carefully about the man in the gray robe.”
Zhang Ergou wept and trembled, his speech incoherent. “Tall… scar on his left hand… speaks with a Beijing accent… He said this courtyard was a breeding ground for poison gu, and the bird was the lure. Once Liu Widow’s blood soaked through the earth, then…”
“Then it would breed Monsters.”
Lin Nan took the lead, twisting a tuft of wolf fur between her fingers. “Did he say what kind of Monster?”
Zhang Ergou shook his head, then suddenly remembered something. He pulled out a package wrapped in oiled paper from his chest. “He left this. Said that when the bird cries loudly, bury this into the pit…”
Inside the paper package was a gray-black powder. Huo Yuanyao brought it to her nose and immediately flushed with anger. “This is ash from Corpse-Eating Grass, mixed with human blood.”
Shen Yuer’s water technique rippled suddenly, the water chain tightening until Zhang Ergou choked out a groan. “How many people have you killed?”
“It wasn’t us! The gray-robed man forced me! Just this one!” Zhang Ergou cried. “He said if I didn’t obey, I’d be the next one buried in the pit…”
“Besides, three Immortal Masters! I didn’t dare do anything else. I haven’t even stayed home these days—I’ve been hiding outside!”
Lin Nan didn’t press further but gestured for Huo Yuanyao to examine the hem of Liu Widow’s skirt.
Within the layers of her blue cloth skirt was a half-torn talisman. The runes on it matched the carvings on the altar stone.
“Take her back to Qingyun Sect. Summon the Elders to examine this.”
She folded the talisman carefully into her sleeve. “The follow-up handling is beyond our capability and authority.”
By the time they left Changning Village, dawn was breaking.
Shen Yuer carried the unconscious Liu Widow, the protective water shield still clinging with dew. She glanced back at the village, still fragrant with osmanthus cake scent, and whispered, “They don’t even spare ordinary villagers…”
“Not just villagers.”
Lin Nan’s gaze fell on the parrot in the bamboo cage. It had fallen silent at some point, tilting its head to peck at the bloodstains on its left wing. “Once a bird absorbs Monster Qi, it begins to imitate ‘human’ desires.”
Huo Yuanyao asked, “Imitate who?”
“Everyone who got caught in this.”
Lin Nan looked toward the Qingyun Mountains, now clearly visible. “Zhang Ergou’s cowardice, Liu Widow’s fear, even… our own vigilance.”
Suddenly, the parrot let out a sharp cry not a moan or the phrase “blood is full,” but two clear words:
“My King…”
Lin Nan’s footsteps froze. The jade ring on her wrist burned like a branding iron.
The gate of Beast-Taming Peak shimmered with a greenish light in the morning sun. A disciple came running with a message. “The Peak Master is waiting in the main hall. Please set out immediately to report!”
The main hall of Beast-Taming Peak was simpler than the council hall of Qingyun Peak, the Qingyun Sect’s main peak. Totems of tamed exotic beasts hung on the four walls, and on the central stone table sat a bronze cauldron, its incense ash layered thickly.
Luo Changfeng stood with his back to the door, the beast tooth beads on his wrist shining as he rubbed them. Hearing the footsteps, he spun around sharply.
“Where is it?” His voice was hoarse, scanning over Liu Widow in Shen Yuer’s arms, then landing on the parrot in its cage. “Give me the bird.”
Lin Nan opened the cage door, but the parrot suddenly fluttered onto the back of her hand, its sharp beak nuzzling her skin, emitting affectionate “chu-chu” sounds.
Luo Changfeng’s pupils constricted sharply. “It recognizes you?”
“I used the Summon Demon Art. It absorbed my Monster Qi.” Lin Nan’s fingertip brushed over the bloodstain on the parrot’s left wing. “Its essence is the same as the altar’s wolf blood, mixed with Corpse-Eating Grass ash.”
Luo Changfeng said nothing but pulled out a jade plate from his sleeve, the bottom engraved with a simplified Jianyao Mirror rune.
He pressed the parrot onto the jade plate, his fingertips condensing true qi. The plate instantly glowed red, and the parrot emitted a piercing scream. Black mist seeped from the bloodstain on its wing, condensing into a blurred wolf head phantom atop the plate.
“It really is Monster Qi.”
Luo Changfeng’s hand trembled. “Three hundred years ago, Yuan Qiao practiced Summon Demon Art and went mad, only turning himself into a Monster. But this… this is forcibly creating a new, innate Monster species!”
He pointed at the wolf head phantom. “The purity of this Monster Qi, according to texts, nearly rivals that of a Monster King. A parrot only dipped in some blood already shows this; imagine if it were a person…”
“Liu Widow’s body has the same talisman.”
Shen Yuer placed Liu Widow on a makeshift soft couch and unfolded the half-torn talisman. “It’s the same carving as the altar, but this time it’s drawn with living human blood.”
Luo Changfeng took the talisman, but as soon as his fingertips touched it, he hissed sharply. The talisman burned like a branding iron.
“A Blood Summoning Formation,” Luo Changfeng’s expression darkened. “Using the essence blood of living humans as a focus, refining the spirits of ordinary beings into true qi. This is originally an evil cultivator’s technique, but I didn’t expect it to be used to create Monsters. The one managing the formation is truly vicious.”
Huo Yuanyao suddenly spoke. “Could it really be the Danxia Sect behind this?”
“Who else would dare use Corpse-Eating Grass in Qingyun Sect territory?” Luo Changfeng tossed the talisman into the bronze cauldron, where it immediately caught fire. But the black smoke that rose condensed into a twisted human figure. “But this formation… it’s not something only the Danxia Sect can make. We’ll need to check records from a thousand years ago to see if any Monsters slipped through during the clan’s destruction.”
He looked at Lin Nan, his gaze complicated. “The fact that you can calm this bird means your Summon Demon Art can suppress it. From now on… Beast-Taming Peak might have to trouble you more often.”
Just as Lin Nan was about to reply, a disciple’s voice came from outside. “Elder Xunlin has arrived.”
When the pale gray Dao robe appeared at the door, the atmosphere in the hall seemed to freeze.
Shu Ying’s gaze didn’t fall on Luo Changfeng or Liu Widow but landed on the parrot perched on Lin Nan’s hand. A faint golden light flickered in her black eyes.
“This bird,” her voice was soft but carried undeniable authority, “is not an exotic beast, but a normal bird.”
“Yes.” Lin Nan steadied her voice as the parrot flapped its wings suddenly, crying out toward Shu Ying, “They kill people… they kill people…”
Shu Ying glanced sideways, then turned to Luo Changfeng. “Liu Widow will be handed over to Wushu Peak and Dan Peak for further study. The bird, I will take.”
“Elder Xunlin…”
Luo Changfeng tried to speak but was coldly cut off. “Beast-Taming Peak cannot investigate this matter.”
Her gaze swept over Lin Nan. The golden flames of the Soul Lock Ring suddenly softened, as if soothed by an invisible hand.
“Lin Nan, come with me,” she turned and walked out, her voice carrying through her robe. “There are things you need to know about this bird’s cries.”
Lin Nan watched her retreating figure, then glanced at the suddenly silent parrot in the cage. The warmth on her fingertips slowly faded away.
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