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Chapter 34
The Gu Huo Bird’s ghost carriage traveled through the desolate night.
After leaving the city where the demon ghosts lived in groups, the surroundings quickly descended into a rugged, hard-to-navigate dark forest. The Jade Capital maidens and the twelve Guardian Spirits took turns on both sides, standing guard to prevent ambushes from hidden plague demons in the depths of the forest.
From a distance, Liuyu and the others saw their ghost carriage extinguish its candlelight. Chao Ming, who had just swapped shifts with Chao Yuan, sat on the roof of the carriage, lost in thought.
A layer of aura surrounded them, isolating them from the outside world.
“I don’t know what Lady and that mud-footed demon could possibly talk about when they’re alone. Ever since we came to the Nine Netherworlds, Lady has been spending less time with him and Chaoyuan.”
Chaoming thought with a bit of jealousy, but then he heard a faint, low gasp from behind.
It was from the ghost carriage that A’Jiang was in.
“Is something wrong—?”
Chaoyan, who was by the door of the carriage, was about to lift the curtain, but paused with his fingers hovering, not entering.
“It was just that the wheels were shaken by something just now.”
A’Jiang’s voice came from inside, slow and gentle:
“I’m fine, Lord Chaoyan, no need to worry.”
Chaoyan sighed in relief.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw a hand lightly resting on the carriage curtain, with pale pink nails, the tips rounded. She gently lifted the curtain, allowing Chaoyan to clearly see her figure, wearing only a thin inner garment under the dim candlelight.
“Lord Chaoyan… Would you like to come in?”
Her tone was probing, and because she spoke in a usual manner, Chaoyan initially thought she might have something to say.
But as soon as he saw A’Jiang’s fingers resting on her belt, he quickly jerked the curtain down and closed the small door outside in a panic.
“I didn’t mean that!”
Chaoyan gritted his teeth and barely squeezed out those words.
Around them, some demons and ghosts curiously looked over. Chaoyan glared back at them, fuming with embarrassment.
“I really didn’t come here for that—” he tried to explain through the carved door, his face awkward. “I borrowed the books from Yue Niang for you, not for that reason. You… you don’t need to do this.”
A’Jiang looked at the reflection of Chaoyan through the small door.
The young man had his hair tied in a high ponytail, his figure lean. When he approached her, he did not have the foul stench that the drunken demons carried.
He was dry and fresh, like those women who served around Lady Liuyu.
A’Jiang’s stiff fingers relaxed slightly, hanging softly on her knee.
“Then I have no way to thank you.”
Apart from this, she had no other value.
“No need to thank me,” Chaoyan scratched his cheek, speaking softly, “I just thought you’d like it, so I wanted to give it to you, nothing more. If you like it, that’s the best thanks.”
A’Jiang answered seriously, “I do like it.”
“That’s good.”
Chaoyan wanted to say something else, but feared if he said more, she’d ask him to come in again.
“Then, sleep early.”
The reflection on the small door faded.
A’Jiang lifted the curtain slightly and peered outside.
The wind through the bamboo forest whispered, and the moonlight shone like silver, falling through the bamboo shadows onto the young man in black on top of the ghost carriage.
The wheels rattled over the rough path, and the faint cries of the Gu Huo birds could be heard from the group.
A’Jiang leaned against the window and, for some reason, stared at him for a long time.
Until a sharp pain returned to her right eye.
She bit her tongue to avoid making any noise and attracting attention from others.
Was she sick?
When did it start hurting?
She couldn’t remember.
… Perhaps it was better not to trouble anyone.
—
When they arrived at the Xianchi Ghost Academy, the sky had brightened. The headmaster of this academy, accompanied by over a dozen demons, greeted them outside.
“… Yesterday, we received the news from the Lady and the Lord, and without delay, we sent out the recruitment orders across Xianchi City. This morning, over twenty human women arrived at the Ghost Academy, wanting to learn about our teachings…”
Liuyu couldn’t help but glance at the headmaster’s prominent mustache.
Fortunately, aside from the mustache that looked like insect antennae, the headmaster seemed like an ordinary elderly man, much better than the constantly writhing tentacle-like arms of the former academy heads.
She retracted her gaze and asked:
“Have you learned about their capabilities?”
The headmaster smiled kindly: “In the Lady’s eyes, they may be insignificant, but from our rough understanding, being able to read and write basic sentences is already quite good. One of the oldest women is even skilled in poetry and can understand the scriptures—she’s more than capable.”
Liuyu was slightly surprised.
“She should be one of the earliest women sent to be sacrificed to the evil spirit.”
Mo Lin explained:
“Back then, it’s said that the imperial family of Da Chao sent royal women. After they became pregnant with demon fetuses, their bodies were affected by the demon aura. Even if their Qi sea was unopened, their lifespans were different from ordinary humans.”
Liuyu turned her head to look at him:
“So even though they’re human, cultivators would still recognize their identities.”
“Exactly.”
Liuyu passed through the tall locust trees that blocked the sunlight, her thoughts wandering in the deep greenery.
Soon, the headmaster led them to meet those human women.
As he had said, these women had not opened their Qi sea and were ordinary humans who hadn’t entered the path of immortality.
But from the lines on their faces and the worldly look in their eyes, it was clear that they were much older than all the demons and ghosts present.
“I need to go with the mountain demons to check the defense arrangements for the plague demons in the city. You stay here; if anything happens, you can send someone to call for me.”
Liuyu adjusted her clothes and sat down, raising her head to smile slightly:
“What could happen? Go ahead.”
After Mo Lin left, an elderly woman across from her suddenly spoke:
“Is the Lady a descendant of the Yinshan family?”
The elderly woman had gray hair and a face full of deep wrinkles and brown spots. Her eyes were cloudy, and Liuyu wasn’t sure if she could clearly see her own reflection.
But the woman was neatly dressed, with simple silver jewelry on her wrist, and she did not look haggard. In fact, she seemed much more energetic than many of the demons in this Ghost Academy.
The women behind her, whether young or old, also seemed to look to her as a leader.
“Yes.”
Liuyu answered:
“May I ask where you’re from?”
In a situation where she met the Lady, the elderly woman was not at all shy, even holding a half-finished shoe insert in her hand.
“The Central Plains’ Tianyu used to be a very prosperous place. But now that the capital has fallen, Tianyu must have become a rural area by now, right?”
She wasn’t wrong. Since the rise of the noble clans, the cities surrounding the royal capital have gradually fallen into decline, and Nanlu’s Immortal City has become the true capital of the Great Zhao dynasty, where all the immortal families gather.
Liuyu smiled faintly.
“To you, Yu Jing must be considered a rural area too, right? Even the Yingshan clan, back in your time, was probably just an unknown horse-breeding household.”
The women across from Liuyu looked at her with subtle changes in their expressions.
Earlier, this noble lady had made quite an entrance into the Ghost Dao Academy. The jade-faced female attendant, a cultivator, served by her side, and the Demon King who ruled the Nine Hells seemed to show her considerable respect. She wore radiant and extravagant clothes, with jewels adorning her black hair, and a swordpin made of divine jade that shimmered in the sunlight.
Yet, when she spoke, she wasn’t like those arrogant children of noble families, who would look down on human women who raised demons.
“Although the Yingshan family no longer possesses the Imperial Seal of Shenzhou, they are still powerful and at the top of Great Zhao. How could they be compared to their former state?” an elder said, gazing at the noble lady before her.
“I just don’t understand. From the position of the Empress Dowager, she surely wouldn’t want the Nine Hells to grow stronger, so why would she issue such a recruitment order to teach demons how to read and understand etiquette?”
Liuyu leaned to one side, resting against the low table behind her, smiling with a half-amused expression.
“My position? I’d like to know your positions as well.”
The elder met her gaze quietly.
Liuyu continued, “The conflict between the Demon King and the Demon Slayer faction has been increasing daily, splitting the Nine Hells demons into two opposing factions. Although you are humans, you live in the Nine Hells, so it is impossible to remain uninvolved.”
The elder chuckled lightly.
“Does the Empress Dowager intend to completely eradicate the Demon Slayer faction’s influence in the Nine Hells?”
Liuyu didn’t answer, and the elder spoke to herself.
“As for martial strength and wealth, our Empress can easily crush the Jade-Faced Spider. But she still tolerates it because their roots are not in Yushan, but in the people’s hearts.”
The true power of the Jade-Faced Spider was nourished by the hatred of the Great Zhao humans. These demons, who had been enslaved for hundreds of years, did not possess much foresight. They knew only that Mo Lin had the power to take revenge for them, yet he still negotiated peace with the immortal families of Great Zhao, who were cold-hearted and ruthless.
The Jade-Faced Spider had promised that if it could control the Nine Hells, it would exterminate all the Great Zhao humans and avenge them.
Blinded by hatred, the demons naturally knew how to choose.
Liuyu’s gaze shifted to the elder.
It was surprising how perceptive this old shoemaker was, understanding the situation so clearly.
“If you ask for our position, our position is simple—”
The elder’s cloudy gray-white eyes suddenly gleamed with a spark.
“The world has been in turmoil for a long time. This chaotic era should come to an end, not give rise to a new one.”
The wind outside stirred the shadows of the trees, and the locust trees rustled. It felt as though a heavy downpour had fallen on Liuyu’s ears. She couldn’t avoid it and was drenched by the downpour.
On the road to the Red Earth Ghost Dao Academy, Mo Lin was pointing at a defense map on the wall, signaling the director of the Ghost Dao Academy about vulnerable spots where the pestilence demons might break through.
The ghost woman listening was yawning and almost falling into the sand table in front of Mo Lin.
The demons in the Xianchi Ghost Dao Academy were all listening intently.
The Nine Hells was vast and surrounded by high mountains, naturally dividing into ten cities. Between each city, there were vast forests acting as barriers, which concealed many pestilence demons. These demons were not intelligent, and they consumed both humans and demons, spreading disease wherever they went. They were seen everywhere in Great Zhao.
The Ghost Dao Academy, built to resemble the Immortal Dao Academies of Great Zhao, served as a place for the demons to cultivate and as a defensive line to protect the capital from pestilence demons.
Hearing footsteps from outside, Mo Lin stopped moving the chess pieces and looked up toward the doorway, where a young woman stepped in.
“Finished talking?”
So soon?
Liuyu walked toward Mo Lin, and the demons standing around him automatically made way for her.
She picked up the red-painted ear cup beside Mo Lin and drank all the wine inside in one gulp.
“Finished.”
After a pause, Liuyu slowly returned the cup to his hand.
The demons watched the cup, and though no one spoke, the atmosphere became tense. This was the Empress Dowager, the noble lady of the Yingshan clan?
They had previously heard that she looked down on the Nine Hells demons, but now, in person, while her entrance had indeed been grand, her demeanor was not aloof. She even drank from the same cup as the Demon King… It seemed she wasn’t as distant as they thought.
Mo Lin also noticed the demons’ scrutinizing gaze.
His eyes swept over them, and the demons quickly realized and retracted their too obvious stares, retreating to the side.
Mo Lin glanced down at where Liuyu had drunk from the cup, then asked,
“How was it?”
“She read many books,” Liuyu said. “But maybe too many. What were you thinking back then, bringing them to the Nine Hells?”
“If they didn’t come to the Nine Hells, they’d have no other fate but death.”
The women who had brought demons into this world had long been forgotten for their sacrifices to the evil spirits. If they had stayed in Great Zhao, their fate was predictable.
Mo Lin looked at her, not understanding why she seemed so shocked.
“Weren’t you talking about bringing them into the Ghost Dao Academy to teach demons? What did you say to them?”
“You should ask them what they said to me.”
Liuyu stared at Mo Lin with a straight face.
“They not only want to teach the demons; they want to teach me. To put it simply, they tried to convince me to wipe out all the immortal families.”
Even when repeating these words, Liuyu still found it unbelievable.
They were talking about everything.
Liuyu thought it was already quite arrogant of her to seek revenge on the high-ranking family rulers, but she never expected that these elderly women, whose teeth were almost falling out, had even greater ambitions than she did.
Truly… age has nothing to do with strength.
Afterward, Liuyu didn’t even finish listening to their plans in the Nine Underworlds. She quickly gave them the monthly salary for teaching at the Ghost Dao Academy and hurriedly left.
“It sounds quite unorthodox.”
Mo Lin stared at the jade hairpin that was slightly tilted on Liuyu’s head.
“You don’t have to impose their thoughts onto yourself.”
“Of course not,” Liuyu tilted her head and glanced at the space behind him, “Do you have much left to do?”
“Probably about another hour.”
The tassel of the jade hairpin hung at an angle, swaying gently with her movements, looking as if it would fall off any moment.
Liuyu didn’t notice, merely nodding.
“Then I’ll wander around here for a while. I saw the city preparing for the Ghost Play Immortal Tour Festival on the way here. It’s a good opportunity to take a stroll…”
Before she could finish, Liuyu suddenly saw him raise his hand and gently touch her temple.
He placed the jade hairpin that was about to fall back into her hair.
“Take more people with you and be careful outside.”
The sleepy ghost woman, who had been dozing off, rubbed her half-covered face and smiled with curved eyes through her fingers.
“Master is really clingy~”
The gesture of adjusting her hairpin, in the eyes of outsiders, seemed like a reluctant husband gently caressing his wife’s head.
Realizing that demons and ghosts around them were watching, Mo Lin quickly withdrew his hand, casting a cold glance at the ghost woman.
“You love talking, so you do the talking next.”
The smile on the ghost woman’s face vanished abruptly.
A mere touch in front of others, and it was as though he had taken her life…
Thinking of how he had clung to her so tightly last night that she could hardly breathe, Liuyu subtly curled the corners of her lips.
Not lingering for too long, Liuyu quickly set off with Chaoming into the streets.
Xianchi City was as bustling as Ye City, and with only four days left until the Ghost Play Immortal Tour Festival, preparations for the upcoming celebration were already underway in the streets and alleys.
The Ghost Play Immortal Tour Festival was very different from the lantern festival of Da Chao. Artisans sitting on low stools were carving demon masks with green faces and sharp fangs. Demons and ghosts practicing the large drum swung their arms in full circles, beating it loudly.
Red lanterns, blue ghost-repelling robes, and turquoise amulets hung on small stalls, while thunder-struck wooden carvings piled into small mountains.
Everywhere had a strange and gorgeous aura, where the boundary between gods and demons was not clear.
Liuyu casually picked up a demon mask and wore it, peering through the holes of the mask to look at Chaoming, who seemed distracted.
“—Why did you suddenly switch shifts with Chaoyan? Didn’t I ask you to watch over Ajiang?”
Chaoming answered, “With her level of cultivation, anyone can watch her… this Nine Underworlds is truly an uncivilized place. After a round, there’s not even a shop selling writing supplies.”
Of course, there were shops, just not many.
Liuyu smiled subtly and asked, “Writing supplies? I have plenty of those, why would you need to buy them outside?”
“…It’s different.”
Chaoming’s face turned a little red under Liuyu’s gaze. He kept a straight face and said,
“Anything belonging to the lady, even if gifted to me, should be cherished and used carefully. If I were to give something to someone, I must buy it myself to show sincerity…”
Ajiang liked the poetry and calligraphy of Da Chao.
He wanted to give her a goat hair brush as her first pen for practicing writing.
“I found it!”
Chaoming quickly walked toward a shop not far ahead.
Liuyu couldn’t help but smile at his hurried steps.
They had only known Ajiang for a few days.
Compared to Chaoming, she noticed that Ajiang seemed more interested in the Ghost Dao Academy and Yinshan Qi.
This trip with Ajiang was originally meant to let her choose a place to practice in the Ghost Dao Academy, but seeing Chaoming like this, maybe it was better to ask Ajiang herself whether she would be willing to return to Ye City with them…
Amid the hustle and bustle of the streets, suddenly a discordant sound mixed in.
Liuyu’s expression changed from a smile to seriousness.
“Lady—!!”
Chaoming turned around, his pupils narrowing sharply.
Liuyu immediately sensed a murderous ghost energy approaching from behind.
The figure concealed within the crowd wasn’t very agile; it could even be described as clumsy.
But it was precisely because of its clumsiness that, except for Liuyu and Chaoming, no one else seemed to notice the incoming threat at that instant.
She didn’t act immediately.
A cold glint reflected in Liuyu’s eyes, her chaotic thoughts swirling in her mind like a storm, and in the moment before she was about to be struck, everything suddenly became clear.
“Chaoming! Stop! She is—”
Chaoming’s sword flew out from behind Liuyu. Even though he hesitated when he heard her call, it was already at the opponent’s front.
At that moment.
The assassin didn’t dodge but instead charged at Chaoming’s sword.
The hood fell, and Chaoming saw a small spider the size of a fingernail scuttle across the assassin’s right eye.
Immediately, the unfamiliar face before them began to crumble.
Moonlight-like long hair.
Snow-white eyelashes, with extremely shallow pupils.
The person he had just struck was supposed to be Ajiang, who was waiting for him at the Ghost Dao Academy.
…How could this be?
The blank look in Ajiang’s eyes reflected in Chaoming’s.
She remembered.
The original plan, when the spider crawled out of her brain, she remembered everything.
Making her seduce the demon Mo Lin was just a ruse.
The one who governed her fate lifted her chin with his tentacles and examined her:
“Not enough… far from enough… With your appearance, it’s still not enough for Mo Lin, who holds Yinshan Liuyu, to fall for you.”
“Ahjiang, you’re a useless waste, nothing but a body to be sold, but even your uselessness is sometimes the most pitiful part of you—use your strengths and stay by her side.”
“If you can accomplish this task for me, your worthless life will at least have some value.”
The Heart-Eating Spider had devoured her memories, enabling her to pass the legal interrogations used by the Fa Clan.
Moreover, the Heart-Eating Spider had no offensive capability; it would only cause the host to self-destruct, so even if others tried to investigate, they wouldn’t be able to detect the Heart-Eating Spider lurking deep in her brain.
As Lord Yuantian had anticipated, Yinshan Liuyu wasn’t like the noble families who viewed human life as insignificant—she didn’t kill this enemy.
No one would be suspicious of a clumsy spy.
Though she was under watch, she grew closer to those around Yinshan Liuyu.
She audited poetry in the Ghost Path Academy.
She received books from Zhaoming.
A noble lady of great status took her filthy hand, wrote her name with care, and gave her new clothes.
It was the first time someone had given her clothing, but they didn’t want to take it off.
However, the unsuspecting Ahjiang, under the Heart-Eating Spider’s control, changed her appearance, escaped the Ghost Path Academy, and followed them here.
She was only here to self-destruct in front of everyone and complete the grand performance where the human race of Yujing slaughters the demons in the street.
“…Miss Liuyu…”
The sword pierced her heart, and as Ahjiang collapsed into Zhaoming’s arms, the normally soft-spoken woman suddenly mustered an unknown strength and held onto Liuyu’s outstretched palm.
She was a useless waste, a lowly concubine.
Her master had turned her into poison, intending for her to feed it to the one she owed her life to.
But even if she were boiled into dregs, she would make her high and mighty master taste this poison that would tear through the stomach.
A sound, almost like a roar of anger, burst from Ahjiang’s chest:
“Xiang Lishen… gave… to Lord Yuantian… the demons of Yushan…”
“Wuliang Hai! That thing is called… Wuliang Hai!”
This was a secret she had unintentionally overheard, but even she didn’t know if it was of any value or if it could be used to stab back at those who manipulated her.
Liuyu’s pupils contracted sharply.
Xiang Lishen.
Wuliang Hai.
These six words struck Liuyu’s mind like lightning.
How could she not remember this person, this thing?
In her previous life, in the Western Region of Yu Yuan, it was Xiang Lishen who, with over a hundred cultivators of the Eighth Realm, blocked Liuyu and the Yinshan family’s servants at the Guanshan area.
That battle had left the corpses of the Yinshan family piled like a small mountain in Guanshan. Liuyu’s Qi Sea had been destroyed, and her life hung by a thread.
Zhaoyan and Zhaoming had risked their lives to cover her escape, but were captured alive by Xiang Lishen.
Liuyu later learned that the Xiangli family had relied on a celestial elixir called “Wuliang Hai,” using their lives as the price to temporarily elevate a group of cultivators from the Third and Fourth Realms to the Eighth Realm.
And Zhaoyan and Zhaoming, who were captured, had become test subjects for Xiang Lishen’s alchemy, dying and being hastily thrown into a nameless grave.
Why would Xiang Lishen’s Wuliang Hai be connected with the Jade-Faced Spider of Yushan?
What were they plotting?
“…Miss, what is she saying? What is going on?”
The demons on the street retreated, leaving only Zhaoming kneeling in a pool of blood, holding Ahjiang.
The young man in black, with his face covered in blood, looked at Liuyu in confusion.
“Miss, please save her.”
Amid the chaos around them, Liuyu heard the sound of blood rushing in her veins.
She felt as though she had returned to the battlefield of Guanshan, surrounded by countless corpses.
Zhaoyan and Zhaoming had carried her, climbing over the endless mountains, handing her to the old servant who had come to rescue them.
Liuyu had wanted to save them, but in the end, she couldn’t even retrieve their bodies.
On the streets of Xianchi City, someone suddenly shouted:
“Yujing’s human race has killed the demons of the Nine Netherworld!”
“I know him! He’s one of Yinshan Liuyu’s trusted subordinates!”
“The one on the ground is Lord Yuantian’s concubine! He’s consumed by lust! When his forceful advances failed, he killed her in the street!”
Liuyu suddenly turned around.
The person who spoke disappeared into the crowd like a fish slipping into water, like a drop of water falling into the sea, vanishing without a trace.
But the mob he stirred up surged forward, charging toward Liuyu and Zhaoming.
“This is the Nine Netherworld! How can we demons here be bullied by these humans!”
“Take him to see Lord Yuantian! And the corpse of Lord Yuantian’s concubine—don’t leave her in their hands!”
“Kill him! Kill him!”
The ignorant, uncivilized, and vengeful demons.
They couldn’t tell if what the person had said was true, but all they could see was the dead Ahjiang, killed by Zhaoming’s hand, and the memories of the human cultivators who had once enslaved and slaughtered them.
Non-human limbs emerged from their bodies, and those who only moments ago seemed like ordinary pedestrians now revealed their true demonic forms.
This was the foundation of the Jade-Faced Spider taking root in the Nine Netherworld.
His spider silk was lurking in the hearts of every demon in the Nine Netherworld.
Waiting for the right moment, with just a little provocation, these demons, who appeared peaceful like ordinary citizens, would turn into his supporters in the blink of an eye.
“Hand over the murderer!”
A demon roared.
“Even the Empress Dowager cannot protect the murderer who slaughters demons indiscriminately!”
Another demon howled.
“Yujing humans, get out of the Nine Netherworld!”
Demons surrounded them in layers, watching them hungrily, as if they would pounce on them and tear them apart at any moment.
“I’ll go with them!” From behind, Zhaoming’s angry and sorrowful voice rang out, “Let them take me to see the Jade-Faced Spider! I’ll kill him with my own hands!”
The Jade-Faced Spider was waiting for this moment.
He wanted them to kill the demons in the street, to make Liuyu and her companions the targets of everyone’s anger, so that Mo Lin would lose the hearts of the Nine Netherworld’s people.
In the midst of the boiling chaos, Liuyu’s heart strangely calmed.
She could never harm anyone.
She wasn’t sure whose tendrils had wrapped around Chaoming’s ankle, dragging him into the crowd, attempting to steal A Jiang from his arms.
The talismans were at his waist, yet Chaoming seemed to have completely given up resisting.
His bloodshot eyes fixed on the direction of Yushan.
The people of the Yinshan clan do not fear death.
He only feared dragging the young lady down with him, only feared a meaningless death.
Even in death, he wanted to take the Jade-faced Spider down with him!
Gentle light radiated from Liuyu, pure qi flowing around her, turning into a silvery-white glow that pushed through the crowd, reclaiming Chaoming, while also binding him with the qi flow temporarily.
“—You’re right. Even the esteemed lady of the Nine Hells cannot protect those who randomly slaughter demons and ghosts.”
The ripples on the young lady’s face slowly faded, and her tone was softer than ever.
Yet, the force she emitted at that moment was also unprecedentedly powerful.
The stone from another mountain can be used to attack jade.
The legacy of the Yinshan clan’s “force” was just like this saying.
The stronger the killing intent around, the more it could resonate with a cultivator’s qi sea, releasing an even stronger “force.”
Under the suppression of the force surrounding Liuyu, the fervor of the crowd was temporarily suppressed, at least allowing them to quiet down and listen to her words.
“But Chaoming is not the killer.”
At once, a demon cried out:
“We saw it with our own eyes! What’s there to argue?”
“Exactly!”
“That’s right!”
Liuyu’s cold gaze immediately swept toward the demon:
“Saw it with your own eyes? Then if I kill a servant tomorrow and leave him at your doorstep, would that mean you killed him?”
Liuyu then looked at another demon, whose face was full of anger.
“Or, if I drug you and arrange for a woman from Yujing to be improperly dressed and lying in your bed, could I claim that you demons of the Nine Hells are dishonoring and assaulting our Yujing people?”
The two demons fell silent. Liuyu looked around.
“I, Liuyu of the Yinshan clan, married into the Nine Hells to bring long-lasting peace to both our clans. However, due to vested interests, there are inevitably those who do not want to see us coexist peacefully and will use schemes and tricks to stir up conflict between our people.”
“Regarding today’s case, regardless of who the killer is, anyone who acts will leave traces. We do not use power to determine right or wrong, but we use the facts to judge. Before the Ghost Play Immortal Ritual, Chaoming was imprisoned as a suspect in a murder case at the Xianchi Ghost Dao Academy. No one is to plead on his behalf.”
“After the Ghost Play Immortal Ritual, if I cannot provide evidence of Chaoming’s innocence or find the true killer, then I will publicly execute him at Yedu’s Shifang Street—what do you all think?”
The street of Xianchi fell into silence.
The demons looked at each other, seemingly convinced by Liuyu’s reasonable words but also feeling a little overwhelmed by her too-rational approach.
Would a great clan really speak of evidence?
In the experience of demons, their communication with great clans had always been through pure force.
The one with the stronger fist gets to speak, and the one with the weaker fist suffers.
Earlier, when the respected lady released her force to suppress the demons, they had thought she would use force to break out. They hadn’t expected…
“What if you’re pretending to investigate, but actually take people away to eliminate the evidence?”
The demon who spoke broke the silence.
Liuyu fixed her gaze on his face.
He didn’t flee, standing there for everyone to scrutinize, and it was hard to tell whether he was a member of the Jade-faced Spider or a common civilian.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
This situation had made Liuyu realize why Mo Lin tolerated the Jade-faced Spider to this extent.
Just like the tiny spider in A Jiang’s mind, which no one could notice, the Jade-faced Spider in the hearts of the Nine Hells people was invisible. At the right moment, any common person could turn into one of his own.
Such demons could never be fully investigated or killed.
Just as Liuyu was about to explain, she suddenly heard a familiar voice from the crowd:
“Then I will take responsibility.”
All the demons turned to look at the figure in green.
Ghost energy coiled around Chaoming, placing a second layer of restraint on him, while also shaking off the tendril that had wrapped around his ankle.
He stood in front of Liuyu and Chaoming, blocking the suspicious and hostile gazes that were directed at Liuyu.
“If Liuyu of the Yinshan clan and her subordinates harm any Nine Hells demons, I will willingly hand over the position of the Demon Lord to them.”
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