"Hush! Leave such talk for when we get home!" Yang Minxin was far more discreet in comparison.
"Haha, yes, yes. I get it," the plump City Lord Lan Huolian laughed carelessly and did not speak further.
Zhao Yunxiao exchanged a meaningful look with Gu Qiansi. Just like him, Gu Qiansi had a bitter smile on her face.
So, this plump and seemingly friendly City Lord Lan Huolian, who was so beloved by the citizens, actually saw his subjects as fools in private.
How disappointing for the citizens of Demonfall.
That said, while Zhao Yunxiao disapproved of City Lord Lan Huolian's mentality, it was not up to him to teach others what to feel. As long as City Lord Lan Huolian could keep his true emotions in check and continue to govern the city in a responsible manner, there would at least not be any material harm done to the citizens of Demonfall.
Perhaps that was the only consolation for them, regardless of whether they deserved being treated this way.
Zhao Yunxiao's group continued on their way to Good Luck Theatre Group's shophouse, and were greeted with an anxious-looking Ling Jiping the moment they entered.
"You are finally here!" Ling Jiping's face lit up upon seeing them and rushed forward to greet them. "Let's get started!"
"Calm down. Let's talk upstairs," a much more composed Cai Caoyuan patted his shoulder lightly, clearly aware of the looks that they were getting from those around them.
The first storey of the four-storey shophouse was basically a storefront meant for selling merchandise, so there were more than just members of the theatre group present. With Cai Caoyuan being the owner of Good Luck Theatre Group and Ling Jiping being one of the star actors, their presence naturally attracted plenty of attention from the patrons.
That said, even if there were only members of the theatre group around, Cai Caoyuan would still prefer for such discussions to remain privy only to a small select group.
"Is everything ready?" Zhao Yunxiao asked.
"As you have instructed, Young Hero," Cai Caoyuan answered respectfully. "Please follow me."
Under his lead, the group went up the stairs until they arrived at the top floor.
On the fourth storey, there were no walls or rooms. The entire place was deliberately left wide open, allowing one to see all corners with a single glance. At this moment, there was nothing there but a table and six chairs – just enough for all six of them.
And atop the table was none other than the silver pendant from yesterday.
Indeed, everything was in order.
"A shadow was standing over my bed again last night!" Ling Jiping cried the moment Cai Caoyuan closed the door behind them. "Please, young heroes, you have to save me from this nightmare!"
"Calm down," Cai Caoyuan reminded. "The young heroes have already agreed to do so yesterday, so I'm sure they will do just that. That said, can I help you with anything else? Or is there perhaps something that you would need?"
"This private space should be good enough. We will take care of the rest," Zhao Yunxiao said while pacing around, carefully examining their surroundings with Lu Zhiying following right behind him and trying to understand what he was looking at.
"Don't worry and leave it to us," Gu Qiansi assured Ling Jiping.
"Gu Qiansi, come help me with the setup," Zhao Yunxiao called out. "As for you two, just stand aside and make sure not to get in the way."
"Y-Yes," Cai Caoyuan and Ling Jiping nodded obediently.
Just like that, the group got to work.
On their journey to Demonfall city, the group had already gone through numerous practice sessions for the Soul Suppression Shell Array, so they needed little guidance when it came to setting up the array. All Zhao Yunxiao had to do was make a few final tweaks to adapt it to their current surroundings, and they were good to go.
In fact, they still had plenty of time to spare until the designated time of noon.
The four cultivators sat in silent meditation at four corners of the array, their bodies facing the silver pendant that now rested on the floor, right in the centre of the array. On the other hand, Cai Caoyuan and Ling Jiping grew increasingly nervous with each passing moment, with the latter even starting to subconsciously tug on the corner of his own long sleeves.
Nevertheless, the duo dared not make a sound, afraid of breaking the cultivators' concentration.
"Do you remember how it is done, Junior Martial Sister Lu?" Zhao Yunxiao spoke up as noon finally arrived.
"Of course! How could I not when I have such a great teacher?" Lu Zhiying replied with a playful grin.
"Enough with your flattery and start focusing up. I don't want to see any mistakes from you later," Zhao Yunxiao scoffed.
"Well, I agree with her," Nie Hanchang chimed in.
"Is that so? Perhaps I am really that great then?" Zhao Yunxiao mused.
"...Shall we begin?" Gu Qiansi let out a helpless sigh.
"Yes, let's begin," Zhao Yunxiao opened his eyes while gently stirring the essence energy in his dantian, lightly placing his palm on the floor in front of him.
The other three followed suit, and energy started flowing from their palms into the array. With a light buzz, a golden emblem appeared beneath the silver pendant.
The emblem took the form of a circle that was around three metres in diameter, with the pendant positioned directly in the centre. And from the golden emblem, threads of golden light started to emerge. These threads slowly reached towards the pendant, wrapping around it and lifting it off the ground like a trophy.
Encased in threads of golden light, the silver pendant was slowly elevated to a point of being about a metre off the ground.
That was when Zhao Yunxiao used his free hand to point towards the pendant. He drove his dantian to the limit as essence energy exploded from within, forming a ball of energy that shot towards the pendant.
"Release!"
Boom-!
Cai Caoyuan widened his eyes in horror as the ball of energy struck the pendant head-on, creating a flash of light that momentarily blinded everyone present.
The city's heirloom!
Thankfully, his fear did not come to fruition.
As the intense flash of light faded away, he could see through the gaps between the numerous threads of golden light that the silver pendant had remained intact.
However, he could now also see something else there – a sight that instantly sent chills down his spine.
A blurry and transparent figure could be seen emerging from within the pendant, distorting the air around it. As it emerged from the pendant, it pushed against the threads of golden light, which in turn expanded to form the outline of the humanoid figure.
Bound by the numerous threads of golden light, this newly emerged figure violently tore and tugged, struggling to break free of these spiritual chains.
Screech-!
An ear-piercing screech filled the entire area, forcing Cai Caoyuan and Ling Jiping to groan in agony while covering their ears with their hands. Even the four cultivators could not help but frown when faced with this sound-element attack.
That said, strengthened by the rooster aspect of the Zodiac Scripture, Zhao Yunxiao's frown had nothing to do with him feeling threatened by the spirit's screech. Instead, it was because he had not expected the spirit to be able to launch such a strong attack despite being contained by the Soul Suppression Shell Array.
Zhao Yunxiao glanced over at Gu Qiansi, who immediately nodded in understanding.
Without a word, she gently retracted her energy from the array and headed over to where the two ordinary mortals were standing.
Zhao Yunxiao had allowed the two of them to remain here as he had been confident in the restrictive ability of the Soul Suppression Shell Array. But now that he knew the spirit was capable of launching sound attacks that could hurt the two through the array, the last thing he wanted was to continue exposing them to such danger.
Gu Qiansi's exit would mean one less pillar supporting the activation of the Soul Suppression Shell Array, which in turn led to a reduction in the array's strength. However, Zhao Yunxiao was not too worried about that.
He had never told the rest this, but while getting everyone involved in sustaining the array did help to relieve some pressure on him, his main aim for doing so was actually for the sakes of Nie Hanchang and Lu Zhiying.
By getting the two of them involved, he was hoping to help Nie Hanchang take his mind off of his current worries regarding the matters of the heart, as well as expose Lu Zhiying to a different aspect of the cultivation world.
In fact, his confidence level had soared after seeing the emergence of the spirit. According to Zhao Yunxiao's gauge of the spirit's strength, he could definitely handle this all on his own if he truly had to do so!
And judging from how readily Gu Qiansi had taken action the moment their gazes met, Zhao Yunxiao was almost certain that she had already seen through his intentions as well. For some reason, she always seemed to have a monstrous intuition when it came to reading people.
Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes at the spirit that was bound by threads of golden light in the middle of the array.
Now then, it's time to get this over and done with!
"Yin disperses, yang prevails. Five elements return to balance. By the mandate of the heavens, obey the laws of the world. Your time has long run out, Demon Night Emperor! Disconnect all threads of karma!" Zhao Yunxiao made a mudra with his free hand. "Purge!"
The threads around the spirit started to change colour – the golden light they emitted quickly turning purple. The threads slowly started to move away from the pendant, seeking to drag the spirit along. However, it barely moved an inch before it stopped in place, clearly lacking the strength to do so.
Zhao Yunxiao frowned.
This was not supposed to happen. Under the effect of the Soul Suppression Shell Array, detaching a spirit of this level from the possessed item should have been a piece of cake after calling out its identity.
They must have made a miscalculation somewhere.
"Shut up, you ignorant saplings!" the spirit shouted, catching everyone by surprise. "With what right do you have to interfere with my affairs? Under whose authority do you think you can just waltz in and do whatever you want? On what basis do you judge me? Who do you think you are to subdue me? Mind your own business and... SCRAM!"
The words were spoken in a distorted and murderous tone, with the final word ending in a shrill screech. And this time, it was not just pain that struck Cai Caoyuan and Ling Jiping.
Ling Jiping's eyes suddenly turned white. He gnashed his teeth like a feral beast and raised his own wrist to his mouth, ready to bite down with all his might.
Gu Qiansi acted immediately. With a wave of her hand, thin but strong vines shot out from her long sleeves, turning into chains that bound Ling Jiping like a mummy and pressed him against the floor. Not just that, but the vines even shot into his mouth, filling it up to keep him from biting his own tongue.
Even in such a state, he continued to struggle, as though hungering after his own flesh. There was no doubt that, if left to his own devices, he would be ending his own life in a matter of moments.
Cai Caoyuan watched his employee's strange state in a mix of shock and horror. It was the very first time that he had seen Ling Jiping acting like this – as though Ling Jiping had turned into a mindless zombie. Simply witnessing this scene with his own two eyes was causing Cai Caoyuan's knees to go weak!
That was when Gu Qiansi's attention turned towards Cai Caoyuan.
"I-I'm fine! Don't worry!" Cai Caoyuan hurriedly said while waving his hands in rejection, worried that he would be next in line to be turned into a mummy.
"You have already passed on. Stop lingering in the mortal world to terrorise humans. It's time to move on!" Zhao Yunxiao retorted.
"Hahaha! Terrorise humans? What do you know? Humans or demons, they are all the same. No, humans are the real monsters! So what if a human successfully risks their life to kill demons to save their own kind? They can still come to a terrible end at the hands of their peers! Tell me then, why do these evil creatures, who seek to even harm their own, deserve to live more than demons?! Why do they deserve to live at all?!"
Zhao Yunxiao did not respond immediately, choosing to silently watch on as the spirit continued to struggle against the threads of purple light that kept it bound within. In his head, the spirit's words started to superimpose against the city's origin story.
It was understandable for the Night Emperor to want to take revenge against humankind for killing it and putting an end to its ambitions. But why would it talk about humans meeting their ends at the hands of their peers?
Why was it speaking as though it did not only understand the world of humans, but had also seen through the darkness of it all?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that a separate hypothesis he had of Demonfall's origin was starting to increase in probability.
After a few moments, Zhao Yunxiao finally let out a disappointed sigh.
"So, it's really like that. I have hoped that this would not be the case, but it seems that I have still been a little too optimistic about the world," Zhao Yunxiao said coldly. "You are not the Night Emperor, are you? Isn't that right, champion of the people, Lei He?"
The moment Lei He's name escaped Zhao Yunxiao's mouth, the spirit seemed to lose a large portion of its strength, allowing the threads of purple light to tighten its constriction around it.