Chapter 67 – Red Railing Night Fire

A large mass of black shadow swelled from the depths of the street, swallowing towards the five people standing at the crossroads, arriving in an instant.

It had no substance, no form, coming from all directions, everywhere at once.

Just as the five were about to be engulfed by the black mist, Monk Budu tossed up his Buddhist beads. A heavy bell chimed, and a golden light enveloped them all.

Scarlet tongues, pale yellow pustules… a dozen or so grayish-blue faces pressed against the face coverings rapidly liquefied, turning into a viscous black fluid that flowed downwards. The faces were already terrifying, but as they liquefied, their eyes fell and their giant mouths shifted upwards, all their features becoming misplaced. A single glance was enough to make one’s stomach churn in revulsion.

“Damn it!” Lu Jing looked up and met the gaze of three churning eyeballs, instantly feeling his skin crawl. “What the hell is this thing!”

“Congratulations, you guessed right.”

Chou Bodeng’s face was uglier than ever, his tone unprecedentedly grave. He even took a step back.

“We’ve seen a ghost.”

Lu Jing’s heart instantly sank. Young Master Chou was a madman who would jump from a ten-thousand-meter height without a second thought. What on earth was this ghost that even he didn’t dare to face it?

“A Filth Demon,” Lou Jiang said in a low voice. “It was originally a dirty specter that bred in the latrines of alleyways. When their numbers grow too large, they will accumulate into a malevolence. Their direct combat strength is not strong, but the filth attached to them will contaminate cultivators below the Soul-Fixing Stage, causing them to grow sores and suffer from dysentery, and their spiritual platforms to become turbid. Once more than two Filth Demons appear at the same time, they can pose a fatal threat to the disciples of the Yinglong Division.”

“Lu Shiyi, it’s time to put your Soul-Fixing Stage cultivation to use!”

The moment the word “latrine” was uttered, Chou Bodeng retreated without hesitation, reaching back to grab Lu Jing and push him into his place.

Caught off guard, Lu Jing came face to face with the downward-flowing Filth Demon pressed against the golden bell shield and nearly threw up on the spot.

No wonder Young Master Chou had retreated without a second thought. Even he found this thing disgusting, let alone a fastidious and precious flower of Taiyi like Chou Bodeng. After all, back in Fu City, Young Master Chou had been so disgusted by the blood on the ground that he preferred to walk on the walls. Lu Jing steeled himself and drew two short sabers.

“Monk,” Lu Jing said, raising his sabers, his expression strained. “Is this golden bell shield of yours reliable? It won’t break halfway and splash us all with pus, will it… ugh.”

“Amitabha,” Monk Budu clasped his hands together. “These are Bodhi Clarity Beads, Benefactor Lu need not worry. It’s just…”

He looked at Lou Jiang.

“Benefactor Lou, for a Filth Demon to appear in your esteemed pavilion is far too strange.”

Lou Jiang’s face was grim.

Zhunan suppressed the Obscure Wind Acupoint below and was situated on the Azure Sea, so it often experienced tidal rains and was prone to breeding foul ghosts. Therefore, the Mountain Sea Pavilion had always placed great importance on cleanliness. They established the “Wild Hut Division” to sweep the streets and alleys, the “Red Friend Division” to manage the extermination of mosquitoes and flies, and the “Bright Melody Department” to oversee the pavilion’s laws on this matter. Shops with any accumulation of filth in their channels were heavily fined. Those who did not reform after being fined were flogged and expelled from Zhunan.

The pavilion’s laws were strict and had been enforced for a long time.

Given the state of Zhunan city, even with the Black Tortoise’s hibernation and the torrential downpour, it shouldn’t have bred such a large number of foul ghosts so quickly, let alone given birth to a Filth Demon!

“Wait!”

Half-Diviner suddenly shouted, pointing in one direction.

“Look over there!”

The Filth Demon, which had been splattered against the golden bell shield like filth, had almost completely flowed down. Through the light shield, they saw in the direction Half-Diviner was pointing, the undulating silhouettes of pavilions and rooftops re-emerging from the black clouds, their outlines glowing red. That area of buildings was on fire, the flames soaring up as if a red peacock were raising its head to meet the torrential rain.

That place was…

Red Railing Street!

***

Qin Tower.

Luo Yi hugged her pipa and curled up in a corner, staring intently at the figures outside. They walked back and forth without a word.

Just like…

Just like puppets being controlled!

Luo Yi didn’t know what was happening.

The weather had suddenly changed today, the sky dark and gloomy. But the people living in Zhunan were used to the capricious weather and weren’t too afraid. Later, when the disciples of the Mountain Sea Pavilion came to inform them that the Black Tortoise had entered hibernation early, everyone was a little surprised, but then they went on with their business as usual.

There were even more customers on Red Railing Street than usual.

Perhaps it was because after the sea was locked down, the visiting merchants had nothing to do. On such a bleak and rainy day, rather than staying alone in their inns, it was better to seek pleasure in the warm quilts and red curtains.

Luo Yi had been pinched on the thigh by a fat customer, which made her sick to her stomach. Not wanting to entertain any more customers, she had quietly hidden in a corner. While hiding, she had unknowingly fallen asleep. When she woke up, she was struck by how quiet the Qin Tower was. At first, she thought she was just groggy from sleep, but when she looked out, she saw that the Qin Tower was still packed with people!

The servants, maids, courtesans, and customers were all still there, but their pupils were all dilated and deep black, their expressions all wooden and dull.

They had all become stringed puppets.

Luo Yi felt like she was in a terrifying nightmare. But when she put her hand in her mouth and bit down, the real pain reminded her that all of this was real. She was so scared she almost cried out, and could only bury her head in her knees and squeeze her eyes shut. It’ll be fine after another nap… When I wake up, everything will be back to normal…

The screen in front of her was moved aside.

Luo Yi almost screamed.

“What are you doing here?” someone asked from in front of her, their voice familiar.

Luo Yi grabbed onto it like a lifeline and looked up abruptly. “Mei…”

She suddenly couldn’t get the name out.

Meiniang was crouching in front of her, but she didn’t look like Meiniang at all. The usual Meiniang always wore heavy makeup, deep-colored long skirts, and a head full of jewels. But the woman before her had a plain face, her pitch-black hair tied back in a neat, practical bun. Her long eyebrows were not deliberately shaped, sharp as horizontal blades.

Luo Yi almost didn’t recognize her.

Luo Yi trembled slightly, vaguely realizing that everything happening outside might be related to Meiniang. Meiniang reached out her hand, and Luo Yi closed her eyes.

Click.

There was no expected pain. Luo Yi only felt a void behind her, and her whole body fell backward.

“Hide in here, and don’t come out.”

She opened her eyes. The secret door was slowly closing. The last thing she saw was Meiniang’s blade-like eyebrows, and the raging fire behind her.

The entire Red Railing Street was burning.

Girls with beautiful faces held small, cold copper cups, pouring one Red Pine Seed after another onto the street. Previously, Chou Bodeng had flicked up twelve Red Pine Seeds with his sword and burned down half the street. Now, the Red Pine Seeds flew from the hands of the courtesans and dancers, dots of flying red, just like when the top courtesan paraded through the streets and her maids scattered petals in all directions.

Where the flying red landed, it burst into scarlet flames.

The torrential rain was relentless, but the fierce fire was unceasing. Wooden beams were extinguished one moment, only to be ignited the next. In between the burning and extinguishing, black smoke billowed.

The main doors of the Qin Tower were wide open.

Groups of lavishly dressed customers walked out. Some were pot-bellied merchants, some were decrepit elders of minor sects, some were young hero-cultivators. They scattered into the heavy rain, heading towards the sound of the Mountain Sea Pavilion disciples’ whistles.

They had become puppets.

Lou Jiang’s investigation of the Soul Thread in Fu City had been a deception from the very beginning.

It was just a sleight of hand played by Mister Xi. Zuo Liangshi had noticed something unusual about the Qin Tower, and to divert his attention, Mister Xi had thrown out the pawn of Ge Qing in Fu City. The Soul Threads in Fu City had been growing for over a century; he had already collected enough Soul Threads long ago.

The Qin Tower was the most famous den of iniquity on Red Railing Street, with countless customers coming and going every day. The Soul Threads used for the puppetry art were slipped into the wine and refreshments.

The Soul Thread had no demonic or ghostly qi and couldn’t be detected by ordinary means. The Mountain Sea Pavilion had also kept the matter of the Soul Seed’s appearance a secret, so those who came seeking pleasure were completely unguarded. And when the Qin Tower administered the Soul Threads, they would consciously avoid the disciples of the Mountain Sea Pavilion and people with high cultivation and complicated identities.

It was like a spider spinning a web, intricate and complex.

Meiniang stood up.

No matter how much she feared the man who called himself “Mister Xi,” she had to admit that he was right: there was no more suitable place for Soul Planting than Red Railing Street.

Here gathered the ill-fated and the lowly, as well as the decadent and the luxurious. Turning displacement into obsession, turning desire into evil delusion. The most indulgent and the most depraved, gilded and silver-plated decaying bones and rotten flowers.

Just like Zhunan itself.

Everyone knew of the fame of Zhunan’s Red Railing Street, but how many had thought about where all the beauties of Red Railing Street came from? And how many had thought about why most of the beauties were just mortals? Every year, black flying boats departed from Zhunan, heading to various parts of Qing Province to collect exquisite specimens.

Mortal girls were the best choice.

Because they could be bought at the most humble price, and also because there would be absolutely no refusal. A family of three disappearing without a trace was perfectly normal. Most brothels had mastered one or two crude mind-bewitching arts. A girl whose family had been destroyed would quickly “forget” her past and soon be able to greet guests with a smiling face.

Mortals were like ants, their lives and deaths not their own.

And who was it that gave the brothel owners these arts of blurring memories and forgetting the past?

Successive Pavilion Masters of the Mountain Sea Pavilion had thought of investigating Red Railing Street, but no one could do it. Countless secret deals were made in this den of iniquity, and mountains of gold and silver, heavenly materials and earthly treasures flowed into the hands of many pavilion elders. It was truly laughable. Zuo Liangshi, the dignified Pavilion Master of the Mountain Sea Pavilion, had to abide by the “rules” of this place when he came to the Qin Tower.

Meiniang carried her saber and swept through the long street of fire and rain, rushing towards the city outskirts. In the mid-air of Zhunan, one after another, splendid lights lit up—those were the Mountain Sea Pavilion’s Grand Elders summoning their artifacts. Meiniang swept past several of them without concealing her form and without being hindered in any way.

Gold and silver breed evil ghosts.

The human heart is like filth.

A Zhunan like this, what use was it to have the streets and ditches swept clean?

***

“I smelled Sinking Snow incense in the Qin Tower,” Chou Bodeng said suddenly, staring at the fire in the direction of Red Railing Street. “On the hostess, Meiniang, who guided us that day.”

“It was her?” Lu Jing was stunned. “But isn’t she a mortal?”

How could an ordinary person with no cultivation silently place a note in the room of Lou Jiang, the number one genius of the Mountain Sea Pavilion?

“Not necessarily.”

The one who spoke was surprisingly Monk Budu.

He waved his sleeve, and the Bodhi beads burst forth with an intense light. Wherever the golden light passed, the residual foul qi melted like accumulated snow, and even the heavy rain paused for an instant.

“You all know that this humble monk has practiced the art of ‘Observing All Beings,'” Monk Budu said, catching the falling Buddhist beads. “When I entered the Qin Tower, I observed that Meiniang, and found nothing.”

Found nothing?

Lu Jing subconsciously glanced at Chou Bodeng. He, Chou Bodeng, and Zuo Yuesheng had all experienced Monk Budu’s “Observing All Beings,” and had nearly “killed him to silence him” for it. Monk Budu could even see something in the secretive Young Master Chou, so how could Meiniang, a mere brothel madam of the Qin Tower, yield no results from his observation?

“For my observation art to fail, there are only two types of people. One has practiced an extremely profound spiritual sense divine art, and the other’s cultivation far surpasses my own,” Monk Budu said. “I became suspicious that day, so I used the opportunity of staying behind to cover for you all to test her. If I am not mistaken, there is another mastermind behind the Qin Tower.”

“So you found out she was suspicious back then, you bald donkey…”

Lu Jing was ashamed. He had also seen Meiniang that day, but the only thought in his mind was “a middle-aged woman with lingering charm.”

“It’s not just her,” Chou Bodeng said. “The glazed pearls in the four corners of the private room, and the ice glaze on the dome, were all for spying.”

“I see,” Monk Budu said with sudden realization. “No wonder you, Benefactor Chou, wanted to burn down the Qin Wei Tower.”

“What?!” Lu Jing was shocked. “So you weren’t just drunk and crazy, Young Master Chou?”

“Lu Shiyi, you should eat a few more walnuts from time to time.”

Seeing that the street had been cleared by Monk Budu, Chou Bodeng leaped up to a high point on a gate-tower and scanned the four directions.

In the dark night, patches of brilliance continuously lit up in the districts of Zhunan city. The Grand Elders and elders of the Mountain Sea Pavilion seemed to have all been mobilized. With them taking action, the Filth Demons that were running rampant in the heavy rain were in full retreat. But in the darkness, other figures continuously leaped into the air, an endless stream, like moths to a flame, attacking the elders who were clearing the city. And the elders, when dealing with these people’s attacks, were clearly holding back.

“Those people…”

Lou Jiang had also reached a high point to survey the situation. Seeing this scene, he couldn’t help but frown.

“Don’t they look a little familiar?” Chou Bodeng prompted. “Fu City.”

“You mean… puppetry art?”

Lou Jiang suddenly understood why the elders were holding back in their counterattacks.

Zhunan was a hub of commerce, gathering people from many places, various sects, cities, and clans. The mastermind behind the scenes was using puppetry art to drive them to attack. If they used lethal force, setting aside the harm to the innocent, just the consequence of offending so many powers at once was enough to make the elders hesitate.

The situation was so bad that even Lou Jiang wanted to curse out loud.

“And it gets worse,” Chou Bodeng said, looking at the sky. “This is just the beginning.”

Above Zhunan city, countless black clouds were stacked up, ready to collapse at any moment. Silver lightning rolled within the clouds, but there was no thunder, like a slaughter lurking in the dark, yet to fully erupt. The foul ghosts and the puppetry art were just the pawns that crossed the river first in a game of chess.

Lu Jing, who had just climbed up the gate-tower, nearly fell right off when he heard this.

He grimaced. “Young Master Chou, can we please not jinx it…”

“Gentlemen.” Half-Diviner climbed up, holding a compass-like plate with thirty-six stars on its surface. “This is bad.”

Lu Jing covered his face in agony. “Here comes another real jinx.”

“On the Star-Pushing Plate, all the star signs corresponding to Qing Province are covered by black miasma.” Half-Diviner’s face was pale. “Black miasma covering the stars, the continents and pools are all dim. This… this is…”

“What is it, say it!” Lou Jiang grabbed him by the collar.

“This is the sign of the Great Wilderness expanding, of Qing Province falling!”