The flames danced before his eyes, sinking bit by bit at an excruciatingly slow pace.
Perhaps because everyone knew the Bureau of Military Affairs was here exterminating an Evil Spirit, even the night watchmen outside had stopped calling the hours, as though no one dared come within a single step of this place. In fact, forget the watchmen—since nightfall, the entire county town had been deathly silent. Not even the usual barking dogs or chirping insects could be heard.
How long had they been waiting?
One hour, or three?
Xia Fan had lost his grasp of time. The only proof he had that it was passing was the candles on the candelabras, already burned down to halfway.
Judge Zhang, seated in the very center, had not moved from beginning to end. From Xia Fan's corner, he looked as though he had turned into a statue.
This sort of waiting gnawed at the nerves. It even made Xia Fan wonder whether the Abyss Ghost would truly choose their group from a forest full of prey, as the Judge had said.
Then Xia Fan heard a string of crisp bells.
It was utterly out of place amid the stifling tension, shattering the silence of the night in an instant.
The sound seemed to be coming from... inside the box!
Almost at once, Judge Zhang's eyes snapped open.
He grabbed the wooden sword beside him and flicked it lightly. The lid sprang open. At that same moment, Xia Fan, guarding the corner, saw what was inside the box.
It was a face with no nose. Its most prominent feature, its mouth, stood vertically and split its face into left and right halves. Three eyes of varying sizes sat on either side of that mouth. They had neither sockets to contain them nor brows