Token Appears, Wuchen and Yan Investigate

Footsteps approached, crunching on the gravel outside the ruined temple, each sound sharp enough to pierce the heart. I stood by the offering table, my fingertip pressing lightly on the dark jade seal – Yan Jiuxiao's City Lord token.

He didn't move, didn't speak, just stared at the token on the table, his expression growing darker by the second.

"If you don't believe me," I began, my voice not loud, but like a blade scraping across bluestone, "you can examine the back of this token."

He hesitated for a moment, then reached out and flipped the token over.

Firelight slanted in through the broken window, illuminating a faint, intricate pattern on the back – twisted like flames, its edges glowing with a barely perceptible scarlet sheen. It was a mark unique to the inner disciples of the Blood Demon Sect, etched onto objects with a special solution. Normally invisible, it would only appear around midnight or when near a site of blood sacrifice.

His pupils contracted sharply.

"This pattern… impossible," he whispered. "I never let it out of my sight, how could someone tamper with it?"

"That's why it wasn't tampered with," I said calmly. "It never left your side – it's just that the person holding it is no longer someone you trust."

He looked up abruptly, his gaze like a lightning strike.

I met his eyes, neither flinching nor yielding. "You investigated the black market anomalies, looking for traces of Chaos Aura. But have you ever wondered why your opponents always retreated before you could mobilize your forces? Why, when Ye Qingwan was targeted, the guards were suddenly faces you didn't recognize?"

His Adam's apple bobbed.

"The commander of the guards, transferred in three months ago, was personally promoted by you," I continued. "But the meridian pathways within him don't match the Northern Wasteland Martial Codex; he uses a Southern Border poison-quenching technique. And your advisor, every night at the ninth hour, goes to the back courtyard of the City Defense Department to burn paper. He's not burning incense, but talismans ashes mixed with fresh blood – what is he feeding?"

Yan Jiuxiao's fingers trembled slightly as he tightened his grip on the token.

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

"I'm not accusing you," my tone was calm. "I'm merely telling you that your authority is being usurped. And you, you're still in the dark."

He stared intently at me, the veins on his forehead pulsing, as if about to erupt, but he forced himself to suppress it.

Just then, a muffled thud came from outside the door.

It sounded like someone crashing into the courtyard wall.

Immediately after, a figure burst through the door, bringing with them a gust of cold air and the scent of blood.

Ye Qingwan stood in the doorway, blood staining her shoulder, the Medicine Pestle held defensively across her chest. Her breathing was rapid but steady. Her eyes swept across the room, landing on my face, her voice low, "You're still wasting time here? They're coming for this place."

I didn't move, only asking, "How many?"

"At least eight death warriors. The two leading them have Blood Crystal fluctuations," she took a breath. "I intercepted a messenger in the west alley just now. Before he died, he shouted, 'The token has appeared, kill the holder quickly' – they know who has the token."

Yan Jiuxiao turned sharply to look at me. "You're saying they want this?"

"Not want," I slowly pushed the token back towards him. "They've already decided it's in your hands. And you standing here, is telling everyone that you are the one who leaked the secret."

His face turned ashen. "You deliberately left the token behind?"

"I'm making you face reality," I said. "If you walk out there now and claim your innocence, will they believe you? Or do you think your cultivation, at Half-step Tribulation Crossing, can withstand the ambush meticulously planned by the Blood Demon Sect?"

He gritted his teeth, his knuckles cracking.

Ye Qingwan quickly moved to my side and whispered, "What exactly do you want to do?"

"I want to live," I looked at her. "And I want you all to live too."

She stared at me for a moment, then let out a cold laugh. "Then you'd better stop playing these step-by-step games. Those people outside aren't here to negotiate, they're here to silence us."

Before she finished speaking, a soft sound echoed from the distant wall.

Someone had leaped onto the rooftop.

Roof tiles vibrated slightly, followed by a second, then a third sound – at least four people were now lurking above.

Yan Jiuxiao's expression finally changed. He quickly retreated to the shadows by the door, leaning against the earthen wall, Spiritual Power gathering in his hand.

Ye Qingwan held her pestle forward, standing half a step to my right and behind me. Though her breathing was unsteady, she showed no sign of retreating.

I remained in place, my fingers subtly slipping into my sleeve, gripping a pale gold crystal. It was the stake I'd won last night, and the fuse for the final sensing array I'd laid.

"What are you waiting for?" Yan Jiuxiao hissed. "Make your move!"

"Let them strike first," I said calmly. "Whoever breaks the array first exposes their position."

"You're insane!" he glared at me. "Do you think this is a gambling house duel? This is a fight for our lives!"

"Precisely because it's a fight for our lives, we can't act rashly," I looked at him. "If you want to live, listen to me – don't circulate your energy, don't make a sound, and don't try to break through. They want the token, not you. As long as you don't move, they won't be able to confirm their target."

He glared at me, rage churning in his eyes, but ultimately, he didn't move.

Silence fell within the room.

Only the wind whistled through the broken beams and pillars, stirring a few scattered yellow papers on the ground.

Time seemed to freeze.

Suddenly, a falling leaf, caught by the wind, spiraled towards the offering table.

The instant it was about to touch the ground, my pupils contracted.

That leaf, half an inch from the ground, stopped in mid-air.

It wasn't the wind that stopped.

The air had solidified.

Some kind of restriction was taking shape.

"Careful!" I shouted, "They're setting up a trap array!"

As soon as I spoke, dark red patterns appeared on all four walls simultaneously, spreading upwards from the foundation, writhing and intertwining like living things. The roof tiles began to shift one by one, revealing rows of dried corpses hanging beneath – all wearing City Defense Department uniforms, their faces contorted, blood-red daggers plunged into their chests.

Yan Jiuxiao's expression finally changed. "This is... the Blood Puppet Array?"

"More than that," Ye Qingwan stared at the corpses. "Their souls are pinned to the array's eyes."

I narrowed my eyes. These corpses were the Night Patrol Guards who had recently gone missing. The Blood Demon Sect hadn't just killed them; they had refined their loyal souls into the array's foundation.

No wonder we couldn't find any clues.

They had never left this city at all.

"What do we do now?" Yan Jiuxiao lowered his voice. "Force our way out?"

"We can't break out," I said. "This array uses loyalty as its lure and duty as its anchor. The more you use your authority as City Lord, the harder it pulls. The moment you gathered your Spiritual Power just now, you activated the first layer of chains."

He looked down at his palm. Indeed, a thread-like red line was crawling upwards along his meridians.

Ye Qingwan quickly took out some medicinal powder and sprinkled it in a circle around his wrist. "It'll only hold temporarily."

"They want to force us into infighting," I said coldly. "If one person circulates energy, the whole array activates. If two join forces, the backlash doubles. This design isn't meant to kill, it's meant to torture."

"What's the purpose?" she asked.

"Wait," I said. "Wait until we're exhausted, wait for the token to reveal itself, wait for the last person standing to hand it over personally."

Yan Jiuxiao sneered. "Dream on."

"But they will wait," I said, looking towards the door. "Because the person outside hasn't come in yet."

"Who?"

"The Token Holder," I said slowly. "Someone who could make a suicide operative risk his life to deliver a message can't be a nobody. He must be nearby, watching us struggle."

Ye Qingwan suddenly frowned. "Wait... you said before that the messenger operative shouted, 'The token has appeared'?"

"Yes."

"But the token was in your hand the whole time, and you only put it on the table just now," she said, her gaze sharpening. "Which means... the real token was never with City Lord Yan?"

I was silent for a moment.

Then, I nodded lightly.

Yan Jiuxiao suddenly looked at me. "You knew all along?"

"Since I saw the seal wax at the black market," I said. "The seal wax for your City Defense Department was changed three years ago. Old wax cracks into a cross pattern when heated, while the new wax forms a spiderweb. The seal wax on the token at the transaction point was the old type, but the one on you—" I pointed to his waist, "—is new."

He trembled all over.

"You were switched," I said. "You lost the real token days ago. And now, the three of us are standing in the center of a kill zone set up for a false target."