The Cloth Shop's Strange Affairs

Looking at the demon's corpse lying on the ground, Ning Xiu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The real demon was far harder to deal with than he had imagined. If he hadn't been strong enough—if he were an ordinary Champion Camp apprentice—he would likely have died at the hands of this Three-Faced Demon tonight.

A faint numbing ache spread from the wound where the Black Serpent had bitten him. Ning Xiu immediately began searching the demon's body, hoping to find something valuable to take.

Three hundred-tael silver notes, two bottles of pills of unknown effect, and three skull-headed darts.

These were all the belongings the demon carried. Ning Xiu didn't bother inspecting them on the spot; he stuffed everything into his robes and quickly left the area.

Evil Spirits were yin in nature, so things of pure yang were extremely effective against them.

Many martial artists cultivated yang-type Internal Energy Cultivation specifically to better combat Evil Spirits or heal injuries caused by them.

Returning to his small dwelling, Ning Xiu immediately channeled the Internal Energy in his dantian to stem the bleeding from his wounds while beginning to treat them.

Within half an hour, wisps of black qi were expelled from his wounds, and the numbing sensation faded away.

"It can't be a coincidence that I just happened to run into a demon hiding in Chaotian Capital in the middle of the night. Looks like Spring Full Pavilion's methods for finding people aren't simple."

Finding a sealed bottle of new Trauma Medicine in the room, Ning Xiu applied it to his wounds and thought to himself.

After bandaging his injuries, he took out the items he'd looted from the Three-Faced Demon.

The three hundred-tael silver notes needed no explanation—good stuff. For over a year, Ning Xiu had been flat broke. Today, by killing an Evil Spirit, he'd finally made his first real fortune. Truly a cause for celebration.

When he pulled the stoppers off the two pill bottles, a fragrant aroma wafted out. Just one sniff cleared his mind and banished his fatigue.

He didn't know exactly what effects these pills had, but they were probably good things.

The three skull-headed darts were finely crafted, with razor-sharp edges on both sides of the heads. They could easily slice through a wooden table corner.

Ning Xiu figured the Three-Faced Demon had realized that since Ning Xiu practiced a Hardening Skill, the darts would be useless against him, so he'd abandoned the idea of using them.

These darts came from a demon, so it wasn't wise to keep them for personal use. Besides, he didn't know dart techniques. Ning Xiu planned to pawn them off when he had the chance. Since the demon carried them, the materials used to make them were probably quite valuable.

After tallying his loot, Ning Xiu turned his thoughts to another important matter.

Spring Full Pavilion harbored Evil Spirits, letting them disguise themselves as beautiful women to harm people. The power behind this involved Marquis Wuyi, one of the thirty-six marquises of Great Shang.

The web of connections was tangled. Ning Xiu wasn't sure whether he should report this to Su Qianqian.

What if the Demon Subduing Bureau already knew about this but chose to turn a blind eye out of deference to Marquis Wuyi's status?

What if the Demon Subduing Bureau was in cahoots with Marquis Wuyi, using Spring Full Pavilion to achieve some unknown goal?

What if the Demon Subduing Bureau didn't know, but Marquis Wuyi had vast influence and countless loyalists who would retaliate viciously if exposed?

What if...

Many scenarios floated through his mind. In the end, Ning Xiu decided he had to report this.

But he couldn't do it in his own name. He needed to observe how things developed.

After all, no one knew whether the Demon Subduing Bureau had ties to Marquis Wuyi, or what role they played behind the scenes.

If he reported it personally and stepped on the interests of some big shot in the Bureau, he might vanish from the face of the earth within days.

And if the Bureau had nothing to do with Marquis Wuyi, he could still avoid being at the storm's center.

His strength was still weak. In this chaotic, dark world, he had to keep a low profile and not be the righteous bird that stuck its neck out.

So Ning Xiu found the brush, ink, and paper left by the previous owner of the room. Holding the brush in his left hand, he wrote an anonymous report in crooked, scrawling handwriting that looked like a dog's crawl.

The Demon Subduing Bureau had a dedicated Evil Spirit intelligence collection station: the Heavenly Eye Tower.

Demon Subduing Captains returning from investigations could submit their findings as letters or files to the tower. After the Bureau's clerical staff registered the Evil Spirit intelligence, it would be announced bureau-wide.

The next morning, after secretly delivering the report to the Heavenly Eye Tower, Ning Xiu left the house with the three hundred-tael silver notes.

Back when everyone lived in the Champion Camp, food, clothing, and shelter were all handled for them, letting Ning Xiu and the other youths focus entirely on training without worrying about daily life.

But now that he'd been promoted to the Demon Subduing Bureau, those conveniences were gone. After last night's battle, the clothes Lu Hao had lent him were ruined by the Three-Faced Demon, making Ning Xiu realize that fighting Evil Spirits was a very clothing-intensive job.

So today, he planned to buy a large batch of ready-made clothes to stock up for future needs.

Just as he stepped out of the Demon Subduing Bureau headquarters, Ning Xiu heard street vendors chattering excitedly among themselves, animatedly telling others something.

Curious, Ning Xiu moved closer.

"Did you hear? Last night, a demon died on Tian'an Side Street. Died horribly—face was crushed by someone, just pulp."

"What's the Demon Subduing Bureau doing? How can there be a demon in Chaotian Capital? They should be heavily punished for dereliction of duty."

"Don't say such dangerous things, or someone might come knocking on your door to 'check on you.'"

The street vendor profession was probably the most well-informed group in all of Chaotian Capital. No one could say exactly how many street vendors there were.

Most of them appeared in gray scholar's headscarves, carrying square wooden boxes on their backs. Men, women, old, young—anyone could do this job.

As the one responsible, Ning Xiu stood quietly among the crowd, listening to the vendor describe the Three-Faced Demon's death. It was amusing.

But he had things to do and couldn't linger here listening to gossip. Just as he turned to leave, however—

One street vendor suddenly said, "Plenty of strange things happened today too. The youngest son of the Yun Family Cloth Shop's shopkeeper got married last night. Who'd have thought that in the middle of the night, a strange scream would come from the bridal chamber? When Shopkeeper Yun broke in with the servants and maids, they found the couple both hanging from the rafters."

"A happy occasion turned into a funeral. That's rough. Shopkeeper Yun losing his son before his time—that's really tragic."

Ning Xiu shook his head, feeling deep sympathy for this Shopkeeper Yun, whom he'd never even met.

Anyone who encountered such a situation would have a mental breakdown beyond what others could understand or imagine.

Pushing his way out of the crowd, Ning Xiu headed straight for a cloth shop on the nearby street, intending to buy some ready-made clothes he could wear.

Unexpectedly, the moment Ning Xiu stepped into the cloth shop, he spotted an acquaintance at a glance.

It was his superior, the Bronze Leopard Demon Subduing Captain, Su Qianqian.

Today, Su Qianqian wasn't wearing her Mysterious Silver Lock Armor. Dressed in an apricot-yellow long skirt, she looked like the eldest daughter of some wealthy household.

"Captain Su," Ning Xiu quickly greeted her.

Su Qianqian turned around. "Oh, it's you. Just moved into the Demon Subduing Bureau—are you getting used to it?"

Ning Xiu didn't dare mention that last night their group of rookies had gone to enjoy themselves at Spring Full Pavilion. He could only nod and say, "It's not much different from Champion Camp. Thank you for your concern, Captain Su."

"I was planning to let you all settle in for a few days before assigning tasks. But since you've run into me now, come along with me. Consider it an early introduction to the work of a Demon Subduing Captain." Su Qianqian took a bundle from the cloth shop owner's hands and then beckoned Ning Xiu to follow her out of the store.

"Ah, well..." Ning Xiu was momentarily speechless. He had only come out to buy clothes—how had he jumped straight to getting an early start on work?

But since his superior had already spoken, Ning Xiu had no right to refuse. He would have to put off buying clothes for another time.

Quickly catching up to walk beside Su Qianqian, Ning Xiu asked curiously, "Captain Su, where are we going now?"

"Yun Family Cloth Shop."

Ning Xiu was taken aback. "The Yun Family Cloth Shop where the newlywed couple both hanged themselves from the rafters on their wedding night? Is it really the work of an Evil Spirit behind all this?"

Su Qianqian turned her head to glance at Ning Xiu. "I didn't expect you to know about this. You're pretty well-informed."

"That's just common knowledge. If you know any insider info from the Demon Subduing Bureau, Captain Su, could you share a little with me?"

"Can't say much for now. You'll find out when we get to the Yun Family Cloth Shop."

Under Su Qianqian's lead, the two soon arrived at the Yun Family Cloth Shop in the southern part of the city. The red silk and double-happiness characters at the main entrance hadn't been taken down yet, but the doorkeeper's arm was already wrapped in a black armband.

"I'm a Demon Subduing Captain from the Demon Subduing Bureau. I need to see Shopkeeper Yun." Su Qianqian pulled out a bronze token engraved with a leopard head and stated directly.

The doorkeeper immediately ran into the shop. Before long, a middle-aged man with an extremely haggard expression came out. His eyes were bloodshot, clearly from crying heavily.

"Your humble subject Yun Heng greets the Captain."

"Your family sent someone to report this case to the Demon Subduing Bureau last night. I'm taking over. Take me to the scene directly," Su Qianqian said.

"Please follow me, Captain."

Yun Heng's family lived in the courtyard behind the shop. After passing through the shop, the dyeing vats, and the warehouse, Ning Xiu and the others finally arrived at the large courtyard where Yun Heng's family resided.

The courtyard was filled with Yun Heng's family members, all wailing loudly.

"Captain, that room over there—my son's body is still hanging inside. I'm afraid seeing it will stir up my grief, so I won't go in with you." Yun Heng pointed at a room in the courtyard, his voice choked with sobs.

Su Qianqian nodded and led Ning Xiu over to push the door open and enter.

Seeing the scene before him, Ning Xiu was slightly startled. It was much as the street vendors had described—on the main beam of the room, a couple in wedding attire had hanged themselves with white ropes.

Their limbs hung straight, their faces were cyan, their eyes bulged high, and their tongues dangled limply, sticking to their chins in a horrifying manner.

Fortunately, Ning Xiu had seen even more gruesome sights in the Demon Subduing Prison before, so he had the mental fortitude to handle it. Otherwise, he would have been truly terrified.

The furnishings in the room were all normal, with no signs of a struggle. It could be ruled out that someone had killed them and then staged it as a suicide.

The Yun family was fairly well-off and lived a comfortable life, with no reason to take their own lives. For a young couple to both commit suicide at the same time was clearly not something they would have chosen willingly.

Just as Ning Xiu was about to discreetly use the Spiritual Eye Qi Observation Technique to examine the scene, Su Qianqian suddenly handed him the bundle in her hand and said, "Take out the cloth inside and wrap it around the interior of this room."

Though Ning Xiu didn't know what she meant, as a Bronze Leopard Demon Subduing Captain, Su Qianqian surely had her own methods. Ning Xiu did as he was told.

Soon, the entire room was surrounded by the cloth Su Qianqian had brought.

Under Ning Xiu's puzzled gaze, Su Qianqian took out a small bottle and poured its contents all over the cloth.

The cloth instantly turned red, the color spreading continuously.

Ning Xiu sniffed and realized that what Su Qianqian had poured was blood.

"Be careful yourself," Su Qianqian warned inexplicably.

Just then, the bloodstained cloth suddenly stirred. In the center of the dyed area, the outline of an infant slowly appeared, greedily licking the blood off the fabric.

Seeing the prey take the bait, Su Qianqian formed a hand seal. The cloth in the room fluttered without any wind, rapidly wrapping itself into a ball, completely trapping the invisible infant.

"Wah! Wah! Wah!"

Suddenly, the sound of a baby's crying erupted wildly from within the cloth bundle. The noise was extremely piercing, making it highly uncomfortable to hear, as if something inside the body was about to crawl out through the mouth.

Ning Xiu quickly began circulating the Great Sun Profound Scripture, and the strange sensation in his body finally subsided considerably.