"The Demon Subduing Bureau—I'll do everything in my power to hold them off. While I do, get the matter of resurrecting the princess consort done as quickly as possible. Once it's done, the agreements we made at the beginning will still stand. Don't disappoint me again." Wu Huannian said in a low voice.
"Understood." Steward Chu bowed in salute, then left the secret chamber.
There was no need for her to concern herself with what was happening here anymore. Wu Huannian would shoulder all the pressure himself.
In a single day, the Demon Subduing Captains sealed off Spring Full Pavilion. They slaughtered every Evil Spirit and Demonic Creature inside, leaving no survivors.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Wuyi's estate, more than ten streets away from Spring Full Pavilion, was surrounded by Demon Subduing Captains and their men. No one was allowed in or out.
These two major events spread across the entire Chaotian Capital in an instant, setting off a sensational topic that gripped the whole populace.
The Demon Subduing Bureau only ever got involved in matters related to Evil Spirits. Could today's actions mean that both Spring Full Pavilion and the Prince of Wuyi's estate had some connection to them?
As peddlers wandered about spreading the news by word of mouth, the two events became the talk of the Chaotian Capital. Yet no one knew the specifics.
Far away in the Demon Subduing Prison, Ning Xiu had no idea how much commotion his anonymous letter of accusation had caused. He was completely immersed in the feverish work of executing prisoners.
After finishing off the Evil Spirits in twenty cells, Ning Xiu had gone to ask the Prison Warden for another twenty executions.
But the Prison Warden worried that Ning Xiu had only just entered the Martial Ninth Rank and hadn't yet stabilized his strength.
Would performing executions so frequently affect his temperament, causing a drastic change in his state of mind and planting the seeds of disaster?
So he rejected Ning Xiu's request, saying he would arrange more executions for him tomorrow.
There had been cases like this before. Some newcomers who had just joined the Demon Subduing Bureau went out to exterminate Demonic Creatures.
In the end, after killing too many, Evil Qi invaded their minds and turned them into monsters. They fell to corruption halfway through their careers—a great pity.
The Prison Warden's plan was to let Ning Xiu take a breather first. Once a Martial Ninth Rank martial artist had Internal Energy within him, it could subtly lessen the Evil Qi clinging to him.
There was no harm in waiting until tomorrow to resume executing Evil Spirits.
But this left Ning Xiu in a panic. The Prison Warden had no idea how much he stood to gain from executing Evil Spirits.
He had finally gotten two days to spend back in the Demon Subduing Prison. The Universal Proficiency he gained here was practically free for the taking, so naturally he had to seize every second.
But he'd only executed twenty Evil Spirits, and now he was being told to stop? Was he being treated like a child?
Ning Xiu was naturally unwilling, but no matter how much he explained or promised, he couldn't change the Prison Warden's mind.
The other man had retired from the Demon Subduing Bureau. He had once been a Demon Subduing Captain, but after an injury forced him to retire, he had come to manage the Demon Subduing Prison. In terms of seniority, Ning Xiu couldn't order him around, even as an Iron Horse Demon Subduing Captain.
With no other choice, after explaining himself until his mouth was dry, Ning Xiu could only give in. He returned to his previous room and decided to wait until tomorrow.
The next day.
Everything went on as usual. Like a puppet, Ning Xiu collected the cell assignments for that day from the jailers; then, like a puppet, he executed the Evil Spirits and was free to go about his business.
But for He Yunlang, life had changed a little.
Looking at the yellow ox demon bound in its cell, He Yunlang used a tool to force its mouth open, then dropped the Black Origin Pill he had gotten from the Demon Person into its mouth.
Watching the Black Origin Pill disappear down the ox demon's throat, He Yunlang's gaze immediately filled with anticipation.
Whether it was real or not all depended on how the ox demon reacted.
"Moo!" Just a few breaths after swallowing the Black Origin Pill, the ox demon's body rapidly sprouted a mass of muscle, clearly visible to the naked eye.
It stamped about in alarm, leaving hoofprints that dented the ground. Before this, it definitely wouldn't have been capable of such a thing.
It was plain to see that the ox demon's strength had increased significantly after eating the Black Origin Pill.
He waited a little longer. Seeing that the ox demon was still in good condition and showed no unusual reaction, He Yunlang finally relaxed. It seemed that Demon Person hadn't lied to him. The Black Origin Pill really could enhance the body and increase strength.
He promptly executed the ox demon, which had outlived its usefulness, then swallowed all the remaining Black Origin Pills without hesitation.
"I'll make those Demon Subduing Captains see who's truly the best fit to join the Demon Subduing Bureau." He Yunlang declared confidently as he swallowed the pills.
The instant He Yunlang ate the Black Origin Pills, the Demon Person trapped in cell ninety-seven of the Xuan Zone went silent, reduced to a corpse.
Soon, He Yunlang felt a powerful force gradually rising within him. His body began to develop sharply defined muscles, and he tried throwing punches and kicking.
His speed and power were both far greater than before. At that moment, He Yunlang was absolutely certain: if the Demon Subduing Captains had come to choose recruits when he was like this, they would have picked him on the spot.
As He Yunlang rejoiced, he failed to notice a tiny human face slowly appearing on his tongue.
Had he looked closely, he would have recognized the face at once: it belonged to the Demon Person who had given him the Black Origin Pills.
"Greedy fool. Just as I thought, you swallowed them after all." The Demon Person cackled.
The laughter and its mocking tone rang out with startling clarity in the quiet cell, and He Yunlang's expression instantly stiffened.
He warily looked around. "Who's there?"
Could there be a second Evil Spirit in this cell?
"You don't need to know. From now on, this body no longer belongs to you." The Demon Person's face on He Yunlang's tongue began to fade.
He Yunlang had no chance to fight back. The world went black before his eyes, and he collapsed to the ground.
But moments later, his eyes opened again. His gaze now seemed to belong to someone else, stripped of everything that had made him He Yunlang.
"I've been hiding this move for so long. At last, it worked." The new 'He Yunlang' rose to his feet and looked at his new body, exclaiming with delight.
He Biao was a Demon Person who had fallen to corruption halfway through his life. He believed in the Corpse Immortal of Yellow Wind Cave on Five-Head Mountain and excelled at occupying other people's bodies by various means, using them to shed his old shell and cheat death.
On the day he was captured and brought to the Demon Subduing Prison, He Biao had used a little trick on an Evil Spirit there before being locked in his cell. When that Evil Spirit died, He Biao's consciousness would take over its body.
Even so, he still couldn't escape the underground Demon Subduing Prison.
The key, then, was to beguile the Executioner who dealt with the Evil Spirits. Only by taking over the Executioner's body could he escape the Demon Subduing Prison and leave the Chaotian Capital.
He Yunlang was the unlucky bastard who'd drawn that lot.
He had executed the Evil Spirit that He Biao had tampered with, and in the process, accidentally learned of He Biao's existence.
The Black Origin Pills were the means He Biao had devised to accomplish his goal.
He Biao hadn't lied completely. Otherwise, the Demon Subduing Bureau wouldn't have kept him alive until now. His Black Origin Pills really could enhance the body and increase strength, but they also allowed him to take over someone else's body.
The Demon Subduing Captains, however, could easily sense what was wrong with the pills, so He Biao had never tampered with any Black Origin Pills given to them.
An unranked martial artist like He Yunlang, who hadn't even reached Ninth Rank, was his ideal target.
As long as the cautious He Yunlang couldn't resist the greed and ate the Black Origin Pills, he was doomed to have He Biao seize his body.
After familiarizing himself with his new body, He Biao wasted no time. He immediately left the cell and set out to find the Demon Subduing Prison's exit.
Walking down the corridor of the Xuan Zone, Ning Xiu was in an especially good mood. Today, he had once again been assigned twenty Evil Spirits by the Prison Warden.
The man was just too kind. He was afraid that Ning Xiu had only just entered the Martial Ninth Rank and would kill so many Evil Spirits that his temperament would change, so he had deliberately limited how many he could execute each day. Otherwise, Ning Xiu would have been even happier.
If he could slaughter Evil Spirits as he pleased over these two days, he'd stay up all night and go without food or drink just to execute every Evil Spirit in the Demon Subduing Prison that he was allowed to. Just imagine how rich he'd become overnight.
Just as Ning Xiu was nearing the first cell assigned to him, a familiar figure came walking from the other direction.
"He Yunlang, what a coincidence. We've run into each other again." Ning Xiu greeted him with a smile.
"Yeah. I—I've got something to do, so I'll head off. We'll talk another time."
But He Yunlang seemed a little strange today. After hearing Ning Xiu greet him, he gave only a perfunctory reply.
Yesterday he'd been skulking around; today he seemed distracted.
All this made Ning Xiu worry about one of his few friends. He'd overlooked He Yunlang yesterday because he hadn't thought much of it, but today he had to get to the bottom of things.
Had he run into trouble lately, or was he in a bad mood because the Demon Subduing Captains hadn't chosen him?
Seeing that He Yunlang didn't intend to stop and talk, Ning Xiu stepped in front of him. "He Yunlang, you haven't seemed very happy lately. Why don't you talk it over with your buddy?"
Seeing the young man blocking his way, He Biao instinctively furrowed his brow. He could sense a scorching aura from the other man that made him deeply uncomfortable.
Only martial artists who had cultivated an especially robust vital energy gave off this kind of feeling.
Demon People were human, but their corruption brought them closer to Evil Spirits, so they, too, greatly feared the vital energy of martial artists.
"No need. Go take care of your own business." He Biao replied with forced calm, then stepped around Ning Xiu.
At that moment, Ning Xiu's expression changed slightly. He Yunlang seemed different from usual today.
People who didn't know someone well might not notice the changes in them, but Ning Xiu and He Yunlang had been friends and roommates in Champion Camp for over a year. Naturally, he knew him much better.
The moment He Yunlang walked away, Ning Xiu was moved by a sudden impulse to use the Spiritual Eye Qi Observation Technique.
He immediately saw wisps of Evil Qi swirling around He Yunlang, with a faint human silhouette shifting within them.
"Stop. Tell me, what's my name?" Ning Xiu shouted at once.
He Biao's heart gave a jolt. Had he been found out? That couldn't be.
His possession technique only let him take control of a body; it didn't give him the original owner's memories. How could he possibly answer Ning Xiu's question?
When He Yunlang didn't answer immediately, Ning Xiu knew he definitely wasn't He Yunlang. If someone who wasn't He Yunlang was wandering around the Demon Subduing Prison disguised as him, there was no need to explain what kind of secret was hidden behind it.
In a flash, Ning Xiu chased after him. His right fist turned crimson in an instant. It was none other than the Pure Yang Extreme Fist.
The Primordial Yang Fist had only just evolved into the Pure Yang Extreme Fist, and he hadn't tested it in a fight yet. Now he had the perfect target.
Feeling the scorching heat radiating from Ning Xiu's fist, He Biao groaned inwardly.
He really was unlucky. He hadn't been out long before running into someone who knew the original owner—someone who loved picking fights and meddling in other people's business, at that.
A fight was now unavoidable, but that wasn't even the worst of it. This was the Demon Subduing Prison. If the commotion drew other jailers, He Biao's plan to slip out of the prison unseen by shedding his skin would be doomed.
At this point, the only solution was to make the man in front of him shut up forever as quickly as possible.
He Biao immediately stripped off his upper clothes and murmured an incantation. His chest writhed rapidly, then split open, revealing a massive vertical mouth lined with fangs.
Swallow!
In the blink of an eye, the huge vertical mouth expanded dozens of times over, growing from He Biao's chest at a terrifying pace. It lunged at Ning Xiu and swallowed him whole.
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