"Father, with such a huge mess breaking out in Wendeng County this time, I'm afraid it'll be very difficult to settle in the end."
In the courtyard of Huang Mansion, Huang You sat in a pavilion drinking tea and chatting with his father.
They had both already heard from the servants about the deaths of more than a hundred people in Wendeng County today.
Nothing this heinous had happened since Wendeng County was established.
"A wound in Wendeng County..." Old Master Huang sighed.
Although he no longer held the post of county magistrate's assistant, Old Master Huang had always loved the people like his own children and cared for their welfare. After learning what had happened today, he couldn't help feeling saddened.
"By the way, didn't you tell me you'd invited an official named Ning to stay at our residence? How come I haven't seen him at all?" Old Master Huang asked, changing the subject.
Huang You scratched his head. "Your son isn't quite sure either. This official Ning came to Wendeng County on official business, so I suppose he must be taking care of his own affairs."
Just then, a servant suddenly came running over and hurriedly said, "Master, Young Master, a constable has come to deliver a message from outside the residence. He said the new county magistrate's assistant was unfortunately murdered by a Demon Person. On the order of Official Ning, Master is to be reinstated and temporarily take up the post of county magistrate's assistant."
Huang You: "Huh! Such good news can actually happen!"
Old Master Huang: "What? Such a tragic thing has happened?"
Hearing that this was on the order of Official Ning, Huang You immediately felt a weight lift from his heart.
It turned out that the four thousand taels of silver he'd lavishly spent on this official hadn't been wasted.
As long as you were willing to spend money on the right person, weren't the benefits sure to come back to you?
For a moment, Huang You felt very proud of his eye for investments.
"The constable also said he hopes Master will return to the county office soon to take charge of official business. Quite a lot has piled up there recently, and it urgently needs to be dealt with."
"I understand." Old Master Huang nodded.
Huang You laughed heartily. "Father, your son really has made a powerful connection this time. I never expected Official Ning could go this far. Now that you're back in your post as county magistrate's assistant, I can use the imperial postal stations to send goods again."
"That's all you care about?"
"Father, you don't understand. Without someone like me, who in Wendeng County would be willing to spend four thousand taels on a hammer?"
Outside Wendeng County, a plain-looking old man sat in a corner of a tea stall by the county gates.
He held a fire striker and a little hemp-cloth doll. Unnoticed by anyone, the old man pressed the fire striker hard against the doll, then murmured under his breath.
"Chu Gu, a Demon Subduing Captain has come to Wendeng County. Du Luo and I have been discovered. Du Luo is dead, and I've been captured. I'm locked up in the county jail."
As soon as he finished speaking, the doll suddenly burst into flames and, in the blink of an eye, turned to ashes.
Having done this, the old man got up and left the tea stall.
After the Demon Person who could turn living people into puppet doubles had been locked away in the deepest part of the jail, Ning Xiu stayed at the county office and waited patiently.
At present, it was unclear whether other puppet doubles belonging to the Demon Person were still hidden in Wendeng County, or how many there might be.
So Ning Xiu could only wait for Su Qianqian to send a Demon Subduing Captain capable of distinguishing them.
Only after all the hidden threats in Wendeng County had been thoroughly eliminated could he escort the Demon Person back to Chaotian Capital.
After analyzing the Demon Person, Ning Xiu had also formed a few guesses of his own.
Although the Demon Person could control puppet doubles to move about, there should be a general limit to how far they could go—perhaps no farther than the boundaries of Wendeng County.
That was why the Demon Person had infiltrated Wendeng County and disguised himself as Lu Dengke.
Otherwise, if there were no distance restrictions, he wouldn't have needed to take such a risk and come to Wendeng County in person to wreak havoc.
After a long wait, just as night was about to fall, figures from the direction of Chaotian Capital finally appeared outside Wendeng County.
Three Demon Subduing Captains in Mysterious Silver Lock Armor galloped into the county and headed straight for the county office.
When a constable told him that Demon Subduing Captains had arrived, Ning Xiu immediately went outside to welcome them. After waiting so long, the reinforcements had finally arrived.
None of the three who had come to Wendeng County was Su Qianqian. They were three men who all looked seven or eight years older than Ning Xiu.
This left Ning Xiu somewhat puzzled. Was the matter he'd reported not urgent enough to warrant Su Qianqian coming in person?
"Greetings to the three of you. I'm Ning Xiu, an Iron Horse Demon Subduing Captain. May I ask your names?" Ning Xiu asked, cupping his fists.
"Brother Ning, you're too polite. In fact, there aren't three of us this time. I'm the only one. My name is Ren Qianxing." The man standing in the middle smiled. He took out his Iron Horse Demon Subduing Captain token and held it up before Ning Xiu to prove his identity.
"Huh?" Ning Xiu froze, then reached out and tapped the two men to Ren Qianxing's left and right.
Sure enough, they felt extremely hard to the touch, and went "thump, thump" when he tapped them. He could tell as soon as he made contact that they weren't real people.
"They're so lifelike, so convincing! If you hadn't told me, I'd never have noticed. Brother Ren, you have an impressive skill. Are you cultivating the Puppet Path?" Ning Xiu asked in surprise, withdrawing his hand.
Ren Qianxing nodded. "That's right. I'm an eighth-rank puppet master of the Puppet Path. When I heard that a Demon Person skilled at making puppet doubles was wreaking havoc in Wendeng County, Lord Su asked me to come take a look and help Brother Ning deal with the puppet doubles."
When he'd seen that Su Qianqian hadn't come in person, Ning Xiu had felt somewhat uneasy.
Now that he knew the man before him was an eighth-rank puppet master of the Puppet Path, his mind was instantly at ease.
As the saying went, every trade had its specialist. Who could be better suited to uncover the puppet doubles hidden in Wendeng County than a puppet master who specialized in making puppets?
"That's great. Come with me, Brother Ren. I'll take you to see that Demon Person."
Deep inside the county jail.
Lu Dengke's corpse had been placed in a large iron cage. To keep the Demon Person from suffocating, Ning Xiu had removed the quilt wrapped around Lu Dengke's corpse.
This allowed anyone to see at a glance Lu Dengke's ghastly skeletal remains and the Demon Person curled up inside his rib cage.
Ren Qianxing stared at the Demon Person for a long time, then sighed for no apparent reason before remarking, "What a remarkable art of usurping another's body! If it could be developed further, it would surely become another branch of the Puppet Path. What a pity he fell into depravity and became a Demon Person."
"Brother Ren, what do you mean?" Ning Xiu asked.
Ren Qianxing pointed at the Demon Person's head, fused with Lu Dengke's heart. "This man burrows into another person's body like a worm. By fusing with the heart, he can control the target's words and actions.
"At the same time, his own appearance begins to change into that of the deceased. You can tell just by looking at his face.
"If my guess is right, after a while, when his hands and feet have grown, he'll crawl out of the deceased's body. Then he'll fill out his own form with the flesh and skin of various domestic animals. By then, the Demon Person will be reborn and truly take the original owner's place."
As Ren Qianxing explained, the Demon Person in the cage sneered coldly. "You're quite impressive. You actually saw through the workings of this Puppet Path art I created myself."
Ren Qianxing ignored him and continued, "Luckily, Brother Ning, you discovered and captured this Demon Person before he could finish. Otherwise, once his art was complete, it would have been too late."
Ning Xiu suddenly understood. Only now did he realize why the Demon Person's appearance had been exactly the same as the late Lu Dengke's.
So that was the reason behind it.
"Brother Ren, that secret is certainly interesting, but I'm not too concerned about it. This Demon Person may have made quite a few puppet doubles in Wendeng County. The most urgent task now is to find every one of them and destroy them, so Wendeng County can return to peace," Ning Xiu said quietly, to keep the Demon Person from hearing.
Ren Qianxing nodded. "Understood."
Ning Xiu glanced at the Demon Person. "Brother Ren, now that you've seen him, let's go outside and discuss our plans."
"Sure."
Once they were out of the jail, Ning Xiu immediately asked, "Brother Ren, do you have any ideas? If you need help, just let me know. I'll do everything I can to assist."
"Puppet masters generally control puppets by one of three methods: strings, souls, or talismans. Each method has its own strengths and weaknesses. From the Demon Person's appearance in the jail just now, he wasn't controlling his puppets with strings.
"String control is the hardest method to trace, while the other two methods are comparatively easier to investigate. Brother Ning, stay at the county office and get some rest. I can handle this alone."
"Then I'll leave it to you."
After getting the information he wanted from the Demon Person, Ren Qianxing immediately set to work, taking his two puppets and leaving the county office.
Ning Xiu didn't know him, but Su Qianqian had specially sent him here, and he was a Puppet Path master. Ning Xiu felt quite confident in him.
After Ren Qianxing left, Ning Xiu returned to the room Dong Fu had arranged for him at the county office and began reciting scriptures for the night.
By his count, the golden bead in his possession was nearly full of red characters.
Night gradually deepened.
The entire Wendeng County office was quiet and still.
Two constables patrolled the grounds with lanterns to prevent outsiders from sneaking in.
Although the odds of that happening were low, they still had to be on guard.
Just then, several figures suddenly leapt over the wall. Before the two constables could even react, their bodies began to melt in a horrifying fashion.
In an instant, they became pools of blood, their figures gone. Only the clothes of the deceased remained in the bloody puddles.
"The jail is over there. Move quickly. Don't let the Demon Subduing Captain notice."
Several figures raced over the rooftops of the county office buildings and soon reached the jail entrance.
Four jailers stood outside. The area was brightly lit by braziers and torches, so anyone approaching would be spotted immediately.
But the figures made no attempt to hide. They leapt straight off the rooftops and charged toward the jail entrance.
"Someone's breaking into the jail!"
"Quick, sound the alarm gong! Notify Lord Ning!"
Before the jailers could do anything, the figures were already upon them.
Blood gushed from the four jailers' seven orifices, and one of the figures sucked it all into his mouth.
In the blink of an eye, their blood had run dry. They fell to the ground as desiccated corpses.
The mysterious figures had already disappeared into the jail.
"Hm?"
Ning Xiu, who had been reciting scriptures to the golden bead, suddenly stopped.
He sensed the room inexplicably growing chilly. This was no ordinary sign.
He immediately used the Spiritual Eye Qi Observation Technique and saw wisps of Evil Qi drifting in through the doors and windows.
Although the Evil Qi wasn't very dense, it was enough to show that the situation was becoming serious.
There hadn't been any Evil Qi in the Wendeng County office before, but now it had suddenly appeared.
That meant there were a large number of Evil Spirits or Demon Persons here. Otherwise, there was no way such a disturbance could have occurred.
"Could it be... No!" A flash of insight crossed Ning Xiu's mind. He hastily tucked the golden bead into his robe, stood up, and rushed out of the room.
There was nothing in the Wendeng County office that could attract Evil Spirits. The problem had to be the Demon Person he'd locked up in the county jail today.
Could it be that there were more than two Demon Persons hiding in Wendeng County, and he had other accomplices?
Taking advantage of the quiet night, they must be planning to force their way into the jail and rescue the Demon Person.
Ning Xiu absolutely couldn't let that happen. The Demon Person still held plenty of secrets that needed to be taken back to the Demon Subduing Bureau, where specialists could interrogate him under torture.
He couldn't allow anything to go wrong.
Before you continue