Writing a Spell

Watching the parrot keep naming prices, Zhang Wenqi could not help showing an awkward expression. In the end, he could only say, "I agree to this!"

The parrot immediately said, "The Prefect is truly a kind man."

Qian Bochou could not help sighing inwardly. No wonder all those lords in the capital liked keeping these things.

Should he ask someone to get one from the capital too?

But important matters came first. He could deal with getting a parrot later.

He said, "Since the Prefect has agreed, please quickly issue me an arrest warrant."

Qian Bochou was a clever man. He knew perfectly well that in matters like this, one had to cut through the mess with a sharp blade—arrest Xia Lingxian first and throw him into prison.

After a thorough beating, he would confess to any crime.

Once he confessed to colluding with demons and monsters, he could be beheaded on the spot.

Then the matter would be settled.

And afterward, Xia Lingxian would not be able to take revenge on him.

If Xia Lingxian was given time to prepare and pull every string he could, who knew what the matter might turn into.

Zhang Wenqi narrowed his eyes and slowly said, "Well, Xia Lingxian was previously an imperial official. I should report this to my superiors first and see..."

"My lord, delay invites change." Qian Bochou hurriedly reminded him. "Miss Xu is still in Nanzhou Prefecture. If she gets involved, no one knows whether Xia Lingxian will start biting wildly."

"What if it implicates the Prefect..."

"Claiming that you have ties to him..."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenqi frowned. Thinking of Xu Suwen's identity, he decided that Xia Lingxian's collusion with demons and monsters had nothing to do with him anyway.

He had never taken a single coin from the man.

"Arrest him!"

Before long, Qian Bochou obtained the arrest warrant and hurried excitedly toward his residence. For an arrest like Xia Lingxian's, he would certainly bring Jiang Yun along.

After all, Xia Lingxian had colluded with a Demon Person. What if there were more in his residence?

In the courtyard, Jiang Yun was considering where the monster could be hiding when Qian Bochou rushed in breathlessly. "Brother, the arrest warrant is ready. Let's hurry and capture Xia Lingxian."

"I just don't know whether there are still Evil people in his residence. When the time comes, I may need your help."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun seemed to discover a crucial detail.

That was right.

He and Qian Bochou had wandered around the Nanzhou Prefectural Office for so long. Why had they encountered a Ghost Wall only after reaching the dungeon?

Why had they been attacked by that old woman?

There had to be something shameful in the dungeon, something afraid of being discovered by the two of them.

If that Evil Haunt was hiding in the dungeon...

And now they had locked that old woman inside as well...

"Oh no!" Jiang Yun's expression changed. "The dungeon!"

Qian Bochou was stunned for a moment. "The dungeon?"

Jiang Yun quickly explained his thoughts. Hearing them, Qian Bochou's face filled with anxiety. "It's over. My subordinates are still in there."

"Hurry and contact Miss Xu." Jiang Yun said in a low voice, "I'll go to the dungeon entrance first."

If that Evil Spirit really was hiding in the dungeon, together with that old woman who knew Evil Arts, he could not handle them alone. Xu Suwen had to get there.

"Alright." Qian Bochou nodded. "I'll notify Miss Xu immediately."

Qian Bochou hurried away, while Jiang Yun made his way to the rockery in the rear courtyard. But he did not enter directly. The entire dungeon was eerily silent.

If nothing had happened, the sounds of prisoners being whipped would always carry up from below. It could not possibly be this quiet.

Time trickled by. Finally, Xu Suwen arrived behind Qian Bochou.

Xu Suwen wore that white fur-lined coat, her steps light. Yet she held a bow in her right hand, while a standard Imperial Guards longsword hung at her waist.

"I heard everything Constable Qian told me."

Xu Suwen came to Jiang Yun's side, crouched down beside him, and said, "So that Evil Spirit is connected to Xia Lingxian, the former Prefect?"

Jiang Yun nodded slowly. "That's right."

A relaxed look appeared on her face. Clearly, Xia Lingxian should not affect the mission she had come here to carry out, nor did he know her purpose in coming.

Xu Suwen's gaze then fell upon the dungeon. Slowly, she removed the longbow from her hand. "Let's go. Time to slay a demon."

"Wait." Jiang Yun bit his finger and drew a Lightning Palm Strike on her palm.

Only after making their preparations did the two enter the dungeon.

Qian Bochou's voice sounded from behind them. "Miss Xu, Brother Jiang, I'll wait outside for you..."

The moment they entered the dungeon, the temperature abruptly dropped.

Returning to the dungeon, even Jiang Yun was startled by the sight before him.

All the constables who had entered earlier, along with the prisoners, were dead.

The corridor, the cells, the ceiling, the corners.

Everywhere lay severed limbs, chunks of flesh, and bloodstains.

Xu Suwen picked up a severed arm near the entrance and examined the wound. She quickly reached a conclusion. "These people looked as though some wild beast had torn them apart..."

Just then, a cold laugh rang out from the far end of the dungeon corridor.

Then came an old woman's voice.

"Imperial Guards?" The old woman's gaze fell directly upon the Imperial Guards blade at Xu Suwen's waist. She said coldly, "So an Imperial Guards expert came. No wonder I fell for your trick."

Xu Suwen's brow twitched slightly as she slowly raised her longbow. "Did you kill these people?"

As she spoke, she drew the bow, ready to loose an arrow.

Suddenly, a familiar yet icy voice came from behind Jiang Yun and Xu Suwen. "I killed them."

A chill swept over them.

Jiang Yun did not even have time to turn around. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around Xu Suwen and rolled aside.

At the instant he lowered his head, a fierce gust of force swept past.

Several strands of hair drifted down, cleanly severed.

Jiang Yun's heart lurched. If he had reacted any slower, what would have fallen just now would have been both their heads.

"Miss Xu." Jiang Yun warned, "You still remember the incantation, right?"

"Of course." Xu Suwen hurriedly raised her right hand. That beautiful head naturally knew the power of this palm strike. Terror appeared on its face as it instantly turned into a wisp of black smoke and flew toward the old woman.

The Evil Spirit shouted, "Ghost Granny, let's join forces!"

The old woman called Ghost Granny formed a strange hand seal, muttering an obscure, incomprehensible incantation. Soon, the Evil Spirit flew into her body.

Ghost Granny slowly bent her body. Her eyes bulged wide, and as she opened her blood-filled maw, her teeth and nails became incomparably sharp.

"Ghost Possession?" Jiang Yun frowned. In his previous life, he had heard of such a spell. It had been adapted from the spirit-medium disciples of the Northeast.

But this kind of Evil Arts severely damaged the host's lifespan. Even the crooked paths of Outer Dao would not use it lightly.

Ghost Granny let out a strange shriek and charged at them with a limp, yet at astonishing speed.

If she reached them, she was confident she could easily tear the two to pieces.

"Heaven and Earth are boundless, the cosmos lends me its law!" Xu Suwen shouted. Then, thirty percent of the Magic Power within her body was instantly drained away.

Boom!!!!

A deafening blast thundered through the prison.

The dungeon, originally black and gloomy, was lit by lightning as brightly as day.

The dungeon corridor was not spacious enough to evade this palm strike at all.

With a boom, Ghost Granny's body was blasted into pieces, exploding across the ground.

"Hiss."

Even though she knew this Daoist Arts spell was immensely powerful and had mentally prepared herself,

the scene before her still made Xu Suwen marvel again at its might.

"It isn't completely dead yet." Jiang Yun's voice pulled Xu Suwen from her shock.

The chunks of flesh blasted apart by that strike were wriggling continuously across the ground. Then, the flesh and blood slowly gathered together again.

Even the flesh and blood of the constables and prisoners inside the dungeon gradually converged there.

The flesh kept writhing until it soon formed a two-meter-tall ball of mangled meat.

The meatball wriggled. Flesh gathered into two hands, picked up the eyeballs from the floor, and fixed them in place as eyes.

"Heaven and Earth are boundless, the cosmos lends me its law!" Xu Suwen unleashed another palm strike.

Mighty lightning once again roared through the dungeon.

The mass of flesh was instantly blown apart, blood and meat splattering everywhere.

Moments later, the flesh slowly gathered again, as though it could not be killed at all.

Even Jiang Yun could not help frowning at such a bizarre scene. He had never encountered anything like this before.

An Evil person who needed Ghost Possession for help could not be particularly strong.

In his previous life, people like this rarely survived even one palm strike.

Xu Suwen said helplessly, "Your palm strike is powerful, but why is it always thunder loud and rain scant..."

Jiang Yun watched the constantly wriggling chunks of flesh and said, "I'm afraid we have to eliminate every piece of her flesh to kill her completely."

Xu Suwen exclaimed, "How is that possible? She has at least a hundred pieces of flesh, and they're mixed into that meatball. Are we supposed to find and destroy them one by one?"

"There is a simpler method, but Miss Xu will have to suffer a little indignity." Jiang Yun thought of an incantation and looked toward Xu Suwen.

Then he reached out and began pulling at Xu Suwen's clothes.

Xu Suwen was slightly startled. She shoved Jiang Yun away with a slap, clutched the front of her clothes over her chest, and glared angrily. "What are you doing?"

Jiang Yun said seriously, "Taking off your clothes."

"I know that! I'm asking why you're taking off my clothes!"

"To slay the demon, of course."

"Then why not take off your own clothes?"

"Because I need to write the spell on your back. I can't exactly write a spell on my own back."

"You still need to let your hands wander over my body?"

"Miss Xu, I need to correct you. It isn't wandering—it's writing a spell."

"Is there a difference?"

Jiang Yun said with a serious expression, "Of course there is. My heart holds no stray thoughts; Daoist magic follows nature. The mundane cannot stir me, nor can worldly thoughts. I am a gentleman—what does the young lady have to worry about?"

"Besides, this is a spell capable of completely destroying that Evil Spirit."

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