Chapter 18

The air suddenly solidified.

The two figures, standing in the dark shadows, stared at one another, rooted to the spot and motionless.

The surroundings were deathly silent; one could almost hear the sound of a withered leaf falling nearby.

But suddenly, Chen Ju burst into laughter.

"Brother Luo, don't be so tense," he said while laughing. "Others aren't allowed out, but we Night Patrollers are naturally free to roam."

With that, he glanced at him with a smile and continued walking forward.

Luo Qingchen paused, slowly unclenched his fist, and followed behind him.

"We'll finish our patrol quickly and head back. The nights here aren't safe; there's no telling what kind of freakish things might dart out from the woods."

Chen Ju spoke as he walked, his gaze constantly scanning the surrounding darkness.

Luo Qingchen glanced at his back, then turned his own gaze toward the darkness around them.

The two soon circled the courtyard wall outside the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, and seeing nothing unusual, returned to the courtyard.

Lanterns hung in the yard, their faint light dispelling some of the darkness.

Only then did Chen Ju stop and look at him with a smile. "Brother Luo, I scared you just now, didn't I? Don't blame me, brother; every newcomer gets a good scare on their first night patrol. When I first arrived, Brother Zhao scared me too—I nearly pissed myself that time."

"Brother Zhao?"

Luo Qingchen's expression remained calm, but his heart skipped a beat.

Among the guards he had met yesterday, there was no one surnamed Zhao. Furthermore, judging by his words, he had been patrolling with this Zhao fellow until now, yet only he remained?

What happened to the one surnamed Zhao?

The answer was obvious.

Chen Ju laughed. "Brother Zhao had other business and has already left; otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to come here. Many people have their eyes on this position, you know."

"Let's go, I'll take you inside the building to have a look."

He smiled and climbed the steps, heading into the building.

Luo Qingchen followed behind, his expression unchanged.

Sun Ping was in a corner of the main hall, whispering with a maid. Seeing the two enter, she hurriedly waved her hand and lowered her voice. "There are distinguished guests upstairs, people from above. You two shouldn't go up for now."

Chen Ju nodded at her words and led Luo Qingchen toward the long corridor on the right side of the first floor.

As they passed the staircase, a woman's shrill scream echoed from a room upstairs, followed by the cruel laughter of two men.

Chen Ju whispered an explanation. "Those who come down from above are usually official disciples of the sect. I hear there are brothels up there too, but they're very expensive and you can't do whatever you want, so some disciples occasionally come down here to play."

At this, his eyes were filled with envy and longing. He lowered his voice, "I hear that in the brothels above, many are female disciples of the sect, or even female elders. Those women have such fine skin and figures, and they know seductive arts. Men with shallow cultivation can't get out once they go in..."

Luo Qingchen was stunned. "Female disciples of the sect? And female elders?"

Do these people need to sell themselves in brothels?

Chen Ju said, "In our Demon Controlling Sect, the higher your cultivation, the more blood and silver you need. For the sake of cultivation, let alone selling themselves in brothels, even if they had to cut off their own flesh, there would be people scrambling to do it."

Luo Qingchen remained silent.

Chen Ju suddenly looked at him and smiled. "Brother Luo, now that you have Demon Stones and medicinal herbs, where do you plan to get blood? Buy it outside, or... use your own?"

Luo Qingchen clearly caught a glimmer of greed deep in his pupils and replied calmly, "I'm not even doing medicinal baths yet; I had to borrow silver just to patch things up, so where would I find the silver to buy blood? As for using my own... in a few days, people from above are coming to collect blood. If I use it now and then have a large bowl taken from me later, I might die."

"That's true."

Chen Ju smiled and continued walking forward.

After a moment, he couldn't help but sigh and complain, "Brother Luo, we are both pathetic people. Not only do we earn next to nothing working here, but we have to be bled every few days. Even with Demon Stones and cultivation herbs, without blood, how can we cultivate?"

Luo Qingchen asked, "How many people get to go up in a year?"

Chen Ju shook his head and gave a bitter smile. "Those who climb up from here? At most one or two a year. Those with even a bit of talent or money would never come here to be a Medicine Man; they go straight up the moment they enter the sect. For people like us, don't even think about it."

Luo Qingchen said, "Is it that hard to cultivate to the Blood Changing Realm?"

Chen Ju turned to look at him. "What do you think? Without enough blood, how can you cultivate? Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you have your own Medicine Man."

Chen Ju sighed. "But for people like us who have neither the status of a sect disciple nor money, who would be willing to be our Medicine Man? Go out and kidnap people? The sect doesn't allow that."

Luo Qingchen said, "Does Brother Chen mean that the Medicine Men in Medicine Man Town are all here voluntarily?"

Chen Ju laughed. "Naturally, they are all here voluntarily. Outside, the world is in chaos, and Demonic Beasts are rampaging; your life is never guaranteed. Coming here means having food and drink, plus the protection of the Demon Controlling Sect. As poor people with no money or power, they are naturally willing."

Luo Qingchen nodded silently and said nothing more.

The two circled the first-floor corridor and the various guest rooms. When they returned to the main hall, two men in black robes happened to be coming down from upstairs.

Sun Ping, who was usually indifferent to others, immediately stepped forward with a face full of smiles to speak with them.

Chen Ju stopped and watched the arrogant figures of the two men, whispering, "See the skulls embroidered on their chests? They must be the sect disciples from above."

Sun Ping saw the two out the door with a face full of fawning smiles.

"Let's go. It's time to check the upper floor. If everything is in order, we can head back down to the first floor to rest."

Chen Ju yawned and stepped onto the stairs.

Luo Qingchen followed behind him, and together they reached the second floor.

As the two entered the long corridor and passed the first guest room, they suddenly heard the sound of a woman's suppressed sobbing coming from inside.

Chen Ju chuckled. "The two who just left came from this room. Don't let the fact that she's crying so miserably now fool you; once she sleeps it off, she'll forget all about it. After all, the people who come from above pay quite a bit of silver."

With that, he continued walking forward.

Some rooms were deathly quiet, while others emitted various noisy sounds.

"As long as the women inside aren't in any danger of losing their lives, we don't need to concern ourselves."

Chen Ju led him on a circuit of the second floor, yawned again, and turned to head back toward the corridor exit. "Let's go. We'll just head downstairs and keep watch; if anything comes up, someone will call for us."

Just as the two passed the first guest room at the mouth of the corridor again, the door creaked open.

A woman's somewhat hoarse voice rang out from within: "Xiao Cui, come up and clean the room."

Luo Qingchen happened to be passing by and looked toward the woman in the room.

The woman's gaze met his at the exact same moment.

Both of them froze.

"A... A-Chen?"

The girl in the room had red, swollen eyes and disheveled hair. Several slap marks were imprinted on her face, and tear tracks still stained her cheeks. At this moment, her expression held both shock and surprise.

"A-Yun?"

Luo Qingchen's expression was complex.

The girl before him was none other than Zhao Shi's younger sister, Zhao Yun, who used to play with Xiao Yu back in Clear Water Town.

Chen Ju asked in surprise, "Brother Luo, you two know each other?"

Luo Qingchen suppressed the emotions on his face and said calmly, "We're from the same town."

"Oh?"

Chen Ju glanced at them both again and smiled. "Then you two chat for a while. I'll head down first; call me if you need anything."

Saying this, he went downstairs alone.

At that moment, a young maid carrying hot water hurried upstairs. She glanced at the two standing at the doorway, lowered her head, and entered the room to begin cleaning.

"A-Chen, I heard from Father this morning that you came here to work as a guard."

Zhao Yun's expression looked somewhat unnatural. She gave an awkward smile, wiped the tear tracks from her eyes, and pulled up her messy clothes.

Even with her hair hanging loose, the bruises on her neck were hard to hide.

A smile appeared on Luo Qingchen's face as well. "I heard about you from Brother Shi yesterday..."

He paused, then added, "It's good that you're alive."

Zhao Yun lowered her head, biting her lip, not knowing what to say.

For a moment, both of them fell silent.

Fearing she might feel embarrassed, Luo Qingchen said, "I still need to go down and patrol. We can talk again when there's time."

"Mm."

Zhao Yun gave a low response, not daring to look up.

Just as Luo Qingchen had walked a few steps away, she suddenly raised her head. "A-Chen, I heard that Xiao Yu..."

Luo Qingchen stopped in his tracks, silent.

Zhao Yun's eyes turned red. "A-Chen, I believe you wouldn't do such a thing. I know you loved Xiao Yu more than anyone. You would rather suffer yourself than see her get hurt—how could you possibly harm her?"

Luo Qingchen remained silent for a moment longer, then turned to look at her. "A-Yun, thank you."

A smile, reminiscent of the innocent girl she once was, appeared on Zhao Yun's swollen cheeks. Suddenly, she remembered something. "A-Chen, wait a moment."

With that, she hurried back into the room.

Soon, she returned with a pink coin purse and handed it to him, whispering, "My brother came by this evening. He said you seem to be in desperate need of money. This is the silver I've saved up; neither Father nor my brother knows about it. There are only twelve taels in total. It's not much, but I hope it can help you."

Luo Qingchen froze, looking at the girl's sincere smile and the gentle gaze in her eyes. His heart trembled.

"Thank you."

He hesitated for a brief moment before reaching out to accept it.

"Mm, A-Chen, you go on with your work."

Zhao Yun smiled faintly and retreated back into the room, but suddenly added from the doorway, "Oh, and A-Chen, I'm free during the day. If you have any spare time, you can come find me to talk."

She paused, a hint of desolation and self-mockery appearing on her face. "If you're busy, then never mind."

After saying this, she smiled again and stepped back into the room.

"Creak..."

The door closed.

At this moment, the shrill weeping of a woman and the sound of a whip lashing out suddenly drifted from another side room nearby.

Luo Qingchen lowered his head, looking at the money pouch still holding the lingering warmth of the young girl, a trace of trance appearing in his eyes.

The surrounding clamor seemed to have fallen into silence.

But just then—

"Ah—"

A woman's scream of extreme terror suddenly erupted from downstairs!

"Someone's dead! Someone's dead—"

Luo Qingchen's expression shifted; he hurriedly tucked away the money pouch and dashed downstairs!

Chen Ju was nowhere to be seen downstairs. Only a disheveled woman, stripped of her clothes, came stumbling out of a side room in the right corridor, screaming in sheer terror.

Luo Qingchen darted over, and the moment he reached the doorway of that room, he witnessed a horrific scene inside!