Jiankang was Great Liang's capital. Though the once-glorious dynasty was declining day by day and nearing its end, even a rotten ship still held three pounds of iron. In the foremost city of the realm, dragons and snakes still lay hidden in great numbers.
Su Che wielded his mystic arts and raised the Mystic Talisman into the air. Wisps of green qi curled around it, gathering into clouds. The secret arts of Zhou Jueyin answered the Profound Yin lineage. Beneath the talisman's shroud, an eerie procession of a hundred ghosts appeared across a radius of two or three miles.
A ghostly woman in red smiled sweetly, longing to be wed. A ferocious Yaksha darted through the air, devouring vital essence. A mountain demon cackled and mocked passersby. An old man sold melons shaped like human heads, each bearing a different expression. An ox-headed demon pulled a blood-soaked cart, while a child aboard wailed in the voice of an old woman...
None of these sights meant that evil ghosts had truly come this way. They were visions stirred up by Su Che's arts.
To ordinary people, the visions flashed before their eyes for only an instant, like tricks of a dazed mind. But the closer they looked, the more real the sights became, until their minds swam, their hair stood on end, their blood ran cold, and their teeth chattered like garlic being pounded in a mortar.
Within the Censorate were Circuit Inspectors tasked with watching the skies. One inspector on duty was short and thin, with two heads growing from his neck. One face was full of delight; the other had its eyes sewn shut and ears cut off. Both lips had been sliced away, exposing a mouthful of mottled, rotten teeth.
He gazed toward the northeastern sky, his fingers