The Bait

Xu Qingshan narrowed his eyes slightly. He had seen this man before.

The one who had served tea in the County Yamen's main hall that afternoon. His surname was Liu.

Yamen Runner Liu walked in with a smile, set the teapot on the corner of the table, then drew a teacup from his sleeve and poured a cup of hot tea.

"My lord, you've worked hard. Have some tea to warm yourself."

"Sorry for the trouble." Xu Qingshan smiled and reached for the cup.

Just as his fingers were about to touch it—

Yamen Runner Liu's right hand shot out of his sleeve. His five fingers hooked like talons, flashing cold gray-white in the candlelight as they lunged straight for Xu Qingshan's face!

Xu Qingshan had been on guard. He leaned back, drew his sword with his left hand, and slashed at Yamen Runner Liu's wrist in a flash of steel!

The wrist came clean off. Yamen Runner Liu reacted at once and leaped back three steps, dragging his severed arm. The smile still hung at the corners of his mouth.

"Lord Xu has quick reflexes."

Its voice had changed.

Gone was Yamen Runner Liu's meek tone. It had turned shrill and sinister, like fingernails scraping across an iron pot.

"A pity. You dodged the first strike, but you won't dodge the second."

Yamen Runner Liu's face began to bulge.

Something writhed beneath his skin, as though countless maggots were crawling underneath it. His whole face twisted out of shape.

Riiip!

With a sharp crack, the skin burst open like shattered porcelain.

Yamen Runner Liu's skin split vertically from his forehead. The tear ran down the bridge of his nose to his chin.

His old skin hung limp over his shoulders as a slick, twisted face pushed out through the opening.

Its eyeballs were entirely gray-white, each pupil a narrow vertical slit.

Wrinkles covered its gray-green skin. Its mouth stretched to its ears, packed with teeth like the serrated edge of a carpenter's saw.

"A Demon Suppression Division officer's skin... It'll fit me perfectly."

It gave a shrill laugh and sprang forward, unleashing the might of the Qi Gathering Realm. Bone spikes thrust out again!

Xu Qingshan raised his sword to block. Liquid Condensation Early Stage spiritual power surged into the blade, and its light swept across like a bolt of silk!

The Painted-Skin Ghost Clone moved strangely, like a boneless snake. It narrowly slipped past the sword light, but its bone spike grazed Xu Qingshan's sleeve, leaving a cut.

It licked its lips, the greed in its eyes deepening.

It lunged again, faster this time. Bone spikes stabbed from different angles, every strike aimed at Xu Qingshan's face or throat.

Xu Qingshan was forced back again and again. His aptitude was unremarkable, so he had poured all his effort into studying internal cultivation. That was how he had reached the Liquid Condensation Early Stage.

But his martial techniques were mostly at a beginner's level, barely better than an ordinary yamen runner's slapdash moves.

Sword Qi was powerful, but the Painted-Skin Ghost Clone's movements were too strange. It was like a shapeless lump of mud; no matter how he slashed, he could not land a solid hit.

Just as the Painted-Skin Ghost Clone lunged for Xu Qingshan's face again—

A flash of saber light cleaved in through the window!

Wrapped in the pale-blue edge of a Spirit Crystal, the slash came without a sound, fast as lightning!

The Painted-Skin Ghost Clone's pupils contracted. It tried to dodge on instinct, but the blade was too fast.

Thwack!

The saber bit into its left shoulder and sliced diagonally down, severing half the Painted-Skin Ghost Clone's body along with its left arm!

No blood spilled from the wound. Only gray-green slime gushed out, giving off a nauseating, fishy stench.

"The Demon Suppression Division!"

The Painted-Skin Ghost Clone shrieked and stumbled back. Slime churned wildly at the wound, trying to reattach the half of its body that had been cut away.

But the Demon-Slaying Entry scorched the wound. Blackened marks spread across it, stopping its recovery.

Yang Xiao vaulted through the window, his Spring Embroidery Saber held across his body.

"Brother Yang!" Xu Qingshan cried, startled and delighted.

Yang Xiao did not answer. He burst forward with the Astonishing Swan Steps, flashing toward the Painted-Skin Ghost Clone like lightning!

The Painted-Skin Ghost Clone was terrified. The bone spikes on its remaining right hand stabbed frantically, trying to hold him back.

Yang Xiao cleaved through the bone spikes with his first slash, cut off its right arm with his second, and drove his third straight through its chest!

Pale-blue saber light pierced through the Painted-Skin Ghost Clone's back. Wisps of smoke rose from the blackened edges of the wound.

The Painted-Skin Ghost Clone collapsed. Its gray-green body shriveled rapidly, like a dead leaf drained of moisture.

But it was not dead yet.

Its white slit-pupiled eyes fixed on Yang Xiao, and its mouth pulled into an eerie smile.

"Hee hee hee... You killed one clone... So what...?"

Its voice grew weaker and weaker, but its smile widened. Rows of fine teeth showed inside the mouth that stretched to its ears.

"The people in the County Yamen... More than one was replaced long ago... You'll never kill us all..."

"Hee hee hee..."

The laughter stopped abruptly.

The Painted-Skin Ghost Clone's body shriveled completely into a wad of dry gray-green skin, giving off a sharp, fishy stench.

Yang Xiao crouched to examine the corpse.

It was a clone with no Inner Core, only a shriveled skin that gave off faint Demonic Qi.

Xu Qingshan's expression was grim.

Not from fear. It was the look of anger and disgust tangled together.

"More than one." Xu Qingshan's voice was hoarse. "It said more than one person in the County Yamen was replaced long ago."

Yang Xiao fell silent for a moment. His gaze swept over the flickering candle in the Side Room.

"Zhao Peng, who lured me away before, that yamen runner at night, and now Yamen Runner Liu... At least three."

"There are probably more." Xu Qingshan smiled bitterly. "The Painted-Skin Demon started changing skins three months ago. With no one to stop it, three months was enough to replace everyone in the County Yamen."

Yang Xiao's expression tightened.

"We can't sleep tonight. You and I will take turns keeping watch."

Xu Qingshan nodded and sheathed his sword.

Early the next morning.

The main hall of the Heishui County County Yamen.

Chen Bonian sat behind the desk, his eyes sunken deep in their sockets. There seemed to be a few more white hairs at his temples.

Yang Xiao and Xu Qingshan sat on either side, their expressions stern.

Two yamen runners stood at the hall entrance. They had kept watch the previous night, and Yang Xiao had confirmed that neither carried Demonic Qi. But that proved nothing.

"My lords, did you discover anything last night?" Chen Bonian asked tentatively.

Yang Xiao did not answer. His gaze settled on an extra figure in a corner of the hall.

The man was about fifty, thin, and dressed in a gray robe. With his goatee and scholarly air, he looked like an adviser.

He seemed to sense Yang Xiao's gaze and looked up with a deferential smile.

"My lords, there is something I'd like to say."

"This is Assistant Magistrate Wang of Heishui County," Chen Bonian explained to them, then turned to him. "What is it?"

Assistant Magistrate Wang closed the document in his hands, rose, straightened his robes, and walked to the center of the hall.

"In my humble opinion, since the Demon is hiding in the city, we should seal the city gates."

Chen Bonian frowned. "Seal the city gates?"

"Precisely," Assistant Magistrate Wang said unhurriedly. "If the Demon is hiding in Heishui City and we leave the gates open, it can flee elsewhere at any time. Once it escapes, finding it again will be difficult."

He paused, his gaze passing over Yang Xiao and Xu Qingshan with pointed meaning.

"Shut the doors and slay the Demon. That is our best course."