Seal the City, Trap the Demon

"Shut the gates and hunt the demon. That's our best course."

Assistant Magistrate Wang spoke at an unhurried pace.

He stood in the center of the main hall, his gaze passing over Yang Xiao and Xu Qingshan, a humble smile on his face.

"You two have only just arrived, so you may not know that although Heishui County is small, it is the gateway to southwestern Qingzhou. Guanlan Commandery lies eighty li to the west, and Wujiang Ferry a hundred li to the south.

"If the Painted-Skin Demon escapes the city, Heishui County won't be the only place to suffer."

Chen Bonian frowned in thought, seemingly weighing the risks.

Assistant Magistrate Wang continued, "I've heard that the Painted-Skin Demon wears human skin, speaks like a person, and mimics human behavior. Ordinary people have no way to tell it apart.

"If we let it escape, every town and village outside Heishui County will suffer."

He paused, then spoke with greater urgency.

"Now that the officers of the Demon Suppression Division are here, we have the perfect chance to seal all four gates and search every household. Better to kill the innocent by mistake than let the demon slip through."

Chen Bonian nodded and turned to Yang Xiao and Xu Qingshan.

"What do you two think?"

Yang Xiao did not answer at once.

He watched Assistant Magistrate Wang without betraying a thing.

The man's argument left no gaps. Each reason linked to the next, making it all sound convincing.

"County Magistrate Chen," Yang Xiao said evenly, "let's set aside sealing the city for now. I have a question."

"Please ask."

"Where is Zhao Peng, the guard who took me to the river yesterday?"

Chen Bonian froze, then turned toward the Yamen Runner at the door.

"Where's Zhao Peng? Go fetch him."

The Yamen Runner hurried off with the order. A moment later, he returned, looking troubled. "My lord, Zhao Peng... Zhao Peng hasn't returned to the County Yamen since last night."

"What?" Chen Bonian frowned. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know. The Yamen Runners on duty last night said Zhao Peng went out with Lord Yang at dusk. No one has seen him since."

The main hall fell silent.

Assistant Magistrate Wang's expression shifted slightly. "Could... could something have happened to Zhao Peng?"

Yang Xiao stood. His gaze swept across the hall and rested briefly on Assistant Magistrate Wang.

"Nothing happened to him."

"He was never human to begin with."

He did not raise his voice, but every word reached everyone in the hall.

Chen Bonian's face changed. "Lord Yang, what do you mean?"

"Zhao Peng was a puppet whose skin the Painted-Skin Demon had replaced," Yang Xiao said calmly. "Yesterday afternoon, he lured me to the river, where the Straw-Cloak Ghosts were already lying in wait. If I hadn't had a few tricks up my sleeve, I'd be the one lying on that riverbank."

An uproar swept through the hall.

The Yamen Runners exchanged looks. Some instinctively gripped their sword hilts.

Assistant Magistrate Wang looked more distressed than ever. He spoke in a rush.

"This... this is terrible! The Painted-Skin Demon has already infiltrated the County Yamen's guards. County Magistrate Chen, we must seal the city at once!"

Yang Xiao turned to him. "There's no rush to seal the city."

"No rush?" Assistant Magistrate Wang's eyes widened. "Lord Yang, the Painted-Skin Demon has already slipped into the County Yamen. If we don't seal the city..."

"Then we search the County Yamen first."

Yang Xiao cut him off, his voice still even.

"If the Painted-Skin Demon could replace a guard, it could replace anyone else. Seal the city before we've searched the County Yamen, and we'll only startle the snake in the grass."

He turned to Chen Bonian. "County Magistrate Chen, how many people are in the County Yamen?"

Chen Bonian forced down his fear and thought for a moment.

"Including Assistant Magistrate Wang, the Head Constable, the guards, the Yamen Runners, the servants, and the maids... around thirty or forty."

"Good." Yang Xiao nodded. "Bring every last one of them to the main hall."

Chen Bonian issued the order at once.

Before long, the people of the County Yamen began filing into the main hall.

The Head Constable, guards, Yamen Runners, servants, maids, cooks... thirty or forty people crowded the hall, fear and unease written on every face.

Yang Xiao stood among them, studying each person in turn.

His Spiritual Olfaction Entry fed him information about their scents.

Sweat, dust, cooked food—all ordinary human smells. Neither scent nor appearance revealed anything unusual.

Yang Xiao quietly committed their faces to memory. He had expected as much.

Just then, a faint trace of Demonic Qi rose from a courtyard dozens of meters away. Yang Xiao's nose twitched. He had picked up something.

"Sorry for the trouble, County Magistrate Chen, but have the guards keep everyone here. Don't let them leave. I'm going to search their rooms."

Chen Bonian nodded and gave a few instructions to the guards beside him. Several soon stepped forward.

"Have you found something, Lord Yang?" Assistant Magistrate Wang pressed.

"Nothing."

Giving nothing away, Yang Xiao led Xu Qingshan outside. After crossing most of the County Yamen, they stopped before a room in the inner courtyard.

"Who lives in this room?"

"My wife does," County Magistrate Chen explained. "She's had a chill these past few days and has been staying here at the County Yamen. That's why I didn't summon her earlier."

"Is something wrong?"

Yang Xiao did not answer at once.

Chen Bonian stood behind him, anxious and uneasy.

But Yang Xiao had noticed that the moment County Magistrate Chen mentioned his wife, the look in Assistant Magistrate Wang's eyes had changed.

Yang Xiao pretended not to see it.

"County Magistrate Chen, may we go in and take a look?"

Chen Bonian paused, then nodded. "Of course. I'll show you in."

He knocked lightly. After a muffled reply came from within, the door opened outward, revealing a maid in a pink dress.

Xu Qingshan followed Chen Bonian inside.

At that moment—

Assistant Magistrate Wang, standing behind Yang Xiao, moved.

His right hand shot from his sleeve. Five fingers curled into hooks, and gray-white Bone Spikes extended from his fingertips, stabbing straight toward Xu Qingshan's back!

The strike was as swift as lightning and utterly silent. It did not even stir the air!

But Yang Xiao had been ready.

From the moment Assistant Magistrate Wang followed them, Yang Xiao had kept watch on him.

His Spring Embroidery Saber swept out, wrapped in the pale-blue edge of Spirit Crystal power!

Slash!

Before Assistant Magistrate Wang's hand could touch Xu Qingshan, his entire right arm was severed at the shoulder. It flew several meters and struck the bluestone paving!

The Bone Spikes were still twitching. Gray-green fluid spurted from the stump.

"Aah!"

Assistant Magistrate Wang screamed and stumbled backward, his face twisted with terror.

"Lord Yang! Wh-what are you doing?!"

But in the next instant, that terrified expression vanished.

The skin on his face split from the forehead down, the crack running along the bridge of his nose like an old garment bursting open from within.

Rrrip!

A gray-green skin slid to the ground, revealing a pale, slick demonic body beneath. Its gray-white slit pupils brimmed with spite and madness.

"Demon Suppression Division... you'll die for this!"

Yang Xiao wasted no words. He struck again!

The Demon-Slaying Blade Technique carried his blade down through the Painted-Skin Ghost Clone's left shoulder at an angle, shearing away half its body along with its left leg!

The wound was blackened as if burned. Gray-green fluid surged wildly, but the flesh could not heal.

At last, its body dried out completely, shrinking into a crumpled mass of gray-green skin.

Yang Xiao sheathed his saber and was about to speak.

Boom!

Inside the county magistrate's wife's room, a wave of Demonic Qi erupted, so thick it was suffocating!