Seal the City, Trap the Demon

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

Assistant Magistrate Wang spoke without haste.

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

"My lords, you've only just arrived, so you may not know that Heishui County, small though it is, 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 consequences.

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

"If we let it escape, the towns and villages outside Heishui County will all suffer."

He paused, his voice growing more earnest.

"Now that the lords of the Demon Suppression Division are here, we should seize this 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, my lords?"

Yang Xiao did not answer at once.

His gaze rested on Assistant Magistrate Wang, his expression giving nothing away.

The assistant magistrate's argument had no gaps. Each reason held up, and one led neatly to the next.

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

"Please ask, my lord."

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

Chen Bonian froze, then turned to a Yamen Runner by the door.

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

The Yamen Runner left with the order and hurried back a short while later, his face 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 Runner 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 rose, swept his gaze over everyone in the hall, and let it linger on Assistant Magistrate Wang.

"Nothing happened to him."

"He was never human in the first place."

He had not raised his voice, but every word reached everyone clearly.

Chen Bonian's expression changed sharply. "What do you mean, Lord Yang?"

"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. Those Straw-Cloak Ghosts were already lying in ambush. If I hadn't had a few tricks up my sleeve, I'd be the one lying on that riverbank now."

An uproar broke out in the main hall.

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

Assistant Magistrate Wang looked more alarmed than ever, and his words came quickly.

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

Yang Xiao turned to him and said without haste, "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. Sealing the city before we've checked everyone in the County Yamen would only beat the grass and startle the snake."

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.

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

"Good." Yang Xiao nodded. "Bring every last one of them to the main hall. No exceptions."

Chen Bonian immediately gave the order.

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

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

Yang Xiao stood among them, looking each person over.

The Spiritual Olfaction Entry brought him information through their scents.

Sweat, dust, cooked food—all ordinary human smells. Neither their scents nor their appearances revealed anything amiss.

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

Just then, faint Demonic Qi appeared in a courtyard dozens of meters away. Yang Xiao wrinkled his nose slightly, sensing something.

"Sorry for the trouble, County Magistrate Chen. Have the guards keep everyone here. I'm going to search their rooms."

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

"Did you find something, Lord Yang?" Assistant Magistrate Wang asked.

"Nothing."

Giving nothing away, Yang Xiao led Xu Qingshan outside. After crossing most of the County Yamen, he 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 immediately.

Chen Bonian stood behind him, anxious and uneasy.

But Yang Xiao had noticed the slight change in Assistant Magistrate Wang's eyes the moment County Magistrate Chen said "my wife."

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 take you inside."

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

Xu Qingshan stepped in behind Chen Bonian.

At that very moment.

Assistant Magistrate Wang, standing behind Yang Xiao, suddenly moved.

His right hand shot out of his sleeve, fingers hooked like claws. Gray-white Bone Spikes extended from his fingertips and drove straight toward Xu Qingshan's back!

The strike was fast as lightning and utterly silent, stirring not even a whisper of wind!

But Yang Xiao was ready.

From the moment Assistant Magistrate Wang followed them, Yang Xiao had been watching for movement behind him.

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

Squelch—

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

The Bone Spikes were still twitching. Gray-green slime gushed from the stump.

"Aah—!"

Assistant Magistrate Wang screamed and staggered back, his face contorted with terror.

"Lord Yang! What... what are you doing?!"

But in the next instant, that look of terror vanished.

The skin on Assistant Magistrate Wang's face split from his forehead downward, the tear running along the bridge of his nose like an old garment bursting open from within.

Riiip—

The gray-green skin sloughed to the ground, exposing a deathly pale, slick demon body beneath. Its gray-white slit pupils burned with malice and madness.

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

Yang Xiao wasted no words. He swung a second time!

The Demon-Slaying Blade Technique carried the pale blue edge of Spirit Crystal. His saber entered the Painted-Skin Ghost Clone's left shoulder and cut diagonally down, cleaving away half its body and its left leg!

The wound was charred black, as though scorched. Gray-green slime churned wildly but could not knit it shut.

At last, its body shriveled completely, collapsing into a lump of dry gray-green skin.

Yang Xiao sheathed his saber and was about to speak.

Boom!

From inside the County Magistrate's wife's room, Demonic Qi suddenly erupted, so dense it was suffocating!