Execution and Closure, Reform of the Demon-Suppression Office

Anping County Demon-Suppression Office, main hall.

The hall was so deathly still it was suffocating.

Gunpowder smoke and a faint scent of blood still lingered in the air, brought back from the Three-Bath River—the aftertaste of monsters and death.

Zhang Cheng, head of the office, sat upright at the dais, both hands braced on the desk. Like an iron tower, he radiated astonishing pressure. Beside him, several clerks trembled as they sorted stacks of case files that could turn half of Anping County upside down.

Chu Bai stood quietly at the side of the hall, his expression calm as a bottomless ancient well.

"Sir, the evidence in the Three-Bath River case is conclusive!"

Pang Song stepped forward, his armor scraping with a harsh clang. He presented a blood-soaked confession with charred edges, his voice echoing through the empty hall with the fervor of a man finally relieved of a burden:

"The Lu Household colluded with a wild god and set up an illicit shrine. They sacrificed living children for years!

"The head of the household, Lu Yuanshan, has confessed. Lu Sen, deputy captain of the Second Squad, and his accomplices took enormous bribes to conceal the household's activities and erase its records. This monstrous crime defies the Heavenly Dao and tramples the Great Zhou Law!"

A cold glint flashed in Zhang Cheng's eyes. He was about to take the files and sign the final death sentence.

"Head Zhang, wait."

At that moment, measured footsteps sounded outside the hall, accompanied by a soft cough with a strangely delicate edge.

A man of about forty slowly entered, dressed in a dark-purple brocade robe with an exquisitely carved white jade cicada at his waist.

His face was fair, three neat strands of beard hung beneath his chin, and his narrow eyes held an