White Lotus Reincarnation

"Little Han, what a coincidence."

Zhou Yi emerged from the shadows.

"Old Zhou, you finished that quickly?"

Han Er carried the fish demon over his shoulder, assuming Zhou Yi was returning from the Demon Refining Cavern.

"Got lucky. Two fox pelts."

Smiling, Zhou Yi reached out to support the fish demon's tail. "Let me help."

After death, the fish demon had reverted to its original form, a carp spirit nearly ten feet long. Han Er struggled to carry it.

"Thanks, Old Zhou."

Han Er had an honest face and dark skin, naturally giving people the impression that he was trustworthy.

"No need to thank me. Everyone who ends up in the Punishment Office has had a hard life. We ought to help each other."

As Zhou Yi spoke, his magical power permeated the fish demon's remains. Just as he had suspected, it was nothing but an empty shell, without the slightest trace of blood essence.

He examined Han Er with the Qi-Reading Technique.

His blood essence flourished, while the gray-white aura of decline had almost entirely dissipated.

They tossed the fish demon's remains into the Demon Refining Cavern.

"Old Zhou, shall we have a drink?"

Han Er and Zhou Yi went to the Punishment Office dining hall. After several expansions, it now resembled a tavern from a film or television drama.

The executioners' mortality rate kept rising. Although Great Qian had no shortage of displaced people and criminals, the demon and monster materials ruined by novices were worth far more than a hundred times the cost of a little meat and wine.

The executioners who had survived the day gathered in the tavern to eat and drink. Their jubilant shouts as they played drinking games made Zhou Yi feel as though he had entered a bustling marketplace.

The ignorant masses can be trained!

For some reason, that phrase came to Zhou Yi's mind as he watched the lively scene.

Outside, these young, able-bodied refugees could easily become recruits for rebel armies just to feed themselves and stay alive. Most would still struggle to escape death in war.

Once inside the Punishment Office, their days were likewise numbered, but they worked for Great Qian instead.

The court bought their lives with nothing more than food and drink, and every one of them was cheerful and boisterous.

Zhou Yi's arrival drew the eyes of many executioners, most filled with envy and awe.

Han Er found a seat in a corner, fetched several large platters of meat dishes, and bought two jars of wine.

"The Punishment Office is a fine place. I farmed for more than ten years and barely ever got to drink..."

After several rounds, Han Er was tipsy, halfway to drunk, and began talking more. His hometown had suffered a flood, and he had sold the few acres of poor farmland passed down through his family to pay for his parents' treatment.

In the end, his parents were gone, and so was the land. He had wandered until he ended up in the Punishment Office.

Zhou Yi did not use his magical power to dispel the alcohol. Ordinary wine with barely more than ten percent alcohol could have no effect on a body tempered day and night by magical power.

He listened carefully to Han Er's account, occasionally interjecting to ask about the circumstances at the time.

"Everything will get better."

While compiling Tales of the Executioner, Zhou Yi had seen and heard stories ten times more bitter than Han Er's.

Han Er's experiences were simple, but his own telling carried genuine feeling. The executioners listening nearby could not help sharing his sorrow, tears streaming down their faces.

Zhou Yi's sympathy remained on the surface. All the while, he used the Spirit Eye Technique to observe the changes in Han Er's aura.

His blood essence exceeded that of an ordinary mortal, yet there were no signs of possession.

Could Han Er have obtained an evil technique from a demon and be cultivating in secret? But he's only been here a few days...

Zhou Yi continued pondering the possibilities. The Punishment Office was his own auspicious treasure ground, and any anomaly warranted attention.

"Dad... Mom... Your son failed you!"

Han Er finally became drunk. Unable to suppress his overwhelming emotions, he slumped over the table and sobbed.

The other executioners did not resent his noise. Such scenes were common. Under the oppression of this underground world, with death's footsteps drawing closer, collapse often came in a single instant.

Zhou Yi discovered that he felt only a sliver of pity for Han Er, and nothing more.

Have I seen so much that my heart has grown cold?

Zhou Yi suddenly began to understand why the immortals and buddhas of legend were so detached.

To immortals and buddhas, watching a mortal's life was like watching a strange, twisting play performed with exquisite skill.

They would feel joy at its happy moments, pity at its tragedies, approval at its good deeds, and anger at its evil acts, but they would never take it as real.

Once the play ended, they might forget it, or savor it again.

As the years passed and they watched more and more plays, the plots would seem increasingly formulaic, and their emotions would naturally grow distant.

Zhou Yi helped Han Er back to Room C-7. Even after Han Er fell asleep, he ultimately cast no spell.

I'll watch a little longer.

Over the next few days.

Every morning, Zhou Yi used the Qi-Reading Technique to examine his colleagues.

Each day, one person had a bloody glow above his head, foretelling a calamity of violent death.

Several executioners died in the Punishment Office every day. Whether they met sudden, violent ends or succumbed to dwindling vitality, the result was the same. The commandants would not pay much attention.

Zhou Yi secretly watched those destined for violent deaths. Sure enough, a blood shadow would trail them and devour the blood essence and souls of both the executioners and the demons.

The caster was Han Er. In just a few days, his surging blood essence had become no weaker than that of a Demon-Slaying Commandant.

This evil technique advances far too quickly. Could Han Er's aptitude be even greater than the Black Baleful Demon Venerable's?

Zhou Yi kept feeling that there was more to this.

Then, at morning roll call half a month later.

Using the Qi-Reading Technique, Zhou Yi discovered that none of the Section A executioners would meet a violent death that day.

He's stopping after only half a month?

Having taken two assignments in the Earth-Class Prison, Zhou Yi planned to finish quickly, then go straight to observing Han Er's movements.

Cell B-5.

It held a bear spirit over ten feet tall, with powerful muscles and bones and a formidable demonic body.

Other executioners would have needed at least a full day to deal with it. Zhou Yi guided his instruments through the gaps between its muscles and bones, easily removing its gallbladder intact.

Suddenly.

The temperature inside the cell plummeted, and a layer of white frost formed on the floor.

"No wonder no one else was going to die violently. It's my turn..."

Zhou Yi sighed. As the saying went, even the King of Hell could not save a ghost rushing headlong toward death. This was probably what it meant.

The blood shadow manifested inside the cell. Having devoured dozens of demons and monsters, it could now take on a hazy human shape.

To devour a living being's blood essence and soul, it needed no spell. It merely had to throw itself upon its victim, and everything would merge into its body, leaving behind an empty shell that retained only its outward appearance.

Seeing Zhou Yi still concentrating on processing the bear spirit, the blood shadow gave a strange laugh and lunged at him from behind.

Whoosh!

Just as success seemed within reach, a ball of purple spirit flame rose.

Unable to dodge in time, the blood shadow plunged straight into the spirit flame. It was the Earthly Pole True Flame, which even a dragon's soul feared.

"Let's see what you really are!"

Zhou Yi turned and stared at the blood shadow within the spirit flame. He poured in vast magical power, making the flames surge more than three feet high.

Screee-

The blood shadow let out piercing, agonized screams and venomous curses without end, its voice neither wholly masculine nor feminine, shifting between male and female.

Spirit flame was particularly effective against souls and evil entities, and the blood shadow was both. Its magical power also fell far short of Zhou Yi's. Within moments, it grew smaller and smaller under the refining flames until its soul scattered into nothing.

The pages of the Demon and Monster Compendium kept turning. More than a thousand pages later, a beautiful woman appeared.

The woman was alluring and seductive, wearing pitifully little clothing, with certain parts of her body half concealed and half revealed. Even this mere image in the compendium could kindle the fires of lust in men if shown to them.

"The Naked Body Cult Saintess!"

Zhou Yi learned the woman's identity, along with the full chain of events.

The Bare Body Sect, which had brought turmoil to Great Qian, was originally a great demonic sect from beyond the Cloud Continent, one of the Six Heavenly Demon Paths.

Acting on the Lord of the Six Paths' orders, Jialan, the Saintess of the Naked Body Path, had deliberately fallen into the Demon-Slaying Bureau's trap. Fahai had gravely wounded her and captured her alive.

On the brink of death, she had used the White Lotus Path's secret art, the White Lotus Reincarnation Technique, to merge with Han Er's soul.

This spell was entirely different from ordinary soul possession. It touched upon the mysteries of reincarnation, merging two souls into one without leaving any trace of possession.

At first, Han Er remained Han Er. As his cultivation rose, however, he would gradually transform into Saintess Jialan.

Han Er's rapid cultivation had nothing to do with his aptitude. He was merely recovering Saintess Jialan's original strength.