You'd better protect me

It truly lived up to the name White Bone Cavern. The cavern stretched beyond sight, carpeted with countless white bones.

Some bones were so old that they crumbled to dust underfoot. Even the smallest step could send a skull rolling.

At the sight of the bones littering the ground, several villagers fell over in fright and scrambled about on all fours.

"Scared? Open your eyes and take a good look at how many people this so-called good demon of yours killed."

Liu Er sat on the bones, his face deathly pale as he stared blankly around him.

"How could... how could there be so many bones? No, we only killed occasionally, every few days. There couldn't possibly be this many remains! You're blaming Xiuzhi for other people's killings too."

Hearing this, several others also began protesting Xiuzhi's innocence.

Zhu Lianqing sneered and walked up to Liu Er. "Then why don't we do the sums? Let's say your dear Xiuzhi only killed one person every five days. That's six a month, seventy-two a year. She told me she got together with you at fifteen, and now she's thirty-five. In twenty years, you murdered a total of fourteen hundred and forty people."

Hearing that the number had passed a thousand, Liu Er froze, unable to believe that so many lives had already been lost at his hands.

But he counted on his fingers again and again, and that was indeed the number.

Thousands of people.

"Over a thousand people! Of the towns we passed through during these past two-odd months since coming down the mountain, even the more prosperous ones only had four or five hundred people. You've practically slaughtered two entire towns, and you still have the gall to call Xiuzhi a good demon."

Zhu Lianqing nodded along with Jiang Tingxue, then looked at the stunned Liu Er and twisted the knife. "But then again, counting one killing every five days was already a low estimate. If we'd actually drunk that sweet soup last night, you would have killed five people in a single day."

Those words broke Liu Er completely. He slumped forward onto the ground, staring at the white bones all around him.

"How could we... how could we have killed so many people... we only... we only wanted to protect ourselves..."

A moment later, he raised his head wretchedly and looked at the cultivators before him. Knowing they would not leave today until they had eradicated the demons, the last shred of conscience that guilt had just stirred in him instantly turned back into a selfish desire to survive.

"Dao Lords! Could you spare Xiuzhi's life? We know we were wrong. We'll never kill again! Yes, we'll never kill again!"

"Dao Lords, please, give Xiuzhi another chance to live!"

Liu Er clung tightly to Zhu Lianqing's skirt. She glanced down in distaste.

The next instant, a gleaming blade pointed straight at Liu Er's hands, forcing him to back away.

Xie Lingchuan pointed his sword at Liu Er and said coldly, "I imagine you thought the same thing when you killed your first victim. But what about now? All these white bones are the blood debts you've incurred. Having become the moth demon's tiger ghosts, how can you even speak of turning over a new leaf?"

Liu Er's head immediately drooped limply.

The group continued deeper into the cavern, feeling that the chilling yin energy here was even stronger than in the gorge.

After they had walked for a while, the cavern branched into two passages.

"Which way should we go?"

Zhu Lianqing said, "One passage leads to the Ghouls' lair. The other should lead to where the moth demon lives."

Shen Ji looked over at Zhu Lianqing. "Senior, do you know if there's anywhere particularly dangerous in White Bone Cavern?"

Zhu Lianqing waved a hand. "Don't worry. There's nowhere dangerous. It'll just be exhausting."

"Exhausting? Why?"

"The caverns where the moth demon lives are a tangled maze, with plenty of illusions to mislead you. Finding the real cavern takes a lot of time and effort. As for the Ghouls, there are over a thousand caves of various sizes, and every one of them might have Ghouls hiding inside. They're easy to deal with, but there are so many that it'll consume a lot of spiritual energy."

Shen Ji understood. "As long as there's nowhere particularly dangerous, that's fine. It'll only cost us some time. In that case, we can split into two groups. What do you think, Senior Brother Xie?"

Xie Lingchuan nodded. "I'll go on my own and take Senior along. You go find the moth demon. I'll deal with the Ghouls."

Shen Ji also thought this would work.

Xie Lingchuan handed Shen Ji the spirit rope tethering the villagers, then glanced back at Zhu Lianqing. "Let's go, Senior."

Zhu Lianqing folded her hands into her sleeves and followed her young disciple.

She was actually a little surprised. She had thought Xie Lingchuan would take the villagers and send her off with Shen Ji's group.

It seemed this young disciple was still guarding against her at every turn. He would only feel at ease if he kept her right under his nose.

As soon as they entered the cave where the Ghouls lived, they saw that the cavern wall ahead was covered in caves of all sizes, staggered neatly across three levels: upper, middle, and lower.

Xie Lingchuan visibly frowned.

Then Zhu Lianqing saw him touch his sword hilt.

A red-cord ornament hung from the hilt, threaded with a jade-green ring.

Xie Lingchuan turned the ring. A flash of blue-green light appeared, and something sprang out of it.

Zhu Lianqing found the ornament familiar, but could not remember where she had seen it.

Back on Supreme Purity Peak, she had never seen Xie Lingchuan wear any ornaments.

Still, it was rather cleverly made. It appeared to be a portable storage item.

What Xie Lingchuan took out was something resembling a compass, with a needle covered in incantations at its center.

Now this was something Zhu Lianqing knew very well.

Because it was a little gadget she had made herself-the Demon-Detecting Needle, a cultivation-world upgrade of the compass.

As its name suggested, the Demon-Detecting Needle could automatically point toward demonic energy. She had developed it the year she first took Xie Lingchuan as her disciple.

Xie Lingchuan nudged the needle, and inscriptions at several positions on the compass lit up. The needle pointed toward the place where the demonic energy was strongest.

Xie Lingchuan said, "There are too many caves. If we follow the compass and search them one by one, we won't retrace our steps or let any fish slip through the net."

Zhu Lianqing nodded. "You're the main fighting force, so you call the shots. I'll just follow you."

Then she smiled again. "Young Hero Xie, your fellow disciples insisted I stay, so you'd better protect me."

Xie Lingchuan looked at Zhu Lianqing and gave a quiet "Mm."

Xie Lingchuan hit the jackpot the moment he entered the first cave. No fewer than ten Ghouls occupied that tiny space.

Fortunately, Xie Lingchuan's sword rose and fell with clean, decisive strokes. Zhu Lianqing glanced at him; not even his fringe was out of place.

But these things were truly disgusting to look at. Apart from their heads, their bodies were transparent, exposing every organ inside. Even the rotten flesh they had eaten and the undigested bone fragments were plainly visible.

Both of them found this mental attack a little hard to bear.

Xie Lingchuan's brows remained knotted the entire time, never once relaxing.

Zhu Lianqing silently turned to face the wall and reflect on her faults, unwilling to look any longer.

Mm, fly bravely, disciple. If anything goes wrong, bear it yourself.