Chapter 9

Er Liang could hardly believe that such an angelic beauty was actually speaking to him!

Her voice was so pleasant; drifting into his ears, it felt as if a pair of soft little hands were gently stroking his heart.

"Y-yes."

"Was he here last night?"

"Yes, we slept together until dawn."

The Holy Maiden's brows furrowed imperceptibly, and she asked again: "Where is he now?"

"Uncle Rong Kui punished him and sent him to carry water."

The Holy Maiden fell silent, then leaned forward as if by accident. From within her robes facing Er Liang, a patch of deep, pale flesh was revealed.

Er Liang's mouth opened involuntarily, his eyes burning with heat, and his crotch quickly sprang up!

The maid had been standing aside, wanting to advise but too afraid to speak; once the Holy Maiden made a decision, no one could change her mind.

Besides, the Holy Maiden had been starving for several days; if she wasn't allowed to eat soon, she would become increasingly frantic.

The Holy Maiden stopped her breakfast, flipped her palm, and plucked a small, gleaming knife from between her slender fingers.

She approached Er Liang and studied him for a moment, while Er Liang showed no reaction whatsoever, his gaze fixed straight ahead as if staring at the thing he most wanted to see.

The Holy Maiden spun the knife in a circle on his forehead, then flicked the tip upward; Er Liang's entire skull was flipped open, revealing the white, fleshy brain inside.

Hiding within the grooves and folds of the brain were several dark yellow, plump worms!

The instant the skull was flipped open, those worms scattered frantically in all directions, like woodlice startled when a child lifts a broken tile.

But the Holy Maiden's fingers were dexterous and her speed extreme; with a few light taps of the knife tip, she skewered all the fat worms onto the blade.

Er Liang crashed to the ground with a thud; his brains splattered seven feet away, and fresh blood sprayed across the floor!

Using her bright, delicate teeth, the Holy Maiden bit those "lust worms from the brain" off the knife tip, chewing slowly and delicately, eating with continued elegance and refinement.

After eating one worm, she ordered the maid: "Dispose of the corpse."

"Have Zhao Yong personally go out and capture Xu Yuan."

"Meet in half a shichen at Beauty Dam outside the town."

While the maid dealt with the corpse, she still couldn't hold back, saying: "Holy Maiden, this means a complete break with Qiao Zi'an..."

"What is Qiao Zi'an anyway!"

The Holy Maiden's sedan chair waited at Beauty Dam for half a shichen before Zhao Yong arrived, panting and leading his men.

He knelt outside the sedan chair to beg forgiveness: "Holy Maiden, we turned the whole town upside down but still couldn't find that brat; he must have run away."

"A bunch of useless trash!" the Holy Maiden snapped in anger.

Zhao Yong kept his head down, daring not to argue.

The maid had been somewhat nervous; she still hadn't found a chance to check whether Xu Yuan was inside the Holy Maiden's sedan chair or had left any filth behind.

"Chang Xunbei!" the Holy Maiden called out, and a middle-aged man by the sedan chair responded immediately: "This subordinate is here."

"Is there a way?"

"We need his birth date and hour, plus an item worn close to his body."

The Holy Maiden immediately ordered: "Return to the inn!"

The large group rushed back to the "Yitingfang" Inn, and the Holy Maiden instructed: "Chang Xunbei, take men to find that brat's belongings; he fled in a hurry, so he must have left something behind."

"The rest of you, follow me to find the bookkeeper Liu!"

Uncle Rong Kui was in the side courtyard, shouting at the top of his lungs to complain to the bookkeeper Liu: "Early this morning, those two brats disappeared! How are we supposed to get the work done in the back courtyard..."

"Clang!"

The courtyard gate was kicked open roughly, and the sedan chair was carried straight inside.

The bookkeeper Liu's eyes tightened as the Holy Maiden's voice came from within the sedan: "I am looking for the bookkeeper Liu; anyone unrelated, get out immediately!"

Uncle Rong Kui shrank his fat neck, didn't dare to let out even a fart, and slipped away along the wall.

The bookkeeper Liu looked displeased: "What does the Holy Maiden mean by this?"

The Holy Maiden demanded: "What is the background of that Xu Yuan?"

"Xu Yuan? Did that brat offend the Holy Maiden? I will certainly inform the master and ensure he is properly disciplined..."

The Holy Maiden cut him off: "Qiao Zi'an is always cautious and careful; you must have Xu Yuan's birth date and hour. Tell me!"

"How would we know that? We are hiring workers, not arranging marriages..."

The Holy Maiden's patience ran out; she shouted in anger: "Refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit; you're asking for trouble!"

The bookkeeper Liu reacted extremely quickly; he sidestepped, and his body rapidly swelled. With a crack, his clothes burst apart, and in the blink of an eye, the bookkeeper had transformed into a giant seven and a half feet tall!

He, who did clerical work, was actually a Wu Xiu!

His muscles and tendons bulged and tensed, like the ancient roots of a thousand-year-old tree exposed above ground!

He roared, shattering the roof tiles with the force of his voice, spread his hands as if cast from wrought iron, and lunged ferociously toward the sedan chair: "You of the Pingtian Society are fierce dragons crossing the river, but we are not to be trifled with either..."

Suddenly, the top of the luxurious, elegant sedan chair flipped over, revealing a short, stout bronze cannon cast by artisans; the dark muzzle was aimed directly at the bookkeeper Liu!

The cannon barrel was only seven feet long, adorned with ancient, simple patterns. Its body was large while the muzzle was small, yet even that muzzle was thicker than the bookkeeper Liu's head at that moment!

A faint red light flickered within the cannon muzzle, ready to fire at any moment.

Cold sweat broke out on the bookkeeper Liu.

The Holy Maiden said coldly: "Last year, the Divine Engine Grand Camp in the Northern Capital fought a battle against the Snow Demon Ghosts in the north, killing seven thousand Snow Demon Ghosts. The five hundred artisan-cast cannons in that formation were products of our Society. Bookkeeper Liu, do you want to test whether your Wu Xiu body is harder, or whether our Society's cannons are sharper?"

The bookkeeper Liu obediently retracted his technique and returned to his original form.

Zhao Yong stepped forward and shackled him with iron chains.

These iron chains were specially crafted by artisan cultivators; no one below the fifth rank could break free.

This time, the bookkeeper Liu obediently confessed: "That brat is from Chenghe Work Lane in Shanhe County. His father was a shadow puppet performer.

Not long ago, his father died. The new wife—this boy's stepmother—likely wanted to seize the family estate and drove him out.

Fearing the neighbors would gossip that she denied her stepson a path to live, she entrusted someone to find our master, who then dumped him here at the inn to work."

When the Holy Maiden heard the name "River Work Alley," it felt familiar, yet she could not recall where she had heard it.

"What estate could a puppeteer possibly have?"

The clerk Liu said, "I only heard the family has an old stage passed down for several generations; the land itself must be worth some money."

Footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate; Chang Xunbei returned with people: "Reporting to the Holy Maiden, we found an old garment of that boy."

The Holy Maiden nodded: "Clerk Liu, that boy's birth date and hour—hand it over!"

Clerk Liu spoke while bowing his head.

Chang Xunbei wrote Xu Yuan's birth date and hour on yellow spirit paper, then opened an altar to perform the ritual.

His ritual was complex; not only did he open the altar, but nine ritual objects were placed in sequence, the order not to be disturbed.

Then he tied the yellow spirit paper and the old garment together with a red prayer ribbon and placed them upon the altar.

Chang Xunbei held the other end of the prayer ribbon in his left hand, constantly forming various hand seals with his right hand, while his feet traced special steps, swaying as if walking on a boat.

He chanted ritual verses, his tone rising and falling in long and short patterns, like an ancient chant.

The ritual objects within the altar seemed to come alive, playing drums and music in unison to accompany him.

About a quarter-hour later, a "Bang!" sounded from within the altar; a thunderclap exploded out of nowhere, and Chang Xunbei suddenly vanished.

Another person had taken Chang Xunbei's place within the altar; who else could it be but Xu Yuan?

The Daoist arts Chang Xunbei cultivated were somewhat obscure; to find someone, he did not search for them, but instead swapped places with them!

(End of this chapter)