But it never hit him. Instead, it clanged against the protective barrier Shen QuanLi had cast.

The attack made the elder’s face pale. He could predict that things would only go further downhill, but he had no time to be distracted considering the devious character of Ou-zhangzhu. If his fox eyes turned elsewhere, he was well aware she would pull another underhanded trick. Shen QuanLi had wanted to exorcize the soul of the demon on the spot, but abruptly cut his streak of offensive attacks. He mumbled a command. The horse whisk in his hand’s threads elongated and chased after the demon. Slowed from previous attacks, the lady got easily bounded by the horsetail whisk, as if it suddenly became silver rope.

“You!” Ou-zhangzhu struggled in her confines, “Let me go this instant!” Shen QuanLi responded by casting a silencing charm, finally being able to pay mind to his disciples' fight. One out of five times, a strike from one of the living corpses would land directly onto the protective enchantment. The golden barrier was chipping and he frowned. Such trained fighting tactics came only from cultivators, commoners shouldn’t have been able to even make a single hit against Sendiao, lest hit the barrier he cast.

“Defend.” And Lai XingXue put all into defense, not pausing a millisecond to look for an opening to attack back, instead, parrying all the attacks thrown at him. Shuangyue Elder put two of his fingers up as he chanted the seventh technique. He walked up and slid his fingers against the hilt of Sendiao, completely avoidant of any attacks that the living corpses attempted to strike at him, while still matching the concentration of the moving fight.

Shen QuanLi gave another command to his disciple as he stepped back out of range of the fight. “Purge.”

Lai XingXue pierced the sword into the chest of one of the moving corpses and withdrew it. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the remaining corpse took the chance to attack an opening that was made when the youth flung forwards. It was now or never, painfully aware the young prince would proceed to do away with him. The doll’s concerns weren’t unfounded. Once Shen QuanLi recast the exorcist technique to strengthen it, Sendiao came through his chest.

The bodies collapsed down when the sword was withdrawn, their expression was serene and peaceful. Free from all thought and unrepresentative of the previous troubles from the fight before.

The youth turned around to look at Ou-zhangzhu, but all that remained was a horse whisk given an unwanted haircut. The threads were somehow ripped apart, and when Shen QuanLi saw the sad state of his whisk, he glowered.

Lai XingXue watched his master sulkily gather the pieces in a storage pouch before walking over to address him.

“Shizun…”

Shuangyue Elder kneeled down and examined the corpses. Just by looking at their faces, one could easily see that all of the bodies were preserved to an incredible degree. The new gaping slash in the center of their chest was just a new decoration. He examined the robes in closer detail, taking in the collection of different styled outfits. Shen QuanLi eyed them for a moment before asking, “XingXue, have you seen these robes before?”

Coming to the other’s side, the teen eyed the fabric and tilted his head. “Shizun told me to memorize ‘the collection of the upcoming hundred sects in Mingsi’, I think this uniform belongs to Sect 98.”

The older of the two proceeded to point at each of the other bodies, to which XingXue responded with a Sect number. It seemed like an odd quizzing method, but the book-smart second prince’s memorization didn’t falter. The concrete conclusion was that Ou-zhangzhu was collecting cultivators, but for what? The young prince was unsure why the demon did anything.

“Strip them, XingXue.”

The youth closed his eyes. Hoping he didn’t just hear his master say what he just said.

Shen QuanLi raised his eyebrow, at the reaction, “XingXue. I need to examine the bodies further.”

“...Can’t Shizun let someone else examine them?”

An unimpressed expression as if his disciple was calling question to his qualifications, “This master is capable, now strip them.”

The second prince continued to pause for a moment before he kneeled to pull the robes of the corpses down with a stiff hand before his master. The youth was far too upset at the dead bodies in Shen QuanLi’s eyes. Only chalking it up to the previous fight his disciple had had with them. Fox eyes proceeded to come over the ashen skin of the corpse, looking at a stitched wound located just where the spiritual core was estimated to be. One body had it’s meridians poked, others had stitch marks and cuts that indicated dissections.

“That demon.” LiangDi Immortal remarked as his facial expression became increasingly dark.

Uneasy from seeing such an expression, Lai XingXue looked around the room, “The bodies of Yangsu village’s men are still missing.” The second prince couldn’t help but feel as if he was missing something. Upon further examination, a component he missed was actually extremely illuminated: Near the foot of the stone platform in the center of the room lay a trail of blood that disappeared just a few millimeters from where the elevated platform was. Curious, the teen bent down to knock against the pedestal the stone platform sat on. The sound that echoed was hollowed.

“Shizun…”

“So the Yangsu men must be there.”

Lai XingXue wasn’t sure how prepared he was to see the scene. He was well aware such a scene would turn his stomach. The young prince was someone who was only used to seeing attractive things, pleasing to the eye, and only more appetizing for the palette. Yet there was not a second for contemplation as Shen QuanLi unceremoniously shoved the platform lid off the pedestal.

The smell itself was grotesque, sickly, and indescribable in any words. The smell of rot was so clear in the air once the lid came loose the urge to vomit became imminent. Lai XingXue covered his nose and gagged before suddenly the smell disappeared from his sinuses.

“Better?” LiangDi Immortal lowered his hand from casting and enchantment.

“I am-” The ink-haired youth nodded but still shied away from the center of the room a little. The elder was peering into the pit, examining it from a distance.

“You don’t have to follow me if you don’t want to. I won’t force you to look at these things until next year.” Shen QuanLi placed his foot on the edge of the open pedestal, whose appearance seemed like an open well without its oversized lid. Using some light footwork, the master descended down into the pit, white robes fluttering all too elegantly to be jumping into the equivalent of a sewer.

The young prince’s eyes tracked his master as he disappeared. Lai XingXue hesitated for longer than a moment. But as he continued to take in the gloomy atmosphere realizing he was now alone in the room, the teen found himself plunging in.

A squelch. The flesh of a body that barely underwent a day of rigor mortis cushioned the teenager’s landing. Instant regret flooded into him, and the need to purge all the meals he ate for the week came over him. Said urge only increased as his eyes wandered the dark pit. Half-burnt candles that should have been long replaced barely illuminated the area, and when it did, it cast haunting shadows around the area. There was a large pile, stacked with numerous corpses where the prince had landed. It very well could've been a graveyard, had there been more respect given towards the dead’s bodies. These bodies had gone through various stages of decomposition, the severity ranged from skeletons to one of the fresh, like the one the prince had stepped on.

Forming a ball of light in his hand, Lai XingXue was able to take a closer look and navigate more efficiently. Being on the top of the pile made him feel insanely uncomfortable, so the prince took the first opening to jump to clear floor. Looking around, the pit was incredibly dark no matter how many light sources would appear. It was pitch black, and he could only see a few feet in front of him. Little dots of white were in the distance and, assuming it must've been Shuangyue Elder, he followed. The teen walked directly and head-on into a wall.

“...”

The youth realized too late that the dots of white light were simply the reflection of the white orb against the white gold bracers of the QianYan’lu uniform. The noise did inadvertently help him, though. When he turned around he met with his poised master, who had likely walked over when he heard the noise sound out in the small room.

“Shizun-”

“So you did follow. Alright, come on.”

Feeling relieved and less lost, Lai XingXue felt much more comfortable beside Shen QuanLi no matter the eerie setting. The sepia-haired male led him to the other side of the room.

“Master went left instead of right?”

“It was your own choice to go the wrong direction, there was nothing there.”

“Mhm. Shizun is right. I should have followed right behind you.”

“So you know.” Shen QuanLi paused once they reached their destination. “That demon is quite messy, but I found this catalog she kept.” What laid in front of them was an oddly misplaced vanity, a quadrant of the room elevated a few millimeters off the floor. The decoration of the red curtains was certainly the female demoness’ style, but her aesthetic values were far too off. Ou had a ludicrously decorative vanity and pillowed seat that was shoved to the corner of the room. It would have felt normal had it been a courtesan’s room, but the decoration of bodies boldly stated otherwise. The decorative experience felt gaudy. Lai XingXue wanted to remark that wild animals had better fashion sense but there were more important things to be said.

“Can shizun let me read this catalog?” Shen QuanLi handed over the book. The disciple briefed over the contents, and it could be visibly seen that the book was an elaborate literature detailing human dissection and experiments. It consisted of badly scribbled diagrams and jots of notes Ou-zhangzhu had made. “...So their motives were rather simple. For experimentation.”

The master ascended back up the entrance. Shen QuanLi hummed, face remaining neutral, “That’s not the case.”

Lai XingXue followed, tilting his head at his master’s response.

So the elder continued, “What could this experimentation be for? The ongoings of these acts have been disguised for so long, and the demon could have a future motive that could prove to be much more threatening. It’s naive of you to assume it’s so open and shut, XingXue. There should also be consideration for different possibilities.”

The second prince opened his mouth, wanting to apologize for his negligence to come up with a proper theory, but instead he closed his mouth, “...I understand. Will we be continuing this investigation, at least?”

“XingXue, this assignment was way beyond your skill level. I’ll have Qinglan-Zhangmen assign it to a more experienced group within our sect.”

“Ah-” All the critiques that Shen QuanLi gave were entirely valid, but the second prince wanted to be spoiled and complimented. He really hoped he had impressed his master during the battle earlier and would be rewarded with sugary praise. Lai XingXue could never conceal his emotions, so a childish and sulky expression appeared on his face.

“... I’ll increase your training so you’ll be able to deal with these encounters later on.” LiangDi Immortal said in a consoling manner.

“...”