Chapter 10: Beware of Hu Ze

Gu Xian looked up. The woman before him bore a slight resemblance to his senior sister, yet was fundamentally different.

She wore a dark, ink-colored martial outfit, her hair pulled back into a crisp, neat style. Her sword-like eyebrows slanted upward toward her temples, and her phoenix-shaped eyes shone like stars. A strip of vibrant red silk was wrapped around her wrist, which was as white as frost, further accentuating her striking, heroic bearing.

Her long sword remained sheathed at her waist, yet a sharp, piercing sword aura radiated from her, as if the blade reflected the nature of its master: keen and unapologetically sharp.

Her voice was cold and clear as she spoke: "You are Gu Xian?"

"I am."

The woman nodded slightly. "I am Xia Qinghe, a Silver-Badge Demon Slayer from the County Demon Slayer Division."

She stood up and began walking toward the back, leaving Gu Xian with a single command: "Follow me. Chen Kai specifically requested to see you."

Though confusion clouded Gu Xian's expression, he followed her nonetheless.

The two eventually arrived at the county jail. Entering, they found the air dim and heavy. In the deepest cell sat a middle-aged scholar—Chen Kai.

Outside the door stood four officers of the Demon Slayer Division, all of them exuding powerful auras; they were clearly not to be trifled with. Inside the cell, Chen Kai wore white prisoner robes, his hair disheveled as he sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed in meditation.

Gu Xian spoke calmly, "Magistrate Chen, I heard you wanted to see me?"

Inside the cell, Chen Kai snapped his eyes open. The look he cast at Gu Xian held a hint of admiration. Even though they were enemies—and Chen Kai had once sought to put Gu Xian to death—the fact that the man in green had emerged from such a perilous trap was truly worthy of respect.

The middle-aged scholar let out a long sigh and lamented, "Gu Xian, I truly did not expect you to escape that situation alive."

Gu Xian frowned, then suddenly smiled. "Escape?"

He locked eyes with Chen Kai, saying every word with deliberate clarity: "Could it not be that we killed them all instead?"

Seeing the shock and disbelief slowly dawn on Chen Kai’s face, Gu Xian feigned a look of regret. "It seems that in your heart, Magistrate Chen, the value of my senior sister and me was weighed far too lightly."

"Impossible!" Chen Kai lunged at the bars, his hair wild, looking like a hideous demon. "Hu Ze and Qing Zhu are both Qi Sea initial-stage cultivators, and Master Baiyun is at the late Qi Sea stage, nearly touching the threshold of Foundation Establishment! Beyond that, there were many other experts from the Magistrate's office. You are both mere late-stage Embryonic Breathing cultivators; how could you possibly have killed them?"

Chen Kai lost all composure, roaring and questioning Gu Xian incessantly.

Gu Xian said nothing more. Instead, he reached into his storage pouch and withdrew a string of white bone beads. They glowed with a faint, eerie luster, yet emitted a bone-chilling cold.

"You should be familiar with this, shouldn't you?"

He did not know what creature these beads were crafted from, but after Master Baiyun’s body had exploded, this item remained completely unscathed, so Gu Xian had retrieved it.

Seeing the bone beads, Chen Kai finally lost all hope and slumped back onto the floor, looking utterly defeated. He began to mutter to himself, "How could this be? Master’s cultivation was unfathomable; it should not have ended like this."

A quarter of an hour passed before Chen Kai regained his composure. The last glimmer of light in his eyes had vanished, leaving them dull and hollow.

Xia Qinghe suddenly challenged him: "Chen Kai, as a government official, why did you aid the wicked and harm the common people?"

Hearing this, Chen Kai lifted his head to look at the pair outside the cell, his words filled with resentment. "One of you is an immortal sect disciple with a promising path, and the other is a high-and-mighty Demon Slayer. When have you ever looked down to see the lives of ants like us?"

"I entered the Qingyang Academy at twelve. My studies were smooth, yet simply because I could not cultivate, my peers looked at me with cold eyes, and even my teachers regarded me with strange disdain."

"If not for Master Baiyun's intervention, how would I have ever tasted the power of cultivation?"

As he spoke, his expression grew manic, his body trembling as he ran his hands over himself, seemingly reveling in the memory.

Gu Xian asked angrily, "You colluded with a demonic priest just for the sake of cultivation?"

"Just?" Chen Kai sneered, his tone full of bitterness and desolation. "Master Gu, do you realize that this 'just' is a peak that countless mortals struggle their entire lives to reach?"

Xia Qinghe shook her head with a cold laugh. "You are truly beyond saving."

Remembering something, she added, "By the way, the two corpses at the Huaxi Villa—that was your doing as well, wasn't it?"

Chen Kai nodded faintly. "Those two came from noble backgrounds. I did not want to make enemies of them, but they discovered my secret contact with Master. If I hadn't killed them, I would have been the one to die." He gave a self-deprecating smile. "Though, the outcome is the same now."

Chen Kai looked up at Xia Qinghe. "Magistrate Xia, since I have seen Gu Xian, I will not break my promise to you. I will write down everything I have done over these years."

Gu Xian and Xia Qinghe turned and began to walk away.

Just as he was about to leave the prison, Chen Kai’s voice drifted from behind him, faint and ghostly.

"Master Gu, beware of Hu Ze."

Gu Xian frowned. Secretary Hu was already dead—he had killed the man with his own hands. Why would Chen Kai say that?

After leaving the jail, Xia Qinghe did not let Gu Xian depart. Instead, she led him to a secluded room.

"Is there anything else, Magistrate Xia?" Gu Xian asked curiously.

Xia Qinghe whispered, "Gu Xian, although it was not my intent, you may have just landed yourself in a great deal of trouble."

The man in the green robe looked at her, puzzled. Before he could ask, Xia Qinghe proactively revealed a secret.

It turned out that the two well-dressed corpses Gu Xian had seen at the Huaxi Villa were of startling status—they were scions of the nobility from the capital. The grandfather of one was a Grand Duke of the current dynasty, a man of immense power.

The two had come to Lingzhou because a secret realm was about to open nearby in two months, but they had met a tragic end. Upon hearing the news, their families were enraged and ordered the Demon Slayer Division to solve the case within a strict time limit. The Grand Duke had even declared that if the murderer was not found within seven days, he would personally come to dismantle the plaque of the Capital Demon Slayer Division.

While the murderer had been found, the matter was far from simple. According to Xia Qinghe, there were likely others behind Chen Kai and Master Baiyun, potentially the Grand Duke's rivals in the imperial court. By gaining favor with the Grand Duke, Gu Xian had inadvertently angered his enemies, who might now target him.

Gu Xian spread his hands helplessly. "What kind of mess is this?"

Xia Qinghe looked at the man beside her, remembering the combat strength he had described in the cell. She immediately proposed, "How about this?"

"I will also be entering that secret realm later. Why don't you come with me? I am an official of the Demon Slayer Division; they will not dare to touch me."