"Recently, girls from the brothel district have been disappearing one after another. We're certain it's the work of a demon, and tonight we finally managed to lure it out—"
If Chu Cheng hadn't suddenly appeared to stop them, the demon probably wouldn't have escaped so easily.
Lingyan said indignantly, with a hint of annoyance and blame.
"There is a demon behind you, Miss Ling, why are you still so stubborn?"
Chu Cheng ignored her explanation and instead looked at her with a pained expression.
"Chu Cheng! You're the one who's stubbornly clinging to your delusions! When has Gu Zhong ever done anything to harm anyone? How many of your lives along this journey have she given you?"
Lingyan's question startled Chu Cheng, but his hesitation lasted only a moment before he firmly retorted.
"Have you forgotten what happened at Qingxi Taoist Temple? We almost lost our lives."
"Chu Cheng, if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead long ago, standing here alone. How dare you spout nonsense in front of me?"
Gu Zhong raised the sword in his hand, which gleamed with a cold light, his tone contemptuous.
She certainly has the ability.
"That means you're going to continue deceiving Miss Ling!"
Chu Cheng has his own set of theories.
Why would you lie to me?
Lingyan was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this. Surely it wasn't just to deceive someone's feelings?
"...Who knows what demons are thinking?"
Chu Cheng didn't know the answer to this question, since he had just made it up on the spot.
"Oh? What about the corpse on the ground? Why would I kill someone?"
With a sneer, Gu Zhong raised his chin and gestured towards the area stained with blood.
"...This...you just made up an excuse, Miss Ling, you can't believe it."
Realizing that his logic had flaws, Chu Cheng almost wavered in his belief.
But in his eyes, demons could never be benevolent, and Gu Zhong could never be trusted, so not a single word Gu Zhong said was credible.
Having been instilled with the evil of demons and the suffering of humans since childhood, he has always regarded slaying demons as his inescapable duty, which has become an indelible belief.
It is extremely difficult to get him to accept the fact that Gu Zhong may be harmless.
"Chu Cheng—it's time to wake up. The problem isn't Gu Zhong, it's the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion! Do you know what happened after you ran out of the Demon-Slaying Hall that day?"
Ling Yan took a deep breath, wishing she could split Chu Cheng's brain open with one palm and pull out his stubborn brain.
"What is it?"
"I have been imprisoned by your senior brother. Do you know that there is an underground prison behind the Imperial Preceptor's mansion, which is bottomless?"
"This is impossible..."
Chu Cheng was stunned. He was willing to believe Ling Yan's personal experience, but he was absolutely unwilling to admit that there was a problem with the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion, which had raised and taught him.
"Ling Ying is the real demon wreaking havoc! That day, Gu Zhong sneaked into the Imperial Preceptor's mansion to save me, and not a single person was harmed—but we almost didn't make it out alive—"
Lingyan briefly described the events of that day to Chu Cheng.
Throughout the entire process, Chu Cheng stared wide-eyed, looking incredulous.
"But... Ling Ying is dead."
After listening to Ling Yan's account, he remained silent for a long time before speaking, his voice filled with deep doubt.
—Ling Ying is dead?!
This sudden news struck them like a bolt of lightning, leaving them stunned and rooted to the spot.
The designated future imperial advisor died so easily?
Gu Zhong immediately pulled Ling Yan behind him to protect her, and looked at Chu Cheng warily.
That guy won't die easily, especially since Lingyan only cut off another arm of his.
Perhaps it was simply dissatisfied with its incomplete physical body and chose to transfer its possession to another person.
And the Chu City before them—the only one who can still ascend to the position of Imperial Preceptor—is its best choice!
They didn't know how to tell, because its performance was convincing enough to fool the audience unless there were specific cues.
The atmosphere, which had already eased, became tense again.
The difference is that the person whose identity was questionable was someone else.
"You... now suspect me of being possessed?"
Even the most oblivious person can sense this distrust.
“If it is truly as you say, that Gu Zhong is controlled by that demon, then you cannot be standing here peacefully right now.”
Chu Cheng's mind became unusually clear, and he used the same approach he had used to refute Gu Zhong earlier.
"You believe me?"
Noticing the change in his tone, Gu Zhong raised an eyebrow, his suspicion deepening on her face.
How could he so easily believe this story and then change his attitude?
"I don't believe you, I believe Miss Ling."
Chu Cheng pursed his lips, turned his gaze to Ling Yan, and put away the golden seal.
"What if Ah Yan is also possessed? The demon can possess more than one person?"
Seeing his deeply affectionate expression, Gu Zhong felt annoyed and couldn't help but continue to provoke him so that he could beat him up again in a righteous manner.
"Please take heed!"
As if she could read her mind, Lingyan glared at her with displeasure, then turned to Chu Cheng and said.
"We don't know why it didn't choose you as its possession target; this is a question that's hard to shake off."
You don't believe Gu Zhong is completely innocent either.
Since we cannot fully trust each other and have no desire to continue fighting, we should first work together to resolve the matter of the demons here.
"That's certainly the case."
The echoing insect nodded in agreement immediately.
Chu Cheng glanced at her with annoyance, stepped forward, and used his hand to turn over the madam's face-down corpse.
"Speaking of which, I have another question—how did you end up in this kind of red-light district?"
Gu Zhong watched his actions and suddenly asked a question again.
"The government office has received several missing persons reports from this area recently, but not many people seem to care. I suspect it's something sinister—"
Chu Cheng glanced at Gu Zhong, the unspoken message of which was self-evident.
You came alone?
Lingyan couldn't quite understand his behavior. Knowing that Gu Zhong was an existence that the entire Imperial Preceptor's Mansion could not contend with, if he were really a demon, wouldn't he just be throwing his life away for nothing?
"···"
Chu Cheng glanced at Ling Yan with a flicker in his eyes, but remained silent.
As an observer, Gu Zhong could understand Chu Cheng's thoughts—if this really was Chu Cheng, he would never want Ling Yan to be harmed in any way.
During the conversation, Chu Cheng had already carefully examined the madam's pale corpse.
The body was still warm, as if it had been a living person just a moment ago.
Blood flowed from the severed body, staining the cashmere carpet red.
Chu Cheng did something they didn't expect.
He roughly ripped off the madam's clothes, stripping her completely naked.
What are you doing?
Lingyan gasped and covered her eyes with her hands.
"Red line..."
Chu Cheng looked at the red band encircling his waist on the lower half of his body and murmured to himself.
Gu Zhong also squatted down and stared intently at this strange spot.
The red line was dark red, like blood that had lost its color, but when you tried to smear it with your hand, it wouldn't budge.
If it were a tattoo, it wouldn't have the uneven texture of scabs.
It was there, as if it were born that way.
"You may not know this, but in the Red Street area recently, besides the missing persons cases, there have been some deaths with unknown causes. They were all waiters and maids from the building."
Without exception, they all had a red line around their waist.
"They are also highly likely to be the people who last had contact with those missing women—"
Gu Zhong and Chu Cheng exchanged a glance.
"So—this is very likely a mark that someone possessed by a demon would inevitably leave?"
Lowering her hand from her eyes, Lingyan leaned shyly against Gu Zhong and joined the analysis.
"If there truly is a demon here capable of possessing others—"
The scene before him felt somewhat jarring for some reason, and Chu Cheng looked at Gu Zhong and began to speak sarcastically again.
"It's still here."
Gu Zhong walked to the railing and peered down. The brothel was bustling with activity at midnight. Cheers from the guests filled the air, accompanied by the sweet laughter and melodious voices of the women.
The fight ended so quickly that it did not disturb the extravagant revelry in the slightest.
"But there are so many people here, where could it be?"
Looking at the densely packed crowd, Lingyan sighed helplessly, rubbing her forehead.
This demon is truly cunning; once it infiltrates the crowd, it becomes very difficult to find, and it can continuously change the object of its possession.