Volume One, Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Big Shot Goes Digging

Xue Cheng came over wearing a mask, his brow deeply furrowed and his face pale with discomfort.

“Any survivors?” Chi Xingwan asked.

Xue Cheng shook his head. “None. Jin Feng and I checked one by one. There wasn’t a single living person.”

Chi Xingwan let out a sigh. “Then I’ll go take a look inside.”

Chu Fangfei tugged at her sleeve. “Sister, maybe you should stay out of there. It’s too horrible.”

Xue Cheng and Jin Feng also said, “Leave what’s inside to us two men to handle.”

“It’s all right. I have a strong stomach,” Chi Xingwan said. “I’ll go take a look.”

Since she said it so calmly, no one stopped her further. Xue Cheng handed her a mask and led the way.

“The staff dormitory has two floors. The first floor housed the male employees, the second the female employees. By the number of beds, I’d estimate there were about a hundred people inside.”

The moment she entered the first dormitory, Chi Xingwan immediately understood why Chu Fangfei had been sick enough to retch her guts out.

In a room meant for four, each bed held an employee lying neatly in place—or rather, a corpse—each in a different stage of decay.

Some looked almost fresh. Some were already nothing but dry bones. Some lay somewhere in between. The stench filled the entire room.

As they passed through several dormitories, the employees inside appeared in grotesque and bizarre forms. Chi Xingwan even saw bodies bloated from drowning.

“What were these employees?” she could not help asking.

Xue Cheng shook his head. “There’s no way to know yet. I’ve already notified the association. From here on, the association will coordinate with the police. We won’t be using the mystic arts to look for answers anymore.”

Chi Xingwan did not ask further. Once she confirmed there were no survivors, she left the staff dormitory.

“You rest for a bit, then search the amusement park thoroughly. I’ll go search the castle.”

Above the second floor of the castle was the owner’s living quarters, lavishly furnished and stocked with everything for food, drink, and entertainment.

Chi Xingwan rummaged through every cabinet and drawer inside, but still found nothing.

In the end, she had no choice but to release the artifact spirit of the Soul-Capturing Bell she had just subdued.

“Hey. Where is your true body?”

The Soul-Capturing Bell had suffered for too short a time and was still defiant, refusing to say a single word.

Chi Xingwan gave a cold laugh. The golden chains of the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda tightened and tightened around it, squeezing it until it let out uncontrollable screams. Another long sword appeared in the air.

“Sometimes I think some ancient punishments are rather excellent, especially for vile things like you. Letting you vanish into dust so easily would be doing you a favor.”

The Soul-Capturing Bell snarled, “What are you planning?”

Chi Xingwan smiled faintly, twirling the sword in front of it.

“Do you enjoy being cut into pieces?”

The bell froze, then immediately tensed. Its body trembled uncontrollably as it ground out, “You madwoman!”

Chi Xingwan’s smile only brightened. “It hurts more when the blade cuts through a spirit body than through flesh and blood. But that’s all right. I believe you can bear it.”

As soon as the words fell, the sword flashed with blinding speed and struck the Soul-Capturing Bell.

“Ahhh—!”

The Soul-Capturing Bell let out a piercing shriek. Even the fox-faced, human-bodied statue on the first floor jumped in alarm, its green light flickering on and off as though it were terrified.

Chi Xingwan gave it another slash, and only then did it settle down a little.

“You want to hide your true body and find a chance to escape later. Let me tell you this: even if I never get my hands on your true body, you still won’t get away.”

The Soul-Capturing Bell said nothing.

“You don’t actually think you can get out of this Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, and then out of my inner heaven and earth, do you?”

It remained silent.

Chi Xingwan looked as though she were about to give up. “Fine, don’t tell me then. You broken bell—I didn’t even want you all that much in the first place. But you’ve annoyed me, so from now on I’ll slice you a hundred times every day.”

The sword swayed before the bell again, poised to strike. At last, the Soul-Capturing Bell broke down and shouted, “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you! Just put that damned sword away!”

“Not until you prove you’re not trying to fool me.”

The Soul-Capturing Bell gritted its teeth. “I’m not fooling you. My true body is embedded at the top of this kind of castle. You can’t find it from inside. You have to climb to the roof to see it.”

So that was it. No wonder she had searched the entire castle and found nothing. The Soul-Capturing Bell’s true body was not inside the castle at all, but outside it.

What a crafty little thing. Chi Xingwan gave the bell another slice before stuffing it back into the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.

Stepping outside the castle, she looked up at the pointed spire. By eye, it was nearly ten meters above the ground—impossible to climb.

She glanced around. It was deathly quiet; probably only four people were left in the whole amusement park.

And this amusement park was not in the city center. There were no skyscrapers nearby...

So if she flew up there, no one should notice, right?

Without hesitation, Chi Xingwan drew a flying sword and rode it through the air, arriving in the blink of an eye atop the castle.

With one hand gripping the lightning rod and her feet planted on the rounded roof, Chi Xingwan lowered her head and saw the Soul-Capturing Bell embedded below.

Without its spirit, the bell’s power had dropped sharply, though she could still feel waves of sinister energy radiating from it.

Chi Xingwan used the flying sword like a pickaxe, hammering at the roof over and over, trying to pry the Soul-Capturing Bell loose.

“Holy crap... I think I’m hallucinating.” Jin Feng rubbed his eyes.

Chu Fangfei said impatiently, “What are you freaking out about, Senior Brother? You scared me.”

By now she had recovered a little. Leaning on a branch to support her weak, unsteady body, she followed Jin Feng as they searched.

Jin Feng ran a hand through his hair. “Junior Sister, I think I’ve got some aftereffects from being drugged. I actually seem to be seeing a big shot digging in the roof of the castle.”

“What the hell... holy crap!” Chu Fangfei followed his gaze and also saw Chi Xingwan smashing something on the castle roof.

“Great, Senior Brother, now I’m hallucinating too. I knew it—of the four of us, my cultivation is the weakest. If even you’re hallucinating, how could I be spared? But how did we both end up seeing the same hallucination?”

Jin Feng thought about it seriously, then said uncertainly, “Maybe because we’re senior brother and junior sister, and we grew up together. We must have some kind of telepathy.”

Chu Fangfei muttered, “The way you put it, I’m not happy. I don’t want telepathy with you at all.”

Just then, Xue Cheng turned the corner from the path and ran into them.

He smiled. “Your bond as senior brother and junior sister is really something. I wish I had a junior sister or junior brother to bicker with.”

He had no sect. It was only after entering Yanjing University that he began studying the mystic arts, so he had classmates, but no senior or junior brothers and sisters.

Jin Feng looked disgusted. “That’s the kind of blessing you don’t appreciate until it’s gone. Having junior brothers and sisters is a real hassle.”

Xue Cheng laughed softly. “What were you two talking about just now?”

“Oh, right. We were hallucinating. We saw the big shot digging on top of the castle. You were drugged too—are you all right?”

Xue Cheng looked toward the castle, froze for a moment, then smiled.

“Is it possible... that Consultant Chi really is up there?”