Silence Part 1

As soon as Sang Yu asked that question, the entire room, and even the entire Sang Manor, became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

All his men turned their heads, dozens of pairs of eyes staring unblinkingly at Wu Xingxue. At a time like this, not even the title of "City Lord" could suppress their prying and curiosity.

The only one who didn't dare show the slightest bit of prying was Fang Chu, who stood beside Wu Xingxue.

"City Lord?" Sang Yu shifted his position and called out again. On his own territory, he was even more brazen than he was outside the manor. "It seems the City Lord—"

Before he could finish, Wu Xingxue interrupted, "What else did they say?"

Sang Yu froze, not registering the question.

Wu Xingxue repeated, "What else did those two little toys of yours say?"

This time, his tone didn't rise at the end. His voice was light and airy, yet it carried a falling cadence.

Fang Chu finally couldn't help but turn to look at his City Lord. His lips moved a few times, seeming to grow nervous.

Sang Yu also tensed for a moment, but he quickly relaxed again. It was unclear if he was putting on an act, or if he was simply high-spirited and feeling fearless after absorbing enough blood and Qi for his Tribulation Period.

"They said quite a lot," he said with a smile. "It seems the City Lord is very concerned... oh no, is extremely averse to this topic. Why is that? Ever since I heard those two poor souls speak of this, I've been wondering, why?"

"This Tribulation Period business, it's nothing more than having too many resentful souls die by our hands, causing us some discomfort from time to time." Sang Yu was suffused with a languor that followed extreme pleasure. "Ordinary people aren't very effective, but they're easy to catch. As for Immortal Sect disciples, they're a bit harder to catch, but using them to suppress resentful souls is indeed much more useful. As for those from the Immortal Capital, they should be the finest quality, but there's just no way to get our hands on them. Even if we were lucky enough to get one, we couldn't use them. Immortal essence and our bodies full of yin and evil energy simply can't merge. Back then..."

Sang Yu paused mid-sentence, as if he had momentarily forgotten what came next, but he quickly continued with a sneer, "In any case, City Lord, I truly bear no ill will. I'm just wondering, has our City Lord found some good method?"

He propped up his chin, his gaze boring straight from his half-lidded eyes. "That's the High Immortal Tianxiu, who presides over punishments. The High Immortal Tianxiu, whom we people of Zhaoye City avoid like the plague, wishing we could take a detour just at the mention of his name. What good method did the City Lord use to make someone like that work for you?"

He sized up Wu Xingxue's thin, plain robes, seeing no sign of him suffering from unbearable yin cold. He said, "I see the City Lord's Tribulation Period seems to be going quite well. So, City Lord, for the sake of us both living in Zhaoye City, could you reveal a thing or two? It's really boring to always catch some Immortal Sect disciples. I'd like to try getting a minor immortal or two myself."

For Evil Demons, each Tribulation Period was harder to endure than the last. This time, catching one or two commoners might be enough to get by. The next time, it would take three to five, and even more the time after that.

If this continued, there would eventually come a time when nothing could suppress it. When commoners were no longer effective, one had to find Immortal Sect disciples. And when Immortal Sect disciples were no longer effective?

Sang Yu had almost reached the pinnacle of the Corpse Dao, yet he was unable to advance further, and the Tribulation Period was part of the reason. In Zhaoye City, the only one he could look to as a reference was the City Lord. It was only natural that he would send people to spy.

Wu Xingxue didn't interrupt, letting him speak. The more one talked, the more one would naturally reveal what they knew.

After listening, he said, "I actually have something I don't understand either."

Sang Yu: "What is it?"

Wu Xingxue said, "Why do you think that I would tell you just because you asked?"

Sang Yu laughed. "I naturally know it wouldn't be so easy to get an answer. Otherwise, how could the City Lord be the City Lord, leagues ahead of everyone else? Besides, seeing how concerned and averse the City Lord was just now, that method must not be something that can be easily known. But, City Lord... you know the temperament of Zhaoye City's people better than anyone. We don't care for friendships. Look at these dogs I keep—"

He glanced at his men outside the door. "Which one of them doesn't want to find a chance to take a bite out of me? With so many people like this, it's hard to sleep peacefully. The ones who want to bite me are just these few, but as for the ones who want to bite the City Lord, that's hard to say."

"What if... others also knew that the City Lord possesses a secret method?"

Wu Xingxue didn't seem surprised. He nodded lightly and said, "It seems your two little toys were indeed fast-talking. Then how many people do you think you'd have to tell for it to have an effect on me?"

The bones on the side of Sang Yu's face moved, as if his jaw had clenched for a moment, but he continued, "Let me think..."

It wasn't that he was truly fearless. Rather, one thing was indeed true: Zhaoye City had no friendships, and its inhabitants rarely provoked one another. Because once you turned all the Evil Demons around you into hungry, watchful wolves, you truly couldn't sleep peacefully.

Sang Yu wasn't unafraid of Wu Xingxue. He had simply weighed his options. A method to safely pass the Tribulation Period versus inciting a pack of resentful, hungry wolves to surround him... no matter how he calculated, the former was of lesser consequence.

"Cui Yin? Chang Gu? Old Daoist Hongguang?" Sang Yu slowly listed the names, all of whom were figures in Zhaoye City that few dared to provoke.

He listed a few, then suddenly stopped, because he realized Wu Xingxue was listening intently.

Of everything that had been said, he listened most intently to the names.

Sang Yu's expression changed.

But Wu Xingxue said, "Seven. Any more?"

This time, Sang Yu truly frowned. "What does the City Lord mean?"

Wu Xingxue said, "I said, that's only seven. Are there more? Since you've come to ask me for a secret method, you should have a bit more leverage."

Sang Yu grabbed the long robe by his couch, but his gaze didn't dare to move from Wu Xingxue. His expression grew uglier and uglier.

Wu Xingxue suddenly lifted his foot and stepped over the threshold. Fang Chu quickly followed.

In that instant, Sang Yu's fingers, clutching the robe, twitched. He almost immediately listed another three names.

"Ten." Wu Xingxue asked again, "Any more?"

Sang Yu gave a short laugh, his fingers already curling. The freshly absorbed blood and Qi gurgled under his veins, and the marks of his meridians surfaced on his neck and face. He said, "That's High Immortal Tianxiu. Such a rare matter, do you suppose—"

The moment the last syllable left his lips, he saw the pale figure move like a phantom.

A cold wind swept past him. He only blinked once. When he came to his senses, the Great Demon Lord was still standing in the same spot, but the hem of his robe was swaying slightly, and a long sword had appeared in his hand.

Sang Yu: "You!!!"

Wu Xingxue tilted his head. "Me what?"

The next moment, the men surrounding them outside let out sharp, miserable screams in unison.

The screams were strange. They stopped abruptly halfway through, turning into hollow "heh heh" sounds.

Then, an even thicker smell of blood than what was inside the room spread out. A series of dozens of dull thuds of heavy objects hitting the ground followed—the men had been decapitated, their heads rolling on the ground.

They died so quickly that their bodies were still standing, blood gushing from their severed necks.

Also because it was so fast, Wu Xingxue's sword was only stained with a few specks of crimson from the fresh gush of blood.

He flicked the sword lightly, and the blood vanished without a trace. Instead, white frost rapidly spread down from the hilt.

Legend had it that Wu Xingxue always fought empty-handed and never wielded a sword.

Sang Yu had heard of this, but because they were both Demon Lords, they had never fought, so he had never seen it with his own eyes. Until now...

He glanced swiftly at Fang Chu and saw only an empty scabbard at Fang Chu's waist.

Bang—!!

The door slammed shut behind Wu Xingxue, closing instantly without a single gap.

In the vast room, the lamps and candles were abruptly extinguished, plunging it into darkness.

At that moment, Sang Yu finally realized he had miscalculated something. He no longer tried to verbally spar with his "City Lord this" and "City Lord that." He snapped, "I just wanted a secret method—"

Just a secret method! What reverse scale had he touched to warrant this?

He had no time to think, immediately burning ten golden talismans.

In an instant, the hundreds of black coffins in the Sang Manor erupted. Paper talismans moved in unison, and coffin lids exploded. Amidst the flying coffin nails, yin corpses howled and charged straight for the main house.

But it was useless.

He once believed he was only a step away from being the Lord of Zhaoye City, that the difference between him and Wu Xingxue was merely a fraction. As long as he picked the right day, that fraction was no insurmountable chasm.

The reason he acted this way today was because he felt it was indeed a good day.

Because those two now-dead subordinates had reported that Wu Xingxue did not look very well.

To an Evil Demon, this was all too easy to guess—it was nothing more than the result of a clash between immortal essence and demonic essence.

Would the Lord of Zhaoye City do something he wasn't sure of?

He wouldn't.

Since High Immortal Tianxiu had gone to his Quebuluo, he must have a way to merge immortal and demonic energies. It was just that a complete fusion would take time. Before it was fully fused, he wouldn't be able to use his full power.