Silence Part 2

In that case, the fractional difference between them would be gone.

This was the source of Sang Yu's confidence.

But it wasn't until his neck was seized by Wu Xingxue and he was pinned against the cold wall, the entire room filled with the indescribable stench of exploded yin corpses, that he realized he had miscalculated again.

His eyes widened, and he spoke with difficulty, "How... how can this be... Why is there not a trace of immortal essence on you?"

Since he had passed the Tribulation Period, regardless of how well they had merged, Wu Xingxue should have been tainted with High Immortal Tianxiu's immortal essence. Before, the yin and damp energy in his room had been too thick to perceive clearly. Now, being so close, he found he truly couldn't smell the slightest trace of Tianxiu's immortal essence.

"You..." Blood was forced from Sang Yu's eyes.

However, Wu Xingxue didn't answer his question at all, only asking softly, "Besides those ten, who else?"

Sang Yu's teeth were flecked with blood foam. He said, "One tells ten... ten tell a hundred... How can the City Lord stop it? When it spreads out of Zhaoye City, into the Mortal Realm... and then, then to the Immortal Capital... how will the City Lord stop it then?"

Wu Xingxue turned his head aside and made a grasping motion with his fingers.

All the coffin nails embedded in the flesh of the yin corpses fell into his hand.

Each coffin nail was several inches long, bore a curse talisman, and was stained with flesh and blood.

Wu Xingxue looked at him and said, "The dead can't spread rumors."

Sang Yu's pupils shrank. As a Demon Lord, it was the first time he had felt such a bone-deep chill this close. It wasn't the kind of overt killing intent, but a fear that, like the chill of the Tribulation Period, seeped out from the cracks in his bones and spread throughout his entire body.

"What... Is the City Lord going to... kill them... one by one?" Sang Yu said.

"Can't I?" Wu Xingxue asked, the end of his sentence lifting slightly as if it were a genuine question, but his face was devoid of expression.

Sang Yu finally felt that he had truly touched the other's reverse scale. The laughable thing was, before this, he didn't even think Wu Xingxue had a reverse scale. He couldn't figure out which sentence was the one that constituted that reverse scale.

Wu Xingxue watched Sang Yu quietly. For a moment, he revealed a hint of listlessness, but he quickly laughed.

He didn't answer Sang Yu's question, only saying, "Then you just watch."

Sang Yu: "What?"

At that moment, even Fang Chu looked at Wu Xingxue in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

But soon, they understood—

Because Wu Xingxue didn't simply kill Sang Yu. Instead, he used Sang Yu's own curse-inscribed coffin nails to pin him to the wall, one by one.

Then, he really did follow the names Sang Yu had listed, and, under the deep night of Zhaoye City, went to kill them one by one.

To each one, he would ask, "Any more?"

Who else has spread it?

In the dream, a cold mist always shrouded the entire Zhaoye City, seemingly never dispersing throughout the year. Wu Xingxue couldn't clearly sense what kind of mood his dream-self was in.

When he came out of the last person's residence, a faint glimmer of daylight shone through the cold mist. He looked up, then narrowed his eyes.

He handed the sword to Fang Chu. "What time is it?"

Fang Chu had followed him all night. The moment the sword was handed over, his pupils also constricted, and he subconsciously felt a little afraid.

"Mao hour," Fang Chu answered dryly, only then taking the sword and lowering his head to sheathe it.

The brocade pouch at his waist jingled. Inside were the personal belongings of the Evil Demons killed that night.

Wu Xingxue led Fang Chu back to Sang Yu's manor, standing before the pinned Sang Yu. Fang Chu untied the brocade pouch and poured out the items, each one extremely recognizable.

Sang Yu slowly moved his eyes, and as he looked at the items one by one, his pinned hands and feet began to tremble.

Many people had once said that the one in Zhaoye City who looked the least like an Evil Demon was the City Lord. Only now did he discover that when the other truly made a move, his methods of torture were indeed worthy of the name "Demon Lord."

But this was the last thing he would ever discover in his life.

Dozens of coffin nails fell to the ground with a continuous clatter. The dead Sang Yu also slammed heavily onto the floor with a dull thud, spattering a few drops of thick blood.

Wu Xingxue looked down at him, then after a moment, turned his head to Fang Chu and said, "Let's go back."

When they returned to Quebuluo, Ning Huaishan had just come back from an errand.

His Tribulation Period was about to arrive, but he wasn't that cold yet. He was just rubbing his hands and stomping his feet. He asked Fang Chu, "Why are you and the City Lord just getting back now? What were you doing?"

Fang Chu glanced at Wu Xingxue and shook his head repeatedly. "Nothing, you should ask less."

Ning Huaishan said, "Oh," and followed Wu Xingxue into the room, hopping to keep warm.

"City Lord, I have to go into seclusion for a few days again," Ning Huaishan said, sniffling.

Wu Xingxue unfastened his thin, gauze-like outer robe, held it in his hand for a look, and hummed an "en" without raising his head. "I know, Fang Chu told me."

The bloodstains on the outer robe had already dried. They could have actually been removed with a simple cleansing spell, leaving no trace behind. But Wu Xingxue still handed the outer robe to Fang Chu and said, "Burn it."

Fang Chu and Ning Huaishan were not the least bit surprised. After all, their City Lord had been picky for a long time, especially about things like bloodstains.

Sometimes they even suspected if Wu Xingxue couldn't stand the sight of blood.

But most of the time, they thought this idea was too foolish. If he really couldn't stand the sight of blood, he wouldn't be so clean and efficient when he killed people.

Fang Chu took the outer robe to the edge of the Blood Pool, conjured a bit of fire at his fingertips, and burned the bloodstained robe. Just in case, he also cleaned the blood off his scabbard, then went to a room on the other side to pick out a clean cloak.

Originally, he had chosen one similar to the previous one, like a light gray gauze.

He was already walking into the room with the cloak when he hurried out again.

Wu Xingxue turned his head and asked him, "What is it?"

Fang Chu said quickly, "Please wait a moment, City Lord. I grabbed the wrong one."

When Fang Chu returned to the side room, Ning Huaishan followed him in, rubbing his arms. "Why are you being so slow with a cloak?"

Fang Chu shot him a look. "You don't know a thing."

Ning Huaishan retorted casually, "How could I not know? Haven't I gotten clothes for the City Lord before?"

Fang Chu picked out a large, fox-fur cloak from among the clothes.

Ning Huaishan looked confused. "What are you doing? Are you stupid? The one the City Lord just had burned was as thin as a cicada's wing, and now you're pulling out a big fox-fur cloak. Are you trying to smother the City Lord to death? If you want to court death, do it yourself. I'm leaving now. You can take it to the City Lord yourself in a bit."

Fang Chu: "..."

"You." Fang Chu started to speak, then stopped. Unable to bear it any longer, he finally grabbed Ning Huaishan like a chick and dragged him over. "No way. If we're going to die, we die together. Don't even think about running."

He hesitated for a moment, then told Ning Huaishan what happened during the night. The two of them had always been very afraid of Wu Xingxue. Neither of them would be crazy enough to ask the City Lord for a "secret method," so they probably wouldn't touch his reverse scale and make him angry.

After listening, Ning Huaishan silently shivered and whispered, "So Sang Yu really said the City Lord wasn't tainted with any of Tianxiu's immortal essence?"

Fang Chu nodded. "Right. If he passed the Tribulation Period, there should be some."

Ning Huaishan finally understood why Fang Chu had swapped the thin robe for a fur cloak. "So, the City Lord is still cold right now."

And it must be an unbearable yin cold.

But then he was confused again. "Then if the City Lord is clearly cold, why is he still wearing thin robes? To intimidate Sang Yu and the others?"

Fang Chu shook his head. "Probably not. If it were really to intimidate Sang Yu, he should have worn it when he went out. But he was already dressed like that before."

Ning Huaishan wondered, "In his own residence, why would he force himself to wear thin robes? Who is he putting on a brave face for?"

Fang Chu was about to say he didn't know when inspiration struck.