"Han, what a coincidence."
Zhou Yi emerged from the shadows.
"Senior Zhou, you are done with your tasks so quickly?"
Han Er, who was carrying the fish demon, thought Zhou Yi had returned from the Demon Refining grotto.
"I'm in luck today. Harvested two fox skins."
With a smile on his face, Zhou Yi reached out to prop the tail of the fish demon and said, "Let me help you."
After death, the fish demon manifested back to its original form. It was a carp spirit that was almost ten feet long, and Han Er was struggling to carry it.
"Thank you, Senior Zhou."
Han Er had a simple appearance with tanned skin, and people naturally found him honest and trustworthy.
"There's no need to thank me. Those who work in these torture rooms are all people who are suffering in bitter lives. We should help each other."
As Zhou Yi spoke, his magic power was penetrating and saturating the remains of the fish demon and what he found out was what he had expected. All that remained of the fish demon was an empty shell. Not even a hint of Qi and blood could be found.
He used the aura-observing technique to observe Han Er.
Han Er's Qi and blood were flourishing. The grayish-white aura that represented decadence had long dissipated without a trace.
They reached the Demon Refining grotto and tossed the remains of the fish demon in.
"Senior Zhou, shall we go for a drink?"
Han Er and Zhou Yi arrived at the canteen of the prison. After several rounds of expansion, it was now like a restaurant that one saw in a film or TV drama.
The death rate of executioners continued to rise. Even if the Great Qian dynasty did not lack refugees and criminals to recruit as executioners, the number of demo materials that was ruined by novices was more than a hundred times more valuable than mere wine and meat.
Today, the executioners who were still alive were gathered in the restaurant to eat and drink. They were making merry with finger-guessing games amidst boisterous shouts of excitement, and the view before him made Zhou Yi feel as if he had arrived at a bustling downtown.
"Foolish civilians can be trained!"
When Zhou Yi laid eyes on this bustling and lively scene, somehow or rather, this phrase came to mind.
These were young and robust refugees who came from the outside world. They were all people who needed to earn their keep for survival, which made them an easy source of soldiers for the rebel army. In times of war, most of them would not be able to escape death.
But after entering the torture rooms, they were just as short-lived. The only difference was that instead of being a rebel, they would be working for the Great Qian Dynasty.
By just paying to provide them with food and drinks, the imperial court had also bought their lives. And they all lived cheerfully and joyfully.
The moment Zhou Yi walked in, he attracted the attention of many executioners, mostly with envy and awe.
Han Er found a corner table, took a few large plates of meat and vegetables and also ordered two jars of wine.
"The prison is really a good place. I have been farming lands and cultivating fields for more than a decade, but I rarely had the chance to drink…"
After three rounds of drinks, Han Er was slightly drinking and began to talk more as he rambled on about how his hometown met with a flood, how he had to raise money to seek treatment for his aged parents, which led to him selling away several acres of barren land that was supposed to be handed down to future generations.
In the end, he lost his parents, his field was gone, and he wandered all the way till he arrived at this prison and its torture rooms.
Zhou Yi did not use his magic power to dispel the effects of alcohol. It was just mortal wine with less than 20% alcohol content and would not have any effect on a body that was cleansed and refined by magic power day and night.
He listened carefully to Han Er's narration, occasionally interjecting with a question about the situation at that time.
"Everything will be fine."
As the author of "The Stories of an Executioner", everything that Zhou Yi had seen and heard, every story that he penned and recorded in the book, involved a life that was ten times more wretched.
Han Er's experience was simple, but he told his story with genuine feelings. The executioners who had gathered around them to listen to him tell his story also could not help but weep tears of empathy.
Zhou Yi's sympathy was only on the surface. He had been executing the aura-observing technique all this to observe the changes in Han Er's aura.
Han Er's Qi and blood were beyond that of a mortal, and there were no signs of possession.
"Could it be that Han Ergot the evil method from a demon and is secretly practicing it? But he has only been here for a few days…."
Zhou Yi went on speculating. The torture room was very precious to him, which meant that he would need to pay extra and special attention to any abnormal occurrences.
"Father… Mother… Your son is so unfilial!"
Han Er eventually ended up completely drunk and was no longer able to suppress the intense emotions he was feeling. Sprawling on the table, he cried bitterly.
The other executioners did not express any dislike for the noise he was making. This situation was very common. The underground world was filled with suppression, and death was always impending. It often took only a moment for one to collapse.
Zhou Yi realized that he only felt a trace of pity for Han Er, but there was nothing more beyond that.
"Could it be that I've seen so much more than my heart has become cold and unfeeling?"
Suddenly, Zhou Yi felt that he somewhat understood why the legendary Buddha was so cold and indifferent.
The way Buddha looked at a mortal's lifetime was like watching a play with bizarre twists and turns, featuring mortals with their superb acting skills.
When it was a scene that expressed bliss, the audience would feel delighted. When it was a scene that portrayed misery, the audience would feel sympathy. When it was a scene that depicted kindness, the audience would be inclined to compliment it. When it was a scene that showed atrocity, the audience would feel rage. But at the end of the day, these acts would never be taken seriously.
At the end of a play, people would either forget or look back to reminisce about it.
Over time, when one had seen more than enough of such dramatic plays, they would come to feel that the plots were getting more and more routine. Then naturally, they would become indifferent.
Zhou Yi helped Han Er back to room C7 and waited for him to fall asleep. In the end, he did not cast any spell on Han Er at all.
"Let's wait and see."
For the next few days.
Zhou Yi would cast the aura-observing technique in the morning to observe his fellow executioners.
Every day, there would be at least one person with the light of blood hovering above his head, which was an indication of impending catastrophe.
A few executioners would die in the torture rooms every day, either by accident or because of the lack of vitality. The outcomes were always the same, which was why the captain was never compelled to pay much attention.
Zhou Yi secretly observed the people who died sudden and violent deaths, and sure enough, there was a blood shadow trailing their tracks. This shadow would devour the Qi, blood, and soul of both the executioner and the demon.
The person who cast the spell was Han E. In just a few days, his Qi and blood had flourished to a point where his strength was comparable to that of the captain of the Demon Slaying Department.
"This speed of cultivating the evil method seems a little too fast. Could it be that Han Er's aptitude is much stronger than that of the Black Evil Demon King?"
Zhou Yi could not help but feel that things were not that simple.
Until half a month later, during the morning roll call.
When Zhou Yi cast his aura-observing technique, he saw that no executioner from Division A would be dying that day.
"It's only been half a month and he is ready to stop?"
After receiving two Class B prison tasks, Zhou Yi decided that he would quickly complete what he had been assigned, and then, he would directly go over to where Han Er would be to observe him.
Prison cell number B5.
A bear spirit that was more than ten feet tall was imprisoned. It had toned muscles and sturdy bones and its demon body was very strong.
If it had been the other executioners, it would take at least a day to finish off this bear spirit. But it was not the same for Zhou Yi. The torture instrument simply shuttled and wove between the bones and muscles of the bear spirit as he easily performed a clean job of digging out the entire bear's bile.
All of a sudden.
The temperature in the prison cell fell rapidly and a layer of white frost condensed on the ground.
"No wonder no one is facing any sudden, violent death today, turns out it's my turn…."
Zhou Yi sighed. As the saying goes, even the King of Hell could not save someone with a death wish. Probably, this was what the situation was.
A blood shadow manifested itself in the prison cell. After devouring dozens of demons, it could already condense into a fuzzy human form.
If it wanted to devour the vitality and soul of living beings, there was no need to cast spells. As long as its body was a good fit with the other body, it just had to make a lunge and allow itself to be integrated within the other body. Then what was left behind would only be an empty shell.
The blood shadow saw that Zhou Yi was still focused on dealing with the bear spirit. It let out a strange laugh and pounced at Zhou Yi from behind.
Swish!
It almost succeeded but then, it saw a rising ball of purple spirit fire.
The blood shadow was not in time to dodge and directly fell into the ball of spirit fire. This was the Fire of the Ends-of-the-World that even dragon souls were afraid of.
"I'd like to see exactly what on earth you really are!"
Zhou Yi turned around and stared at the blood shadow in the spiritual fire. Majestic magic power was infused, and flames of the fire rose three feet higher.
Shriek…
The blood shadow was screaming miserably while hurling incessant hateful and spiteful curses at Zhou Yi. It was neither Yin nor Yang; sometimes it was male and other times, it was female.
The spirit fire was an extreme form of restraint against souls and evil subjects. The blood shadow was a combination of both soul and evil, and its magic power far worse than Zhou Yi, so it did not take more than a moment for it to start diminishing. It got smaller and smaller, then eventually, its soul was disintegrated to nothing.
The Catalogue of Demons and Monsters began flipping through its pages again. Then, after flipping through thousands of pages, it stopped at a picture of a beautiful woman.
The woman was enchanting and charming. She was barely clothed, thus making certain parts of her body faintly discernible. Though it was just an image on the Catalogue, just the sight of it was enough to make men go wild with desire.
"It's actually a demoness of the Bare Body Demon Sect!"
Zhou Yi knew the identity of this woman and also knew every detail of her story.
The Bare Body Demon Sect that brought disaster and troubled times upon the Great Qian was originally a major demon sect outside the Yun Continent. It was one of the six major heretical sects following the Way of Demons.
The Holy Maiden of the Bare Body Demon Sect, Kalan, was acting under the orders of the Lord of the six major heretical sects where she had to deliberately fall into the trap of the Demon Slaying Department. She had to let herself be seriously injured and captured alive by Fahai.
Then on the verge of death, she would cast the secret technique of the White Lotus Sect, which was the White Lotus' method of reincarnation, and merged her soul with Han Er's soul.
This spell was completely different from the ordinary spirit and soul possession spells. It involved a mysterious secret of reincarnation, where two souls would merge as one but no trace of possession could be found at all.
In the beginning, Han Er would still be himself. But when his cultivation level increased, he would gradually metamorphose into Kalan, the Holy Maiden.
Han Er was cultivating at lightning speed. But this had nothing to do with his aptitude. It was simply because he was restoring the original strength of Kalan, the Holy Maiden.