Under the cover of night, Lin Yan, clad in simple clothing, had a delicate yet pale face filled with murderous intent.
Carrying a knife, he crossed through the alleyway.
From the other end of the alley emerged a young man in a black robe, with entirely different facial features and no expression on his face.
"The city is sealed off after dark, go back!"
The city guards shouted from a distance.
"The Observatory is handling a case, open the city!"
Lin Yan took out a token from his chest and, without stopping, continued forward.
Upon reaching the city gate, he turned his head and said, "Give me a Willow Branch Night Lamp! And bring me three sticks of incense and a pair of red candles!"
"This is against the rules… Master?"
The Colonel guarding the city was about to refuse but suddenly recognized him.
Seeing the murderous intent in the other's eyes, he couldn't help shivering.
Recalling the other's notorious reputation as a fierce killer, he immediately turned his head and shouted, "Did you hear that? Bring a Willow Branch Night Lamp, three sticks of incense, and a pair of red candles!"
After he finished speaking, he carefully added, "Master, why do you want to leave the city so late? It's terribly dangerous outside..."
Lin Yan's face was expressionless, he said nothing as he took the Willow Branch Night Lamp and the three sticks of incense from a Soldier.
The Colonel at the city gate hesitated, then explained, "As a member of the Observatory, it does make sense for you to go out of the city! But before it gets light, everything from outside is not allowed into the city. Later, when you…"
"I won't make things difficult for you,"
said Lin Yan in a low voice. "I will return after dawn."
He carried the Willow Branch Night Lamp and quickly walked through the gap in the opening city gate.
Chilling winds blew outside the city, and the darkness was boundless.
The light from the Willow Branch Night Lamp gradually receded, like a firefly disappearing into the endless dark.
This faint light could only illuminate three feet ahead.
It couldn't clear the endless dark of the long night.
The Soldiers on guard duty looked at each other.
Then a Soldier whispered, "They say this Master is known as a fierce killer. Who would have thought he was bold enough to walk outside the city at night?"
"So isn't that why he borrowed the Willow Branch Night Lamp?" someone said with a laugh.
"The darkness outside the city is endless, with evil spirits rampant. A divine lamp may not be effective."
The Colonel shook his head slightly and explained, "High Willow City is protected by 'Liu Venerate,' and we hang Willow Branch Night Lamps on the city walls to proclaim the boundary!"
"The powerful evil spirits lurking in the darkness wouldn't dare attack unless they intend to wage war against 'Liu Venerate.'
"Of course, there are exceptions, and our brothers guarding the city inevitably suffer some losses every year."
"Staying under the city is one thing, but going outside the city is quite another."
"Not every evil spirit in the darkness is willing to give 'Liu Venerate' face."
The Colonel rubbed his forehead, his expression becoming grave as he said, "I heard that last year in Prefecture City, a prominent figure went out to receive offerings but was delayed on the return for some reason."
"Despite lighting the Wutong Night Lamp on the way, his soul was devoured. Six people in the group were left with unharmed bodies, breathing normally, but none could wake up."
The Soldiers looked at each other, suddenly feeling the night wind growing bone-chillingly cold.
"The Wutong Night Lamp represents the protection of 'Wutong Divine Mother' of the Prefecture City, and even that couldn't suppress the evil spirit?"
"Therefore, if he returns before dawn, he absolutely cannot be let in!"
The Colonel's face was extremely solemn as he said in a low voice, "No one knows if what returns at night is a person or… something else."
Everyone fell silent, a sense of heaviness growing in their hearts.
Especially the new recruits to the City Guard, some now had faces turning pale with fright.
——
The Willow Branch Night Lamp.
This lantern appeared ordinary, but underneath hung a willow branch.
Of course, it wasn't a branch of the actual 'Liu Venerate' that protected High Willow City, but one from a willow tree planted in the temple, imbued with Liu Venerate's Qi Mechanism.
Inside the lantern was a can of lamp oil with a wick lit.
The lantern itself cost two hundred coins, not cheap.
But the lamp oil was very expensive, too.
The oil came from within the Liu Zun Temple; a single ounce cost one hundred coins.
Ordinary families, even if they bought the Willow Branch Night Lamp, could hardly afford to light the oil from Liu Zun Temple.
But commoners seldom dared to leave the city after dark; purchasing a Willow Branch Night Lamp was usually to keep it in the home for safety.
It was typically lit only during festivals, housewarmings, weddings, and kept burning all night as an auspicious sign.
This had become a local custom.
"..."
Lin Yan, carrying the Willow Branch Night Lamp, sprinted along the road.
He was now far from High Willow City.
But glancing back, he could still see the faint glow enveloping the whole city, like a colossal creature crawling in the dark.
The City Guard Mansion allocated a fixed amount of oil daily to surround the city walls; a lamp lit every hundred steps to mark the boundary and ward off evil spirits.
Inevitably, there was some "loss" of lanterns and lamp oil.
Lin Yan knew of this unspoken rule, so he simply took a lamp for himself, along with three sticks of incense and a pair of candles.
"Chen Jiangbao's half-severed head was found under the tree two miles ahead on the left."
"There should still be traces left!"
With this in mind, Lin Yan's worries grew heavier, and he hastened his pace even more.
The light from the Willow Branch Night Lamp illuminated the three feet before him as if dispelling the darkness ahead.
But all around him was still enveloped in endless darkness.
Only the faint yellow light ahead, gently swaying in the cold wind, moved rapidly through the darkness.
But after no more than thirty steps, he stopped.
Because the darkness ahead, had not been dispelled.
The light from the night lamp only illuminated two feet ahead.
"..."
Lin Yan's expression was ice-cold as he pushed the lantern forward, extending it another foot.
But still, darkness lay before the lantern.
He reached out another half foot.
The darkness remained as impenetrable as ink.
The night lamp's light could no longer pierce the darkness ahead.
After a moment of silence, Lin Yan retracted the lantern and said aloud, "Do you all not wish to give 'Liu Venerate' some face?"
The pitch-black darkness before him remained still, with no response.
The only things present were the night and the chilly wind cutting to the bone.
Seeing this, Lin Yan drew out an incense stick from within his robes and lit it with the lantern's flame.
He planted the stick of incense in front of him.
This was a candle from the Liu Zun Temple, said to have the power to repel evil spirits.
But Lin Yan knew it was not about repelling evil, but rather, offering respect!
"According to ancient rules, living beings only tread the paths of the living."
"It is now night; I am encroaching upon your domain."
"This stick of incense I offer as an apology for my transgression!"
Lin Yan lifted the lantern and bowed respectfully.
These were the traditions passed down through the generations in High Willow City, a rule for those who travel at night!
A rule acknowledged by both day and night; to break it was to court disaster!
Though the stick of incense was planted in the ground, the darkness ahead didn't budge.
Lin Yan understood that to them, one stick of incense was far from sufficient!
Following this, Lin Yan, abiding by the ceremonial process, lit a second stick of incense and placed it in the ground.
The darkness before him remained unrelenting, refusing to recede.
Lin Yan's gaze turned colder, yet he still lit a third stick of incense and placed it into the ground.
"I offer you three sticks of incense this evening, please let me pass on my way," he said calmly.
This incense, made by the Liu Zun Temple, was extraordinary. Ordinary people could only offer three sticks in one day.
Offering too much incense, showing excessive respect, could damage one's own essence and vitality.
But these three sticks of incense had lit up brightly.
The pitch-black night ahead remained steadfast, not retreating in the slightest.
The evil spirit within the darkness still was not appeased.
The atmosphere fell into a momentary silence, punctuated by a mournful, ghostly wind.
"If respect is not given willingly, it must be enforced with penalty!"
Unable to contain himself any longer, Lin Yan, still holding the lantern in his left hand, suddenly drew his sword with his right, and coldly declared, "Seeking death!"
The courtesies of this world had been observed.
The ancestral rules had been followed.
He had given the other party enough face!
If they still would not give way, then the only option was to carve out a path forward by force!
Without hesitation, Lin Yan slashed forward with his sword.
Divine Skills! Demon Suppression!
The darkness suddenly receded like a fleeing tide.
Lin Yan, expressionless, picked up the three sticks of incense and pinched them out.
He then lifted the lantern and continued on.
The light gradually faded into the distance, swallowed by the dark at the end of the path.
After a quiet moment, a greenish glow emerged from the woods of the night.
"Grandpa, didn't you say that monsters with flesh and blood are the only ones who fear a human's sword?"
A childish voice asked, "Evil spirits don't have a physical form and cannot be split by a sword, so why did the evil spirit retreat?"
"What scattered the darkness was not the sword itself," an old voice said with a tinge of emotion. "It was the intense bloodthirstiness he displayed the moment he drew his sword, along with that overpowering Evil Qi."
"There's an old saying, 'Even the divine spirits fear the wicked.'"
"If divine spirits fear thus, what of an evil spirit?" the old voice expressed with a sigh.
The youthful voice couldn't help but ask, "But the man outside Qifeng Prefecture City looked very fierce, and yet he was taken by the black fog, wasn't he?"
"He only appeared fierce, roaring with a ferocity that belied the fear already in his heart. That's why he perished."
"So did this man show no fear just now?"
"Whether he felt fear in his heart, I do not know. But at the moment he drew his sword, the evil spirit surely feared him," the old voice admitted, with a faint trace of awe. "He's so young, yet he's clothed in such dense Evil Qi. Especially at the moment he drew his sword, he seemed as ferocious as if behind him lay a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood… I have lived many years and never seen such a murderous man!""
Pausing for a moment, the old voice let out another sigh, "But he has stepped over the rules of day and night, I fear it bodes ill omens."