What? Du Huoguan turned his head towards him, knowing the prison master must have noticed something amiss.
The self-proclaimed innocent accuser's mouth and nostrils began to ooze blood, suddenly feeling no pain within his body, rapidly losing all sensation of his internal organs. He suspected it must be the numbing effect of his own poisoned needle at work, yet he still felt sensations in other parts of his body.
Then he realized he had overthought it, no longer able to breathe, he looked up at Shi Chun with eyes full of disbelief.
During their four-armed struggle just now, he could feel that their levels of cultivation were not much different; how could his defensive power fail to withstand even one palm strike from his adversary?
Boom! Another drum sound echoed, the sixth in succession.
Almost in sync with the drum beat, Shi Chun lunged forward on his legs. His movement swift as a shooting star, he landed a spinning kick with a fierce glare and his disheveled hair fluttering.
Fearing his opponent wouldn't die within the allotted time, he quickly delivered an additional kick.
Crack, the accuser's head rotated two and a half times on his neck, his occiput facing Shi Chun, refusing to close his eyes, his body trembling and on the verge of collapse.
Boom! The seventh sound resounded, and the accuser, with a face full of unwillingness, slowly fell to the ground.
The city guard holding the drum mallet slowly lowered it as well, seeing no need to continue striking.
Shi Chun also exhaled slowly.
If he had been more informed, if he had known that the corpses he personally killed that night had been brought here by the city guards, he "might" not have used the lethal move he did just now.
To him, the only power aware of the location of that night's incident would be the one behind Shen Youkun. Even if they had secretly colluded with the city guards, they wouldn't blatantly expose the bodies here; destroying the evidence seemed most likely.
Without knowing the inside story, even if he racked his brain, he could not figure out how the bodies could have ended up here.
But that was only a "might"; in reality, he had no choice. To kill an opponent with similar cultivation within ten beats, using his killing move was the only way past this hurdle.
As the accuser's body slowly toppled over, the blood-stained skull mark on his back, now diffusing underneath the skin, was smeared away, revealing a striking patch of fresh red.
Seeing this mark, Du Huoguan, behind the window lattice, lost his composure slightly, his face showing disbelief, "It really was his doing!"
Shi Chun, who had lost his hairpin and his dignity in the cell during torture, looked around with his disheveled hair, and realized a problem: aside from the city guard counting drum beats, there was no second person; where was the referee? Could the drummer also be the referee?
Du Huoguan, from behind the window lattice, had already turned his gaze to the prison master. The final result could explain the previous process; he finally understood the prison master's intent in watching this duel.
Hadn't he reported before that Qi Yueru had every reason to suspect Shi Chun was the murderer of his son and brother?
Now it was clear what the prison master meant; since there was suspicion, why not verify it? See if the strikes matched those of the murderer.
The reason behind the ten-count drumbeat and the prohibition of weapons to force hand-to-hand combat was now blatant: it was to leave Shi Chun with no way out, to force him to reveal his killing move.
Just as Du Huoguan was about to say something, he saw the prison master raise his hand, a finger chopping through the air like a blade.
There was no damage to the window lattice before him, not even a sensation of anything abnormal, yet within the bloodstained duel arena where the corpse lay, a crack suddenly appeared out of thin air. It was like a glowing thread that began to expand, turning into a fissure.
The process was silent and still, until a fragrant whirlwind blew out from the crack. Shi Chun, suddenly aware, turned around just in time to witness this strange phenomenon.
Thud, a knocking sound that reverberated throughout the city rang out. The sound was not loud, but everyone in the city could hear it clearly. Many people in the city looked around, unsure of the source, as if it was knocking right by their ear.
Inside the cell, Wu Jinliang, who had been sitting in the corner tending to his wounds, was momentarily startled and stood up. He was still unaware of the duel.
Shi Chun was vigilant of the space rift while looking around for the source of the voice.
Only Du Huoguan seemed to have seen where the voice was coming from.
The prison master's hand rested casually on the windowsill, effortlessly tapping with the fingertip of his index finger.
The rhythmic tapping, now fast, now slow, tense or relaxed, seemed to strike the hearts of everyone present, making their own hearts irresistibly follow the beat and causing panic and discomfort.
Fortunately, the tapping sound didn't last long.
Just as Shi Chun was about to catch his breath, he stared fixedly at the space rift, which suddenly expanded and tore open, like a giant vertical eye—torn from the inside by a pair of sharp claws.
It seemed that dazzling blood lights were flickering inside, as a massive surge of demonic power poured out, threatening to instantly engulf heaven and earth, with Shi Chun bearing the brunt.
Who could stand such a fright? At least Shi Chun couldn't. He couldn't care less about the rules of the place; escaping was crucial. He leaped up and turned to run.
He had just jumped a foot high when he found himself immobilized, trapped in midair by the overpowering demonic power that swept over.
He had enjoyed the treatment of an immobilization charm, but he knew very well that this was not any immobilization charm—it was clearly demonic power, strong enough to crush him to dust in an instant.
Panic set in immediately; it was hard not to be anxious and scared.
As if one misfortune wasn't enough, the pain like his head splitting into a thousand parts and a sensation of countless insects gnawing at his spine appeared at that moment, and the hallucinatory visions once again filled his right eye.
The towering demonic power seemed to infiltrate every corner of the entire city without exception.
Deciding to avoid suspicion, Ba Yingshan, who had stayed in his room, could no longer bear it. He flashed to the door to fly up and investigate.
Before he could clear the rooftop, he was slammed to the ground by a powerful demonic power descending from the sky.
Ba Yingshan was shocked, yet he felt that the large demon had shown mercy; otherwise, it would have been easy as flipping his hand to kill him.
He quickly looked around and saw that it wasn't just him who had fallen. Several city guards attempting to jump up and investigate were also pinned down by an invisible force.
It wasn't just them—everyone in the city who sought higher ground had fallen. The demonic power seemed to forbid any latecomers from transcending.
On the second floor of the Bowan Building, immersed in the infiltrating demonic power, Tan abruptly turned to look toward the inner city, questioning, "What great demon dares to cause trouble here?"
Lan Qiaoyan also turned her head, her expression solemn. After a moment's thought, she shook her head, "It must be the 'prison master's doing."
The people within the city were in a state of panic.
Inside the cage, Wu Jinliang hugged his arms, looking timidly around as if feeling cold.
At this moment, Shi Chun was the most afraid.
"Hee hee... hee hee..."
A woman's silvery laughter suddenly rang out behind him, and that strange fragrance became even stronger—as if someone was breathing hot air on the back of his neck.
Shi Chun couldn't understand what was happening, and what was more terrifying was that his body, frozen in midair, was slowly turning around, then he saw something he wasn't eager to see.
From inside the torn space rift, a giant fox head had emerged, as large as a man, its two demonic, blood-red eyes emitting a strange red glow. Its blue fur was smooth and wave-like, emanating a terrifying and formidable presence. It kept turning its head from side to side, scrutinizing Shi Chun intently as if sizing up its food, pondering how to take a bite.
Shi Chun, who had never seen such a scene, managed to force out a sycophantic smile, attempting to curry favor.