Chapter Two: The Empty City

At last, he was still here.

When Shen Changan opened his eyes and looked around, he found himself once more in the cave from which he had departed earlier.

A full month had passed since the eradication of the Five Organs Ghost.

During that month, the colleague Sun Yiyuan had promised to send never came knocking. No one knew what had delayed him. As for the ancient jade disk that could summon ghostly beings, Shen Changan had simply brought it into this world with him.

Though the strength of the three-headed evil spirit was mediocre, its ability to conceal itself could prove unexpectedly useful at times.

So what would this time be?

He opened the old beast-skin book, and on the page were written a few clear words: a devouring and mind-stealing flesh spirit of uncanny age must be beheaded at once.

Shen Changan murmured that name under his breath, his brows lifting slightly.

He had heard of it before. Some also called it a flesh lingzhi. But what was this thing of malevolent resentment?

And the reason for its execution this time was at last something other than cannibalism and murder. But what, exactly, did it mean to seize spirit and steal thought?

Shen Changan’s mind turned over countless possibilities as he searched his personal notes, trying to find the next destination.

Yet when he flipped back to the first page, he was astonished to find that in his own record there was only one sentence left: seek the flesh spirit and slay it.

This damned book knew he had been using it to cheat, did it?

Shen Changan grew irritable. With no clue in hand, and with information in ancient times so poorly connected, how long would it take to track down this monster?

Damn it, this is infuriating.

He scratched at his scalp and turned the page. This time, the illustration of the creature had been provided in advance as well. Its appearance did not resemble a flesh spirit at all; rather, it looked human.

Damn it, could it be that this thing is moving around?

Since the beast-skin book had not written down any location, Shen Changan felt the guess was not unreasonable. What methods could an ordinary flesh spirit possibly have? Only one that had achieved true sentience might possess the ability to seize spirit and steal thought.

Fine, I’ll just travel and ask around as I go. See whether I can find Master or the little fox. If I can, things will go much more smoothly... Right, if I pass through Linan, I can also ask Zheng Xin. The Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness has a sizable reach; its information network is far better than mine.

At the moment, Shen Changan found himself craving nothing so much as a divination art among the powers granted to him this time: star counting, hidden object divination, knowledge of the hours—anything of that sort. When he did not even know where the monster was, how could he hope to subdue demons and exorcise evil? He would have to rely on luck.

Troublesome. I should head back to Fangcheng first.

He shook his head, descended from the mountain, and returned to Fangcheng.

As he entered the city, he froze on the spot.

Was this still the prosperous city he had once seen?

The vast city of Fangcheng lay deathly still, with scarcely a soul walking its streets. The merchants and laborers who had once filled it were long gone, not a single figure to be seen.

Shen Changan wore a strange expression.

He had subdued Abyss, but Fangcheng had suffered a crushing blow.

This place was remote beyond measure, its terrain abysmal; otherwise it would never have remained merely a village for so many years. Under such conditions, people had still kept pouring into Fangcheng, all because of the vast sums of money brought in by the rat-demon hordes under Abyss’s command.

Now that the truth had come to light, Fangcheng was sure to have drawn the ire of countless people. Anyone who had lost money would likely blame the city for it. At this point, Fangcheng had not merely returned to its original state; it was probably all but cut off from the rest of the world.

Seeing this, Shen Changan felt a pang of unwilling sympathy. Though he had been forced to sacrifice this place for the greater good, it was the same old story: I did not kill that man, but that man died because of me.

By the standards of worldly justice, Shen Changan could justify himself. But before his own conscience, he could not quite pass muster.

He walked toward an old man sitting by the roadside, intending to ask a question, but the old man flew into a rage first and cursed, Go away! You outsiders are the reason we’ve been ruined!

Shen Changan stopped at once, frowning as he looked at him.

What are you looking at? Am I wrong? If it weren’t for you dogs forcing the issue with Lord Fang, how could we have ended up like this?

Shen Changan parted his lips, but before he could speak, the man cut him off. Hah, don’t start talking about how he was in league with demons. Whether he was a demon or not, wasn’t that just a matter of one word from you? Easy enough to say, but not a single one of you brought compensation in money!

Shen Changan considered it and said, You feel that while Fang Siyi was here, you lived better?

Isn’t that obvious? the man snapped rudely, his face full of disdain. When Lord Fang was here, people like you mud-legged peasants wouldn’t even have had the right to speak to me. If I was in a good mood, I’d toss you a few taels of silver. If I wasn’t, I’d have your legs broken and still throw you a few taels afterward!

Shen Changan asked again, But weren’t you a farmer yourself before? Why bully others?

Hah! A farmer? I was one of the very first people in Fangcheng to receive the right to settle here. Do you understand? I am a nobleman, not one of you mud-legged rabble! Even if I once worked the fields, that was because I chose to. It is worlds apart from people like you. Do you understand that?

As he spoke, the man’s expression grew increasingly haughty. His clothes were already in tatters, yet he still held his head so high.

At last, Shen Changan asked, The court didn’t make any arrangements? What about the other people in Fangcheng? Why have they become so few?

A flash of disgust crossed the man’s face as he said coldly, The arrangements the court gave us? You call that an arrangement? They wanted me to go work in another city. Hear that? Is that how humans talk? And the others were a bunch of beasts too—they actually followed the court officials and left.

A bunch of useless trash! Cowards, every last one of them! If they hadn’t betrayed us, maybe the court’s relief would have come down by now. Damn them, are those people even human?

Shen Changan nodded indifferently and rose to his feet, saying coolly, Indeed, they are not.

You think so too, right? the man said, suddenly excited.

But Shen Changan replied with icy calm, I was talking about you. And by the way, you’d better find a way to get something to eat. Otherwise, I suspect you won’t be alive much longer.

Damn you, who are you cursing? the man roared in fury, suddenly standing up as if to lunge at Shen Changan.

But Shen Changan paid him no heed at all and simply turned to leave.

The man had barely risen before he fell back down, unable to get up for a long while. Watching Shen Changan’s departing figure, he could only hurl a few more curses after him.

Damn it all, he’s not even that much older than me. What’s he putting on airs for?

Indeed, he was no old man at all. He was merely a young man who had grown prematurely aged from long-term hunger and a diet devoid of vitality. The court had sent them out to work in order to give them even the slightest chance of survival.

Yet these people had remained in this empty city instead.