Volume 1, Chapter 11 – The Governor of Qizhou

On the other side, with the money Zhou Ji had given her, Tang Min booked a room at a budget hotel across the street.

After splashing her face with water, she heard a lot of footsteps shuttling back and forth in the hallway and couldn’t help feeling glad she’d left with Zhou Ji early.

At this hour there would certainly be vacancies, but No. 1 High had several thousand students; if they all got evacuated at once, the nearby hotels were bound to be swamped.

“I still don’t know what happened at school…”

Standing by the window and looking across the road, staring at the high-hung plaque of Chilong No. 1 High School, Tang Min felt uneasy.

She was a small-town girl who’d grown up on tales of aberrations. But none of those stories ever caused a commotion this big, so she didn’t think in that direction—she was still worrying how she’d be dealt with if her poisoning stunt got exposed.

Zhou Ji had already been picked up. With his family connections, even if all the evidence pointed to him, the Inspectorate would just raise the cudgel high and put it down light.

But not necessarily for her.

What leverage did she have to make sure Zhou Ji covered for her?

Alone on the bed, Tang Min finally felt real regret and fear.

She didn’t even have a phone to ask classmates for news; her only link to the outside world was a calling card in her wallet, and its balance was nearly gone.

“Forget it.”

“Fill my stomach first.”

She hadn’t eaten much at the dinner. Tang Min ordered a standard set meal and forced herself not to think.

And yet…

While she waited, the image of the white-haired girl with a wooden sword, foot on Zhou Ji’s face demanding an answer from the whole room, kept flashing through her mind.

“Bai Xiang…”

“Senior Sister Chai Xuan was top of the nation and soared into Qizhou University—if she looks down on me, I accept it.”

“But you, a mere disciple of some shabby sword dao—in their eyes your background’s no better than mine—what gives you… what gives you the right to enter the Dao earlier than me?”

Grinding her teeth, Tang Min was wild with jealousy.

Ding-dong~!

Just then, the doorbell rang.

She opened up to find a sweet-faced waitress.

The other girl pushed a serving cart and smiled brightly. “Your meal is here. May I bring it in?”

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“No.” Tang Min was annoyed just seeing that smile. “Give me the tray. I can take it myself!”

Bang!

She all but snatched the tray from the girl and slammed the door hard.

Once the door closed, the pretty waitress’s smile vanished at once.

“I really want to eat her…”

“But since she helped deploy the ‘Shenli,’ I’ll let it slide for now.”

Listening to the nearby footsteps and voices, the waitress grinned, lips parting slightly.

If you looked closely at that moment, you’d see that behind the neat row of white teeth there was another set hidden.

A second set—sharp as a shark’s.

[ I told you to find a spot to watch the entrance, not to go hunting. ]

A man’s magnetic voice came through her earpiece.

[ Move it. You’re our only sentry outside. ]

“Yeah, yeah…”

Muttering, the waitress pushed the cart on, then knocked on the door at the end of the hall.

“Your meal is here~”

She put on her brightest smile.

“May I bring it in for you?”

This time the guest was a pot-bellied middle-aged man. He stared at her face first, then at the black stockings hugging her legs.

“Come in.”

He adjusted his glasses and opened the door, then quickly shut it after she entered.

But within seconds, a short scream came from inside.

“What are you?”

“Stay back—mmph—”

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Then came a low “crunch-crunch” sound like someone chewing bone.

“Finally, that hit the spot~”

“But middle-aged men’s meat has a stink.”

“If I could choose, I’d rather eat children…”

She reached into her mouth and tugged out a blood-soaked cloth, then, crimson from head to toe, went to the window and craned her neck to look across the road.

“Ao Lin.”

[ I’m here. ]

“No cars with those plates yet. You’ll have to wait a little longer.”

The man thought for a moment, then went on: [ Yang Xing just reported in—everything’s going smoothly on campus. ]

[ The Demon Pool is already spreading. The miasma’s wrapped the whole building. The connected corridors and the cafeteria side are affected too—pretty much no way to break out. ]

“The sequence is a bit off plan, but luckily they kept the class over.”

The waitress’s smile grew even sunnier. “I’m dying to see their faces when they find the Fang family’s noble daughter’s mangled corpse.”

[ Don’t fuss over it. ]

The voice in her ear paused.

[ We’re only here to take the Jade Phoenix Sword. ]

“And pin it on Qingya Sword Dao.” The waitress narrowed her eyes. “…Will Fang Xiaochun really buy it?”

[ Zhou Jing’an has coveted the Jade Phoenix Sword for nearly thirty years. When it was unearthed, he even tried to intercept it halfway. ]

The man’s voice carried a smile—and a fierce confidence.

[ And he’s always been at odds with the people of Yuming Sword Dao. He’s even got a black mark for colluding with Zhengwo Dao. ]

[ And Fang Xiaochun loves his daughter so much… ]

[ It’s an open stratagem. Should be enough to keep them busy for a while. ]

…

Meanwhile, with Ma Bolan accompanying her, Bai Xiang had already reached the outside of the lab building.

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She stopped and looked up. The whole building was wrapped in a thin veil of mist. Plenty of teachers and security guards had abandoned their umbrellas to set up a cordon.

No one was talking; only the roar of rain scouring the ground.

Footsteps approached. Bai Xiang turned to see a lean, upright, high-cheekboned middle-aged man coming her way with Gao Feng.

“Principal.” Ma Bolan nodded to him. “I’ve brought Bai Xiang.”

“Mm.” Zhang Longze grunted, then lifted his eyes to study Bai Xiang closely, gaze so sharp it was as if he were carving her image into his mind.

Bai Xiang said nothing and let him look.

“Inspector Han has already taken a team inside.”

After a moment, Zhang nodded and sighed.

“Over twenty sword-track students have entered the Dao. With no urgent summons, only one came with her sword to the rescue…”

“I know everyone has their own scruples, but still—it leaves a bitter taste…”

“Back to business.” He straightened his face and smiled at Bai Xiang.

“I’ve always admired Old Bai’s character. The disciple he’s trained is, indeed, chivalrous.”

“Principal Zhang is short-handed.”

Bai Xiang looked at him.

“Because this Demon Pool is no ordinary threat?”

“I won’t hide it.” Zhang Longze shook his head. “A Demon Pool doesn’t get swapped into a school for no reason. Someone planned this. Very likely, they’re after a particular student.”

“A student in the lab building?”

The teachers all started—then caught on. “…One from the experimental class?”

Each grade at No. 1 had ten classes—and one experimental class besides, on a completely separate schedule.

That class had nothing to do with sword-track martial training; it followed the academic-competition route, and usually didn’t meet in the teaching blocks but in the lab building.

So complicated?

Bai Xiang frowned.

She had always preferred to plan before acting.

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The counter to a Demon Pool was the will of the sword dao—the heart-aspect awakened within the body’s inner vista.

Her heart-aspect was clearly unusual. With Inspectors Han Li and Zhao Xiaoqin—a matched pair of full-rank inspectors—fronting, she had some confidence.

But if there were planners behind this too…

Hard to say if there would be other dangers besides the Demon Pool.

“Do we know who they are?” Ma Bolan asked.

Zhang Longze shook his head.

“How many?”

Another shake of the head.

“You don’t know that either? And you still let Inspector Han take people inside?” Ma Bolan thought he was going to lose it. “Shouldn’t we call for backup and wait a few minutes?”

He couldn’t understand—would that really take more than ten minutes?

“Because it’s urgent.”

Zhang Longze’s voice grew heavier.

“The student’s name is Fang Wenya.”

“Her father’s name is Fang Xiaochun.”

At that, everyone fell silent.

Including Bai Xiang.

Because she recognized it too—that name had come up many times in the news.

Fang Xiaochun, style name Xianzhang, was a Yujing Daoist of Jing Province in Great Yu.

A little over two years ago, he traveled from Yujing to Qiyun.

By imperial mandate he received the seal.

And was appointed Governor of Qizhou.