Chapter 31: The Dungeon Fire

Flames raged, engulfing the night. In Jinjiang County, a town with barely ten thousand registered households, the inferno’s glare rose so high that it could be seen from every corner.

When the group of four arrived at the dungeon, the fire was at its most ferocious. The searing heat devoured everything in sight, making the skin on their faces burn from the waves of hot air. Countless bailiffs and townsfolk, diligent as worker bees, hauled water from distant wells in a desperate attempt to quell the blaze. Yet, compared to the magnitude of the disaster, their efforts were like a drop in the ocean—utterly futile.

“Priest, do you have any magical means to extinguish the fire?” Bai Xian turned to the portly Daoist.

He could only shake his head with a rueful smile. “Miss Bai, you overestimate me. Unless you summon the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, this fire won’t be doused. I’m merely a novice just down from the mountain.”

“Have the prisoners inside been rescued?” Yue Wenying grabbed a bailiff, one of those fighting the flames, and demanded answers.

The bailiff hesitated, but seeing the scar-faced Cai Wei among them, he relented and shook his head. “The fire started at the dungeon gate before dawn. No one inside managed to escape.”

He rushed off to continue the fight.

“What now?” Bai Xian murmured.

“Of all times, the fire breaks out just as we’re about to question Zhao Erhu in the dungeon. Too much of a coincidence,” Yue Wenying sneered, pulling a yellow talisman from his iron box at his belt. After being bested by the black-robed figure the previous day, Yue Wenying had brought all his belongings with him.

“Someone doesn’t want us to see Zhao Erhu. Well, I’ll see him anyway!” He pressed the talisman against his chest.

Instantly, the charm burned, transforming into a golden radiance that enveloped his body.

The portly Daoist gasped. “By the Supreme Lord! The Golden Light Talisman from Dragon Tiger Mountain!”

Yue Wenying dashed into the fire, cleaving open the burning dungeon gate with a single strike and ducking inside.

“Damn it! Using the Golden Light Talisman just like that? What a waste!” The Daoist’s face was full of indignation at Yue Wenying’s reckless use of such a precious item. Within the Daoist tradition, the Golden Light Talisman was one of the highest-grade charms, and only the Dragon Tiger Mountain lineage could craft it.

“Will Yue Wenying make it out alive?” Bai Xian asked.

“How should I know?” the Daoist replied.

“You recognize the Golden Light Talisman, don’t you?”

“I do, but no one’s ever used it to charge into a fire!”

Inside the dungeon, Yue Wenying was met with a crimson world: the glow of burning flames, and the blood splattered across every wall.

The fire was no accident—it was deliberate. To prevent escape, every guard and prisoner had been slaughtered beforehand.

The golden light flickered, and Yue Wenying steadied his mind. As the Daoist said, the Golden Light Talisman repelled evil and protected against poison, but its fire resistance was limited; it wouldn’t last long.

Without delay, Yue Wenying rushed through the dungeon, which, fortunately, was small. He checked cell after cell, finally finding Zhao Erhu, as Cai Wei had described, chained to the wall in the deepest chamber, head drooping and covered in blood.

Yue Wenying entered, lifted his head, and his expression darkened. Zhao Erhu’s chest cavity had been torn open, his organs bearing the marks of being gnawed.

The murderer was a flesh-eater.

But Zhao Erhu himself had been imprisoned for cannibalism. If the fire was set to rescue him, that might be plausible—but why go to such lengths just to eat a comrade’s organs?

As the flames grew ever more uncontrollable, Yue Wenying released Zhao Erhu’s corpse and prepared to retreat. Just then, a weak cry for help reached his ears.

“Help… help me…”

Following the sound, Yue Wenying found a convict in prison garb hidden among the straw. He seized the man by the neck and charged toward the exit.

With a crash, he smashed through a collapsed beam, tumbling out with the surviving convict. Almost instantly, a deafening roar erupted from the dungeon—the fire had consumed the entire structure, causing it to collapse.

Cai Wei, quick on his feet, grabbed a bucket of water and doused Yue Wenying’s head, extinguishing the flames on his hair and clothes.

“Quick… help him!” Bai Xian turned over the convict.

He was covered in blood, a deep wound gaping in his chest, dark red blood pouring out in torrents. Having lost too much blood, and burnt by smoke and fire, he was barely clinging to life—the pupils already beginning to blur.

The portly Daoist stepped forward, pulled out a blank yellow talisman, and bit his fingertip. Using his blood as cinnabar, he swiftly traced characters on the charm.

“One, two, three, four, five—gold, wood, water, fire, earth. Let the blood within not move, let the blood without not flow. Block the mouths of the Three Rivers, block the Yellow River so its waters cease… Supreme Lord Lao, by urgent decree, grant it!”

The blood-stopping charm was completed, glowing mysteriously as it adhered to the convict’s wound. Immediately, the bleeding halted as if plugged, and even the blood around the wound seemed to flow back in.

Bai Xian was quietly impressed. She had not expected the Daoist to possess such skill, though she wondered how he compared to the old Daoist Zhang Yuheng.

The Daoist blushed under her gaze, silently reciting the calming incantation several times before regaining composure.

“Ask quickly—my charm cannot save his life, only delay his death.”

After all, talismans were no substitute for an operating room, nor was the Daoist a physician. Keeping the man barely alive for questioning was the most he could manage.

Bai Xian spoke at once, “How did the fire start? Did you see who set it?”

“It… it was a black… black-robed man, ugh…”

The convict coughed relentlessly, every word draining his strength. After uttering “black-robed man,” the blood-stopping charm on his chest suddenly burned to ash, and his breathing ceased altogether.

“Before the fire, the guards had already been killed,” Yue Wenying gasped, tearing off the now-ashen Golden Light Talisman. “Zhao Erhu’s body bears many bite marks. Clearly, the murderer feared we might uncover something through Zhao Erhu.”

Bai Xian reached out to close the dead convict’s staring eyes.

“Still, we’ve learned something useful. Even if the black-robed man is not a flesh-eater himself, he is deeply connected to them.”

“But now that Zhao Erhu is dead, where do we start?”

“He Shan,” Bai Xian paused, then continued, “When we entered town, the black-robed man ambushed us. I thought his target was you monster-hunters, but after He Shan escaped, the black-robed man lost interest in fighting. Clearly, He Shan is his real objective.”

Cai Wei, the scar-faced one, spoke. “I’ve already sent three teams to find him, but there’s no news yet.”

“Then let’s split up. Cai Wei and Officer Yue, assist the bailiffs in searching for He Shan, and see if you can dig up information on the black-robed man. I’ll go with Master Zhang to visit He Shan’s home.”

Their plan was settled; for now, it was the only course open to them.