Under Zhao Yunxiao's lead, as well as the sharp gazes from Demonfall citizens, the entourage of more than twenty headed straight for the Good Luck Theatre Group's shophouse.
"Stand guard out here," Chang Huien instructed his men as they arrived. "When the city guards come, delay them for as long as you can. But remember, you must not be the first to strike."
"Understood," the apparent leader of his men answered respectfully.
"Is everything ready?" Zhao Yunxiao asked as Cai Caoyuan unlocked the door.
"Yes..." Cai Caoyuan answered wryly as he stepped in. "The place is as we have left it."
"Mm," Zhao Yunxiao nodded before heading up the stairs.
Behind him, Gu Qiansi, Lu Zhiying, Cai Caoyuan, Xi Hei, and Chang Huien followed without saying another word. This time, Nie Hanchang did not accompany them but remained on the first storey instead, watching over the seven Scarlet Leaf Sect members with his bow at the ready.
It was indeed as Cai Caoyuan had said – the fourth storey looked just like how it had when they were last there. The place was wide open, allowing one to see all corners with a single glance. And just like before, there was nothing but a table and six chairs. Now that Nie Hanchang and Ling Jiping were not around, even with the addition of Chang Huien and Xi Hei, the six chairs remained just enough for them.
Cai Caoyuan stepped forward and retrieved a silver pendant from his robes, carefully placing it atop the table.
"That's the pendant that you spoke about?" Chang Huien raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, it is," Cai Caoyuan replied. "It is the exact pendant that Sir Lei He had been wearing when he faced the Night Emperor – a heirloom of the city!"
"If the cultivators are speaking the truth, then the pendant is cursed," Chang Huien remarked. "How can that still be considered an heirloom of the city?"
"A cursed heirloom is still an heirloom!"
"So, are we going to remove the curse now?" Xi Hei asked expectantly.
"Yes, that's exactly what we are about to do," Zhao Yunxiao answered while taking a quick glance at both Cai Caoyuan and Chang Huien. "Now, stay still and leave the rest to us."
It was clear that his words were directed to the latter two as well, both of whom sat down without uttering a word of complaint. Xi Hei did so as well, though he felt more anticipation than scepticism.
Among everyone here, he was probably the one who would be most impacted by what was about to happen.
As for Cai Caoyuan, he was feeling far more sceptical than the others. After all, he had already seen them fail once. Despite the confidence that Zhao Yunxiao was exuding at the moment, he could not help but prepare himself for potential failure.
Zhao Yunxiao ignored the three of them as he quickly started setting up the array with the help of Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying. There was no Nie Hanchang to help them out this time, but Zhao Yunxiao was not worried.
He had already witnessed the strength of the spirit in the silver pendant, and determined that the three of them would be more than enough.
"All done. Now then, let's begin," Zhao Yunxiao walked over to sit at one corner of the array.
"Got it," Gu Qiansi sat at another corner.
"Yes, Sir!" Lu Zhiying followed suit.
The three of them sat in the shape of a triangle, facing the silver pendant that had now been placed on the floor right in the centre of the array.
One by one, they placed a palm on the floor, and energy started flowing from their palms into the array. With a light buzz, a golden emblem appeared beneath the silver pendant.
With Zhao Yunxiao consciously making up for Nie Hanchang's absence, nothing seemed to differ from the previous time. The emblem took the form of a circle that was around three metres in diameter, with the pendant positioned directly in the centre.
Just like before, threads of golden light started to emerge from the golden emblem, slowly wrapping around it and lifting it off the ground like a trophy.
Zhao Yunxiao then used his free hand to point towards the pendant, firing a ball of essence energy towards it.
"Release!"
Boom-!
Cai Caoyuan winced in disapproval as the ball of energy struck the pendant, creating a flash of light that blinded everyone. He might already know that it would not damage the pendant, but he still could not help but feel his heart ache upon seeing how roughly the pendant was being treated.
Similarly, he might have already expected what would happen next, but his heart still could not help but skip a beat in horror upon actually seeing it.
And if even Cai Caoyuan was startled despite having already seen it before, Chang Huien and Xi Hei were naturally no exception. Their eyes widened in terror as a blurry and transparent figure emerged from within the pendant, distorting the air around it as it pushed against the threads of golden light, which in turn expanded to form the outline of the humanoid figure.
Zhao Yunxiao knew from experience that the soul in the pendant was capable of launching sound attacks that could bypass the Soul Suppression Shell Array, so he wasted no time in moving to the next step.
"Yin disperses, yang prevails. Five elements return to balance. By the mandate of the heavens, obey the laws of the world. Your time has long run out, Lei Tingyi! Disconnect all threads of karma!" he made a mudra with his free hand. "Purge!"
Lei Tingyi – beloved disciple of Sir Lei He.
After reading Lei Tingyi's diary in the Lan Clan Residence, Zhao Yunxiao had become almost 92% sure that the soul haunting the silver pendant belonged to Lei Tingyi. Had it been either Lei He or the Night Emperor's soul, then Lan Fangyan would never have been able to wear it in peace after the death of the Night Emperor!
And who else but Lei Tingyi would possess such rage and grievance, enough to curse the pendant for generations and generations?
The moment Lei Tingyi's name came out of Zhao Yunxiao's mouth, the spirit suddenly seemed to lose a significant amount of its strength, allowing the golden threads to quickly tighten around it. At the same time, the threads around the spirit turned from golden to purple as they started moving away from the pendant, dragging the soul along with them.
It was effective!
Or at least, it was effective for a good few moments.
Just like before, the soul suddenly roared in rage. The threads that were binding it ever so tightly quickly expanded, clearly no longer able to withstand the sudden burst of strength from the spirit.
This only meant one thing.
"It's not Lei Tingyi's soul!" Gu Qiansi shouted anxiously. "It must be a wild spirit that has been summoned by the one who planted the curse. Let's go with a forceful purge!"
"It's you maggots again?!" the spirit shouted with the same bone-chilling and distorted voice from before. "Haven't I told you before? If you keep provoking me, not only will I make sure that more people die, but even you are not going to escape unscathed! Do you think that I am just making empty threats?!"
"All right, enough posturing," Zhao Yunxiao stared at the outline of the spirit with a cold light in his eyes. "Lei He, Lei Tingyi. Both of you need to accept your fate and stop harming the people who have absolutely nothing to do with your grievances of the past."
Badump-!
The moment it was addressed with both names, the spirit seemed to have been dealt a powerful psychological blow. Not just that, but it seemed to once again lose the ability to resist the purple threads as the latter suddenly tightened around it.
"H-How?! Impossible!" the spirit screeched in horror.
"Nothing's impossible in this world," Zhao Yunxiao did not seem surprised by this result, much unlike everyone else in the group. "It's time to face the music."
When he thought about it, things had actually been rather simple.
His initial conjecture had not been entirely off the mark. The only miscalculation he made was that he had not expected more than one soul to be possessing the silver pendant.
The fact that the spirit in the silver pendant had been weakened when he called out Lei He's name had not been an act put on by the spirit to toy with them. On the contrary, the spirit had truly been weakened, but that had not been enough because there was still a second spirit in the silver pendant that was able to resist the soul purge!
That fact was made more obvious when he thought back to when he first called out the Night Emperor's name. Had the spirit truly wanted to toy with them, the spirit could have pretended to have been weakened back then as well.
But it did not.
Why?
Because that had never been the intention in the first place.
"No! This is not happening!" the spirit continued to screech as the purple threads continued to constrict around it. "How can the heavens be this unfair?! Master lived his life purely for the good of people, so why does he have to lose his chance to live prematurely while those who conspired against him continue to live on in luxury? I will not accept this! I WILL NOT!"
The spirit struggled violently against the purple threads, but the threads held firm this time as they continued to drag it away from the pendant.
"You don't have a choice," Zhao Yunxiao was not intimidated. "Your time has long passed, so it is time to let go of your obsessions and embark on the journey that you should have gone on long ago."
"NO! I DO NOT ACCEPT THIS! I WILL NEVER!"
"Tingyi, enough."
This time, a different voice came from the spirit. Albeit still distorted in nature, an inexplicable calmness could still be felt from it.
"Sir Lei He?" Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes, unsure of what to expect.
"Apologies for not speaking up until now. I have feared that when our identities are exposed, because of what she has done over the years, Tingyi would be directly exterminated instead of being allowed to enter reincarnation."
Those words caused everyone's eyes to widen once again, this time in surprise at the appearance of the legendary hero.
Everyone... except Zhao Yunxiao.
"One must pay for what they did. Even if she were exterminated, that would just be reaping what she sowed," Zhao Yunxiao answered without hesitation. "And this is not just about her. Do you think that you are in the clear? For the hero that the entire city respects and worships to be cursing future generations... aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
"Indeed, I bear full responsibility for my actions. It is my fault for failing to rein in my disciple. I might have managed to reduce her actions to merely scaring others initially, but I failed to stop her from getting from bad to worse. Do what you need to me, but please forgive her. Tingyi is a good child who has my interests at heart."
"What's wrong with killing them?! You have always been too kind for your own good, which is why you ended up the way you did!" the bone-chilling screech from before appeared once again. "If you had only calculated against those bastards in the same way that they did against you, it wouldn't be your name that is being used as a mere punchline in that joke of a performance till this very day! In comparison to their misdeeds, what I did is nothing! It's justified revenge!"
"I have long forgiven Qiqi and Fangyan, so why can't you do so as well? It is only human that they have failed to act during the battle against the Night Emperor out of fear. I have also suspected that they might hesitate, but was simply hoping that they would be able to overcome their fear through the intensity of the battle. You can say that I simply lost the gamble."
"How is their inaction solely out of fear?! That is clearly planned out in advance! And what about the way they hid the truth after the battle? Is that out of fear as well?!"
"The way they hid the truth might not be honourable, but it was similarly very human. After all, what's done is done. What good is there in telling everyone about how they failed? Rather than that, the way they handled it actually helped to create a symbol of hope and strength – something that the people truly needed at the time."
"Do you know that those two have already gotten together before your battle?! They were flirting with each other, writing love letters behind your back!"
"I already knew, and was just waiting for them to muster the courage to be honest about it. Regardless, they will never harm me simply because of that, and their grief over my death was definitely real. In fact, I have also possessed the pendant out of vengeance. But after witnessing how they acted and how serious they were about improving the lives of the masses, how could I still bring myself to hold anything against them?"
"I know! I know all this already! That's why you even materialised to try and stop me from taking that Lan bastard's life! You have told me this a million times already, so how can I not know what you feel?! But I beg of you, please listen to me as well! For once, can you please just stop being so kind and keep thinking up excuses for everyone else's misdeeds?! This is exactly why those inept bastards dared to plot against you! And now, once again, are you going to just let these maggots take you out? Even when you can blow them away with a wave of your hand? I am not going to accept this! If you are not going to protect yourself, I WILL!"
Screech-!
An ear-piercing screech burst forth from the constricted spirit, sounding like a battle cry that originated straight from the netherworld. Within it, one could feel the grievances, helplessness, indignance, and hatred that had accumulated over countless years. Just the emotions alone would be able to crush one's spirit, not to mention the nether energy within that could target one's soul.
However, how could Zhao Yunxiao not be prepared for that after having personally witnessed the soul's ability to launch sound attacks in the past?
With a flick of his finger, a black-tinted jade flute appeared in his free hand, which he brought to his lips without hesitation.
Next, the lively and bright sound of the flute filled the air.
[Zodiac Scripture – Rooster Aspect: Sound Manipulation]