Chapter Eighty-Six: Finished

Lin Jianyan instinctively cast a glance toward the old locust tree with its crooked neck. Bathed in moonlight, its shadows danced across the ground; the branches were empty, without any horrific, pulsing heart dangling from them, and only then did she feel a measure of relief.

She crouched low, using the dense shadow beneath the old tree for cover, crept forward with her body bent, silencing her breath and footsteps, until she arrived beneath the window of the woodshed.

Inside, a single candle flickered, casting the side profile of a young man upon the wall.

She saw clearly: the youth was indeed cradling something in his arms, gently, slowly caressing it, all the while murmuring under his breath.

Such a scene, in the dead of night with all creation silent, struck her as profoundly unnatural.

Lin Jianyan took a deep breath, bit her lip lightly, and slipped a slender, jade-like finger into her mouth, wetting it with saliva. Only then did she reach out and, on the window paper stained with years of sesame oil, poke a tiny hole through.

She pressed her right eye to the hole, holding her breath as she peered inside.

At that sight, even with her usual composure, her heart and spirit could not help but tremble.

The youth was holding a wooden doll in his arms!

The doll’s face was childlike and innocent, yet its painted eyes, illuminated by candlelight, seemed to shimmer with a sinister glow.

And the boy, treating it as if it were an infant swaddled and crying, wore an expression of tender devotion—his movements gentle, his voice low, as though soothing the child to sleep.

Within, Lin Jianyan thought, “Could this person have fallen under the spell of that evil thing, his mind already ensnared? He treats this demon as if it were his own child...”

While she was still wavering between alarm and doubt, the youth suddenly spoke—and what he said shook her to the core.

…

Lu Chenyuan caressed the doll for some time. Though the restless, agitated aura from the figure in his arms had subsided, he sensed an unspoken grievance, as if it were a bullied child too frightened to complain.

A thought stirred within him: “If this thing has truly gained a spirit, then merely soothing it is but a temporary measure. Perhaps I should speak to it, see how it reacts?”

Once the notion arose, it could not be suppressed.

Lu Chenyuan steadied himself and, facing the wooden doll in his arms, spoke softly:

“I know you’ve suffered today.”

He sighed, as though reprimanding a stubborn little sister, “But you mustn’t act out anymore.”

“Already, many people have noticed you. If you don’t settle down, there will be real trouble. Be good, go to sleep. If you misbehave, there’ll be no treats for you next time.”

…

His words, gentle and full of feeling, made Lin Jianyan’s hair stand on end as she listened from outside.

…

“No… No!” she cried inwardly. “If he were truly under its control, would he scold it in that way? That’s the tone of a master talking to his own pet!”

“And that line—‘I know you’ve suffered today’… How could he know that the Demon Suppression Division performed the Soul Cleansing ritual earlier?”

“That is a secret even ordinary members of the Division would not know. How could he know so clearly? Does he have the means to spy on our Demon Suppression Division?!”

This thought sent a chill through her, as if she had plunged into an icy abyss.

But when she heard the last line—“no treats for you”—her face drained of all color.

She had seen with her own eyes the doll’s aura of resentment, clearly forged from the souls of countless living humans!

What could “treats” possibly mean?

Of course—it meant living people.

…

As soon as Lu Chenyuan finished speaking, intending to observe the doll’s reaction, he suddenly felt a twitch between his brows. Without warning, a call echoed from the depths of the Eastern Sea—clearer and more urgent than ever, mingled with countless mad, chaotic whispers.

Taken off-guard, and holding in his arms an object of utmost evil and filth, the curse within him—barely suppressed—surged forth like a flood breaking through a dam.

His right palm prickled fiercely. Glancing down, he saw beneath his skin several crimson eyeballs writhing, struggling to open.

His heart seized with dread. Hastily, he focused on the breathing technique his master had taught him, evening out his breath and forcibly suppressing the evil energy.

…

Lin Jianyan saw everything through the peephole—her eyes wide as saucers, her heart in turmoil.

“A Daoic transformation?!” she thought in shock. At first, it seemed absurd—a mortal with no trace of spiritual power exhibiting such a sign?

But the thought had barely formed before she mocked herself, thinking, “Anyone who can raise such an evil doll cannot be an ordinary mortal.”

“And yet, there truly is not the slightest ripple of spiritual power about him—that much is certain. There’s only one explanation.”

“This man’s cultivation is so far beyond my own Flame-Wielding rank that it is utterly unimaginable!”

“To so calmly suppress a Daoic transformation, without a hint of panic… and add to that the demonic doll in his arms…”

A title flashed through her mind like a bolt of lightning.

“Lamp Bearer! He must be a Lamp Bearer of that corrupt and heretical sect, a figure of the highest rank!”

Where the way is high, the demon’s craft is higher still. In their ranks, a Lamp Bearer’s strength is overwhelmingly dominant within their realm. His power far exceeds her own. If he discovered her, she would likely not escape with her life…

At this, all hope vanished from her heart. The air itself seemed to congeal around her, pressing down until she could barely breathe.

She had to escape—immediately!

If someone like him discovered her, her life would end here tonight. Even the protective talisman her father had given her might not stand against such a fathomless old demon…

Yet, though she knew this, her gaze was once again irresistibly drawn to the youth’s breathing technique.

At first glance, it seemed ordinary, but in every breath there was a hidden harmony with the deepest truths of heaven and earth—ancient and profound—far subtler than the “Illuminating Heart Sutra” she practiced at the Demon Suppression Division.

“This breathing technique…”

She suddenly recalled that her father had once told her: the techniques used by the Demon Suppression Division today were all derived from methods created a thousand years ago by an unknown master.

“Could it be that what he’s using is that long-lost, ancient method?”

“How is that possible? Who is he?!”

While her thoughts ran wild, overwhelmed by shock and confusion—

Suddenly, there was a sharp, grating “crack.”

The doll’s head in the youth’s arms lurched to one side, its painted eyes fixing directly on her through the tiny peephole.

Lin Jianyan’s mind went blank with a ringing “buzz.” Her limbs went weak, and she accidentally knocked over a stack of empty wine jars beside the window.

With a loud crash, the shattering sound rang out, piercing the silence of the night.

In her mind, only two words remained:

“It’s over!”