Following close behind her, He Lingchuan suddenly realized something was off.
How had she caught up so fast?
He and the beast had sprinted faster than hares, vaulting countless obstacles along the way. How could an ordinary person keep pace with that?
Furthermore, he had kept his senses tuned in every direction throughout the clash. Even if the dense mist had not fully cleared at the time, he had not heard the slightest sound of her approach.
And neither had the two beasts—otherwise, how could she have caught one off guard?
Once suspicion took root, he looked closely at Sun Fuling’s clothes. Not a single drop of boiling water, not a fleck of green ichor had stained her.
In a fight that frantic, where the acid of the green fluid had burned several small holes straight through his own garments, she had emerged entirely spotless.
Was she truly just a teacher at Shumin Academy?
Paying no heed to whatever he might be thinking, Sun Fuling stepped into the room and pointed to the floor. "Look."
Lying on the ground was an elderly woman in her sixties. The terror she had felt in her final moments was still frozen on her face, but her entire body was withered to skin and bones, looking as though it had been vacuum-sealed.
A gaping hole had been torn into her throat as well.
He Lingchuan crouched down for a look, then said, "Her flesh and blood were drained dry. It seems these monsters feed on humans."
"The residence you ran to earlier belonged to a young mother," Sun Fuling added. "Her remains looked just like this."
So there were two monsters, slipping into homes separately to feed. When one was discovered by him, it had fled to join its companion and counterattack?
"How could such things appear inside Panlong City?" Panlong City was one of the few peaceful sanctuaries on this turbulent continent. Though its laws were strict, its security was just as high, which was why people could live and work here in peace.
Sun Fuling asked him, "What do you plan to do now?"
Before the words had fully faded, the outer door creaked open, and four or five men came rushing in.
He Lingchuan stepped out of the house and came face-to-face with several patrolmen.
"What happened here?" None of them could miss the monster on the ground, and every one of them started in alarm.
They had been patrolling nearby. The commotion from the beast's clash with He Lingchuan had been so loud that frightened residents had run to report it.
They had assumed it was merely an ordinary domestic dispute, but the moment they stepped through the door—good heavens!
Since He Lingchuan was on leave, he was not wearing his patrol uniform. He produced his divine bone necklace and dangled it before them. "About forty breaths ago, we heard a child scream on our way home and discovered two beasts harming people. We only managed to capture this one; the other escaped."
In the eyes of anyone in Panlong City, a divine bone necklace was a badge of rank. The patrolmen immediately asked, "Which way did it flee?"
"To the east. It's extremely agile." He Lingchuan pointed in that direction, and three of them darted off along the trail.
The remaining two patrolmen entered the house. Seeing the desiccated corpse on the floor, and hearing He Lingchuan mention two more victims not far away, their expressions grew even graver.
They questioned the pair thoroughly and repeatedly about every detail before saying, "We must report this up the chain at once. Please leave the scene for now. If necessary, we will seek you out for further questioning."
Just as He Lingchuan nodded, he heard Sun Fuling let out a soft cry. "Look, quickly!"
The monster's hissing had already died down, and when everyone looked down, its body was rapidly shrinking.
It had originally been nearly as tall as He Lingchuan, but now it was undergoing severe shrinkage, collapsing right before their eyes until it was no larger than a fist!
It was barely bigger than a newborn kitten.
Miniaturized like this, it appeared less terrifying, but far stranger than before.
Even the patrolmen stared slack-jawed. "Th-this...?" Were they supposed to carry this thing back to report in?
Sun Fuling nudged the creature with a tree branch. "It's alive, still breathing. I believe it's a juvenile, not yet fully grown."
"A juvenile..." He Lingchuan's expression soured. Had he nearly fallen to two immature monsters just now? Saying that aloud would be an utter humiliation.
If the juveniles were already this fierce, what would an adult be like?
"How could something like this slip into the city?" The checkpoints and gates of Panlong City were anything but ordinary.
Sun Fuling sighed. "Let us go and let the authorities do their work."
The two walked out through the gate. The street outside was packed with onlookers, who immediately pressed forward to ask what had happened the moment they emerged.
Sun Fuling brushed them off with a few deft words.
On the walk home, both remained silent.
The bizarre appearance of the monsters hung over their minds like an ominous shadow.
They arrived at their doors.
Instead of pushing her door open to go inside, Sun Fuling glanced twice at his back. "You're injured. Aren't you going to tend to it?"
"Uh..." He had not cared much at first—after all, whenever he left the dream and entered it again, his body was in prime condition; he could even revive from death. But now that she mentioned it, the pain flared up. "I'll go find A'luo to patch me up."
Sun Fuling hesitated a moment, then said, "I can apply the medicine for you, if you don't mind."
"I don't mind." He Lingchuan scratched his neck. "Of course not. Come in, please."
The two walked into He Lingchuan's small courtyard.
His room was too cramped for both of them to move around easily, so they went into the kitchen instead. Sun Fuling carried a small wooden stool over to the bright window and told him, "Sit."
Before He Lingchuan could get a clear look, Sun Fuling had already lit the brazier, tossing in two small chunks of charcoal and a small bundle of kindling.
The freezing room grew warm, bit by bit.
He Lingchuan asked her, "Should I take off my shirt?"
"No need." Sun Fuling examined his back. "The scabs have stuck to the cloth. Ripping it off by force would only do harm."
She went to the inner room to fetch shears and external medicine, then walked up behind He Lingchuan. "If it hurts, let me know."
A chill of metal soon touched his back. He Lingchuan knew she was using the shears to cut away the cloth adhering to his wounds.
The monster's sharp claws had gouged long gashes across his back, the two tears nearly parallel, with flesh torn open and the oozing blood showing a pale greenish froth.
"You're poisoned." Once she had cleaned the wounds, Sun Fuling held out an elixir pill on her palm and presented it to him. "You need at least two detoxification pills—one to swallow, and one for the wound."
He Lingchuan looked at her hand without a word.
"What is it?"
"This isn't my medicine, is it?"
"It's mine. Well, my brother's." She crushed the other pill and applied the powder to his wounds. He Lingchuan felt a sudden icy chill spread over his back; just as he was about to shiver, it instantly shifted into searing heat.
Ice and fire, a trial of extremes.
"Hsss—" It burned so fiercely his flesh felt half-cooked. He did not recall having any medicine with such overwhelming potency.
Sun Fuling pressed down on his shoulder to keep him still. "It's very effective. Bear with it."
Sure enough, the burning sensation soon faded away, replaced by a soothing coolness that greatly alleviated the pain. Sun Fuling wiped away the froth from the wounds, and the blood that welled up next was bright red.
Then she deftly bandaged him with golden wound salve.
He Lingchuan could feel her fingers pressing lightly around the wound, also cool to the touch. But she was leaning in close, and her warm breath brushed against his back.
From stepping inside to dressing the wound, Miss Sun had been deft and practiced in every move, which was quite unexpected.
Trying to break the silence, he said, "How could those two beasts appear in the city today?"
Without looking up, Sun Fuling replied, "They wouldn't have been able to get in on their own."
"Right. If they truly are juveniles, nine times out of ten they were smuggled inside by someone," He Lingchuan said quietly. "Relying purely on instinct, they fought on par with me. Who knows what an adult would be capable of."
"What worries me more is that there might be more than one or two." Sun Fuling sighed. "We ran across two just on our walk home. What about elsewhere?"
Creatures like that could shrink down; hiding within the vast expanse of Panlong City made them practically invisible. How could anyone find them all?
"The one we caught has already been handed over to the authorities, hasn't it?" she said softly. "Let's hope they find a solution soon. There—"
She patted He Lingchuan's shoulder. "All bandaged. Do not let water touch it, and do not sleep on your back for the next two days. Understand?"
"Understood, Physician Sun—" He Lingchuan chuckled. "Your touch isn't any worse than A'luo's."
A'luo was far rougher than she was.
A faint laugh seemed to come from behind him.
Sun Fuling disposed of the bloody water and soiled scraps, washed her hands, and then yawned, looking weary. "All done. I need to go back and get some sleep."
"Be careful. Call me if anything happens."
"Mm-hmm." She had tucked her books under her arm to leave, but paused, turned back, and handed them to He Lingchuan. "I'll lend them to you first. When you're done, just toss them back into my yard." With a wave of her hand, she pushed her door open and went inside.
Hearing the creak of the wooden door next door, He Lingchuan spread open his own palm and looked down.
His neighbor's hands were slender and shaped like shuttles, graceful and lovely, almost gleaming pale white in the dim room. But when Sun Fuling had handed him the pill earlier, he had clearly noticed a thin layer of calluses at the pads and bases of her right fingers—
Just like his own.
His calluses came from martial training. What about Sun Fuling's? Could they be from chopping firewood, cooking, and doing chores?
Ha, impossible.
Reflecting on his fierce clash with the two beasts, it had been Sun Fuling who provided the decisive blow; otherwise, he would inevitably have been locked in a fight for his life.
He had not even noticed her approach.
Besides, what ordinary girl, upon encountering monsters like that, would not turn and run? Miss Sun had remained remarkably composed throughout. Could it be that great skill bred great daring?
The more He Lingchuan thought about it, the more his neighbor seemed shrouded in suspicion.
The two books she had lent him lay nearby.
He picked them up to look. They were titled *Strange Tales of the Middle Ancient Era*, in two volumes.
He casually flipped through them and found that the contents were a compilation of various legends, anecdotes, and strange occurrences from the Middle Ancient Era, of doubtful authenticity. After all, even the author had noted that these were merely collected without verification, meant solely for the reader's amusement.
Taking the cataclysm of heaven and earth as the dividing line, the period prior was known as the High Ancient Era, while the era following it was the Middle Ancient Era, stretching down to eight hundred years ago.
After that point, human nations truly matured and flourished, and the Daoist order declined accordingly, no longer holding dominance.
The Middle Ancient Era had spanned more than two thousand long years, and how much had transpired within that time was now difficult to verify.
He Lingchuan had not expected that Sun Fuling, who seemed so proper a scholar, would also enjoy such frivolous leisure reading.
Ah well, with nothing to do at home, he might as well use these two books to pass the time.
To his surprise, once he began reading, he became utterly absorbed, reluctant even to take a sip of water.
Chapter 248