He was suddenly startled. Looking up, he saw that the person in the coffin—dead for who knows how long—had abruptly opened their eyes.

Henry Collins and the others screamed so loudly it shook the heavens: “It worked! It actually worked, City Lord, look! The puppet worked, he opened his eyes!”

Their City Lord’s heart turned cold.

He had opened his eyes.

The terrifying part was that I hadn’t done anything, yet he really did open his eyes.

Logan Barrett didn’t even have time to say a word before his vision blurred.

A tremendous force struck him, and then the world spun. He instinctively closed his eyes.

No one saw clearly how the newly-made “puppet” in the coffin got up; they only felt a wild gale sweeping up endless snow, swirling into a vortex before the coffin.

All the longswords in the Sword Tomb began to tremble, the sound of metal clashing mixing with the wind, almost indistinguishable from the chains on Logan Barrett.

When the wind and snow finally cleared, they saw the “puppet” pinning Logan Barrett to the ground, right hand catching a longsword flying from the Sword Tomb. The sword spun, its cold gleam pointing downward.

……

Logan Barrett heard the sword’s whistle and suddenly opened his eyes. He saw the sword tip wedged into the ground just inches away, its icy aura sweeping past his neck with the wind, stopping just short.

Not a hair was harmed, yet the blade’s edge was right beside him.

He saw Owen Fletcher blink away the frost from his brows and eyes, then look down at him.

After a long moment, he called his name: “Logan Barrett.”

Chapter 4 Out of the Cell

Logan Barrett narrowed his eyes.

He was used to a leisurely life; this was the first time in his life someone had threatened his throat like this.

“Are you going to kill me?” He looked at Owen Fletcher and spoke softly.

Owen Fletcher moved his lips but didn’t answer.

“You can’t kill me,” Logan Barrett said again.

Owen Fletcher still held the longsword, his gaze following the line of his straight nose, finally responding after a moment: “…Why.”

His voice was very low, tinged with a hoarseness from long silence.

“Because you’ve got the wrong person,” Logan Barrett said gently.

He thought Owen Fletcher would be surprised for a moment, or perhaps frown. But the other man still pinned him down, unmoved.

Logan Barrett was taken aback, then quickly realized: the original owner must have committed grave sins, tripping up too many people, so no one would easily believe what he said.

I’m really innocent, he thought.

“They say you’re the Celestial Immortal of Tiansu, with such a formidable title, you should be able to tell. I…” He started to speak softly, then stopped halfway, glancing toward where the subordinates stood.

Owen Fletcher finally spoke: “You can speak, they can’t hear.”

Can’t hear?

Only then did Logan Barrett realize he hadn’t heard a sound from those subordinates for a while. It was as if the wind and snow around him formed a barrier, shutting everyone else out.

He licked his lips and said in a low voice, “You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not him.”

“I’m not the demon you all speak of.”

Owen Fletcher still looked at him. After a long time, a frown slowly formed between his brows.

“I don’t know if that demon is truly cunning and full of lies, so you don’t want to believe me,” Logan Barrett said, a bit helpless. “That’s understandable.”

He tugged at the corner of his mouth and continued, “But I really am not him. I’m not even from here. If you’re really a celestial immortal like in the storybooks, you should be able to sense it. At most, I’m just an unlucky wandering soul. If you want, you can try to check for yourself?”

As he spoke, he raised his left hand, exposing the vulnerable spot on his wrist.

Owen Fletcher watched his movements but still didn’t respond.

Logan Barrett figured he still didn’t believe him. After a moment of silence, he felt it was all pointless.

He was about to say “forget it” when he suddenly heard Owen Fletcher ask in a low voice, “Then what is your name, and where are you from?”

Logan Barrett looked up at him, thought for a moment, and said, “That place is called Que Du. It’s very different from here, hard to explain in a few words. Since you’re an immortal, you must know a lot. Do you have a way to help me?”

Owen Fletcher: “I am in charge of punishment. I only know how to catch and punish people.”

Logan Barrett: “……”

He was still holding up his wrist. After a moment of speechlessness, he let it fall with a thud.

Who knows what this look reminded Owen Fletcher of. He watched for a moment, then suddenly lowered his gaze, straightened up, and withdrew his sword.

Logan Barrett: “?”

That was sudden.

Did he believe him? No, that’s not it…

The cold edge and chill at his neck vanished. Logan Barrett propped himself up and sat, and as soon as he stood, he saw Owen Fletcher sheathe his sword.

With a metallic clang, the swirling wind and snow abruptly ceased.

Henry Collins and the others seemed to have been frozen into statues, holding their strange, stiff poses. The moment the wind and snow cleared, they finally came back to life.

“City Lord!”

“City Lord, what happened to that body—” Henry Collins seemed to have lost a moment in time, still stuck at the instant when Owen Fletcher had pinned Logan Barrett to the ground, about to ask anxiously, when he saw their City Lord standing there just fine, with Owen Fletcher right beside him.

“???” Henry Collins was completely baffled.

He looked at the City Lord, then at the Celestial Immortal of Tiansu, and thought, “That really scared me just now! So, was it because there was still a bit of spiritual consciousness left in the body that it moved?”

Logan Barrett thought to himself, with only a bit of consciousness left, it couldn’t possibly move like that.