At that time, Ethan Brooks and Blake Whitman were in the middle of a discussion and were startled out of their wits. Following him back to Qingxin Hall, they saw that Ethan Brooks's elder brother Ethan Brooks was nothing but a skin, lying in a pool of blood, yet his face was smiling.

It was obvious he had been drained by a demonic entity.

Almost everyone in Taohuazhou gathered around, and Blake Whitman immediately ordered an investigation. But once they started, they found that his own younger sister—Ethan Brooks's wife—his father, his daughter, and several disciples who served as cleaners in the guest rooms all had issues...

Knocking on the tops of their heads, the sound was hollow like a wooden fish. Knocking on their bellies, the sound was like a drum.

They had long since become empty husks, drained before anyone realized.

All of this happened during the half month that guest stayed.

They tried to question Aiden, but discovered that Aiden had been placed under a forbidden spell, one that even Ethan Brooks could not break. He was left babbling incoherently, unable to explain anything.

With no other choice, Blake Whitman invited people from the Feng family of Mengdu to help.

The Feng family possessed a secret technique, the Art of Soul Reflection, which could reveal the last scene seen by someone who had gone mad or died.

With the Feng family's help, they finally saw the scene that Aiden could not speak of.

They saw that elegant and noble guest reveal his true form. He stood in Qingxin Hall, one hand gripping Ethan Brooks's throat, the other loosely holding Ethan Brooks's own sword.

Blood flowed down the hilt, pooling on the floor.

He turned to glance outside the door, the bridge of his nose illuminated by the cold white moonlight. He seemed to notice someone outside, and suddenly smiled, the downward curve at the corner of his eyes arching up in that moment.

He dropped the empty shell in his hand, tossed aside the sword, took a clean cloth from the table and wiped his hands. Then, in an instant, he appeared before Aiden, and gave a not-too-hard, not-too-light slap to the top of his head.

Then, just as he had come, he strode away with a rustle, disappearing into the endless sea.

Everyone knew that the demon lord Logan Barrett never carried a sword. He was lazy, never holding unnecessary things, and never brought a sword.

He always drew others' swords and killed them with their own.

Chapter 7: Stirring of Insects

“In any case, from that day on, our Taohuazhou stopped receiving any outside guests for a long time, for fear of encountering such a thing again.”

The disciple in charge of receiving guests was not highly cultivated and still young. When Logan Barrett ran rampant, he probably wasn’t even born yet, but even now, his face turned pale as he spoke of these events. It showed just how deep the shadow of this incident ran, passed down by word of mouth.

“The ones hit hardest at the time were Mr. Ethan Brooks and our clan head, since those who suffered were all their closest kin,” the disciple said. “Mr. Ethan Brooks was devastated, nearly lost himself to madness. After that, his health declined a lot. As they say, a healer cannot heal himself. Every year, he has to go into seclusion for a while to recuperate, to avoid falling on this path of cultivation.”

“As for the clan head, he himself said that he was practically possessed during that period.”

For several years, Blake Whitman was deeply suspicious, seeing everyone around him as a potential threat—there were over a thousand people in Taohuazhou, and any one of them could be possessed by a demon. They pretended to be harmless, waiting for a chance to devour the people of the island.

Blake Whitman lived in a courtyard called Jianhua Hall.

In the past, Jianhua Hall had twelve sword-bearing disciples personally trained by the clan head, and many disciples handling cleaning and chores. After the incident with Logan Barrett, the entire Jianhua Hall was cleared out.

All the disciples moved back to the disciples’ hall; no one was allowed to stay.

Blake Whitman, the dignified clan head, thus developed the habit of living alone, doing everything himself in Jianhua Hall.

This habit has continued to this day.

“After that day, the three elders of Taohuazhou became four, with the addition of the Hall of Discipline,” the disciple said.

“The Hall of Discipline? What do they do?” Logan Barrett asked.

“They check for demons,” the disciple explained. “Every morning, the first thing all disciples do is report to the Hall of Discipline, where the elder checks their souls. A soul-detecting talisman is placed on the wrist, and it reveals whether someone is a demon or has been possessed.”

“Every day?” Logan Barrett looked surprised.

“Yes, every day.” The disciple added, “Once in the morning and once at night. After evening practice, we have to go to the Hall of Discipline again. Especially the disciples on patrol duty that day—they’re at the greatest risk.”

“……”

That’s quite a shadow to live under.

Logan Barrett said, “Then your Hall of Discipline elder has it tough, doing the same thing from morning till night every day. In storybooks, people like that either start a rebellion or go mad themselves.”

The disciple: “……”

Logan Barrett: “He’d better check his own soul, too.”

The disciple: “...He does.”

Logan Barrett thought for a moment and grunted, “So after all this, is it just to make it easier to ask?”

The disciple: “?”

Logan Barrett very straightforwardly rolled up his sleeve, revealing a section of his wrist.

The disciple looked at his wrist, paused in silence, then awkwardly took out a gold-tinted talisman with the character “花” from his sleeve pouch.

After telling such a long story and laying so much groundwork, it really was all for these two soul-detecting talismans.