Cloud Trace Restaurant had an excellent view – clear sight lines north and south. Standing on the rooftop, one could simultaneously observe the movements of both the eastern and western streets as well as the southern city alley entrance.

Su You had waited here all night.

In a certain sense, Su You and Xue Yu were the same type of people – equally meticulous in thought, so they often thought of the same things.

Like coming to stake out Cloud Trace Restaurant.

Before coming, he had received word from Chao Nian that the Worldly Lamp had already been taken down by Miss, and the demon monk had also entered the trap.

With the situation developed to this point, it was almost approaching the end. Coming to Cloud Trace Restaurant was merely for peace of mind.

Su You sat atop the restaurant’s eaves, half his robe hanging in the air, blown open by the wind like a skirt, peeling away petal by petal to reveal a scene of graceful charm.

The Demon Wu Fruit could alleviate the pain in his body, but couldn’t cure it completely. Demons who had just experienced their growth period always found the process difficult to accept. That kind of pain-even after taking the finest medicine and lying motionless in bed to rest-made one feel that even breathing was broken, and moving a finger caused bone-deep agony.

During this process, the demonic nature within would be stimulated. The purer the bloodline, the greater the suffering endured. For someone like Jiu Feng, if carelessly released, she might temporarily lose her nature and go on a killing spree.

Logically, a demon-ghost hybrid with only half a demon bloodline wouldn’t experience this process, and even if they did, it would just be going through the motions.

Yet under all these conditions, Su You still felt every breath he exhaled was scalding hot. His cheeks flushed red like a high fever. He gently closed his eyes, sometimes feeling his body was soaked in lava, shivering violently from the rooftop wind.

These were all secondary. Most importantly, an uncontrollable destructive urge rose from his heart, rampaging through his pulsing blood vessels, flapping its wings and clamoring like a small bird.

His growth period had come unexpectedly fierce and intense, as if the thin bloodline hidden in his body was originally something noble and mysterious.

The crescent moon, like a curved blade, rose to mid-sky. Su You calculated the time for the great array to begin, looking up toward the southern city direction, his eyes nearly heavy with darkness.

Due to the isolation array, he couldn’t see anything or sense the earth-shattering battles and confrontations inside.

Though there was no movement in his field of vision for a long time, he still dutifully stood guard without any intention of leaving.

What he could do seemed always to be these small, insignificant things.

Half an hour later, Su You’s body tensed imperceptibly. His fingers hung beside the glazed tiles, making a light, short mark.

“…Locked onto by killing intent.” He murmured, his breath burning hot, maintaining clarity of thought amid the endless pain and gradually uncontrollable irritability.

At this time, for someone with considerable cultivation to quietly appear nearby to investigate and silently lock onto his aura with murderous intent could only prove one thing.

Some person or family with secrets, the Sacred Land couldn’t know, was about to take action.

Heading toward the southern city – to do what? Either rescue the demon monk or rescue the ghost infant.

If this matter involved Suzhou aristocratic families colluding with demons to cause trouble, Su You could almost imagine with closed eyes how angry and disappointed that person would be.

Though she never expressed it.

Su You still lowered his eyes with an unknowing appearance, but his mind calculated rapidly. The person lurking in the shadows didn’t kill him now simply because they saw his insufficient cultivation and chaotic aura, unable to interfere with their important business. They had more urgent matters to handle and couldn’t alert their enemies at this moment and ruin the good timing. So they would act after completing their business.

All this time belonged to him.

He still had three spiritual treasures on him, obtained from a secret realm during his previously successful days.

Since they were hiding so carefully, it showed they feared Xue Yu and Shan Shu somewhat. Their strength wasn’t at the great power level, nor were they ancient monsters who had lived for thousands of years. So borrowing the spiritual treasures’ power, even if injured, he could successfully escape.

But before that, he wanted to see which family was acting tonight.

Facts proved that Su You had an almost amazing talent for calculating human nature.

The person lurking in the shadows indeed didn’t immediately attack to kill him.

He gambled on the person being arrogant and conceited, not taking him seriously, and also having concerns, not daring to make a scene.

He was right about everything, winning every bet.

Before long, there was movement from a residence in the southern city. First, two or three people in dull servant clothes opened a side door, poking their heads out to look around, stretching their necks like gray-faced, comical clowns.

Soon, those servants hurriedly ran out – two in front, one behind. Under the moon’s light, the patterns embroidered on their clothes and the surnames representing their masters fell completely into Su You’s eyes across the distance.

One Xie, one Yun, one Ling.

All were wealthy families of Suzhou city.

Such clumsy misdirection was almost treating people like fools. Su You suddenly smiled. Whether due to the excruciating pain of the growth period flowing through his limbs or something else, his eyes reflected brilliant, dazzling light, so bright and flamboyant it was almost impossible to ignore.

He sat quietly, spine straight and upright, his posture as serious as a student listening to a teacher’s lecture.

Those servants performed like actors, running around in a circle before returning the same way. Then a completely covered black-clothed person emerged, masked without even an inch of skin exposed, gender indiscernible. Their lightness skills were excellent as they kept their head down and swiftly headed toward the southern city.

Su You covered his lips and coughed softly twice, forcibly swallowing the broken, bloody taste down his throat. When his palm lowered, his shoulders trembled lightly and rapidly from endurance.

Every residence in the southern city was built grandly, with mansion plaques hanging above their main gates without exception. At a glance, who was who was clear and distinct.

But this residence was different. When Su You looked over, there was only a misty haze. Forget the characters on the plaque – even the architectural style inside was invisible. The only thing visible was a painted red wall.

And every household in the entire southern city had this type of exterior wall.

“Cloud Mist Array.” Su You chewed the array’s name twice in his heart. These days, following Xue Yu, he had learned much from attitudes in dealing with people to differences in secret techniques and methods. She often had him study some uncommon formations that might be encountered during investigations.

The Cloud Mist Array was prominently among them.

This array was a typical concealment formation. When activated, outsiders couldn’t see anything inside the array clearly, but the house remained there. Even if he took a roster of all southern city households and checked them one by one, the final count and surnames would all be correct.

There was only one way to break the situation.

He would enter the array, part the mist, and see the characters on that plaque.

But doing so would mean throwing himself into an enemy camp of unknown depth. No matter how many spiritual treasures he carried, he definitely wouldn’t survive the night.

Xue Yu never liked overly extreme methods.

So he could only investigate later.

After a quarter hour, the black-clothed person who had flown into the night like a wild goose rushed back at high speed, looking particularly disheveled. Their meticulously combed hair was beaten loose, their right hand desperately covering their left arm where blood continuously flowed out, their aura as chaotic as if experiencing a volcanic eruption inside.

From the left arm down, everything was severed cleanly, an empty, particularly terrifying sight.

They had neither obtained anything nor lost an arm in the process.

The bloody scent was magnified hundreds, thousands of times before Su You’s eyes. He seemed doused with cold water, his body completely stiffening.

Those spurting bright red droplets were a fatal temptation for a great demon in its growth period.

For a moment, Su You almost forgot about the killing intent constantly watching from behind, forgot his current situation. He only wanted to recklessly pounce forward, consume fresh blood and flesh, then burn this entire southern city with fire.

He needed those things in his bones, craved those things.

Su You’s palm slowly clenched. He closed his eyes heavily and urgently, struggling to calculate when the person behind would strike. His Adam’s apple moved up and down almost uncontrollably, his breath rolling hot as lava, his cheeks red as if heavily painted with a maiden’s fresh rouge – two thick, colorful strokes.

His condition became increasingly worse under the blood scent’s influence, his mind holding onto the last thread of reason, swaying precariously.

That thread wasn’t benevolence and morality, worldly prejudices, or the terror that would appear on people’s faces and innocent children’s crying.

That thread was called Xue Yu.

He had never thought highly of himself, so he knew that if such a thing truly happened, the person hidden behind needn’t act – Xue Yu would personally finish him.

He could die at enemy hands, could have his corpse abandoned in the wilderness, rotting into pus in the soil, but he didn’t want to die by Xue Yu’s hand.

He didn’t want her to know that the person she had thoughtfully and seriously cultivated, whom she thought could still be saved, was still such a base, ugly, worthless thing in his bones.

At the end of this torment between ice and fire, the moment before reason completely gave out, the spiritual talisman at his waist burned at just the right time.

Chao Nian’s voice came through: “Su You, where are you? Why didn’t I see you at the Law Enforcement Hall?”

Su You licked his lips, remained silent for a moment, then spoke with a rarely hoarse voice, like a handful of rough sand: “I’m not there.”

Chao Nian sniffled in the cold wind, deliberately lowering his voice, sounding somewhat anxious: “Come back quickly. We suddenly had some complications. Miss asked me to collect and organize materials on all the aristocratic families of Suzhou and surrounding cities.”

“Miss forcibly used a seal to keep the ghost infant, and was injured quite seriously. She even coughed up blood just now. I’m worried. I left Qing Luo and Liang Yan to organize things, but Miss needs it urgently. Those two don’t understand these matters like you do. We need your help to make it in time.”

Su You’s burning hot blood was suppressed by those few words. His pupils reflected the crescent moon in the sky, his voice so light it could be crushed into the night wind: “Injured?”

His trailing tone carried a touch of inhuman indifference, showing no concern or emotional involvement.

Chao Nian was used to him speaking this way and made a muffled sound of agreement: “Originally everything was going smoothly, but then a black-clothed person appeared…” As if knowing he’d said too much, he hastily summarized: “This is a long story, not quite what we initially thought. Anyway, come back quickly. We’ll talk when you return.”

Su You stood up, his figure swaying precariously like a bird perched on a tightrope, ready to fall at any moment. All those uncontrolled, eager, impulsive desires retreated into his body, leaving only the heavy darkness at the bottom of his eyes, revealing a different kind of arrogance than usual.

How large was a city? Just the aristocratic families in this southern city area alone would take her two or three full days to examine the maps and materials.

Not to mention the surrounding cities.

It was impossible to finish reading. Even if finished, by the time they analyzed everything, the mastermind would have erased all traces and disappeared elsewhere.

Su You abandoned any plan of escaping unscathed.

He held the gossamer-thin spiritual talisman between his fingertips, speaking calmly and clearly: “Chao Nian, deliver the spiritual talisman to Miss’s hands.”

During this time, Xue Yu trusted and valued him, always giving him important tasks. So Chao Nian asked no questions and hurriedly said: “Wait.”

Behind him, a silver thread-like blade light brought breaking-air momentum, slashing from far to near toward Su You’s position.

He seemed to have anticipated this scene long ago. His form suddenly reversed, borrowing force from the tiles underfoot to leap into mid-air. His hair, damp with cold moisture, was bound high, outlining the young man’s face with its aggressively beautiful features, full of vigorous, growing vitality.

A palm-sized bronze key flew from Su You’s sleeve like an arrow toward the mastermind who finally revealed himself behind. Before the person could see the key’s true form, it unexpectedly exploded in mid-air with a “bang,” like fireworks mischievously lit by children in the middle of the night.

The person’s pupils contracted, forcing them to withdraw and change trajectory, temporarily avoiding the attack.

Su You borrowed this clever force to drift like a falling leaf to the southern city alley entrance, heading toward the innermost residence that seemed to be swallowing and exhaling clouds. The recoil force bloodied his ten exposed fingers, but he lowered his eyes and pressed his lips, as if unaware.

The one-armed black-clothed person had just entered the mansion gate. Tortured by severe pain, his reactions were a beat slow. When he realized something was wrong, it was too late. With another “bang,” he collapsed with wide eyes in the brilliant firelight.

“You dare, young scoundrel!!” Behind came the elder who had followed closely but had to avoid the light, furious to the point of splitting eyes.

Spiritual treasure self-destruction recognized no master. Though Su You was somewhat farther away, he was still shaken by such force until his internal organs seemed displaced. He casually wiped the blood flowing from his lips and nose, raising his eyes to look at the plaque above the mansion gate.

This time, seeing mountains as mountains, seeing water as water.

The plaque no longer had mist, but bore three dignified characters in regular script – Prince Zhao’s Mansion.

So that’s how it was.

On the other side, the spiritual talisman had just reached Xue Yu’s hands when two consecutive earth-shaking explosions sounded. Xue Yu sprang up, looking toward Cloud Trace Restaurant’s direction. Seeming to quickly realize something, she asked: “Where are you?”

“Miss.” Su You’s long, thin finger bones gripped the one-armed black-clothed person’s throat one by one until clear sounds of breaking bones came. Only then did he slowly lower his hand, trembling his long lashes as he clearly stated his deduction: “The one colluding with the demon monk and ghost infant is Prince Zhao’s Mansion.”

“All materials on Suzhou city are organized and placed at—”

“Su You.” Xue Yu’s words turned cold one by one, rarely carrying a hint of stern bluffing: “Withdraw immediately.”

“This subject is surrounded.” Su You smiled brilliantly, his robe fluttering loudly in the night wind, seeming to become again that person covered in thorns on the Judgment Platform who couldn’t listen to any words: “Can’t withdraw anymore.”

He had lived humbly and with difficulty this lifetime, like wild grass trying every means to survive, yet possessed inherent pride in his bones, never willing to be subject or slave to anyone in his life.

This was the first time – it seemed only this way could justify her rescuing him from the Judgment Platform, connecting his meridians, bestowing medicine, giving secret manuals, and leading him out of the demon-luring formation, sparing no effort in cultivation and investment.

“One quarter hour.” Xue Yu strode outside with determination: “Su You, use any life-saving methods you have.”

“Hold on for one quarter hour. I’ll be there immediately.”