"What?" Du Huoguan turned to look at him, knowing that the Jailer must have seen some clue.
The accuser, who had forced himself to stand upright, began to bleed from the corners of his mouth and nostrils.
He suddenly felt no pain within his body and quickly lost sensation in his internal organs. He suspected that the numbing effect of his poison needles had manifested, yet other parts of his body still had sensation.
Then he realized he was overthinking; he couldn't breathe. He looked up at Shi Chun, his eyes filled with disbelief.
When their four arms had strained against each other earlier, he could feel that their cultivation levels were not far apart. How could his defense not even withstand one palm strike from the opponent? Dong! Another drumbeat, the sixth one already.
Almost at the same time as the drumbeat, Shi Chun had already kicked off and charged, moving like a shooting star. He spun into a whip kick that landed, his brows furrowed in cold disdain, his disheveled hair fluttering.
Fearing that the opponent might not die within the regulated time, he quickly followed up with another kick.
Crack! The accuser's head rotated two and a half times on his neck, his occipital bone facing Shi Chun.
His eyes refused to close, his body trembled, swaying precariously.
Dong! The seventh sound rang out, and the accuser slowly fell, his face filled with unwillingness.
The city guard's raised drumstick slowly lowered; clearly, there was no longer any need to continue drumming.
Shi Chun also slowly exhaled.
If he had been well-informed, if he had known that the several corpses he had personally killed that night had already been brought here by the city guards, he “might” not have used that killing move just now.
In his opinion, only the power behind Shen Youkun knew the location of the incident that night.
Even if they had secretly colluded with the city guards, it would be impossible to openly expose those corpses here. The greatest likelihood was that the bodies would be destroyed.
Without knowing the inside story, even if he racked his brain, he couldn't figure out how the corpses appeared here.
But it was only “might”; in reality, he had no choice now.
To kill an opponent of similar cultivation level within ten counts, he couldn't overcome this hurdle without a killing move.
At the same time that the accuser's body slowly fell, the skull-like blood print on his back had been obscured by the spreading subcutaneous bleeding, revealing a large, striking patch of fresh red on his back.
Upon seeing this mark, Du Huoguan behind the window lattice showed a slight loss of composure, his face moved with disbelief, “It was really him!”
Shi Chun, who had lost his hairpin and dignity during the interrogation in prison, looked around disheveled and realized a problem: besides the city guard counting beats, there was no second person at the scene. Where was the referee? Did the drummer also double as the referee?
Du Huoguan, behind the window lattice, had turned to stare at the Jailer.
The final result could explain the previous process, and he finally understood the Jailer's intention in watching this duel.
Hadn't he reported earlier that Qi Yueru had every reason to suspect Shi Chun was the killer of her son and brother?
Now he naturally understood the Jailer's meaning: since there was suspicion, verify it and see if it matched the killer's attack characteristics.
As for why they had to count ten drumbeats and watch a bare-handed fight without weapons, it was now obvious: to leave Shi Chun no retreat, to force him to use a killing move.
Du Huoguan was about to say something when he saw the Jailer raise his hand, an index finger slashing out into the void like a sharp blade.
The window lattice before them remained undamaged, and no abnormality was felt. Yet, in the blood-soaked duel arena, a crack appeared out of thin air, like a glowing thread gradually expanding into a fissure.
The process was silent until a fragrant whirlwind blew out from within the crack. Shi Chun suddenly noticed and turned his head, only then seeing this anomaly.
Da, a tapping sound echoed throughout the entire city. The sound was not loud, but everyone in the city heard it clearly.
Many people in the city looked around, unsure of the sound's source, as if it were tapping right next to their ears.
Wu Jinliang, sitting in the corner of his cell, soothing his wounds, paused and stood up.
He hadn't known about the duel.
Shi Chun, while wary of the spatial rift, looked around to find the source of the sound.
Only Du Huoguan saw the source of the sound.
The Jailer had one hand placed on the windowsill, the tip of his index finger tapping with ease and comfort.
Tap-tap-tapping, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, the rhythm sometimes tight, sometimes loose. Each tap seemed to strike everyone's heart, making their heartbeats uncontrollably want to follow the rhythm.
This feeling caused panic and made people very uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the tapping sound disappeared soon after.
Shi Chun was about to catch his breath when he suddenly stared blankly at the spatial rift. He saw the rift suddenly swell and tear open, like a giant vertical eye, ripped apart from the inside by a pair of sharp claws.
Inside, dazzling blood-red light seemed to flash, and a magnificent surge of demonic energy poured out, as if it would instantly sweep across heaven and earth. Shi Chun bore the brunt of it.
Who could endure such a fright? At least Shi Chun couldn't. He no longer cared about any rules of this place; escaping with his life was paramount.
He jumped up, turned his head, and ran.
Unexpectedly, just as he sprang a foot high, he became unable to move.
A powerful surge of demonic energy that swept over him had actually forcibly immobilized him in mid-air.
He once again experienced the treatment of an Immobilization Talisman, but he clearly knew that this was not an Immobilization Talisman at all.
He could distinctly feel that it was pure demonic energy, powerful enough to instantly crush him into dust.
He immediately panicked; it was difficult not to be nervous and afraid.
To make matters worse, the pain of his head wanting to split into a thousand pieces and his spine feeling like it was being gnawed by countless insects reappeared at this moment. The illusory images in his right eye also reappeared.
And that surging demonic energy seemed to be omnipresent, rapidly infiltrating every corner of the entire city.
Ba Yingshan, who had resolved to avoid suspicion and stayed cooped up in his room, finally couldn't resist.
He flashed out, opening his door, and was about to fly into the air to check the commotion.
Before he could even clear the rooftop, he was directly pressed to the ground by a powerful demonic energy descending from the sky.
Ba Yingshan was shocked, yet he felt that the powerful demon making the move had shown mercy, otherwise killing him would have been as easy as turning his hand.
He quickly looked around and found that he was not the only one who had fallen to the ground.
Many city guards who tried to leap up to investigate were also pressed to the ground by an invisible force.
Not just them, all those attempting to ascend within the entire city fell.
That demonic energy seemed to forbid any latecomers from overstepping.
On the second floor of Far-Gazing Tower, bathed in the infiltrating demonic energy, Old Tan suddenly looked back towards the inner city and asked in surprise, “Which great demon dares to cause trouble here?”
Lan Qiaoyan, who also turned to look, had a solemn expression.
After a slight deliberation, she shook her head, “It should be the work of that ‘Jailer’.”
Many people in the city were in a state of alarm.
Wu Jinliang in the cage hugged his arms, looking around timidly, appearing very cold.
At this moment, Shi Chun was the most frightened.
“Hehe… hehe…”
A woman's silver-bell-like light laughter suddenly sounded behind him, and that peculiar fragrance became even more intense, as if someone was breathing warm air on the back of his neck.
Shi Chun didn't understand what was happening.
What was even more terrifying was that his body, suspended in mid-air, was slowly turning, and then he saw a scene he didn't particularly want to see.
From within the torn spatial rift, a huge fox head emerged, as large as he was.
Its two eerie blood-red eyes emitted a strange red glow, and its blue fur, smooth and soft, rippled like waves. The terrifying aura it exuded was daunting.
It kept turning its head left and right, meticulously examining Shi Chun, as if scrutinizing food, wondering how to take a bite.
Shi Chun had never seen such a sight.
He forced out a fawning, dog-like smile, attempting to curry favor.