Great Demon - Chapter 87 Part 1

Huoshu saw her expression change suddenly and quickly asked, “Your Grace, is there something wrong with this place?”

Zhuyou lowered her eyes in thought. She didn’t know when Guanshang had left, nor how he managed to avoid her detection and appear in Wu Buzhi’s room.

Seeing this, she formed a seal with her hands and once again used the soul-slaying technique, but it landed on nothing. Guanshang truly left in a hurry. If not for her understanding of the mysteries of the Endless Abyss, she wouldn’t be able to make sense of it.

Could it be that the Endless Abyss covers the entirety of Shangxi City, allowing him to come and go from anywhere he pleases? But if that were the case, why did he claim the entrance to the Endless Abyss was in the filthiest part of Shangxi City?

Guanshang must be hiding something from her. Devils are truly deceitful and cunning.

She considered entering the Endless Abyss again to investigate, but she likely wouldn’t uncover anything, and it wasn’t necessary. It would be better to force Guanshang to come out on his own. Since the Endless Abyss was within Shangxi City, no matter how he tried to hide, he couldn’t leave the city.

In the courtyard, an incense offering was still burning. For ghostly beings like Wu Buzhi, there was no need for food like rice or wheat. Simply inhaling the incense was enough to feel full.

The incense had only been burning for a short while, with more than half of it remaining. Its fire still flickered, sending thin wisps of smoke curling into the sky.

Huoshu, having lived for several centuries, sighed at the sight and said, “The first breath of this incense is the most fragrant. I wonder if Wu Buzhi got to enjoy it.”

Zhuyou walked over to the incense placed in a three-legged small cauldron. She cupped her palm over it, pinching the flame, lifting it between her fingers. The fire danced lightly at her fingertips, so fragile that a single breath could snuff it out.

The cat demon wandered around the courtyard, curiously inspecting everything. This was his first time here, and he was eager to take in the unfamiliar surroundings.

“It seems he left in a hurry,” Zhuyou remarked. “He barely had time to light the incense before leaving.” She pinched her fingers together, and the flame she had lifted was instantly extinguished.

“This is no ordinary incense,” Huoshu leaned in, taking a deep sniff of the cauldron before adding, “This is an offering from a blessed half-immortal to the gods and Buddhas. It doesn’t just fill the stomach—it also increases cultivation. Wu Buzhi has a wide range of connections, so someone must have gifted it to him out of goodwill. But for such precious incense to be wasted like this… what a pity.”

Zhuyou’s gaze darkened. She was now certain that Wu Buzhi had been taken away.

Realizing she had spoken too much, Huoshu quickly covered her mouth with her paper fan.

Meanwhile, the cat demon, after circling the courtyard, suddenly stopped beneath the eaves. He looked up in confusion for a moment before leaping into the air and retrieving a wine pouch and a tea bag hanging from the rafters.

His ears twitched slightly as he heard the sound of liquid inside. He quickly said, “Your Grace, Wu Buzhi often travels, but he would never leave behind his tea or wine. He’s extremely fond of both and takes them everywhere. There’s no way he would forget them here.”

Zhuyou raised her hand, signaling for the cat demon to hand them over.

The cat demon was still young, appearing no older than eleven or twelve in human years. He was a strikingly handsome and clever-looking youth. Seeing her gesture, he quickly lifted his hands to pass the items to her, taking care not to touch her fingers. The moment Zhuyou’s hand touched the objects, he immediately withdrew his own.

His grip loosened too quickly, nearly causing them to fall to the ground, but Zhuyou caught them with her spiritual energy just in time.

With a flick of her fingers, the wine pouch and tea bag landed in her palm. She weighed them in her hand and realized they were both full. In other words, Wu Buzhi had prepared his tea and wine, lit the incense for a final meal before departure, but before he could leave, Guanshang had seized him.

“Does he always have a stick of incense before heading out?” she asked with a frown.

Huoshu quickly replied, “He has a lot of incense, but high-quality ones like this are rare.”

Zhuyou uncapped the wine pouch and tea bag, taking a sniff. The aroma of fine wine filled the air, and the tea was of excellent quality.

It seemed as if Wu Buzhi had anticipated his own capture. He had even gone as far as lighting such precious incense, as if fearing he might never get to enjoy it again.

“He didn’t leave of his own will—he was taken,” Zhuyou finally said.

“By who?” Huoshu lowered her fan slightly, revealing half of her mouse-like face. Though she usually refrained from speaking too much, she couldn’t help but ask. After the question left her lips, she hurriedly covered her face with the fan again.

Zhuyou frowned. “Guanshang.”

Huoshu froze, her beady eyes widening in shock. She let out an involuntary “Ah!” and stiffly glanced around the courtyard, the golden ornaments in her hair jingling from the movement. “But why would he take Wu Buzhi?”

The cat demon shuddered at the name, his ears unconsciously flattening backward.

“That’s something only he can answer,” Zhuyou said, tossing the two items back onto the rafter.

“What should we do now?” Huoshu quickly asked. She understood the situation well enough to know who to follow.

“Keep looking,” Zhuyou said as she pushed open the door to the main house.

A cloud of dust billowed out, making her cough. It was hard to tell how long the door had remained shut, but it had gathered a thick layer of dust. That was when she remembered—Wu Buzhi was a ghost. He never needed to use the door. He could pass through walls without any need for spells. It was perhaps the one thing ghosts excelled at.

Inside, the room was nearly empty. The bedding was in disarray, and the table was piled with paper offerings of gold and silver ingots, along with miniature houses and boats.

She sat down, noticing an unfinished paper boat among the others. Compared to the rest, it was crude and incomplete. Nearby were tiny paper tables and teacups, even chairs that had yet to be glued in place. The craftsmanship was so exquisite that even the King of Hell himself would have to praise it.

The cat demon stared at the paper offerings on the table, his eyes suddenly lighting up in surprise. “I never thought Wu Buzhi had to fold these himself. Doesn’t he receive enough from others?”

Enough? There was no way he didn’t.

Zhuyou turned her head slightly and raised a hand, sending a wisp of spiritual energy toward the wooden cabinets lining the walls. With a slight motion, all the cabinet doors swung open, revealing their contents—shelves packed with paper clothing, paper shoes, even intricately crafted paper courtyards, pagodas, and peach orchards.

If these paper offerings were burned, they would manifest into reality. He wouldn’t have to live in such a shabby courtyard.

Yet, Wu Buzhi had never burned them. Instead, he neatly arranged them as if hoarding them like treasures. It was reminiscent of how she had once filled her Grand Hall with an overwhelming collection of demon weapons and devilish artifacts.

Looking closer, she spotted a wooden carving she had once ordered Hanzhu to deliver. Wu Buzhi hadn’t burned it either. That carving contained a Reviving Herb, which prevented him from being detected by underworld soldiers.

Clearly, Wu Buzhi lacked nothing. His house was nearly overflowing with paper offerings. If that was the case, why did he bother folding a boat himself? His cabinets were filled with entire fleets of beautifully crafted pleasure boats.

Zhuyou tapped her fingers on the table a few times before reaching for the unfinished paper boat. She closed her fingers around it, crumpling it into a ball, leaving no trace of its original shape.

“Your Grace, Wu Buzhi hates it when others touch his things,” Huoshu froze for a moment before stammering behind her. By the time she finished speaking, her voice had nearly faded away, her face full of concern.

The cat demon suddenly spoke up, “Wu Buzhi wouldn’t lack something like this. He must have left it here on purpose.”

After saying this, he glanced at Huoshu cautiously, afraid she would get angry.

Huoshu hid her face behind her paper fan, the smile in her eyes vanishing instantly. She muttered in a low voice, “Clever little thing.”

“Indeed,” Zhuyou frowned and said.

She spread her fingers open, and the crumpled paper boat in her palm was immediately engulfed in flames. The phoenix fire burned fiercely, reducing the paper boat to ashes in an instant.

The ghostly aura covering the boat was almost completely incinerated. Zhuyou reached into the fire and pulled out a wisp of ghostly energy.

The energy was ice-cold, not as powerful as the dragon breath Changying had left in the city, but still eerie and chilling.

The entire table was covered in these strange, sinister objects. If one didn’t look carefully, they wouldn’t have noticed that the boat contained a message.

As the ghostly energy swirled and rose, it suddenly condensed midair into a few hazy characters—He wants to drag the Demon Clan into eternal damnation.

The cat demon stared in shock and exclaimed, “He’s just a ghost—why would he care about the fate of the Demon Clan? The Demon Clan has been in seclusion for ages, all focused on ascending to immortality. They wouldn’t be so easy to involve in this.”

“How naive.” Huoshu chuckled softly behind her paper fan. “Wu Buzhi’s deceased wife was a servant of the Demon Clan.”

“What… but…” The cat demon’s eyes darted around in thought before he blurted out, “Then what does Wu Buzhi’s message mean? Maybe he wasn’t kidnapped, but rather…” He suddenly stopped speaking, drew his hand across his neck, and then made a “swish” sound with his mouth.

“Wu Buzhi isn’t that easy to kill. He knows too much. Even if he wanted to die, that one wouldn’t let him simply disappear,” Huoshu said carefully. After speaking, she pursed her lips into a smile, as if unsure whether she had just predicted the future.