I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

In the night wind of the desolate graveyard, the lingering chill and miasma were rapidly dissipating.

Han Zhao didn't waste any more time here. The remnants of the Demon Suppression Division had quickly taken over the follow-up rescue efforts. With the "Return to the Earth Book," the remaining elite demon suppressors only needed to systematically cross out the names of the graves on the register to see the light of day again.

"The domain suppression has decreased again." Lu Yan looked at the third layer of array patterns on the array plate, which had become completely stable and burst forth with brilliant light. His voice was filled with undisguised excitement. "The repulsive force at the entire domain level is decreasing synchronously! We can now use our true cultivation level at the early stage of Foundation Establishment without any worries and with extreme stability."

Xu Chenzhou clenched his fist, and a faint, tangible sword light appeared at his fingertips, cutting a tiny crack in the void.

But Han Zhao's face showed no sign of relief.

"The mass grave isn't the end; it's just a pawn used to trip us up." Han Zhao abruptly turned his head, his gaze piercing like a sharp blade towards Qingzhou Prefecture. "That treasurer holds all the old case files in Qingzhou. If he continues to peruse them, the entire Qingzhou Prefecture will be dragged into an abyss of collapse by the mass release of these rule-related malpractices!"

"Go back to the office!"

……

Han Zhao and Shen Yanqiu led their core team, like arrows released from a bow, rushing back to the Demon Suppression Bureau headquarters under the cover of night. Their early Foundation Establishment cultivation was fully unleashed, making them as fast as lightning.

However, when they kicked open the inner courtyard gate where the treasurer was located, the expected array defenses and fierce fighting did not materialize.

In the courtyard, the four black-clad guards who were watching over the treasurer still stood upright in place, their hands on the hilts of their swords, their posture almost perfect.

But when Xu Chenzhou's sword wind swept past them, the four sword guards' bodies swayed lightly in the wind, like paper dolls.

There were no wounds, no bloodstains, and even the outer skin was intact. But their eyes were utterly empty, their chests were flat, and their breathing was so faint as to be almost nonexistent. The skin was still there, but the people inside had been completely drained!

Shen Yanqiu's eyes were bloodshot as he kicked open the steel door of the treasurer's warehouse.

The warehouse was in a mess.

Several iron cabinets, sealed with layers of cinnabar and talismans to conceal forbidden items, were roughly pried open. On the most crucial scroll table, the "Complete Record of Old Cases of Demons and Monsters in Qingzhou" had vanished without a trace. Also gone was an old official seal representing the authority of the Qingzhou Demon Suppression Commander of the Great Yu Dynasty.

Several torn pages of a file were scattered on the ground.

Meng Changlu picked up one of the pages. Next to the three characters "Gui Tu Hui" (归土会, Gui Tu Society), someone had arrogantly drawn a glaring red X. On another file, most of it torn away, only four shocking words remained:

"The Skinning Opera Troupe".

"The Skin-Peeling Opera Troupe..." Shen Yanqiu looked at those four words, and his usually iron-blooded face twitched uncontrollably, as if he were recalling some extremely disgusting nightmare.

"Twenty years ago, this opera troupe traveled throughout Qingzhou's counties. By day they set up stages and performed, by night they skinned people alive." Shen Yanqiu took a deep breath, his voice hoarse. "The most terrifying thing about them wasn't killing people, but their ability to perfectly don the victim's skin, seamlessly replacing their identity, voice, and even memories, silently infiltrating government offices, powerful clans, and even military camps!"

"Back then, the Demon Suppression Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in their efforts to exterminate them, barely managing to seal the entire opera troupe inside a specially made 'opera box.' Once these beasts are released, they're impossible to defend against!"

Before the words had even finished, as if confirming Shen Yanqiu's fear, an anomaly had already quietly broken out in the city like a plague.

In the courtyard of a wealthy family in the east of the city, where a funeral was being held, the mourning troupe, which had been wailing mournfully, suddenly began playing rapid, dramatic drumbeats. The eyes of the filial sons and grandsons, dressed in mourning clothes, instantly became vacant, and they mechanically picked up rouge and powder and began applying heavy theatrical makeup to their pale faces in time with the drumbeats.

Inside the city's garrison camp, a patrolling captain was horrified to discover that the face of his colleague walking beside him was drooping and swaying in an extremely eerie manner. And from beneath that familiar skin came a high-pitched, shrill operatic voice!

Such a widespread chain of anomalies could not have been achieved simply by releasing the troupe. The treasurer had already secretly planted the troupe's disguise in every corner of Qingzhou Prefecture!

Outside the storeroom of the Demon Suppression Bureau's headquarters.

A junior clerk, rushing in to report an urgent matter, had just crossed the threshold and was about to speak when a strange, melodious, and poignant line from an unfamiliar opera suddenly escaped his throat:

"How did a perfectly good city like Qingzhou become a mass grave?"

The next second, the clerk's face split open neatly from behind his ear, and with a "rip," a bloody human skin slid down to his ankle, revealing the extremely bizarre body inside!

"Capture him alive! Don't let him talk nonsense!"

Han Zhao shouted sharply and gave the order with great decisiveness.

The true essence of the early Foundation Establishment stage erupted within the team members. It was an exhilarating feeling of breaking free from shackles!

"Clang!"

Xu Chenzhou drew his sword, and the sword energy was no longer like that of the Qi Refining stage, which could only pass through the body. Instead, it transformed into a dense and dazzling sword net, and the sword intent of the Foundation Establishment stage instantly sealed off all the escape routes of the "scribe".

"Freeze!" Fang Bai formed a hand seal, and three high-grade yellow-rank shaping talismans transformed into dazzling golden light, firmly nailing them to the monster's shoulders and legs, locking it firmly in place.

Xie Wujiu moved like a ghost, holding the Yin Si Small Seal, which carried the chilling power of the law, and slammed it hard on the monster's crown, forcibly suppressing the empty soul that was trying to escape beneath its skin.

In the blink of an eye, the skinned performer was forced out of his true form in an extremely brutal manner.

It was neither a ghost nor a demon, but a semi-transparent human skin with constantly twisting and changing features! It was empty inside, without flesh or bones, like a costume that had gained self-awareness and could perform opera.

The creature, pinned to the ground, neither begged for mercy nor struggled. Its ever-changing face contorted into an extremely eerie smile, and it sang in a high-pitched, theatrical voice, drawing out long notes:

"The stage is set—gentlemen, it's time to put on your makeup—"

Luo Qi quickly used the Spirit Sealing Porcelain Bottle to collect a wisp of residual energy from the physical form, while Xie Wujiu pressed the empty soul beneath the skin into the Yin Commander Paper.

After confirming that there was no further information, Han Zhao coldly uttered a single word:

"cut."

Xu Chenzhou then brought down his sword, completely shredding the skin.

As the scraps of leather fell to the ground, Han Zhao's expression grew even colder.

Looking at the tattered scrolls and empty seal box on the ground, Meng Changlu quickly figured out the treasurer's intentions.

"He wasn't simply releasing demons to create chaos." Meng Changlu looked at the shards of leather on the ground, then at the opened top-secret cabinet, his mind racing to connect the clues. He instantly grasped the treasurer's terrifying logic: "He was systematically and premeditatedly dismantling the entire Qingzhou!"

"First, he used the Gui Tu Society to massacre the Northern Banner Battalion, weakening the core military strength of the Demon Suppression Bureau; then, he used the Skin-Peeling Opera Troupe to infiltrate the government and garrison, dismantling Qingzhou's identity recognition system from within," Lu Yan interjected, his cold gaze fixed on the empty seal box. "He also stole an old official seal and a spare military roster... This means that what he's about to unleash is something bizarre that could completely overturn the official rules of the Great Yu Dynasty!"

This is not a natural resurgence of evil spirits; it is a man-made "case" targeting Qingzhou Prefecture.

"We can't let him lead us by the nose, cleaning up those released monsters one by one!" Han Zhao gripped the hilt of his sword, his eyes revealing an extremely cold strategic resolve. "We must retrieve the 'Complete Record of Old Cases' first! Every page he turns in that book is forcibly opening up a completely new battlefield for us. Only by killing him and taking back the book can the situation in Qingzhou be stabilized!"

"Spring and Autumn Pavilion".

Shen Yanqiu suddenly raised his head, his eyes seemingly burning with will-o'-the-wisps. "Back then, the main stage trunk of the Skin-Peeling Opera Troupe was suppressed beneath the abandoned 'Spring and Autumn Pavilion' theater in the south of the city. Since he wanted to use the troupe to disrupt the entire city, he had to open the trunk. And to open the trunk, he had to set up a stage there!"

It seemed to be a response to Shen Yanqiu's judgment.

At that very moment, a deafening gong suddenly rang out in the deathly silent sky above Qingzhou Prefecture.

"Bang—!"

Immediately afterwards, the rapid and eerie drumbeats, like a death warrant, pierced through the darkness and resounded in the ears of every citizen, every official, and every remnant of the Demon Suppression Division.

That was the deadly drumbeat when the skin-peeling opera troupe opened their show twenty years ago!

In the south of Qingzhou City, the Chunqiu Tower, which had been abandoned for twenty years, was now eerily brightly lit.

The pale white lanterns with red edges hung high, illuminating the entire theater as if it were the underworld.

In the very center of the spacious stage stood a mahogany armchair. A middle-aged man dressed in a neat official robe was sitting leisurely in the chair.

Behind him, rows of fresh, even dripping blood, human skin costumes hung neatly with red ropes. There were costumes of government officials, merchants, and soldiers. Under the pale light, the skins swayed gently in the breeze, as if still breathing.

Beside the middle-aged clerk, the book "A Complete Record of Old Cases of Evil Spirits in Qingzhou," which represents countless blood debts in Qingzhou, was quietly spread out on the small table.

Hearing the terrified screams and operatic singing echoing throughout the city, the treasurer smiled and raised his head.

His gaze softened as he looked down at the empty audience seats, and he gracefully cupped his hands in a gesture of respect.

"Distinguished guests, the opening performance has already warmed up the atmosphere."

"What's the next story we'll perform?"