I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

"Clang—thump thump thump!"

The rapid and sharp drumbeats of the opera, like invisible steel needles, pierced through the streets and alleys of Qingzhou City in an instant, carried by the night wind.

This was no ordinary opera troupe opening; rather, it was a widespread radiating of rules, carrying with it the malice of the lowest rungs of the first realm. Wherever the drumbeats passed, whether it was refugees hiding in cellars or city guards patrolling at night with sword hilts in hand, everyone subconsciously raised their hands and touched their cheeks.

Their eyes began to glaze over, and at the strange drumbeats, the edges of their skin, where it met their flesh, began to loosen very slightly. If they listened for just a few more moments, their entire faces would peel off on their own, like ripe fruit.

"Fang Bai, distribute all the soundproofing talismans and calming talismans to the Demon Suppression Division. Have them immediately seal off the main street and protect the people's hearing at all costs!"

Han Zhao quickly issued orders while running. He had no intention of dispersing his troops to fight fires in various parts of the city. Dealing with this kind of systematic and rule-based ailment by rescuing each case individually would only exhaust everyone.

……

South of Qingzhou City stands the Chunqiu Tower, which has been abandoned for twenty years.

The once deserted and dilapidated theater was now adorned with two rows of pale lanterns edged with blood red. There were no guards outside the theater; the doors were wide open, and a strong smell of perfume mixed with a nauseating stench of blood wafted out.

The moment Han Zhao, Shen Yanqiu, and the others stepped into the theater grounds.

A voice, neither male nor female, extremely high-pitched and shrill, suddenly exploded in everyone's ears:

"Guests arrive—take their seats—watch the play—"

As the names were called out, rows of dusty benches inside the theater strangely began to move on their own, turning neatly towards the entrance, as if welcoming them to take their seats.

This is the "stage rule" of Chunqiu Tower: once you step into this place, you become a "spectator" of this play. And once the spectator gets into the play, he will be chosen by the characters on the stage, ruthlessly stripped of his human skin, and become the next actor to take the stage.

"This broken chair doesn't even deserve for me to sit on!!"

Shen Yanqiu was so angry that he laughed instead, and drew his sword to smash the benches.

"Ignore these inanimate objects, they're a waste of your true energy." Han Zhao took a step forward, channeling his abundant Foundation Establishment stage true energy into his right leg, and kicked the dark wooden sign at the entrance of the theater that read "Take Your Seats."

"Bang!"

The wooden sign instantly exploded into a shower of wood chips.

Han Zhao's cold gaze pierced the brightly lit stage deep within the theater, his voice booming like thunder in the empty theater:

"We're not watching the show. We're going to sabotage it!"

With a loud bang, the team stormed into the inner area.

On the spacious stage, the skinning troupe is staging an extremely absurd scene.

Several actors, disguised as officials, merchants, and even demon-suppressing envoys of Qingzhou Prefecture, were singing in a guttural voice on stage, keeping time with the drumbeats. The lyrics they were singing were clearly a scene from a play about "Demon-Suppressing Commander Shen Yanqiu colluding with bandits from other prefectures to lure demons into the city and slaughter Qingzhou!"

Every time these performers waved their water sleeves, a layer of visible pink miasma would fill the stage.

This is one of the core rules of the Skin-Peeling Opera Troupe: to distort perceptions. Once the play is over, the entire population of Qingzhou Prefecture, including even the low-ranking officials, will be influenced by this rule to regard this absurd drama as an indisputable reality, and Han Zhao and Shen Yanqiu as the real source of chaos.

Upon hearing that he was portrayed as the culprit behind the massacre, Shen Yanqiu's forehead veins bulged, and the veins on the back of his hand holding the knife almost burst.

"You beasts! I'll chop you up, you bunch of demons in disguise!"

"Hold him down!" Han Zhao grabbed Shen Yanqiu's shoulder, forcibly pinning him to the spot, his eyes icy cold. "It's trying to provoke you, it wants us to lose our composure and willingly 'get into character'! Don't argue with the script, just break its stage!"

"Xu Chenzhou! Cut the red thread!"

"Zheng—"

At Han Zhao's command, Xu Chenzhou's old iron sword was drawn with a roar. The Foundation Establishment stage sword energy that had been suppressed for a long time transformed into four stunning crescent-shaped sword beams, slashing with extreme precision at the red ropes supporting the red lanterns hanging at the four corners of the stage.

"Crack!" The red rope snapped at the base, and the massive stage roof let out a mournful cry as a corner collapsed, instantly revealing cracks in the originally strict rules of the stage.

"Disperse! Clear the area!"

Fang Bai waved his hands wildly, and dozens of golden shaping talismans rained down on the stage. Those translucent figures that sensed the danger and were screaming, trying to detach from their human skin and fly towards the crowd, were pinned down in mid-air by the shaping talismans and hung on the ruins like rags.

Xie Wujiu swept past like a ghost, and the Yin Si Xiao Yin mercilessly slapped down, forcibly suppressing the innocent empty souls that were still imprisoned in their skins after being skinned, preventing them from forming a backlash of resentment when the formation broke.

Tang Qinghe and Luo Qi swiftly traversed the edge of the area, rescuing several people whose faces had just been partially peeled off and who were still clinging to life. At the same time, they skillfully extracted regular samples from the human skin.

Shen Yanqiu charged onto the stage like a raging lion, cleaving a performer dressed as a demon slayer in two with a single stroke. Despite his outburst of emotion, he maintained a high level of tactical discipline, circling closely around Han Zhao's command center.

However, the human skin that had been split in two dried up for only a few breaths before it began to wriggle in an extremely strange way, attempting to be sewn back together.

"These performers are just costumes! Their true essence lies underground!"

Holding the array plate, Lu Yan stared intently at the ley lines beneath the stage. "There's a 'theater box' under the stage! As long as the box isn't destroyed, these hides can regenerate indefinitely!"

Just now.

At the deepest part of the stage, the middle-aged clerk who had been sitting upright in the grand chair—the treasurer of the Demon Suppression Bureau—finally stood up with a cold smile.

Far from being alarmed by the smashed stage, he calmly opened the "Complete Record of Old Cases of Demons and Monsters in Qingzhou," a book reeking of blood. In his left hand, he held the old official seal that represented the authority of the Great Yu Demon Suppression Commander.

"Bang!"

The treasurer pressed the old official seal onto the playbook of the "Old Cases Record" concerning the "skin-peeling opera troupe" with great force.

"Buzz—"

The moment the official seal fell, the remaining fortune of the Great Yu Dynasty was forcibly distorted. The skinning opera troupe, which had already fallen into chaos, actually gained a distorted "official identity" under the blessing of this official seal! The shattered human skin instantly healed, and even grew illusory official robes, and its aura surged.

"Commander Shen, the Demon Suppression Division has long since failed to defend Qingzhou. These old cases locked in the storeroom are simply waiting to die." The treasurer looked down at Shen Yanqiu, his eyes filled with a fanatical fervor. "Since the old order is rotten to the core, why not release it all and use the most extreme chaos to reshape a more powerful new order!"

"You haven't been corrupted," Han Zhao said coldly to the treasurer. "You're actively exploiting these systemic flaws to act as an inside agent sabotaging Qingzhou. What are you paving the way for?"

The treasurer did not answer Han Zhao. His fingers gripped the next page of the "Complete Record of Old Cases," preparing to open the third terrifying old case that could destroy the prefectural city.

"Don't let him turn the page! Snatch the book!" Han Zhao shouted.

Xu Chenzhou became one with his sword, transforming into an extremely sharp rainbow that pierced straight towards the treasurer's throat.

The treasurer sneered and casually pulled a "Prefect of Qingzhou" skin hanging behind him to shield himself. The skin instantly swelled, creating a barrier of official authority that blocked Xu Chenzhou's fatal sword strike.

Xie Wujiu attacked from the flank, his Yin Si seal aimed directly at the "Complete Record of Old Cases" in the treasurer's hand. But the treasurer suddenly raised the old official seal, which burst forth with a dazzling golden-red blood light, carrying the orthodox laws of the Great Yu Dynasty, and violently blasted Xie Wujiu, this "object of the underworld," back more than ten steps.

"That old official seal is the core of his temporary authority to manipulate old cases!" Lu Yan immediately saw through the crux of the matter. "He's using the laws of the Demon Suppression Bureau to suppress our external rules! Seize the seal first!"

"Commander Shen!" Han Zhao roared, charging towards the treasurer like a tiger descending a mountain.

Shen Yanqiu instantly understood what Han Zhao meant.

He suddenly bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of extremely concentrated pure yang blood onto the demon-suppressing commander's waist badge.

"I am the current commander of the Qingzhou Demon Suppression Division! The seal in your traitor's hand is nothing but a piece of scrap metal in front of me!"

Shen Yanqiu raised the waist token high, carrying the laws of this world, and domineeringly pressed it down on the old official seal in the treasurer's hand!

Two principles of law, though originating from the same source, but with diametrically opposed wills, collided violently in the void.

The golden-red blood light on the old official seal dimmed abruptly for a brief moment under the suppression of the rightful commander's blood seal.

That one moment is enough.

Han Zhao's figure had somehow broken through the prefect's defenses. He didn't draw his sword, but instead, with extraordinary ferocity, grabbed the treasurer's right wrist, which was holding the official seal, with his bare hands.

The power at the initial stage of foundation building erupts like a volcano.

"Snap!"

With a sickening crack of bone breaking, Han Zhao snapped the treasurer's wrist and snatched the old official seal away!

The moment the official seal was removed from their protection, the entire rules of the skinning opera troupe collapsed completely.

"Open the box!" Han Zhao kicked the treasurer away and roared.

Lu Yan and Fang Bai had already reached the area directly beneath the stage. Lu Yan's array plate spun wildly, forcibly dispelling the last layer of concealing array beneath the ground.

"Boom!"

The wooden plank in the center of the stage shattered, revealing a huge black lacquered opera box to the audience.

The moment the opera box appeared, its lid sprang open. Inside, countless human skins, crammed together like maggots, emitted piercing screams, trying to break free of their confinement. Each skin represented a distorted memory and a stolen identity.

"Get down!"

Despite the backlash, Xie Wujiu slammed the Yin Si Seal hard onto the stage box. The strict suppression of the soul positions caused the human skins that had just flown half a meter to fall back into the box like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

Xu Chenzhou fell from mid-air like a meteorite, his longsword carrying a violent Foundation Establishment sword aura, and brutally split the huge opera box made of ebony in two!

"Burn!" Fang Bai pushed with both hands, and three Pure Yang True Fire Talismans transformed into a roaring fire dragon, mercilessly burrowing into the split opera box.

"ah--!"

Extremely tragic screams emanated from deep within the opera box. Burning under the pure yang fire, the human skins accumulated over twenty years of sin twisted and shriveled wildly in the flames, ultimately turning into ashes. The main body of the opera box was burned to ashes in the blink of an eye.

With the theater box severely damaged, the common people and officials in Qingzhou Prefecture who were just relaxing their composure suddenly shuddered as if waking from a dream.

The actors on stage, draped in human skin, lost the support of their original rules and instantly deflated like punctured balloons, turning into a pile of lifeless rags.

The skinning opera troupe, broken.

Amidst the ruins, the treasurer, whose ribs had been broken by a kick, clutched his broken right hand and shakily stood up.

He glanced at the burned opera box, then at the old official seal that Han Zhao had taken from him. His face showed no fear, but rather a mad, cruel smile.

"You think... this will save Qingzhou?"

The treasurer clutched the book "Complete Record of Old Cases of Evil Spirits in Qingzhou" tightly, his eyes flashing with the madness of a gambler who had lost everything.

"Stop him!" Shen Yanqiu sensed something was wrong and drew his sword to strike.

But the treasurer acted even faster. Knowing he could no longer precisely control the terrifying register, he made a move that surprised everyone.

With a sudden burst of strength, he managed to tear off the most crucial dozen or so pages of the "Complete Record of Old Cases"!

"Since you want Qingzhou, then you might as well take over all of Qingzhou's debts from the past century!"

The treasurer laughed wildly, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the torn pages.

"boom!"

The pages of the book exploded in mid-air, transforming into hundreds of dazzling crimson streaks of light. These streaks of light, like demons breaking free of their chains, soared into the sky and then, like a meteor shower, scattered wildly towards the various counties, villages, and wildernesses within Qingzhou!

With the seal of the old case record broken, these bloodstains, representing hundreds of terrifying lesions of varying sizes within Qingzhou, were simultaneously detonated at this moment!

After doing all this, the treasurer's body instantly withered. Using some kind of blood escape technique, he turned into a pool of blood, burrowed into a crack in the ground, and completely disappeared into the ruins.

……

The Chunqiu Tower collapsed violently amidst the raging flames.

Han Zhao stepped forward and picked up the "Complete Record of Old Cases," which was now only half-finished, from the blood. Shen Yanqiu, on the other hand, clutched the old official seal, which he had regained but could no longer use to control the situation, his face as pale as paper.

A few half-crippled human skins that escaped the net, taking advantage of the fire and chaos, silently slipped into the dark alleys of the prefectural city, leaving behind a hidden cancer in this city that had just survived a great calamity. But at this moment, no one had the energy to deal with them.

Lu Yan stood in the firelight, looking up at the blood-red meteors that were rapidly falling towards various parts of Qingzhou in the night sky. The pointer on the array plate was spinning wildly because of this terrifying burst of rules.

"He released all the old cases..." Lu Yan's voice carried a rare bitterness. "The entire Qingzhou will soon become a living hell."

The fire cast flickering light and shadow on Han Zhao's cold, stern face.

He showed no panic, simply tucking the tattered catalog into his robes. Then, he slowly raised his head, his eyes, like those of a lone wolf, fixed on the blood-red light in the sky that symbolized endless calamity.

"It's been scattered, good."

Han Zhao coldly gripped the old iron sword at his waist, his voice revealing a terrifying killing intent that seemed to trample the entire First Realm underfoot:

"Then let's do it all at once."