Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

147. The Dark Sorcery

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Du Chuxuan raised his head after a long while of silence, only to find Yuxing Tianrui was burning the letter. He immediately tried to stop Yuxing Tianrui yet Yuxing Tianrui raised it high up in the air and let it burn.

“Does my dear Xuan really want to know what it is about?”

Danger! Du Chuxuan was instantly alerted by Yuxing Tianrui’s tone. He dared not to act further but cautiously peeked at the blank envelope. Could it be… that person?

Although with the idea in his mind, Du Chuxuan dared not to show his true feelings so he played the innocent. “Nah, I am not interested. I wonder who sends that. Is that from Prince Yuxing Wei? Even if so, you shouldn’t have burned it.”

Yuxing Tianrui stared at Du Chuxuan with his black eyes for a long time, yet Du Chuxuan was too skillful to be caught lying.

Yuxing Tianrui then gave up testing him, “Nothing important. I assume it is delivered to the wrong address so I burn it to protect the sender’s privacy.

Luo Er acted unnaturally on hearing Yuxing Tianrui’s excuse as he stood behind Yuxing Tianrui and accidently read the whole letter. It was a love letter no doubt. Had not he read it, he would have trusted Yuxing Tianrui.

Du Chuxuan frowned slightly as he didn’t buy Yuxing Tianrui’s words, but dared not to confront him either, “Well, since it isn’t addressed to me, it is nothing of interest. Just burn it.”

As he said that, Du Chuxuan couldn’t help but worrying about his uxoriousness to Yuxing Tianrui would deflate his ego, but when he cuddled Yuxing Tianrui, he soon forgot about it. What did ego matter when you had your sweetheart at your arms?

The night fell and the hustle and bustle of Xiangyang City ceased as night-market peddlers started to pack and head home.

It was in the darkness that two figures flew quickly past rooftops. Were it not the bright moonlight, no one would notice them.

Soon, they stopped on top of a temple near the city gate. This temple was built in honor of the God of the Soil and the Ground, but as the city expanded, it gradually decayed and lost donation until eventually declined into a night dwelling for beggars and homeless people.

But in contrast to the tranquil urban areas, residents here led a busy and lively night life.

“Are you sure we are in the right place? It’s very difficult to kidnap girls from here without being seen.” said one slightly shorter figure.

The other seemed not bothered by his partner’s question as he toyed with green foxtails, “I beg to differ. Tonight they will have their last victim and because of that, they won’t care to be seen. In fact, they may want to make a scene to cause a social panic and where else can cause greater fear than a populated area like this?” The moonlight cast light on their faces: it was Du Chuxuan and Yuxing Tianrui.

The two squatted on the top of a tree near the temple. Du Chuxuan frowned slightly when he saw the number of women resided in the temple.

“Damn, there are five women within the right age range. But wait… the two women by the window look suspicious. ” said Du Chuxuan as he pointed at the two women by the window.

The temple was occupied by more than 50 people. In a chilly autumn night like this, people would gather around in the middle for warmth and temperature dropped down at the window area, yet the two sit right by the window.

Yuxing Tianrui also caught sight of the dark patterns on their clothes. The fine embroidery of the patterns suggested it was unaffordable to any ordinary citizens such as those here.  “Perhaps they were once ladies from high-rank families or maids escaped from such families.”

Yuxing Tianrui still withheld his opinion about this temple. Du Chuxuan, on the other hand, seem not very interested in investigating the series of girl-kidnapping cases.

And with no explanation, Du Chuxuan maintained the last case would happen here, which Yuxing Tianrui highly doubted and would have believed Du Chuxuan was the kidnapper had he not known Du Chuxuan better.

Du Chuxuan understood Yuxing Tianrui’s concerns and decided to answer his questions before the kidnapper came.

“I read books to kill time and didn’t expect they would help to solve crimes someday. ” he grinned as he fastened the foxtails to one of his fingers. “I once read a dark sorcery called cherry boy’s sorcery that uses virgin girls’ blood to practice. The sorcery is very hard to master.”

“To practice it, you will need to start at young age. A qualified sorcerer should be someone whose date of birth falls into the darkest time according to traditional Chinese astrology. Once a sorcerer masters it, he must not engage in any sexual intercourse which negates the spell; therefore, he remains a cherry boy. And most importantly, when the sorcerer reaches adulthood, he will need blood given by seven virgins born in different days to finish the spell.”

Yuxing Tianrui frowned slightly. “Then what happens to the seven girls-”

Du Chuxuan didn’t directly answer his question, but kept on talking, “It’s called dark sorcery for a reason: it is of great power yet very inhumane.”

As for those 6 kidnapped girls, they would be alive until the kidnapper found the last one, which meant Du Chuxuan and Yuxing Tianrui’s action tonight would determine their fate.

“I noticed the birthdays of those missing girls and found one thing strange.” said Du Chuxuan slowly while gazing at the temple’s entry.

“Two missing girls were born in the same month, but why…” Before he could finish, his suddenly jumped down from the tree.

Yuxing Tianrui had no idea what was happening when he saw Du Chuxuan engaged in a bitter fighting with a stranger.

The fight was extremely fast: they had withstood each other’s martial arts moves trice in the twinkling of an eye.

The sound of fighting attracted the attention of the people inside the temple as they homeless life had sharpened their sense of danger.

One curious temple dweller cautiously opened the gate and tried to take a peek, but was pushed back by the force of a palm move. He then banged close the door as if it would defend himself from the unknown dangers outside.