Dark Night at Tang Palace - Chapter 3
A few days later, Chengping County was in turmoil. Several wealthy businessmen had suddenly and mysteriously died in their own homes, one after another, and their bodies were marked in strange bl00d curse symbols. The people of the city were terrified, and rumors spread wildly. Some even claimed to have seen the ghosts of the dead wandering around at night.
Song Xuance ran back and forth between the crime scenes and the county government office, barely getting any rest. He increasingly felt that he was being enveloped slowly by an invisible web, and that every step he took was drawing him deeper into it.
One day, he received an anonymous letter. There were only a few sentences in the letter: “Outside the East City, abandoned underground palace, meet at midnight.” There was a strange symbol drawn at the end of the letter, the same symbol he saw on those dead bodies.
Song Xuance pondered for a moment before deciding to go. The night was as dark as ink, and he rode alone to the abandoned underground palace outside the east city. It is rumored that this place was originally the cemetery of a certain prince who fell into disgrace, but it was abolished by the Tang Emperor because the prince offended the Emperor during his lifetime.
He cautiously entered the underground palace, feeling eerie atmosphere clung around him, as if countless eyes were watching in the darkness. It was pitch dark inside the underground palace, and tons of runes were carved on the stone walls, as if they were telling some kind of ancient curse. Song Xuance held a torch and walked forward slowly. Suddenly, he felt something under his feet. Looking down, he saw a withered corpse!
“Who lay the corpse here?” “Song Xuance was shocked. He quickly raised the torch and found that there were more than a dozen corpses lying in front of him. All the corpses were wearing the clothes of court officials, their expressions contorted in agony, and their deaths were gruesome.
He knelt down and carefully examined each corpse. Suddenly, he noticed a piece of cloth clutched tightly in the hand of one of the corpses. He carefully unfolded the cloth and found a few crooked words written on it: “Bl00d sacrifice completed, the spell…” The writing was broken and incomplete, but the word “bl00d sacrifice” was particularly eye-catching. “Bl00d sacrifice? What are they plotting?” Song Xuance was filled with suspicion. Just then, a deep chanting came from the depths of the underground palace, as if it were a call from hell. He followed the sound and found a huge altar deep in the underground palace. In the center of the altar, more than a dozen people in black were gathered in a circle, chanting incantations. Above the altar hung a woman, her hands bound by iron chains, her body covered in bl00d. It was Lu Qianyi!
“Stop!” Song Xuance shouted angrily, drawing his sword and charging forward. However, as soon as he stepped onto the altar, a huge force suddenly struck him, knocked him flying. The people in black all turned around, their eyes glowered, filled with a cold killing intent.
“Song Xuance, you shouldn’t have come.” One of the men in black said coldly, his voice low and cold.
“Let her go!” Song Xuance struggled to stand up, pointing the sword in his hand directly at the opponent.
The man in black chuckled, “She is just a bait, our real target is you.” After saying that, he waved his hand, a dark shadow struck Song Xuance like lightning.
Song Xuance’s vision blurred, then darkness enveloped him as he fainted. The last image he saw was Lu Qianyi’s despairing gaze, filled with tears.
When Song Xuance opened his eyes again, he was already in the county prison cell. He struggled to sit up and found himself covered in wounds and he had a splitting headache. A constable stood outside the cell door. When he saw him waking up, he hurriedly came forward.
“Lord Song, you are finally awake!” The constable looked anxious, “You have been missing for a whole night. When we found you in the wasteland outside East City, you were unconscious.”