As she turned around, facing the door with her foot on the windowsill, she heard the CREAK of a door opening right above her head.

Third Lady felt a chill run through her entire body, her internal organs seemingly frozen solid.

She slowly lifted her head, only to see the short-haired Taoist hanging upside down on the outside wall of the inn like a gecko, smiling down at her.

"CREAK—"

That lifelike sound of a door opening came from Li Ang's mouth.

"Found you."

Li Ang suddenly released his grip on the wall's crevices, plummeting down and grabbing Third Lady's ankle, dragging her to the hay pile on the ground with him.

THUMP.

Li Ang landed firmly on his feet.

Chaos erupted from the hay pile beside him.

Third Lady, her hair disheveled and a ferocious look on her face, silently lunged at him with a Short Dagger aimed at his waist.

Fragment Scatter activated instantly, exploding in front of Third Lady, throwing her off balance and causing her to fall back into the hay pile.

"Is this the item you've been using to perform Evil Magic?"

With an indifferent expression, Li Ang took the package from her embrace, extracted a wooden box, and shook it in his hand.

Having lost her usual composure and dignity, Third Lady cursed from within the hay pile like a shrew, "You snobby Taoist! I've had no past grudges or former enmity with you! Why must you be so ruthlessly thorough?!"

"Grudges?"

Li Ang casually placed the wooden box on the ground and started browsing through the ledger. "If it weren't for my profound Taoism," he said, "I might have fallen victim to your Nightmare Technique, turned into a donkey or a horse, and kept in a stable."

As he spoke, he rapidly flipped through the ledger.

Over the years of running the inn, Third Lady had harmed over a thousand travelers and merchants.

Most of the ill-gotten wealth had been converted into real estate, land deeds, or shares in merchant guilds (akin to modern company dividend stocks).

"Tsk tsk, who would have thought you had such an investment sense."

Li Ang shook his head. "This ledger says you donate a portion of your earnings every month. Who do you donate to?"

Third Lady's eyes darted around. Her mouth remained shut tight, and she said nothing, lying in the hay pile with a numb and vacant expression.

"Heh, let me guess. It must be the White Lotus Cult, right?" Li Ang said. "Among the world's heretical sects, the White Lotus Cult is paramount. Even if one is not a member of the White Lotus Cult, anyone who uses Evil Magic to operate a massive enterprise must contribute some wealth to them, seeking protection and avoiding detection by the authorities, the Martial Virtue Guards, or the Dragon Tiger Gate."

"..."

Third Lady maintained her blank expression, remaining limp regardless of what Li Ang said.

"How do we turn those who were transformed into donkeys and horses back to their original forms?"

Third Lady shook her head. "My skills are unrefined. I don't know."

"Blessed Supreme Heavenly Lord."

Li Ang sighed, bent over, and pointed at her forehead, whispering, "Trillium Bone!"

That touch seemed ordinary, but during that brief contact, countless fungal filaments spread from Li Ang's fingertip into Third Lady's forehead, frantically proliferating into her brain.

"AAAAAAH!" Third Lady's face contorted in agony, tears and mucus streaming down.

"That was a unique Taoist spell from the Western Regions, one of the 'Three Unforgivable Curses.' If you don't speak, soul displacement and Avada Kedavra are still waiting for you."

Li Ang stopped unleashing his Divine Power. Expressionless, he continued to ask in the same tone, "How can those transformed into donkeys and horses be changed back to their original forms?"

Third Lady was soaked in cold sweat. She struggled to speak, "It... it requires casting the Spell again."

"Go change them back."

"Alright."

Third Lady struggled to her feet. Picking up the wooden box from the ground, she maneuvered around the bodies of the inn's staff and went to the horse pen.

After resting for a bit, she took out wooden figures of humans and oxen from the box and started casting the Spell.

But this time, instead of buckwheat, rice grew out of the wooden farmland.

Once the wooden figures ground the rice into flour, Third Lady sprinkled the powder into the feed trough of the horse pen.

The donkeys and horses, attracted by the fragrance, jostled together, eating heartily from the feed.

Moments later, the donkeys and horses collapsed to the ground, neighing loudly, as a slit tore open along their backs, the sound of their hide splitting incessant.

One by one, living people crawled out from the split skin on the donkeys' and horses' backs.

Some looked terrified, unaware of their whereabouts. They opened their mouths to shout but only let out hoarse and unclear "UH-AH" sounds.

Others drooled with their mouths open, utterly perplexed.

The more alert ones must have been travelers recently turned into donkeys and horses.

Those in a stupor, however, had been livestock for a long time, their senses dulled and confused.

"UH-AH—"

Scholar Zhao wriggled free from the green donkey's skin, his robe smeared with mucus and in utter disarray.

He had only eaten a small piece of cake and was not as deeply affected by the Spell as the others; he regained his senses the fastest. He immediately knelt on the ground and said to Li Ang, "For your life-saving grace, I shall be forever in your debt..."

"Please, get up quickly."

Li Ang helped the scholar to his feet and looked towards the silent, frozen Third Lady. "How long will it take for those who have lost their senses to recover?"

Shivering at Li Ang's question, Third Lady stammered, "It depends on how long they were transformed... anywhere from a few months to several years..."

Li Ang paused for a moment and then frowned. "What about those who were sold before?"

Third Lady had meticulously recorded in the ledger the native place and information of each buyer of the transformed donkeys and horses, along with their exact destinations.

But past travelers were scattered across the land, and even if the authorities were to pursue the matter, it would likely be an enormous task.

"Th-those transformed for four years or less should be able to recover their senses," Third Lady said with difficulty. "Longer than four years... it might depend on luck."

"Wicked deeds," Li Ang muttered, shaking his head. Third Lady's methods stemmed from a type of Evil Magic known as the Nightmare Technique, ranked alongside Witchcraft. It was commonly referred to as "Cotton Pull," "Disgusting Kui," and also "Cotton Pull."

The traditional Cotton Pull involved deceiving someone into consuming something, leaving them unconscious and in a stupor, obediently following the swindler, working tirelessly like livestock.

In the remote areas of Nan County, many mine owners even bought workers ensnared by the Nightmare Technique from Magicians, forcing them to labor in the mines until death.

Some Magicians used this method to traffic children; the lower-level version was known as "Hanako."

However, this Nightmare Technique that turned people into donkeys was more advanced than the usual Cotton Pull. It could transform its victims into the appearance of livestock, making them indistinguishable on the surface. This allowed Magicians to traverse the land and sell human labor remotely.

Scholar Zhu had only mentioned it briefly in his research notes, never expecting to witness a Necromancer proficient in the Nightmare Technique in an inn in this desolate wilderness.

Li Ang looked at the people in the horse pen and contemplated for a while. He then asked Scholar Zhao a couple of questions. After learning that the scholar was on his way to the capital for an exam, Li Ang instructed him to take the others in the horse pen to the inn to clean themselves up.

Afterward, they were to report to the authorities together and hand Third Lady over to the officials.

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