"Shadow magic isn't necessarily exclusive to the Order of Shadow."
Zed looked at Luke, unmistakable exhaustion in his voice. "The real killer may be trying to frame the Order of Shadow. And I already have a suspicion about who it is."
"Who do you think the killer is?" Luke asked.
"The Golden Demon."
Zed spat out the name coldly.
"That's impossible!"
Shen reacted more strongly than anyone, the words nearly bursting from his mouth.
"The Golden Demon escaped. He disappeared from the monastery two months ago." Zed looked at Shen and stated the cold fact without emotion. "That was your father's greatest achievement. Now, his foolish mercy has once again tarnished the glory he earned in life. I came here specifically to tell you this. Both you and Irelia could be walking straight into the Golden Demon's trap."
Other than Ahri, everyone present was familiar with the name Golden Demon.
Before the Noxian invasion, those two words represented one of the most vicious monsters Ionia had ever known. To the people, he had been an infamous monster, once regarded as a demon bringing misery wherever he went.
Countless people across countless regions of the First Lands had suffered at his hands.
Towns everywhere had sent people after him in hopes of ending the monster's atrocities, but every attempt had ended in failure.
Eventually, Master Kusho of the Kinkou Order personally took action and captured the Golden Demon.
Even then, it had taken him four years.
The Golden Demon was treacherous, cunning, and brutal. Every word for evil in existence seemed inadequate to describe him. Shen had once seen the corpses that monster left behind, and even now the memory remained vivid enough to make his skin prickle.
More horrifying still, that demon was only human.
Only Shen's father had believed that justice could show mercy even to someone like him.
Something inside Shen changed that day.
Something inside Zed shattered.
Irelia thought for a moment before asking, "What do you mean by a trap?"
She had only been nine years old when the Golden Demon's infamy was at its height, but she still remembered those days clearly. Adults had gone pale merely hearing his name, and everyone spoke of him with disgust.
"Before this, the Golden Demon was imprisoned in a monastery in Zhyun Province. I happened to be nearby. I received word shortly after he escaped, so I began tracking him down."
Zed concealed nothing, telling them everything he had uncovered during his investigation.
"I discovered that after escaping, the Golden Demon didn't resume his indiscriminate massacres like before. Instead, he began carrying out targeted assassinations. His victims were mostly people who opposed the Navori Brotherhood. That means there's a very real possibility that someone is directing his actions."
Zed then looked at Irelia. "You're one of the most prominent figures among them, so I suspect he's had his eye on you for quite some time. Shen may not involve himself in any of this, but he was one of the people who captured the Golden Demon back then."
No one present was stupid.
Shen didn't want to believe Zed, but he knew Zed would never joke about something like this. His voice sank. "You're saying Jhin deliberately lured us to Nanwu Town?"
"It's only a theory," Zed replied. "Elder Nanwu may have been under his control for some time. The letter could have been written specifically to lure all of you here so he could wipe you out at once. Given how cunning he is, that's entirely possible. Shen, we have to work together to capture him. The longer this drags on, the more trouble he'll cause.
"Even if you want to kill me, wait until this is over. When the time comes, I won't resist."
Shen stared deeply at Zed for a moment before refusing.
"I'll deal with this myself. I won't work with you. In exchange for this information, I'll let you go this once."
With that, he turned around and leapt away. Within a few breaths, he had crossed the walls and vanished from sight.
Watching him leave, Zed sighed before turning toward Luke and the others.
"That's everything. Whether you believe me or not, be extremely careful of the Golden Demon. He has fewer limits than you can imagine, and he's even more treacherous. I suspect he's hiding somewhere in this town right now, so... until our paths cross again."
His body suddenly dissolved into shadow and gradually disappeared.
Shen and Zed had left one after another, most likely both searching for the Golden Demon.
Irelia didn't hesitate either. "I'm going to find him too!"
She immediately put her words into action and rushed away.
She knew very little about the Golden Demon, but she knew one thing for certain. A menace like him could not be allowed to continue harming innocent people.
However, she hadn't gotten far when a figure appeared in front of her and blocked her path.
Luke looked at her. "Do you know what he looks like? How tall he is? For all we know, his entire goal is to get you alone so he can make his move. Splitting off by yourself is the worst thing you could do right now."
"But if we don't do anything..."
Irelia gently bit her lip.
She knew Luke was right. She had considered those things herself.
But even so, if she did nothing, was she supposed to simply stand by while the Golden Demon hurt more and more people?
"I understand how you feel," Luke said calmly. "But those two have already gone after him, and they're the experts when it comes to hunting the Golden Demon. We should try trusting them while we come up with a plan of our own."
Nanwu Town wasn't particularly large, but it still had a population approaching a hundred thousand. Finding one mysterious Golden Demon among that many people would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
More importantly, no one knew what traps the Golden Demon might have prepared throughout the town, waiting for them to take the bait.
In the end, Irelia chose to listen to Luke.
She knew that searching aimlessly would accomplish nothing besides wasting time and energy.
Akali asked, "Then what should we do now?"
"Let me see if I can find something."
Luke raised his gaze slightly before locking onto the tallest structure in town, a clock tower.
Ten minutes later, they arrived beneath it.
With several quick leaps, Luke reached the top of the tower. The three women below tilted their heads upward, having no idea what he planned to do.
The view from the top was excellent, and the air was crisp and refreshing.
Luke flipped one hand, and a playing card appeared between his fingers.
As he poured magic into it, the entire card gradually began to glow.
Magic then spread outward in flowing waves. Luke closed his eyes and allowed his thoughts to expand.
A sense of pressure descended, and countless images began appearing before his eyes.
Empowered by Destiny, Luke's awareness seemed to rise above the entire town, granting him a bird's-eye view from which he could see every street and every person.
His thoughts flickered constantly, and the images changed along with them.
Faces flashed past.
Scenes shifted one after another.
It consumed a tremendous amount of mental energy, but Luke's mental strength was considerable, so he could sustain it for a while.
Fortunately, it seemed he wouldn't need long.
A suspicious-looking man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a strange white mask appeared within his vision.
In the next breath, Luke appeared directly behind the man and grabbed his shoulder.
"Ow! Ow, ow, ow!"
The man immediately screamed and began writhing like a worm.
Luke loosened his grip slightly, turned the man around, and used his other hand to pull off the mask. Seeing the tearful eyes beneath it, he frowned.
"Why are you wearing this mask?"
Luke did know a little about the so-called Golden Demon.
The Virtuoso, Khada Jhin.
He had never met him before, but Luke could say with certainty that the man in front of him wasn't Jhin.
The man timidly replied, "Some guy paid me to wear the mask and walk around town a couple of times..."
"I see."
Luke fell into thought.
"Um... could you let go of me now?"
The man asked cautiously.
"No rush. First, tell me everything you know."
Luke smiled and dragged the man into an alley.
At the same time, both Zed and Shen found similar masked men.
They immediately recognized that none of them were Jhin.
They seemed more like deliberate clues Jhin had left behind to lead them somewhere.
They knew perfectly well it was a trap, yet it seemed they had no choice but to follow it.
After learning everything the man knew, Luke returned to the clock tower. The three women immediately gathered around him, clearly filled with questions.
For instance, they wanted to know how he had suddenly disappeared earlier.
Luke first explained what he had discovered before asking, "Where is Bufeng Valley?"
The final clue pointed toward Bufeng Valley. Jhin was most likely trying to tell them that he was there.
"Bufeng Valley is close to Nanwu Town."
Both Irelia and Akali knew the place.
No matter what awaited them, the group decided to go take a look. More than anything, they wanted to know exactly what Jhin was planning.
Bufeng Valley was a densely forested area filled with lush vegetation. Every tree grew unusually tall, with thick branches covered in orange-red leaves that made the scenery strikingly beautiful.
By coincidence, the four of them encountered Shen again at the entrance to Bufeng Valley. Zed appeared shortly afterward.
After comparing the information they had gathered, everyone reached the same conclusion.
Jhin was definitely hiding somewhere inside Bufeng Valley.
"But given his treacherous and cunning nature, he has almost certainly prepared multiple ambushes inside," Zed warned. "Everyone should be careful."
"No matter what, he dies here."
Killing intent gradually entered Shen's voice as he resolutely stepped into the valley.
"I won't repeat my father's mistake."
The moment Kusho had decided not to kill Jhin all those years ago, something inside Shen had been left incomplete.
He couldn't stop himself from wondering whether the path of balance truly demanded such a thing.
He had spent all these years without finding an answer.
But right now, he knew only one thing.
He had to destroy the demon haunting his heart and fill the emptiness that had remained there since that day.
Jhin was that demon.
Seeing Shen enter the valley, Zed quickly followed him.
Luke and the three women didn't hesitate either and stepped inside.
No one strayed very far from the others. They were essentially moving as a single group.
Not long after entering Bufeng Valley, music drifted toward them from somewhere deep within.
It sounded like a violin.
The melody soared gracefully through the air, almost as though it were dancing.
Yet within the deathly silence of Bufeng Valley, the beautiful melody took on an eerie, sinister quality.
Everyone immediately hurried toward the depths of the valley. They remained alert for any traps Jhin might have planted along the way, but strangely enough, they encountered none.
When they finally reached the deepest part of the valley, every one of them stopped in their tracks.
The heart of Bufeng Valley opened into a broad basin enclosed by towering rock walls. Maple trees rose everywhere around them.
Normally, it would have been a perfectly ordinary sight.
What made it horrifying was what hung from the branches.
People.
One after another.
Men, women, children, and the elderly.
There were more than a hundred of them, filling nearly their entire field of vision. The sight alone made their hearts tremble.
They were all still alive.
Terrified cries for help came from every direction.
"Someone, please save me..."
"Mom! Where are you? Mom!"
"Help!"
"Please... I don't want to die!"
Every tree carried a different voice. Pleas for help, sobbing, screaming, and desperate wails all blended together, almost forming an accompaniment to the soft sound of the violin.
And at the farthest end of the valley, beneath an enormous maple tree and a rain of crimson leaves, stood a tall man wearing a white mask.
He was leisurely playing the violin.
His left shoulder protruded strangely, giving his silhouette an unsettling asymmetry.
The piece was already reaching its conclusion.
He drew out the final note, set the violin aside, and turned his gaze toward the newcomers.
Then he spread his arms and slowly bowed.
"Another perfect performance. And an audience worthy of it."
His measured voice carried the refinement of an elegant aristocrat.
He straightened again, and his mask almost seemed to smile.
"The actors are all in position. It is time for the show to begin."
"Jhin!"
Shen growled the name through clenched teeth.
He couldn't endure another second.
Drawing his twin blades, he vanished in the next instant.
A moment later, he emerged from the spirit realm directly behind Jhin, his steel blade slashing mercilessly toward Jhin's head as if intent on severing it with a single stroke.
Shen could freely pass between the physical realm and the spirit realm. The two realms overlapped, meaning that if he moved within one and returned to the other, he would emerge at his new position.
And within the spirit realm, Shen could move even faster.
That made his attack extraordinarily swift, far too fast for an ordinary person to react to.
Yet Jhin seemed to have anticipated the sudden attack.
Without the slightest hint of panic, he raised a cane-like weapon and blocked the strike.
"You are as impatient as ever. Our performance has only just begun, hasn't it? The audience is eagerly awaiting the show."
He turned toward Shen, regarding him almost gently. Every movement was calm and composed.
Shen, however, felt his heart grow heavier.
He had no interest in trading words.
He could sense it.
The Golden Demon was different now.
He was much stronger than he had been back then.
Shen himself had trained for many years and was far from weak, yet Jhin had just effortlessly blocked an attack that had caught him by surprise.
The monster had already displayed an astonishing ability to grow stronger all those years ago.
They truly should have killed him then.
Shen's eyes sharpened.
Without hesitation, his twin blades erupted into a rapid series of slashes, fast enough to blur before the eye.
Yet Jhin blocked every single strike.
The depths of his strength were impossible to gauge.
"If you continue like this, you're going to make the performance terribly boring."
Jhin sighed in disappointment.
Then, with a sudden backward step, he slipped behind one of the people hanging from the tree behind him.
Shen's pupils contracted.
He instantly pulled back his strength, forcibly stopping the strike.
He had been so completely focused on Jhin that only now did he remember what surrounded them.
People were hanging everywhere.
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