Chapter 6: Encountering a Demon

The dark night was like a curtain, covering the vast earth.

The stars were crystals dotted on the curtain, and the crescent moon was the affectionate bright eye of the Chang'e fairy peeking at the mortal world from behind the curtain.

And the sand dunes at this moment were a tomb under the curtain.

More than fifteen thousand Sand Barbarians were circled together, the injured moaning low, the exhausted curled up on the ground in deep sleep.

Outside the Western Sha Man camp, several bonfires were lit, and the Shu Kingdom knights were still wearing full armor, sleeping with their weapons ready around the fire.

"Swoosh~~~"

A point of dark red suddenly shot up from the southeast, and the whistling sound carried by the wind was as faint as a ghost wailing.

Song Changqing, who was closing his eyes and feigning sleep, stood up abruptly, looking at the southeast night sky.

Then he ran hurriedly toward the animal-skin tent built on the ruins of the Sand Dune King's palace.

Wisps of red light were shooting out through the gaps in the tent.

Upon approaching, one could clearly feel a scorching heat.

It was as if a large furnace was hidden in the animal-skin tent, the temperature of the furnace being several times stronger than the bonfires outside.

"General, General Guan, something has happened."

Song Changqing didn't rashly rush in, only calling out in a low voice outside the door.

"What is it?"

General Guan's lazy voice came, and the projected red light and scorching heat both gradually faded.

"A 'three-petal flower' piercing-cloud arrow rose in the southeast, the color is bright red. It should be the brothers who went out to hunt down the Sand Barbarians; they have encountered an irresistible danger." Song Changqing said.

"Buzz~~" Three zhang of golden light shot out, swept a circle in the southeast direction, and quickly retracted.

"Crash~~~"

The cowhide door curtain was lifted from the inside, and General Guan, who was still fully armored in the night, strode out.

His expression was solemn, and he shouted coldly, his voice shaking the wilderness: "All members of the Iron Cavalry Battalion, lead your warhorses and gather outside my tent."

Song Changqing said: "General, the night is heavy, not suitable for cavalry travel; you can ride the Red Smoke Steed, and the brothers can run over."

General Guan glanced at him and sneered: "Do you think I would take you all to fight a river demon dozens of miles away at a time like this?"

"Not the Sand Barbarians, but a river demon?" Song Changqing exclaimed.

General Guan turned toward the southeast, his voice low: "It should be a fish demon, not fully transformed, still wearing a green fish head as big as a windmill.

When I looked over, it was swallowing Zhu Tong and the others whole, one by one.

Seeming to perceive my gaze, it even turned its head and made eye contact with me (ps)."

Song Changqing understood.

General Guan gathering the Iron Cavalry Battalion wasn't to go out and rescue Zhu Tong, Zhang San, and the others, but to gather strength to protect himself—he was worried the demon would follow the gaze of the "Immortal's Eye" and chase them here.

Soon, more than two hundred knights, whether black-armored knights or light cavalry in leather armor, were all leading their warhorses, standing neatly outside General Guan's tent.

Their movements were not small, naturally alarming the Sand Barbarians.

The Sand Barbarians didn't dare to move randomly, but gathered together and whispered.

Under the hazy firelight, the treacherous looks in their eyes contained both fear and ferocity.

Fear that the Shu Kingdom knights would start a massacre, but also the determination and resolve to turn into fierce beasts and bite a piece of flesh off the enemy before dying.

"You, that's you, old barbarian head, come over!"

The Sand Barbarians were vigilant for a good while, but didn't wait for the cavalry to "plow the camp," only Song Changqing ran over alone, pointing at the old man in the leopard-skin skirt and shouting loudly.

"Song Old Master, are you calling this slave?" The old barbarian man showed a sincere, flattering smile, running over with a trot, and even lowered his voice, his expression strange: "This slave didn't have a chance to report to the master earlier; this slave's daughter and several Western Sha Man girls are very willing to serve you lords."

Song Changqing looked at him with great surprise.

This old man actually called him "Song Old Master."

He hadn't actively revealed his name to the barbarians; it was clear that this old barbarian man had been paying attention to their conversation.

Only the brothers of the Iron Cavalry Battalion had called his name.

"I'm looking for you to ask about some things." He paused, Song Changqing meaningfully said: "I'm looking for you instead of others because when asking earlier, you spoke with clear logic, clearly a smart person; I hope you continue to be smart."

The old barbarian man nodded repeatedly, "This slave understands, master, you ask what you want, this slave says what he knows, only a thousand compliances, not a word of nonsense."

Song Changqing nodded and brought him before General Guan and the group of iron-clad knights.

"Only him?" General Guan frowned.

"My lord, other barbarians are dull and stupid, unable to answer one sentence after asking ten; this old barbarian is an old hand among the Sand Barbarians, one worth a group of people." Song Changqing said.

General Guan asked the "old hand" barbarian, "Are there any demons near the sand dunes?"

The old barbarian man was thoughtful, his mouth nimble: "My lord, this barbarian wilderness far from civilization certainly doesn't lack spirits and demons, but they aren't encountered often; I don't know which one you are talking about?"

"Tell me everything you know." General Guan said.

The old barbarian man said: "First, a few years ago, a wild demon or a passing demon flew from some hill in the west, named 'Iron-Beaked Golden-Winged Eagle'."

"Why do you say it's a wild demon or a passing demon?" Song Changqing asked.

"That Iron-Beaked Golden-Winged Eagle landed directly on the sand dunes; in broad daylight, it pecked children when it saw children, and pecked adults when it saw adults, pecking twenty or thirty people to death in a row.

If it were a demon living nearby, if it really wanted to eat people, it would only take one or two away, which is called 'fine water flowing long'; how could it be so wantonly arrogant and waste food?" The old barbarian man said.

"Hmm, that makes sense." Song Changqing nodded, then asked: "Now the Iron-Beaked Golden-Winged Eagle has flown away—wait, no!"

He suddenly remembered, "When asking you about Western Sha Man Yu earlier, you seemed to have mentioned 'Iron-Beaked Golden-Winged Eagle'; was it killed by Western Sha Man Yu, or was it another Golden-Winged Eagle?"

The old barbarian man sighed: "Just that one, and it almost wiped out our tribe.

That beast pecked many people to death, and the tribal warriors of course wouldn't let it go.

The headman personally led over a thousand warriors to besiege it.

But it was a demon, with a copper head and iron beak; arrows and spears shot at its back, at most causing feathers to fall, with no blood or flesh seen.

If it weren't for Yu girl secretly using poison arrows, I don't know how many people would have died, and in the end, it would have been allowed to fly away."

"You also have poison arrows, why didn't they hurt the eagle demon?" Song Changqing asked.

"If there's no blood, poison arrows are useless no matter how poisonous they are!" The old barbarian man said.

"Is Western Sha Man Yu born with divine strength, able to pull a hard bow with a thousand-catty force?" Song Changqing was surprised.

The old barbarian man said: "She has quite a bit of strength, but she still couldn't pierce the eagle demon's skin and flesh."

"Ah, I understand, it's the eyes!"

A black-armored knight shouted in realization, "No matter how strong the eagle demon's muscles and bones are, its eyes definitely can't withstand the sharpness of armor-piercing arrows."

The old barbarian man's expression was strange, "Yu girl indeed shouted 'shoot its eyes,' but when everyone released arrows to shoot the eagle demon's eyes, she secretly circled behind the eagle demon, and when it flapped its wings and leaped high, she shot an arrow through its anus.

A three-foot bone-piercing arrow, half of it shot in, blood splattered, the eagle demon wailed miserably, and after flapping for less than a quarter of an hour, it had no breath left.

After the eagle demon died completely, she crawled out from behind the warriors, stepped on the Golden-Winged Eagle's head, and triumphantly showed off, saying 'Knowing it might have become a demon, how could you not guess it understands human speech? I deliberately shouted like that, making your arrows miss, making it proud and arrogant, exposing its anus'."

"Why did she have to shout? Why didn't she just secretly shoot its eyes?" The black-armored knight frowned.

Before the old barbarian man could open his mouth, General Guan sneered: "Only fools would think the eagle demon's eyes are its weak point.

Look at the corpses on the mortal battlefield; how many fatal wounds are in the eyes.

Even mortals instinctively dodge foreign objects flying toward their eyes, let alone an eagle with sharp vision that has become a demon."

After saying this, General Guan frowned again.

Mentioning Western Sha Man Yu, he remembered the mission entrusted by the Central Kingdom envoy again.

"Old barbarian, continue."

"There was another time, about five years ago, also Yu girl, who used an iron hook to catch a man-eating clam by the Liushahe.

That old clam was bigger than a tabletop, and although it wasn't a wild demon, it didn't know the rules just like a wild demon.

For a body size like that, eating one child would have been enough.

But it actually crawled ashore, sprayed toxic mist in the paddy field, bewitched all the women picking fruits, and bit off their heads one by one."

"Five years ago?" Song Changqing doubted: "How old was Western Sha Man Yu five years ago, able to catch a man-eating clam?"

"She just set the hook; it was us slaves who dragged the man-eating clam ashore, also using poison-quenched fishing hooks to poison the man-eating clam first." The old barbarian man said.

"You continue."

"Two years ago, a one-eyed wolf demon drifted near the sand dunes; Yu girl again let the hunters shoot its eyes, while she hid behind and secretly attacked the one-eyed wolf's anus.

I don't know if that wolf demon died, but after being hit by Yu girl's arrow, it howled and tucked its tail and ran away, and no one has seen it since.

And..."

The old barbarian man was very good at observing expressions; seeing the Shu Kingdom knights were particularly interested in "Western Sha Man Yu," he specifically told stories of "Western Sha Man Yu heroically hunting demons."

"These you mentioned don't count as demons; they don't even have human forms, at most they are just nourished by the essence of the sun and moon and have just opened a little bit of wisdom." General Guan said.

The old barbarian man thought for a while, saying: "In the south, about two hundred miles away, there is also a sand dune, the forest is denser than ours, I heard there are tree demons inside, I don't know what they look like, those who have seen them are all dead.

To the southwest, about three hundred miles, some Sand Barbarians saw half a tiger corpse, the tooth marks on it were thicker and longer than table legs. And..."

The old barbarian man talked endlessly, telling all the "sand dune ghost and monster legends" he knew, regardless of whether they were true or false, for a full half-hour.

In fact, he could have continued talking... if someone gave him a bowl of water to moisten his throat.

General Guan had good patience; even though the other party was clearly talking nonsense, he didn't interrupt his "Sand Dune Legend."

When the old barbarian man started to have a dry throat and stutter, Huchen finally said directly: "Is there a fish-head demon with green fish scales?"

"Definitely!" The old barbarian man's tone was firm.

General Guan and the iron-clad knights were refreshed, waiting for the old man to reveal key information, but the old barbarian shook his head, then continued: "But I have never seen it, nor have I heard of it."

This made General Guan angry, scolding: "Dog-fucking killer, you haven't even seen it, how can you be so sure it exists?"

The old Western Sha Man explained: "My lord, this slave is an honest man; you ask what you want, this slave tells the truth, never ambiguous.

You ask if there is a fish-head demon with green fish scales; this is definitely there.

Although this slave has never seen it, nor heard anyone mention it, this is the eight-hundred-mile Liushahe.

The Liushahe certainly doesn't lack any fish demons; you have whatever you want."

"I want your dog head!" General Guan slapped him with a big palm, slapping the old Western Sha Man flying two meters away.

Just at this moment, a commotion suddenly came from the dim distance, and Sand Barbarians were shouting excitedly.

General Guan's eyes shot out three zhang of golden light, sweeping across the noisy area, before retracting his divine light, saying calmly: "Zhu Tong is actually alive and back; you hurry up and bring him over."

"Zhu Tong?" The black-armored knights were both shocked and happy, and several people immediately turned and ran down. ===== CHAPTER 7 =====