Chapter 18: Heading to Liuli Temple Village

The deaths of Liu Dianli and his daughter were like a bucket of cold water splashed on Shen Yi, waking him up.

Do not harbor any illusions!

They are not dull monsters wandering the wilderness, staying obediently in one place and waiting for heroes arriving in groups to harvest them as experience points.

Doing what he did before, pretending to use the connections left by his predecessor, striking suddenly to kill the enemy when the demons let their guard down, was indeed easy.

But it cannot continue like this forever.

Those violent creatures have emotions too, they can pass messages to each other, and the speed is far faster than he had imagined!

If they know the black-skinned dog demon went to the Liu family, how could they not know who he followed?

For every demon that dies, the remaining beasts become more cruel, and their vigilance rises accordingly; if news of the ape demon's trouble spreads, the ones coming to ambush him next time will probably be true great demons.

Shen Yi did not want to live in days of constant fear.

He needed more demon lifespans.

Thinking of this, Shen Yi stood up and walked slowly out of the courtyard gate.

At this moment, many commoners were already standing on Liuye Street, all looking from a distance toward this place.

A constable beating up a constable; such a dog-eat-dog spectacle is not often seen.

"Let them all go."

Shen Yi nodded his chin.

"Your subordinate obeys," Chen Ji clasped his fist and signaled the remaining few to untie them.

He withdrew his gaze, suddenly becoming conflicted; he gritted his teeth and took out an opened letter, its cover still stained with blood: "Do you want to take a look... this just fell from them."

Shen Yi frowned, took the letter, and slowly unfolded it.

The content contained only one sentence.

"Come to Liuli Temple Village, I have questions for you."

No beginning or end, and no name written on it at all.

But based on Shen Yi's understanding of those dog demons, compared to learning how to hold a pen, they were far more skilled at wielding blades and weapons.

The only one with such leisure and elegance was that old dog among them who did not worry about food or drink, and among the ordinary constables, the only one who could connect with the yellow-furred rat demon was himself.

Chen Ji obviously saw through the clues as well, which was why he hesitated whether to bring this out: "What to do? Going is definitely impossible, but if we ignore it, they will come to the city to find you... Should we ask my lord Liu Dianli?"

It was common knowledge that Liu Dianli treated Shen Yi as half a nephew to raise.

With this relationship, if the other party was willing to speak up, there was even a chance to invite the formidable martial artist from the Magistrate's Office to plead with the demons.

"We must be quick, otherwise Liuli Temple Village..." Chen Ji was somewhat anxious.

"Tsk." Zhang Pengtian, leaning unsteadily against the wall, spat blood foam while chuckling: "Liu Dianli gave the order long ago; you cannot mobilize a single constable now. Stay put in the county. You are lucky, someone is protecting your life, but as for other worthless lives... pfft... you have no ability to manage them."

Hearing this, Chen Ji's heart skipped a beat.

He instinctively looked at the young man before him, but was immediately enveloped by a deep sense of powerlessness.

Even though Shen Yi's formidable martial power far exceeded his imagination, it was still limited to the scope of ordinary constables; if facing the entire dog demon faction... did he not see that the hired martial artists, each a skilled demon slayer, could only obediently stay in the county right now?

Just then, Chen Ji suddenly noticed Shen Yi's tightly furrowed brows suddenly relax.

"My lord Shen..."

Shen Yi patted his shoulder: "Go back first."

Originally, he had been troubled that the demons were in the deep mountains, the terrain was treacherous, and searching for them was extremely troublesome.

If waiting for them to come find him, it would be too passive.

Now that they wanted to talk, how could he miss such a good opportunity?

"..."

Shen Yi's expression was calm, but Chen Ji felt more and more uneasy the longer he looked; watching the other party walk away, he instinctively said: "You aren't planning to leave the city, are you?"

"Leave the city? I watched him climb up from a street thug; even if his own mother were kidnapped by demons, he wouldn't even glance back, and now he's playing the fool here!"

Zhang Pengtian, supported by two subordinates, rolled his throat and spat a thick gob of phlegm onto the ground.

"Pah!"

Outside the city of Bai Yun County.

A figure darted past like an arrow piercing the sky; tree tops swayed slightly, and startled birds took flight.

The Ling Snake Eight Steps, originally just a common martial art, under the cultivation of the Initial Realm's Five Orifices, could make a person's speed invisible to the naked eye.

Not long after, Shen Yi saw that dilapidated small temple again.

He slowed his pace, his breath even and smooth, showing no sign at all of having just exerted himself in a full sprint.

On the Tian Geng of Liuli Temple Village, villagers stopped their work again, all turning to look at the sword-wearing figure at the village entrance.

Generally speaking, the arrival of a constable almost equaled disaster coming to the door.

Either it came from the constables themselves, or demons were causing trouble.

After clearly seeing the face of the newcomer, the villagers' numb expressions relaxed slightly.

They still remembered this constable.

Last time, it was this person who personally killed the dog demon, and he did not take silver when he left.

A little girl who had just learned to walk, wearing a ridiculous, oversized, ragged coarse cloth, stumbled over, holding a broken bowl in her hands, and said in a milky voice: "Constable sir, drink water."

Shen Yi patted the other's head, took the broken bowl, and drank it all in one gulp.

Putting down the bowl, his gaze slowly turned toward the mountain path on the other side.

As the saying goes, coming early is not as good as coming at the right time... it is truly convenient.

On the rugged mountain path, more than ten figures, two heads taller than ordinary people, appeared and disappeared within the dense forest.

Under the knotted, matted fur were evenly bulging muscles; their faces were fierce, wearing only a loincloth, carrying two-zhang-high large palanquins on their shoulders, treading the mountain path as if it were flat ground.

On the palanquin, a body weighing at least eight hundred catties lay stretched out at ease.

Each layer of fat on its body was roughly two fingers wide, piled densely together like a mountain of flesh, making it impossible to count how many layers there were.

The most eye-catching feature was its glossy, sleek deep-yellow fur, which stood in stark contrast to the other dog demons.

After a moment, they carried the palanquin and came to a halt at the village entrance.

Nier, in her tattered clothes, had just reached out to take back her broken bowl, when she turned around and went "plop," falling onto her bottom.

On her dirty little face, every expression froze; she held her breath, her baby teeth biting hard into her lip, and her small body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Compared to young her, the other villagers appeared calmer... rather than calm, it was more that they were used to it.

They instinctively looked toward the road.

There was only one constable there, with only a single blade at his waist.

And behind the constable, that winding little path seemed so Tianyan Siji; they waited a long while, but no other figure appeared.

The villagers seemed to understand something, and a few more traces of despair crept into their unfocused eyes.

They squatted down one after another, hugging themselves tightly, neither crying out nor fleeing.

Nier suddenly felt herself blocked by a tall shadow.

She looked up.

She saw the constable slowly step past her, drawing the blade at his waist as he walked.

Until the long blade was fully unsheathed.

Shen Yi held the waist-saber at a slant, standing before the enormous palanquin.

(End of chapter)