Chapter 227: Subduing Demons and Suppressing Monsters

Tap-tap.

The tall, sturdy demon horse trampled the mud beneath its hooves, revealing the pitted green-brick road.

The handsome youth gripped the reins, his gaze fixed straight ahead.

Behind him, Zhang Xuan spurred his horse to catch up, filled with both admiration and dread: "My lord Shen..."

"Do not speak."

Shen Yi reminded him lightly.

Zhang Xuan froze for an instant, then realized the numb-faced commoners lining the long street had all stopped their movements; upon seeing the black armor he wore, their cloudy eyes finally flickered with light.

Enveloped by so many gazes.

Zhang Xuan instinctively straightened his posture, followed Shen Yi, and swiftly swept through the street.

To give a sliver of hope to commoners suppressed by demons for so many years, what was needed was not gentle words, but a back radiating absolute confidence.

The black armor remained unbroken; the blade edge still sharp.

Now that the Zhen Mo Si has returned to Nanyue City, it must ensure the demons are executed and blood debts repaid with blood.

The two demon horses soon arrived before the Zhen Mo General's Mansion.

Shen Yi glanced sideways at the severed head on the spear, its original features unrecognizable; he reached out, took it down, and handed it to the one behind him.

"My lord Shen."

Gazing at the skull, Zhang Xuan suddenly felt a lump in his throat; with one hand, he forcefully embraced it.

Within the vast Zhen Mo General's Mansion, a crowd of bewildered people had gathered, among them some who had just been stripped and washed, running out naked to gawk.

In this demon city, there was long ago no such thing as propriety, righteousness, or shame; those were concerns only the living could afford, while they were merely walking meat dishes.

"Notify the Zhen Mo Si to take over this city."

Shen Yi's voice was not loud, yet just enough for those nearby to hear.

Having spoken, he tugged the reins once more and departed through the South Gate.

Now that the strength of the Yin Spirit was roughly known, there was no need to carry the blade; he would simply have Lady Qinghua take the Bag Treasure and rush to the other counties within the commandery.

A single Demon Lord could hold a city, but certainly could not control an entire commandery.

Undoubtedly, many demons remained scattered across the various counties; such a task of cleaning up minions did not require his personal involvement.

The steed galloped away, kicking up dust.

A neat black robe and a crimson great cloak were deeply imprinted in everyone's sight.

Ordinary people could not recognize the former's identity, but they certainly recognized the attire of the Zhen Mo Great General.

"Have they arrived?"

The middle-aged man, who had already prepared himself to be thrown into the pot, spoke haltingly.

Immediately, he heaved heavy breaths, rubbing his eyes vigorously with the back of his hand while panting.

That black blade had come swiftly and departed just as fast.

Just like those two demon horses, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

He truly feared it was all a hallucination before his death; instinctively, he turned back to look at the demon blood on the great table in the council hall, which had not yet dried.

The blood was scarlet and piercing, dispelling the numbness in his heart.

After a long while, a shrill scream finally erupted on the long street.

"The Zhen Mo Si has returned!!"

Hearing the uproar coming from behind.

Zhang Xuan stared blankly at the black silhouette ahead; only now did he finally fully merge the identity of this young man with that of the Zhen Mo Si Inspector.

Inspecting the Nine Provinces, subduing the demons of the world.

Is this not how it ought to be?

"My lord!"

Zhang Xuan turned his horse around; earlier, within the city, he had wanted to say... perhaps they should notify the General first, deliberate carefully before acting, to avoid startling the snake, lest they kill the leopard demon but fail against Lord Chimu, provoking an even greater catastrophe.

But at this moment, the instant the other handed him the comrade's severed head.

Zhang Xuan, usually full of sorrow, suddenly felt a trace of madness surge in his heart: "I will go immediately to notify the Zhen Mo Si, take over Nanyue City, and then lead men to find you at once."

Rather than waiting passively for death, better to use the last bit of strength to slay a few more demons!

"Go."

Shen Yi nodded, swung off his horse.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Xuan looked on in confusion, only to see a cluster of red clouds gathering beneath his feet, suddenly shooting up into the sky!

His mouth hung open as he stared at the sky, his eyes filled with growing astonishment.

This thing... the more he looked, the more it resembled a demon cloud.

Also, how would he find my lord Shen later? With no one standing by to guard, who would protect him while his Yin Spirit left his body?

Treading upon a scarlet demon cloud.

Shen Yi stared at the panel, where the lifespans of demons would occasionally flicker.

Most were a few decades; occasionally, one of four or five hundred years would appear.

Lady Qinghua had once been a Demon Lord; in tracking down demons, she was even more skilled than he, the demon hunter.

He closed the panel and had no desire to command her.

The Golden Eagle Divine Art manifested once more; combined with the perfected Art of Gazing at Qi, he swept toward the places where the demon energy was most dense.

True to Shen Yi's nature, he usually went directly to seek out the Demon Lord.

But after seeing Nanyue City just now, he quietly changed his mind.

Another magnificent city appeared beneath his feet.

Shen Yi had never seen such a situation before; every Demon Lord sat obediently in the Zhen Mo Si General's Mansion, waiting.

He dispersed the demon clouds.

His entire body plummeted downward with a thunderous crash!

The vast mansion collapsed instantly under the immense force, and the towering beams were shattered into dust.

Boom—

Such a huge commotion plunged the entire city into silence.

About thirty breaths later, the dust cleared.

A figure in black robes stepped out from within, dragging a demon corpse with a smashed head in his hand.

He held the corpse up by the neck.

Shen Yi rode the clouds into the air again, opened his mouth to turn it into three drops of demon blood, and simultaneously used his divine sense to notify Lady Qinghua to hurry over and finish the cleanup; with four great commanderies, there were at least a hundred counties, plenty to do.

A wisp of red cloud swept across the sky of Songzhou at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

Similar commotions repeated consecutively over the four commandery cities.

At the same time.

A shadowy spirit wandered through the various counties; demons who were eating, drinking, gambling, or sleeping on warm beds and soft pillows had their lives harvested in the blink of an eye, their corpses directly stored in his pocket.

The demons who had just been showing off their power mysteriously vanished on the spot, leaving ordinary people staring in shock all over the ground.

And on the other side, within the four commanderies still controlled by the Zhen Mo Si.

Zhang Xuan finally arrived at Songzhoucheng; two demon horses transformed into streaks of light and landed at the government office.

Before he even dismounted, he shouted at the top of his lungs: "Commander!"

His voice, like a great bell, echoed within the government office.

Countless Captains and deputy generals stood frozen in place, only realizing after a long while that this was the voice of General Zhang.

The other party always wore a sorrowful expression; such an excited emotion had not appeared for a long time.

A withered, thin old man in a long robe walked briskly out of the government office.

It was Yang Qianxiang, the Commander of Songzhou.

"You have returned from the Imperial City?" He stopped his steps and looked at the demon horse beneath Zhang Xuan with confusion.

A black-scaled dragon horse?

Yang Qianxiang closed his eyes, finally recalling whose mount this was.

Only an Inspector of the Zhen Mo Si could summon it.

He opened his eyes again to look at the empty mount beside it, and his voice inevitably trembled with a few notes: "Has my lord Chen returned to Great Qian?"

(End of this chapter)