Chapter 5: A Tremendous Harvest

"Come take a look."

Shen Yi stepped forward and said with a soft laugh, "Brother Huang Liu, why did you suddenly come down the mountain without even giving me a heads-up?"

The dog demon stopped chewing, was silent for a long while, then shifted its body slightly to the side, revealing the scene on the bed.

He saw another, somewhat thinner dog demon lying quietly on the bed, swallowing a piece of tender offal in small bites; beneath it, a palm-sized little dog demon was curled up suckling.

"Lots of enemies up the mountain, came down here to lie low."

Huang Lao Liu said in a muffled voice, "Don't go preaching rules at me. There's plenty to eat and drink here. I'm staying a full half year. We'll talk again once my son's grown a bit."

Seeing this, the delight in Shen Yi's eyes deepened: "Congratulations, congratulations! Mother and child both safe."

As he spoke, he walked over to Huang Lao Liu's side, not minding the blood-smeared bedboard, and sat right down.

Shen Yi reached out and draped an arm over the dog demon's neck: "Such happy news, and you didn't even give your brother a word ahead of time."

Huang Lao Liu glanced at him, but didn't pull away: "Save the false closeness. Today, forget you—even if your county magistrate came, I'm not leaving."

"Not leaving, not leaving."

Shen Yi stared at the other with a smile, his black-and-white eyes growing ever clearer.

Hearing this, a smile finally crept onto Huang Lao Liu's face. It looked back at him, just about to speak, when its pupils suddenly contracted.

Beneath their intimate posture, a steel blade had already sunk into its chest.

"Hah! Hah!"

Hearing the strange sound, Chen Ji snapped his head up, then shuddered all over.

He could not believe the scene before his eyes.

He saw Shen Yi with his arm around Huang Lao Liu, his expression calm: "A guest who comes is a guest—how could I chase you away?"

As the words fell, another blade drove into the dog demon's heart; blood splashed across them both, adding a touch of brightness to the room's dark red.

"You should have… stayed right here… gone nowhere at all." Shen Yi's voice grew gentler, his movements more practiced.

Puh! Puh! Puh!

Every word was accompanied by a merciless stab, until that sturdy body was stabbed into a pulpy mess.

Huang Lao Liu struggled desperately, but no matter how much strength it used, against the arm Shen Yi had draped over it, it was like a clay ox entering the sea—no response at all.

In the eyes of an onlooker, it seemed to sit there as meek as a good baby, watching helplessly as the blade pierced through it.

After a long while, Shen Yi finally let go, looking on with indifference as the already-dead dog demon crashed to the ground.

He raised his head: "You go out first."

Chen Ji's body was stiff as a piece of wood, his mind in utter chaos.

Under the other's gaze, he gave a start, turned, and walked toward the door; on his way out, he couldn't help stealing another glance.

He saw Shen Yi sitting on the edge of the bed, slowly drawing the steel blade out of Huang Lao Liu's body. He turned his gaze to the dog demon on the bed, its eyes full of terror, reached out and took the offal dangling from its mouth, and murmured softly, "Sister-in-law, a family should be neat and tidy together, don't you think?"

Chen Ji's foot faltered.

Striding across the threshold, he stood firm outside the door, closed his eyes, and forced himself to breathe.

A moment later, Shen Yi sauntered out, wiping his long, slender fingers with a rag, and said lightly, "Go on in. Clean it up properly."

Hearing this, Chen Ji opened his eyes, looked back at that familiar face, and the thoughts in his head were like a tangled ball of yarn, finally condensing into one dazed question: "Why?"

"Why what?" Shen Yi raised a brow and looked over in confusion.

Damn! Damn! Damn!

Chen Ji clenched his jaw, his eyes wide.

Of course—why did you suddenly strike? Why were you exchanging pleasantries one second, then slaughtering that dog demon like livestock the next, sitting there no less!

Why was that damned smile still on your face when you moved? Is it hatred or not? How exactly do you view the dead commoners—how do you view this pack of demons and monsters!

In Chen Ji's eyes, this person could coldly watch the corpses of his own kind being gnawed, then treat that group of sworn-brother dog demons with the same coldness—including the pup that couldn't even open its eyes.

This was utterly incomprehensible.

Amidst all his doubts, Chen Ji forcibly steadied himself and asked the most practical question: "Why kill them? Aren't you afraid the yellow-skinned fiends will retaliate? Or does Lord Shen already have a better solution?"

"What solution?" Shen Yi frowned and said calmly, "It didn't want to leave, and I wasn't willing to let it keep eating people, so I had to find a compromise that satisfies everyone."

"That… that counts as a reason?"

Hearing this, Chen Ji took a deep breath. Knowing the other had no intention of explaining in detail, he simply ducked his head and plunged into the room, beginning to clean up the dog demon's corpse.

After only a few days apart, he found he could no longer read this lord at all.

"……"

Once no one was beside him, Shen Yi stood quietly at the doorway, finally tossed aside that rag, and revealed five fingers that were trembling slightly. He lowered his gaze to stare at his palm, then clenched his fist hard, forcing his fingertips to still.

As a transmigrator, this was the first time he had seen the dead so clearly—watching that stinking, rotting flesh being torn off in big bites, even able to see the strands of meat stuck between the dog demon's teeth.

Shen Yi really wanted to vomit; he could only rely on repeated stabs to vent the fear and fury in his heart.

But he also had to keep his emotions in check.

Only by staying calm did he have a chance to hold out until Zhen Mo Si arrived. If even he was afraid, then in this vast Bai Yun County there was no one who would pull him out of it.

As for the question Chen Ji had raised, Shen Yi had actually thought it over too, but in the end he figured out one thing.

Was there any other solution? The answer was no.

If he washed his hands of it, the villagers were dead anyway. Dead either way—a no-win situation. So just do his part; why go looking for more trouble.

Rather than using phrases like "the greater good" or "patience brings peace" to numb himself here.

Better to gather more demon lifespans, grow stronger, and when the next beast stretches out its claws—cut it down in one stroke!

……

Shen Yi thought of demon lifespans; this time the harvest was quite bountiful.

【Enlightened Dog Demon, has not yet entered the initial realm, total lifespan 145, remaining 59 years, absorption complete】

【Enlightened Dog Demon, has not yet entered the initial realm, total lifespan 152, remaining 61 years, absorption complete】

【Unawakened dog demon, total lifespan eighty years, seventy-nine years remaining, absorption complete】

【Remaining demon lifespan: one hundred and ninety-nine years】

【Remaining personal lifespan: one year】

"It even rounded it up for me — together it makes exactly two hundred years."

Shen Yi hadn't yet decided where to invest the demon lifespan next.

Should he continue with the Demon-Subduing Saber Art, using the Zhengyang Saber as a foundation to explore more information about the Initial Realm.

Or the Pushing Clouds Long Fist, to see if he could gain more fist and palm talents.

While Shen Yi was thinking, Chen Ji had already loaded the demon's corpse onto the cart, then led the old donkey over.

"Whatever my lord Shen is considering…"

Chen Ji handed the reins over, his expression complicated, and looked back into the distance.

The villagers standing scattered on Tian Geng still wore that same numb look, standing with arms at their sides like the living dead — only when their gaze swept over the cart did a flicker of emotion appear in their vacant eyes.

"At least today, you saved their lives."

After Chen Ji finished speaking, he tried to force a stiff smile, only to feel the reins pulled from his hand.

He looked up and saw Shen Yi already riding the old donkey, ambling off leisurely.

"……"

Shen Yi stretched lazily and rolled his eyes.

Think my ass — before praising someone you have to take a sarcastic jab first, what kind of habit is that.

So damn precious.

(End of chapter)