The Paper Crane kept weaving through the streets and alleys.
But as the Paper Crane drew closer and closer, Song Chengan's heart slowly sank.
"Lord Song, we don't dare go near. He's inside!"
It was Old Man Huang's house.
When Zhu Gui saw Song Chengan arrive, it was as though he had found his backbone.
Song Chengan walked into the courtyard.
He saw that demon.
He stood on the steps in the courtyard.
Seeing Song Chengan enter, he turned his head.
"You're the lord from the Demon Suppression Division?"
Song Chengan nodded.
"Everyone I killed deserved to die."
"Some of them took my land."
"Some of them used to bully me."
Song Chengan looked ahead.
Qi Feng had previously only killed the chief evildoers, but this time, he had spared none of the five members of the Huang household.
Even Old Man Huang's sons had been killed by him.
No.
There was one.
In the corner.
A woman was trembling violently.
"Leave."
"You're not one of their family. I won't kill you."
The woman shakily rose to her feet and practically scrambled and crawled out of the courtyard.
"Old Man Huang and his wife, along with his two sons—did they all deserve to die?"
Qi Feng said upon hearing this.
"Not all of them."
"By rights, I should only have killed Old Man Huang and his wife."
"But do you know what he did back then?"
"His family's cow fell ill. Instead of calling a physician to examine it, he insisted on treating it himself with some folk remedy."
"Then the cow died."
"He insisted that I had led it away to eat poisonous grass and killed it."
"He demanded compensation from me."
He said.
"My family was poor back then."
"My father and mother knelt and begged him."
"But he wouldn't listen. He bit down hard on his claim that I had led the cow to poisonous grass and poisoned it to death."
I could never forget it.
"Isn't there a saying: when the ruler is humiliated, his subject dies?"
"When one's father is humiliated, the son dies."
"You're a great figure from the Demon Suppression Division."
"Tell me, as his son, should I have killed him?"
"Even if they were guilty, most of them did not deserve death." Song Chengan frowned.
"If it were you, what would you do?" Qi Feng asked curiously.
"I would beat them up, then make Old Man Huang repay the money from back then tenfold."
Qi Feng said.
"Actually, there's no need.
"You're a great figure from the Demon Suppression Division. You wouldn't even need to say anything—they would obediently kneel on the ground and return all your money."
"They'd bow and scrape whenever they met you on the road."
"But I'm nothing."
"They would only bully me for the rest of my life, until I died."
"No one would seek justice for my grievances."
"No one would."
"They would only laugh at my cowardice."
"I am cowardly." He smiled. "I hate them in my heart, yet I dare not resist."
At this point, he said, "But I feel very happy."
"You didn't immediately call me a monster."
"Nor did you immediately say that I was entirely wrong."
"You only said that I had gone a little too far."
Song Chengan pondered for a moment.
Then he asked, "If I'm not mistaken, in your current state, you ate demon flesh and blood, didn't you?"
"I want to know where you got the demon flesh and blood. Who gave it to you?"
"You want to know?"
"Come on, then. Defeat me."
As he spoke, he pounced at Song Chengan.
Song Chengan had long been on guard. The moment Qi Feng lunged at him, the Demon Subduing Staff in his hand, no longer than a pair of chopsticks, instantly transformed into one over twenty feet long, flames coiling around it from end to end.
He brought the staff down on him!
Song Chengan's Fire Cloud Staff Technique had long since reached mastery. Naturally, it was not something a low-level demon could contend against.
After seven or eight exchanges, Song Chengan struck Qi Feng in the abdomen with his staff and sent him flying.
Qi Feng staggered to his feet.
Blood stained the corner of his mouth.
He said.
"As expected of a great figure from the Demon Suppression Division. I truly am no match for you."
He added, "How about we make a deal?"
"What deal?"
"You came here because you were worried I would keep killing people, worried that more people would eat demon flesh and blood and become demons."
"I'll tell you everything, then kill myself."
"You give me some silver."
"Fifty taels... how about thirty taels? Thirty taels will do."
He said.
"Fine!"
Song Chengan nodded without a second thought.
"I believe you."
"You're different from every constable I've ever met."
"Miss Jin from the Drunken Red Pavilion gave me the demon flesh and blood."
"If you don't want people like me appearing in the future, go find her."
"I don't know how many people she has given it to."
"Why would she give you demon flesh and blood?"
Song Chengan was somewhat puzzled.
A loafer from the Refugee Quarter and Ye Jin, the leading courtesan of the Drunken Red Pavilion—no matter how he looked at it, the two should have had no connection whatsoever.
Qi Feng chuckled upon hearing this.
"Someone told me that the Shaman in the Refugee Quarter was omnipotent. As long as you were willing to pay, any wish could be fulfilled."
"So that day, I went to find that Shaman and asked her how I could take revenge on those people who bullied me."
"She told me to find Miss Jin."
"Then what was with the woman in your room?"
"Someone saw an unfamiliar woman in your room."
"She was Miss Jin's maid. She came to deliver Merfolk Flesh and Blood to me."
Merfolk Flesh and Blood?
Weren't merfolk legendary creatures that lived in the depths of the Eastern Sea?
How could their flesh and blood have appeared here?
Miss Jin?
Song Chengan felt this was a major case!
"That's all?"
"That's all."
Qi Feng said.
"Was it worth it?"
Song Chengan asked.
It seemed that he had vented his resentment.
But he had to pay for it with his life.
Qi Feng grinned broadly. "How could it not be worth it?"
"If I hadn't done this, they would have bullied me for my entire life."
"Miss Jin didn't tell you that after eating demon flesh and blood, demonization is irreversible."
"And as the demonization continues, you will constantly lose your mind. In the end, 'you' will die completely, and what lives in your place will be a brand-new monster."
"I know."
"I know." Qi Feng said.
"Only Granny Yue doesn't know."
"She thinks I can flee somewhere no one knows me, then hide and keep living."
"Help me give those thirty taels of silver to Granny Yue."
"You're different from them. I believe you!" he said again.
Then he grabbed his own throat and tore hard.
Blood immediately splattered everywhere.
"Lord Song!"
Zhu Gui cautiously glanced at the already dead Qi Feng.
"He's dead."
Song Chengan took out a banknote. "Leave these hundred taels of silver with you. Give Granny Yue two taels every month for me."
"If it isn't enough, come to me for more."
Zhu Gui was stunned as he accepted the banknote.
But he immediately came to his senses.
"Rest assured, Lord Song."
"From now on, I will deliver it on time every month. If Old Madam Yue has any troubles in her daily life, I will look after her as well."
Song Chengan nodded. "Go notify the people from the yamen to handle this place. They know what to do."
"Then find someone else to take me to the Shaman in your Refugee Quarter."
Qi Feng's matter had been resolved.
Now it was time to find the Shaman and Miss Jin.
Those two actually had demon flesh and blood in their hands.
They were far more terrifying than Qi Feng.
The Shaman's residence was easy to find.
She was an elderly woman who kept to herself, with an eccentric temperament, and rarely interacted with others.
She made a living by telling fortunes and reading faces.
Song Chengan pushed open the door.
Countless dark crimson strips of red cloth hung inside the dim room.
Ferocious ghosts and deities were worshipped upon the shrine.
But the Shaman had long since vanished without a trace.
A book lay on the table in the center.
A sheet of paper was tucked inside the book.
Song Chengan picked up that sheet of paper.
He saw that some words were written on it...
Before you continue