One of Us

Leaving the Great Sun Kingdom, he entered the borderlands of the Great Jing Dynasty.

Shen Che slowed his horse, taking in the customs and scenery so utterly different from those of the Great Sun Kingdom.

When he reached the outskirts of a small village, waves of stifled sobbing drifted over on the wind.

He rode into the village.

Beneath the great locust tree at the village entrance lay four or five flimsy coffins. A group of villagers, clad in mourning hemp and wearing white mourning headbands, wept around them.

An elderly man whose face was covered in wrinkles squatted on the ground, puffing away at a dry tobacco pipe. His expression was steeped in grief.

Shen Che dismounted and walked over.

"Elder, what happened in the village?"

The old man raised his head, glanced at him, and sighed.

"Young man, you're from out of town, aren't you?"

"Don't go to Yellow Wind Mountain ahead. There's an evil creature in those mountains!"

According to the old man, over the past few days, all the birds and beasts in Yellow Wind Mountain had died out mysteriously.

Several bold hunters from the village had entered the mountain together to investigate.

Not a single one of them returned.

When the villagers found them, they had all become desiccated corpses, every last drop of blood drained from their bodies.

"They died exactly like those villagers who were killed by demons before."

The old man's voice was full of terror.

"We've already reported it to the authorities. The Demon Suppression Division from the county has sent officials over, and they've already entered the mountain to investigate."

A demon committing murder?

Shen Che's heart stirred.

He did not have much Time Value left. Since it was on his way, he could take a look. It would not only rid the people of a menace, but also replenish some Time Value.

After asking the old man for directions to Yellow Wind Mountain, he tied his horse to a tree at the village entrance and entered the mountain alone on foot.

The mountain path was rugged, and the forest was dense.

When he reached the mountainside, he spotted three figures ahead.

All three wore black, carried sabers at their waists, and were dressed much like members of the Demon Suppression Division.

They noticed him as well and immediately became wary.

"Stop! Who goes there?"

The imposing middle-aged man in the lead barked his question.

Without wasting words, Shen Che took the token of the Cangyun City Demon Suppression Division from his robes.

"Cangyun City. Probationary Demon Suppressor, Shen Che."

Seeing the token, the three relaxed considerably.

"So he's one of us."

A plain-looking man in blue stepped forward. He examined Shen Che for a few moments, then suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Shen Che? You're the Shen Che who killed Yan Hong in Cangyun City?"

"That's me."

A flicker of surprise crossed the blue-clad man Liu Tianqi's face before he became enthusiastic.

He introduced Shen Che, saying, "This is Qian Jing, Lord Qian, from the imperial capital headquarters. He is a Gold Medal Demon Suppressor and the fifty-fourth-ranked expert on the Earth Ranking."

He then pointed at the man beside him, who had remained silent all along.

"This is Jin Wen."

Shen Che cupped his hands toward Qian Jing.

Qian Jing gave a slight nod in return.

"Since we are colleagues, let us investigate the case together." Qian Jing's voice was calm and powerful.

Shen Che agreed.

The four of them proceeded together, continuing their search into the depths of the mountain.

By dusk, the sky had gradually darkened.

Jin Wen, who had been silent all this time, suddenly twitched his nose twice.

"There's a rotten stench."

He pointed toward a small grove to their front left.

The four immediately hurried over.

Pushing aside grass half a man tall, they found a freshly dug pit before them.

The pit was filled with the corpses of animals and humans. Without exception, every one of them was a desiccated corpse drained dry of blood.

Just then, Qian Jing moved.

He shot toward a nearby grove like an arrow loosed from the bowstring.

There, a black shadow was furtively dragging a corpse, preparing to throw it into the pit.

How swift was an expert on the Earth Ranking?

Before the black shadow could react, Qian Jing seized him by the throat and slammed him to the ground.

It was an ugly-looking man. Even after being captured, he remained stubborn.

"My lords, I was just passing through. I don't know anything!"

Qian Jing snorted coldly and kicked aside the grass beside him, revealing the corpse of a hunter whose blood had just been drained.

"Just passing through?"

The ugly man, Yuan Le, turned deathly pale.

"I'll give you one more chance."

There was not a trace of emotion in Qian Jing's voice.

Seeing that Yuan Le still hesitated, Qian Jing drew his saber and cut off one of his arms in a single stroke.

"Ah—!"

Yuan Le let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"It... it was my master! He told me to dispose of these 'materials' for his cultivation!"

"My master is called Yuan Shou. I don't know where he came from either. He's the one who ordered me to do it!"

Tears and snot streamed down Yuan Le's face as he repeatedly begged for mercy.

"I'll take you to him! Please, don't kill me!"

He lowered his head, and no one saw the venomous resentment that flashed across his face.

Yuan Shou?

Qian Jing and Liu Tianqi exchanged glances, both seeing puzzlement on the other's face.

They had never heard of such a figure in the martial world.

He should not be a Xiantian expert. His strength was most likely at the Primordial Qi Realm.

Led by Yuan Le, the four entered an inconspicuous Dark Mountain Cave at the foot of Yellow Wind Mountain.

The cave twisted and turned, and the air was filled with a strange odor mingling earthy musk with decay.

A tallow candle was lit at intervals along the cave walls. The dim yellow flames flickered, stretching their shadows into crooked, distorted shapes like ghosts and demons.

The farther they went, the colder it became, as though they had entered an ice cave.

Before long, the passage suddenly opened up, revealing a spacious stone hall roughly half the size of a basketball court.

At the center of the stone hall stood more than a dozen heavy nanmu coffins, arranged in neat rows, each one black as ink.

"My master is inside..."

Before Yuan Le could finish speaking,

Two black shadows burst from the shadows on either side of the stone hall without warning. They had no breath, no heartbeat, like two stones hurled through the air.

Qian Jing reacted first.

"Watch out!"

The longsword at his waist flew from its sheath, trailing afterimages. The sword light split into three, striking after it had been launched yet arriving before it, accurately slashing across the necks of the two black shadows.

Splurt!

Two heads shot into the air.

They were two desiccated corpses drained of blood.

At the very instant Qian Jing made his move, a triumphant, savage grin appeared on Yuan Le's face.

He suddenly rushed toward a stone wall at the far end of the hall and slammed his palm against it.

Rumble—!

The sound of heavy mechanisms turning rang out.

The passage through which they had entered, as well as the exit on the other end of the hall, were sealed as two incomparably heavy iron gates dropped from above and crashed onto the ground, throwing up clouds of dust.

The four of them were completely trapped inside the hall.

"Hahaha! You fools from the Demon Suppression Division, become nourishment for my master!"

Hiding behind the gate, Yuan Le revealed his resentful face through a narrow window left in the door.

"Master! I've brought the people to you!"

He respectfully called into the depths of the dark passage.

A hunched figure slowly emerged from the darkness, appearing behind the window.