Return Journey

The country road at night was not dark at all beneath the round moon overhead.

Kong Yu carried a huge sack on his back, panting as he followed behind Shen Lin.

Though the sack was exceedingly heavy, he felt no impatience whatsoever. On the contrary, he was in high spirits, the smile on his face never fading.

Because half of the Mantis Demon's body was inside his sack.

Although the demon had been slain by Shen Lin, Shen Lin had already promised to share some of the credit with him.

Two months ago, the runner Old Huang had followed Captain Sun Zhi to slay a demon, then swaggered back to the County Yamen.

Afterward, that old fellow who had muddled through an entire lifetime at the County Yamen without accomplishing anything had actually bought a house and taken a wife. The life he lived now... tsk, tsk.

Though no one knew how many hands the reward issued by the Demon Suppression Division had passed through, Old Huang had still received so much.

What he gained this time should not be much less than Old Huang's.

At that thought, Kong Yu felt all his fatigue swept away, his entire body brimming with strength.

He had married into a wealthy household, and his position as a runner allowed him to skim quite a bit in his daily life. By rights, he should not have lacked money.

But after all, he lived under another's roof. Every coin he earned had to be handed over to his wife, and whenever something came up, he had to seek her approval.

Even when he wanted to drink with his colleagues, he had to bow and scrape before his wife to ask permission. How suffocating.

But now, with the merit of slaying a demon, everything would change.

Both his father-in-law and his wife would look at him in a new light.

Thinking of this, he looked at Shen Lin gratefully.

Whether it was his life or the share of merit he would receive, he owed it all to Shen Lin.

Ahead of him, Shen Lin carried a sack in each hand, hauling far more than Kong Yu.

Yet his steps were steady, his breathing calm, and his expression showed not the slightest abnormality.

With over a hundred years of cultivation experience derived through the system, Shen Lin could already draw his Blood Qi Power back into his body. At that moment, he looked no different from an ordinary man.

But Kong Yu could not forget the terrifying pressure he had sensed from Shen Lin when he had first awakened.

That aura was no less formidable than Captain Sun Zhi's.

Shen Lin was already a martial artist!

At that thought, Kong Yu suddenly seemed to remember something and asked, "Brother Shen, shouldn't we wait for the captain?"

Once they had packed everything up, they had left that house directly, without even having time to settle the corpses of their colleagues.

According to Shen Lin, once they returned, the County Yamen would naturally send people to handle such matters.

What Kong Yu could not understand was this: the demons had already been eliminated, so why not wait for Captain Sun Zhi and set off together?

Shen Lin stopped, turned around, and smiled meaningfully. "No need! Once the captain discovers what happened there, he will naturally understand."

When the Mantis Demon had spoken with Shen Lin earlier, Kong Yu had still been unconscious. Naturally, he did not know that his captain had actually reached an agreement with a demon.

And for the time being, Shen Lin had no plans to expose Sun Zhi's true face.

Because Captain Sun was still of great use.

With a crack, a cowhide official boot snapped a dry branch.

Sun Zhi carried the Tiger Demon's corpse, larger than his own body, across his shoulder as he slowly entered the small courtyard.

He was tall and broad, with a rugged face.

It was already late autumn, and the nights were cold, yet this fellow had his chest bared. Heat continuously rose from his powerful muscles.

He suddenly stopped and slowly frowned.

Too quiet!

Sensing that something was wrong, his gaze sharpened as he swept his eyes around the courtyard.

Bang!

He tossed the Tiger Demon's body aside, rolled his neck until it cracked, then pressed one hand to his sword hilt and walked toward the room where the lamp was still lit.

When he entered, a complete mess greeted his eyes.

The Mantis Demon, who should have been waiting here to help arrange the scene for him, was nowhere to be found.

Demon bodies could be exchanged for rewards from the Demon Suppression Division, so Shen Lin and Kong Yu had endured their nausea and packed up every piece of the mangled remains.

Even the demons' blood had been soaked up with strips of cloth and collected.

Thus, not a single trace of the Mantis Demon had been left in the room.

Yet Sun Zhi twitched his nose and still detected something amiss.

A martial artist's keen sense of smell allowed him to catch a pungent, fishy stench.

This smell...

It seemed to be demon blood.

No!

Sun Zhi suddenly seemed to recall something. He left the room and walked toward the storeroom nearby.

With a crash, he kicked open the storeroom door. What met his eyes were corpse after corpse hanging from the rafters.

At least a dozen human corpses had been stripped of their limbs and hung there like dried meat, swaying slowly.

Most of the corpses had already been dried by the wind. Only five still dripped blood, seemingly having died not long ago.

After silently counting the bodies, Sun Zhi murmured, "Five people..."

He stepped forward and began identifying them one by one.

Just then, one of the corpses suddenly opened its eyes.

"Captain... Sun... save me! Save..."

Though he had clearly been carved into a human stump, he still had a breath left in him.

Yet Sun Zhi seemed not to notice his subordinate's plea for help at all and walked straight past.

The man could not cry out again. His trembling lips gradually stilled.

After examining the corpses one by one, Sun Zhi muttered, "Kong Yu and... Shen Lin!"

The seven runners under his command should originally all have died here.

Only then could he explain how difficult this battle had been.

All his subordinates had died in battle, and he himself had suffered grave injuries, but after a bitter fight, he had ultimately slain the evil Tiger Demon.

That was the story he had prepared for the Demon Suppression Division.

But now, the course of the story had changed.

What exactly had happened?

Had an expert happened to pass by, discovered the Mantis Demon, and slain it?

Or...

Sun Zhi narrowed his eyes. After pondering for a moment, he turned around, returned to the courtyard, hoisted the Tiger Demon's corpse onto his shoulder, and walked out.

His destination: the County Yamen!

Whether those two had dealt with the Mantis Demon themselves or received help from an outsider did not matter.

What mattered most now was returning to the county seat and finding out how much those two knew about what he had done.

If they knew too much...

A cold glint flashed through Sun Zhi's eyes, and his dense killing intent seemed almost tangible.