After learning about all the welfare benefits offered by the Demon Slaying Division—especially the seemingly endless missions to slay demons—Lu Jun was so excited that his blood nearly boiled.
But Lu Jun did not agree right away.
After all, the other party had used him before, and Lu Jun still felt somewhat awkward about it.
Besides, joining an organization was something that required caution.
He also needed to properly investigate whether the Demon Slaying Division was reliable.
Thus, Lu Jun merely declined verbally, saying that he needed to think it over carefully.
The blind old man did not show much disappointment.
Thinking it over was not the same as completely refusing. There was still some hope.
"Senior, your Demon Slaying Division should have a way to track demons, right?" Lu Jun asked softly, in a voice only he and the blind old man could hear.
The blind old man glanced at the little demon trembling in the distance and instantly understood what Lu Jun was thinking. The smile on his face grew even brighter.
Good heavens!
He did not need to teach him anything at all.
This was simply a born seedling for slaying demons!
"We do, boy. We do."
With that, the blind old man slipped two talismans into Lu Jun's arms without a trace and whispered, "These are Child-Mother Tracking Talismans. As long as you stick the child talisman onto a demon, it will merge into the demon's body, and the mother talisman will be able to sense the child talisman's location at any time."
A sharp gleam blossomed in Lu Jun's eyes. Good stuff.
Lu Jun came before the trembling juvenile demon and gently patted it on the back. He said, "Go. I don't kill the old, the young, the sick, or the disabled..."
The juvenile demon froze, seemingly never expecting that this madman before it would let it go so easily.
"Why are you still standing there? Get lost!"
Lu Jun's gaze turned dangerous, and he raised the saber in his hand.
The juvenile demon shuddered and hurriedly said, "Right away, sir! May fortune smile upon you, may you live as long as the Southern Mountain, may blessings pour in like the Eastern Sea, may you have sons soon and wives and concubines aplenty..."
In an instant, the juvenile demon blurted out every idiom it had learned in its life.
Then it fled in a puff of smoke.
"Ah, Lu Jun, you're confused. Demons can never be trusted." Li Tuo came over with a sigh. "You let them go, and they won't be grateful. They'll only plot revenge..."
"As the saying goes, while the green hills remain, one need not fear running out of firewood. If you fail to pull up the weeds by the roots, they'll keep sprouting year after year!"
Earlier, Lu Jun and the blind old man had spoken in secret, so Li Tuo had not seen it.
Lu Jun raised his brows, then pulled the mother talisman of the Child-Mother Tracking Talismans from his sleeve and waved it before Li Tuo.
"I said that I would leave not a single one alive."
With that, Lu Jun returned to the blind old man and continued talking with him.
Li Tuo muttered, "You're ruthless... Then why did you say you wouldn't kill the old, the young, the sick, or the disabled?"
The juvenile demon fled all the way until it reached a spacious cave in the wilderness.
By then, the last ten Weasel Demons who had escaped had already gathered inside the cave.
"Little Three escaped too... Looks like these are the last of our people." The elderly demon sighed when it saw the juvenile demon at the entrance. "Who would have thought that, in the end, our Weasel Demon clan would be reduced to so few kin..."
"That damned Lu Jun! He's completely insane!" Quite a few of the demons were seething with resentment.
"Exactly! I'm utterly impressed. Even the mad dogs of the Demon Slaying Division can't pursue people like that. That bastard is even more of a mad dog than a mad dog!"
"Who says otherwise? I spent more than a month with him before and never saw him able to hack people apart like this. Normally, he'd get winded carrying a chicken basket, but when it came to chopping up demons, he was like a dog that had spotted a chunk of meat..."
At that moment, the elderly demon in the cave sighed. "Sigh, fellow clansmen, don't lose heart."
"As the saying goes, thirty years east of the river and thirty years west—never bully demons for being weak..."
"No matter how strong Lu Jun is, he's still only a human. His lifespan is at most eighty or a hundred years. Even if he becomes a Law Seeker and gains a longer lifespan, he still can't compare with us demons."
"As long as we continue accumulating strength, develop in secret, never forget our hatred, and work hard to eat humans and cultivate..."
"Thirty years from now... we'll gather our forces and avenge our clan's hatred..."
"Ninth Master, thirty years from now, he'll be forty-eight. For a Law Seeker, that'll be the prime of his life..."
"Then fifty years! A hundred years! Damn it, if all else fails, after he dies, we'll dig out his corpse and whip it. We'll defecate on his grave and slaughter all his descendants. I refuse to believe that our lofty, supreme Weasel clan can't deal with a mere Human Race!" The elderly Weasel Demon roared in exasperation.
The many demons fell silent.
Only after a long while did the elderly Weasel Demon look toward the juvenile Weasel that had just entered. A rare trace of affection appeared on its face.
"Little Three, how did you escape?"
The juvenile Weasel named Little Three said, "Lu Jun said he doesn't kill the old, the young, the sick, or the disabled, so he let me go."
The cave fell silent for a moment, and all the demons froze.
"Lu Jun was kind enough to do that? And he has principles?"
"He seems like a decent fellow. Back when I was human, he even took me to watch Third Aunt Huang bathe in the back hills..."
Little Three continued, "If you ask me, we don't need to fear Lu Jun at all. He doesn't kill the old, the young, the sick, or the disabled. You, Uncle, are an old man. Second Uncle, Third Uncle, Seventh Uncle... your legs, ears, arms, and the like were all chopped off by Lu Jun while we were fleeing."
"We're all old, young, sick, or disabled now. One hit will kill us, and one touch will injure us. Lu Jun is a principled man, so he definitely won't attack us. He'll only be able to watch helplessly as we attack him."
"So, I think now is the best time for us to take revenge!" A look of resolve flashed through Little Three's eyes, and it even waved its fist.
The demons fell silent. Looking at the juvenile demon before them, they could only feel that something was wrong with its head.
A sharp gleam flashed through the elderly Weasel Demon's eyes. It rolled them around once, then looked at Little Three. "Did you meet anyone else on the way?"
"Yeah, three Demon Slayer Envoys..."
The cave instantly fell deathly silent, and the demons stared at one another with wide eyes.
Little Three looked bewildered.
"Run!"
The elderly Weasel Demon immediately shouted.
In an instant, the demons in the cave dashed toward the entrance at full speed.
But when they saw the figure standing at the cave entrance, they all stopped in their tracks.
The young man wore a bloodstained robe, yet not a single drop of blood belonged to him.
He still held that ancient long saber in his hand, and his face wore an indifferent smile that was not quite a smile.
"Fellow villagers, where are you all headed?"
The many demons let out terrified cries in their panic.
Lu Jun said nothing. He simply kept swinging his saber.
"Wait! Aren't a demon's life and a human's life both lives? How can you be so selfish and refuse to let us demons continue existing in this world?" one demon protested.
Lu Jun swung his saber, and the demon's head went flying.
"Should we really die just because we're demons?!" another demon demanded.
Lu Jun swung his saber, severing the demon's limbs as blood gushed out like a pillar.
"Can't we demons and the Human Race truly coexist peacefully?" another demon pleaded.
Lu Jun swung his saber, chopping the demon into large chunks of flesh.
"You... you! You're utterly devoid of humanity! Even taking a step back and setting everything else aside, are you saying your Human Race has never done anything wrong?!" one demon roared furiously. "If your Human Race had regularly offered us some useless members of your own kind as sacrifices, how could we demons possibly have slaughtered so many of you?!"
Lu Jun smiled.
He had laughed from sheer anger.
That demon was ultimately chopped into minced meat by Lu Jun.
Not far from the cave.
"Lord Golden-Robe, didn't Lu Jun already refuse us? Why are we still waiting for him?" Li Tuo asked as he watched Lu Jun enter the cave.
"He said he'd think about it. How is that a refusal?" the blind old man replied indifferently.
Li Tuo silently grumbled inwardly.
If an adult doesn't clearly agree, isn't that just a refusal?
"Lord Golden-Robe, do you really think Lu Jun can defeat that many demons?" Fang Yilin asked curiously.
The blind old man chuckled twice. "Have you forgotten the corpses at Huang Family Village?"
Li Tuo shuddered.
That scene could not have been described as anything less than a river of blood.
Less than half an incense stick of time later.
Lu Jun emerged from the cave.
The blood stench around him had grown even denser. His entire body looked as though it had been soaked in blood, and his eyes seemed coated in a layer of red light, gleaming with excitement.
"Senior, you're still here?" Lu Jun said.
The blind old man replied, "Heh-heh, didn't you say it yourself when we were talking earlier? Your family was reduced to just you because of the demon scourge."
"With the skills you possess, why not come with us to Yunzhou? It's the capital of a province, after all, so it won't disgrace your talents. After that, whatever you wish to do, this old man still has enough face to recommend you to someone."
"Coincidentally, we also have one extra horse here."
Li Tuo curled his lips and thought to himself, What do you mean, one extra horse? That's clearly the one I bought from a nearby village after running across one or two mountains...
Lu Jun pondered for a moment before finally agreeing.
Lu Jun summoned wind around his body and rose into the air, landing on the horse the blind old man had prepared for him.
Beneath the bright full moon, amid the clatter of hooves against the earth, they galloped toward their next destination—Yunzhou.
Before you continue