Meeting the Old Beggar Again

In a dilapidated ancestral shrine.

After Lu Jun finished speaking, realizing that the demon that had wanted to kill him was Huang Ni'er in disguise, the old man fell silent.

"Uh... Old Man, do you know what's going on?" Lu Jun tentatively asked the old man.

The old man shook his head.

After a long pause, the old man suddenly looked up and said:

"Let's go! Come home with me first."

The villagers were all busy preparing for the midday feast, so they were mostly gathered in the center of the village.

The old man and Lu Jun encountered almost no one on their way home.

During the journey, the old man even had Lu Jun casually climb over the walls and into a few villagers' homes. Peeking through the windows, which had been reinforced with iron plates, they saw the sleeping occupants.

Indeed, in every household, the places where people slept at night were surrounded by iron chains and shackles, either on the walls or on the floor.

Seeing this, Lu Jun's heart became even more convinced.

Back home.

The old man immediately pulled Lu Jun into his room.

The floor of the room also had chains and shackles for restraint.

Lu Jun had been too panicked last night, and the old man was covered by a blanket, so Lu Jun hadn't noticed these chains.

After returning to the room, the old man went to the bottom of the bed and rummaged around, finally pulling out a wooden box from under the bed.

He then wiped the dust off the wooden box and held it in his arms.

Lu Jun raised an eyebrow and said, "Old man, what is this?"

The old man chuckled and, without hesitation, opened the box right in front of Lu Jun.

Inside the box were several silver ingots.

Lu Jun exclaimed in surprise, "Holy crap, Old Man, you have secret savings!"

"So much! How long did you save it for!"

The old man smacked his lips, gently stroking the silver ingots in the wooden box, chuckling, "How about it, aren't I amazing, old man!"

"This is what I've saved over the years by being frugal."

Lu Jun's expression was complex.

The old man was the village carpenter.

He usually made a few things for villagers and charged a few copper coins. He could barely save a few hundred coins in a year. So much silver must have taken a very long time to save.

"Amazing... With so much money, we can do so many things... We could add more than a dozen chickens to the coop, or renovate the house a bit, and still have plenty left over to buy two pigs for the family..." Lu Jun muttered softly, thinking about how to spend such a large sum of money.

"Here." The old man extended both hands and offered the wooden box to Lu Jun.

"Huh?" Lu Jun blinked in surprise and instinctively took it.

The old man's body relaxed, and he slumped onto the bed, chuckling, "This is the money I saved for you to get married..."

"Originally, I thought that young girl Huang Ni'er was quite suitable for you. I was planning to take you to propose in a few days, but with the current situation... we can't."

"So... I want you to take this money and go to Yunzhou, the nearest city..." the old man said.

"Go to Yunzhou?" Lu Jun was a little surprised. "What are we going to Yunzhou for?"

He had lived in this small village his entire life. The farthest he had ever been was the town, but he had never traveled as far as Yunzhou.

The old man said, "Naturally, to find the Demon Slaying Division."

Lu Jun looked confused. "But Old Man, didn't you hide it from us before because you were worried we'd let slip that we could turn into demons, and the Demon Slaying Division would find out?"

"You even told me before that prejudice in people's hearts is like a great mountain. If outsiders knew you could turn into demons, the entire village would be ostracized, and the Demon Slaying Division might even slaughter you all."

The old man sighed helplessly, "Alas, this is a last resort."

"Now, nearly ninety percent of the villagers have already taken on demonic appearances, and even young people like you are showing signs... If our entire village turns into demons, it will be a complete demon village. By then, if we choose to seek help from the Demon Slaying Division, it will be truly impossible to explain ourselves."

Then, the old man, with a rare look of affection, said, "Child, while there are still normal people in our village, I think we should end this curse that has lasted for a thousand years as soon as possible."

Lu Jun asked, "Do the village chief and the others know about this?"

"They don't."

The old man pouted. "Those guys are just a bunch of cowards who only care about saving their own skins, living one day at a time, hiding things for one day at a time. They haven't considered how our village, as the last ember of humanity, will continue if everyone turns into monsters, or how we'll explain ourselves if outsiders see us."

"Those cowardly good-for-nothings have never thought about these things."

"I'm counting on having great-grandchildren!"

"I can't just stand by and watch my family line end with you!"

"Today is the Huang Pi Dao Master's festival. Outsiders are forbidden from entering the village, and villagers are forbidden from leaving."

Lu Jun gritted his teeth. "Then how do I get out..."

The old man's eyes flashed with determination. "I've already made up my mind! You'll go by water."

The autumn air was cool and crisp, and the reeds grew tall and thick, reaching their peak height for the year.

The strong young men dispatched by the village chief were patrolling near the stream.

"Hey, A'Qi, you've got good eyes, take a look at what's floating on the river."

At this moment, a young man spotted a brown object drifting on the lake and became curious. He quickly called out to his companion not far away.

The young man named A'Qi looked over and, upon seeing clearly, said, "It looks like a poorly made raft..."

Then, A'Qi confirmed, "It's definitely a failed raft. It's obvious no one can stand on it... no need to bother with it."

"Oh..."

The raft drifted nakedly before the two men, following the stream from upstream to downstream.

The solitary raft floated on the water.

Suddenly.

"Splash!"

The raft was violently overturned.

A wet head emerged from the water, a reed stalk held in its mouth for breathing.

"Old man, I didn't expect you to have so many tricks up your sleeve."

This person was Lu Jun, who had successfully escaped the village.

The raft in front of him had a tiny hole in the middle, just enough for Lu Jun to insert the reed stalk for breathing.

At the same time, there were two bamboo-made handles on the underside of the raft, which helped Lu Jun grip it tightly to prevent it from slipping.

Finally, he had successfully escaped the village by using the raft to float away.

Lu Jun hurried ashore, shivering uncontrollably. He quickly took off his clothes and wrung them out.

"Little one, we meet again."

Just then, a wavering voice came from behind Lu Jun.

"Holy crap!!"

Lu Jun jumped in fright and quickly turned around. Behind him stood the blind old beggar he had met the other day.