Fang Mu opened his eyes and felt something damp on his face. Wiping it with his hand, he discovered it was actually blood.
"Ah!"
Clutching his head, Fang Mu let out a scream as fragments of scattered memories surged into his mind.
Several months ago, the County Office had recruited Demon Slayer Envoys. To pay for his seriously ill younger sister's treatment and make a living, he had joined the County Office's Demon Slayer Division.
This was a world overrun by demons. Humanity was weak, and ordinary people could only hide inside cities sealed off by the Divine Wall.
Demons that infiltrated the cities would be captured by the Demon Extermination Division and sent to the Demon Slayer Division for beheading, so their vital essence and valuable belongings could be obtained.
"Damn! I transmigrated? Into the body of a boy my own age?"
"The Demon Slayer Division, Fierce Ghosts and wandering souls, demons and evil spirits..."
"This world is way too dangerous, isn't it?"
Fang Mu couldn't help complaining. Then he caught sight of a charred fish demon bound in chains on a rack of execution not far away.
"This... this is a demon?"
After searching through his memories, Fang Mu discovered that his predecessor had been ambushed by the fish demon. It had flung him into the doorframe with a swipe of its tail, killing him on the spot.
"No wonder my head's covered in blood. Damn it, I hit my forehead."
Fang Mu cursed under his breath. His head still hurt a little, so he hurriedly tore off a strip of clothing and gave himself a simple bandage.
He slowly rose and looked at the fish demon in the distance. It bared its teeth and struggled viciously, trying to attack him. Fang Mu couldn't help feeling a surge of anger.
"Damn it, you're already tied up, and you're still acting so arrogant!"
"You're a prisoner. Don't you have even the slightest self-awareness?"
Annoyed, Fang Mu found a longbow and some arrows on the execution rack and shot several arrows at the fish demon.
His archery was terrible, but he still hit the fish demon. The arrows hadn't killed it, though, and seemed to be stuck in its scales.
"Clang, clang!" The fish demon struggled even more fiercely, looking as if it intended to fight Fang Mu to the death.
"Hey! You're getting lively, huh? You think I can't kill you?"
Seeing how vicious the fish demon was, Fang Mu grew even more irritated.
Among the knives, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, and forks on the execution rack, he found a long halberd and began wildly stabbing at the fish demon.
Even with its thick scales, the fish demon was stabbed full of holes under Fang Mu's frenzied assault and lost its fishy life then and there.
Just as Fang Mu stabbed the fish demon to death, a golden light suddenly shot out from his body and enveloped it.
Under the golden light, the fish demon's corpse instantly turned into a pool of blood.
As the golden light streaked back into Fang Mu's body, his consciousness suddenly grew hazy.
He found himself abruptly appearing in a place shrouded in black mist.
At that moment, the dense black mist parted, revealing a mirror shimmering with golden light.
The mirror floated in the black mist. Wisps of black vapor spilled from it and condensed into a black-mist fish monster, which shrieked and lunged at him with snapping jaws.
"Ah!"
Fang Mu cried out in pain as a huge mass of memories concerning the fish demon suddenly appeared in his mind.
"The Demon Refining Mirror melts down the myriad demons of the world to obtain demon-refined materials."
At that moment, a voice like a great bell and resounding drum echoed through his mind, shaking his eardrums with a thunderous roar.
"The Demon Refining Mirror? Isn't this the mirror I picked up by the roadside in my previous life?"
After recovering, Fang Mu thought in astonishment.
Before he had time to think it through, a white pill and a fish demon scale suddenly appeared in his hand.
Nourishing Yuan Pill: a pill that nourishes the physical body, obtained by refining an ordinary fish demon.
Fish Scale: an ungraded item that can block attacks or be made into protective gear.
"What the hell? Is this the Demon Refining Mirror? These are the items obtained from refining the fish demon?"
Looking at the things that had suddenly appeared in his hand, Fang Mu was dumbfounded. After hesitating, he still swallowed the Nourishing Yuan Pill.
The pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth, turning into countless streams that flowed into his limbs and bones, constantly scouring his skin and flesh.
Layer after layer of foul-smelling filth was expelled from his body, staining his clothes black.
"Creak!"
Suddenly, the prison door was pushed open, and a burly man walked in.
"Fang Mu, why did it take you so long to butcher the fish demon?"
"Huh? Where's the fish demon's corpse? Its eyes, scales, and blood? How come I can't see a single one of them?"
The burly man who entered looked utterly bewildered as he questioned Fang Mu, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"Uncle Zhao! Well, I accidentally dissolved it into blood. Will I be punished?"
Fang Mu opened his eyes and discovered that the burly man was his predecessor's companion, Zhao Li. He asked awkwardly.
Zhao Li was somewhat speechless, but he still explained, "You won't be punished. It was only an ordinary fish demon, and there wasn't much of value on it."
"But you can't keep things for yourself. If you're discovered, the light punishment is a beating. The severe punishment is losing your head."
"No, no, I wouldn't dare hide anything."
Fang Mu smiled awkwardly. He really had intended to hide the fish scale he had obtained.
But after Zhao Li's reminder, Fang Mu decided to hand it over.
In any case, the Demon Slaying Mirror had judged that the thing was ungraded, so it probably wasn't valuable.
"Let's go!"
Fang Mu carried a specially made metal case and followed Zhao Li out of the prison.
After being delayed for a while, the two arrived at a main hall outside the prison.
Inside the hall were more than a dozen Demon Slayer Envoys like him, each carrying a metal case.
A white-robed Demon Extermination Envoy was inspecting the metal cases everyone had placed on the ground one by one.
Fang Mu followed Zhao Li and stood at the very back. From his memories, he learned that Demon Extermination Envoys were the true official position.
As for Demon Slayer Envoys like them, the title merely sounded nice. In truth, they were nothing more than butchers.
Demon Slayer Envoys were forbidden from leaving the County Office. Every day, all they did was slay demons. They were allowed only two days of leave each month.
"Boy, why is there only a single scale left in your metal case?"
Just as Fang Mu's mind began to wander, the white-robed Demon Extermination Envoy took a scale from his metal case and asked with a frown.
"Huh?"
Before Fang Mu could answer, the white-robed Demon Extermination Envoy let out a surprised exclamation. A delighted smile appeared on his face as he toyed with the fish scale.
"Search him!" the white-robed Demon Extermination Envoy suddenly ordered several constables waiting nearby.
"Yes!" The constables answered and stepped forward, searching Fang Mu from head to toe.
They found nothing, but they were nearly suffocated by the stench coming off him.
"You did well this time. You found a scale of decent material, so I'll reward you with five silver coins. You're just too smelly. Remember to wash more when you get back."
Pinching his nose with an expression of disgust, the white-robed Demon Extermination Envoy tossed five silver coins to Fang Mu before hurriedly leaving.
"Damn! Fang Mu really struck it lucky."
"Exactly. We've been doing this for so long, and we haven't even seen what a silver coin looks like."
The other Demon Slayer Envoys grew envious and began discussing it with admiration and jealousy.
Looking at the five silver coins in his hand, Fang Mu secretly sighed in relief and thought, Fortunately, I wasn't punished.
"This was just good luck. I'll use these three silver coins to buy drinks for all of you brothers."
Fang Mu took out three silver coins, placed them on a table nearby, and spoke to the Demon Slayer Envoys and several constables.
"Brother Fang, you're really generous!"
"Good! Brother Fang is indeed magnanimous. From now on, you're my brother."
Facing everyone's flattery, Fang Mu merely smiled before turning and leaving with Zhao Li.
After leaving the hall, Zhao Li couldn't help advising him, "Fang Mu, your younger sister is still seriously ill in bed. How can you spend money so recklessly?"
"Uncle Zhao, I know what I'm doing." Fang Mu offered a brief explanation before turning and leaving.
He had his own considerations. Using the silver coins to buy everyone a meal was merely a stopgap measure.
First, it would block the others' greed and prevent anyone from secretly harboring ill intentions toward him.
Second, it would win them over, making things much more convenient for him in the future.
In any case, with the Demon Slaying Mirror, Fang Mu felt that making some money shouldn't be difficult, so he didn't pay it much mind.
The common currency of this world was divided into gold ingots, silver coins, and copper coins. One silver coin was equal to one hundred copper coins.
A few copper coins could buy the vegetables and fruits eaten every day, while a little over twenty copper coins could buy a small bag of rice.
A Demon Slayer Envoy's monthly salary was only thirty copper coins. That alone showed how valuable silver coins were.
Before you continue