Sacrificial God

"Fang Mu! Open the door quickly!"

As dawn broke, a series of shouts and knocks on the door echoed, causing Fang Mu, who was deep in cultivation, to frown and leave his room.

"I'll go see. You go make breakfast!"

Seeing that Fang Jing had also been woken up, Fang Mu instructed her before walking outside the courtyard to open the door.

Actually, he didn't need to open the door; Fang Mu could tell from the voice that it was Qi Zhu.

He wondered how she knew where he lived and why she was looking for him so early in the morning.

"Creak!" The courtyard gate opened, and sure enough, Qi Zhu was standing outside. It was only her, alone.

Before Fang Mu could greet her, she actually walked into the courtyard herself. Her casual demeanor was as if she were walking into her own home.

Fang Mu closed the courtyard gate and walked towards Qi Zhu, asking, "What do you need me for?"

Qi Zhu ignored Fang Mu and instead walked into the house. She was momentarily stunned to see Fang Jing busy inside and greeted her.

"Your sister is truly beautiful. It's no wonder you're so handsome too."

"…"

Fang Mu was speechless. Although it was pleasant to hear, she had come all this way early in the morning just to say nice things? This didn't seem like her personality.

"Speak! What do you actually want from me?"

"You were the one who knocked me out last night, weren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Everyone was unconscious last night. You can ask the survivors if you don't believe me."

"Hmph! Stop changing the subject. I have proof!"

Qi Zhu snorted and took out a skirt hem from her sleeve, revealing a faint palm print.

"You hugged me last night! Do you admit it or not? If you don't admit it, I'll go back to the County Office right now and have them thoroughly investigate this palm print."

Looking at Qi Zhu's questioning gaze, Fang Mu's mouth twitched. He hadn't expected such a lapse in his careful planning to leave evidence behind.

"Just say what you want directly. There's no need to beat around the bush!"

"Hmph! So you're admitting it by default?"

"It's fine if you don't say anything. I'm an unmarried girl. If you hugged me, you have to take responsibility for me."

"What do you want?"

"You'll go and propose to my father!"

"No!"

"What did you say? Do you believe I'll expose you or not!"

"As you wish!"

"You scoundrel! You took advantage of me and now you're not taking responsibility?"

"I didn't do anything, and I'm not interested in you."

"You… you're making me so angry!"

"You really aren't going to propose?"

"No! I won't even if you beat me to death, and even less if you don't!"

Seeing Fang Mu, who was acting like a stubborn, unyielding person, Qi Zhu's face turned red with anger.

"Fine, if you won't propose, then help me with something."

"If you dare to refuse, I'll throw a tantrum at your house!"

"…"

"You're amazing! I'll admit I'm afraid of you. What exactly do you want me to do?"

Fang Mu was somewhat speechless. He could tell that Qi Zhu's lengthy rambling and shameless behavior was essentially just asking for his help.

"Come here!"

Qi Zhu glanced at Fang Jing, who was busy in the kitchen, and signaled Fang Mu to talk inside the inner room.

After entering the inner room and closing the door, the atmosphere became somewhat awkward for a moment.

"Go on! What exactly do you want me to do?"

Fang Mu was relatively calm and quickly asked.

"I want you to help me find out the whereabouts of my mother?"

"Uh… your mother is missing? Didn't your father look for her?"

"Shut up! Listen to me finish!"

Qi Zhu, annoyed, kicked Fang Mu and said irritably.

Fang Mu was speechless. He hadn't expected Qi Zhu to have such a volatile temper.

After stabilizing her emotions, Qi Zhu finally spoke, "I've never met my mother. Ever since I was little, my father told me my mother was gone."

Listening to Qi Zhu's somewhat sorrowful words, Fang Mu fell silent.

He had no parents in this life either, only a token-shaped birthmark on his back.

"I originally thought my mother wasn't in this world, but every year my father would take me to the Sacrificial God Hall."

"He'd even take me to worship at the Sacrificial God Hall whenever he had free time."

"Every time I saw my father lost in thought while looking at the statue of the god, I felt he had something on his mind."

"And as I grew older, I unexpectedly discovered that my appearance was actually very similar to that god statue."

"I suspect my origins might be related to the god statue, so I want you to help me investigate."

"Uh..."

Fang Mu was momentarily dumbfounded, thinking, how was he supposed to investigate this?

But refusing Qi Zhu was definitely out of the question. If she really started throwing a tantrum and shouting "indecent assault," Fang Mu wouldn't be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

"What is a Sacrificial God? Can you tell me about Qingzhu City? That way I'll have more clues!"

Hearing Fang Mu's question, Qi Zhu pondered for a moment before speaking, "A Sacrificial God is a being that accepts sacrifices."

"They cast aside their physical bodies, transforming into spiritual beings, accepting offerings from the populace and absorbing the power of faith from the people."

"The divine light of the Sacrificial God protects the city, blocking out darkness beyond its light. It's a mutually beneficial relationship with the people."

"The people offer their faith and worship it, and it, in turn, protects the people. Its strength depends entirely on the people's faith."

After listening to Qi Zhu's explanation, Fang Mu finally had a slight understanding of what a Sacrificial God was.

After some thought, Fang Mu eventually agreed to help Qi Zhu.

After finishing breakfast, Fang Mu headed towards the Demon Slayer Division.

The main hall of the Demon Slayer Division today was much emptier, with only a scattered few people.

The Demon Slayer Envoy who had been assigning tasks the other day had also died during last night's operation.

However, he didn't die in the Corpse Cave, but was killed by other demons in the Unburied Forest.

"Fang Mu! Here's your token!"

"Congratulations, you've become a Demon Slayer Envoy of the Demon Slayer Division. From now on, you'll be in charge of assigning tasks."

While Fang Mu was somewhat distracted, Wen Xuan and Tu Qing walked in.

Wen Xuan tossed him a token and congratulated him.

Fang Mu was a bit dumbfounded. He took the token and asked Wen Xuan suspiciously, "I didn't achieve any merits last night, why am I being promoted?"

"Hmph! A lot of people died last night, and now you're the most senior and have slain the most demons. If you don't take the job, who will?"

"Don't celebrate too early. Not only will you be assigning tasks, but you'll also have to slay the demons that Wen Xuan and I capture."

Tu Qing sneered, gloating.

"Damn it!"

Fang Mu couldn't help but curse inwardly. So all this amounted to was a fancy title with no actual benefits, and he still had to do all the work.

"Hmph! You'll also be responsible for training the newly recruited Demon Slayers these next few days. Don't let them get themselves killed."

"You'll also have to handle any demons that others can't finish off."

Tu Qing sneered, gave his instructions, and left with a laugh, watching Fang Mu's crestfallen expression.

"The capable should bear more burdens! If you train more subordinates, you won't have to work so hard."

Wen Xuan offered a word of comfort before turning to leave, leaving Fang Mu alone in the Demon Slayer Division hall.

After Tu Qing and Wen Xuan left, Fang Mu's aggrieved expression returned to calm.

He didn't mind slaying demons; in fact, he preferred it if all the demons were his to slay, as it would allow him to refine more things.

He checked the demon-slaying ledger in the hall and found that there were still over twenty demons left to be slain.

However, none of them were powerful demons, all being below six stars. Therefore, Fang Mu decided to take on all of them himself.

Watching Fang Mu leave, having taken on all the demon-slaying tasks, the remaining five Demon Slayers in the hall couldn't help but look at each other, bewildered.

They had all been prepared to have their hands cramp from slaying demons, but they never expected Fang Mu to let them rest.

What a good guy.