"How is he? Can his eyes still be saved?"
"His pupils are bleeding, and his sclera is covered in blood vessels. He must have been struck by some kind of eye technique from the Bird Demon."
"I've already applied medicine to him. Whether he recovers will depend on him now."
"All right, then. I hope he can still see. Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to order his execution."
Listening to the voices asking and answering each other fade into the distance, Fang Mu, who had regained consciousness, was scared into a cold sweat.
"Damn it, the Demon Slayer Division really is heartless. They'll execute someone just because he's gone blind."
Feeling the faint, threadlike coolness from the herbs wrapped over his eyes, Fang Mu hurriedly removed the bandages before he could enjoy it.
He struggled to open his eyes and look around, only to find that his vision seemed somewhat blurry.
"Fang Mu, why did you take off the bandages? Hurry up and lie down!"
"I can take two days off this month. I've already requested leave. I'll look after you for these two days, so get some proper rest."
A concerned voice came from outside the room. Fang Mu looked toward it and found Zhao Li.
"Uncle Zhao! I haven't been home in a long time. I want to go back and take a look!" Fang Mu hesitated for a moment before suggesting it to Zhao Li.
"Sure! I've been missing your aunt's chicken soup too. I haven't been home in a month either. Come on, I'll carry you."
Zhao Li agreed with Fang Mu's idea. After hoisting him onto his back, he turned and headed outside.
Fang Mu had originally wanted to walk himself. His vision was just blurry, not completely gone.
But Zhao Li told him to lie still and showed no intention of putting him down, so he stopped insisting.
As Fang Mu lay on Zhao Li's back, he suddenly saw a mass of black energy spreading over Zhao Li's body.
Curious, Fang Mu reached out to grab the black energy, but his hand passed right through it.
As Zhao Li carried him out of the Great Prison Prefecture, they encountered many patrolling guards and constables along the way.
Fang Mu discovered that more or less, black energy clung to all of them.
"Could that be Demonic Energy? Then why don't I have any?"
Fang Mu secretly wondered about it. He examined himself and found not the slightest trace of black energy on his body.
Zhao Li carried him through the County Office, turning this way and that. It took them a long time to finally leave.
The County Office was even larger than he had imagined, almost like a small city.
After leaving the County Office, Fang Mu tried to circulate his Vital Energy, wrap it around the black energy on Zhao Li's body, and draw it into himself.
The black energy did not resist. It was easily absorbed into Fang Mu's body.
As soon as the black energy entered his body, before Fang Mu could study it, that wisp of black energy was suddenly absorbed by his pupil.
Fang Mu was stunned for a moment and found that his vision seemed to have become even blurrier.
"Huh? A side effect?"
Fang Mu was rather alarmed and did not dare try absorbing the black energy again. He would have to see whether his eye could return to normal first.
He could not blind himself just to save Zhao Li.
Zhao Li carried him along the alleys of the Slums. After walking for a while, they arrived outside an old residence.
"Hmph! You little bitch, we came here with complete sincerity to ask for your hand in marriage. Don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit."
"Don't you dare! My brother is a Demon Slayer Envoy. If you dare cause trouble, my brother won't let you off!"
"A Demon Slayer Envoy? Hahaha! Who doesn't know that's a deadly job? For all you know, your brother's corpse has already been dumped somewhere."
"You... Don't come any closer!"
"Ah! Help! Someone save me!"
Hearing the panicked cries and commotion coming from inside the residence, Fang Mu, who had been lying on Zhao Li's back, erupted in fury.
"You're courting death!" With an enraged roar, Fang Mu stepped on Zhao Li's back and vaulted over the wall.
"Fang Mu, calm down!" Zhao Li cried out. Seeing Fang Mu leap over the wall, he hurried toward the nearby gate.
The moment Zhao Li entered the courtyard, he heard a string of agonized screams.
Looking around, he saw that three men had already fallen into pools of blood.
"Brother, brother, you killed them! You—you need to run! Don't—don't worry about me!"
A girl with a pale, sallow face clung to Fang Mu in terror, pushing him repeatedly toward the courtyard gate.
Looking at the girl, who was crying in panic, Fang Mu grasped her trembling hand and revealed a gentle smile as he comforted her. "Don't be afraid. They bullied you, so they deserved to die."
"People die in the Slums every day. The County Office can't possibly handle every case."
"R-Really?" The girl, who was completely at a loss, was half-convinced by Fang Mu's words of comfort.
"They're local ruffians from the Slums, not anyone important. Let them die. Still, we'll need to deal with the bodies."
Zhao Li closed the courtyard gate and inspected the three corpses before quietly comforting the girl.
"Burn them and dig a pit to bury them. No one should find out."
"That won't do. This is a place where people live, after all. Burying corpses here would bring terrible ill luck."
Zhao Li rejected Fang Mu's suggestion, then proposed, "We should wait until the dead of night and transport the bodies to the Mass Grave."
"Corpses appear there all the time, and there are countless stray cats and dogs. No one will find them or grow suspicious."
"That works." Fang Mu thought it over and agreed with Zhao Li's suggestion.
The two of them found a large quilt, wrapped and bound the three corpses, and then cleaned the bloodstains from the ground.
"Knock, knock!"
"Little Jing! Why did you lock the courtyard gate?"
At that moment, a woman's shout came from outside the courtyard.
The sudden voice startled all three of them. Zhao Li and Fang Jing were the first to react.
"It's Aunt Zhao. She went out to buy groceries earlier," Fang Jing reminded them in a low voice.
"Shh! Keep your voice down!"
Zhao Li opened the courtyard gate, pulled a woman standing outside inside, and then closed the gate behind her before speaking in a low voice.
The woman was Zhao Li's wife. She was somewhat dark-skinned and plain-looking, but kindhearted and clever.
The moment she saw the scene before her, she knew something had happened. She asked softly, "What's going on? What happened?"
Zhao Li hurriedly explained everything to her in a low voice, while Fang Mu took his younger sister Fang Jing back into the house.
When Fang Mu returned to the room, he saw that his sister's illness had flared up again. She coughed repeatedly, and he frowned before quickly having her lie down on the bed to rest.
He infused Fang Jing with the meager Vital Energy inside his body, gradually easing her coughing.
Looking at Fang Jing as she slowly fell asleep, Fang Mu could not help feeling heartache for this younger sister he had only just met.
"Don't worry! Your brother will cure you!"
Fang Mu walked over to the table, poured himself a cup of water, and drank it. Then he spaced out as he recalled the Bird Demon's memories.
The place where the Bird Demon had hidden its treasure seemed to contain quite a few silver coins.
Although it was a shame there were no gold ingots, silver coins were still a fortune to Fang Mu.
The gold ingots the Bird Demon had mentioned earlier had only been bait to trick him into approaching.
According to its memories, the treasure was hidden near the Mass Grave.
Since they would be dumping the corpses there tonight anyway, he could take a look on the way. There should be a decent haul.
Fang Mu secretly mulled it over and decided to risk going to see the Bird Demon's treasure that night.
According to the Bird Demon's fragmented memories, it also seemed to have hidden a Demon Core, though he had no idea where it had come from.
Only a great demon above the First Rank Realm could condense a Demon Core.
Thus, the value of a Demon Core could not be measured in money. For the sake of a Demon Core, Fang Mu was willing to take the risk.
Before you continue