A reward of one tael of silver!
At those words, the previously lifeless courtyard erupted.
"What? One tael?!"
"Did I hear that right? They're paying one tael of silver just to carry a corpse?!"
"Oh, my heavens! I've worked here for a year and haven't saved up a single tael!"
Xu Dadao and Li Hu, standing nearby, heard this and flushed with excitement.
In a world where a steamed bun cost only one wen, one tael of silver was worth a thousand wen!
For White Servants like them, who sometimes went an entire month without wages and could only scrape by on a meal, this was a fortune worth risking their lives for!
Even Lin Guanhuo raised his eyebrows slightly at the sum.
He knew all too well how tempting that kind of money was to ordinary people.
"Quiet! Quiet!"
Seeing the crowd in an uproar, Zhao Sihai immediately roared with borrowed authority, "What kind of behavior is this, shouting and carrying on in front of the officials? If you don't want to go, get out now!"
The courtyard fell silent at once, but no one could hide the greed and delight in their eyes.
Who would leave?
Only a fool would!
They could earn a tael of silver just by carrying some beast's corpse. It was like a fortune dropping from the sky!
Just then.
"Allow me to introduce someone."
Wang Bai wore a smile tinged with sycophancy.
Pointing to the imposing Martial Artist beside him, he said, "This is Chen Jianxing, a Bronze Badge Walker from the Demon Suppressing Division. Official Chen."
The Demon Suppressing Division!
At those three words, the White Servants who had been stirred up by the promise of a tael of silver fell noticeably quiet...
After all, they weren't fools.
They knew that the Demon Suppressing Division's silver wasn't easy to earn.
In this demon-ridden, chaotic world, there was a special institution called the Demon Suppressing Division.
It was devoted to slaying demons and exorcising evil, and wielded tremendous authority.
Though nominally subordinate to the Imperial Court's local authorities, it operated independently in practice.
Even a local Commander of the Demon Suppressing Division held a status equal to that of a county's highest official, the County Magistrate—or even higher.
"Bronze Badge Walker..."
Lin Guanhuo silently weighed the matter.
He had learned that Walkers in the Demon Suppressing Division were ranked according to their strength.
Even the lowest-ranking Division Servant was already a Martial Artist of rank.
And to earn a badge, one had to be at least a Fourth Rank expert in the Body Tempering Realm.
Put simply, a Walker was a high-ranking enforcer in the Demon Suppressing Division.
Chen Jianxing's gaze was cold. He paid no heed to the crowd's awe, standing there in silence.
"Um... may I ask, Official Chen?"
A White Servant in the crowd, a little bolder than the rest, swallowed hard.
He asked cautiously, "Since you're offering so much silver, what kind of corpse are we supposed to carry?"
Chen Jianxing glanced at him and replied flatly, "A Black-headed Dog Demon."
The moment those words were spoken, everyone's expression changed.
"A Black-headed Dog Demon?!"
"Oh, mother of mercy! That thing?!"
Every face turned deathly pale. Even Xu Dadao, who had been eager to earn money so he could marry, looked ready to back out.
Clearly, they knew exactly what those words meant.
Lin Guanhuo furrowed his brow. He had spent three months in the Miscellaneous Room and had heard a few things about those creatures.
It was a demon that had caused a great deal of trouble lately. Though not as disastrous as the Fox Calamity, it had still left people terrified.
They said the beast had a dog's body topped by a pitch-black human head.
Its favorite prey was a woman left at home while her husband was away working. It would break into her house in the dead of night and force itself upon her.
Women violated by the creature often conceived monsters. Ten months later, they gave birth not to a human child, but a Dead Dog Infant with a mouth full of sharp teeth!
Not long ago, a woman in the south of the county had hanged herself. They said she had given birth to a dog-headed monster fetus, leaving all of Blackwater County in a state of panic.
Once night fell, young women and married women alike hardly dared step outside.
"Official Chen..."
The White Servant who had asked the question spoke with a trembling voice. "I heard the thing is dozens of zhang tall and weighs thousands of jin. There are only a dozen or so of us. I'm afraid we won't be able to carry it..."
"That's right, sir. It's a demon! If its demonic energy gets on us, our flesh will rot..."
"I'm not going! I don't want the silver!"
Fear spread through the crowd.
They had all seen Zhou Kai, in the Miscellaneous Room Courtyard, corroded by demonic energy before their very eyes until he was nothing but a pile of white bones.
Silver was all well and good, but only if you lived long enough to enjoy it, right?
"Don't panic."
Chen Jianxing waved a hand, his face brimming with confidence. "Three days ago, I pursued the beast to a Ruined temple on South Mountain and cut off its head. We've drained its blood for three days. It has no demonic energy left."
"All you need to do is carry it down the mountain. The rest is up to us at the Demon Suppressing Division."
Even so.
The people there still looked at one another.
Before long, four or five White Servants backed down.
One of them was a White Servant in his thirties.
Known by the nickname Six-Fingered, he was the first to speak up. "South Mountain is a cursed place. A Demon Calamity broke out there once, and a lot of people died! The Yin energy is incredibly heavy! Official Chen, I've got an old mother to support at home. I'm not going!"
At Six-Fingered's words.
Several other White Servants stepped forward too. "I'm not going either..."
"Right, I'm leaving too."
Then the White Servants who had backed out left the group and prepared to go.
"If you're afraid to die, then go on home."
Chen Jianxing's voice was calm. "The Demon Suppressing Division never forces anyone. The gate's that way."
"If you won't do it, there are plenty who will."
If you won't do it, there are plenty who will!
Lin Guanhuo's face remained expressionless. He just thought the line sounded so familiar, so classic.
The White Servants who had lost their nerve clasped their hands in salute, turned around, and headed for the courtyard gate.
However.
One step, two steps, three steps...
Their pace grew slower and slower.
That was a whole tael of silver!
Enough to buy several jin of meat and several jars of fine wine!
With that much money, they could even visit Qiushui Alley, find a pretty girl, and live it up for a night!
"This..."
"Sixth Brother, why don't we... give it a try? We're only carrying a corpse, after all. We've done plenty of that kind of work..." One of the White Servants who had initially refused was already having second thoughts.
The others were clearly slowing down too.
A whole tael of silver was simply too tempting.
"Damn it!"
Just then, one of them turned back. "Sir! I'm not leaving! I'll do it!"
Everyone was dumbstruck.
The other White Servants who had already walked out the gate froze in place.
After hesitating for a moment, they too gritted their teeth and ran back, one after another. "Sir! I'll do it too! I'll do it!"
Six-Fingered, who had been the first to say he was leaving, gritted his teeth and changed his mind too. "Eight hundred wen! I'll do it for eight hundred wen!"
"I'll do it for six hundred! Sir, I only need six hundred! I'm strong—let me go!"
"Five hundred is fine too! Just give me a meal and I'll carry anything!"
Watching this, Lin Guanhuo was speechless.
How had this turned into... a bidding war??
That was the chaotic world for you. A life wasn't worth much!
Before you continue