A Ghastly Human Face!

The next morning, at sunrise.

Spring was nearly here, and the snow showed signs of melting.

After a night's rest, Lin Guanhuo and the others woke up and immediately prepared to set off again.

But just then...

Li Hu, among the crowd, suddenly realized that besides Six-Fingered, who had been frightened off the previous night, Xu Dadao was missing too.

"Where's Dadao?"

"How come he's gone?"

Hearing this, Lin Guanhuo looked around. Sure enough, Xu Dadao was nowhere to be seen.

The night before, Xu Dadao had slept on the weeds beside him.

Hearing the commotion, Chen Jianxing of the Demon Suppressing Division got up and came over to take a look.

Then he spotted a line of footprints stretching toward the Withered Forest ahead.

After a moment of silence, Chen Jianxing could only shake his head helplessly. "Those two are probably done for."

"Let's go have a look."

Chen Jianxing set off first, and Lin Guanhuo and the others followed close behind.

They followed the footprints all the way through the Withered Forest. Beyond it lay a huge earthen slope.

There were no trees on the slope, only countless mounds packed tightly together, layered one atop another, like steamed buns carelessly piled on the ground.

Some mounds had rotten pieces of wood stuck in front of them; others had crooked stone steles.

A cold wind howled, and paper money fluttered through the air.

The sight made their hearts flutter with unease.

Not far ahead of them stood two dusty gray stone steles.

On each stele, in bright red cinnabar like fresh blood,

two names had been carved in neat, precise strokes.

Grave of Zhang Tie Zhu!

Grave of Xu Dadao!

"D...Dadao?!"

Li Hu's legs went weak at the sight. "H...how did his name end up there?!"

"And Six-Fingered... his name's on there too!"

Some of the people present knew Six-Fingered well enough to know that Zhang Tie Zhu was his real name...

The two of them had been fine just yesterday. Now they had become two cold tombstones.

The sight was downright eerie.

Someone could hardly believe it and spoke in a trembling voice. "Are they both... dead?"

"Impossible!"

Just then, Li Hu, who had known Xu Dadao for years, shouted, "Alive, we see the man; dead, we see the corpse! Who saw them die?"

"Do demons kill people and bury them, too? This has to be an illusion!"

"Dig!"

As he spoke, Li Hu rolled up his sleeves and started digging at the graves.

The others exchanged glances. They also felt something was fishy, so they joined Li Hu in digging.

Chen Jianxing of the Demon Suppressing Division and Lin Guanhuo stood to one side, silently watching it all.

In no time at all...

The two graves had been dug open. Inside lay old coffins that looked as if they had been buried for decades.

Gulp...

Li Hu had refused to believe in anything sinister a moment earlier, but now that he was looking at the coffins, he couldn't help feeling a little spooked.

He swallowed, then abruptly flung open Xu Dadao's coffin.

Creak!!

The coffin lid swung open.

And then they saw...

Inside lay a corpse that looked as if every last drop of life had been sucked out of it. It had been twisted into a rope and coiled up inside the coffin.

The man's expression was horribly contorted, but they could still tell that it was Xu Dadao, who had gone missing.

The demon had clearly drained him dry, leaving him in this wretched state.

"Ah!!!"

At the sight, Li Hu stumbled backward in terror, scrambled out of the grave pit, and dropped onto the ground.

As he backed away, he cursed, "Fuck you! Fuck you!"

They opened the other coffin as well. Inside lay Six-Fingered, dead in an equally gruesome state.

Only then

did Chen Jianxing of the Demon Suppressing Division, who had been silent for a long while, finally speak. "I warned you yesterday. You refused to listen, and this is what happens!"

There was no sympathy in Chen Jianxing's voice.

People like them were bound to die at the hands of demons sooner or later. It was only a matter of time.

"Bury these two."

"Up the mountain. We're here to carry the corpse!"

With that, Chen Jianxing turned and walked away without looking back.

Lin Guanhuo and the others reburied Xu Dadao and Six-Fingered in their coffins, then left the place.

After another two hours of walking, they finally climbed to the mountaintop.

An ancient temple, weathered by time, appeared before them.

Half the plaque above the temple gate had rotted away.

But they could just make out the three characters "Evil God Temple."

The temple had stood in Blackwater County for many years. The deities worshipped there were no respectable gods or Buddhas, but two fierce-looking evil gods.

In years past, people from various fringe sects had come here to hold mysterious sacrificial rites. But after the Demon Calamity broke out on Luoku Mountain, the temple had fallen into ruin.

"We're here."

Chen Jianxing walked at the head of the group.

Lin Guanhuo and the others looked around. The flagstone path beneath their feet

was covered in dried, blackish-purple bloodstains, accompanied by a foul, putrid stench.

The blood seemed highly corrosive. It had eaten pits into the hard stone, and black smoke rose from them with a sizzling sound, filling the air with a revolting, acidic stench.

"This is the beast's blood."

As he walked, Chen Jianxing explained, "That Dog Demon's hide and flesh are as hard as fine iron, and it has the strength of a thousand catties. Even a third-grade Body Tempering Martial Artist would have a hard time dealing with it."

"My cultivation is a little stronger than its. But that beast has the advantage in size. If I'd fought it head-on, we would've been locked in a stalemate. Fortunately, I found an opening and caught it off guard."

"I cut off its head, then used several trees to make a massive wooden coffin. I sealed it inside to drain its blood and demonic energy. It can't stir up any more trouble now."

There was clear pride in Chen Jianxing's voice as he spoke.

At the same rank, Demonic Beasts clearly had the advantage over humans. Even against humans one or two ranks above them, they could still hold their own.

He had slain a third-grade Body Tempering Demonic Beast. It was indeed a great feat.

"Come on. Let's go inside and carry out the corpse."

Chen Jianxing crossed the threshold first and entered the main hall.

The hall was dark and spacious.

Two statues of evil gods stood on a Stone Platform at the far end. Time had worn away their paint, but they still looked filled with Killing Intent.

At the very center of the hall

stood a huge wooden coffin.

The coffin was two or three meters long, crudely pieced together from several old tree trunks as thick as a man's embrace.

Drip...

Drip...

As they drew closer, they could hear a steady dripping sound. Looking carefully, they discovered—

thick black blood was oozing out, one drop at a time, through the cracks in the coffin.

Gurgle... gurgle...

A faint sound of liquid flowing came from inside the coffin, making their hair stand on end.

"T...this is the Dog Demon?"

Li Hu swallowed, his hand gripping the iron staff slick with cold sweat.

"What's there to be afraid of? It's dead as a doornail."

Standing beside the coffin, Chen Jianxing patted its heavy lid.

"You lot, lift off the coffin lid, tie up the corpse with ropes, and carry it down the mountain. Then we're done."

"Open the coffin."

At his words, the others were terrified.

But they had already come all this way, and they dared not disobey Official Chen.

"Come on! The sooner we finish, the sooner we get our reward!"

One of the bolder White Servants gritted his teeth and stepped forward first.

Lin Guanhuo went over too, taking his place on the other side of the coffin.

They exchanged glances.

Then—

"One, two, three! Lift!"

At their shouted count, they all heaved together!!

Creak!!

A sound rang out. They had barely needed to exert themselves before the coffin lid came off!

The next second!!

"Boom!"

The lid hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Phew... scared the hell out of me."

Li Hu peered into the coffin. "Let me see what that damn Dog Demon that's been causing all this trouble looks li—ah!!!"

But before he could finish, he seemed to have seen something horribly terrifying and let out a scream.

"What is it?!"

His scream startled everyone.

Lin Guanhuo frowned, stepped forward, and looked inside the coffin.

There was indeed an enormous corpse inside.

It was several meters long, covered in black fur as sharp as blades. An ordinary person would likely be stabbed full of bloody holes just by touching it.

It was a dog's corpse.

But...

When Lin Guanhuo's gaze traveled up the dog's body and landed on its head,

even someone as indifferent as him couldn't help being shaken.

The Dog Demon's neck did not end in a dog's head.

Instead, it bore a huge, pitch-black human head!

Its eyes were shut tight. Its face was livid, and its features were twisted.

But that wasn't the most terrifying thing.

The most terrifying thing was... that face was far too familiar.

The dead man's face in the coffin...

was identical to the face of the Bronze Badge Walker of the Demon Suppressing Division standing behind them at that very moment—

Official Chen, Chen Jianxing!