Lin Guanhuo and the others left the Demon Suppressing Division and headed west.
The group walked down the main street, led by the Silver Badge Agent Ye Yinyue, who carried a sword.
She was beautiful, yet lacked the delicate softness of most women.
Countless gazes from the street converged on her.
"I've seen her before... She must be a Silver Badge Agent of the Demon Suppressing Division... Ye Yinyue, right?"
"She's truly a beauty of the Martial Dao... I've long heard that the Demon Suppressing Division has a pair of sisters. She has an older sister, Ye Yinxue, doesn't she? She's a Gold Medalist in the Demon Suppressing Division—the true prodigy of Blackwater City..."
"Impressive! Her older sister is even more remarkable. She entered the Bone Forging Realm at such a young age... How many Bone Forging Martial Masters does Blackwater City even have?"
"Usually, those agents from the Demon Suppressing Division travel in grand convoys... For them to appear on the street today, they must have some important business..."
The crowd murmured. They didn't dare look Ye Yinyue in the eye, and hurriedly moved aside to clear a path.
"Brother Chen, where are we going?"
At the back of the Demon Suppressing Division's group, Lin Guanhuo walked quietly alongside Chen Jianxing.
Chen Jianxing lowered his voice. "For the past few months, Agent Ye has been tracking a Great Demon. Looks like she's found a lead."
"A Great Demon?" Lin Guanhuo asked, puzzled.
"Mm." Chen Jianxing nodded, his expression grave. "A Great Demon comparable to an Eighth Rank Martial Artist! I think it's called a Blood-Eyed Ape Spirit. That thing is utterly depraved—it likes sucking out people's brains. It especially likes the brains of newborn babies."
"Over the past few months, quite a few infants have died in the other big cities and towns under Blackwater's jurisdiction. Their heads were all soft and caved in. Some Daoists peeled back the skin and found nothing inside their skulls. That beast did it."
"But don't worry. Agent Ye is a Second Rank Tendon Transformation Martial Master. She called us over just to lend a hand. There are always bigger fish to deal with the wicked. We'll do what we can and collect some reward money."
Chen Jianxing took it all in stride, speaking lightly. They had a big shot leading the team, after all. All they had to do was offer a little moral support.
"Fair enough. We'd better keep our distance." Lin Guanhuo nodded in agreement, though he wasn't worried in the slightest.
Now that he had Golden Armor's boost, his Precept Breaking Saber Art had also developed a new Killing move: Tiger Subduing Style.
If even a tiger could be subdued, what was there to fear from a monkey?
As he walked, Lin Guanhuo's gaze flickered.
An Eighth-Rank Great Demon—if he could slay it, wouldn't he get tens of thousands of Draw Sword counts all at once?
What Lin Guanhuo was thinking now was whether he could find a way to claim the kill for himself...
"Stop. Quiet steps."
After walking for nearly half an hour, the group left Blackwater City and reached the outskirts.
They continued onward for a while. Then Ye Yinyue, who had been silent all this time, suddenly raised a hand, signaling for everyone to move quietly.
Her lovely eyes fixed on the forest ahead. In a low voice, she said, "That beast has sharp ears. Keep your voices down."
At her words, everyone softened their footsteps and followed Ye Yinyue toward the forest.
As they walked, mist began to rise around them. The area was desolate, and a forest stood not far ahead.
But something was strange. The trees in the forest were a dark red, each one twisted and gnarled. From afar, they looked like bodies contorted in agony.
"Are those... tombstones?"
The group passed through the mist and approached the forest. They could make out tombstones scattered haphazardly among the trees.
Farther away, the ground was pitted with hollows, where countless white bones lay piled up.
"This is the Abandoned Infant Forest." Ye Yinyue walked at the front of the group, her long sword in hand. As she went, she lowered her voice. "There have been plagues and demon calamities these past few years. Many infants don't live to see a hundred days. The county authorities feared demonic energy and disease, so they gathered up the bodies and disposed of them here, in the Abandoned Infant Forest."
"Some families came to erect tombstones, but most of the bodies were simply dumped into pits."
At this, one of the Division Servants couldn't help shuddering. "No wonder I kept hearing babies crying outside the city during my night patrols..."
"That's all resentment... Look," the Division Servant said, pointing at the red trees deeper in the forest.
They finally understood why the trees in the Abandoned Infant Forest were red.
They were drinking human blood...
"Enough. Don't say any more." Ye Yinyue gave a cold snort. "We Martial Artists are righteous to the core. We slay demons and purge evil. What have we to fear from resentment?"
"Yesterday, a batch of plague-stricken infants was carried out of the city. That beast followed the smell of blood here. Today, we'll slay it on the spot."
With that, Ye Yinyue waved her hand, signaling for everyone to stop.
Then she pulled several scrolls from her Brocade Bag and handed them to Lin Guanhuo and the others. "That beast has some kind of supernatural ability. It moves incredibly fast, and it's escaped us several times already.
"These are Restrictions personally drawn up by a Gold Medalist. Stick them up around the area. Hurry!"
"Yes!"
Lin Guanhuo, Chen Jianxing, and the others took the scrolls and pasted them on nearby cliffs, trees, and boulders.
The Abandoned Infant Forest wasn't very large. In less than half an hour, everyone had used the Restriction scrolls to form a perimeter around it.
"Just hide for now. Once I've killed that beast, help me carry it back."
With the Restrictions in place, a smug smile appeared on Ye Yinyue's pretty face.
She thought, If I can kill this beast and bring it back, my sister will think more highly of me, too, won't she?
With that thought, Ye Yinyue didn't hesitate any longer. She strode into the forest, sword in hand.
"Gwa, gwa! Damn, this one's gone bad!"
"Gwa, gwa! Hmm, this one's not bad!"
Deep in the forest, in front of a large pit, a lanky figure stood nearly ten feet tall, crouched down like an ape.
The figure had a sharp muzzle and a simian face, its entire body covered in red fur. Its tongue could stretch several feet, like a straw, and it was busy eating.
Most striking of all were the blood-red eyes set in its ugly, twisted face—redder than fresh blood.
It was the Blood-Eyed Ape Spirit.
It rummaged through the bodies, pleased with some and displeased with others, tossing the latter aside.
"Living ones taste better. Dead ones taste awful."
"Sigh... I've nearly eaten all the infants in the nearby towns..."
"As for Blackwater City... The Demon Suppressing Division keeps a close watch. It's hard to make a move there. If Lord Monkey hadn't cultivated such nimble footwork, those bastards from the Demon Suppressing Division would've caught me long ago."
"Hmm?"
Just then, the Blood-Eyed Ape Spirit suddenly paused, as if it had sensed something.
It whipped around!
And there, not far behind it, stood a woman with a long sword in hand, her lovely eyes fixed on it coldly.
"Blood-Eyed Ape Spirit, you won't escape this time," Ye Yinyue said coldly.
In the next instant, Ye Yinyue gripped her sword and, without another word, slashed down with all her might!
The Muscle-Tendon Realm was the first realm of Martial Masters.
By refining the tendons throughout the body, one's speed and explosive strength became several times greater than that of a Ninth Rank Martial Artist!
At this stage, one could easily project inner force outward. Without using any martial arts at all, even a flick of the fingers could unleash enough power to kill.
BOOM!
The moment her sword came down, a tremendous torrent of Sword Qi erupted, sweeping up every tree and stone around them!
"Such powerful Sword Qi... So this is a Martial Master!" Hidden behind trees in the distance, Lin Guanhuo and the others watched. Chen Jianxing couldn't help exclaiming.
Even the Blood-Eyed Ape Spirit didn't dare take that strike head-on.
Before you continue