The Dragon King Wants a Son

# Chapter 26: The Dragon King Wants a Son

"Elder sister... you... you're also here to capture the Dragon King?"

"Dragon King?" Jiang Yuechu repeated, her gaze shifting to the shattered shrine. "The one enshrined here—is that the Dragon King you speak of?"

A-Shui nodded, then quickly shook his head, his eyes reddening instantly.

"He used to be... but now, the Dragon King isn't here anymore."

"Then where is he?"

"I don't know either..."

"What exactly happened? Tell us carefully."

Zhao Hu, throwing caution to the wind, pressed forward.

His anxious demeanor, paired with the Horizontal Blade at his waist, made A-Shui instinctively shrink back behind Jiang Yuechu.

Old Wang curled his lip. "Don't scare the kid."

Zhao Hu: "..."

Jiang Yuechu sighed helplessly, then continued, "A-Shui, take your time. Don't be afraid."

Under her reassurance, A-Shui's emotions finally steadied a little. Sniffling and sobbing, he recounted the whole story from beginning to end.

"The nearby villages have worshipped the Dragon King for generations, praying for favorable weather."

"But the Dragon King before... wasn't this one."

Everyone froze for a moment, then quickly understood.

For demonic creatures, the incense offerings of humans were a great tonic.

Any place that could enjoy such widespread worship naturally became a prime target in the eyes of demons, with constant infighting being the norm.

After all, to the common folk, whoever became the Dragon King was the same—as long as they could ensure good weather, who wouldn't they worship?

"A few decades ago, the current Dragon King came, beat the old one away, and became our Dragon King."

Zhao Hu couldn't help but interrupt: "So they're still birds of a feather? What's the difference?"

"There is!" A-Shui immediately retorted, his voice rising. "The current Dragon King is much better than the old one! The old one demanded a pair of virgin boys and girls as sacrifices every year. Ever since the current Dragon King came, he's never asked for that!"

Everyone exchanged glances.

So this new demon... had at least some shred of demonic virtue?

"And then?" Jiang Yuechu asked.

When it came to "then," A-Shui's mood sank again. "The Dragon King... the Dragon King was perfect in every way, except... except he was too lonely. He wanted... wanted a child."

Wanted a child?

The room full of rough men instantly wore strange expressions.

Demons bearing offspring was a common thing, but judging by the girl's tone, this matter was far from simple.

"Then... then the village head's daughter, Xing'er, went to bathe in the river one day. When she came back, her belly... was swollen."

"..."

Even the Demon Suppression Bureau crew, seasoned as they were, was stunned by this turn of events.

Plucking objects from thin air they'd heard of, but sowing seeds across water...

What kind of divine ability was this?!

"No one in the village knew what was going on. They thought Xing'er had been with some man outside... with someone..."

He was too young to say certain things, but the meaning was clear enough.

"The village head was furious. He wanted to break Xing'er's legs. In the end, it was the village head's wife, heartbroken for her daughter, who secretly went to town and hired a wandering Daoist to take a look."

"That Daoist took one glance and said what Xing'er was carrying in her belly wasn't human... it was a Demon Fetus!"

"The village head fainted from rage on the spot. When he woke up, he led a group straight to the Dragon King Temple, saying, 'We worship you out of respect, but you can't defile our villagers like this!'"

Everyone listened with a heavy sigh.

This kind of thing—anyone would lose their temper.

"And then? That girl..."

Liu Chen couldn't help asking.

A-Shui shook his head. "Xing'er... no one knew what came over her. She went mad, insisting on keeping the child in her belly. No one could talk her out of it."

"The villagers all cursed her, said she'd been bewitched by a demon, that she was a shameless, filthy thing. Even the village head said... she was no longer his daughter."

"In the end... the village elders decided that Xing'er was carrying a demonic spawn, tainting the village's reputation. If they kept her, she'd bring disaster upon them."

"So they put Xing'er... put Xing'er in a pig cage and sank her into the Black River..."

By the time he finished, no one knew what to say.

The demon was certainly at fault.

But the villagers...

A long moment passed.

Liu Chen finally spoke, his voice hoarse: "So, after that, the Black River became what it is now?"

A-Shui nodded. "The day after Xing'er died, the Dragon King flew into a rage, and the river began to flow backward. Three days later, it turned into what it is now—foul and stinking, and all the fish had died..."

Jiang Yuechu looked at the shattered shrine, her heart a tangle of mixed emotions.

She suddenly asked, "And you? Who are you? Why are you here?"

A-Shui wiped his tears. "I... I have no parents. I grew up begging for food in the village. The Dragon King was kind-hearted. When the villagers brought offerings, it wouldn't eat them, so it let me take them."

"The Dragon King isn't a bad demon. It just... just wanted to be a father too badly."

"With Xing'er dead, its child was gone too. It was heartbroken, so it lost its temper."

He lifted his head, his red-rimmed eyes fixed on the group, his gaze full of pleading.

"Honored officers, big sister... could you... could you spare the Dragon King?"

"It's already so pitiful..."

"..."

Spare it?

Everyone exchanged glances.

The Demon Suppression Bureau's duty was to slay demons and monsters.

Now that a demon was causing havoc, cutting off the water source, and leaving the people along the river to suffer, they had been sent here on orders. How could there be any talk of letting it go?

Zhao Hu was the first to break the silence. "Pitiful? What about the people who can't get a drink of water and have to choke down this filth while waiting to die—aren't they pitiful?"

"What about the brothers of the Yellow Battalion, missing without a trace, dead or alive—aren't they pitiful?"

"One thing at a time! A demon is a demon. If it harms people, it deserves to die!"

The words were crude, but they were the truth.

Liu Chen sighed and said nothing, tacitly agreeing with Zhao Hu.

He turned his head to look at Jiang Yuechu.

He found that she had already stood up at some point, silently gazing out of the temple.

"What do you think?" Liu Chen asked.

For some reason, he instinctively wanted to hear this newcomer's opinion.

"Duty demands it. Naturally, it must be slain."

At these words, the last trace of color drained from A-Shui's face.

He stared at Jiang Yuechu in disbelief.

"...Bad people."

"You're all bad people!"

The girl let out a shrill cry, scrambled up from the ground, and stumbled out of the temple.

Zhao Hu instinctively moved to chase her, but Liu Chen raised a hand to stop him.

"Let her go."

Liu Chen sighed, his expression complicated as he glanced at Jiang Yuechu.

He had thought that, being a woman herself, Jiang Yuechu might feel more sympathy for this matter. He never expected her to be so decisive.

Still...

That was fine.

Everyone had their own stance, and naturally, their own way of doing things.

Since she was now a member of the Demon Suppression Bureau, she naturally had to think like one.

The common people taking justice into their own hands was wrong, but that was a matter for the imperial court to handle.

The Demon Suppression Bureau had always had only one rule.

Slay demons. Exterminate monsters.

In response to the readers' requests, a VIP membership ad-free feature is now available.

Click to view.