Black Water Village

There were some leads.

But there were still questions left unanswered.

Where were the men of the Yellow Battalion?

And where was that so-called Dragon King now?

Those were the things they cared about most.

"Damn it, I should've asked that little girl a few more questions earlier!"

Zhao Hu looked thoroughly chagrined.

Slaying demons was important, of course.

But investigating the whereabouts of the Yellow Battalion was also one of their objectives.

In the corner, Old Wang, who had barely spoken, shot him a look and said irritably, "Ask her? How? Hold a knife to her throat? If you hadn't been in such a hurry, would she have run off?"

"You..."

"That's enough." Liu Chen's sharp voice cut off their argument.

He rubbed his throbbing temples. "Children's words can't be taken at face value. We can only believe half of what she said. Since this matter is connected to a village, let's go have a look."

"There are plenty of villages around here. If we search them one by one, we'll be at it until the Year of the Monkey!"

Liu Chen shook his head.

"A village where a woman got pregnant with a Demon Fetus and was drowned in a pond—an ugly scandal like that won't be hard to uncover."

Everyone nodded at his words.

Out in the countryside, a matter like this would be talked about for ten or eight years.

As long as the girl hadn't been lying, a little asking around would be enough to find out which village it was.

"Get your things together. Let's go."

Liu Chen waved a hand and strode out of the temple first.

The others followed, saying nothing more.

Black Water Village.

The village was small, with only a few dozen households. Its mud walls and thatched roofs looked like patches of festering sores sprawled across the yellow earth.

The old locust tree at the village entrance had long since died. Its bare branches pointed at the sky, as if silently cursing something.

At the village chief's house.

The house was a little larger than the others, and its walls were more neatly built, but it still reeked of poverty.

A young man in a coarse cloth shirt and trousers came rushing in from outside, panic written all over his face.

"Dad!"

The old man, who was sitting inside weaving straw rope, looked up impatiently. "What are you panicking about?"

"They... they've come again!"

"Who?"

"The officers from the Demon Suppression Bureau! They're wearing those same black uniforms, and they're heading into the village!"

The old man's hands paused for a moment, then he went back to weaving.

"So they've come. What are you afraid of?"

"Dad!" The young man stamped his feet in desperation. "How can I not be afraid? What if... what if they're like the last group, wandering around everywhere and uncovering some clue..."

The old man flung the straw rope to the ground.

He shot to his feet and glared at his son.

"Uncover what? We in Black Water Village have done nothing wrong. Why should we be afraid of them?"

"When that beast demanded boys and girls as sacrifices every year, where were the Demon Suppression Bureau's men?"

"When the Black River ran dry and our fields cracked, when we were on our knees chewing tree bark, where were the Demon Suppression Bureau's men then?"

"If they wouldn't help us, then what was wrong with us finding our own way to survive?!"

The young man was struck speechless.

That was true...

But they were the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Would its people listen to any of that?

If they discovered the village had colluded with demons...

The punishment was a crime grave enough to wipe out nine generations!

After a long while,

the old man sank back into his seat.

"It's just... it's just your sister I feel sorry for..."

"You never would've thought that demon... would have such wicked methods..."

The young man shuddered and didn't dare reply.

He went to the door and cautiously peered outside through the crack.

On the road, eight magnificent black horses were making their way toward the village entrance at an unhurried pace.

Each rider wore a Horizontal Blade at his waist, his expression grim.

"Dad... they... they've entered the village."

After making a few inquiries, the group found Black Water Village.

They rode in.

The village's dirt roads were riddled with potholes, and the houses on either side were in terrible shape, their mud walls covered in cracks.

A few villagers happened to see them. They stared blankly for a moment, then lowered their heads and went back to what they were doing.

Zhao Hu reined in his horse and couldn't help muttering a curse.

"Damn it, are everyone in this village blind?"

The Demon Suppression Bureau didn't exactly have a good reputation among the common folk, but they had never been ignored like this.

Riding beside him, Old Wang merely shook his head.

Just then,

several people came out of a mud house deeper in the village. It looked a little bigger than the others.

At their head was an old man with graying hair. His face was furrowed with wrinkles, but his eyes were remarkably bright.

Four or five strong young men followed behind him, carrying farming tools like hoes and pitchforks.

The old man came to a stop in front of the group. His cloudy gaze swept over them one by one before finally settling on Liu Chen, who led the party.

"Honored officers, you've come a long way. I take it you're here because of the Black River?"

"Who are you?"

"To answer your question, honored officer, this old man is the village head of Black Water Village. My surname is Zhang."

"I see... We've been ordered to investigate the changes in the Black River."

Liu Chen got straight to the point. "And while we're at it, we're looking for a few people."

"You officers have worked hard. Come... come inside and sit."

Liu Chen didn't move. He simply watched the old man. "No need. We just have a few questions."

The old man didn't insist. He only sighed. "Ask whatever you like, honored officers. We poor peasants will tell you all we know."

His willingness to cooperate left Liu Chen with a mouthful of prepared questions and nowhere to put them.

He paused, then asked, "Did a group dressed like us come here half a month ago?"

"Yes, yes."

The old man nodded repeatedly. "They also came to ask about the Black River. Afterward... they said they were going to hunt down the demon causing trouble, and we never saw them again."

At this, the men behind Liu Chen all changed expression.

"Did they say where they were going to hunt the demon?"

"They did."

The old man nodded. "The officers said the demon was in the Black River."

"..."

Everyone was stunned.

The Black River stretched for over a hundred miles from east to west.

If the demon was in the river, how were they supposed to find it?

Just then, Jiang Yuechu spoke up.

"On our way here, we saw a little girl named A-Shui at the Dragon King Temple upstream."

Her voice was cool, and her gaze rested steadily on the old man's face.

"She said there was once a girl in this village named Xing'er who became pregnant with a Demon Fetus and was drowned by the villagers. Is that true?"

At her words,

the old man stiffened.

The young men behind him, still carrying their farming tools, looked even more alarmed. Their hands tightened unconsciously around their hoes.

After a long while,

the old man let out a long sigh. "What a disgrace to the family..."

"To tell you the truth, honored officers, Xing'er was my poor daughter... A demon bewitched her, and she... became pregnant with a Demon Fetus."

"My Zhang Family has standing in Black Water Village. Where could I show my face after something like this? The villagers pointed at me and cursed, saying I'd raised a shameless, filthy thing!"

"I was furious! I hated her! I locked her in the woodshed and gave her no food for three days and nights, hoping she'd get rid of the wicked creature. But she... she would rather starve to death than abandon that demon spawn!"

"Later... later, the village elders decided that a wicked, demon-tainted woman like her couldn't be allowed to live. They said she'd bring disaster upon the village."

"I... I personally... personally put her in a pig cage and sank it in the Black River..."