Revenge

At the end, tears streamed down his face, and he wept so hard he could barely speak.

The men from the Demon Suppression Bureau exchanged glances, but none of them could find a thing to say.

Zhao Hu opened his mouth, wanting to curse him out, but when he saw the old man sobbing uncontrollably, he couldn't get a single word out.

After a long while.

Jiang Yuechu finally spoke. "So that monster was trying to avenge her?"

"Take revenge?"

The old man froze, then suddenly laughed. "Yes! Revenge!"

"It ruined my daughter and destroyed the good name of the Zhang Family. Now it's cut off every villager's means of survival!"

"The water can't be drunk! The land can't be farmed! All the men, women, and children in our village can do is wait to die!"

"Officers!" He fell to his knees with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly to Liu Chen and the others. "Please, kill that beast! I'm begging you!"

Liu Chen dismounted and helped him up, his expression grave.

"Old sir, please get up first."

"That monster is hiding underwater. We're not good swimmers, so how can we..."

The old man wiped the tears from his face and suddenly spoke. "Don't worry, officers. That beast... may be a monster, but it's also deeply devoted. My poor daughter was buried in the pond at the western end of the village. That monster... that monster often wanders around the pond late at night."

"If you set an ambush at Backwater Bay, officers, you're sure to catch the beast when it shows itself!"

Liu Chen and Old Wang exchanged glances, both seeing the interest in the other's eyes.

It was indeed a good plan.

Waiting by the tree for a rabbit to run into it was better than wandering aimlessly along the river like headless flies.

Besides, the Yellow Battalion had come here, so they must have learned that Xing'er had been drowned in the pond.

Given their usual way of doing things, they would surely have followed the clues and investigated Backwater Bay.

Yet now, they were nowhere to be found—neither alive nor dead.

There was a very good chance that the monster was at Backwater Bay!

Liu Chen looked at the old man kneeling before him, trembling with fear, his heart a tangled mess.

"I understand."

He turned to the others behind him. "We leave at once for Backwater Bay."

Seeing this, the village head's face lit up with joy. He scrambled to his feet and bowed repeatedly to them.

"Thank you, officers! Thank you all for ridding Black Water Village of this great menace!"

"I'll go prepare food and wine at once, to send you off!"

Liu Chen waved a hand, cutting him off.

"There's no need for food or wine."

"We serve in the Demon Suppression Bureau. Slaying monsters and demons is our duty. You needn't thank us."

The village head's smile grew even brighter. "Yes, yes, you're absolutely right, officer."

But Liu Chen's next words made that smile freeze on his face.

"However..."

Liu Chen's tone suddenly turned cold.

"Though the monster was the cause of what happened to your daughter Xing'er, you took the law into your own hands and drowned her in the pond. That is forbidden under the Great Tang Code."

"Once we've dealt with the monster, I'll report the matter to the county authorities truthfully."

"The court will decide what punishment you deserve."

"You'd better... take care of yourselves."

The village head opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but when he saw Liu Chen's icy gaze, he couldn't utter a word.

"Hyah!"

Liu Chen said no more. He flicked the reins, and the Crimson-Eyed Stallion whinnied as it galloped toward the western end of the village.

Jiang Yuechu and the others followed in silence.

The villagers of Black Water Village were left standing where they were, staring blankly at the eight retreating figures, their expressions complicated.

Backwater Bay was only seven or eight li from Black Water Village.

It was called a bay, but was actually a bend in the Black River. The current slowed there, forming a deep pool.

Everyone dismounted and tied up the Crimson-Eyed Stallions in the distance. Drawing their Horizontal Blades, they cautiously approached the pool.

The muddy ground along the bank was slick and soft underfoot, leaving a trail of prints, some deeper than others.

"Stay sharp. Look for any clues."

The others acknowledged the order and split into pairs to search.

They had gone only a few steps when Zhao Hu suddenly stopped.

"Boss, what's this?"

The others gathered around at the sound of his voice.

A piece of something black protruded from the mud. It looked like the sole of a leather boot.

Liu Chen furrowed his brow and signaled to the man beside him.

The man stepped forward, used his scabbard to scrape away the muck, then reached down and pulled.

Squelch.

What came out wasn't just a black boot issued by the Demon Suppression Bureau.

It was attached to a leg, severed cleanly at the knee. The flesh was swollen and pale from soaking in the water.

"..."

An indescribable chill crept up everyone's spine.

"It's one of ours..."

Zhao Hu drew a deep breath, then rushed to the pool. Ignoring the muck, he began rummaging barehanded through the silt at the water's edge.

Before long, he unearthed another severed arm.

Its hand was still clamped tightly around half of a broken sword hilt.

"Damn it!"

Zhao Hu slammed his fist into the ground, splattering mud everywhere.

The Demon Suppression Bureau's standard Horizontal Blades were all forged from dark iron. Even when clashing head-on with monsters, they rarely broke.

But this blade had been snapped clean in two by brute force.

What kind of terrifying monster had the Yellow Battalion encountered?

"Boss, there's something over here too!"

Not far away, Old Wang pointed at a withered tree.

A scrap of black-and-red cloth, faded from soaking in the water, hung from one of its branches. It was a piece of the Demon Suppression Bureau's uniform.

Liu Chen walked over to the severed arm and crouched down, examining the half-hilt closely.

"It belongs to Wang Xian, the Team Leader of the Yellow Battalion."

He recognized the distinctive pattern wrapped around the hilt with fine thread.

"Wang Xian was a skilled martial artist in the Later Realm of String-Hearing. With his Wind-Chasing Blade, even monsters in the late stages of String-Hearing were no match for him... and yet..."

A martial artist in the Later Realm of String-Hearing, along with his entire squad, had died silently in this muddy pool.

Still.

At least one thing was certain now.

That monster was definitely coming here!

"Th-then what do we do now?" one of the men asked, unable to hold back.

"Wait."

Liu Chen narrowed his eyes as he looked toward the foul-smelling river.

"Since our brothers from the Yellow Battalion met with disaster here, the monster will naturally show up here."

"Everyone, fall back ten zhang and find a concealed position!"

"Draw your blades and keep the pills in your mouths. At the first sign of movement, attack!"

At his command, everyone sprang into action.

The eight Demon Suppression Guards quickly scattered, each taking cover behind a withered tree or a rock, hiding in the shadows.

Clang—

The clear ring of blades sounded again and again along the silent pool, then quickly faded.

Time passed, drop by drop.

The sun gradually sank in the west, setting the clouds ablaze with a magnificent crimson glow.

The light along the bank dimmed with it.

Just as the others were beginning to lose patience from waiting,

Gurgle...

Gurgle...

A faint sound came from the shallows along the bank.

A stream of bubbles, each the size of a fist, rose from the murky water.

A stench of decay, mingled with the smell of rotting water weeds, spread through the air.

It was here!