Slay Demons! Police Chief! Rat Corpse!

Slay Demons! Police Chief! Rat Corpse!

"Oh? You can still move? Looks like I'll have to increase the dosage next time I stock up."

At the door, the short, fat Huang Changgui standing beside the Rat Demon Hui Jiu let out a surprised cry, but did not think much of it.

Before Hui Jiu arrived, he might have been somewhat afraid.

But now, a mere rookie constable who had not even reached Entry Rank was not enough to withstand even one claw from Lord Hui Jiu.

Mu Yang said nothing. He merely stared at Hui Jiu's neck and silently drew the long blade from the table.

At the brink of life and death, the more one talked, the faster one died.

It was something the old constable often told him before he died.

"No matter. Prey that can move tastes fresher!"

Hui Jiu rolled its broad shoulders, its tone brimming with impatience to begin feeding.

Yet just as its hind legs bent slightly, ready to pounce and feast on fresh flesh and blood—

Mu Yang,

moved!

Before the Rat Demon's mocking gaze could change, before Huang Laodeng's astonished eyes—

The candle flame went out, and silver light flashed!

The night was dim, the clouds thick and heavy.

Inside the courtyard house, there was deathly silence.

No one knew when—or perhaps it had only been an instant—but a breeze swept past, and pale moonlight once again spilled into the side room.

Mu Yang, who had just been standing by the table, was now beside Huang Changgui, holding the long blade at an angle in one hand.

"Drip—"

Thick drops of blood rolled from the blade's tip.

Falling to the ground together with the blood was an enormous rat's head.

Bang!!

The Rat Demon's brawny body crashed to the ground with unwillingness etched into it.

The rat head rolling into the corner seemed still unable to die in peace, making hoarse, rasping sounds.

Thud!!

Another dull sound rang out in the room.

It was Huang Changgui collapsing to the floor in fright.

He looked at Hui Jiu, whose head had been severed, then stiffly turned his neck to look at Mu Yang, who held the blade one-handed, his eyes cold and devoid of either grief or joy. Terror immediately seized his heart.

No, little brother, if you were this strong, you should have said so sooner!! Why would I have dared drug you then?!!!

"M-Milord—no, g-great... Great Sir, spare my life, Great Sir! This old man was forced by that demon to resort to such vile means. I have an aged mother above me, a wife and daughters below me. I truly had no—"

Whoosh—!!

Before Huang Changgui could finish, another flash of silver swept through the air, and another bead of blood rolled down.

Only this time, what fell alongside the blood was no longer a rat's head, but a fat arm wrapped in brocade.

"Ah!!!"

A miserable howl rang through the room.

Huang Changgui clutched the severed stump of his arm, writhing across the floor in agony.

Had this not been such a remote place—the "Offering Room" Huang Changgui had deliberately prepared—that one cry alone could have awakened half the village.

Yet in the next instant, the room fell silent, and the howling abruptly stopped.

It was not that Huang Changgui no longer hurt. It was that the long blade which had just killed the Rat Demon was now pressed against his neck.

"I ask. You answer."

Mu Yang spoke slowly, his voice calm. Yet Huang Changgui felt as though he had fallen into an ice pit, shivering despite himself. He hurriedly agreed, terrified that a tremor of the other man's hand would send his own head moving house as well.

"How many times has this been?"

"Th-the first..."

"Hm?"

"The seventh time, the seventh time!!"

"Where did this Rat Demon come from?"

"From Yellow Wind Mountain, a hundred li east of the village. Lord Hui Jiu is a descendant of the Yellow Wind King!"

"How many wives do you have?"

"..."

Mu Yang asked Huang Changgui many questions. With the long blade's cooperation, Huang Changgui answered virtually every question asked.

From his answers, Mu Yang gradually learned that he had not been drugged because he had offended anyone. It was simply because he happened to be patrolling Huang Village during this period.

But how could a mere village chief who had not even reached Entry Rank dare cooperate with demons?

What gave him the right?

As thoughts churned through his mind, Mu Yang continued speaking without expression.

"Who stands behind you?"

"Police Chief Wang, Lord Wang—"

Before he could say the word "Lord," Huang Changgui seemed to suddenly realize what he had said, and his body immediately shuddered.

It was over. He had let it slip out of habit!

Huang Changgui closed his eyes, his face full of despair.

If he offended Mu Yang, he would die. But if he offended the Wang Family, his entire family would likely be buried with him.

But since the words had already left his mouth, he did not dare conceal anything further. He told Mu Yang every last thing he knew.

From the Wang Family sending someone half a year ago to order him to provide blood food to the Rat Demons of Yellow Wind Mountain, to today, when he had risked drugging Mu Yang in order to provide Hui Jiu—who had just broken through in cultivation—with high-quality blood food to consolidate its realm.

"Police Chief Wang..."

Mu Yang murmured inwardly.

Police Chief was a highly unusual post.

Though it did not carry official rank like the county magistrate or County Assistant, it held great status and responsibilities such as apprehending thieves, maintaining public order, and managing prisons.

In some small counties without a County Assistant or Chief Clerk, the Police Chief could even carry out part of the administrative duties.

It was equivalent to a combined police department and detention center, plus more, from his previous life.

Moreover, because this position was usually held by locals, its holder often possessed even greater prestige than an outside county magistrate.

In Qingxi County, the post of Police Chief was held by Wang Rudong, patriarch of the Wang Family, one of the county's Three Great Families.

But that was not what worried Mu Yang most.

What worried him most was that this so-called Police Chief was the highest superior of constables like them.

His superior's superior's superior.

No wonder Huang Changgui had dared lay hands on him, a constable. So there was someone above him backing him up.

What a tiny temple with great demonic winds. The Wang Family actually dared to collude with demons and send people in as food!

"Great Sir, I've already told you everything I know. Please show mercy and spare this old man's life. I truly know I was wrong..."

Enduring the pain, Huang Changgui supported himself on the ground with one hand and knocked his head against the floor again and again.

But before he could finish, silver light swept past once more.

"You do not know you were wrong. You know you're about to die."

Mu Yang sheathed his blade and muttered to himself.

Leaving aside Huang Laodeng's collusion with monsters and harm to innocents, the possibility that he might contact Police Chief Wang if allowed to live was itself an enormous hidden danger.

Speaking of hidden dangers, Mu Yang did not know whether Huang Laodeng had acted on his own initiative today, or under orders from above.

The former would be fine. But if it was the latter, there would be trouble!

At that thought, a cold glint abruptly appeared in Mu Yang's eyes.

To kill, one must see blood; to cut grass, one must pull out the roots.

It was another saying the old constable often told him.

The Wang Family were traitors to humanity, enemies rather than friends. They should be killed!

But before that...

Mu Yang turned his attention to the Equipment Slot that had just activated.

[Ding! Detected that the host has slain a First-Order Demon Beast. The equipment Tiger-Subduing Blade Technique has met the conditions for permanent solidification. This equipment has been permanently solidified!]

[Current number of empty Equipment Slots: 0→2]

These were the prompt messages that had appeared when he killed that Rat Demon.

"Sure enough, three months of martial training cannot compare to one night of cheating. Too real."

Mu Yang looked at the Equipment Slots that had become empty again, his heart filled with emotion.

Twenty years. A full twenty years.

His golden finger had finally arrived!

"It's a pity the old man left too early. Otherwise, I could have let him enjoy some peace and comfort too."

The old man was the old constable who had adopted Mu Yang. He had been a bachelor his whole life and adopted Mu Yang only in his later years.

Unfortunately, he had been old, and his martial cultivation had not been high. He had fought desperately in his youth, leaving his body depleted in old age. Before he even reached fifty, he was gone.

Shaking his head, Mu Yang withdrew his thoughts and looked at the panel.

"The number of empty Equipment Slots increased by one?"

Mu Yang froze.

Had there not just been one? How had it become two?

Could reaching Entry Rank in martial cultivation reward an additional Equipment Slot?

What an unexpected delight!

After the surprise passed, Mu Yang calmed his emotions and looked toward the Rat Demon's head.

When his golden finger had first awakened, the first equippable item he saw was Air-Dried Pork, whose effect was to increase strength.

Could monsters, stronger than ordinary animals, also be equipped?

Under Mu Yang's expectant gaze, the Rat Demon's head lay quietly where it was.

After a long while, nothing unusual happened.

Other than blood slowly spreading outward bit by bit, nothing changed.

Mu Yang's brows furrowed slightly.

Had he thought too much?

Or did the Rat Demon's corpse have to be processed before it counted as "equipment"?

As he pondered, Mu Yang's gaze swept over the headless rat corpse.

To Mu Yang's delighted eyes, a translucent panel tinged with faint ink-wash hues slowly emerged from Hui Jiu's headless corpse.

[Equippable Item: Rat Demon Corpse (Complete)]

[Rank: First Rank]

[Equipment Effects: ① Sturdy Physique (White): Physique receives a minor increase (physical strength, total stamina, and reaction speed all improve across the board).

② Qi-Blood Abundance (White): Total Blood Qi receives a minor increase.]

[Permanent Solidification Condition: Equip this item for ten shichen, or while this item is equipped, slay any First Rank or higher demon beast.]