It's Practically a Scam

"You… you… you…" The Village Chief stammered in shock, unable to speak for a long time. Anxia Niaozi was equally astonished.

Everything he said was true.

He wasn't joking; perhaps he really could save the village.

Giyu ignored their thoughts. He picked up the rope from the ground and handed it to the Village Chief, saying with a blank expression:

"Please tie me up, thank you!"

Village Chief: "???"

Soon, he realized a serious problem: he had sold the young man's sword.

Thinking this, the Village Chief wished he could slap himself a few times.

"But without a sword, how will you fight?" the Village Chief asked with a face full of guilt. Giyu was still tying himself up. He glanced at Niaozi.

"Help me out!"

"Remember to tie a loose knot. The demon shouldn't be able to tell, but I can escape at a crucial moment."

"Oh, oh, oh!" Niaozi didn't quite understand why Giyu was so insistent on tying himself up. Perhaps it was to make the monster lower its guard; he had his reasons.

In reality, this was something Hiruma had instructed. There was no other purpose, like playing a prank.

As for the Village Chief's worries, they were not a problem for Giyu at all. After being tied up, he glanced at the Village Chief.

"My sword is definitely in my friend's hands now. Let's go!"

Friend?

The Village Chief immediately realized he was talking about the generous young man from earlier. So, everything was under his control?

At this point, whether he believed it or not, he could only do as Giyu said.

And so, the procession carrying the sacrificial offerings set off. Everyone's destination was a cave about two kilometers away from the village.

The cave entrance was several meters high, pitch black, with seawater flooding in. The sound of wind echoed from within the cave.

From afar, the dark cave looked like a terrifying, gaping maw, sending chills down one's spine.

The villagers placed the pre-prepared raft into the water at the cave entrance, then, following Giyu's instructions, lifted him onto the raft.

Anxia Niaozi walked onto the raft herself. She wanted to accompany Giyu.

"You go down. We don't need you!"

"I don't want to~" Niaozi turned her head away, ignoring Giyu. Giyu said no more.

As a wave surged towards the shore, the raft drifted with the current, gradually being swallowed by the cave.

"Sigh!" The Village Chief sighed. In the end, he couldn't dissuade that child Niaozi. And the young man from earlier still hadn't shown up. He felt uneasy.

Just then, Hiruma's voice rang out. If he hadn't revealed himself, no one would have noticed his arrival.

"Village Chief, long time no see!"

Thinking about the large sum of money he had received from the young man, the Village Chief felt his old face had nowhere to hide, and he dared not meet his gaze.

Little did he know that Hiruma had been there all along, starting from the dilapidated temple. He had a general understanding of what had happened.

He could only say that good people had taken a wrong turn, but it was the demons forcing them.

"Don't worry, leave everything to us!"

"Do more good deeds in the future!"

Hiruma didn't look back as he rushed into the cave along a narrow path beside it.

Inside the cave, the raft drifted deeper into the cave with the current. The torch in Niaozi's hand flickered, threatening to go out at any moment.

In the places the torchlight couldn't reach, there were always rustling, strange noises.

The damp, cold air felt like a heavy mountain, crushing her breath.

Suddenly, a foul-smelling wind blew past, and the torch went out. Niaozi, though trembling with fear, didn't let out a scream.

Immediately after, footsteps could be heard in the distance. The only certainty was that the footsteps were getting closer to the raft.

"Giyu, there's danger!"

Niaozi hurriedly shielded Giyu with her body, panicking and forgetting how strong Giyu was.

Just then, the footsteps stopped, and a bright beam of light appeared out of nowhere on the raft. A head was suspended in the beam, and a sinister voice echoed.

"Wuwuwu, I'm going to eat you!"

"Do you like Giyu?"

In an instant, Anxia Niaozi's mind went blank. Without thinking, she began to answer, completely unaware of the hidden agenda in her words.

"Li…"

As the word left her lips, Niaozi snapped back to reality. It was Hiruma playing a prank.

"What the heck!" Niaozi's face turned red, wishing she could jump into the river and drown. She glared fiercely at Hiruma.

Giyu heard their entire conversation. He untied the knot and took the Nichirin Blade without a word.

Hiruma tossed two old-fashioned flashlights they had prepared to the two, then lewdly sat down next to Giyu and asked quietly:

"Hey! You heard it all, right?"

Giyu shook his head, indicating he didn't understand what Hiruma was talking about.

Hiruma: (￢_￢)

After a brief farce, the raft continued to drift towards the depths of the cave. There was no danger during the journey.

About half an hour later, the raft floated into a more open cavern. The water current converged here into a small lake, with a small island of twenty square meters in the center.

The cavern ceiling wasn't completely sealed but connected to the outside. Moonlight streamed through the holes in the ceiling, like bright stage spotlights illuminating the entire cavern.

These beams of light fell upon the island, where a gaunt figure sat with its head bowed in the center, like an old monk in deep meditation.

It was so thin it was skin and bones, with only a thin layer of skin stretched over its skeleton. Its ribs protruded from its chest, clearly visible, looking like they could pierce the skin at any moment.

Its body had a cold, silvery hue. Through the moonlight, three bowed heads were faintly visible, giving off an eerie and unsettling feeling.

This was the demon that had attacked the villagers five years ago and demanded sacrifices. For the past five years, it hadn't stepped out of the cave, not because it didn't want to, but because it couldn't.

Sensing the presence of Hiruma and the others, the middle head of the demon straightened up like a switchblade. At the same time, its deep-set eyes slowly opened.

Etched within the grayish-white right eyeball were golden characters—

Lower One.

"Hehehehe!"

"Three offerings, I'm so happy!"

The demon's shriveled mouth split open, and a piercing sound drilled into the ears of the three, like sharp knives stabbing into their brains.

Looking at the demon in the distance, Hiruma's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help but curse loudly:

"A scam, a pure scam!"

"Are you f*cking bullying me because I don't have a fraud prevention app!"

"What the hell kind of Lower Rank are you, you son of a b*tch!"

"I f*cking..."

He pointed at the bewildered demon in the distance and cursed for a full two minutes. The demon was stunned, feeling a sense of powerlessness like a dish being cursed by the person eating it.

Of course, Hiruma couldn't be entirely blamed. The characters "Lower One" in the demon's eye had a blood-red "X" over them; it had already been removed from the ranks by the "cheap boss."

The cheap boss had no other reason than simply disliking this guy.

However, as a former Lower Rank One, even after five years without eating humans, its strength was still enough to rank in the lower-middle tier of the current Lower Ranks.

But no matter what, it wasn't a Lower Rank anymore. That was the fact.

Anxia Niaozi looked at Giyu in confusion and asked weakly:

"Is your friend always like this?"

Giyu shook his head. He had never seen or heard of Hiruma being truly angry.

However, he was sure that this demon must have done something to wrong Hiruma.

It truly deserved to die.