Demon God Cult

"Captain Shen, what are you doing here?"

Cui Lang had never imagined that Shen Ruyu would suddenly appear.

Hadn't she already returned to Azure Cloud Prefecture?

He had not detected anyone nearby at all just now. If Shen Ruyu had suddenly attacked, he would not even have had time to dodge.

Even his second-level Bloodfire Demon Body would not be able to withstand a single strike from Shen Ruyu, who was at least at the peak of the Core Embrace realm.

Shen Ruyu walked gracefully up to Cui Lang. "Earlier, I asked whether you had something to say to me, yet you kept your mouth shut. Did you suspect that I was in league with them?"

Cui Lang gave an embarrassed smile. "At the time, I didn't know Captain Shen well enough, so I truly didn't dare gamble."

"But now I believe Captain Shen would never collude with them, because such petty gains are beneath your notice."

Though Blood Pills were good, their effects were negligible for Shen Ruyu, who stood at the peak of the Core Embrace realm.

A grain of rice given to an ant might delight it for a long time. Given to a bird, it would eagerly swallow it. But given to a person, that person might not even spare it a glance, because it would not be enough to fill a gap between their teeth.

Shen Ruyu stared at Cui Lang. "It isn't that I disdain it. I simply would never cooperate with demons, no matter how great the benefits they offered."

"Cui Lang, can you tell me why your cultivation has risen so quickly?"

According to her investigation, before becoming a constable, Cui Lang had definitely not even reached the late stage of the Essence Refining realm. Yet now, he had actually condensed true essence.

Though it did not look as if he had taken Blood Pills refined through that evil method, he had advanced even faster than someone who had taken them. That was not normal.

Especially since Cui Lang had also learned a body-tempering technique and achieved some success in it. That made it even more difficult.

Cui Lang had long prepared for this. "Captain Shen, before my father passed away, he left me a bottle of pills. It was only by relying on those pills that I reached my current realm. I am still far inferior to Captain Shen."

"My father found that bottle of pills at the bottom of the Cloudwater River, and it cost him his life."

Shen Ruyu gave an acknowledging sound, her mind turning over the matter.

Pills capable of raising someone's cultivation by so much in a single month had to be exceedingly precious. Even in Azure Cloud Prefecture, there were probably only a few people who could produce such things.

Of course, the Shen Family possessed them, but they were not something just anyone could obtain.

Such pills could be found at the bottom of the Cloudwater River? There had to be a secret down there.

"Cui Lang, Zheng Fengyun is dead too, isn't he? What exactly do you know? Tell me everything now."

Without the slightest hesitation, Cui Lang told her everything he knew, including Constable Li's matter and how he had stirred up conflict among some demons. He held nothing back.

Naturally, he did not mention a single word about the mysterious little jug in his mind.

Shen Ruyu nodded. "So you were the one who urged that man to beat the drum outside the prefectural yamen and file a complaint."

"When someone filed that complaint, I thought we should investigate it, but Lin Liben stopped me. He said such a minor matter was not worth the prefectural yamen's attention. It seems he was helping Cloud Mountain County cover things up."

"So when news came from Cloud Mountain County that Constable Li had died while slaying demons, I came along as well. Unfortunately, I still found no evidence."

"After returning to Azure Cloud Prefecture, I mulled it over again and again. Using a visit to the provincial city to see relatives as an excuse, I came to Cloud Mountain County once more to investigate in secret. Only then did I witness quite a show."

"You said just now that you found something strange. What was it?"

"It was a bronze statue about this big. Its upper body was human, its lower body was a serpent's tail, and it had many strange arms..." Cui Lang briefly described it. He had already hidden the object in the city and had not brought it with him.

Upon hearing Cui Lang's description, Shen Ruyu's expression changed drastically. "A Demon God Statue. They're people of the Demon God Cult!"

"Captain Shen, you're saying that was a Demon God Statue? And what is the Demon God Cult?" Cui Lang was utterly bewildered. He seemed never to have heard of any Demon God Cult.

Shen Ruyu explained, "It is normal that you don't know. The Demon God Cult was destroyed more than twenty years ago. I only learned of it after reading my family's records."

"About thirty years ago, a martial world faction called the Demon God Cult appeared. At first, no one paid much attention to it, and the authorities did not interfere. There were simply too many such sects and cults among the common people."

"But in only a few short years, the Demon God Cult produced several masters. Many had been cast out by other martial arts sects. After growing powerful, those people turned on their original sects and committed countless massacres, with methods even more cruel than those of demons."

"Who knew how many martial sects joined forces, yet they still could do nothing to the Demon God Cult. Instead, the Demon God Cult swallowed up many sects and great families, its strength expanding at a tremendous pace."

"This drew the court's attention. Chief Constable Ye of the Ministry of Justice personally led an investigation and discovered that the Demon God Cult worshipped an evil god, reverently calling it the Demon God."

"According to rumor, the Demon God bestowed many ancient secret arts that allowed people to break through realms at astonishing speed. Some of its martial skills were also incredibly mystical. It was by relying on these that the Demon God Cult cultivated countless experts in a short time and attracted even more gifted martial artists to join."

At this point, Shen Ruyu paused. "Cui Lang, there is no need for you to be nervous. If you were a member of the Demon God Cult, you would not merely have killed them just now and allowed their qi and blood to drain away, much less tell me about the Demon God Statue."

"After Chief Constable Ye uncovered all this, he led men to surround and capture the Demon God Cult's experts. He personally fought a great battle with the cult leader. They battled for three days and three nights, flattening an entire mountain. Chief Constable Ye ultimately beheaded the Demon God Cult's leader and completely destroyed the Demon God Cult."

"At the time, every high-ranking member of the Demon God Cult was exterminated. Not one escaped. The remaining cult remnants were hunted down afterward as well. We had thought the Demon God Cult had been utterly destroyed, but now it seems that some fish may have slipped through the net back then. Or perhaps someone accidentally obtained the Demon God Cult's inheritance of evil arts."

"This matter must be investigated thoroughly. Otherwise, if the Demon God Cult revives, the future calamities will be endless."

When she spoke of the Demon God Cult, Shen Ruyu's expression became far more solemn.

The family ancestor had also said that if Chief Constable Ye had not turned the tide back then, their family might have been swallowed up—or even destroyed—by the Demon God Cult. The realm would have descended into chaos.

Moreover, if the Demon God Cult revived, it would surely seek vengeance against every sect and family that had participated in its destruction. The Shen Family would be among the first to bear the brunt.

Cui Lang nodded thoughtfully. So the method for refining Blood Pills had come from the Demon God Cult?

Using people to refine pills truly was an evil art.

What he wanted to know even more was whether the Bloodfire Demon Body he cultivated had also originated from the Demon God Cult.

Perhaps he should find an opportunity in the future to switch to a new body-tempering technique.

Shen Ruyu suddenly asked, "Cui Lang, do you think County Magistrate Zhou Yafeng has colluded with them too?"

If that were true, then Cloud Mountain County was indeed rotten to the core.

Cui Lang shook his head. "I don't know."

"But we only need to test him."

Shen Ruyu looked at Cui Lang curiously. How would they test him?