There was no moon outside the window, and the night was pitch-black.
Heavy breathing came from the doorway, like a broken bellows.
The door opened. A huge shadow filled the doorway, blocking out all the light.
The shadow stood taller than the door and had to stoop as it stepped inside.
Tap!
Soft footsteps sounded, especially clear in the dark.
Once the shadow entered the room, something seemed to catch its foot.
Less than five inches above the floor, a transparent fishing line strung with bells ran to the wall.
The line snapped. The bells fell to the floor with a jingle that cut through the silent darkness.
The shadow paused, then approached Qin An's bed.
The heavy breathing grew louder, like a death knell sounding in the night.
Qin An lay with his back to the shadow, his expression hidden.
The shadow drew closer and reached toward Qin An's back.
Just then, Qin An rolled off the side of the bed and sprinted for the door.
He had woken the moment the uninvited guest entered.
He had set up the bells. Ever since arriving in Ding County, Qin An had taken every precaution, and the bells were there in case something went wrong.
He had not expected someone to actually sneak in under cover of darkness.
As Qin An leaped from the bed, he caught a clear look at the intruder.
A two-meter-tall monster with a pig's head and a human body stood half-hidden in the dark.
A red veil covered its pig's head, and pink rouge lined the corners of its eyes.
A monstrous, baleful aura surged toward him like a tidal wave.
A demon.
A Pig Demon!
"After you butcher a demon, its baleful aura will cling to you."
Qin An remembered Chen Chun's words and ran without another thought.
It was his first time seeing a demon. The crushing pressure it gave off made his blood run cold.
Don't charge in. Run first.
But just as Qin An reached the doorway, the Pig Demon kicked at him.
A fierce rush of wind shrieked through the room.
At the last instant, Qin An raised both arms before his chest.
Tremendous force surged through his arms and across his whole body.
His arms went numb. He flew backward and stopped only when he slammed into the wall.
His back burned, and a sweet taste rose in his throat. Qin An spat out a mouthful of blood.
"So people really do cough up blood when they're hurt. The TV dramas didn't lie to me."
He felt he had a streak of bad luck running through him.
Chen Chun had said the baleful aura would affect him, and sure enough, a Pig Demon had come. By the look of it, a female one at that.
Qin An gripped his pointed knife tight and wiped the blood from his mouth. "This has nothing to do with me. I'm just a butcher."
The Sow Demon snorted, sending two streams of white mist from her nostrils. "You carry my husband's scent. I shall avenge him. First I'll tear you to pieces, then eat you bit by bit."
Husband?
Scent?
Qin An understood.
So the Pig Demon he had butchered had a lover, and its scent really had stuck to him.
"The Yamen did it. This has nothing to do with me." Qin An sat on the floor with his back against the wall.
The Sow Demon licked her cracked lips, a bloodthirsty gleam filling her eyes. She swung a palm as broad as a cattail fan at Qin An's head. "I've been hungry ever since I slipped into the county town. I'll eat you first. If I've got the wrong man, I'll recite Buddhist scriptures to send your soul on its way."
Wind rushed past his ears.
As Qin An watched the enormous palm descend, anger rose in him.
He had lived cautiously ever since coming to Ding County and had offended no one.
The Yamen had killed the Pig Demon. He had merely butchered its body on orders.
But this Pig Demon clearly just wanted to eat him.
A reason?
What reason did she need?
Just as people needed no reason to eat pork, a Pig Demon needed no reason to eat people.
"Fine, fine. That's how you want to play it? I've butchered plenty of pigs. Today I'll try butchering a Pig Demon."
Qin An gritted his teeth and swept his pointed knife downward.
The image of a flickering figure flashed through his mind, and he instinctively used the Wind-Splitting Blade Technique.
The warm current inside him flowed down his arm and into the knife. As the blade cut through the air, it unleashed a thunderous crack.
The Sow Demon's enormous palm froze in midair, disbelief filling her bloodthirsty eyes.
The pointed knife cut from her shoulder down to her heart.
The warm current on the blade surged into her heart, which burst in an instant.
Pop!
The muffled sound rang out, especially clear in the dark.
The Sow Demon's huge body crashed to the floor. She twitched for a moment, then went still.
Qin An braced himself against the wall and stood. He wiped the blood from his knife on the Sow Demon's fur.
"Pah!"
"A Pig Demon calling herself a delicate lady. Disgusting."
The pointed knife was still somewhat warm in his hand.
Qin An had not expected the Wind-Splitting Blade Technique to be so powerful. The warm current seemed to strengthen it, raising its power to another level.
A sound came from outside.
Qin An turned toward the street.
Chen Chun stood at his doorway, a short blade in his hand.
When Chen Chun saw the Pig Demon's corpse on the floor, disbelief covered his face. "You mastered the Wind-Splitting Blade Technique?"
He had sensed the Pig Demon's presence and immediately rushed over with his blade.
But before he even got close, he saw Qin An cut the Pig Demon down with a single stroke.
That stroke had clearly been the Wind-Splitting Blade Technique.
When Chen Chun gave Qin An the technique, he had only hoped Qin An could learn a few moves—perhaps enough to hold out for a moment against the Pig Demon's revenge.
Then Chen Chun could arrive and kill her himself.
As things stood, Qin An apparently had no need of him.
But hadn't he given Qin An the Wind-Splitting Blade Technique only that morning? He had mastered it by nightfall?
A complicated look came into Chen Chun's eyes.
Qin An said evenly, "Aren't you going to close the door?"
"Oh. Right."
Chen Chun stepped inside without thinking and shut the door behind him.
Only after closing it did Chen Chun feel that something was off.
How had he ended up obeying Qin An without a second thought?
Chen Chun turned around. His thin mustache twitched, and his expression stiffened again.
Qin An was crouched on the floor, expertly carving up the Sow Demon's corpse.
"What are you doing?"
"Butchering."
"Why are you butchering her?"
"It's a Pig Demon this big. Am I supposed to leave her lying in my house?"
Chen Chun had no answer.
Qin An was calmer than he had imagined.
He had been attacked by a Pig Demon, killed her in return, and now butchered her without a trace of emotion.
What ordinary person could do that?
Qin An worked quickly with the knife.
He was a butcher and had long since grown used to blood and gore. He felt no urge to retch.
Otherwise, he would already have vomited all over the floor.
From start to finish, Qin An took only the time it took two sticks of incense to burn.
He put the Sow Demon's meat in the kitchen.
There was also a Flesh Orb, similar to the one he had seen at the Yamen before.
After a moment's thought, Qin An wrapped the Flesh Orb in cloth and hid it away.
Once he had finished, Qin An left the kitchen.
Chen Chun was still standing where he had left him. Qin An poured himself a cup of water. "Old Chen, who exactly are you?"
Before, he had only been suspicious. Now he was certain Chen Chun was no ordinary man.
What Coffin Shop owner came running over with a blade in the middle of the night?
Chen Chun coughed and glanced about. "I heard a disturbance and worried a criminal had broken into your house, so I came to check."
Qin An stared straight at Chen Chun without a word and slowly raised the pointed knife beside him.
He had already been dragged into this whirlpool. He might as well see things through.
Since arriving in this world, his only wish had been to stay alive.
Chen Chun's mouth twitched at the sight of Qin An's movement. "I'm an Undercover Agent of the Evil Extermination Division, stationed in Ding County to gather evidence that the Yamen is colluding with demons."
He knew that if he did not explain himself, Qin An might really draw the knife on him.
Besides, Chen Chun had just had a new idea.
Qin An had been an ordinary butcher, yet in a single afternoon he had brought the Wind-Splitting Blade Technique to this level. His aptitude for cultivation had to be astonishing.
An Undercover Agent's work was far from simple. With another person helping him in Ding County, things might become much easier.
Qin An's knife hand paused. "The Yamen is colluding with demons?"
He had heard of the Evil Extermination Division.
It was no secret in the Great Qian Kingdom.
They exterminated demons and evil spirits, slew false gods, and quelled chaos in the martial world.
They acted by imperial decree, with authority granted by the throne. Their power was immense.
But what was this about the Yamen colluding with demons?
Chen Chun stroked the right side of his mustache with his index finger. "It's only a suspicion. The way Ding County deals with demons is strange."
"People die every so often, but every time, the Yamen manages to deal with the demon."
"The Evil Extermination Division in Ling Prefecture is tied up and can't send someone here to investigate. That's where an Undercover Agent like me comes in."
Undercover Agents were informants planted in county Yamens, serving as the Evil Extermination Division's eyes and ears.
Qin An frowned. "Then why did you help me?"
As an Undercover Agent, Chen Chun was supposed to keep his identity hidden.
Yet he had come with a blade to help Qin An, which ran counter to that role.
Chen Chun patted his chest. "Members of the Evil Extermination Division slay demons and protect the people. You're one of the people. That's all."
Qin An took another sip of water.
He did not know how much truth lay in those last words, but if Chen Chun really was an Undercover Agent of the Evil Extermination Division, turning his knife on him would be difficult.
Especially when Chen Chun was investigating the Yamen.
The Yamen could be colluding with demons—stirring up trouble first, then catching a few unimportant demons at random to claim credit.
Qin An thought they might well do something like that.
"That blade technique..." Qin An asked. "Was it real?"
Chen Chun nodded. "Of course it was. But it isn't a technique of the Evil Extermination Division. Who would dare pass one of those on without permission? They'd be beheaded. It's a technique passed down in my family."
Chen Chun then explained further, and Qin An understood.
Cultivation techniques were precious. Both the Evil Extermination Division and the various sects and factions guarded theirs closely.
Passing one on without permission meant having all one's cultivation stripped away at best, or losing one's head at worst.
Chen Chun had not thought Qin An could master it. He had only hoped Qin An could hold out for a little while. Never had he imagined Qin An would actually master the Wind-Splitting Blade Technique.
Qin An fell silent.
Too many strange things had happened today. He had encountered things he had never imagined and needed time to take them in.
The possibility that the Yamen was colluding with demons, coupled with the Sow Demon coming after him, fed a growing sense of danger in his heart.
The Yamen was not necessarily colluding with the Pig Demons. Otherwise, they would not have killed one.
But whether they were colluding with other demons was another matter.
He was caught in muddy waters now. If he wanted a way to survive, it seemed his only option was to rely on his Golden Finger.
Seeing Qin An deep in thought, Chen Chun glanced around, crept up beside him, and whispered, "Do you want that Blood Crystal? If not, how about giving it to me?"
Before you continue