The Journey to Liuli Temple Village

The deaths of the Liu father and daughter had doused Shen Yi like a bucket of cold water, jolting him awake.

He couldn't afford to entertain any wishful thinking!

They weren't mindless monsters wandering the wilderness, staying in one place like good little beasts until a band of wandering heroes came along to harvest them for experience points.

As he had done before, it was easy enough to exploit the connections left behind by his predecessor and strike when a demon let its guard down.

But he couldn't keep doing that forever.

Those violent creatures had feelings, too. They passed messages to one another, and far faster than he had imagined!

They knew the Black-skinned Dog Demon had gone to the Liu Family's home. Surely they knew who it had gone with, too.

Every time a demon died, the remaining beasts grew more vicious and more wary. Once word of the Ape Demon's death got around, the next one to ambush him would likely be a true great demon.

Shen Yi didn't want to spend every day living in fear.

He needed more demon lifespan.

With that thought, Shen Yi stood and walked slowly out of the courtyard.

By then, quite a few townsfolk had gathered on Willow Leaf Street, all watching from a distance.

Constables beating up fellow constables—now that was a rare bit of dog-eat-dog excitement.

"Let them all go."

Shen Yi gave a slight nod.

"Yes, sir." Chen Ji cupped his hands and signaled to the others to untie the remaining men.

He looked away, then suddenly hesitated. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out an opened letter, its cover still stained with blood. "Do you want to take a look...? It just fell off one of them."

Shen Yi frowned, took the letter, and slowly unfolded it.

There was only one sentence inside:

"Come to Liuli Temple Village. I have something to ask you."

There was no context, and not even a name.

But Shen Yi knew those dog demons well. They were far better at swinging blades and weapons than learning to hold a writing brush.

Only that Old Dog, the one who never had to worry about food or drink, would have the leisure to write a letter like this. And among the ordinary constables, he was the only one with a connection to the Yellow Weasel.

Chen Ji had clearly noticed the same thing. That was why he'd hesitated to show Shen Yi the letter. "What do we do? You definitely can't go, but if you ignore them, they'll come into town looking for you... Should we ask the clerk?"

Everyone knew Liu the Clerk had raised Shen Yi like half a nephew.

With that connection, if Liu the Clerk was willing to speak up, he might even be able to ask the formidable martial artist at the county magistrate's residence to negotiate with the demons.

"We have to hurry, or Liuli Temple Village..." Chen Ji fretted.

"Tsk." Zhang Pengtian staggered against the wall, spitting bloody foam as he snickered. "Liu the Clerk gave the order long ago. You can't command a single constable now. Stay put in the county. You're lucky—someone's protecting your life. As for the other wretched lives... ptooey... you don't have what it takes to protect them."

Chen Ji's heart skipped a beat.

He instinctively looked at the young man before him, but a profound sense of helplessness soon swallowed him.

Even if Shen Yi's martial prowess far exceeded anything he could have imagined, it was only enough to put him above ordinary constables. Against the entire dog-demon faction... Hadn't they seen those martial artists they'd brought in? Every one of them was a skilled demon slayer, yet even they had to stay quietly in the county for now.

Just then, Chen Ji noticed the furrow between Shen Yi's brows suddenly smooth out.

"Lord Shen..."

Shen Yi patted him on the shoulder. "Go back first."

He had been wondering how to find the demons, hidden deep in the mountains among steep and treacherous terrain.

Waiting for them to come to him would leave him too passive.

Now that they wanted to talk, how could he pass up such a fine opportunity?

"..."

Shen Yi's expression was calm, but the more Chen Ji looked at him, the more uneasy he became. He watched Shen Yi walk away and blurted out, "You're not going out of town, are you?"

"Out of town? I watched him climb up from a street punk. Even if a demon dragged off his own mother, he wouldn't so much as look her way. What's with this act of playing the obedient grandson now?"

Two subordinates held Zhang Pengtian up. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he spat a thick gob of phlegm onto the ground.

"Ptooey!"

Outside Baiyun County.

A figure flashed past like an arrow piercing the air. Tree branches swayed, and startled birds took flight.

Spirit Snake Eight Steps was an ordinary martial art, but with the strength of the Initial Realm's fifth aperture driving it, it could make a person move too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Before long, Shen Yi saw the dilapidated little temple again.

He slowed his pace, his breathing steady, showing no sign that he had just sprinted at full tilt.

On the ridges between the fields of Liuli Temple Village, the villagers stopped their work once more and stared at the saber-bearing figure at the village entrance.

Usually, the arrival of constables meant disaster was at hand.

Either the constables themselves brought trouble, or demons were causing a disturbance.

When they recognized the newcomer, the villagers' numb expressions eased a little.

They remembered this constable.

Last time, he had been the one to personally slay the dog demon. He hadn't even taken any silver when he left.

A little girl who had only just learned to walk, wearing a comically oversized, ragged homespun shirt, came stumbling over. She held up her chipped bowl and said in a babyish voice, "Constable, have some water."

Shen Yi patted her head, took the bowl, and drained it in one go.

As he set it down, his gaze drifted toward the mountain road on the other side.

They said it was better to arrive at the right time than early... and this really was perfect timing.

On the rugged mountain path, more than a dozen figures stood half-hidden among the thick trees, each two heads taller than an ordinary person.

Beneath their knotted, matted fur, muscles rippled in even, powerful bands. Their faces were hideous, and they wore nothing but loincloths. Each carried a gigantic sedan chair, nearly two zhang tall, on its shoulders, striding over the mountain path as though on level ground.

Lying leisurely atop the sedan chair was a body weighing at least eight hundred jin.

Layer upon layer of fat, each about two fingers thick, piled densely over its body like a mountain of flesh. It was impossible to tell how many layers there were.

Most striking of all was its sleek, glossy, deep-yellow fur, which set it apart from the other dog demons.

A moment later, they stopped at the village entrance, still bearing the sedan chair.

The ragged little girl had just reached to take back her bowl when she turned and fell flat on her bottom with a thud.

Every expression froze on her dirty little face. She held her breath, clamped her baby teeth down hard on her lip, and began to tremble uncontrollably.

Compared with the little girl, the other villagers seemed calmer... Though it was less calm than simple familiarity.

They instinctively looked toward the entrance.

There was only one constable, with only one saber at his waist.

Behind him, the winding path lay eerily silent. They waited a long time, but no one else appeared.

The villagers seemed to understand what that meant. A few more traces of despair appeared in their vacant eyes.

They crouched down one after another, hugging themselves tight. No one cried out or tried to run.

Suddenly, the little girl felt a tall shadow fall over her.

She looked up.

The constable walked past her, drawing the saber at his waist as he went.

The blade slid completely from its scabbard.

Shen Yi stood in front of the enormous sedan chair, holding his saber at an angle.