Gray-Skinned Rat Demon

(Taoist wealth-bringing spell talisman inscription: Heavenly Official bestows blessings, Earthly Official enters treasures, Water Official eliminates calamities, Wealth Star shines high. Wealth energy from all directions surrounds the body, five-elements gold and silver gather in the thatched hall, wealth enters daily, abundance fills monthly.)

Great Harvest calendar year 1600, autumn.

Qingzhou, Pingyang County, Blackwater Village.

Drizzling rain fell.

Inside the village ancestral hall, weeping sounds were numerous.

"Uncle Li, no, this corpse is not right."

Lu Yuan looked at the corpse lying on the ground.

His brow furrowed tightly.

"Little Lu, we're only responsible for collecting corpses, not investigating cases."

Old Li also sensed a trace of something amiss.

Yet he only thought of finishing the task early.

In his withered hand, the corpse-wrapping bag was pulled toward the blood-smeared corpse beside him.

The village had reported that many people were infected with malaria and had died.

The authorities sent them to handle this matter.

Who would have thought, upon reaching the village ancestral hall.

And seeing the corpses on the ground.

Lu Yuan saw that most of the corpses bore tooth wounds and toe wounds.

More like the lingering marks left by beasts...

"Rustle!"

At that moment, the ancestral hall doors were blown shut by the wind.

Wisps of bloody stench diffused.

"Finding out now, isn't it a bit too late..."

A slender figure, seven chi tall, emerged from behind the incomplete Buddha statue of the ancestral hall.

Wearing a gray robe, yet topped with a rat's head.

That rat paw twitched at a rat whisker, as if imitating a human.

The red incisors revealed after a smile were all the more horrifying.

"A beast... a demon..."

With a snap, Old Li was frightened so badly he landed flat on his bottom on the ground.

His face turned ashen.

"A demon!"

At that moment, Lu Yuan also widened his eyes.

His heart hammered like a drum.

His limbs felt as though they had gone numb.

He had transmigrated to this world for three days already.

He had also heard some tales of demons eating humans.

And he knew this was a world where demons and humans coexisted.

Yet, when such a humanoid demonic creature truly appeared before his very eyes.

He knew.

Just how terrifying it was.

Lu Yuan tightly gripped the chipped, rusted standard saber at his waist.

His identity was that of a small bailiff under the coroner's office among the yamen's lower three classes and six bureaus.

Usually, the chores he did were simply collecting and escorting corpses.

Where had he ever seen a true demon.

"A beast?"

Hearing the words from Old Li's mouth, the rat demon's rat-like face instantly brimmed with killing intent.

With a spring of its hind legs, it arrived right beside Old Li.

The rat demon, originally standing like a human, now placed its front legs on the ground too, squatting on the earth like a giant rat.

Pale yellow pupils stared at Old Li.

"Spare... spare my life, don't kill me..."

Old Li screamed in terror.

The rat demon revealed a trace of anthropomorphic, enjoyed satisfaction.

Then.

With a crunching bite.

Splatter!

Old Li's head was like a smashed watermelon.

Pulp burst everywhere.

Crunch, crunch, the sound of bones being chewed to pieces echoed.

"Demons, demons have come again."

Some older villagers with wider experience.

Screamed in panic.

It had been many years since demons had so swaggeringly appeared within the ruling territory of Great Harvest to enter villages and kill people.

Inside the ancestral hall, weeping and shouting filled the air.

Yet, the rat demon paid no heed to these.

Slaughtering, tearing.

Those villagers appeared extremely feeble under the rat demon's strength.

Soon, inside the ancestral hall.

Only a woman holding a child remained.

Approaching Lu Yuan's side in terror.

She shielded her child before her.

The rat demon, however, unhurriedly headed in her direction.

Walking over.

A thick bloody stench permeated its body.

"Only such fresh food suits my appetite!"

The rat demon's scarlet tongue licked its paw.

"Sir, save me, save my child."

The woman pleaded for help.

"Mommy."

The ten-year-old girl tightly grasped the back of the woman's clothes.

"Hehe! Brat, draw your broken saber and come hack at me..."

The rat demon glanced at Lu Yuan, revealing a human-like mocking smile.

At this moment, the hand with which Lu Yuan gripped his saber.

Was trembling.

"Look, he doesn't dare."

The rat demon lowered its rat head, negotiating with the woman, "How about handing this little girl over for me to keep by my side and be a companion?"

"I can spare you."

The rat demon could naturally seize her by force, but with the mother's approval.

It could completely control the little girl.

"Bah! Shameless thing, a beast is a beast."

The woman spat a glob of thick phlegm right onto the rat demon's face.

"Giving you face and you don't want it."

The rat demon gripped the woman's neck, lifting her up without the slightest effort.

The woman's dark cheeks turned flushed red.

"Big brother, save Mommy, save Mommy."

"Shengnan has no daddy, she cannot lose Mommy too."

The little girl tugged at Lu Yuan's hem, crying messily.

Lu Yuan trembled all over, "I..."

"Snap!"

The sound of a neck being snapped rang out.

Throwing her like a rag doll, it tossed the woman's corpse aside.

Lu Yuan instinctively pulled the little girl to his side.

only for a bite to sink into his arm.

Fresh blood flowed down his arm and into the somewhat dilapidated, rusted saber.

"What, want to be a hero?"

The rat demon laughed somewhat wantonly.

Lu Yuan before its eyes was merely a plaything.

"Hum!"

At that exact moment, a panel materialized before Lu Yun's eyes.

"Demon-Slaying System activated."

[Host: Lu Yuan]

[Realm: Mortal Realm (Unrated)]

[Techniques: Basic Demon-Slaying Saber Technique (Initiate 10/50), Wild Bull Force (Uninitiated 0/50)]

[Experience Points: 0]

[Notice: Slaying demons grants experience points.]

[Notice: Experience points can be used to deduce, improve, and even fuse and mutate techniques!]

Lu Yuan's eyes lit up.

"Experience points are 0, what do I do?"

Lu Yuan originally wanted to improve his techniques, but with zero experience points, what was he supposed to do?

[Notice: Lifespan can replace experience points to directly surge techniques. Exchange ratio 1:100]

[Remaining lifespan: 11 years.]

"Damn it, how is there only 11 years of life left?"

"This damn system clearly wants me to trade my life!"

"Screw it, if I don't trade my life now, won't I just die?"

"System, charge all my lifespan, exchange it for experience points, and deduce techniques."

Things had reached this point, and Lu Yuan could no longer care about all that.

When a man dies, he dies; if he survives, he lives ten thousand years.

"Ding, host has recharged 11 years of lifespan. Remaining lifespan: 30 days."

"Exchanged for 1,100 experience points."

"Ding!"

"Consumed 40 experience points."

"Basic Demon-Slaying Saber Technique advanced to Minor Accomplishment (Minor Accomplishment 0/100)."

"Ding!"

"Consumed 100 experience points."

"Basic Demon-Slaying Saber Technique advanced to Major Accomplishment (Major Accomplishment 0/300)."

"Ding!"

"Consumed 300 experience points."

"Basic Demon-Slaying Saber Technique advanced to Major Accomplishment (Major Accomplishment 0/500)."

"Ding!"

"Consumed 500 experience points."

"Basic Demon-Slaying Saber Technique advanced to Perfection (Unknown)."

[Notice: A total of 940 experience points consumed, remaining experience points 150.]

Instantly, a powerful and violent surge of cultivation memories regarding the Basic Demon-Slaying Saber Technique.

Poured into Lu Yuan's mind.

"What, scared stupid?"

"Humans! Might as well just eat you all up! Fresh humans taste quite good."

The rat demon reached out one hand to grab the little girl.

Its other hand seized Lu Yuan's shoulder.

Sharp claws pierced right through.

Fresh blood flowed freely.

At that moment, the Basic Demon-Slaying Saber Technique awakened like muscle memory.

In a split second.

The rusted saber was drawn out.

Striking upward with a streak of mournful blade light.

"Slash!!!"

The rat demon let out a piercing, miserable scream.

Its disbelieving yellow pupils slowly lowered to look down.

From chest to abdomen, an elongated wound caused its internal organs to spill right out.

"Bang!!!"

The impact force of this strike was not small either.

The rat demon crashed heavily onto the offering table.

"You..."

The rat demon raised a finger to point at Lu Yuan.

Twitched a few times, and completely breathed its last.

A thumb-sized gray inner core emitting a foul stench rolled out from its belly.

Right at that moment, a cold mechanical voice rang out in his mind:

[Ding! Detected that host has slain a First-Order Low-Grade demon, the 'Gray-Skinned Rat Demon'.]

[Gained experience points: 50 points.]

[Current experience points: 200.]