[Slain a String Hearing Realm creature, gained fifteen years of Dao Cultivation.] [Slain a String Hearing Realm creature, gained ten years of Dao Cultivation.]
Two icy notifications rang out in her mind one after another.
Jiang Yuechu sheathed her blade and shook her head.
Human martial artists cultivated far faster than demons and monsters to begin with.
For humanity, perhaps that was a good thing.
But for her earnings, it truly was not very friendly.
The two String Hearing Realm cultivators combined were not worth as much as a single demon.
The courtyard fell silent.
Only the two headless corpses continued to gush blood.
Chen Tong and the others were utterly dumbfounded.
No...
They had thought that, at most, they would give the other side a show of strength, teach them a lesson, and dampen Baosha Temple's arrogance before letting the matter pass.
But...
But she had really fucking killed them?!
How could she dare?!
They looked at Jiang Yuechu, wanting an explanation.
Yet Jiang Yuechu had no intention of explaining herself in the slightest.
From the very beginning, there had only been two choices.
Either she took their benefits, left, and turned a blind eye.
Or she killed the two men outright.
There had never been a third option.
Could it be that if she let these two go, they would not bear a grudge against her?
That Baosha Temple would not pursue the matter?
Either way, she would offend them.
So she might as well kill them outright.
Life was short. She did not bully others, but she would never allow anyone to bully her even a fraction.
Now that she had this strength and a cheat at her side, she ought to live with that arrogance!
It was like using cheats in a game.
Either cheat boldly.
Or do not cheat at all.
Acting timid and putting on a show—what fucking cheat was that?
Without even sparing the corpses on the ground a glance, she walked straight over to County Magistrate Qian, who was sprawled limply on the ground. Frowning, she raised her foot and gave his fat body a neither-light-nor-heavy kick.
"Time to wake up."
County Magistrate Qian did not move at all. A thread of drool even trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"..."
"This matter has nothing to do with you. If people from Baosha come to ask, just tell them the truth."
Seeing that he could not keep pretending, County Magistrate Qian had no choice but to slowly wake up.
He rose somewhat awkwardly, straightened his robes, then secretly glanced again at the two corpses. His eyelids twitched wildly.
Jiang Yuechu frowned and asked calmly, "Where is that Black Bear now?"
"It is... it is still on the mountain..."
"Still there?"
Perhaps because the people from Baosha were already dead and the burden had been lifted from him, County Magistrate Qian immediately began cursing. "My lady! You do not know this! Those bald donkeys arrived in Hexian County yesterday. This subordinate thought the Black Bear would show some restraint, but what happened?"
"They went up the mountain, then came right back down!"
"This subordinate asked them about it. What did they say? They said the Bear Demon was originally their temple's mountain-guarding spirit beast, and that taking it back required setting up an altar, performing rites, fasting, and bathing. They told this subordinate to wait!"
"I think they just want that blind bear to eat a few more people! As if every extra day it eats, they can reap some enormous advantage!"
"..."
Jiang Yuechu understood.
If she had taken the money and left, that Black Bear would likely have remained here for quite some time, "preaching the Dharma" on their behalf.
"Which mountain?"
"N-North Mountain! It is more than ten li north of the city! There was once a temple on the mountain, but it fell into ruin long ago. That blind bear has occupied the temple as its lair!"
Jiang Yuechu nodded and casually pointed at the two men closest to the corpses.
"You two, dispose of the bodies. Everyone else, follow me up the mountain."
With that, she turned and left.
"Yes!"
No one dared hesitate any longer. One after another, they scrambled after her.
Bujie bent down to pick up the wine gourd that had fallen to the ground, dusted it off, and muttered softly, "Amitabha. Murder and arson earn golden belts; building bridges and repairing roads leave no corpses behind... Off we go, off we go, to slay demons and vanquish evil."
Before long, the courtyard that had been packed with people moments ago was left with only Liu Ke still standing there.
A scorching sense of shame burned his face hot.
He had always considered himself righteous and honorable, with chivalry in his heart.
But when faced with a colossal force like Baosha Temple, what had he done besides move his lips?
"Why are you still standing there?"
A cool voice drifted in from the courtyard gate, carrying a hint of lazy impatience.
Liu Ke shuddered violently, as though waking from a great dream, and looked up.
At the gate, the girl who had left and then returned was leaning against the doorframe, watching him at her leisure.
"Still standing there like a door god?" She raised a brow. "Your face keeps turning red and white. Are you planning to perform an opera for me?"
"I..."
The girl clicked her tongue impatiently.
"How affected."
"Hurry up and follow."
Liu Ke took a deep breath, his chest heaving fiercely several times.
In the end, he slowly lowered his proud head.
"Yes."
North Mountain, ruined temple.
Over a hundred people knelt in a dark mass across the open ground before the temple.
Above them, a massive Black Bear sat upright on its haunches, draped in a tattered cassock stripped from who knew where. Its paws were pressed together, its expression solemn and dignified.
"What is suffering?"
"Hunger in the belly is suffering! No clothes upon the body is suffering! Seeking what one cannot attain is suffering piled upon suffering!"
The Black Bear spoke in human speech, its voice booming like a bell as it echoed through the mountains.
"But do you know where this suffering comes from?"
The people below all shook their heads blankly.
"Foolish children! Foolish children indeed!"
Black Bear Master shook his head in grief and indignation. "This suffering comes from your greed, anger, and delusion! You crave the rice and meat of this mortal world, rage at the wealth of others, and obsess over those illusory pleasures of worldly life!"
"Let go! You must let go!"
"As long as you cast aside worldly possessions, devote yourselves to me, and make offerings every day, this seat... this humble monk will naturally deliver you, sending you to the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss, where you shall enjoy peace and health forever!"
His words were upside down and nonsensical, utter bullshit from beginning to end.
Yet those foolish men and women below listened as though drunk on it, each one knocking their heads against the ground like pounding garlic.
"The Master is right!"
"I understand! I understand!"
Seeing the scene below, the Black Bear grew ever more pleased with itself. After putting on a few more airs and saying several profound-sounding lines, it waved a paw.
"That will be all for today. Disperse. Remember to come early tomorrow. Do not delay your cultivation."
The crowd offered a thousand thanks, turning back every three steps as they dispersed.
Only after everyone had gone did the Black Bear slowly rise, tear off the cumbersome tattered cassock, and swagger into the temple's rear hall.
Inside the rear hall, a meditation chamber had been cleaned until it was spotless.
It dropped its huge body onto the soft bed and let out a comfortable sigh.
"Fuck, Big Brother really has a good head on his shoulders."
It grabbed a chunk of meat from the table—its origin impossible to identify—and stuffed it into its mouth, mumbling indistinctly.
Back when it had been a demon in the mountains, life had been miserable.
Not only had it needed to fight other demons and monsters for territory and flesh, it had also needed to live in constant fear that one day the mad dogs of the Demon Suppression Office would come sniffing up the mountain.
How could that compare to now?
By throwing on a cassock and raising Baosha Temple's banner, it only needed to move its mouth here and babble a few nonsense lines, and endless offerings would deliver themselves to its door.
Even if it ate people, those bald donkeys from Baosha Temple would clean up its shit afterward.
Even immortals would not trade this life away!
"Mm... I'll stay another seven or eight days, squeeze all the oil and water out of this area, then head back to Baosha Temple. I've eaten so much this time, it should be enough to digest for a while."
The Black Bear gnawed on the meat as it calculated.
Just then—
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone lightly knocked on the door.
"Master."
"Come in."
A skinny old man pushed open the door and entered. He was precisely the one who had knocked his head against the ground loudest among the crowd earlier.
"Master, today's lesson..."
"Oh."
As though only just remembering, the Black Bear casually said, "Have Wang Mazi's newlywed little wife come over."
The so-called lesson was for it to personally enlighten human women, awaken their mortal bodies, and then devour their flesh and blood.
"Th-this..." The old man's face revealed a trace of difficulty. "Master, Wang Mazi's wife... yesterday, you already... enlightened her..."
"Hmm?"
The Black Bear frowned.
The old man trembled in fright and hurriedly changed his words. "But! But Master, rest assured! That woman has a younger sister, and she is even more lovely than her elder sister! This old man will go have him send her over at once!"
"Go."
The Black Bear impatiently waved a paw.
As though granted a pardon, the old man scrambled out.
Only the Black Bear remained in the meditation chamber.
It extended its scarlet tongue and licked the grease from the corner of its mouth, its eyes filled with lecherous wickedness.
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