The Waters Ran Deep

"Is this your mount? Tsk, tsk, it's much better than those misshapen rejects handed out by the Demon Exorcism Bureau."

Lin Jun shook his head, thinking this woman had nerves of steel. She had just escaped death, yet she still had the mood to talk about such things.

"Talk less. Don't tear your wounds open."

Duan Yan stuck out her tongue at Lin Jun, then slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out a strip of dried meat.

"Want some?"

Seeing Lin Jun shake his head, she laboriously brought the dried meat to her mouth and chewed with difficulty despite the pain wracking her entire body.

Lin Jun could not help but sigh at the sight.

Hungry ghost reincarnated.

As Duan Yan chewed, her thoughts began to wander. She thought of her superior, Yang Wan, who always fell silent whenever Lin Jun was mentioned, her face brimming with disgust.

Indeed, if Duan Yan herself had such a vile cousin, she would probably find him disgusting too.

The key was that her own biological father favored this cousin at every turn, which made it all the more unbearable.

But what Yang Wan had not realized was that her vile cousin was actually someone who hid his true depths.

Not only was his strength astonishing, even his temperament was extraordinary.

From developing a Heart Demon to defeating it, only half an hour had passed.

What terrifying strength of heart. To overcome a Heart Demon in half an hour—even within the Demon Exorcism Bureau, such people were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

The thought alone made Duan Yan unable to contain her excitement.

She had been the first to discover this secret. Imagining Yang Wan's astonished expression made her feel thrilled.

No, I have to tell her about this.

But for now, I should honestly focus on recovering.

"Oh, right. I need to tell you something. Once you enter Azure Forest City, you are not allowed to reveal that you're a Demon Exorcist. Understand?"

Duan Yan would not recover anytime soon in her current condition. Having been caught completely off guard by the Tiger Demon's ambush, she had suffered severe internal injuries. Returning to the Demon Exorcism Bureau to report was impossible.

Nor could Lin Jun leave her out in the wilderness. He could only bring her back to recuperate.

After all, she was his younger sister's subordinate. He ought to look after her.

"Huh? Why?"

Demon Exorcists ought to be welcomed wherever they went. Why did Lin Jun make it sound as though Demon Exorcists were not very welcome in Green Forest County?

"Mainly because I'm afraid you'll die in Azure Forest City."

In Duan Yan's current state, even Chen Feng could kill her with ease.

"The waters of Green Forest County run deep. You'll understand once you get there."

Not to mention the demons rampaging outside, Lin Jun had never once seen that old fox Zhang Ju show himself.

Duan Yan laughed upon hearing that.

Green Forest County was famously safe. What could possibly happen there?

I, Duan Yan, am a Three-Head Fox-Stripe Exorcist. What kind of scene haven't I seen?

Who was he looking down on?

They sped along the road, but because Duan Yan was injured, Lin Jun had no choice but to slow down.

As a result, it took him a full two days to finally reach Azure Forest City.

When the city guards saw Lin Jun, they hurriedly greeted him with smiling faces.

"Master Lin, what Demon have you brought back today?"

After several encounters, the guards had grown familiar with Lin Jun. They were no longer afraid of him when they saw him, and even dared to joke with him.

Lin Jun pointed at Duan Yan.

The city guard froze on the spot.

"Uh... a Fox Spirit?"

"Pah! You're the Fox Spirit! Your whole family is Fox Spirits!"

Who was he calling a monster?!

"S-sorry, miss."

The guard hurriedly apologized, while inwardly muttering to himself.

Was Master Lin picking up his old trade again?

"It's a Tiger Demon. Take a look."

Lin Jun smiled and opened the bag, showing the guard the tiger's head inside.

At Duan Yan's vehement insistence, Lin Jun had gone back and picked up the tiger head that had been kicked away.

During that time, Duan Yan had scolded Lin Jun more than once for being wasteful and not knowing the many uses of Demon corpses.

Naturally, Lin Jun did not dare say anything, because he truly had no idea what uses Demon corpses had.

They could be eaten, weapons could be forged from them, but beyond that, he genuinely did not know.

"Heh, what a huge tiger head. Master Lin, where's the tiger whip?"

"The medicinal effect of a Tiger Demon's tiger whip must be incredible. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Lin Jun: ...

Sometimes, getting too familiar with these people was not necessarily a good thing.

Since the journey was long and he had wanted speed, he had not brought back the rest of the Tiger Demon's corpse. He had forgotten about the tiger whip.

"By the way, did anything interesting happen while I was gone these past few days?"

Faced with Lin Jun's question, the guard thought for a moment before saying,

"Cheng Two-Pockmarks' wife gave birth to a pitch-black baby. No one knows which wild man's seed it was. Some rich silk merchant in the east side of town went out in the middle of the night to meet someone in secret, and his wife caught him. Good heavens, she broke both his legs. And that pork stall at the market..."

"Stop, stop, stop! You don't need to say any more!"

Lin Jun rubbed his ears, unwilling to keep exchanging nonsense with the guard.

Seeing this, the guard thought carefully again and said,

"If there really is anything interesting, an out-of-town sect has come to our city to recruit disciples. It's very lively. They say they're from Brocade City."

A martial arts sect from Brocade City?

That was something new.

Lin Jun swayed along as he rode the deer into Azure Forest City.

"Master Lin, want a bite?"

"Master Lin, that rat meat last time looked awful, but it really tasted great!"

"You little brat, you're blocking Master Lin's path!"

Duan Yan lay sprawled across the deer's back. Looking at the people greeting Lin Jun, she smiled.

"You're very popular here."

Popular? Two months ago, these people had wanted nothing more than to eat my flesh raw.

It was only because Lin Jun had supplied them with a steady stream of Demon corpses these past days that the common folk had temporarily believed he had turned over a new leaf.

Naturally, not everyone thought so. For instance, the merchants in the southern part of the city had plenty of money, and Lin Jun's former self had tormented them quite a bit.

Merchants valued profit above all else. Having his former self rob them of their money hurt worse than killing them.

Even now, Lin Jun could feel the hostile gazes of those wealthy merchants from the teahouses.

But Lin Jun had no intention of changing their impression of him. He was not gold—how could everyone possibly love him?

After Lin Jun returned to the Demon Affairs Prefecture, everyone began discussing him.

"Hey, why didn't Master Lin bring back a Demon? Instead, he brought back a young woman?"

"This... could she be some delicate beauty Master Lin snatched from outside?"

"Shh, don't talk nonsense."

"Not necessarily. Who says that young woman isn't a monster? Maybe she's a Fox Spirit."

"Ah?"

"Oh, then it's not strange."

Duan Yan still did not know she had once again been branded a Fox Spirit. She was eagerly taking in everything around her.

Though it was not as imposing as Brocade City, it possessed a charm all its own.

The common folk lived in harmony and contentment. Didn't everything look quite good?

The waters ran deep? Why couldn't she see it?