Extermination

The slap not only failed to wake the demonfolk, it knocked him off the wooden rack. The demonfolk fell to the ground and still showed no reaction. At last, the old man sensed that something was wrong.

He turned the demonfolk over. A black hole at his temple told the old man he was dead. Demon Spirit Masters created demonfolk and knew their weaknesses like the backs of their hands. The temple was the one place on a demonfolk's body unprotected by scales or bone.

The eyes were another weakness, but striking them was far from easy. Demonfolk protected them by instinct. Judging by the hole, this one was dead. There was no way to tell from the body how long ago he had died.

"Quick! Check the others. See how the rest of the demonfolk are!" The wound sent a jolt through the old man's heart. They had brought every demonfolk inside under their control. Why had one died here?

Under normal circumstances, not a single demonfolk in here should have been dead. Had someone slipped in and killed them? But how was that possible? Even a master of the Spirit Marshal Realm could not have passed through their tight defenses. And how could anyone kill so many demonfolk without them hearing a thing?

As the Demon Spirit Masters checked, their faces grew darker. They found a similar wound on every demonfolk's head, but could not tell what weapon had made it.

The wounds were well hidden, and the Demonfolk Cave was such an unpleasant place that no one usually wanted to enter. As a result, no one had noticed. It was a grave oversight, a fatal one. All their preparations had come to nothing.

"H-how is this possible? Does heaven mean to destroy the Demon Spirit Master Lineage?"