At those words, the corner of Li Fugui's eye twitched.
The youth before him was far more perceptive than he had imagined.
Indeed, the three of them had come together precisely to keep watch over Lu Guan.
After all, the youth was the old ape's target outside the city.
"It was Wang Muzhi's suggestion."
Li Fugui glanced cautiously at the youth, putting away the contempt born of his age.
He lowered his voice, as though fearing the walls had ears. "Scholars all have dirty hearts.
"Don't be fooled by his kindly appearance now. Who knows how many schemes he has up his sleeve? Even the three of us together couldn't outplay him."
He paused, his tone taking on a meaningful note:
"Take that traitor to humanity, Zhou Kaishan. If you said Meng Shuo was kept in the dark, I'd believe it. But if Wang Muzhi claimed he knew nothing at all... heh."
Those missing commoners, those offerings of flesh and blood year after year-had Wang Muzhi truly never heard so much as a whisper?
Li Fugui didn't believe it.
He had merely kept himself out of harm's way and cherished his official hat.
So long as no great trouble broke out, so long as the head tax was collected and the taxes were paid, what did it matter who served as commandant?
While Zhou Kaishan held office, Wang Muzhi played the magistrate of a peaceful county.
Neither encroached upon the other's waters, and each got what he needed.
Until Lu Guan appeared out of nowhere, slaughtered Zhou Kaishan with a single slash, and overturned the entire chessboard.
Lu Guan's expression remained unchanged as he listened to Li Fugui.
He actually had little interest in all this scrambling for scraps and skulking about.
However one reckoned it, it still came down to this damned world and those damned demons.
Wouldn't killing them all solve it?
The sky gradually darkened, and Qianqiu County's city lay shrouded in deathly silence.
The streets had long since emptied. Even the night watchman huddled indoors, not daring to come out.
Outside the city gates, Yuan Guanshan remained motionless, like an old monk deep in meditation.
He sat cross-legged beside the upright black coffin, his back against its boards and his hands resting on his knees. His broad sleeves trailed on the ground, blending into the night.
The wind came whimpering from the far reaches of the wilderness, stirring the gray-white fur on his body, strand after strand gleaming coldly beneath the moonlight.
Only when faint footsteps sounded did he slowly open his eyes.
A gleam flashed through his murky eyes in the darkness as he raised his head toward the figure in a flying-fish robe before him.
The newcomer was a middle-aged man, lean and spare, with an unremarkable face and a long saber hanging at his waist.
The darkness blurred his features. Only his eyes stood out, like two cold stars.
Sun Ying, Pacification Commissioner of Langya Commandery.
"You came too late."
"This old man has been waiting for you a long time... any later, and I fear even my last shred of patience would have run out."
Sun Ying remained expressionless, his eyes lowered as he looked down at the old ape sitting cross-legged on the ground.
The look in his eyes was swallowed by the darkness, revealing neither joy nor anger. The night wind whipped his robe with a snapping rustle.
"You have crossed the line."
"Do you truly think I wouldn't dare kill you?"
As his words fell, Sun Ying tightened his grip on the hilt and slowly drew his saber.
Its blade was white as silver, gleaming with a cold sheen beneath the moonlight. A winding blood groove ran along its spine, its depths stained dark red. There was no telling how much demon blood it had drunk.
Clang!
Silver light swept through the night.
The blade skimmed past Yuan Guanshan's shoulder, shearing off a few strands of gray-white fur.
Yuan Guanshan's expression did not change. His mouth split into a grin, exposing two fangs. "Fine saber work. Unfortunately, you don't dare kill me."
The old ape slowly rose and moved close to Sun Ying.
The commissioner frowned, held his breath, and silently stepped half a pace back.
"I have already surrounded this city with my Qi presence."
Yuan Guanshan raised a hand, his withered fingers closing loosely around the air as though grasping something invisible.
"With a single thought, I can leave countless dead and wounded in an instant.
"I imagine you wouldn't want to see that, would you?"
He lowered his hand, a trace of mockery flashing through his murky eyes.
"Or... take a gamble. See whether your saber is faster, or my thoughts."
Looking at the old ape's provocative expression, Sun Ying rubbed the saber's hilt and sank into thought.
Seeing this, Yuan Guanshan smiled.
"You and I are both in the Inner Landscape Realm, true cultivators who have transcended the mundane and roam freely through heaven and earth."
"To think these antlike mortals could become a weakness that holds you in check. How laughable."
"That is why you are a demon," Sun Ying suddenly said, his gaze icy. "However much you imitate humans, you will never be human."
Before his words had faded, the saber's gleam was already upon him.
Squelch!
The sound of flesh parting rang through the night.
Yuan Guanshan stared at Sun Ying in disbelief. His right side was now empty, foul blood spurting without cease.
On the ground lay a severed arm.
He suddenly shrieked, "Bastard! How dare you attack me!"
Did he no longer care about the lives of everyone in this city?
"Didn't you ask whether my saber was faster, or your thoughts?"
Sun Ying raised his hand and examined the bloodstained saber.
Fresh blood filled the groove in the blade, dark red flowing slowly along its depths.
He bared his teeth as though smiling, but there was not a trace of amusement in his eyes.
"It seems I can't kill you with one slash. Your thoughts are faster."
As those words fell, Yuan Guanshan froze.
His hunched body trembled. His mouth opened, and rasping sounds came from his throat.
"Madman. You madman."
"You broke the rules first." Sun Ying's face was cold, his saber angled toward the ground as beads of blood slid down its edge. "Cultivators are forbidden to act. Do you want to test whether Great Li's blade is sharp?"
"Stop trying to frighten me!" Yuan Guanshan clutched his severed stump, fury surging in his murky eyes.
"Your Great Li can barely fend for itself. How would it dare provoke our Fruitless Cave? Take care you don't bring disaster upon You Province."
"Let me in. I will kill only one person. Otherwise, everyone in this city dies!"
Sun Ying's expression abruptly darkened.
Damn it. I failed to bluff this ape demon.
What he said was indeed true. You Province could not withstand the ravages of a demonic faction with a Divine Treasury Realm cultivator.
Fruitless Cave and Ailao Mountain-two threats lodged in their very vitals!
If that Divine Treasury Realm ancestor of Fruitless Cave acted personally, all of You Province would be plunged into misery and ruin.
He could not afford that gamble, and neither could Great Li.
Otherwise, he alone could kill this decrepit ape demon before him, who had only barely broken through.
Seeing Sun Ying remain silent, Yuan Guanshan dragged the coffin past him.
"I practice the way of the sages. Paying for a life with a life is only right and proper."
The ape demon's voice drifted back from afar, a hint of mockery in its rasp. "Commissioner Sun, surely you understand even that?"
In mere moments, he was only inches from the city gates.
The gates stood right before him, and the shadows within the gateway swallowed his figure.
Watching Yuan Guanshan's retreating back, Sun Ying's expression was unreadable.
A killer should indeed pay with his life, but are you human?
What business does a man-eating demon have talking to humans about paying for a life with a life?
He let out a long sigh. Circumstances forced his hand; You Province could not stand tall.
Though he did not know what madness had seized this ape demon, he had already cut off one of his arms.
Hopefully, it will be of some help to those inside the city.
"Their hated enemy is our hero."
Sun Ying sheathed his saber and silently watched the county city disappear into the darkness.
This was all he could do.