Sun Fuling smiled. "Only gods residing high in the nine heavens, having no material conflict with humanity, could possibly bring about such a thing. Look, ever since nations arose in the mortal realm and began wielding origin power, demon immortals and human immortals have steadily withered away, wild demons in the mountains could no longer compete, and Daoist cultivators have even had to bow to emperors to seek titles of marquis or minister."
He Lingchuan asked in wonder, "If that's the case, why do some still claim origin power was taught by immortals?"
"According to historical records, during the Middle Ancient Era, monstrous beasts ran rampant and plagued the populace. People ranked monstrous beasts alongside floods as the two great scourges, and immortals—or rather, cultivators—were their mortal enemies," Sun Fuling explained. "As the spiritual energy between heaven and earth grew scarcer, cultivators sought to seize it from the beasts, and beasts sought the same from them. Some old scholars believe origin power was imparted by immortals because for a very long period, sects allied with nations to confront demons together. To combat a common enemy, the sects deliberately curried favor with humans. But gods, after all, are too ethereal—invisible and unverifiable."
Thus, human nations spread across the world, while most demons were driven into the wilderness and great marshes.
An anomaly like the northern demon kingdom was, after all, an exception.
"Gods..." It was a mysterious term, yet He Lingchuan had heard it on numerous occasions. Back then, Nian Songyu had even summoned a god to possess him, intent on seizing the Dafang Pot. "Why would they help humanity?"
Sun Fuling spread her hands. "With something so ethereal and intangible, how many people in this world truly understand? I’ve heard countless legends, but all of them are far-fetched associations." She smiled. "You'd be better off taking that question to Commander Zhong or General Red."
Indeed, those two stood closer to the gods than most people ever would.
He Lingchuan scratched his head and changed the subject. "How do you plan to spend these ten-plus days of vacation?"
"I want to go to—"
A sharp scream suddenly came from the west, cutting her off.
The voice was high-pitched, either a woman or a child.
The sound stopped abruptly, but He Lingchuan had already determined the direction. Pointing to the goldenrain tree beside them, he told Sun Fuling, "Stay beneath the tree and don't move!"
The goldenrain tree was massive. Although its leaves had completely fallen in winter, its trunk formed an angle with the low wall beside it. With the sun slanting westward and unable to reach here, standing inside was very well concealed.
He sprinted toward the sound.
Vaulting over three low walls and two earthen huts, he saw a boy sprawled face-down across a threshold.
He Lingchuan turned him over.
It was a boy of about six or seven. His eyes were wide with terror, and his neck was broken.
Several bloody holes pierced his throat, as if gouged by sharp claws.
The boy stared fixedly at He Lingchuan. His lips twitched, but before he could speak, he drew his last breath.
The dead could not be brought back; catching the killer came first. He Lingchuan set the boy's body down and examined the surrounding traces.
Having caught demons several times as a patrol guard, he had accumulated considerable experience. Right beside the child's body, he spotted a footprint on the ground—
A human footprint, but less than the length of his palm.
He leaped onto the wall and discovered two smears of blood on the roof tiles. This was where the creature's forelimbs had pressed down, stained with the child's blood.
Pursue!
He executed the Returning Swallow movement technique and gave chase in the deduced direction.
More than three months of day-and-night bitter cultivation showed their results. He wove through narrow alleys and cramped houses, his speed hardly hindered by obstacles, scarcely slower than a real swallow.
Moments later, he caught sight of a dark silhouette flashing across a wall to the east, seemingly diving through a house's window.
Caught up!
He Lingchuan followed, landing silently on the roof tiles and holding his breath as he waited.
For quite a while, it didn't come out. He wondered if it was waiting for him to go in.
Refusing to fall for a trap, he lit a small medicine vial and tossed it through the window.
With a clatter, the vial shattered.
Soon, thick clouds of murky yellow smoke billowed from the doors and windows, accompanied by bursts of raspy coughing.
The killer really was human?
This medicinal smoke was meant to flush demons and beasts from their dens—such as weasels, foxes, and burrow spiders—but it worked just as well against humans.
A few breaths later, He Lingchuan saw a dark figure leap out of the window, fleeing in a frenzy.
The distance between them was only twenty to thirty feet.
Already prepared, he raised his wrist, triggered the concealed mechanism, and the sleeve arrow shot out.
A hit.
However, he had aimed for the center of the back, but the sleeve arrow struck the target's leg instead.
When shooting at a fast-moving target, his aim was still slightly lacking.
The dark figure stumbled, let out a bizarre low growl, and continued charging forward.
He Lingchuan cursed under his breath in regret.
The sleeve arrows he carried were common off-the-shelf goods bought through Skinny; the materials and power were mediocre, merely passing grade. If he had been using the purple-gold sleeve arrows custom-made by Li Fubo, this creature's thigh would have been punched straight through. Moreover, those were equipped with trailing cords, allowing He Lingchuan to forcefully haul it back.
Here, the sleeve arrow could only serve to slow it down.
The true importance of equipment often became apparent only at critical moments.
Not daring to delay, He Lingchuan leaped down from the roof in pursuit.
The thick smoke had yet to clear, obscuring vision. The moment his feet touched the ground, he felt a faint disturbance in the air behind him, sending a sudden chill down his spine.
An ambush!
Without time to think, he buckled his knees, rolled sideways across the ground, gripped the saber hilt at his waist with his right hand, and slashed forward!
Sure enough, another dark figure had been lurking right there, having endured the choking smoke just to deliver a strike to He Lingchuan's back.
These things were actually hunting in pairs!
It was fortunate He Lingchuan had reacted early.
Even so, a searing pain flared across his back.
He had been wounded after all.
Had he dodged half a second later, the creature probably would have punched several gaping holes through his back.
Fortunately, his saber had struck the creature's chest. The impact felt like hitting rotten leather, devoid of the clean satisfaction of slicing through flesh.
Even so, the dark figure hissed in pain and launched a tempestuous flurry of attacks at He Lingchuan.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Their weapons clashed repeatedly, striking sparks in the swirling smoke.
Only then did He Lingchuan realize this creature was more than a size larger than the first one he had chased, yet far less agile. No wonder its first instinct upon coming under attack had been to lie in ambush and counterattack rather than flee.
Moreover, as it growled, it choked on several mouthfuls of smoke, slowing its offense. If not for its thick, tough hide, He Lingchuan would have hacked it to death already.
Its outer hide was tougher and thicker than a century-old vine, so the patrol guard's Hundred-Battle saber caused limited damage. As long as it guarded its head and neck, He Lingchuan couldn't do much to it for the moment.
With this layer of thick hide, it was nearly invincible.
He could now see his opponent clearly: emaciated, like a skeleton wrapped in skin, but its hide was dark and covered in fine scales.
At a glance, it looked humanoid, with lower limbs longer than its upper limbs, capable of walking upright and attacking. But its forelimbs had only three digits, ending in hooked, scissor-like claws of astounding hardness that could directly clash against He Lingchuan's saber.
Even more terrifying was its face...
It had no face. Its head had only two sunken eye sockets inside which green ghostly flames flickered. Another hole—whether a nose or a mouth, he couldn't tell—issued an insect-like hissing.
Suddenly, it spat a glob of thick green phlegm at He Lingchuan.
The two were so close, and its spit came fast and direct. He Lingchuan didn't dare let it hit him, promptly raising his blade to block.
Immediately, a faint sizzling came from the blade, along with a peculiar odor.
If that thick glob had splattered directly across his face, then...
In this dream, he would probably have had to bid farewell to his handsome looks.
Just then, a shadow flickered atop the wall. The agile creature He Lingchuan had relentlessly pursued returned, joining the fray without a word.
One was vicious, the other fast, and now it was two against one. What chance did he have?
He Lingchuan found himself in grave peril.
Had he not spent these past few days risking his life in the Martial Review Hall, rapidly sharpening his mindset and martial skills, he would have been disemboweled within two exchanges and sent offline early.
Yet he didn't know how much longer he could hold out.
Should he risk taking an injury to take out the agile creature first? As he calculated in his mind, a loud splash sounded, and someone behind dumped a pot of boiling water squarely over the hulking creature.
The creature instantly shrieked, its strikes thrown into utter disarray.
Its cry was bizarre, like an insect's hiss mixed with the wailing of a night cat.
How could He Lingchuan let such an opportunity slip by? Capitalizing on its instinctive turn of the head, he slashed his saber across its neck.
Knowing the thing had tough hide, he struck with all his might, putting every ounce of strength into the blow.
At the same time, a dark object slammed heavily onto the monster's head with a resonant thud, knocking it straight into the blade.
Blue-green fluid splattered; He Lingchuan dodged it.
The creature's neck was hacked more than halfway through, but the bone hadn't been severed completely, leaving a small piece still connected.
However, his saber snapped.
Having already been corroded earlier, and now subjected to such a ferocious chop by its wielder, the blade could no longer bear the strain.
The hulking creature collapsed to the ground, twitching in low spasms. Seeing the situation turn dire, its companion spun around and fled, moving even faster than before!
He Lingchuan shot another sleeve arrow into its back, but could only watch it vanish into the distance.
"Why did you come?" By now, the smoke had mostly cleared, and he could clearly see who had helped him—
Sun Fuling.
She was still clutching a large iron pot, its bottom deeply dented.
Just now, she had scalded the creature with boiling water, then followed up with a brutal blow right to its crown, coordinating seamlessly with He Lingchuan. Otherwise, he might not have managed to slice through the creature's neck.
The monster on the ground could no longer stand, but its claws were still reaching out. Seeing it about to touch Sun Fuling's shoe, He Lingchuan yanked her back. "Didn't I tell you to wait under the tree?"
"It got too lively over here." She didn't seem particularly frightened, merely leaning down to observe. "What kind of demonic thing is this?" It was still alive even with its neck hacked more than halfway through.
He Lingchuan admitted, "I've never seen one either." Since joining the patrol guards, he and his squad had slain at least forty or fifty demons, and not a single one looked like this.
Rather than a demon, it looked more like a malevolent specter.
Yet specters feared solar true fire and rarely moved about in daylight, let alone under the bright sun.
During the pursuit, he had seen clearly: sunlight fell directly upon the creatures without causing the slightest discomfort.
"Where did the hot water come from?"
Sun Fuling pointed inside the house. "I took it from the stove. It had just boiled."
"Someone lives here?"
"Yes, dead on the floor." Sun Fuling turned and walked inside.
Chapter 247