Turns Out I'm the Real Monster?!

Using the address he’d forced from the man in gray, Jiang Mu quickly found the small courtyard.

It was an ordinary-looking courtyard with gray walls and teal tiles.

To avoid tipping them off, he circled to the eastern wall and tossed an Instant Teleportation anchor directly into the courtyard, passing through the wall.

The courtyard was silent, save for the faint rustling of wind through the withered grass.

Jiang Mu held his breath and listened intently.

He soon picked up on a faint rustling sound coming from the west wing.

When he reached the door, he found the entire room—from the walls to the door and windows—was enveloped in a white halo.

Jiang Mu gave it a tentative push. It didn’t budge.

He then tried sending a Demon Shadow through, but it was repelled as well.

’A sealing Array?’

Jiang Mu’s brow furrowed.

After a moment’s thought, a glint appeared in his eyes as he summoned the Demon Slot.

His gaze fell on the Demon Shadow of the Fox Demon.

He had obtained it after slaying the Fox Demon from the Shen family. It granted him the ability to mimic others’ voices.

’I hope this bluff works.’

Jiang Mu raised his hand and knocked heavily on the door.

"Who is it?"

A wary male voice immediately called from inside.

Jiang Mu touched the fox Demon Shadow with his fingertip. His throat twitched, and the voice that emerged was identical to that of the man in gray:

"It’s me."

Fortunately, the person inside didn’t seem to suspect anything. He just cursed, "Ah Xiao, where the hell have you been?"

BZZZZ—

With a ripple of energy, the white light enveloping the door and windows receded like the tide.

Jiang Mu pushed the door and entered.

The room was dim. All the windows were covered with thick, black cloth. Only a single beam of light from the open doorway stretched his long shadow across the floor.

He could also hear faint crying.

"Bring him over!"

The man’s voice urged from the depths of the darkness. "Madam is getting impatient!"

Jiang Mu’s eyes narrowed as they adjusted to the darkness, and he could vaguely make out a shadowy figure moving about.

Saber in hand, he walked forward, one step at a time.

"Where’s the kid?"

Sensing something was wrong, the man turned his head to look.

In the light from the doorway, he saw that the newcomer wasn’t his companion in gray. He cried out in alarm, "Who are you?!"

"The man who’s sending you to see Yama."

BAM!

The man had no time to react as his body flew backward, crashing into a shelf by the window and knocking it over.

CRASH!

The black cloth covering the window was torn down.

Blinding sunlight instantly flooded the room, illuminating everything.

A young boy lay on the floor, his limbs bound with rope. A black cloth covered his eyes, and a hemp-fiber gag was stuffed in his mouth.

A sharpened boning knife lay right beside him.

’Good. I’m not too late.’

Jiang Mu breathed a silent sigh of relief.

He walked over to the man, who was now curled up at the base of the wall and crying out in pain. Jiang Mu planted a foot on his head, his voice chillingly cold.

"Where is your Madam?"

Terrified, the man’s gaze involuntarily flickered toward a nearby wall.

Jiang Mu understood.

’Of course. Rats like these always have their holes.’

SPLAT!

With a press of his foot, the man’s head shattered like a rotten watermelon.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Mu used a Demon Shadow to pass through the wall, cautiously leaving an anchor point on the other side.

...

Candlelight flickered inside the secret chamber.

The four walls were plastered with yellow paper Talismans drawn in cinnabar, exuding a sinister, evil aura.

A woman in a wide, black robe held a bowl of dark red medicinal soup, which she tilted back and drank in one gulp.

As her hood slid back, her true face was revealed.

A face that was half-beautiful, half-horrifying.

Her right cheek was smooth and delicate, but her left cheek and neck were covered in festering pustules.

Nearby, a maid with a scar on her face sharpened a dagger as thin as a willow leaf on a whetstone.

The blade scraped against the stone with a soft, "SHHHK, SHHHK."

The sound was unnervingly clear in the silent chamber.

In a corner, two sisters huddled tightly together, shivering and letting out suppressed sobs.

Madam Liu set down the empty bowl, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction.

She looked at the sisters, her voice deceptively gentle.

"Don’t be afraid, my little darlings. Another ingredient will be here shortly. You’ll have company on the road ahead, so you won’t be lonely."

The older sister shielded the younger one, pleading through her tears:

"Auntie... Auntie... Please, I’m begging you, let us go... I want to go home..."

Madam Liu walked over and gently stroked the girl’s dull, matted hair, her tone still gentle.

"Silly child, why would you want to go home?

You come from a poor family. You’re born with worthless lives, never enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear. Just being alive is suffering for you.

Why not... lend your little bodies to Auntie for a while?

You could even call it accumulating good karma.

In your next lives, you might even be reborn into a good family."

The younger sister didn’t understand this twisted reasoning; she was simply terrified by the horrifying face and burst into tears.

The sound irritated Madam Liu. "Stop crying."

When the girl kept crying, the gentleness on the woman’s face vanished, replaced by a savage, irritable snarl.

"I told you to stop crying!"

She grabbed the little girl’s hair and viciously slammed her head against the wall twice.

THUD! THUD!

The little girl’s forehead split open and began to bleed.

"What are you crying for! You think I want to be like this?"

Madam Liu shrieked hysterically. "Why can that bitch have a child when I can’t?

Once I have a son, once I become the official wife, I’ll send your dirt-poor parents a few taels of silver to keep them fed for the rest of their lives. You’ll be praised for your great filial piety! Do you understand?!"

Just then, the scar-faced maid sharpening the dagger suddenly looked up.

"Who’s there?!"

A low voice answered from the darkness. "It’s me, Ah Xiao."

"Ah Xiao..."

The wariness in the maid’s eyes faded slightly as she began to complain, "What took you so long? Why are you only..."

Before she could finish, her gaze happened to sweep across the floor.

The torchlight flickered.

It cast the newcomer’s shadow on the ground.

The shadow was tall and straight, lacking the characteristic hunchback of the gray-robed Ah Xiao.

"You’re not Ah Xiao!"

The maid immediately raised her dagger, moving to shield Madam Liu.

Jiang Mu was somewhat surprised by the woman’s perceptiveness. He dropped the pretense and slowly emerged from the darkness, saber in hand.

"A Demon Slayer Envoy?!"

Madam Liu’s face went white when she saw his uniform.

The maid’s expression changed as well.

But when she glanced behind Jiang Mu and saw no one else, her expression turned strange.

"You’re alone?"

Jiang Mu ignored her, his eyes fixed on the woman with the half-pustuled face.

"You must be the bitch, Madam Liu."

Madam Liu trembled.

"Don’t panic, Madam,"

the scar-faced maid said in a low voice.

"He’s just a Third Realm Demon Slayer Envoy, so his Cultivation Level is the same as mine. You go first. Take the secret passage in the back and go straight to the General’s Mansion. Once you’re inside, no one will dare touch you."

Madam Liu calmed down slightly at her words and nodded. "Alright. Be careful."

With that, she turned and slipped through a hidden door.

The maid lunged at Jiang Mu, her willow-leaf dagger tracing an arc toward his throat as she sneered,

"Barging in here all alone? You must have a death wish!"

Jiang Mu’s expression was cold.

His hand rested on the hilt of his saber, utterly still.

He drew his saber!

Heaven-Breaking Slash!

’Against a Fourth Realm expert, he might need a few rounds to grapple.

But against an opponent also in the Third Realm?

Sorry, but I’m invincible.’

A blood-red Saber Aura erupted like a volcano.

As he drew his saber, Jiang Mu kicked a piece of cloth up from the floor, sending it flying over to cover the two girls’ heads and shield their eyes.

He didn’t want them to see the carnage.

Feeling the terrifying intent of the saber strike rushing toward her, the maid’s charge came to an abrupt halt.

’How is he so strong?!’

Her eyes filled with horror.

In that instant, the will to survive overrode everything else.

Terrified, she spun around and tried to lunge for the same hidden door Madam Liu had used to escape.

SHLICK—

Her Protective Gang Qi was torn apart as easily as paper.

The sharp Saber Aura sliced upward,

from between her legs to the top of her spine...

and split her clean in two!