Chapter 23 - 17: Huang Silang
Zhang Xiaokui’s mouth hung open, and for a long time, he couldn’t snap back to reality.
When that Demon had lunged at Jiang Mu just now, a cold dread had washed over him.
He had even started mentally drafting his letter of apology.
But when that brilliant flash of a blade sliced the Demon in two, sending its halves crashing to the ground, he was completely dumbfounded.
’What the hell? He’s in the First Realm?!’
’Even if that yellow demon was careless and underestimated him, it shouldn’t have been that fragile.’
’And that move he just used... it was clearly "River-Severing," from the Heaven-Breaking Eight Skills.’
’After all, he himself had painstakingly practiced it for two and a half years.’
’So how could it be that the move Jiang Mu just executed felt even more ferocious than his own?’
’Something isn’t right.’
’Something is very wrong.’
Of course, Zhang Xiaokui had no way of knowing that with the blessing of his "cheat dad," Jiang Mu’s Body Tempering foundation was far more solid and robust than others in the same realm. He was just a step away from the threshold of the Second Realm.
Furthermore, his Saber Skill, the Heaven-Breaking Eight Skills, had already reached the grand completion stage.
When realms are equal, the deciding factor in a battle is often the depth of one’s comprehension of the true meaning of their Martial Arts.
After absorbing the Demonic Qi dissipating from the demon’s corpse, Jiang Mu walked up to him and asked, "What’s the situation inside?"
"Huh?"
Zhang Xiaokui was still lost in a daze.
"The Demons inside, have they all been cleared out?" Jiang Mu frowned slightly and asked again.
That snapped Zhang Xiaokui back to his senses.
He tilted his head to listen and realized the sounds of battle from deep within the cave had ceased. Worried about his brother’s safety, he didn’t have time for further thought and immediately turned and rushed back into the cave.
Jiang Mu followed close behind.
The two of them arrived in the depths of the cavern.
There, the Weasel Leader lay in a pool of blood, its head rolled to one side, its eyes wide open with lingering shock and fury.
Zhang Daxie stood beside the corpse, wiping the blood from his blade with a piece of scrap cloth. Although his breathing was a little ragged, he was otherwise unharmed and clearly fine.
Zhang Xiaokui let out a long sigh of relief.
’That’s right,’ he thought. ’My brother has reached the peak of the Third Realm and has rich combat experience. Dealing with a Tier Three Demon that just broke through and whose realm is still unstable is naturally no problem for him.’
’But as for me...’
Zhang Xiaokui secretly glanced at the composed Jiang Mu, his heart filled with a whirlwind of emotions.
"Lord Jiang."
Seeing Jiang Mu enter, Zhang Daxie couldn’t hide the joy on his face. He quickly stepped over the corpse, cupped his hands respectfully, and said,
"Fortunately, I did not fail my mission. All Demons in the cave have been slain. Our success this time is entirely thanks to Lord Jiang’s accurate intelligence and masterful coordination. This subordinate is full of admiration."
Zhang Daxie was a straightforward man. While his flattery wasn’t particularly sophisticated, his tone was sincere enough.
"It was just good luck."
Jiang Mu’s gaze swept across the cave.
Zhang Daxie then took out a palm-sized, lustrous, yellowish bone tablet and handed it over.
"Lord Jiang, I found this during my search. It’s a small Magical Artifact that can conceal Demonic Qi. I believe the beast used this to hide its Demonic Qi, which is how it evaded the previous search."
Jiang Mu took the bone tablet.
It was warm to the touch. The back was engraved with demonic patterns, while the front bore a line of twisted characters:
[A gift for my fourth son, Silang].
’Silang?’
’Huang Silang?’
Jiang Mu understood instantly.
’It seems the Demon that was slain was the fourth son of that Great Immortal.’
He put away the bone tablet, then circled the corpses of the smaller demons, absorbing the Demonic Qi from their bodies.
Afterward, he walked over to the headless body of the Weasel Leader.
However, no Demonic Qi appeared.
"Hm?"
Jiang Mu was a bit surprised.
’Where’s the Demonic Qi?’
He reached out to touch it, but there was still no reaction.
"Lord Jiang, are you looking for the Demon Pill?"
Zhang Daxie asked tentatively, seeing Jiang Mu feeling around the corpse.
As he spoke, he swung his saber, slicing open the Demon’s bloated abdomen.
After rummaging for a moment amidst the filth and viscera, he quickly pulled out a thumb-sized, dark red orb.
He wiped the blood off the orb on the corner of his clothes and respectfully handed it over.
"Although this Demon only recently broke through to Tier Three, it had indeed formed a Demon Pill. It’s just newly formed, so the pill itself isn’t very solid yet."
’A Tier Three Demon?’
Jiang Mu’s heart skipped a beat, and he silently thanked his lucky stars.
’If I hadn’t brought these two brothers with me, and had rushed in alone, I probably would have ended up serving myself to this Huang Silang as a free meal.’
Jiang Mu accepted the Demon Pill.
The moment his fingertips touched the pill, a surge of pitch-black Demonic Qi, several times more concentrated than that from the smaller demons, gushed out and flowed into the birthmark on his arm.
Instantly, the "Demon" character slot in his sea of consciousness flashed faintly.
The blood-level line in the slot shot up a fair bit.
At the same time, a Weasel Demon Shadow appeared next to the Demon Slot, its eyes crimson and its fangs bared.
’So for Demons of Tier Three and above, the Demonic Qi is stored in the Demon Pill.’
A wave of understanding washed over Jiang Mu.
’With this much Demonic Qi, not only can my Heaven-Breaking Eight Skills improve further, but I’ll also be completely confident in breaking through to the Second Realm.’
Zhang Daxie explained from the side:
"Lord Jiang, a Demon Pill is the condensed essence of a Demon and is quite valuable. It can usually be turned in to the Bureau to be exchanged for merit points and rewards. Alternatively, a Pill Master can use it with other spiritual materials to refine it into a Pill.
"If you wish to directly absorb the Spiritual Qi within it for cultivation, you must first purify the demonic poison and lingering resentment. Otherwise, you risk a severe backlash, or even having your mind eroded by its demonic nature."
Jiang Mu had already absorbed all the Demonic Qi and didn’t have much interest in the Demon Pill itself, so he casually tossed it to Zhang Daxie.
"It’s yours. Whether you exchange it for merit or keep it for your own use is up to you."
Zhang Daxie fumbled to catch it, then stood frozen on the spot.
For Demon Slayer Envoys of their level, although they participated in many missions, the chances to obtain a Demon Pill firsthand—especially a complete one—were few and far between.
Its value was enough to make many of their colleagues green with envy.
What’s more, Jiang Mu’s own Cultivation Level was still low. This item should have been a desperately needed cultivation resource for him, yet he had bestowed it as a reward so nonchalantly?
"Lord Jiang, this is too precious. This subordinate..."
Zhang Daxie snapped out of it and hurriedly tried to refuse.
But Jiang Mu waved his hand dismissively.
"Enough. I’m tired. You two handle the rest of this mess. When you go to the Bureau to report, remember to swing by my office and pick up the case-closing report I wrote in advance."
With that, he turned and left.
He left the two brothers staring at each other in bewilderment.
"Brother..."
Zhang Xiaokui scratched his head, a strange expression on his face. "This Lord Jiang... he’s pretty weird. Weirdly generous."
Zhang Daxie carefully put away the Demon Pill and said with emotion,
"It’s more than just generous. When we were in the Third Hall, that bastard Wen He deliberately marginalized us, making us do the hardest work for the least reward. We wouldn’t see a benefit like this in a whole year. I never thought getting demoted here would turn out to be a blessing in disguise."
He gazed toward the cave entrance, his eyes complex. "This Lord Jiang... he’s truly one of a kind."
"Yeah."
Zhang Xiaokui felt the same way.
Thinking of that stunning slash at the cave entrance, he couldn’t help but ask, "Brother, do you think Lord Jiang is really only in the First Realm?"
"Why? Is there a problem?" Zhang Daxie raised an eyebrow.
Zhang Xiaokui described in detail how Jiang Mu had cut down the Demon with a single slash.
After listening, Zhang Daxie was also stunned for a moment before saying hesitantly,
"Perhaps... the Demon was already heavily injured, and in its desperation to escape, it let its guard down?"
Zhang Xiaokui’s lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.
As someone who also practiced the Heaven-Breaking Eight Skills, he understood the power and saber intent contained in that slash better than anyone.
’In any case, if it were him, he definitely couldn’t have replicated the elegance and power of that strike.’
His gaze swept over the demon corpses scattered on the ground, and a satisfying feeling of vindication suddenly swelled in Zhang Xiaokui’s chest.
He clenched his fists and snorted coldly.
"Damn it, didn’t that bastard Wen He look down on us? Didn’t he toss us aside like trash?
"Brother, this time I’m not taking these corpses straight to the Bureau. I’m going to find a cart and parade them down the street where the Third Hall’s Government Office is. I’m gonna take a nice, long stroll!"
...
「An hour later.」
Zhang Xiaokui pushed a flatbed cart, which rolled down the street with a loud CREAK... CREAK...
The cart was piled high with weasel corpses.
At the very top, the head of the largest Tier Three weasel demon was impaled high on a bamboo pole, swaying back and forth with the movement of the cart, looking quite ferocious.
Zhang Xiaokui was a man of his word.
He didn’t take the most direct route to the Demon-slaying Bureau headquarters. Instead, he made a wide detour, heading straight for the street where the Third Hall’s Government Office was located.
This public spectacle naturally attracted countless onlookers from the common folk.
The Demon-slaying Bureau had always tacitly approved of such displays.
For one, it reassured the public and demonstrated the Court’s determination and ability to guard the realm and exterminate Demon Fiends.
For another, it served as a deterrent to any Demon Fiends lurking in the shadows.
"What huge weasels!"
"You probably couldn’t even fit all those in one pot for a stew."
"What a sin! Those are Yellow Immortals! How could the people from the Demon-slaying Bureau kill immortals?"
"Which hall is this powerhouse from? To have slain so many Demons! Amazing."
Listening to the surrounding chatter, Zhang Xiaokui pushed the cart with even more vigor.
He puffed out his chest, holding it high with pride.
When he reached the entrance of the Third Hall’s Government Office, he deliberately slowed his pace, even stopping to pretend to wipe away sweat.
Soon, the guards of the Third Hall heard the commotion and rushed out.
Seeing the scene before them, they were all dumbfounded.
Some former colleagues he knew couldn’t hold back and came forward to strike up a conversation and ask what was going on.
Zhang Xiaokui said humbly,
"Oh, it’s nothing special. Our Master Jiang just took my brother and me out for a little stroll and we took care of some Demons along the way."
Before the other person could ask any more questions, Zhang Xiaokui feigned surprise and said,
"Huh? How did you know the ones we eliminated were the same menace from Dragon Head Mountain that you all could never catch?"
"Oh my, how did you know I cut down seven or eight little demons all by myself?"
"And how did you know my Hall Master killed a Great Demon with a single slash?"
The faces of the men from the Third Hall turned ugly.
’Did we ask you any of that?’
’You talk too much!’
Seeing those former colleagues who used to marginalize him and his brother now looking like they’d just swallowed flies, Zhang Xiaokui felt incredibly gratified.
Ever since joining the Demon-slaying Bureau, he had never felt as vindicated as he did today.
’Following a Hall Master like this...’
’This is the life!’
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