Chapter 211 - 119: Jiang Chaoxi, Just You Wait
It was unmistakably a lifelike paper effigy!
It had a deathly pale face, daubed with two patches of bright red rouge, and a strange smile hung on the corners of its mouth.
Zhang Daxie cried out in alarm, his hand flying to the hilt of his saber.
Jiang Mu’s gaze quickly swept over the others.
’What the hell!’
’Aside from the crying woman at the back and the few people holding her—they were alive—the ones leading the procession and scattering paper money... were all paper effigies!’
"A paper-effigy funeral..."
Jiang Mu’s expression turned frigid.
’I can’t believe we’d run into something this sinister just by passing through a small town.’
’It seems the closer we get to Yan City, the more rampant the Demon Fiends become.’
"What is this farce!"
Already in a foul mood because of Ji Hongyuan, Jiang Mu felt a surge of violent anger and gave a direct order:
"Daxie, Xiao Kui! Chop down all these damn paper effigies for me!"
Without a word, the two brothers drew their sabers and charged, hacking wildly at the paper figures.
"SHRED—"
Paper scraps flew through the air as bamboo frames splintered.
The once-creepy paper effigies were quickly reduced to a pile of scrap paper on the ground.
"Stop! Stop it!"
Seeing this, an old man leaning on a cane, scared out of his wits, scrambled over to block Jiang Mu’s path, his eyes filled with terror.
"Officer! We’ve already brought the tribute as you instructed. Why are you still not satisfied?"
Jiang Mu froze, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"You can tell we’re from the Demon-slaying Bureau?"
The old man was also taken aback by his words.
He looked up, his suspicious gaze darting over the official uniforms worn by Jiang Mu and his men. Seemingly noticing something was wrong, he stammered,
"You... you’re not the officers from the Yan City Demon-slaying Bureau?"
Jiang Mu’s voice was ice-cold.
"We are from the Hu State Demon-slaying Bureau. Old man, from what you just said... could it be that officials from the Yan City Demon-slaying Bureau are making you send tribute to a Demon?"
At these words, the expressions of the Zhang Daxie brothers behind him changed drastically.
The duty of the Demon-slaying Bureau is to slay demons and eliminate fiends.
If even officials from the Demon-slaying Bureau were helping the wicked, openly helping a Demon demand tribute, hadn’t this place rotted to the core?
The old man’s face shifted, his eyes darting away as he seemed to hesitate, debating whether to tell the truth.
Finally, he lowered his head and forced an ugly smile.
"N-Nothing of the sort. This officer misheard me. The officers from Yan City have always protected us. It’s just this old man getting senile and misspeaking..."
"Misspeaking?"
Jiang Mu snorted coldly, ignoring the old man’s attempt to cover things up.
He shot a look at Zhang Daxie.
Zhang Daxie understood immediately. He strode over and shoved aside the two burly men carrying the chest who were trying to block him.
"CLANG!"
He sliced open the lock on the red-lacquered chest with one strike of his saber and threw open the lid.
Inside the chest was a baby!
It looked to be only a few months old, fast asleep.
"Hall Master!"
Zhang Daxie’s eyes were nearly splitting with rage. He carefully lifted the baby out, turned to Jiang Mu, his eyes burning with fury.
Jiang Mu stared coldly at the old man.
"Are you holding a funeral procession, or are you delivering food to a Demon!?"
"Th-this..."
Cold sweat streamed down the old man’s face. He stammered for a long time, unable to speak.
"Shan’er!!"
Seeing her child rescued, the woman who had been crying all along broke free from the people holding her back. She lunged forward, snatched the baby from Zhang Daxie’s arms, and clutched it tightly, tears streaming down her face like rain.
She fell to her knees with a THUD before Jiang Mu, kowtowing as she sobbed:
"Officer, I beg you, please save my child!
A man-eating Demon has come to this town! It’s bad enough that the two lords from the Demon-slaying Bureau won’t do anything, but they’re even forcing us... they say we have to offer up a child to that Demon every so often to keep the town safe...
Lord Qingtian, I beg you, save my child! He’s the only one I have... I’m begging you!"
The woman slammed her head on the ground again and again, her forehead becoming a bloody mess.
Seeing the woman reveal the truth, the old man seemed to deflate like a punctured ball. His shoulders slumped, and he let out a helpless sigh.
"Sigh... what a terrible sin!"
He looked at Jiang Mu and said bitterly,
"Officer, it’s not that I was intentionally hiding it. It’s just... you’re from the Demon-slaying Bureau of another region. You have no jurisdiction here."
"Explain in detail. What exactly is going on?"
Jiang Mu’s face was as grim as still water.
Through the old man’s halting story, Jiang Mu finally understood the whole situation.
It turned out that ever since the rebellion in Yan City, the surrounding regions had fallen into chaos, and many Demons had taken the opportunity to stir up trouble.
Xiahe Town had originally been guarded by two Demon Slayer Envoys from the Yan City Demon-slaying Bureau.
At first, when the Demon arrived in town, the common folk had hoped those two lords would slay it.
But who would have known that the Demon was quite powerful? On top of that, Yan City was too preoccupied to handle its own affairs, let alone send any support.
The two Demon Slayer Envoys were afraid of dying. They didn’t dare fight the Demon head-on and actually reached an agreement with it.
As long as the townspeople periodically offered up a child as tribute, the Demon would not only stop killing people at random but would even protect Xiahe Town from being harassed by other Demon Fiends.
And that was the reason for this evening’s absurd scene.
"What a fucking disgrace to the Demon-slaying Bureau! To think there are bastards like that!"
Zhang Xiaokui trembled with rage.
Jiang Mu looked at the old man and asked calmly, "And what do you all think of this?"
A pained expression crossed the old man’s face.
"Officer, what could we do?
We wanted to resist, but we’re just common folk. How could we possibly fight a monster?
We want to live, too...
If sacrificing a few could save the lives of most people in this town... it was something we had no choice in.
Besides, those two Demon Slayer Envoy lords didn’t run away. If they had, there would be nothing to restrain the Demon, and we would have all been slaughtered by now."