Chapter 189 - 113: Get Off Your Horse
"Alone? Then the demons here..."
"Lord Jiang and I killed them together."
Zhu Chang, who had opportunistically landed the killing blow on a single, dying minor demon during the chaos, puffed out his chest and proudly announced in a loud voice:
"Master Jiang and I took down a hundred and four demons together!!"
"..."
The cave fell deathly silent.
Tang Guixin and the others exchanged glances, their expressions as if they had just heard a tale from the Arabian Nights.
After a long moment, and only after Ming Cuicui’s vivid, animated account, did the group finally, and with great difficulty, accept the absurd yet shocking truth.
The way they looked at Jiang Mu had changed from shock to a reverence one would reserve for a god.
Having been with the Demon-slaying Bureau for so many years, they had seen powerful people, and they had seen ruthless people, but they had never seen anyone so outrageously capable!
’Is this guy a god?’
Just then, a member on guard duty outside the cave rushed in and reported to Tang Guixin:
"Hall Master, Master Yang and his people have arrived!"
Hearing that name, Tang Guixin’s expression instantly darkened. A fire of anger welled up inside her, and she cursed inwardly:
’Perfect timing. They’re too late to even collect the warm bodies!’
She took a deep breath, suppressed her anger, and led the group out of the cave.
Just as they exited the cave, they saw about a dozen well-dressed Demon Slayer Envoys standing outside.
Two corpses of low-level demons were carelessly tossed on the ground.
Obviously killed as an afterthought on their way here.
The most eye-catching person in the crowd was a young man in his early twenties.
𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
The man had well-defined features and was quite handsome, but his brow held an air of frivolity, and he carried himself with a nonchalant swagger.
At this moment, he was actually mounted on a tall horse.
And he was holding a folding fan in his hand.
Seeing Tang Guixin emerge, Master Yang said with a smirk:
"Master Tang, it seems you’ve already handled things inside? Good thing we were out here clearing the perimeter for you, taking care of any loose ends."
Looking at his smug face, as if he deserved praise for showing up at all, Tang Guixin said coldly:
"Then I really must thank you, Eldest Young Master Yang. You certainly swept a very distant ’perimeter.’ If you’d been half a step later, I’m afraid even our bones would have gone cold."
Yang Tianci wasn’t annoyed. He snapped his fan shut, tapped it against his palm, and said with a smile:
"Master Tang, no need to be so heated. We’re all colleagues here, just with a different division of labor. Since the demons have been eliminated, for the merits from this mission, how about our two halls split it fifty-fifty, as always?"
’Here he goes again!’
’This guy uses his family background to show up late and leave early for every mission.’
’And then he shamelessly takes half the credit.’
’If the Water Director didn’t privately compensate them for the lost merit, the brothers of the Fourth Hall would have been driven mad with anger by this spoiled heir long ago.’
Tang Guixin’s face was expressionless as she gave her cold refusal:
"This time, the decision isn’t mine to make. This entire nest of demons was slain by Lord Jiang of the Hu State Demon-slaying Bureau. By the time we arrived, he had already cleaned this demon nest out completely."
"Lord Jiang?"
Yang Tianci froze for a moment, his expression turning ugly. He asked doubtfully,
"How come I’ve never heard of this person? How many people did they bring? How could they possibly have gotten here ahead of us?"
"Just one." Tang Guixin held up a single finger.
"One?"
Yang Tianci scoffed and shook his head.
"Master Tang, even if you don’t want to share the merit with me, you don’t have to make up such a ridiculous story to fob me off, do you?
One man wiped out a whole nest of demons? Who do you think he is, a god descended to the mortal realm?"
Just then, his gaze went past Tang Guixin and landed on Jiang Mu, who was slowly walking out of the cave entrance.
Yang Tianci sized up Jiang Mu. Seeing that the man’s Cultivation Level was merely at the Fourth Realm, he became even more convinced that Tang Guixin was lying.
But then an idea struck him. He pointed at Jiang Mu and said with a laugh:
"So this must be the esteemed Lord Jiang from Hu State, right? Fine. Since we’re colleagues, I’ll give you some face. I’ll give you ten percent of the merit for this mission. Consider it a gesture of friendship."
His tone was one of giving charity.
However, Jiang Mu acted as if he hadn’t heard a word.
He narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixed on the horse beneath Yang Tianci. It looked familiar.
Thinking carefully, he realized it looked like the horse his subordinate, Zhang Daxie, had ridden here.
Before they had split up, Jiang Mu had specifically instructed them to hide the horses behind the dilapidated temple at the foot of the mountain.
Now, that same horse was underneath this spoiled heir.
’Strange...’
Seeing that Jiang Mu was ignoring him and staring straight at him, Yang Tianci felt offended. His face darkened, and he was just about to snap at him.
But then, Jiang Mu suddenly took a step forward. An explosive wave of Evil Qi erupted from his body as he pointed at Yang Tianci and roared:
"Get off that horse!!"