64. The Offering
Chapter 64: The Offering
After dealing with the bear demon, Li Hao noticed movement inside the nearby cave. When he scanned it with his divine sense, he found seven survivors in tattered clothing, both men and women, aged between twenty and thirty. There were no children or elderly among them.
The seven were chained hand and foot, the other end of the chains passing through a crevice in a large stone. Unless the stone could be dragged away, they couldn't escape.
Having seemingly experienced something terrifying, the seven wore dazed expressions, their faces full of fear. Some looked vacant, lost in a stupor.
Li Hao sighed softly, used his control over objects to break the iron chains, and freed them.
Yet, even without the chains on their hands and feet, it seemed as though there were other chains binding them. After a momentary daze, they looked around blankly, remaining in place without making any attempt to flee.
One of them, recalling something, began to tremble and crouched on the ground, hurriedly wrapping the broken chains around their limbs again, muttering pitifully, "Don't eat me, don't eat me..."
Their spirits were utterly broken.
Li Hao remained silent for a moment. He wasn't used to comforting people, so he decided to give them time to recover on their own. In the meantime, he handled matters outside.
With a wave of his hand, he gathered the corpses of the demons, stacking them neatly into a high platform.
"Uncle Lin, your apprentice is incompetent. I can only offer these demon corpses to honor your heroic spirit!"
Li Hao turned his hand to produce a wine gourd from behind him. Unscrewing the cap, he poured the wine before the altar of corpses.
Before him lay a sea of blood and corpses, but in his mind appeared the image of a courtyard bathed in the brilliant light of the setting sun. It was the night when that man drank and recited poems of battle, the afternoon when he hung his head in sorrow, realizing he couldn't absorb the Foundation Establishment elixir, and that autumn day when the falling leaves landed on the chessboard as they laughed and argued over their game.
Li Hao shook the wine gourd, finding a sip left, and drank it, murmuring softly, "Uncle Lin, cheers."
Then he put away the gourd, picked up his demon-slaying blade, and headed toward the woods outside.
In this mountain range stretching over a hundred miles, tens of thousands of demons still roamed, with thousands gathered nearby.
Swish!
Li Hao's figure stood atop a tree branch, his spirit rushing out from his head, wielding the demon-slaying blade, sweeping through the sea of green trees.
All manner of demon beasts, whether prowling, sleeping, hunting, or playing, were cut down by a flash of black light. The black light flew through the mountains like a needle, piercing through the bodies of the demons. Though they sensed the danger and tried to flee, the light was faster.
For an ordinary cultivator at the Fifteen Li Realm, such slaughter might not have been easy, but Li Hao's range and speed were several times greater, and he hadn't even used his special techniques.
The thousands of demons at the foot of the mountain were terrified, not knowing what was happening. Instinctively, they fled in panic, some rushing up the mountain to report to their king, only to be decapitated before they could reach the summit.
The entire mountain trembled violently, as if it were experiencing an earthquake. The demons that scattered and fled were slaughtered within ten miles, their blood staining the shrubs and the earth, flowing into the low-lying areas, forming a river of tears and blood in the mountain range.
His spirit returned to his body, and the black light returned to his hand.
Li Hao looked at it.
He had slain tens of thousands of demons, and the blade's edge was now jagged. If not for his spirit enveloping it, the blade would have broken long ago, unable to penetrate the flesh of some sturdier demon bodies.
Yet he did not stop. Holding the jagged black blade, he sped off toward the distant hills, where some demons, unaware of the situation here, still wandered near their nests.
Since he had come, he would finish them all.
...
...
"There really are demons gathering!"
In the skies above the Black Wind Mountains, a subtle golden light flashed through the clouds—Song Yueyao's spirit.
Her body moved stealthily along the mountain's outskirts, her spirit rising to survey the situation throughout the mountains. Along the way, she spotted numerous demon traces. Closer to the city, only the occasional demon appeared, their demonic aura weak—mere fledglings that even hunters with crossbows might scare off. But deeper in, the demonic aura grew denser, covering the forest like mist, the numbers increasing.
"The Guardian of Yue City wasn't wrong; there are indeed demons gathering here, and it's very obvious!"
Song Yueyao frowned. "But why hasn't the Yue City Guardian, with such clear evidence, reported truthfully and sought aid from the Xia family?"
She couldn't understand. Wasn't the Yue City Guardian afraid these demons would attack the city?
Or perhaps the Xia family was unwilling to assist due to some grudge between them?
But if Cang Yu City fell, with severe casualties among the populace, both the Yue City Guardian and the Xia family would be held accountable.
She couldn't figure it out; it seemed complex.
As she ventured deeper, she soon reached the heart of the Black Wind Mountains. Along the way, she had only encountered patrolling demons at the Soul Merging Realm, which she easily evaded without being detected.
Suddenly, a foul wind blew through the forest ahead. Song Yueyao's face changed, and she paused, cautiously probing forward with her spirit. Soon, she witnessed an incredible scene.
Blood flowed through the forest like rivers, dyeing nearly every water source red, and nearby lay the corpses of demons.
Song Yueyao was stunned. She initially thought the foul wind was from demons capturing and harming humans, but it turned out to be the blood of the demons themselves!
Her expression was one of shock and doubt. What had happened here?
After a moment's hesitation, she let her spirit cautiously advance. Soon, she approached some of the demon corpses and quickly inspected them, finding fresh wounds—their deaths no more than an hour old.
Someone was slaying demons!
The thought struck Song Yueyao, her heart pounding. Could it be another inspector from the Demon Suppression Division?
Cang Yu City had only one inspector from the Demon Suppression Division, at the Spirit Traveling Realm, guarding the border city alongside the Yue City Guardian. As for her, she was a temporary inspector, not permanently stationed in Cang Yu City.
Confounded, Song Yueyao let her spirit scout ahead, hoping to find the other person and collaborate to assess the situation here. However, as she proceeded, her shock only grew.
Corpses of demons littered the ground!
Everywhere!
Her spirit's reconnaissance revealed at least ten thousand!
The concentration of demons here could be called a small-scale demon tide, yet most astonishing was that all these demons were dead!
To command so many demons, there had to be a great demon leading them!
Where was the great demon?
Song Yueyao had never confronted the inspector, but seeing the scene before her, she doubted she could have accomplished this herself. It would be challenging, and she lacked the courage.
As her spirit pressed on, she saw more demon corpses, even more than before, including some massive demon bodies, some beginning to transform with signs of assuming human form—approaching the Spirit Traveling Realm. But all were dead, their wounds uniformly pierced by a sharp weapon.
Soon, Song Yueyao reached a large mountain. There, she could faintly see dense, cloud-like demon aura brewing at the summit!
Such terrifying demon mist indicated a great demon, possibly more than one!
She felt a chill and an impulse to flee, but the sea of demon corpses at the foot of the mountain and the eerie silence at its peak aroused an inconceivable suspicion within her.
Fighting her fear, she let her spirit fly cautiously, suppressing her aura, peering down through the demon mist at the mountain top.
What she saw made her freeze.
Atop the mountain stood a meat platform composed of over twenty great demon corpses, stacked neatly. A gentle breeze revealed some of their eyes, frozen with terror at the moment of death.
Song Yueyao was rigid with shock, unable to speak.
The number of great demons exceeded her expectations, yet they were all dead!
These were Spirit Traveling Realm great demons. Who could kill them all?!
Could it be the inspector? Impossible, as they were only Spirit Traveling Realm.
Achieving this feat would be difficult for even top-tier Spirit Traveling Realm geniuses, let alone a Fifteen Li Realm expert!
Was it a general dispatched by the Xia family?
Or perhaps a passing sect master?
Song Yueyao regained her composure and noticed several figures emerging from a mountain cave. She saw they were humans and, judging by their disheveled appearance, seemed to be survivors.
She hurried to the mountain top, approaching the survivors.
"Were you captured by demons?" Song Yueyao asked them immediately.
Expecting the survivors to feel safe seeing her uniform of the Demon Suppression Division, she was surprised when they trembled at the sight of her, as if seeing a demon themselves.
"Don't, don't take us!"
"Please, let us go!"
The survivors collapsed, kneeling, bowing repeatedly as they wept.
Song Yueyao was taken aback.
She was momentarily confused, then shouted angrily, "What nonsense are you spouting? I am an inspector from the Demon Suppression Division, here to rescue you."
"Spare me, my lord, spare me!"
The survivors kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.
Song Yueyao was speechless at the sight, wondering if they had been scared insane by the demons.
Since that seemed to be the case, she probably couldn't get any useful information from them. The expert who slew the demons and wasn't here now must have realized that these survivors were already insane.
However, the fact that these demons had died not long ago was evident.
Thinking of this, Song Yueyao ignored the few survivors and quickly activated her spirit to scout the surroundings.
Soon, she discovered a path of blood with demon corpses scattered along the way.
She hurriedly followed the trail.
Before long, Song Yueyao reached the top of a tree and stopped.
In a clearing within the forest ahead, the ground was covered with demon corpses—all ape demons, seemingly a tribe.
But at this moment, they were all slain.
Blood pooled on the ground, and in the center of these demon corpses stood a young man.
He wore the most ordinary Demon Suppression Division's uniform and held a battered demon-slaying sword in his hand.