Ganzhou.
Unlike the vast yellow sand from before, after a rain, the scenery was quite different.
The rain washed away the dust on the official road, and even the air felt much fresher.
However, this region was born with a desolate, rugged appearance.
Even with the rain washing over it, it could not disguise itself as the misty, rainy scenery of the Jiangnan region.
On the official road, four Red-Eyed Colts walked at a leisurely pace.
Shi Chongyue pulled on the reins, and the Red-Eyed Colt beneath him pawed the ground impatiently, splashing up a patch of mud.
"Walking slower than a turtle crawling. By the time we arrive, that Demon might have already birthed a whole litter of whelps!"
Zhao Yi heard this and laughed, "If Brother Shi finds the horse too slow, you can get off and walk yourself; I imagine you would be faster than the horse."
"..."
Li Qingyuan played the peacemaker, "It is not that we want to dawdle; the ground after this rain really is not suitable for riding."
He pointed at the official road ahead, which could barely be recognized in its original form.
"We are currently in the western section of Ganzhou. This place is considered one of the few fertile areas on the Longyou Circuit, but once soaked by rain, it turns into this state."
Li Qingyuan gave a wry smile, "No matter how fast the Red-Eyed Colt is, once it gets stuck in this mud, it has strength but nowhere to use it."
"It will take at most half a day longer. Just right, Miss Jiang can tell us what happened at Black River back then, so we can have some idea of what to expect."
Jiang Yuechu thought for a moment, then succinctly recounted the events of Black River from that time.
"Back then, when I first joined the Demon Suppression Division..."
From the fishy stench of the river, to what the old Man said, to Water in the Dragon Temple, to the actions of the Black Water Village villagers, and finally to returning to the Backwater Bay to slay that black-scaled Water monster.
She spoke very calmly, as if describing an old affair that had nothing to do with her.
But to the ears of the other three, it was a different experience.
"Sigh..."
Li Qingyuan let out a long sigh, his face full of complexity, "Drowning one's own daughter in the pond... how tragic, and how ignorant."
"Ignorant?"
Shi Chongyue disagreed, sneering.
"Old Li, have you read so many books that your brain has turned to mush? What was in Xinger's belly was a demonic fetus! In my opinion, that Village Head was not stupid at all; on the contrary, he was quite decisive!"
Li Qingyuan frowned, about to retort.
A suppressed coughing sound interrupted him first.
"Cough... cough cough..."
Zhao Yi raised his hand to cover his mouth, paused, and then spoke slowly.
"What Brother Shi said actually makes some sense."
"It is just... even if the Village Head was decisive, did Black River not still end up stinking? Did the common people not still have no Water to drink? In the end, did we not still have to rely on our Demon Suppression Division to clean up their mess?"
"Demons wreak havoc, the people seek survival, and we slay Demons—it is also for merit. We each take what we need; where does all this talk of right and wrong come from?"
His words left Shi Chongyue stunned.
Li Qingyuan shook his head, clearly disagreeing with Zhao Yi's statement.
"Brother Zhao is mistaken. As members of the Demon Suppression Division, we uphold the laws of the imperial court and perform the duty of protecting the people. Those villagers abused private lynching; that is already a violation of the Great Tang laws. How is that any different from Demons?"
"If everyone acts recklessly just to save their own lives, then how would this world be any different from purgatory?"
"Alright, alright."
Shi Chongyue waved his hand impatiently, squeezed the horse's belly to urge the Red-Eyed Colt forward a few steps, and turned his head to say: "What is the use of talking about such old, stale matters? Let us talk about the current situation."
"When... Miss Jiang slew that Demon back then, and now Demonic Qi has appeared again, could it be that the one we slew before was the male, and now the female has brought her whole family back for revenge?"
Jiang Yuechu narrowed her eyes and glanced at him.
"What did you just say? Mother?"
"What mother? You must have misheard, right?" Shi Chongyue's expression was blank.
But internally, he was slapping himself wildly.
Shi Chongyue, oh Shi Chongyue, it is one thing to think about it every day, but how did you let it slip out now?!
Zhao Yi shook his head, "Unlikely... Not to mention that if the previous Demon had a mate, why would it need to use a human woman to give birth to a demonic fetus? Moreover, Water-dwelling Spirit Monsters are mostly solitary and have strong territorial instincts; they rarely travel in groups."
"Then what do you think it is?"
"In my opinion, it looks more like... the old Demon died, and a new one has arrived."
Li Qingyuan pondered for a moment and also shared his view.
"Both of your suggestions are possible, or perhaps... the Demon from back then left behind some contingency, which we cannot know for sure."
After speaking, he turned his head and asked Jiang Yuechu.
"Miss Jiang, the woman named Xinger back then, how was her body... disposed of later?"
Jiang Yuechu was stunned.
Her body?
She frowned and recalled.
Back then... back then she was only focused on absorbing the demonic flesh and blood, how could she have cared about anything else.
Such aftermath matters of collecting remains were naturally handled by the Squad Leader at the time, Liu Chen.
She thought for a moment and said truthfully: "I was not involved in this matter. At that time, I was just a Demon Suppression Guard; such aftermath matters were all handled by the Squad Leader at the time."
She paused and added another sentence.
"He has always been steady in his actions; I imagine he would not have missed anything."
...
(This paragraph was omitted, please fill in the blanks yourself)
Upstream of Black River.
Dragon Temple.
In the temple, the original statue now only had a bare base left, shrouded in deep shadows.
... (This paragraph is 300 words; in short, it is the plot you imagined)
Inside the temple, silence finally returned.
The young girl slowly sat up and tidied her clothes in a leisurely manner.
Beneath her clothes, dragon scales flashed faintly.
She stretched, barefoot, jumped lightly from the offering table, and walked step by step to the front of the Man.
The Man seemed to have regained his senses, his eyes full of fear, wanting to shuffle backward, but he did not even have the strength to lift a finger.
The young girl squatted down, extended her slender fingers, and under the Man's terrified gaze, gently placed them on his arm.
Then, she tore with force.
Rip—
Accompanied by a muffled sound of flesh separating, a reasonably sturdy arm was ripped off by her.
"Ah——"
The young girl did not even look at him, just brought the bloody severed arm to her lips, extended her delicate tongue to lick the bloodstains on it, casually bit off a piece of flesh, and chewed it finely.
"Now that the Dragon Pearl has just formed, it is the time when I need to nourish myself."
"After I rest here for a few days, I will definitely go to the Central Plains of the Great Tang to take a look."
Thinking of this, her eyes were full of anticipation.
She had heard that it was densely populated, rich in resources, and filled with countless martial arts experts.
She imagined that the taste of their flesh and blood must be a hundred times more delicious than the ordinary mortals in this borderland.