Nobody knew when the originally clear sky had gradually turned gloomy.
Dark clouds hung low, pressing down on the bare ridges on either side, enveloping Huai Shu Village in a gray, murky gloom.
The massive remnant body of the old scholar tree lay across the village entrance, with dark green sap still oozing from the broken section, emitting a nauseating earthy stench.
Jiang Yuechu lowered her gaze, watching the scene not far away with an indifferent expression.
Tiger Zhao and the others moved quickly, using ropes to tightly bind the villagers who were slumped on the ground.
"Official Sir, spare my life! I was forced into it!"
"I am guilty... I am guilty..."
After a while.
Footsteps sounded.
Liu Chen settled his subordinates and slowly walked to the base of the tree.
There was no joy on his face from completing the task; instead, his brows were tightly furrowed, as if something was troubling him.
"Miss Jiang."
Liu Chen stopped beside Jiang Yuechu, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke: "There's something... I can't figure out."
"Oh?"
"I recall The Department's records stating that the most recent famine in Region occurred forty or fifty years ago."
"If they made a deal with this demon back then just to survive, that would make sense."
"But I just observed that while there are people in their sixties and seventies in the village, there are more middle-aged people in their forties and fifties, and even able-bodied men in their thirties."
Liu Chen pointed to the group of dejected villagers.
"If they had sent all their children to feed the tree back then, Huai Shu Village... should have died out long ago. How could it have continued until now?"
Hearing this, Jiang Yuechu raised her head, her gaze passing through the swirling sand to land on the ruined village.
"Have you ever heard a saying?"
Liu Chen was startled: "What saying?"
"It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality."
Jiang Yuechu's voice was soft, yet clearly audible in the wind.
"In the beginning, perhaps it truly was about survival."
"Exchanging children to eat, though cruel, was a desperate measure in that kind of extremity."
"The famine years passed, the rainfall was sufficient, and crops could grow in the fields again."
"But now they have two choices: one is to toil endlessly in the fields, facing the yellow earth and exposing their backs to the sky, dependent on Heaven's mood, and still having to pay taxes to the Imperial Court..."
"The second is simply to give birth to a child, toss it under the tree, and in exchange, receive enough food for the whole family, allowing them to live comfortably."
Liu Chen froze instantly.
"This... this..."
Jiang Yuechu's expression was calm. "Human nature is inherently like this: loving ease and hating work."
"Once they tasted the sweetness of gaining without labor, who would still be willing to suffer hardship?"
"Give birth, raise them slightly, send them to feed the tree, exchange them for grain, continue giving birth, continue exchanging..."
Liu Chen felt his scalp prickle, and the look in his eyes toward the villagers instantly changed.
"Then... why did some people ask to die just now?"
Jiang Yuechu patted the tree trunk beneath her. "The population in this village grew, and their appetites became larger and larger, but the women in the village couldn't keep up with the births."
"This generation of children has been completely consumed."
"Without children, what do they have left to exchange?"
She turned her head and looked at Liu Chen. "Naturally, it's the turn of these useless old folks."
"They know they are the next meal. Rather than being swallowed by the demon, they'd prefer to beg Official Sir for a quick death by the sword."
"..."
Liu Chen fell silent.
After a long time.
He slowly exhaled a mouthful of stale Qi, as if trying to expel the stagnant Qi in his chest.
"Alright."
Jiang Yuechu straightened up, brushing the wood shavings from her clothes.
"The business is done. Stop dwelling on it here."
She glanced at the sky and said lightly, "Take the men and head back first."
Liu Chen was startled and subconsciously asked, "Miss Jiang, are you not coming with us?"
"I still have something to do."
Liu Chen was a smart man.
Having been around the Demon Suppression Division for so many years, the most important boundary he understood was: don't ask what you shouldn't ask.
Although the person before him was young, she was now a master of the Core Formation Realm and held the rank of Brigade Commander.
Since the big shot had already taken care of the hardest part, how she chose to handle the leftovers was her business.
If he spoke out of turn, he would only be asking for trouble.
"In that case..."
Liu Chen cupped his fist, his expression respectful: "Then This subordinate will first take the men and escort the prisoners back to The Department to report."
"We owe a great debt to Miss Jiang for taking action this time; otherwise, a few of us might have perished here."
Jiang Yuechu nodded and waved her hand.
"Go."
"Be careful on the road."
...Liangzhou Military Command, Inner Hall.
Wei He put down the vermillion brush in his hand and rubbed his slightly throbbing brow.
He leaned back against the chair, exhaled a long breath of stale Qi, and a rare look of relaxation appeared on his usually solemn and rigid face.
"Strange."
"For the past half month, aside from a few minor, insignificant demon disturbances, the entire Longyou Circuit has been surprisingly peaceful."
Wei He shook his head, a trace of satisfaction curving his lips.
The reason was simple.
Two Core Formation Great Demons had been successively slain by the Demon Suppression Division in a short period.
With such swift, thunderous methods and such renowned ferocity, who in the entire Region wasn't terrified?
Who wasn't scared?
This girl.
She would likely, sooner or later, become like the current Right Demon Suppressing Envoy, capable of intimidating countless Great Demons merely by revealing her name.
He smiled, shook his head, and reached for a document beneath the case files.
However.
Just as his fingers were about to touch the document.
Wei He's movement suddenly froze mid-air.
His previously relaxed expression vanished instantly without a trace.
He saw that in a corner that had previously been empty.
He didn't know when.
A small note had appeared.
"..."
Wei He's pupils suddenly contracted.
Who was he?
The head official of the Liangzhou Military Command, whose cultivation had long reached the Core Formation Realm.
Yet this note.
When did it appear?
Who placed it there?
He hadn't noticed it at all!
Wei He felt a chill run down his spine.
He suddenly stood up, his blood and Qi erupted instantly, scanning his surroundings.
The room was empty.
Aside from inanimate objects, there wasn't even a ghost of a shadow.
"Hoo..."
After a long time.
Only after confirming that there was no one else around did Wei He slowly sit back down in his chair.
He reached out, using two fingers to pick up the flimsy note.
The paper was very ordinary, the kind commonly used by commoners.
There was only a single, short line of text.
[Come thirty li north of Liangzhou Prefecture. I have something to ask you.]
...North of Liangzhou Prefecture, Thirty Li Slope.
Although this place was named a slope, it was actually a desolate ridge strewn with jagged rocks.
If you went back a few hundred years, this place in the Region territory was a notorious location capable of stopping children from crying at night.
In the final years of the previous dynasty, the world was in chaos, and bandits rose everywhere.
The Liangzhou Garrison Commander set an ambush here and massacred thirty thousand refugee soldiers.
The bodies were never collected, just hastily piled up and covered with a thin layer of soil.
Whenever it rained, the earthy stench from underground would rise up, and occasionally, white bones washed out by the rain could be seen.
Later, when the Great Tang was established, high monks were invited to perform rites for salvation.
But this place was ultimately too saturated with Yin Qi, and normally, even stray dogs wouldn't dare wander here.
The sky was dim.
A figure, stepping over scattered stones and dry grass, slowly walked up the ridge.
The person wore an ordinary black robe, carried a saber at their waist, and their hand never left the hilt by half an inch.
It was Wei He.
Although he was now a master of the Core Formation Realm, and considered a figure of importance in the Region territory.
Yet the note that had inexplicably appeared on his desk truly made him uneasy.
To be able to sneak into the Dusi Inner Hall undetected, past heavy guards, and place something right under his nose... with such methods, taking his head would be as easy as reaching into a pocket for an object.
Wei He stopped, stood on a slightly flatter patch of high ground, and vigilantly scanned his surroundings.
Forget people.
There wasn't even a single hair.
"..."
He frowned deeply and waited patiently for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
Still, no one appeared.
Could he have been played?
The moment this thought surfaced, he dismissed it himself.
Such an existence, whose strength was unfathomable, would be stooping too low if they had the leisure to play tricks on him.
But if it wasn't a trick... where were they?
Wei He took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Since you invited Wei here, why does Your Excellency hide your head and show your tail?"
The voice echoed across the desolate, rocky ridge.
No one answered.
Only a few startled crows squawked as they flew up from a dead tree.
Wei He's expression darkened slightly.
He tightened his grip on the saber hilt, and the feeling of unease in his heart grew stronger.
Just as he was growing impatient and preparing to turn and leave.
Whoosh—
He felt a sudden chill on the back of his neck.
An indescribable sense of dread arose from the depths of his heart.
"You arrived earlier than I expected."
A faint voice sounded.
Wei He's pupils constricted, his blood and Qi erupted instantly, pushing his Core Formation Realm cultivation to the extreme.
CLANG—!!!
His long saber flashed from its sheath, and he spun around for a sweeping strike!
However.
Just as the blade was about to touch the person.
Two fingers, whose nails were slightly sharp, effortlessly clamped down on his blade.
Wei He's face flushed red as he desperately activated the Golden Core within his body, trying to pull the saber back.
But the long saber seemed to be forged between those two fingers.
"Is this the hospitality of the Liangzhou Military Command?"
The person chuckled softly.
With a slight exertion of force from the fingers.
SNAP—!
A crisp sound.
Wei He felt a violent tremor in his hand, causing him to stagger back several steps uncontrollably. Ignoring his churning blood and Qi, he looked up in horror.
Under the glow of the setting sun.
Stood an extremely tall man.
He wore a golden-red feathered cloak, and his face was strangely handsome and demonic.
The most striking feature.
Was his pair of narrow, golden pupils.
As well as the fleshy comb atop his head, red as blood and seemingly still faintly wriggling.
"Ink Dot Realm?... No... Zhonglian Realm Demon King?!"
The man did not deny it.
He casually tossed away the broken blade clamped between his fingers, pulled a clean white handkerchief from his sleeve, and slowly wiped his fingers.
"Lord Wei, there is no need to panic."
"This King invited you here today not to kill."
"I merely have a few minor matters I wish to inquire about with Lord Wei."