Eunuch Clerk Liu led the way with a grand gesture, and a crowd marched grandly down the long street.
"Officer Shen, please."
The skinny monk stood with his hands behind his back, smiling slyly.
Shen Yi casually shut the door, a hint of coldness flickering in his eyes.
This group had clearly come prepared, not only having formulated excuses but also estimated his own strength.
The dozen or so attendants were not only armed with swords at their waists but also carried spears over a meter long, and the remaining soldiers were each equipped with strong bows and crossbows. These were insignificant to demonic beasts or martial masters, but if you add the skinny monk's ability to disrupt the formation...
Even two more "yellow skins" would end up lying there.
"I would like to see what tricks you're up to," Zhang the Butcher said with a dark face as he approached, standing behind Shen Yi.
Seeing this, the skinny monk's expression changed slightly, but he didn't stop them. He simply raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "As you wish, it's just my duty to accompany you all."
No further words were exchanged when opinions clashed.
In silence, the three of them began walking, under the astonished gaze of the onlookers by the street, heading towards the outskirts of the city.
Once out of Baiyun County, Shilin Village was about thirty li away.
Eunuch Clerk Liu was clearly in a hurry, his face grim as he hastened his pace, occasionally looking back at Shen Yi with an increasingly intense murderous intent in his eyes.
"Is this really about expelling demons or us?"
Even Zhang Dahua sensed something was amiss and struggled vigorously again.
Immediately, two spears were shifted over, their sharp points pressing against his neck, drawing two lines of blood.
"No, where is this taking us?"
The Niu brothers did not struggle, merely watching as the crowd passed Shilin Village and, as if blind to it, directly plunged into a narrow path.
"If we go further, it's the wilderness. Aren't you afraid of encountering demons?"
Upon hearing this, the skinny monk chuckled sardonically and slowly stopped in his tracks.
At nearly the same moment, everyone stopped, and the attendants and soldiers parted to make way, before suddenly kicking the few of them in the shins, causing them to stagger and kneel, swiftly followed by cold blades being pressed against their necks.
A colleague sighed and averted his gaze.
In the distance, under the dim moonlight, a small thatched shelter had appeared by the side of the road.
A tall figure stood beside a table, dressed in plain clothes, with dark fur covering the arms and sleeves, intently pouring wine into his bowl.
The seated figure was small and thin, wrapped in a straw raincoat and wearing a hat, appearing to indulge in a late-night snack with his back to the crowd.
"Damn, we've been snared," Zhang the Butcher said, feeling a bit grave as he looked on.
He finally understood why his senior brother had not minded him tagging along—the figures before them were two Initial Realm demonic beasts.
The one sitting exuded an air of slight restlessness, clearly having just broken through recently, yet with a deep robustness that was unmistakably Initial Realm Perfection.
The standing one was slightly less powerful, but was evenly matched with him, even to the point of having a similar build... and with his senior brother at his side, plus thirty or forty attendants and soldiers.
With his many years of mingling and vast experience, Zhang the Butcher came to a decision in a breath: "Run!"
It's better to retreat and preserve oneself than to suffer an immediate loss.
"I've brought the people for you," Liu Eunuch Clerk said, striding forward with false bravery to the side of the shelter: "I did not kill those Ape Demons, and I've also helped you cover up the kidnapping... I know you want to lure him out... Ape Lord, I am over fifty and got a son late in life; please return my child to me..."
"Shut up." The Clothed Demon Ape with the wine jug glanced at him coldly.
"Alright, alright, I'll shut up," Liu Eunuch Clerk said, bending over with a sheepish smile, and gesturing behind him.
The soldiers' strong bows were immediately aimed at Shen Yi in the crowd.
Over a dozen long spears pressed down simultaneously, cutting off his retreat.
At that moment, the old monkey in the straw raincoat let out a satisfied burp and neatly stacked the shiny-clean things he'd been gnawing in a pile beside him.
Standing up, it wiped its mouth with its sleeve. In the moonlight, thirteen tiny and disturbingly hollow-eyed skulls shone clean on the table.
Having wiped its mouth clean, the old monkey turned its head and nodded politely with a raspy voice, "Thank you."
Liu Dianli's face beamed with pride at the compliment, but as his gaze fell onto the table and he began to count with his fingers, something felt off.
Following that, his face suddenly turned ashen white.
His body trembled like a sieve and his legs went weak; he couldn't stop himself from collapsing to the ground.
Liu Dianli's Adam's apple bobbed, unable to speak, and he could only emit mute-like cries:
Looking at the pile of skulls, Zhang the Butcher showed an expression of distaste and abruptly turned to glare at the emaciated monk: "You scabby-headed fool, have you gone mad?"
"What's that got to do with me?" the emaciated monk frowned and spread his hands: "I've done nothing, just following the county official's orders to accompany Liu Dianli here tonight for a thorough investigation."
"Truth be told, you should be asking Officer Shen how he conducts his affairs?"
The emaciated monk's smile lingered as his gaze shifted to Shen Yi.
"Bullshit, there were only four of us to begin with, guarding Baiyun County's two hundred thousand citizens and even helping demons suppress the news. If I were from the Demon-suppression Bureau, I'd have beheaded these beasts first!"
Zhang the Butcher was furious and wanted to curse more but realized someone had suddenly vanished from beside him.
He saw Shen Yi walking away in silence, completely indifferent to the long spears and strong bows around him.
He approached Chen Ji and bent down to draw the sword at his side.
"Let's go! There'll be opportunities," Chen Ji hadn't finished speaking when he was pushed down by the person next to him.
The attendant who made the move stared at Shen Yi's profile and couldn't squeeze out a word for a long time.
Soon, the young man reached the pavilion.
The two Ape Demons regarded him with indifferent eyes, the young and tall one sneered: "If you kneel down like him now, you may still have a chance to leave a whole corpse."
"Kill them for me! You fools! You like to grandstand, now I command you, kill them quickly!"
Liu Dianli, in a frenzy, clutched at his robe and let out an animalistic howl.
Unfortunately, this plea lasted only a moment before it turned into a gurgling sound of blood.
As the blade flashed past, the white-haired head thudded to the ground.
Shen Yi, staring at the two Ape Demons, casually wiped the blade on that green tunic while Liu Dianli's body was yet to collapse.
In the distance, the hands of the attendants holding the spears began to sweat.
The soldiers swallowed hard, their strong bows already aimed at that solitary figure, arrow nocked, yet they couldn't bring themselves to release it for a long time.
The emaciated monk was stunned for a moment, and then burst into furious striding.
He had been ordered here tonight not as the main force to lay an ambush for Shen Yi but only to protect Liu Dianli and by the way, to intimidate the crowd.
Who would have thought this madman would stand in front of two demons and behead the Eunuch Clerk first, and what's more infuriating is that the two old monkeys were just watching silently!
Any onlooker would have thought Liu Dianli was the target of tonight's assassination.
In his rage, a thick arm whipped out of nowhere and struck his chest without mercy.
The emaciated monk stumbled back several steps, struggling to steady himself, and then bellowed, "You stupid dog, didn't you see him kill?"
Zhang the Butcher's face contorted in fury as he drew his pig-killing knife and charged: "Screw you!"
The indifferent gazes of the two Ape Demons finally rippled with agitation.