Chapter 22: Capturing the Demon

Chapter 22: Capturing the Demon

The next morning, Meng Yuan practiced archery two hundred times and then led the other students in practicing the Gale Blade Technique several times, correcting their form.

Losing ten taels of silver yesterday was a minor issue, but today's task of subduing a demon was a major one, and Meng Yuan was very excited.

Historical records did not provide detailed descriptions of demons. Often during chaotic times, there would be "demon disasters." Even in peaceful years, there were still demons harming and killing creatures.

However, Meng Yuan felt that if all demons were like his grandmother's kind, stealing chickens and dogs was one thing, but causing chaos in an area would be difficult.

Not long after finishing breakfast, Nie Yinian finally arrived.

Meng Yuan was already fully prepared, with a knife at his waist, an arrow quiver on his back, and a bow in his hand.

Having recently attained his rank, Meng Yuan was well aware of his abilities. He could handle five or six strong men and even fight against warriors of the same rank.

Nevertheless, as a long-range weapon, the bow and arrow were a must-have.

"Master Nie, should I switch to the five-stone bow?" Meng Yuan had been practicing with the two-stone bow.

"Forget it. Although you can draw the five-stone bow, it's too exhausting to use for an extended period. It's like people; being well-fed is great, but it's too easy to drain your strength, and you can't sustain it." Nie Yinian casually replied.

What does that have to do with anything? Meng Yuan couldn't help but think of the beautiful lady manager of the Intoxicating Moon Tower.

Meng Yuan was always open to advice and didn't say more.

Seeing that Meng Yuan was fully equipped and ready for a journey, Wu Changsheng and the others looked on with anticipation, hoping that Master Nie would take them along.

"Take good care of the place!" Nie Yinian casually left these words and led Meng Yuan out of the training ground to the stable.

Meng Yuan didn't know how to ride a horse, but fortunately, the horses here were well-trained and had a gentle temperament.

Moreover, Meng Yuan's strength and reflexes were not lacking. Although he had no experience riding horses, he could mount and stabilize himself with ease.

After leaving the imperial mansion, Nie Yinian first explained the difference between riding a horse and being ridden by a horse before speaking about the purpose of their journey.

It turned out that the problem was with the estate outside the city. The Princess Consort has a medicine estate in the south of the city, and they've been losing things recently. Several guard dogs have also gone missing, and some villagers claim to have seen a demon."

After finishing his explanation, Nie Yinian put away his tired expression and spoke of demonic creatures.

There were countless demonic creatures in the world, whether they were snakes, insects, rats, or ants, or wolves, tigers, and leopards. All of them could become demons and cause trouble.

For wild animals to become demons, they needed to absorb the essence of the sun or consume spiritual herbs and treasures, nurturing their essence and wisdom, and giving birth to intelligence. Some even refine their bones, making their transformation more complete.

Demons also had their own cultivation paths, but they had more drawbacks and were less effective. After fighting with humans for countless years, demons slowly learned human cultivation methods, mostly following the martial path, and some even practiced Taoism and Buddhism.

As demons began their cultivation, they would gradually nurture their essence and wisdom, leading to their transformation.

However, most demons retained some wild animal characteristics. Generally speaking, the more intelligent and agile the demon, the more complete their transformation, and the more foolish and stupid, the more wild animal features they retained.

Of course, there were also special cases.

Low-rank demons often lacked sufficient intelligence or had difficulty adapting. However, some demons could read and write, and some even studied military tactics.

Demons had diverse personalities and retained much of their animal instincts, making them quite wild.

Fear stems from the unknown. After receiving this guidance, Meng Yuan's fear of wild demons dissipated, and he became interested in spiritual herbs and treasures, thinking of obtaining some to benefit his essence flame.

Leaving Songhe Prefecture, they traveled for over ten miles and reached a great river, the Canglang River.

The Canglang River flowed from the west, turned east at Songhe Prefecture, and eventually flowed into the sea.

After traveling another ten miles along the river, they arrived at an estate.

This was the medicine estate, much smaller than the livestock farm, surrounded by high walls. There were also medicinal gardens nearby, and many villagers cultivated medicinal herbs.

The medicine estate was used for transporting large quantities of medicine, processing drugs, and collecting medicinal ingredients, making it highly profitable.

Entering the estate, the estate manager greeted them, accompanied by a young man dressed similarly to Meng Yuan.

This young man was named Ren Debiao, also a bodyguard from the Imperial Mansion, a ninth-rank warrior. He was the first to investigate the medicine estate.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they entered the main hall, where Ren Debiao began to report his findings.

"They are spirit beasts from the mountains. In total, they stole seven dogs, a small donkey, and many prepared medicines, mostly golden wound ointment and vital energy nourishing pills." Ren Debiao spoke with precision.

"Songhe City is adjacent to the mountains, and although there have always been many spirit beasts in the mountains, Songhe City is a large city, and the spirit beasts rarely dare to come down from the mountains to cause trouble." Nie Yanian, who was clearly knowledgeable about demons, said, "Coming down from the mountains to steal medicine, could it be that the spirit beasts had an internal conflict and were injured? Or is it the doing of some reckless young ones?"

"Also, two people died in the estate, a man and a woman who sneaked out for a wild coupling in the middle of the night. Their bellies were slit open, and their organs were eaten." Ren Debiao added.

"Wild coupling in the middle of the night? Aren't they afraid of the cold?" Nie Yanian laughed.

"Master Nie, what should we do? Should we report to the officials or handle it ourselves?" the estate manager asked.

"Report to the officials for a few minor demons? If word gets out, will I, Nie Yanian, still have any face?" Nie Yanian said confidently, "First, let's have a meal. Tonight, we'll stay here. We'll catch one if one comes, and catch a pair if two come!"

The estate manager said no more and instructed the villagers to slaughter chickens and sheep.

In the early spring, the weather was still cold. Taking a bite of the succulent mutton dipped in garlic paste and following it with a mouthful of mutton soup was indeed a supreme delicacy.

As strands of nutrients were absorbed into Meng Yuan's essence flame, he felt that if he could eat mutton every day, his essence flame might be fully replenished again in less than two months.

After a satisfying meal, Nie Yanian slowly inspected the medicine estate and finally arrived at a secluded room to examine the two mutilated corpses.

With their organs missing, the wounds seemed to have been caused by the sharp claws of spirit beasts.

"It's probably a wolf-like spirit beast," Nie Yanian said, examining the scene of the incident and the traces left by the spirit beast.

However, this spirit beast was very clever, as its footprints had been wiped away, making it impossible to identify which spirit beast it was.

After waiting until dinnertime, Nie Yanian finally made arrangements. He, along with Ren Debiao and Meng Yuan, would stay on the rooftop, while the other villagers would go to sleep and were forbidden to come out to investigate any sounds.

In essence, they were waiting for the hare at the stump.

"Spirit beasts are tricky. They can be useful or not, depending on the situation," Nie Yanian said, tapping his temple. "After taking advantage once, they'll want to do it again unless they suffer pain. Moreover, spirit beasts are vengeful, so you either kill them directly or make them understand that they can never bully you; otherwise, they will definitely come back to cause trouble."

The early spring night was chilly, and the wind howled incessantly.

All three of them were warriors, enduring the cold without complaint.

As the night deepened and dawn approached, the silence became more profound. Amidst the pitch-black universe, a faint sheep bleat could be heard.

Meng Yuan immediately became alert, opening his eyes wide and looking towards the source of the sound.

In the darkness, a figure sprinted from outside the courtyard wall and then jumped straight onto the two-zhang-high wall.

The figure then surveyed the surroundings, and after confirming there was no danger, it bleated again. Another figure appeared, and it too jumped onto the wall.

The two figures looked around for a while before jumping into the courtyard.

Meng Yuan was about ten steps away from them. Although the universe was dark and dim, he could still see them clearly.

These two figures were not human at all; they were about one zhang tall, with muscular bodies. They wore large sheep heads with massive horns that curved like knives.

The two sheep demons had slightly hunched bodies, with hemp bags hanging from their shoulders and bone clubs in their hands. Their horizontal yellow eyes showed no emotion, making them extremely frightening.

Seeing the prey in their trap, Meng Yuan held his longbow and slowly drew an arrow, ready to shoot at any moment.

"Can't you wait to shoot?" Nie Yanian teased, "Put down your bow and go down there to fight them with your sword!"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end