Chapter 22: Mortal, You Don't Follow Martial Ethics
"Senior, you and I have no grievances or enmity. Why are you capturing me?"
Though Qin Jiaojiao was afraid, her strong will to survive forced her to lower her proud head.
"What do you mean 'no grievances or enmity'!"
A cold smile appeared on the six-tailed fox demon's face. "You cultivators of Dongyang Prefecture killed my son, and you call that 'no grievances or enmity'? Today I will make everyone in Dongyang Prefecture accompany my son in death!"
"Lady Yumei, why waste so many words with this little girl? Just eat her in one bite and be done with it."
Accompanying a voice from the demonic clouds, the figures of over a hundred demons appeared. They all looked fierce and vicious, with saliva dripping from their mouths.
Qin Jiaojiao shuddered involuntarily and quickly explained, "I'm not a cultivator from Dongyang Prefecture. I'm a disciple of the Yujian Palace."
The name of the Yujian Palace still carried some weight.
Lady Yumei didn't throw Qin Jiaojiao out but said coldly, "You think the name of the Yujian Palace can intimidate me? Stay put, or else my subordinates won't show any mercy to a beauty like you."
"Yes."
Qin Jiaojiao didn't dare to talk back and lowered her head in silence. She couldn't even muster the thought of escaping. The six-tailed fox demon before her was too powerful—if she tried anything clever, she might lose her life.
Lady Yumei turned to her demon subordinates and ordered, "Little ones, capture all the cultivators in Dongyang Prefecture for me. As long as you find the murderer who killed Little Niu Niu, the rest of the humans will be yours to deal with!"
"Yes, Madam!"
The hundred-plus demons instantly transformed into demonic clouds and flew toward Dongyang Prefecture. Among them, two or three demonic clouds were heading precisely toward the Wushang Sword Sect.
...
Wenjian Pavilion.
After sending everyone away, Chen Xuan was about to take out his storage bag to see if his spiritual sense could be used when he heard Liu Zhenshou's voice again from outside.
"Immortal Master Chen, something terrible has happened!"
Before the words faded, Liu Zhenshou rushed in hurriedly, stumbling and falling flat on his face in his haste.
Before he could even get up, Zhao Youqian and Leng Li also walked in.
"What happened?"
Seeing Liu Zhenshou's panicked appearance, Chen Xuan had no choice but to set aside the storage bag he had just picked up.
Why is opening a bag so difficult?
"There... there are demonic clouds flying toward Dongyang Prefecture. It looks like a large-scale demon attack is coming."
Liu Zhenshou said with sweat beading on his forehead. Dongyang Prefecture seemed cursed—every few days, there were attacks from demons and monsters. If this continued, his position as the town guardian of the Ascension Bureau would be unstable.
"Let's go out and take a look."
Chen Xuan picked up the long sword beside him, stood up, and walked toward the door. As soon as he stepped outside, he saw a black demonic cloud approaching from the distance.
Some seemed to be heading toward the Wushang Sword Sect as well. Judging by the flying speed of those demonic clouds, they would arrive soon.
"Don't make a move later. I'll handle these guys myself."
Such a great opportunity to gain experience points—he naturally wouldn't miss it. He just wondered how much experience he would gain this time.
Before he finished speaking, a laugh came from the nearby demonic cloud:
"Haha, a mortal who doesn't know his place, daring to make such arrogant claims. Watch as I capture you."
As the laughter rang out, the demonic cloud slowly descended to the ground.
The group of demons wrapped in the white demonic cloud also revealed their true forms. The leader was a wolf demon holding a wolf-tooth club, followed by a group of smaller demons wielding various weapons.
The wolf demon didn't waste words and directly extended his wolf claws to grab at Chen Xuan.
Chen Xuan had never seen such an arrogant fellow before. Facing him, the demon didn't even use a weapon. Chen Xuan casually drew his long sword and slashed at the wolf demon.
Clang!
A flash of sword light.
The wolf demon froze in place. Just as he was about to speak, his body involuntarily tilted forward, fell to the ground, and split in two.
The smaller demons behind the wolf demon were collectively stunned seeing this.
Only a dog-headed demon carrying a large flag cursed, "Mortal, you don't follow martial ethics! Using a sword to ambush our leader! Brothers, charge! Avenge our leader!"
"Charge!"
After the small demons shouted, they all rushed toward Chen Xuan as if injected with chicken blood.
"A brain is a good thing, but unfortunately you don't have one."
Chen Xuan muttered, then swung his long sword. All the charging small demons instantly fell to the ground, cleanly cut down with a single stroke.
At this point, the only one standing before everyone was the dog demon who had earlier called for avenging the leader. Seeing this scene, he instinctively dropped the large flag in his hand and turned to run.
But as soon as he turned, a long sword blocked his path.
"Thinking of running now? Isn't it a bit late?"
Zhao Youqian held his sword across the dog demon's throat with a mischievous smile on his face. Having coordinated with Chen Xuan several times, he immediately found a position to block the escape route.
"G... Great sir, please spare my life!"
Seeing the situation wasn't right, the dog demon immediately begged for mercy. As a dog demon at the bottom of the demon food chain, being arrogant when things go well and surrendering when they don't was his survival skill.
"I'm just an unknown dog demon. Killing a demon like me would damage the reputation of you great sirs!"
"Haha..."
Zhao Youqian couldn't help but laugh out loud. "You demon, your way of speaking actually suits my taste. But I'm not the one in charge here. Go beg him."
The dog demon slowly turned his head following Zhao Youqian's gaze, only to see the ruthless man who had decapitated the wolf leader with one strike and killed over a dozen of his brothers with another, smiling at him.
"Immortal Master, please spare my life!"
Chen Xuan smiled. In all his time in this world, every demon he had encountered was fierce and menacing, but this was the first time he'd seen such a cowardly one.
He asked with interest, "Give me a reason not to kill you?"
"I... I've never eaten humans."
The dog demon said seriously, but seeing Chen Xuan shake his head, he immediately added, "I was forced to come here."
Chen Xuan asked, "Since you were forced, tell me what exactly is the purpose of coming here? If your answer satisfies me, perhaps I can consider sparing you."
"I guarantee the Immortal Master will be satisfied!"
The dog demon quickly said, "The reason we came to Dongyang Prefecture this time is that the cultivators of Dongyang Prefecture killed Lady Yumei's son, Niu Dali."
"Hmm?"
Hearing the name Niu Dali, Chen Xuan couldn't help but think of a bull demon.
"The Niu Dali you're talking about—is that the bull-headed demon who likes married women?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The dog demon nodded quickly. "That's him! When he was in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, this guy liked to seduce the wives of good demons and offended many great demons. Lady Yumei had no choice but to send him to Dongyang Prefecture.
That guy is the son of Lady Yumei and a Demon King. Lady Yumei dotes on him dearly. As soon as Niu Dali's soul lamp shattered, Lady Yumei immediately summoned many demon soldiers and generals to come to Dongyang Prefecture to apprehend the culprit!"
"So that's what happened."
Chen Xuan finally understood the situation—killing the younger one brought the older one. But he wasn't one to back down from trouble. Since they had come to his door, he naturally wouldn't retreat.
"Alright, come with us to Dongyang Prefecture. If you perform well, I'll spare your life!"
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