44: Chapter 44 The Constable Enters the Temple

Hearing Constable Meng Yu's blatant slander against Lord Qinling, the surrounding villagers' expressions changed.

"Constable Meng, you mustn't say such things!"

Village Chief Qin Zongliang shouted loudly.

"Village Chief Qin, I am under orders to patrol the coastal villages, and I've killed plenty of Cone Snail Demons myself."

Meng Yu reached out and gripped the scabbard at his waist.

"Today, no matter what kind of demon is in Qin Family Village, I will eliminate it all the same."

Right at that moment, the young boy wearing the belly-band from the village entrance jumped out.

He raised his head, his small face flushed red, and his eyes wide.

"You're not allowed to speak ill of Lord Qinling!"

Meng Yu looked down at the boy without saying a word.

The boy clenched his fists, his voice crisp and loud.

"Lord Qinling is amazing! All those Cone Snails were driven away by Lord Qinling!"

"And a dragon, a dragon that big! Lord Qinling went out to sea and killed it with a single sword strike!"

The other children all chimed in simultaneously.

"That's right! We all saw it by the seaside that night!"

"A slash of golden light fell from the sky, and the dragon died!"

"We even picked up the dragon scales and enshrined them in the temple!"

Meng Yu and the other three constables exchanged glances.

The younger one couldn't help but burst out laughing.

A dragon?

Killing a dragon with a single sword strike?

These villagers must have had their minds bewitched by demons.

He gave a dry cough, suppressing his laughter, though his eyes remained curved.

Meng Yu shook his head, then gestured for the three constables behind him to follow as he walked straight toward the shrine in the center of the village.

Before long, the temple gate appeared ahead.

The once-crooked wooden gate had long since been repaired, and the low courtyard walls were now covered with roof tiles.

It was clear that the villagers of Qin Family Village cared deeply about this shrine.

Meng Yu led the three constables into the courtyard.

He found the courtyard currently packed with villagers from Qin Family Village.

The villagers were lined up in a long queue outside the temple gate, stretching from the courtyard almost all the way to the outer wall.

Men held incense, women carried offerings, and children imitated the adults, pressing their small hands together before their chests, waiting quietly.

Only wisps of blue smoke drifted out of the temple, curling upward in the sunlight.

Meng Yu stood at the courtyard gate, looking at the line of worshippers, his expression slowly turning cold.

He had wondered why he hadn't seen many villagers around Qin Family Village—as it turned out, they had all gathered here.

"No wonder there was hardly anyone to be seen in the village; they've all come here."

Meng Yu's loud, resonant voice echoed, prompting the queuing villagers to turn their heads one after another.

Seeing the constables in official robes and the saber-toting man at their head, the villagers instinctively stepped aside.

Paying no heed to their gazes, Meng Yu strode into the courtyard and headed toward the temple gate.

The people in line were pushed aside by him, some dodging to the left and others to the right, splitting the queue in two.

Someone opened their mouth as if to say something, but upon seeing his constable uniform, swallowed their words.

The temple door was right ahead, its threshold worn smooth and shiny.

Meng Yu stepped inside with one foot, his right hand gripping his hilt. With a sharp clang, his long saber was drawn three inches from its sheath.

The cold white glint of the blade reflected on his face and onto the statue with its downcast eyes.

The other three constables followed behind him, hands likewise resting on their hilts.

The four men's gazes first fell upon the statue.

It was just a very ordinary wooden carving, crude and without even a coat of gold lacquer.

Downcast eyelids, a calm mouth—no different from the thousands of clay and wooden idols in desolate village shrines across the land.

Their expressions relaxed slightly, thinking that this Lord Qinling was nothing out of the ordinary.

But the next second, their eyes were drawn to a few scales.

At the center of the altar table, several silver-white objects lay quietly.

They glinted with a chill light in the dim temple hall, clearly no ordinary items.

They were scales—scales of a kind they had never seen before.

The patterns were as intricate as woven fabric, and the edges were as thin as razor blades.

Even just lying silently on the altar, even long detached from their source, the lingering aura upon them still made the hairs on their bodies stand on end.

A young constable's hand began to tremble.

The hand holding his saber was shaking.

He felt the aura emanating from the scales—an aura that couldn't belong to a First-Turn or Second-Turn demon, nor even a Third-Turn demon.

Could it be...

"What on earth is this?"

The young constable didn't dare to think any further.

Meng Yu stood at the very front, his saber drawn.

He stared at the scales, feeling the terrifying aura emanating from them.

Suddenly, the words the children had spoken flashed through his mind.

"And a dragon, a dragon that big! Lord Qinling went out to sea and killed it with a single sword strike!"

"A slash of golden light fell from the sky, and the dragon died!"

"We even picked up the dragon scales and enshrined them in the temple!"

Earlier, he had naturally assumed the kids were just talking nonsense.

Slaying a dragon?

What a joke.

But now, standing inside this shrine of Lord Qinling, looking at those silver-white scales on the altar and feeling that instinctively terrifying aura...

Though he couldn't be sure if these were truly dragon scales, even genuine dragon scales would carry an aura like this, wouldn't they?

Back when Meng Yu and the other constables rudely shoved their way into the temple, Qin Yin and Qin Mo inside had already shown displeasure.

Seeing Meng Yu draw his long saber immediately upon entering, Qin Yin and Qin Mo could no longer tolerate it.

Qin Yin held a saber, and Qin Mo held a spear.

The two stepped forward and blocked Meng Yu and the other three constables.

"Constable Meng, what do you think you are doing?"

Qin Yin stood beside Meng Yu, her saber held horizontally across her chest.

"Qin Yin, I am inspecting demon threats under official orders. Naturally, I must see what kind of thing is worshipped in this temple."

"See?"

Qin Yin's voice grew even colder.

"Does Constable Meng usually look at things with a drawn blade?"

Qin Mo chimed in from the side.

"What right do you have to draw your blades? Is Lord Qinling's shrine somewhere you can enter whenever you want, drawing weapons as you please?"

"This is utter disrespect to Lord Qinling!"

Seeing two juniors like Qin Yin and Qin Mo shouting at him like this, Meng Yu felt anger rush straight to his head.

As the constable of Guanhai County's yamen and a First-Turn Late-Stage Martial Artist, when had he ever suffered such insolence?

"I've drawn my blade today, and next I'm going to knock down this statue!"

"What can you two possibly do to stop me?"

Meng Yu roared, his vitality surging throughout his body.

The powerful blood qi of a First-Turn Late-Stage Martial Artist swept through the temple.

Seeing Meng Yu release his blood qi, the other three constables looked at Qin Yin and Qin Mo with mocking expressions.

They hadn't expected the villagers in this place to be stupid enough to enrage the constable.

They really didn't know what these two villagers were thinking.

Seeing Meng Yu unleashing the blood qi of a First-Turn Late-Stage Martial Artist, Qin Yin and Qin Mo exchanged a glance, both reading the meaning in each other's eyes.

The next moment...

*Boom!*

Two surges of powerful blood qi burst forth from Qin Yin and Qin Mo!