71: Chapter 71 The Little Demons' Worries

Hearing Pei Se's request, Qin Ling waved his hand without a second thought.

A faint light suddenly lit up between the eyebrows of the lowering-browed and drooping-eyed statue.

When that speck of light illuminated, the candlelight in the temple flickered, and the wisps of smoke in the censer swayed along with it.

Pei Se saw that speck of light.

Her pupils dilated slightly, and the corners of her mouth slowly curled up.

She bowed deeply toward the statue of Lord Qinling.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling."

She straightened up, turned around, and walked out of the temple doors.

This time, her footsteps were much lighter than when she entered.

After leaving the temple, Pei Se first went to the patch of wasteland outside the village.

The pit was still there—the pit blasted out by purple lightning and slashed even deeper by Lord Qinling with a single sword strike, lying there quietly.

The soil at the bottom of the pit had been scorched into a glassy state, gleaming with an eerie purple-black luster.

Huang Zu's corpse was still lying by the edge of the pit, its head and body separated, with the head on the left and the body on the right, several paces apart.

That head still had its eyes open, and fear remained within its golden vertical pupils.

Pei Se squatted down, looked at the head, and watched it for a moment.

She reached out and closed Huang Zu's eyelids.

Then she wrapped the head up in cloth, stuffed it into the pouch she carried with her, and glanced once more at the headless corpse.

The corpse of a Fourth-Turn great demon was undoubtedly a priceless treasure.

But Pei Se had no intention of touching it and simply let it lie there.

She stood up, patted the dirt off her knees, and walked back to the village.

The news of Pei Se's impending departure quickly spread throughout the entire Qin Family Village.

By the time Pei Se led her horse to the shade of the Old Locust Tree at the village entrance, quite a few villagers from Qin Family Village were already standing there.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang stood at the very front leaning on a walking stick, looking at her with cloudy eyes.

The old man who brewed wine squatted under the Old Locust Tree, holding a black pottery wine jar sealed at the mouth with red cloth.

Qin Yin and Qin Mo stood in front of the crowd.

Qin Yin had a long saber strapped to her waist, and Qin Mo cradled a long spear in his arms.

Pei Se led her horse over and looked at the villagers of Qin Family Village.

The villagers of Qin Family Village were also looking at her.

The wine-brewing old man moved first.

He stood up from under the Old Locust Tree, holding the black pottery wine jar, and walked up to Pei Se.

He placed the wine jar on the ground, uncovered the red cloth, picked up the gourds hanging from Pei Se's saddle, filled them one by one, plugged the corks back in, and hung them back up.

"Don't ride while drinking, don't drink while riding; drink only when you rest."

The old man muttered to himself as he filled the gourds.

After filling the last one, he covered the jar back up with the red cloth, tied it tight, and hugged the wine jar.

Pei Se wanted to pay him, but no matter what she said, the old man refused to accept any money.

An auntie who dried fish walked over and shoved the cloth bundle in her hands into Pei Se's hands.

"Dry rations for the road."

Pei Se looked down at the cloth bundle; it was made of coarse fabric with patches, but it was washed very clean.

Qin Yin and Qin Mo simply said one thing to Pei Se.

"Be careful on the road."

The children who used to play with Pei Se every day squeezed out from between the adults' legs.

The little girl with braided buns ran at the very front, clenching a bunch of wildflowers in her hand—purple and white ones clustered together, still glistening with dew.

She held the flowers up to Pei Se, tilting her head back with bright, sparkling eyes.

"I'm giving this to you! Before this, I only ever gave them to Lord Qinling, you know!"

Pei Se took the bunch of wildflowers, and the dew on the petals touched her palm, feeling cool.

She squatted down, pulled the little girl into her arms, and gave her a hug.

After the embrace, Pei Se let go of the little girl, stood up, and leaped onto her horse.

The gourds on the saddle swayed and clinked against each other, making a crisp sound.

She reined in her horse and looked back.

The villagers of Qin Family Village were still standing there—the village chief, the auntie, the wine-brewing old man, Qin Yin, Qin Mo, and those children.

She saw the eaves of the temple and the curling wisps of blue smoke still drifting upward.

She didn't know whether Lord Qinling was watching her, but she felt that Lord Qinling must be there.

Pei Se turned her head and squeezed the horse's belly with her legs. The horse broke into a trot, its hooves treading on the dirt road at the village entrance and kicking up a cloud of dust.

She did not look back, merely straightening the gourds hanging from her saddle.

She tucked the cloth bundle given by the auntie into her bosom and wedged the bunch of wildflowers given by the little girl into the seam of her pouch.

At the rooftop of the temple, Qin Ling's feet stepped upon the tiles.

He looked down at the figure riding on horseback, watching her walk further and further away amidst the flying dust.

As Pei Se's back disappeared at the end of the road, Qin Ling withdrew his gaze.

His gaze swept past the outside of the village and fell upon Huang Zu's corpse still lying in the pit.

As for Huang Zu's corpse, its head had already been taken away by Pei Se, leaving only the body behind.

As the body of a Fourth-Turn great demon, Huang Zu's physique was naturally a rare and precious treasure.

Although this treasure was of no use to Qin Ling, he already had a place where he could make use of the remaining value of this corpse.

Qin Ling squatted down, reached out, and grabbed the corpse by its hind leg.

With a flash of golden light, he disappeared from the edge of the pit.

...

On the East China Sea Seabed, scattered points of demonic shadows dotted the reefs in front of Zhuguang Temple.

The little demons who had finished offering incense lay about in groups of twos and threes, carefully cradling pieces of dragon meat smaller than a fingernail, reluctant to swallow them in one bite.

A Swimming Crab Demon used its claws to hold the silvery-white meat, looking at it repeatedly back and forth before snapping off a sesame seed-sized bit to stuff into its mouth.

The moment the meat entered its belly, its entire body trembled, fine bubbles seeped out from the gaps in its shell, and the whole crab began to glow.

That was the surging of demonic power!

It was a demonic power it had never experienced in all its long life!

It was so excited that its claws were shaking, almost dropping the remaining dragon meat into the sand. It hurriedly caught it with its other claw and cradled it carefully.

A Starfish Demon lay flat on the reef with its five arms spread out, a tiny scrap of dragon meat clinging to the tip of each arm.

Unwilling to finish it all at once, it divided those scraps into five portions, slowly absorbing them one by one.

With each portion absorbed, its body grew a fraction brighter, and a faint silver light began to shimmer across its orange-red stellar body.

It trembled all over with excitement, its five arms quivering slightly like a flower ruffled by the wind.

"That's wonderful."

A sea slug demon lay within a crevice of the reef, its tentacles stretching and retracting, its voice carrying a dreamy, ethereal quality.

"To be able to offer incense here and share dragon meat—this is truly a treasure land hard to find anywhere else in the East China Sea!"

A nearby sea urchin demon, however, sighed, twisting its body on the sandy ground with a muffled voice.

"But there will come a day when the dragon meat runs out. When that time comes, where else can we find such a treasure land?"

As soon as it finished speaking, it grew sorrowful all by itself.

The other little demons also fell silent for a moment.

That's right, the dragon meat would eventually run out.

What should they do when it's gone?

Where else could they find such a great place?

Just offering incense gets you dragon meat to eat?

The sea slug's tentacles drooped, and the Starfish's five arms slowly pulled inward.

The Blue Crab pinched its claws tighter, as if afraid that the dragon meat in its hands would fly away.

Right at that moment, a streak of golden light descended from the sea surface, shooting straight into the temple.

As the golden light dissipated, a corpse flew out from the temple, landing beside the dragon corpse of Little Li Dragon.

With a muffled "thump," a shallow pit was smashed into the sandy ground, sending fine sand splashing high into the air.