82: Chapter 82 Demon Slayer Guild Stronghold

As the golden light swept past, the two Demon Tigers turned into ashes.

The roots withered, leaving only two black flowers that fell to the ground.

Qin Yin and Qin Mo turned around, faced the direction of the temple, and bowed deeply.

The two naturally knew that it was Lord Qinling who had been protecting them just now.

Constable Meng Yu breathed a sigh of relief and knelt directly facing the direction of the temple.

His lips trembled, and his voice was hoarse.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling, for saving our lives."

The young boy stood at the back with one bare foot, his face still smeared with blood.

His eyes were wide open, his pupils reflecting the sweeping golden light.

His mouth was open, and his mind was a blank slate.

The boy never expected that the two Demon Tigers—which had killed several patrol guards and forced even the head constable of Guanhai County to flee—would just die like this.

He had seen that beam of light rush out from the temple, and then he watched as those Demon Tigers, which seemed impossible to kill no matter what, turned to ashes the moment they were brushed by that light.

He saw the two young people, who were only a few years older than him, bow toward the temple, and he saw the head constable who had ridden into the village on horseback kneeling on the ground and kowtowing.

He felt as if he were dreaming, feeling that none of this seemed real.

The boy even thought that the golden light, those black flowers, and the roots crawling out from the tigers' necks were all hallucinations he experienced after fainting from hunger.

Qin Ling had arrived at the entrance of the village, but he concealed his figure so that no one could see him.

He walked over to the ashes left by the two Demon Tigers and looked at the two remaining black flowers, which were emitting black Qi.

A flash of surprise crossed Qin Ling's eyes.

With his divine power attack just now, he had actually failed to directly destroy this black flower.

He stared at the flower, his pupils slightly contracting.

That aura was not unfamiliar to him.

He had seen the massive tentacles of that evil entity earlier on the deck of a fishing boat in the East China Sea.

Later on, he had even personally fought the Little Li Dragon, which had been contaminated by evil Qi, and subsequently purified the evil Qi on the Little Li Dragon's corpse.

Therefore, he quickly distinguished that the aura emitted by this black flower was that of an evil entity.

These two black flowers were not the main body of the evil entity, but they were definitely related to it.

Qin Ling raised his hand, a speck of golden light lighting up at his fingertips.

Divine Technique: Exorcism.

That speck of golden light drifted from his fingertips and landed on the black flower.

The black flower shuddered, and the black Qi on its petals twisted as if struggling.

Then the petals slowly closed, withering from the edges, turning into powder from the pistil into black ashes, and being blown away by the wind.

At this point, the black flower was completely purified by Divine Technique: Exorcism.

Qin Ling withdrew his hand, looked at the pile of ashes, and remained silent for a breath.

Evil entities were much more troublesome than he had thought.

He had witnessed the process of Qin Yin and Qin Mo fighting the Demon Tigers earlier, and thus he had gotten a taste of the immortal and indestructible characteristics of evil entities.

Fortunately, however, he possessed Divine Technique: Exorcism, which could be said to be the natural nemesis of evil entities.

Only at this moment did Qin Ling realize the true value of Exorcism, this innate divine technique.

Of course, using the divine technique Exorcism required incense points.

Purifying those two black flowers just now had cost Qin Ling 10 incense points.

However, soon the system's sound rang out in Qin Ling's mind.

[Host detected purifying an evil entity branch, rewarded with 25 incense points.]

Seeing the reward, Qin Ling smiled faintly.

He had previously gained incense points when purifying the evil Qi on the Little Li Dragon.

Therefore, he wasn't too surprised by this pop-up system message.

As long as the system provided this kind of feedback, he would not fear evil entities in the slightest.

With a thought from Qin Ling, his figure directly vanished on the spot.

Head Constable Meng Yu and the boy from Liujia Village were both injured.

Qin Yin and Qin Mo settled Meng Yu and the boy in an empty house in Qin Family Village.

Meng Yu's wound wasn't deep, so Qin Yin applied some medicine to it and wrapped it tightly with strips of cloth.

The wound on the boy's sole had already been treated with ointment and was no longer bleeding, though he still walked with a slight limp.

The two of them thus recuperated in Qin Family Village.

...

Huainan Circuit, Shouzhou Prefecture.

Demon Slayer Association Stronghold.

Pei Se carried a cloth bag and walked through the long corridor, her boot soles creaking against the wooden boards.

The cloth bag was not large, round and heavy, swaying back and forth as she carried it in her hand.

Her clothes had been changed to new ones, but there were still a few un-faded scars on her face.

The one on her cheekbone was the longest, stretching from the corner of her eye all the way to her jaw, covered in a dark red scab.

The wine gourds at her waist were fewer, leaving only two, which clinked against each other.

Old Chen, who was in charge of registration at the Demon Slayer Pavilion, looked up upon hearing the clinking sound and smiled when he saw Pei Se.

"Yo, Miss Pei is back? Did you catch that weasel? Why do you look a bit disheveled?"

Pei Se didn't speak; she walked up to the table, and with a "bang," dropped the cloth bag onto it.

Old Chen was slightly stunned, looking down at the cloth bag. The opening of the bag wasn't tied tightly, revealing a corner of golden-brown fur.

Before Old Chen could react, Pei Se directly dumped the contents out of the bag.

An aura surged out from the cloth bag.

That aura froze Old Chen's hand in mid-air and stopped his breathing for a split second.

It silenced all the surrounding Demon Slayer Association members who were collecting the Demon Slaying Atlas.

Fourth-Turn.

This was the aura of a Fourth-Turn Great Demon!

Old Chen's pupils shrank violently. He raised his head to look at Pei Se's scarred face and her calm, unrippled eyes.

The corners of Pei Se's mouth twitched.

Old Chen only found it too preposterous, because the Pei Se before him was obviously still a Peak Third-Turn martial artist and had not advanced to the Fourth-Turn.

Although he also knew that Pei Se had precious liquor capable of temporarily advancing her to the Fourth-Turn, it was still completely impossible for her to slay a genuine Fourth-Turn Great Demon!

Old Chen continued to scrutinize the weasel head in front of him.

Huang Zu's head, with eyes open and mouth closed, its golden-brown fur casting a cold glint under the candlelight.

The head was severed very cleanly, with a smooth cut, as if it had been chopped off in a single stroke by something extremely sharp.

Staring at Huang Zu's head, Old Chen asked with disbelief filling his eyes.

"This Third-Turn weasel actually advanced to a Fourth-Turn Great Demon!"

"And yet you still killed it?"

The surrounding Demon Slayer Association members who were flipping through the Demon Slaying Atlas also gathered around.

One, two, three—more and more came, surrounding Pei Se so tightly that not even water could leak through.

Someone gasped, and someone muttered the words "Fourth-Turn".

Someone stared at the weasel's head with eyes wide round.

Pei Se stood there, surrounded by those people.

She reached out to unbuckle the last wine gourd from her waist, pulled out the cork, and took a gulp. The liquor rolled down her throat, burning so much that she narrowed her eyes.

"The Fourth-Turn weasel is indeed dead."

Only after finishing the wine did Pei Se slowly speak.

"However, although I made a move, I wasn't the one who slew it."

"The one who slew the weasel is someone else, and I need to report this to the deputy leader of Huainan Circuit."

"This matter is of great importance, and I hope you can help me report it, Old Chen."

Pei Se's expression was incomparably serious.