Chapter 37
There are still no clues about this monster, and everyone is getting anxious, especially the people from the Exorcism Bureau. This Immortal Alliance Conference is being held in their own territory, and they need to return to the capital before the conference begins.
Su Liyue subtly conveyed that half of the Exorcist Division would follow Fu Junmo back to the capital, while some of the younger disciples would join her and the people from Tianyu Mountain in investigating the monster.
“It was our oversight to begin with, and we are already extremely grateful that you all came to help,” Zhou Xuanzhi said thankfully. “Actually, the three of us could have done it ourselves.”
Su Liyue joked, "It seems Junior Brother Zhou can get away with this without anyone helping him?"
"How could that be? Senior sister is joking, I..."
Seeing Zhou Xuanzhi's frightened expression, Su Liyue laughed and said, "Don't take jokes seriously. This is the first time my junior brothers and sisters have gone down the mountain for training. Everything must be done from beginning to end. We must let them see the results of their first mission."
Since Su Liyue had spoken like that, Zhou Xuanzhi couldn't refuse. He said, "In that case, it's a favor for you all to do for us."
Seeing that the Exorcist Division members had split into two groups, Deng Lan said, "In that case, I will... join the Exorcist Division's senior and junior brothers..."
Xiao Mu went up and took Deng Lan's hand, saying, "I'm so sorry, Brother Deng, we've been so busy that we haven't been able to properly entertain you, but we really hit it off right away."
Fearing she wouldn't be able to leave, Deng Lan quickly said, "Let's get together after we're done with this busy period! We're not worlds apart, it'll be easy for us to meet."
"Senior Brother Deng is right. I'm really sorry for taking up your time these past two days." Zhou Xuanzhi gestured for Xiao Mu to stop talking. Since he was leaving now, there was no reason to stop him from leaving.
Fei Xiang stood to the side without saying a word. His reason for staying was the same as the people from the Exorcism Bureau: this matter was not yet resolved, and he could not leave now.
The next morning, the group set off to continue searching for the monster.
Zhou Xuanzhi and Su Liyue walked at the front, with Shi Yunzhou and Xiao Mu following behind.
Looking at the two people talking ahead, Xiao Mu asked Shi Yunzhou, "Our senior brother has never been this enthusiastic before, has he?"
Shi Yunzhou glanced at the two people in front of him without saying a word.
Indeed, I've never seen my senior brother be this close to anyone before, not even those from Tianyu Mountain.
Zhou Xuanzhi, who was in front, naturally had no idea that the people behind him were talking about him. "So I suspect that the Demon Clan is up to something."
He went through everything that had happened before, starting with Fang Xiashen. It was as if an invisible hand was guiding them step by step toward the unknown.
"What you're saying lacks evidence." Although she wanted to believe it, everything needs to be verified. She also acknowledged that the demons must be making some moves, but the events in Jianye Town might not be related to them.
After all this time, no one knows how Fang Xiashen escaped from the Demon Realm. What stage have they reached? Will this have any impact on the common people?
Seeing Zhou Xuanzhi's preoccupied expression, Su Liyue said, "The leaders of various sects have already begun their investigations, and I believe we'll have results soon."
Is it really that simple?
Xiao Mu looked at the two people in front of him, and then, as if remembering something, he tugged at Shi Yunzhou's sleeve, signaling her to follow him to a place a little further away.
"What's wrong with you?" Shi Yunzhou asked, seeing his mysterious and hesitant expression.
"Don't you feel that Senior Brother Zhou seems to have a 'fight to the death' attitude towards demons?" This demon has been quiet for so long, and usually everyone would just leave in this situation and come back to check on it every now and then.
Shi Yunzhou raised an eyebrow at the person in front of him, thinking to himself, "Don't you know that he and I are the brothers?"
Seeing the other party's indifferent attitude, Xiao Mu shook his head and said, "What I mean is to keep an eye on Senior Brother." Everyone says that Shi Yunzhou has a stubborn personality, but in his opinion, the most stubborn one is Zhou Xuanzhi.
Xiao Mu wore his worry on his face; he knew a little about his senior brother. Their master's death had been a huge blow to his senior brother, and he still felt that the death was not as simple as it seemed.
"I understand!" he said, leaving the secluded place and following behind the others.
Xiao Mu shook his head as he watched Shi Yunzhou's retreating figure. In truth, their personalities were quite similar. Their most similar trait was their background. Senior Brother Zhou was indeed born into a prominent family in the capital, but he didn't have a good life at home. Some people even wanted him dead, and he lived in constant fear.
Shi Yunzhou never saw his parents after birth and wandered around outside from a young age. Such a young child alone must have suffered a lot and lived in constant fear, perhaps starving, freezing, or being beaten to death one day.
So if there's someone who truly cares about them, they'll always remember that warmth that belonged to them. Master said they didn't go astray, not only because of the guidance of their junior uncle, but also because they have strong hearts.
"Are you also suspecting that there are other hidden reasons for Junior Uncle's death?" Xiao Mu followed Shi Yunzhou's footsteps. If it were him, would he be able to accept his master leaving him?
"...Master is very strong. Even with her spiritual palace shattered, she can still... If it were me, I wouldn't believe she could be killed by the Illusion Demon." The Illusion Demon can only create illusions to trap people. But before that, Master used her spiritual power to remove demonic energy from herself. What if that had caused too much damage?
Unaware that his fellow disciples had already strayed far from the main group, Zhou Xuanzhi spotted a familiar wisp of resentment in mid-air.
“Yunzhou, look at this resentment.” He stopped and waited for a while without getting a response. Zhou Xuanzhi turned around and did not see his junior brother.
Su Liyue stepped forward to look, and it was indeed a wisp of resentment. It lingered in mid-air for a long time without dissipating, showing how strong the resentment was.
Zhou Xuanzhi turned around but didn't see the two people. Had they gone off alone to look for clues? Thinking of this, he sent a message to them.
Xiao Mu was not present, but Fei Xiang was. He stepped forward and saw the resentment. "That's it." This intense resentment was truly rare. The last time he saw it was in the mass grave on the battlefield.
“Following this resentment, we can find the monster.” With that, Zhou Xuanzhi headed towards the direction of the resentment.
Su Liyue gestured to her junior brothers and sisters, and everyone followed. Having received Zhou Xuanzhi's message, the two hurried along and finally caught sight of the tail end of the main group.
Seeing Fei Xiang waiting there, Xiao Mu thanked him, saying, "Thank you for waiting for us, Master."
Most of the main force stopped outside a cave. The two men could sense that there were many people inside, and they were all still alive.
Shi Yunzhou went inside and saw several ragged, wounded women in the cave, tightly protecting a female demon behind them. This sight prevented Zhou Xuanzhi from approaching; he gestured to Shi Yunzhou with his eyes, and then led all the male disciples away from the cave.
Su Liyue stayed inside with several female disciples. They put away their weapons, and Su Liyue dared not approach. "We mean no harm. We just want to know some things from you."
The exorcist disciples who left with Zhou Xuanzhi were still puzzled. "Those women were injured, and they were protecting that monster, so..." So their injuries weren't caused by the monster, then how did they get them?
Looking down at the scattered villages, with wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys, this might seem like the idyllic life to some, but for some women, it's not.
“When I was young, I went down the mountain with my master. At that time, we met some women. Some of them were swordsmen who traveled the world, while others were well-read and talented. They were all ordinary women.” Zhou Xuanzhi’s gaze at this moment was filled with helplessness and sympathy. “No matter what their status was, they would eventually be forced by their families to marry and have children, and would eventually be trapped in a small world. If they were not married to good men, they might end up like the women in the village.”
"Does Senior Brother Zhou mean they were beaten by their husbands?" These young people had grown up in the Exorcism Division, where even women of ordinary talent were chosen from among the best. They truly couldn't understand such a thing.
Zhou Xuanzhi remained silent, which was tantamount to acquiescence. The male disciple was puzzled: "Why? Why are they beating their own wives?"
Yes, who knows? Nobody knows the reason, and nobody can answer his question.
Xiao Mu recalled Zhou Xuanzhi's earlier comment that this monster was likely a female demon, a statement he had previously held reservations about, but now he had actually seen it for himself. No wonder Lin Jichen had been so determined to become Shi Wanqing's disciple; his junior uncle was truly knowledgeable.
"How did Junior Uncle summarize his experience?" Xiao Mu asked.
Experience? My master had been down the mountain before that incident, so perhaps that's why he thought, "After hundreds of years, he should be able to see something!"
Why did the female monster rescue them?
Zhou Xuanzhi also had no answer to this question. "What I've heard most often is about mortal women helping each other. They face the same problems and can better understand each other's suffering. But why this female demon would help these women, I'm not very clear either."
Looking back at the cave, Su Liyue was no longer in sight; they hadn't come out yet.
Xiao Mu thought about how his senior and junior sisters didn't seem to be very good at speaking, and that communication was usually handled by those who were skilled at it. He whispered to the youngest disciple of the Exorcism Division beside him, "How well has your senior sister mastered the 'art of speaking'?"
The art of speaking? What kind of art is that?
However, the person next to him understood what he meant, pulled him aside, and then said, "It's not a big problem against mortals."
"Where is the monster?"
The young disciple looked troubled, scratched his head, and said, "This is our first time on a mission, so we don't know anything about it. But our senior sister can talk to mortals very well, so she shouldn't have much trouble talking to demons, right?"
Su Liyue was indeed capable of persuasion, but they were taking this demon back for trial. Given the number of lives she had taken, she was certain to be imprisoned in Guancheng. Knowing the demon's fate, these women would certainly not try to dissuade her. In fact, if they were to attack, they would stand up to protect her.
The sin of fighting with mortals is immense! This is a dilemma.
A short while later, Su Liyue came out with a female disciple. The two of them seemed to have been kicked out, and they looked rather disheveled.
As if he had expected this, Zhou Xuanzhi didn't turn around and kept looking at the houses below the mountain. Xiao Mu turned around and said to Zhou Xuanzhi, "It seems like they were driven out by people with sticks and stones."
"Um."
“Shouldn’t we try to persuade him? Senior brother, you can too…” Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Xuanzhi interrupted him, “I can’t, none of us can.”
He turned to Xiao Mu and said seriously, "Because we are male, the same gender as those who persecute them. They will be resistant to us, but we can't."
Everyone saw how the two were kicked out, so no one went up to ask how they were doing.
"Should we go down the mountain and look for these women's families?" At this point, only their families would provide them with protection. With their families around, even if they don't help, they will have concerns. Even if they do take action, they won't step forward to protect that female monster.
At this point, it seems that this is the only way.
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