Chapter 183 - 116: Luring a Demon Leads to Calamity (Part 2)

Chapter 183: Chapter 116: Luring a Demon Leads to Calamity (Part 2)

"Third Brother! Flank from the left! Second Dog! Fire a signal into the sky!"

Before they even reached the temple gate, Wang Sanshui began to command with an air of great importance. "Make a racket! Let the villagers down the mountain hear just how hard we from the Evil Suppression Department work! This is our ticket to getting more funds from the higher-ups!"

"You got it!"

A team member casually cast the Fireball Technique, sending it shooting into the sky with a SWOOSH.

A less-than-spectacular firework burst open, its explosion seeming quite boisterous in the silent mountain woods.

Hearing the commotion, the two contacts inside the temple exchanged a look. They quickly hid the leftover half of a roast chicken, wiped the grease from their mouths, and plastered on panicked expressions as they came scrambling out to meet the group.

"Vice-captain! Vice-captain! It’s terrible!"

The burly, fleshy-faced man yelled with ham-fisted acting, "The Demon Fox... the Demon Fox went crazy just now! It almost killed us!"

"What?!"

Playing his part, Wang Sanshui roared, drawing his long saber and assuming the expression of one facing a great enemy. "How dare this foul creature be so brazen! Men, with me! Charge!"

The group stormed into the dilapidated temple with a great clamor.

Once they were inside the temple and the doors were shut, the tense, grim atmosphere instantly collapsed.

"Alright, alright, drop the act."

Wang Sanshui tossed his saber onto a table and plopped down on the altar, all traces of his earlier authority gone. His face was now a mask of crass slickness. "Old Sixth, where’s that critter? Still alive, I hope? Didn’t starve, did it?"

"Don’t worry, Vice-captain. It’s still breathing."

The burly man chuckled and pointed to a bamboo cage in the corner. "Just a bit lethargic, probably from the smoke of the Demon-Attracting Incense."

"Lethargic is perfect. Saves us the trouble of chasing it all over when we let it out."

Wang Sanshui nodded in satisfaction. He pulled a small notebook from his robes and, by the light of the fire, began to do the math. "Ten of us came out this time. By the book, everyone can claim a night-duty subsidy. Plus the cost of the Array’s ’depreciation’ and the Demon-Attracting Incense..."

He licked his lips, his eyes gleaming. "Once we get this money, after I give you all your cuts, what’s left will be enough for me to live it up at the Yicui Building for half a month! This time, I’m thinking of asking for that new star Courtesan..."

The surrounding team members all broke into knowing, sleazy smiles.

"Vice-captain, how are we logging the equipment damage?" someone asked.

"That’s the easy part."

Wang Sanshui pulled a small dagger from his waist and tossed it to a subordinate. "Same as always. Cut a few slashes in each other’s Inner Armor.

"Remember, not so deep you hit flesh, but not so shallow it looks fake. We’ll report back that the Fox Demon’s Magical Power was overwhelming and that we only survived after a life-or-death struggle."

"Aye, aye!"

Laughing, a few of the men took the dagger, ready to begin their usual, farcical routine of mutual mutilation.

Just then—

The chirping of insects outside the temple, as if strangled by a giant, invisible hand, came to an abrupt halt.

The mountain wind, which had been relatively calm, suddenly turned violent. A thick, rank stench, mixed with the nauseating odor of rotting flesh, surged madly into the temple through the dilapidated window frames and the cracks in the door.

The stench was so overpowering that the smiles instantly vanished from the men’s faces; one of them even began to gag audibly.

"What’s that smell? Why did the Demon-Attracting Incense start to stink?" Wang Sanshui cursed, pinching his nose.

Up in the rafters, however, the expression of Chu Bai, who had been observing with cold detachment, suddenly grew taut.

The previously dormant Patrol Banner Inspector’s medallion at his waist suddenly grew searing hot—a sign that his Law Net authority had been triggered.

Evil Qi was imminent.

"It’s here."

’It’s here,’ Chu Bai thought, silently drawing back and completely retracting his aura.

「The next moment.」

ROAR—!!!

A deep, savage roar exploded just outside the temple doors!

The sound was so immense that it shook the roof tiles loose, sending them clattering down and filling the air with dust that blinded everyone.

"Wh-what was that sound?"

The abacus in Wang Sanshui’s hand fell to the ground with a CLATTER. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and his legs began to shake uncontrollably.

Though he was a scoundrel, he could still tell that this was definitely not a sound the common fox in the cage could make.

BOOM!

They were given no time to react.

The already rickety temple door, as if struck head-on by a charging Demon Horse Carriage, instantly shattered into splinters that flew everywhere!

A massive black shadow, wreathed in billowing black smoke and suffocating Evil Qi, charged in, radiating a frenzy of hunger and bloodlust!

By the light of the torches, the group finally got a clear look at the intruder’s true form.

It was a black wolf the size of a calf!

Its fur stood on end like steel needles, wreathed in a faint black mist. Its eyes, crimson as blood, were filled with crazed killing intent. Viscous saliva dripped from the corners of its mouth, and its sharp fangs glinted coldly in the firelight.

This was no mere wild animal.

This was clearly a genuine Demon Beast!

And judging by its aura, it had to be at least at the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation!

"Is... is that a Bloodthirsty Black Wolf?!"

Wang Sanshui let out a squawk like a strangled rooster and went completely limp. "How... how could something like this be here? There are only supposed to be foxes here!"

The two men who had been in charge of watching the Demon-Attracting Incense were closest to the door.

Before they could even scramble up from the floor, the black wolf was upon them.

"Hel—"

The burly, fleshy-faced man only managed to cry out a single syllable.

The black wolf swiped its massive, fan-sized claws as if swatting a fly.

With a sickening crunch of bone, the man’s chest instantly caved in. His body was sent flying backward like a broken kite, crashing heavily against the divine statue. Blood sprayed everywhere, and he went silent on the spot.