It was a dark and windy night. A night for catching a demon.
The entire inn, having been cleared of all customers very early on, was filled with silence. There were four or five fat c.o.c.kerels in a cage in the middle of the inn"s inner courtyard, and the flapping of their wings could be heard from time to time.
There was n.o.body in sight, not even the waiter who normally patrolled the inn in the middle of the night, but a closer examination would reveal a few shadowy figures lying on the roof, under the eaves, behind the door, and even in the shrubs in the courtyard. Every one of them was concentrating on the chickens dozing in the courtyard.
Two hours pa.s.sed.
No movement.
Four hours pa.s.sed.
Dead silence.
Six hours pa.s.sed.
"Ah choo!" Lonemoon let out an involuntary sneeze and was greeted by dozens of chiding eyes. He felt like he must be crazy leaving his bed in the middle of the night to follow this group of mental r.e.t.a.r.ds. They had waited for so long but not so much as a demon"s hair could be seen.
"Enough. You all should call it off." He nudged at Shen Ying who was next to him. He really didn"t want to continue lying on the roof. He had told them that such a harebrained idea wouldn"t work. Those Foundation Establishment disciples did not know how to rein in their aura; only a blind demon would be unable to detect a few dozen cultivators full of Spirit Qi. "You and your asinine plan. It would be a miracle if a demon came!"
"It"s here!" But just as Lonemoon finished speaking, a disciple called out urgently from below.
A cloud of black Qi descended from the sky.
Lonemoon: "…"
(⊙_⊙)
Holy s.h.i.+t! It"s really the demon!
The cloud of black Qi flew directly towards the chickens in the cage. The court yard immediately resounded with the clucking of chickens. Within moments, the chickens had disappeared. A stack of golden objects could be seen among the chicken feathers in the cage.
"Arh…" The cloud of black Qi, which had grown decidedly bigger, seemed to be burping. It floated up again as if intending to fly away.
"Catch it!" Cheng An shouted. Immediately the array formation was activated and the disciples who had been lying in ambush rushed over with their weapons.
Seemingly startled, the black Qi hurriedly turned around in a circle and began to jump up and down in an attempt to fend off the attacks from the disciples. Perhaps it was because this inner courtyard was too small and there were too many Blackheaven Sect disciples, but the demon actually managed to evade capture.
"Don"t panic, junior brothers and sisters defend your a.s.signed formations!" Cheng An was the lead disciple of the sect master. Seeing that it would take time to capture the demon, he instructed everyone to use the array formation to box in the demon.
The chaotic crowd of disciples started retreating at his command, but at the exact moment that they retreated, the Black Qi suddenly burrowed out from the crowd, shot up into the sky and moved to the right.
"Oh no!" An anxious Cheng An looked up and saw that the ma.s.s of black Qi had already broken clear of their array formation and was flying directly to the right which was being guarded by…
Shen Ying, Lonemoon and Yi Qing: "…"
Cheng An paused for a moment, remembering that this was their experiential training. Making a snap decision, he immediately rushed towards Shen Ying. "Junior Sister, stop that demon!"
Ah? Ah!
Before Shen Ying could react, the blob of black Qi had already flown right up to her. It was greatly bloated and had two black tails behind it. She instinctively reached out and grabbed at a dangling tail, gently pulling it down.
Meow…
There was a piercing scream and the blob fell onto the roof with a thud. The black Qi around its body dissipated, revealing a young boy dressed in black with two black ears on his head and two fat tails behind him.
Er… Cat-style COS?
"Double-Tailed Civet?!" A surprised Lonemoon stepped forward. Isn"t this just a sixth-stage demon? But they told us it was eighth-stage?
The human manifestation of the civet cat looked like a teenager. Probably due to the pain from the fall, he hugged his tails pitifully and blew at them. His green eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears, and he appeared as if he might burst out crying at any moment.
"Meow…" He looked up timidly at the three people in front of him. Suddenly thinking of something, he turned and pulled out a s.h.i.+ny golden object from his bag and pushed it towards them.
Looking closely, Lonemoon saw that it was actually a piece of gold!
(⊙_⊙)
Hey! What do you mean by this? Are you trying to bribe us?
Seeing no reaction from them, the civet cat pondered for a while and then took another gold piece out of his bag, putting it side by side with the other one.
The three of them: "…" This is one savvy cat.
Still seeing no reaction, the civet cat demon gritted his teeth and poured out all the gold pieces from his bag. Seven or eight gold pieces slid down from the roof. He looked at them meekly and said, "No… no more. Meow."
"…" Lonemoon"s mouth twitched. I"m not concerned about the amount! This demon even remembers to settle the bill for for his meal! I wonder where he comes from?
"Tell us, why are you killing people?" Trying to ignore the pile of gold, Lonemoon stepped forward and pointed the jade flute in his hand at the civet cat.
"Meow!" The civet cat trembled in fear and tears flowed from his eyes. He shook his head hard, saying, "Exalted Immortal, spare me. I didn"t do it. I may not be a vegetarian, but I"m a pure domestic cat. I"ve never harmed anyone."
"Don"t try to deny it." Lonemoon deepened his tone. "You dare to say that the chaos in this town was not your doing?"
"I… I did eat a few chickens! But that was because I was hungry. Meow." The civet cat began to cry louder and louder, an expression of deep hurt on his face. "But… but I paid for everything! Really, I didn"t harm anyone." Pointing to the gold pieces on the ground, he started counting off his fingers. "I also cured Uncle w.a.n.g"s waist injury, Uncle Li"s aching foot, Uncle Zhao"s rheumatism, Auntie Sun"s menstrual imbalance…"
"Stop, stop, stop!" You"re going way off topic. As a small civet cat demon, you sure know a lot. "How will you explain the dozen people who died in this town, and the Golden Core cultivator who was disemboweled?"
"That… that was the work of the eighth-stage fox demon." The civet cat seemed to think of something and s.h.i.+vered. "I pa.s.sed by here ten days ago and saw it harming people. It even wanted to grab my things. I wasn"t its match so I hid in this town."
"Hid?" Lonemoon repeated, deep in thought. Then his eyes widened in sudden realization. "You mean that the protection array formation in the town is still in place!" He immediately formed a hand seal and a ray of light flashed from his fingertips and beamed into the sky. Moments later, a transparent s.h.i.+eld that covered the entire town came into view—it was really there!
It was standard procedure for the Blackheaven Sect to set up a defensive array formation in every town under their protection to prevent demons, beasts and Fiendish Cultivators from entering and harming the town"s mortals; thus, without breaking through this layer of defense, they would have no way of entering the town at all. When Lonemoon first received the message for help from this town saying that there was a demon creating havoc, he had a.s.sumed that the defensive array formation had already been broken which was why no one had thought of checking it. And yet here it was.
The fact that the civet cat was able to enter the town meant that he was probably telling the truth. He had never harmed anyone and so there was no trace of baneful Qi in its body which would have triggered the array formation.