Ascending to Immortality by Slaying Spirits

Chapter 35 - The Mandrill Bully
"Demon-slaying team?" Lin Le paused, a thought flashing through his mind, before replying, "What demons?"

“A mountain demon,” the man said. “This demon has taken advantage of the fact that the imperial aura has not yet gathered, and has repeatedly come down the mountain to forcibly abduct women, rape and even devour them. This time, it has even abducted the daughter of the wealthy Lu family.”

“Master Lu has offered a reward of one thousand taels of silver just to kill this demon; the spiritual materials on the demon will be paid separately.”

"A thousand taels of silver, that's quite a lot." Lin Le nodded slightly. "But with the combined efforts of the entire town, has it reached the Enlightenment stage or the Qi Refining stage?"

“It should be civilized,” the man said.

"Alright, I'll take this on." Lin Le clapped his hands. "When should we assemble, or should we conduct an assessment first?"

"No need." The man patted his chest. "Meet at the east entrance of town tomorrow at Chenshi (7-9 AM). Just say the name of Wang Town!"

"Okay," Lin Le said, "it's settled then."

"I'll be waiting for you tomorrow, little brother!" Wang Zhen left with a hearty expression.

The breakfast stall owner watched Wang Zhen walk away with a smile on his face, even though he hadn't paid for his breakfast yet.

Petty thieves and scoundrels.

Lin Le put down the bowl, a hint of mockery appearing in his eyes.

"Brother, I have a question for you." Lin Le waved to the stall owner.

"Hey, what would you like to ask, young hero?" The stall owner immediately trotted over and asked obsequiously.

"What's going on with the Liu residence?" Lin Le pointed to the abandoned house in the distance. "Why is there a female ghost there?"

"A female ghost?!" The stall owner exclaimed in surprise. "Young hero, you've seen her?"

"Yeah, I stayed at her house last night. That female ghost wanted to eat my life essence, but I managed to exorcise her spirit while I was at it," Lin Le said casually.

But the stall owner looked at Lin Le with even more awe and complimented him, "Young hero, you are truly amazing. You can even deliver a female ghost from suffering."

"Let's talk about why the female ghost was formed first," Lin Le tapped his finger on the table. "Ghosts don't just form randomly."

"You want to stand up for her?" The stall owner looked at Lin Le with an incredulous expression.

Lin Le countered, "Why not?"

The stall owner looked conflicted, but after glancing around, he whispered a few words in Lin Le's ear and immediately stepped back: "That's all the old man knows."

"Okay, continue serving the food." Lin Le nodded slightly.

It's a very cliché story: the Liu family has a beautiful daughter, and a local bully wants to marry her. However, the Liu couple refuses, so the bully gathers his men, rapes the Liu family's daughter, kills the Liu family's head, and seizes their property.

However, later ghosts and monsters appeared here, so the bully abandoned the house and went to live happily in another house.

There's just one question: why didn't the bully send someone to kill the female ghost?
Although the female ghost was troublesome, a few first or second-level martial artists could easily destroy her by igniting their blood energy.

Was it intentionally left unattended?

Lin Le's mind raced, and he turned back to the Liu residence. Ordinary ghosts and monsters couldn't stray too far from corpses.

After knocking on the well nine times, a huge snake's head emerged: "What's the matter?"

"Do you know there are ghosts here?" Lin Le asked.

The giant snake turned its head: "I don't know. I just felt that this place was filled with yin energy and there shouldn't be anyone here, so I sent you here. But where are the ghosts? I didn't sense anything."

"I've already performed the ritual to help the spirit pass on," Lin Le shrugged. "Could you help me find the ghost's remains?"

"Oh." The giant snake nodded, then seemed to realize something, "Hey, I'm already being nice by not ordering you around, little guy. Why am I becoming more and more obedient to you?"

“Isn’t that the more capable you are, the more work you should do?” Lin Le said. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to find it, and it wouldn’t be good if it delayed me from finding food for you.” “You have a point.” The giant snake nodded reluctantly, blew a breath, and a section of the floor was dug open, the soil automatically separated, revealing a skeleton.

The giant snake glanced at it and said, "Hmm, it's cultivating Yin soldiers. No wonder the Yin energy is so heavy."

"Ghost soldiers." Lin Le pondered the term for a moment and knew what it meant: using ghosts as soldiers.

"Why are you looking for her remains?" the giant snake asked curiously. "Didn't you perform a ritual to help her pass on to the afterlife?"

"Find a reason," Lin Le said calmly.

A reason to kill an entire family.

The next day, Lin Le appeared at the east gate of the town, where a few people were already waiting.

Lin Le glanced at them and saw that most of them were dressed as hunters, and judging from their gait, most of them were first or second-level martial arts masters who had practiced rudimentary martial arts.

Lin Le walked over with his gun. When someone saw him coming, they also walked up to him: "Brother, are you also in the Demon-Slaying Team?"

“Yes, Wang Zhen recommended me,” Lin Le said.

"Oh, Wang Zhen." The man nodded in realization, but a hint of mockery appeared in his eyes. "What level of martial arts master?"

"Three restrictions," Lin Le said without changing his expression.

"Third Limit!" The man was surprised, and a hint of jealousy appeared in his eyes. He was almost thirty years old and had only just entered the second limit, while the young man in front of him, who looked only twenty, had already reached the third limit and becoming a cultivator seemed to be a certainty.

However, thinking of the purpose of his trip, the man put aside his jealousy. It was just a damned piece of meat; what was there to be jealous of?

"In that case, you should go to the first team," the man said, then pointed to a team.

Lin Le looked in the direction he was pointing and saw that the group was all dressed as hunters, and judging from his senses, they should all be second-level martial artists.

'Tsk, they're even dividing the food up.'

Lin Le walked towards the line, and a kind-hearted middle-aged man greeted him first: "Young man, you've been assigned to the first line too?"

"Hmm." Lin Le nodded indifferently.

The middle-aged man was quite familiar with the man: "My name is Hongtu, from Hongjiazhuang. Young man, where are you from?"

“Bailian County,” Lin Le replied.

“City folks, huh? No wonder they’ve become second-tier citizens at such a young age,” Hong Tu said with surprise. He had clearly noticed the commonality among the people here.

“I’m subject to three restrictions.” Lin Le glanced at him.

"Three restrictions!" Hong Tu exclaimed. The others couldn't help but look at Lin Le, and when they saw his disguised appearance of about twenty years old, they couldn't help but show a hint of surprise and envy.

In the small town of Qinghu, a twenty-year-old named Sanxian could be considered a genius, which meant that he was destined to become a cultivator and a wealthy local tycoon, respectfully addressed as "Yuanwai" (Master Yuanwai).

Wang Zhen, who rushed over, was also surprised. He thought Lin Le was at most a second-tier talent, but he didn't expect him to be a third-tier talent.

This worried him a bit. At such a young age, he was already subject to the three restrictions, so he was probably a core member of some powerful force in the city.

If he dies, he'll probably be in some trouble.

However, after glancing at the people around him, Wang Zhen made up his mind. So what if he died? It wasn't his fault anyway. He could just pin the blame on the mountain demon.

Moreover, he dared not gamble on Lin Le's intentions. If Lin Le shouted after hearing this, exposing the inside story of the Demon-Slaying Team, he would be the first to die.

Since dying sooner or later is the same as dying, he might as well choose to die later!
(End of this chapter)