Something's wrong with this demon.

Chapter 78 The Four Fiends

"Please, please don't—"

The woman crawled out of the woods covered in blood, grabbing the steps with one hand, crying and pleading.

The three men followed, grinning maliciously.

At that moment, they all suddenly saw Luo Qingchen appear on the steps.

Upon seeing him, the woman cried out in alarm, "Junior Brother Luo! Please come and save me!"

It turns out that this woman was Zhou Ruomei, whom Luo Qingchen had just met through the task list not long ago.

Weren't there four of them together?

What about the other three?

Luo Qingchen thought to herself.

He had actually seen all three men who were chasing Zhou Ruomei before.

These were three of the Four Fiends of Hundred Corpse Peak, who were in the same team as Zhang Duanyang.

"Tsk tsk, so it's Junior Brother Luo from Black Phoenix Peak. Is this your Senior Sister from Black Phoenix Peak?"

One of the thin men, wielding a dagger, grinned and grabbed Zhou Ruomei's hair. With a flash of cold light, the dagger plunged into Zhou Ruomei's right eye with a "thud"!

"ah-"

A scream echoed through the mountains and forests.

The skinny man twirled the dagger in his hand and grinned, "Junior Brother Luo, we brothers are going to skin her alive now, you don't mind, do you? Want to watch together?"

The other two men both had a mocking look on their faces.

Luo Qingchen didn't say anything and continued down the stone steps.

As he passed in front of Zhou Ruomei, the woman trembled and cried out, "Junior Brother Luo, please—save me! Save me—I—"

Before she could finish speaking, the thin man pulled a dagger from her eye and plunged it into her throat.

Luo Qingchen didn't give it another glance and quickly left.

The four of them went down the mountain to do a mission, so they must have signed a brotherhood pact. Now that the other three have disappeared without a trace, how could he possibly go to rescue them?

Although he was a new disciple, he had a one-month protection period.

But if he had dared to make the first move, he would have been the one lying on the ground being skinned alive.

The screams behind me had stopped.

A breeze blew through the forest, carrying a chilling sensation.

At this moment, he once again clearly felt the terror and cruelty of this place.

Before they even descended the mountain, they were skinned alive.

What should be done if a new disciple needs to leave the mountain after a month when the protection period has ended?

One person definitely can't do it.

Even if you find a companion with whom you have signed a brotherhood pact, it only guarantees that the companions will not attack each other, but it does not guarantee that the other party will help you when you encounter danger.

This senior sister Zhou is a perfect example.

As he pondered this, he continued walking down the mountain.

Half an hour later, he finally arrived at the foot of the mountain.

As they were walking through a grove of trees, they suddenly saw three familiar figures standing by the roadside ahead, huddled together and talking in hushed tones.

The three of them seemed a little nervous, talking while constantly looking around.

Among them, Senior Brother Zhang, who was heavily pregnant, was particularly eye-catching.

"Huh, Junior Brother Luo?"

The three quickly noticed someone appearing. Their expressions changed, and they were about to run away immediately, but when they saw it was him, they stopped.

"Junior Brother Luo, did you go down the mountain to do a mission?"

Zhang Dong's face, which had initially shown a hint of panic, immediately broke into a warm smile.

The female disciple named Chen Xuan and the male disciple named Lin Song both managed to force a smile.

Luo Qingchen walked closer and said, "I received a mission, it's relatively simple."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dong quickly exchanged glances with the other two and hurriedly said with a smile, "Junior Brother Luo, since your task is relatively simple, there's no rush. Why don't you come with us to Qinghe City to do your task first, and then we'll help you with yours after we finish that one? How about that?"

Luo Qingchen declined, saying, "This is my first time doing a mission, and I want to practice on my own first."

Before Zhang Dong could say anything more, Luo Qingchen suddenly glanced around and asked, "Where's Senior Sister Zhou? I remember she came down the mountain with you, right?"

Upon hearing this, the expressions on the faces of the three men became very unnatural.

Chen Xuan quickly smiled and said, "Before we went down the mountain, Senior Sister Zhou suddenly said she had something to do and told us to go ahead first. I guess she probably won't be able to go."

Zhang Dong chuckled, "Maybe I just suddenly felt a bit unwell. After all, I'm a woman, it happens every month, cough cough—"

Lin Song, who was standing to the side, also smiled and nodded.

Luo Qingchen didn't say anything more, cupped her hands and said, "Then I wish Senior Brother Zhang, Senior Brother Lin and Senior Sister Chen a great success. I'll take my leave now."

After saying that, he left.

The three watched his figure gradually walk away and soon disappear into the woods ahead.

At this moment, the smiles on their faces had disappeared.

"What bad luck! We ran into the Three Fiends of Hundred Corpse Peak. I reckon Junior Sister Zhou is probably doomed. We don't have enough people right now, what should we do?"

"Let's go try it first. If it really doesn't work, we can come back and find someone. We don't dare go back now; who knows if those three bastards are still guarding there?"

"Alas, it's a pity we're no longer new disciples. Junior Brother Luo, on the other hand, is perfectly safe."

Lin Song sneered, "Let's see how safe he is a month from now. He has offended Zhang Duanyang, who is the leader of the Four Fiends. Unless he stays home all the time, he will surely die if he goes out."

The three discussed it for a while and decided to go and take a look inside Qinghe City first.

Outside Qinghe City, at Shili Pavilion.

Luo Qingchen, holding a map, stopped at the three-way intersection, observed carefully for a while, and then walked towards the leftmost path.

After passing through a grove of trees, a teahouse indeed appeared on the road ahead.

The teahouse's tattered flag fluttered in the cold wind, bearing the four large characters "Anjia Teahouse".

There was an open space outside the teahouse with four or five tables set up.

By this time, two tables were full of people, all dressed as merchants, with some goods beside them, and they all seemed to know each other.

Although it was a teahouse, the aroma of wine wafted through the air.

Inside the teahouse, a short, thin man was holding a teapot and refilling tea for the customers.

In the kitchen, separated by a long table, a tall woman in a floral dress was cutting meat at the cutting board with quick and efficient movements.

Apart from one other table of guests inside, there was no one else there.

Luo Qingchen did not rush over. She carefully observed the surrounding environment, took out the map and looked at it, then raised her eyes and looked at the inn not far in front of the teahouse.

A few miles further ahead from the inn, there is a canyon.

At the other end of the canyon lies Black Stone Pass, the border pass leading to the Feather Kingdom.

Beyond the pass are mountains; beyond the mountains lies the neighboring state of Yan.

This road is the only way from Qinghe City to the neighboring country, so many merchants pass through here every day.

Normally, there are soldiers patrolling the area.

Luo Qingchen looked around for a while before putting away the map and heading towards the teahouse.

The two tables of guests sitting outside were talking when they saw him come in alone, and they were both a little surprised.

After all, this road is not safe, and most people travel in teams.

Many teams also specifically hired people from martial arts schools or security escort agencies.

The people at both tables scrutinized him carefully but didn't pay him any attention, and continued chatting.

When Luo Qingchen came out today, she specially changed into a set of coarse cloth clothes, instead of wearing a black robe or black tight-fitting clothes embroidered with the white skull of the Demon Extermination Sect.

"Are you alone, sir?"

The short, stocky teahouse owner, carrying a teapot, came out of the house. When he saw that the man was alone, he was taken aback for a moment, then looked up at the woods behind him, assuming that there were other people following behind.

Luo Qingchen asked, "Are you the manager here, all alone?"

The innkeeper nodded quickly and said, "Yes, yes, would you like to sit outside or inside?"

Luo Qingchen glanced into the room and said, "Let's go inside."

"7

"Alright, please, young master!"

The shopkeeper quickly led him into the house and asked him what he would like to eat.

"Let's start with a pot of tea."

Luo Qingchen followed him into the house and found a table of guests sitting inside, a total of five people.

Two young men, two young girls, and one woman.

One of the girls was dressed as a boy.

The woman's gaze was particularly sharp. When she saw his eyes linger on the girl dressed as a man for a moment, she immediately glared at him fiercely.

Luo Qingchen withdrew her gaze and walked to a table in the corner to sit down.

Just as the shopkeeper was about to leave, Luo Qingchen handed him the letter in her hand and whispered, "Shopkeeper, please take a look first."

"This is----"

The shopkeeper paused for a moment, took the letter, and suddenly noticed the skull and crossbones symbol on the envelope.

"Please wait a moment, young master!"

His expression changed, and he immediately took the letter and went into the inner room.

A short while later, he lifted the curtain, beckoned to Luo Qingchen, and said in a low voice, "Please come in and talk, young master."

Luo Qingchen got up and went into the inner room.

The five people at the table inside the room all stared at him suspiciously.

"So it's a high-ranking official from the Demon-Slaying Sect!"

As soon as Luo Qingchen entered the inner room, the shopkeeper hurriedly bowed and was about to speak when he added with a forced smile, "Sir, could you please show me your identification token?"

Luo Qingchen took out her waist token and handed it to him.

The shopkeeper accepted the item with both hands, carefully examined both sides, and then respectfully returned it, exclaiming with delight, "Indeed, it is a high-ranking official from the Demon-Suppressing Sect!"

Luo Qingchen's heart skipped a beat. She took the waist token and asked, "Do you recognize this waist token?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Of course we know each other. I saw you once in Qinghe City."

He immediately said, "Lord Luo, please sit down. Let me explain slowly."

Luo Qingchen sat down on the chair next to her.

The innkeeper first picked up the teapot and poured him a cup of tea before saying, "Since last month, this street has become rather unsafe. Although there have been some robberies and murders before, this time, things are a bit different. Since last month, twelve people have gone missing on this street, and just the day before yesterday, another young man disappeared—"

Luo Qingchen asked, "Has anyone reported this to the authorities?"

The shopkeeper smiled bitterly, "Of course there is. We reported it to the authorities in Qinghe City, and the government sent a few people who investigated for two days and then left without finding anything. When we went to report it again, they said they wanted to pay us a service fee, at least fifty taels of silver. How could our small business afford fifty taels of silver? The constables they sent before ate and stayed here for free, and even took a lot of our meat. In the end, they didn't finish their business and just left."

Luo Qingchen asked curiously, "Then how did you find our Demon-Slaying Sect?"

The shopkeeper said, "It was a coincidence. When we went to the government office to report the case but to no avail, we were chatting in a teahouse when the teahouse owner overheard us and came over to whisper to us to go find the people from the Demon Exorcism Sect. She said that we were the best at handling these kinds of cases and that there was a branch of the Demon Exorcism Sect in the city."

"At the time, we really didn't know what to do, so we went to the address provided by the proprietress."

An official from your clan listened to our story, had me write down my address, and then let us leave, saying he would send someone over in a few days to check on us.

"That official even took out his waist tag and showed it to me, saying that if anyone came, I should check the waist tag first—"

Luo Qingchen asked, "How much silver did he ask you for?"

The shopkeeper shook his head: "We didn't ask for any money at the time. That official said that we could give the money after this matter was settled, just give it to the person who came, five taels of silver will suffice."

"Five taels?"

Luo Qingchen was taken aback upon hearing this.

He came to investigate the case, and the sect gave him ten taels of silver as a reward.

If you kill the demon, you will receive a reward of fifty taels of silver.

If the sect only asks this shopkeeper for five taels of silver, then who will give the rest?

The sect subsidizes it itself?

That's clearly unlikely.

Would the Demonic Sect engage in unprofitable business?

Based on everything he encountered after entering the Demonic Sect, it's absolutely impossible.

The shopkeeper bowed again and said, "Sir, this matter has already affected our shop's business and the safety of passing merchants. Everyone is now in a state of panic. If we don't hire cultivators for protection, they simply won't dare to do business here. But if we hire cultivators, the round trip might result in a loss. If this continues, alas—"

Luo Qingchen came to her senses and asked, "Who are these missing people? Do you know exactly where they disappeared?"

'

"They were all merchants. As far as I know, some disappeared on the road, some around here, some at the inn ahead, and some in the canyon ahead."

"Are they all merchants?"

"Well, most of the people passing through here are vendors, and there are also some tourists from neighboring countries. We don't really know their specific identities."

"Is the missing person male or female? Are there any children?"

"There are men and women, and children too."

Luo Qingchen thought for a moment and asked, "Do you know their approximate ages?"

Just as the innkeeper was about to reply, a woman's loud shouts suddenly came from outside: "An Da! What are you doing hiding in the room? Can't you see the guests have arrived? Come out and pour tea!"

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper quickly said, "Lord Luo, let's go out first, and I'll tell you more later."

As he spoke, he quickly lifted the curtain and went out.

Luo Qingchen went outside and was about to return to her seat when she suddenly heard the girl dressed as a boy at the opposite table exclaim in surprise, "Huh, she looks like a disciple of the Snow Jade Palace!"

Luo Qingchen's expression shifted, and she looked outside.

A group of young men and women dressed in white surrounded a middle-aged woman as they entered the teahouse.

The two tables of customers outside the teahouse were immediately intimidated by the aura of these people and unconsciously stopped talking.

Luo Qingchen returned to the corner, sat down, picked up the teapot, and poured a cup of tea.

However, he did not drink it.

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