I defeated the saint with a parry.

"..."

Zhao Yi?

What a coincidence! Everyone had just fallen asleep when Hou Le finished speaking, and then Zhao Yi came to knock on the door.

"Could you tell me what happened, Master Zhao?"

"Everyone in the house next door is dead. It's a serious matter. Come out and see for yourself."

Zhao Yi's voice was anxious, and it was even trembling.

"Oh? Please elaborate." Xu Ling walked to the door and could clearly sense that there was someone there, and it was Zhao Yi, whom he knew well.

"My wife and I were startled awake from our dream a short while before the incense stick burned. We thought we heard screams coming from Old Liu and his family next door. We thought it was just our imagination, but then we heard some soft, seductive sounds. We looked through the crack in the door and saw that they had all gone outside and were having sex with a group of red foxes. They were drained of their life force and died suddenly."

As Zhao Yi spoke, his voice trembled even more violently, and you could feel it even through the door; the shop owner was truly terrified.

"My wife and I are scared. Could we go inside and hide?"

Xu Ling chuckled twice: "Of course, but it will cost extra."

The person outside was getting anxious, and even their tone changed: "I'm willing to pay more, any amount, as long as you let me in."

Xu Ling ignored him.

The person opposite pushed the door, but the bolt was stuck, and they couldn't move it after one push.

This went on for several minutes. Zhao Yi became even more anxious: "Open the door! Why is it locked? I'm Zhao Yi. I agree to pay more. Let me in!"

He pushed the door open again for a while, then his tone suddenly turned nasty.

"Don't forget, I've already paid you. Open the door now!! You've taken the money, so you have to do my job, or I'll report you to the Demon Suppression Bureau and strip you of your demon slayer status."

"Taking money to do things makes sense; I should indeed open the door and let you in."

Xu Ling silently placed his hand on the door latch, when a reminder suddenly came from behind him.

A clear voice rang out: "Don't open the door, they are evil spirits."

Li west had woken up at some point and was looking at Xu Ling with a lingering fear on her face.

Xu Ling ignored him, but Li Xi was getting anxious when he noticed that Xu Ling's actions were wrong. His hand on the door latch not only didn't open the door, but he also stuffed something into the latch, making it even tighter, so that it would be difficult to move even if someone used a knife.

"Boom!" 』

Zhao Yi pushed the door again from outside. The door made a muffled thud, and the force was much greater than last time. However, this time the door bolt was blocked, and Zhao Yi couldn't push it open at all.

"Open the door!!"

A helpless roar came from outside the door, but Xu Ling completely ignored it.

Li west cleared his throat, looking somewhat embarrassed: "I thought you would open the door."

"What? Are you disappointed that I didn't open the door?"

"How could that be? There are evil spirits outside. I was just afraid that if you opened the door, we would be killed."

"What a joke." Xu Ling rolled her eyes. "Even if it were just the two of you outside, I wouldn't open the door, let alone that bastard Zhao Yi."

Seeing that Xiao Li's expression turned grim, Xu Ling asked nonchalantly, "Did you have a nightmare?"

"That's right!" Li west's face turned pale. "I dreamt of a monster the size of a child that ate everyone in the shop next door, and then disguised itself as them to lure us into opening the door. In the dream, you tried to kill the monster and opened the door directly, and then all three of us died."

"Oh? Interesting!" Xu Ling asked, "In your mind, I'm not only reckless but also incompetent, knowing there were monsters, I still willingly went to deliver myself to them?"

"..."

Aren't you one of them?

Li west didn't voice his thoughts. If a person in the Body Tempering stage dared to confront a human-faced tiger head-on, what else wouldn't he do?

Seeing the look in his eyes, Xu Ling knew the answer and was speechless: "If Zhao Yi outside the door dares to speak to me like that, I will kill him."

Xu Ling unsheathed the ink-black knife from his waist, stood in front of him, and his killing intent erupted: "It's true that Boss Zhao is a businessman, and it's normal for him to be a little cunning, but he's not stupid at all. Even if he really thinks I'm a profit-driven fool and can be scolded at will like a servant, he would never actually show it. That guy outside is definitely not Zhao Yi himself. There are too many flaws, and I'm too lazy to mention them all."

"Brother Xu is right!! My parents gave me life, but Brother Xu truly understands me, Zhao Yi!" A sudden noise came from behind the wall next door; it was Zhao Yi's voice: "I am the real Zhao Yi."

At this moment, Zhao Yi's voice was somewhat urgent, but mostly relieved: "When that guy outside was talking just now, I intentionally reminded Brother Xu, but for some reason, no matter how much I knocked on the wall or shouted, you couldn't hear me at all."

"Those who use my name to threaten Brother Xu deserve to die."

"Brother Xu clearly warned us to follow the rules and not to go out. If I didn't stay in my room, how could I be outside?"

Xu Ling nodded: "Yes, just as I thought, Boss Zhao won't be going out."

"Hey, be careful what you say," Zhao Yi said with a forced smile. "I'm definitely not a coward."

"The things at the door are gone, what do we do now?" Li west asked. "It's not safe to stay inside, something might break down the door."

"You dreamt of it breaking down the door?"

"Yes," Li west nodded.

Zhao Yi, who was next door, chimed in, "My wife and I have also met in our dreams."

Coincidentally, out of so many people, he's the only one who doesn't remember what happened in his dream.

Xu Ling looked at Hou Le: "What did Elder Hou say?"

Hou Le closed his eyes: "Don't ask me, I didn't sleep at all, I don't know what will happen."

Seeing this, Xu Ling said directly to Li west, "I have a plan. Please go out for a walk first, and I will stay behind to keep things under control."

"You!!" Li west was furious: "You want me to go?"

"Yes, such an important task is best suited for you."

Xu Ling smiled and said, "I'll follow behind you, and we'll go out together."

"..." Seeing that Xu Ling didn't seem to be joking, Li Xi grumbled as he walked to the door. After confirming that there was no movement outside, he carefully opened the door a crack: "It's so quiet outside."

Xu Ling smiled warmly: "Yes, yes, yes, hurry up and get out of here, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Li west reluctantly opened the door and stepped out of the room at Xu Ling's urging.

There were no corpses or monsters outside, only an empty courtyard that looked particularly desolate under the starlight.

Li west smiled and was about to say something when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back and a knife tip protruding from his chest.

"Um?"

"Don't panic, take a deep breath, feeling dizzy is normal."

Xu Ling still smiled warmly, as if he wasn't the one stabbing someone in the back with a knife: "Why are you looking at me? Look outside! What if a monster comes?"

"you....!!"

Li west was furious and collapsed at the doorway.

After doing all this, Xu Ling silently closed the door, then gripped the knife and looked at Hou Le, the old servant of the Li family, in the corner.

"So, are you going to die on your own, or should I do it?"

Hou Le asked with a face full of curiosity, "How did you figure that out?"

Xu Ling shrugged: "I didn't see anything."

"Then why..." Hou Le glanced at the doorway, puzzled, "Why did you kill him?"

Xu Ling laughed and said, "In this kind of situation, do I need a reason to kill someone? As long as I feel something is even slightly wrong, I can chop that person to pieces without any problem. After all, it's better to die for a friend than for myself. If I don't kill them, what if they end up harming me? Wouldn't it be too late to regret it then?"

"Besides, knowing Li west as I do, he's a cautious and meticulous person, so why would he suddenly suggest going out? It's just that the monster outside can't get in, so he's found another way to get me to go out on my own initiative."

"And why is it that only you guys can remember what happened in your dreams, while I know nothing? You cheated without me, you deserve to die."

"You..." Hou Le pointed at Xu Ling, but couldn't think of a way to refute him for a long time. In the end, he just sighed.

After the sigh, Xu Ling suddenly woke up.

Xu Ling looked at Li west, who was staring blankly in the corner, and Hou Le, who was humming a little tune. After confirming that the two of them were human and not ghosts, he couldn't help but sigh. It turned out that what he had just experienced was a dream.

It's a pity. I thought the plot had progressed successfully, but now I'm back to square one.