Tang Dynasty Demon Suppression Division

As he spoke, he brandished the knife in his hand in a threatening manner, which frightened the child so much that he burst into tears and collapsed to the ground.

Shi Yong was dumbfounded. Li Yuan found it amusing, took out a pancake from his pocket, and handed it over.

"Don't cry, we're not bad people, we're officials from the city's Demon Suppression Bureau. Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

The child was indeed starving. He looked at the fragrant wheat cakes and swallowed hard, but dared not reach out to take them.

Li Yuan stuffed more food into his hand, and he grabbed it and started to bite. Judging from how he wolfed it down, it seemed like he hadn't eaten in a long time.

"Don't rush, eat slowly, no one will steal your food," Li Yuan said, glancing around. There was indeed nothing suspicious about the place.

Only after the child had eaten his fill did Li Yuan ask him questions in detail.

"My name is Little Stone. My parents disappeared a few nights ago and never came back... Many people in the village have also disappeared..." he said, tears welling up in his eyes again.

"Did you see anything strange just now? Like... a very large shadow, or smell a strange odor?" Chen Shuo asked in a deep voice.

Little Stone shook his head blankly: "No... I was scared at night, so I hid here and didn't see anything..."

Li Yuan always felt that there was something strange about this child, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange about him.

He looked at the earth god temple again. The temple was covered with a thick layer of dust, the offering table was overturned, and the clay statue of the earth god was incomplete and covered with cobwebs.

There were no incense burners, no offerings, and not even the most basic traces of incense could be seen. It seemed that this temple had been abandoned for more than just a day or two.

"Little Stone, do you usually live here? What do you eat to survive?" Li Yuan asked casually.

"Hmm...sometimes Sister Huaixue would secretly bring me some food..."

"Sister Huaixue? Is she from the village?" Chen Shuo asked.

"Yes, Sister Huaixue is kind-hearted," Little Stone nodded, speaking vaguely.

"Since there are no monsters here, let's go look around elsewhere first." Seeing that he couldn't get any information from them, Shi Yong, concerned about his colleagues, urged them on.

Although Chen Shuo had doubts in his heart, he did not show them on the surface. He nodded and signaled everyone to leave for the time being.

"Little Stone, stay here and don't run around. We'll go look around the rest of the village and try to find your parents, okay?" Li Yuan said gently.

Little Stone raised his head, glanced at Li Yuan, and softly hummed in agreement.

After leaving the land temple, Chen Shuo immediately whispered instructions: "Leave two people to lie in wait in a secluded spot on the outskirts of the village, and keep an eye out for anyone entering or leaving the village."

"Xu Sheng, Fang Yan, you two take men to the riverbank and search carefully for any clues about our brothers from the Demon Suppression Division. Li Yuan, you come with me and the other brothers, split up and sneak around the village to investigate. Be careful to stay hidden, and we'll meet up again tonight."

"yes!"

The group obeyed and quickly dispersed. Li Yuan and Chen Shuo formed a group and used the terrain to explore the village. At this time, dusk was falling and the village was deathly quiet.

All the houses had their doors and windows tightly shut, and were pitch black, with no lights on. They looked lifeless, but by peeking through the cracks in the windows, one could vaguely sense that there were people inside.

Even more strangely, apart from the villagers, there were no other living creatures in the entire village; the chickens, dogs, cattle, and sheep that are common in the village were nowhere to be seen.

The two wandered around the village but found no trace of any monsters, so they had to go outside the village to meet up with the others.

Soon everyone arrived, and Xu Sheng and his group made some discoveries. The Wushui River was turbid and black, emitting a foul stench, which was completely different from the clear river water upstream.

Fang Yan used his magic to detect the presence of a trace of cold poison in the water, which could corrode the essence of living beings. In addition, they found some messy traces of a battle on the riverbank, but no corpses.

After inquiring with an elderly hunter who lived alone far from the riverbank, I learned that about half a month ago, a large wave had surged in the river in the middle of the night, with dark shadows churning and strange cries accompanying it.

The next day, some daring villagers went to check and found pools of black slime left on the riverbank. A few days later, people from the Demon Suppression Bureau came by, circled the river, seemed to find nothing, and left.

But ever since then, the river water here has turned black and smelly, and one accident after another has happened in the village.

"Could it be that a water demon is causing trouble, polluting the river, and the villagers are undergoing strange changes after drinking the poisoned water..." Chen Shuo's expression was solemn. "It seems that the root of the village's problem may lie in the Wushui River, or rather, the water demon has not gone far away, but is controlling the villagers in some way."

"Yes, it's even possible that it could transform into the appearance of villagers, hiding among them to escape the pursuit of the Demon Suppression Division," Xu Sheng continued to analyze.

"Now, how should we investigate?" Shi Yong asked anxiously.

As they were talking, Fang Yan suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, "There's a demonic aura!"

Suddenly, the compass in his hand began to tremble violently, pointing frantically towards the village, clearly indicating a strong demonic aura.

Everyone turned to look, and it turned out to be the direction of that earth god temple again. Chen Shuo's face darkened.

"Li Yuan, Xu Sheng, and I will go to the local temple. The three of you will provide support from the outside, and the rest of you will guard outside the village. If anything changes, we will immediately provide backup," Chen Shuo ordered.

"yes!"

Before the others could act, Chen Shuo and his two companions flew towards the direction of the Earth God Temple.

As they approached the Earth God Temple, the group slowed their pace. A layer of black mist was visibly shrouding the temple, and even without using a compass to investigate, they knew there must be demons inside.

The group exchanged glances, becoming even more vigilant. Chen Shuo gestured for Li Yuan to sneak in through the broken window from the side and rear, while he prepared to push the door open from the front, with Xu Sheng providing backup.

Li Yuan nodded, his figure flickered, and he landed behind the temple. He concealed his aura, spread his spiritual sense, and slowly approached the broken window covered with cobwebs.

"Squeak."

With a loud bang, he and Chen Shuo rushed into the earth god temple one after the other.

In the dim candlelight, a small figure held a rough oil lamp in his hands, his face still dirty.

It's a small stone.

Another strange thing happened. Just a moment ago, the demonic aura was very strong, but now it suddenly disappeared, becoming so faint that it was almost imperceptible.

"Uncle...you're here again." Little Stone seemed very happy to see them. "Are you here to catch monsters?"

Chen Shuo's heart skipped a beat, his hand already on the hilt of his knife, watching him warily. Li Yuan also emerged from the shadows, forming a pincer movement with Chen Shuo, their eyes fixed firmly on the little stone.

"Little Stone, it's so late, why aren't you asleep yet? And why is the light still on?" Li Yuan slowly approached, his muscles tense, ready to strike at any moment.

"I'm scared..." Little Stone lowered his head, his voice trembling with tears. "It's so dark in the temple, and there are strange noises... I can't sleep, Uncle, can you stay with me?"

He raised his head, his eyes brimming with tears, full of pleading; anyone who saw him would feel pity.

At this moment, Li Yuan noticed that the oil lamp was emitting a chilling aura, which was very similar to the aura in the Wushui River just now.

"Okay, Uncle will keep you company." Li Yuan said with a gentle smile on his face, continuing to walk towards the little stone without stopping.