I Possess a Scroll of Demon-Subduing Records

He Dong's eyes lit up.

Although the original plan was to stop after demanding a thousand taels of gold, Wang Liang himself had boasted about it, so...

"Two thousand gold pieces!"

"?"

That's it?

Wang Liang thought that a Ghost King like He Dong would at least spend 10,000 gold coins to make a move, and he was prepared to bleed out his money. But to his surprise, it was only 2,000 gold coins.

Although two thousand gold coins was not a small sum, Wang Liang felt that his life was more valuable.

Seeing the shock on Wang Liang's face, He Dong assumed he was unwilling to pay so much money, so he threatened, "Someone offered five hundred gold coins to buy your life, and another five hundred gold coins to take your manhood. I'm not killing you, and I'm only taking two thousand gold coins. That's already merciful. If you keep dawdling, don't blame me for killing you and taking the money!"

Wang Liang was furious: "My reward is only five hundred? This is an insult to me! It should be at least five thousand gold!"

He Dong's eyes had turned into the shape of gold ingots. This Wang Liang was truly a mature hostage; he could even raise his price on his own.

"Then it's as you said, five thousand gold pieces, write the letter quickly!"

Wang Liang: "..."

Am I stupid?!

"How about we just go with two thousand?"

"Are you trying to fool a ghost?"

He Dong was completely shrouded in a black robe, but at this moment his eyes seemed to emit a faint red light. Even though it was broad daylight, Wang Liang still felt a chill.

"Five thousand, five thousand it is, I'll write it right away."

Wang Liang dared not delay. He tore off a piece of white silk from his clothes and then used the small knife he carried to cleanly and decisively cut his finger, writing a letter in blood.

Seeing this, He Dong silently put away the prepared pen and ink.

Wang Liang then asked, "Where should we send the ransom? I suggest throwing it into the river. The water will wash the gold away, and any tracking methods will be rendered ineffective. You are incredibly resourceful, so retrieving the money from the water shouldn't be a problem."

He Dong: "..."

"By the way, to make people believe it's me, it's best to include a token as well. This is my personal jade pendant. Send it over with it, and the ransom will arrive soon."

He Dong: "..."

This hostage is too skilled; he can already go through the procedures on his own.

He Dong took the blood letter and token handed to him by Wang Liang, used the Five Ghosts Transporting Technique, and delivered the items to the Earth God Temple.

At this moment, Lin Yi had already arrived...

Chapter 8 Guan Buping is very knowledgeable

When Lin Yi and his two companions arrived at the Earth God Temple, it was a scene of great commotion.

Guan Buping was relieved that the villagers were still so energetic and fierce after the tiger demon attacked the village. It was a good thing that the tiger demon did not massacre the village.

The three men stepped forward and were met with a barrage of vulgarities, such as "slut," "bitch," "vixen," and "harmful devil." Someone in the crowd shouted, "Strip this slut naked!"

In an instant, a large crowd surged forth.

Lin Yi knew something was wrong as soon as he heard it, so he quickly ran up and parted the crowd.

The people on the outside were all men, trying to squeeze in, seemingly hoping to see something interesting. But they couldn't withstand Lin Yi's reckless charge, which allowed him to break through and make his way out.

Pushing through the crowd, Lin Yi saw several village women attacking a mother and daughter. The women were tearing at the woman's clothes, and the woman dared not resist, only holding her child and begging for mercy.

None of the men watching offered any help; instead, they stared wide-eyed at the woman's exposed skin.

Lin Yi was furious and shouted, "Stop it, all of you!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, he unconsciously used the roar of a tiger, and the villagers around the earth god temple fell silent and stopped what they were doing, as if they had been frozen in place.

Lin Yi quickly ran to the woman's side and saw that her clothes were tattered, revealing a large area of ​​her arms and back. Only her undergarment was intact. He quickly put his wet clothes on her.

It was only then that the village women realized what was happening. One of them, a woman with a bib, slanted eyes, and a fierce appearance, took advantage of her numbers and said to Lin Yi, who had suddenly appeared, "Where did you come from, you little brat? Are you her new lover?"

"The Jingye Division is handling a case; get out of here at once!"

Guan Buping rushed out of the crowd and saw Lin Yi being harassed by the village women, so he spoke up to support him.

Upon seeing Guan Buping's police uniform, those people quickly took a step back and dared not be arrogant anymore.

The police in this era were different from those of later generations. The common people did not fight against the officials, which was the survival wisdom of the people in this era. If Lin Yi hadn't come out shirtless and if those village women hadn't been so angry, they wouldn't have dared to challenge Lin Yi.

Only the fierce-looking woman from before was still muttering, "She's not good at fighting monsters, but she's good at bullying us ordinary folks."

Lin Yi glared at her, which startled her so much that she took two steps back and dared not speak again. Only then did Lin Yi comfort the sobbing girl, saying, "It's alright now."

"Thank you."

The girl's face was dirty and her eyes were filled with tears, clearly she had been quite frightened, but she still thanked Lin Yi.

Lin Yi was still unaware of the cause of what had just happened and it was not convenient for him to draw any conclusions at the moment, but in any case, tearing someone's mother's clothes in front of her child, especially in front of so many people, was simply barbaric.

Now that he's seen it, he can't just ignore it.

Guan Buping hadn't expected that he would clash with the villagers so soon after finding them.

Since a conflict has arisen, he doesn't need to be too polite, lest he diminish his prestige.

"Who is your village chief? Step forward."

The villagers didn't know exactly how high-ranking Guan Buping was, but in any case, officials were not to be trifled with. Seeing his domineering demeanor, an old man quickly stepped forward and said, "I am Zhao Shan, what are your orders, sir?"

"Tell me what happened in detail!"

Zhao Shan dared not hold back and quickly explained the reason.

It turns out that the mother and daughter were the people involved in the Qinghe Village incident: Qin Shi and her eldest daughter, Zhao Xiaocao.

Zhao Xiaocao, with her intelligence, escaped from the clutches of the Tiger Granny and even called on the village hunters for help, who killed the man-eating monster.

Unexpectedly, this attracted an even more powerful tiger demon, which devoured the people of the Jingye Division and the hunters.

Unable to defeat the tiger demon, the hunters' families naturally turned their hatred towards Zhao Xiaocao and her mother, Qin Shi.

Previously, the tiger demon had driven them to settle near the local temple, and under the tiger's intimidation, no one dared to cause trouble.

However, Zhao Xiaocao was clearly unaware of her situation. When she heard the tiger demon's screams earlier, she urged everyone to take advantage of the tiger demon being restrained and escape quickly.

This suggestion became the fuse, and the hunter's family began to insult Zhao Xiaocao. Soon, their anger spread to the Qin family.

Although Qin was not a widow, her husband had been in the army for many years and there had been no news of him. He was most likely dead somewhere. Qin was also very beautiful and had a graceful figure. She was so plump that it seemed as if you could squeeze water out of her. Her charm was far beyond that of ordinary village women.

The men in the village couldn't help but stare at Qin Shi whenever they saw her, so the village women blamed the hunters' deaths on her.

If those hunters hadn't wanted to curry favor with Qin and show off in front of her, how could they have been killed by the tiger demon?

Under this logic, a critique of the Qin family began.

In particular, a fisherman who sells fish early in the morning said that Qin Shi did not go back to her parents' home that night at all; it was clearly a rich young man who brought her back.

That rich young master even came looking for us before!

Upon learning that Qin Shi's infidelity had brought about this disaster, the crowd's anger reached its peak. Even those women who hadn't lost anyone in their families wished Qin Shi dead.

Thus, the scene of a group attacking them ensued.

Lin Yi suddenly found it very funny.

Whether Qin was having affairs outside is something Lin Yi doesn't know and won't comment on, but objectively speaking, what did Xiao Cao do wrong?

From the very beginning, Xiaocao was just a victim. These people were trying to strip her clothes off, and they clearly didn't spare Xiaocao either.

She's still a child!

Lin Yi could understand the families of the victims' anger towards Xiaocao; it was only natural for them to feel that way. However, their actions were still excessive. Moreover, there was still the threat of tigers roaming the area. The external threat hadn't been dealt with, yet internal turmoil had already begun.

Guan Buping, however, caught the key point in the village chief's words: the rich young master, could it be Wang Liang?

He then looked at Madam Qin, whose face was streaked with tears and looked so delicate that one felt an urge to pity her. Looking at her figure and remembering that she had a husband who was a soldier...

Guan Buping understood everything.

Wang Liang wasn't going on a spring outing at all; he was clearly no longer satisfied with the people in the city and had started targeting the surrounding villages!

However, he couldn't care less about that. He simply asked Zhao Shan, "Where is that rich young master you mentioned before?"

"Right next to the local temple, that man looked like he was either rich or noble, and no one dared to approach him."

As Zhao Shan spoke, he pointed to the local earth god temple.

But right now, there's no one left.

Guan Buping scanned the crowd several more times, but still couldn't spot Wang Liang.

According to Zhao Shan, Wang Liang was not eaten by the tiger, so he should be in the village now.

Where have they gone now?

Just as they were wondering, a strange wind suddenly blew over, but compared to the gale brought by the tiger demon, this wind was obviously not very dangerous.

A piece of white cloth was also carried by the wind. Guan Buping was quick-witted and grabbed the white cloth. Inside the white cloth was a jade pendant. When he opened it, the blood-written letter was shocking.

Wang Liang has been captured by a monster again...

Chapter 9 Niu Er delivers the letter, Qin Shi sends her daughter.

Lin Yi gained a new understanding of He Dong's methods after seeing the suddenly appearing blood letter.

It was broad daylight, yet He Dong was able to abduct people from the local temple in full view of everyone. This shows that the sun, crowds, and temples—things that ordinary ghosts would avoid—were of no use to her.

This is not good news for Lin Yi; the stronger He Dong is, the harder it will be for him to resist.

Currently, He Dong is still someone he can talk to and negotiate with. But what if one day he encounters something that can't be negotiated, and He Dong forces him to kill someone?

Only by possessing the power to counterbalance He Dong can Lin Yi truly feel at ease.

Since my strength is insufficient now, I can only temporarily act as her mole.

He feigned curiosity, moved closer to Guan Buping, and asked, "What is this?"

"Young Master Wang has been kidnapped, and the Prefectural Governor's Office is demanding five thousand taels of gold for his ransom."