Catching Monsters

Chapter 408 Looking for Death
The flags on the walls of Haiyan City were no longer those of the Zhou Kingdom.

The flags that were being displayed were not unfamiliar; they were the flags of the rebel army from the three southwestern provinces.

"Those rebels have already captured Haiyan City so quickly?"

Seeing this, Linglong frowned deeply, and a look of surprise appeared in her eyes.

These rebels are moving way too fast.

How long has it been since we left the three southwestern provinces?

They have already captured this place.

As night fell, the goose demon bird slowly landed on a beach, and after letting the three people down, it spread its wings and flew away.

Watching the wild goose demon bird fly away, Jiang Yun couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "This thing is really useful."

After such a long journey, we returned so quickly using this demonic bird. I really need to find a way to get one in the future.

Under the cover of night on the beach, Yan Jiu took a deep breath and slowly said, "Brother Jiang, I'll take my leave now."

Jiang Yun glanced at Haiyan City not far away and said slowly, "Take care on your journey."

"Ah."

Soon, Yan Jiu's figure disappeared into the night. Linglong beside him couldn't help but sigh and say, "Your personality is really hard to fathom. You've helped a kid who you just met by chance quite a bit along the way."

“You don’t understand.” Jiang Yun smiled. “Doesn’t Buddhism often say that you reap good results from good causes?”

"Now that I've helped him, who knows, maybe one day in the future he'll do me a big favor."

“That’s true.” Linglong frowned and nodded, but something still felt off, so she couldn’t help but ask, “But aren’t you a Taoist priest? Why do you believe in Buddhist things?”

“It’s about integrating and combining the strengths of many schools of thought.” Jiang Yun stared at Haiyan City and said slowly, “Let’s go in and find an inn to rest. We’ll return to the capital early tomorrow morning.”

……

In a dilapidated courtyard in Haiyan City, a burly woman sat in the yard, holding a feather duster, and muttered, "Yan Shi, what are you doing? The food isn't ready yet!"

He then got up and walked towards the kitchen in the courtyard.

But when they entered the kitchen, they were stunned.

The middle-aged man named Yan Shi was quite thin and was busy in the kitchen.

To the woman's surprise, a boy was inside the kitchen, which startled her.

Why is Yan Jiu back?
While Yan Shi was away from home, she secretly gave him a love potion and then had her family sell him onto a slave ship bound for the demon kingdom.

How did he come back?

"Son, where have you been all this time?" Yan Shi was overjoyed to see Yan Jiu appear and quickly went up to hug him, saying, "Your mother and I were so worried about you."

“You disappeared, and your mother cried for days. She and I searched for you in the city for a long time.”

“With all this war and chaos, I thought you had been kidnapped and forced into the army.”

As Yan Jiu listened to her father's concerned words, her gaze toward the woman was filled with hatred.

Then, he pulled out a kitchen knife from the kitchen.

"What do you want to do?" The woman was startled and quickly hid behind Yan Shi.

Yan Shi was stunned for a moment before quickly stepping in front of his wife.

"Father, she sold me onto a slave ship of the demon kingdom!" Yan Jiu said, taking a deep breath.

Upon hearing this, Yan Shi turned back to look at the woman in disbelief.

"You, you did this?" Yan Shi asked sharply upon hearing this.

Seeing this, the woman decided to throw caution to the wind and cursed, "So what if I did it? Look at your house, it's a mess. I'm already being kind by marrying you."

"I've worked so hard to save money for you, and now I have to raise money for this little brat to get married and have kids."

"You little bastard, what's with that look in your eyes? What's wrong? You want to kill me? Come on, try killing me if you dare."

“In broad daylight, I don’t believe you two would dare kill me.”

As the woman spoke, she took the feather duster in her hand and prepared to strike Yan Shi.

Since they met, Yan Shi has always been obsequious to her and treated her extremely well.

Unexpectedly, Yan Shi grabbed the feather duster, his eyes blazing with fury, and lashed out at the woman: "If you dare sell my son, I'll kill you."

As he spoke, Yan Shi took a feather duster and lashed it hard at the woman.

Then Yan Shi said to Yan Jiu beside him, "Son, let's go report to the authorities."

"Report it!" the woman said, hands on her hips. "The rebels have now occupied our Haiyan City, and my brother has gotten a job with them."

"You two just wait, when my brother gets here, he'll skin you alive."

"You dare hit me?"

"If you ask me, your cowardly behavior is a sign of bad luck for your wife. Your previous wife was extremely unlucky to have come to you."

"And you, you little bastard, your mother was cursed to death by you two..." Upon hearing this, Yan Jiu rushed forward, grabbed the woman's hair, and slammed her hard to the ground.

With a loud bang, the impact distorted the woman's facial features.

Although Yan Jiu has not yet cultivated, he is surrounded by more than a dozen kinds of demonic energy, which is definitely not something an ordinary person can resist.

The impact caused the woman to scream in pain, and many of her teeth fell out.

Yan Jiu dragged the woman out of the dilapidated courtyard, and the woman kept shouting, "Murder! Murder!"

The shouts attracted neighbors who came out to see what was going on.

With his left hand gripping the woman's hair and his right hand holding a kitchen knife, Yan Jiu waited until many neighbors came out before shouting loudly, "Look closely, the one who killed her is me, Yan Jiu!"

After saying that, he slashed the woman's neck with a knife.

Instantly, blood gushed out like a fountain.

The woman convulsed all over, and soon became still.

The reason Yan Jiu killed the woman in broad daylight was that he didn't want to cause any trouble for his father.

After killing the woman, Yan Jiu quickly disappeared into the darkness.

……

"This street is really quite desolate."

Jiang Yun and Linglong walked through Haiyan City. All the shops on the street were closed. The rebels had come and looted everywhere, and not many people dared to do business.

Upon arriving at the inn, Jiang Yun and Linglong knocked on the door for a long time.

The innkeeper slowly opened the door, and the innkeeper, a middle-aged man in his fifties, looked at Jiang Yun and Linglong suspiciously, asking with some disbelief, "And you two are?"

"Just checking into the hotel," Jiang Yun said with a smile.

The shopkeeper was slightly startled; at this critical juncture, he really dared not do business casually.

If these two are rebels, they might loot the house if they enter.

"We're fully booked, sorry."

After saying that, he was about to close the door.

Jiang Yun quickly raised her hand to stop him from closing the door, took out a piece of silver, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, shopkeeper..."

"This." The shopkeeper's heart stirred slightly when he saw the silver. He then welcomed the two people in and personally made them two bowls of noodles.

After placing two bowls of scallion noodles on the table, the shopkeeper sighed and said, "Sir, this is all the food we have left in our shop."

"The rebels... After the rebels entered the city, they looted all the supplies." The shopkeeper originally wanted to say "rebels," but not knowing the two men's identities, he dared not speak carelessly.

Linglong frowned slightly and glanced at the shopkeeper: "Rebel army?"

Seeing the girl's reaction, the shopkeeper realized he had misspoke and quickly corrected himself: "Rebels, rebels..."

"Alright," Jiang Yun said. "We'll just stay one night and leave tomorrow, so as not to trouble the innkeeper. But..."

Before the words were even finished, footsteps suddenly came from outside the inn.

Then there was a knock on the door.

The shopkeeper thought to himself, "This is bad." He had lit candles inside...

They've probably been targeted by the rebel troops patrolling the city.

Sure enough, the shopkeeper stepped forward and opened the door. A group of more than ten rebels, holding torches, looked into the room and asked, "Shopkeeper, what are these two doing here?"

"They are newly arrived guests."

"Sir? Our rebel army has sealed off the city. At this hour, not even a mosquito could fly in. How did these two get in?"

The rebel soldiers stepped forward and approached Jiang Yun and his companion.

Jiang Yun and Linglong exchanged a glance.

The rebel leader, a middle-aged man in his thirties, noticed that Jiang Yun and Linglong's attire was somewhat unusual.

Moreover, her exquisite temperament is exceptional, far surpassing that of ordinary wealthy young ladies in the city.

"Guards, take them both back..."

Before the captain could finish speaking, a dagger pierced through his neck in an instant.

Bang.

The captain's body fell to the ground.

"Charge!" Upon seeing this, the other rebels drew their weapons and slashed at Jiang Yun and Linglong.

Linglong drew her dagger, and soon more than a dozen corpses lay on the ground.

"You're asking for it." Linglong wiped the blood off the dagger, returned to her seat, and continued eating her scallion noodles.

(End of this chapter)