So it turns out I'm the demon!

"demon!"

"There are demons!!"

Just moments ago, Zhang Awu had been swaggering around, but now he scrambled out of the kitchen, losing one of his shoes in the process, his face deathly pale.

The others stood there, stunned, not reacting for a moment.

Granny Yuan cried out:

"No, my son is not a demon! He's just sick, he's just sick..."

The little girl sat blankly on the ground, staring at the dark door of the kitchen, her face full of confusion and fear.

"roar--!"

A roar came from the kitchen.

Immediately afterwards, a figure rushed out, dragging behind him a half-broken rope.

It was indeed the fifth elder!

His face was contorted in a grotesque grimace, his skin a strange bluish-purple, with long, thin veins of blood running beneath his skin like worms, and his eyes were bloodshot.

Only then did the hangers-on realize what was happening, and they were so frightened that they scattered and fled.

"Run! There's a demon!"

The closest hanger-on hadn't even run two steps before he was tackled to the ground by the demonized Fifth Elder.

"puff--"

Blood splattered.

Before they could even scream, the throats of those thugs were bitten through, and a large chunk of flesh and skin was torn off. Their bodies twitched a few times, and then they fell silent.

"My son!!"

Granny Yuan let out a mournful cry and tried to rush forward.

"Grandma, don't go over there!"

The little girl, drawing strength from who-knows-where, rushed over and clung tightly to the old man's leg, crying out, "That's not Daddy anymore!"

Having tasted blood, the fifth elder of the demons became increasingly frenzied.

He tossed aside the corpse in his hand, his crimson gaze sweeping around before finally settling on the little boy crying on the ground.

In the eyes of demons, this is the freshest and most tender blood food.

"roar!"

With a low growl, Elder Five pushed off the ground like a wild beast, lunging straight at his own son with murderous intent.

"Brother!"

The little girl screamed and instinctively rushed forward, trying to use her small body to block it.

Grandma Yuan's vision went black, and she fainted.

At this time.

A dark gray figure darted over.

Clang—!

A sharp, cold glint suddenly appeared.

The horizontal sword, accompanied by a whistling sound, slashed heavily down on Elder Five's shoulder.

The enormous impact forced Elder Five to stagger back several steps.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jiang Mu rolled over, scooped up the little boy on the ground, threw him into the little girl's arms, and then held the knife across his chest, blocking the siblings.

He stared at the madman-like monster before him, his arm gripping the knife trembling slightly, and his tiger's mouth tingling with numbness.

"A demon... There's a demon here..."

Jiang Mu frowned.

This was the second time he had seen the demon.

The previous one was Butcher Zhang.

Xu Fu killed Jiang Mu too easily, finishing him off with a single dagger, giving Jiang Mu the illusion that demons were nothing special.

But just now, Jiang Mu felt as if he had struck a piece of rotten wood covered with iron.

The recoil force is immense.

The other party only suffered skin and flesh torn open, and some black blood was shed.

Only now did he truly understand the terror of demons.

This is only the lowest level of demon.

If they encountered a real monster, ordinary people would have no chance of survival except to wait for death.

"roar!"

The wounded Elder Five of the Demons became even more ferocious, glaring with blood-red eyes as he roared and charged forward once more.

Jiang Mu's eyes sharpened, and she no longer held back.

The blood and qi of a first-level martial artist erupted from his body. He gripped the hilt of the sword tightly with both hands, poured all his strength into the blade, and delivered a head-on blow to the charging demon!

This strike was aimed directly at the vital point of the neck.

Duh!

The long sword slashed into Elder Five's neck, encountering a stiff resistance.

Dark, foul-smelling blood gushed out.

But the blade only penetrated half an inch before it became stuck in a tough rubber band, unable to go any further.

The demon's attack showed almost no signs of abating, and a bloody stench filled the air.

"Oh no!"

Jiang Mu's heart skipped a beat, but it was too late to draw his sword. He decisively released the sword and dodged to the side.

However, a ruffian behind him, whose legs went limp from fright and who hadn't managed to crawl far away, ended up in trouble.

Having missed his target, Elder Five charged forward and tackled the ruffian to the ground.

"Help—Ah!!"

The screams abruptly stopped.

The scoundrel's neck was bitten off halfway, and blood gushed out like a fountain, staining the ground red.

"Father..."

The little girl hugged her younger brother, looked at her father who was both familiar and unfamiliar, and cried until she almost couldn't breathe.

The demon roared again as it turned to the two children.

Jiang Mu suddenly noticed that Yuan Laowu was still dragging the broken rope around his waist. He took a step forward, grabbed the end of the rope, and pulled it backward with all his might!

The fifth elder, with nowhere to grab onto while suspended in mid-air, was pulled so hard that he lost his balance and fell heavily backward to the ground.

Jiang Mu didn't give it a chance to get up. She took a step forward and stomped on the demon's chest.

Grab the hilt of the knife still embedded in the demon's neck and pull it out forcefully.

Black blood splattered!

Before the demon could struggle, Jiang Mu raised the knife with both hands, aimed at the wound, and slashed down again with all his might!

A knife!

Two knives!

Three cuts...

During this period, he only practiced basic body tempering and did not learn any martial arts skills. He relied entirely on his ruthlessness and instinct to slash wildly.

Finally, after five or six consecutive slashes, a crisp sound rang out, and the blade completely severed the neck bone!

The headless corpse twitched twice, then finally fell silent.

"call……"

Jiang Mu staggered back two steps, leaning on his knife and panting heavily.

"Damn... this thing is really damn hard to kill."

Just then, a wisp of black mist, visible only to Jiang Mu, drifted out from the corpse of Elder Wu and entered through the birthmark on his arm.

The familiar groove for the character "魔" (demon) reappeared in my field of vision.

The newly injected demonic energy quickly transformed into dark red demonic blood, which flowed into the bottom of the groove, causing the previously nearly dried-up bottom to accumulate a new layer.

Strangely, the shadow of Elder Five did not appear this time.

"Could it be because this demon is too weak?"

Jiang Mu secretly speculated.

"Sir...sir..."

Shi Lang, who had been hiding outside the courtyard gate in fear, saw that the headless and dismembered demon corpse on the ground was no longer moving. Only then did he muster his courage and move in with weak legs.

"Are you...are you alright?"

The look in his eyes as he looked at Jiang Mu was a mixture of fear and awe.

He knew Jiang Mu's background.

He was once a dissolute playboy who only managed to get into the Demon Slayer Division through connections.

Although he treated him with utmost respect throughout the journey, he secretly held him in contempt.

But what he just witnessed completely overturned his understanding.

This doesn't look like a pampered young master at all.

He's clearly a murderer!

Jiang Mu wiped the sweat from his face and said coldly, "Go to the Demon Slayer Division immediately to report this."

The sudden appearance of a demon in this remote village is no accident.

The demons are formed from the deep corruption of demonic energy, which means there is likely a demon's lair nearby, or other infected people lurking in this village.

He can't handle this mess by himself.

"Yes, yes, I'll go right away!"

Shi Lang quickly agreed and ran out of the courtyard.

"grown ups!"

At this moment, the rogue Zhang Awu also came over with a pale face.

He first kicked the headless corpse of Elder Five twice, spat, and cursed a few times.

Then, he pointed to the brother and sister huddled together in the corner of the room and screamed:

"My lord, these two brats are definitely demons too! Kill them quickly! This whole family are demons, no doubt about it, they can't be allowed to live!"

The little girl hugged her coughing brother even tighter, trembling uncontrollably.

Jiang Mu's gaze, however, fell on Zhang Awu's right wrist: "You were bitten?"

Zhang Awu was taken aback and looked down.

But on his right wrist, he saw a clear ring of teeth marks, the skin rolled back, and dark red blood was seeping out.

He then remembered that when Elder Wu pounced on him earlier, he had subconsciously used his hand to block it, and then, in his haste to escape, he had forgotten the pain.

"Biten by a demon, the demonic poison entered my body."

Jiang Mu slowly raised his long sword, his voice indifferent, "So... you might also become a demon."

"No...no..."

Zhang Awu's face drained of color, and his pupils contracted.

Seeing the still-dripping blood knife in Jiang Mu's hand, he instinctively wanted to turn around and run away.

But his legs suddenly gave way, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.

At the same time, a warm liquid immediately soaked his crotch, and a foul odor filled the air.

"No, I won't become a demon!"

"My lord, I am not a demon, I will not become a monster! My lord, spare me! Spare me!"

Zhang Awu wept bitterly, pleading desperately.

Swish!

The blade flashed like a bolt of lightning, disappearing in an instant.

Zhang Awu's head, still bearing the traces of terror, flew high into the air and rolled onto the muddy ground.

Jiang Mu stepped over the corpse and walked to the henchman who had been bitten by Yuan Laowu earlier and was still twitching on the ground.

Hand up, knife down.

They gave him a quick death.

After doing all this, Jiang Mu flicked the blood off his knife and turned to look at the remaining three rascals who were already terrified.

"Which of you was bitten?"

"No, no! We weren't bitten!"

The three of them shook their heads frantically.

Jiang Mu walked over and used the scabbard to tap and check each of them, then made them expose their arms, legs and feet for inspection.

Upon discovering bloody scratches on one of the arms, he ignored the victim's pleas for mercy and killed him with a single stab.

After confirming that the other two had no obvious external injuries, he pointed with the scabbard at one of the more composed hooligans, then pointed at the unconscious Granny Yuan on the ground:

"Carry her into the house first."

"Yes, yes, I'll go right away!"

The idlers, as if granted a pardon, quickly stepped forward, carried the old lady on their backs, and carefully carried her into the house.

The siblings were also sent back to their room.

Jiang Mu dragged over a stool, sat down next to Yuan Laowu's corpse, and placed the knife across his lap.

He slowly adjusted his breathing, calming the surging blood and qi within his body.

An inexplicable sense of hostility settled in my heart.

He was extremely irritable due to the oppressive atmosphere.

When his gaze inadvertently swept over the old hen with its throat slit on the ground, he paused for a moment, then looked up coldly at the two lackeys huddled under the eaves, not daring to breathe.

"Who killed the chicken?"

The two men shuddered and glanced at Zhang Awu's corpse on the ground.

"Give me the money."

Jiang Mu didn't waste any more words.

The two were taken aback and hurriedly took out the money they had on them.

"They also stole the money from their bodies."

Jiang Mu gestured with his chin towards the corpses of Zhang Awu and the others.

The two dared not disobey, so they ran to search their companion's corpse, gathered a large handful of money, and tremblingly presented it to Jiang Mu:

"M-Sir, that's all."

Just as Jiang Mu was about to reach out, he looked at the two men and suddenly remembered that they had been chatting quietly on the way, saying that a certain family's daughter was very pretty and that they should find an opportunity to harass her and visit her.

He lowered his gaze and said calmly, "Where did you get the blood on your hands?"

The two looked down and quickly said, "We got it on us by accident while we were looting the corpse."

"That was too careless; even getting covered in demon blood can cause mutations."

"what?"

The two were a little confused; they had never heard of it.

Besides, they were touching the corpse of their companion, not a demon.

Before he could react, he saw a flash of light and then fell straight to the ground, lifeless.

Jiang Mu gathered up the money scattered on the ground and went inside.

The little girl was so frightened that she hugged her younger brother tightly, her eyes filled with fear, yet she also stood protectively in front of her unconscious grandmother on the bed.

Jiang Mu placed the money on the table, said nothing, and turned to leave the house.

He closed the door and looked up at the sky.

The once scorching sun was now obscured by dark clouds, the sky was hazy, making the village appear even more gloomy, as if it would never see the sun again.