In the Demon Suppression Division: Crimson Words Nurture the Blade, Slaying Demons to Prove the Dao

As the sun set, Wei Xuanfeng and Jiao Xiaoxiao still hadn't seen Hu Murong return.

"Forget it, let's not wait for him anymore, Junior Sister, let's go."

Wei Xuanfeng said, holding Jiao Xiaoxiao's little hand.

"Senior Brother, I'm still a little worried about Senior Sister," Jiao Xiaoxiao said hesitantly. "How about we go find her together, Senior Brother?"

"Forget it, every family has its own problems." Wei Xuanfeng shook his head. "If she needs us, she'll naturally ask for our help."

"Oh..." Jiao Xiaoxiao nodded.

"What's wrong? Not having fun?"

"no."

"What's wrong? Why are you so down?"

"Senior Brother, I feel..."

"What do you feel?"

"I feel like the senior brother is a bit cold-hearted, he doesn't care about the senior sister at all..."

Wei Xuanfeng was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.

Indifference?

Perhaps so; my personality has always been one of extreme self-interest and avoidance of harm.

Hu Murong was clearly in trouble, but he had no desire to get involved.

after all……

Helping her will do me no good at all.

"Xiaoxiao, you're right." Wei Xuanfeng smiled and patted her head, saying, "All the troubles in the world stem from 'It's none of my business' and 'It's none of your business.' Remember, no matter what era you live in, if you want to live long, respect the fate of others and let go of your desire to help others."

"But...aren't you good friends?" Jiao Xiaoxiao retorted.

"friend……"

Wei Xuanfeng fell silent.

Are I friends with Hu Murong?

Maybe.

But because of her character, and because she had subtly schemed against me during our meal at the brothel last time.

This has led to Wei Xuanfeng's current reluctance and inability to fully trust her.

Compared to Hu Murong, he was more willing to believe Jiao Yu and Wen Shihan.

Similarly, if given a choice, he would only choose to help Jiao Yu and Wen Shihan.

From an investment perspective, helping these two women could bring greater returns to oneself in the future...

He didn't say anything more, but simply took Jiao Xiaoxiao's hand, got into the carriage, and headed out of the city.

……

Throughout the journey, Jiao Xiaoxiao was noticeably sullen and stopped talking, instead locking herself in the carriage.

Wei Xuanfeng then drove his carriage towards the Northern Garrison Command.

But not long after he left, Wei Xuanfeng saw a dazzling firework bloom in the night sky in the distance.

Jiao Xiaoxiao was staring blankly out the car window when she was startled by the sudden light and leaned halfway out, looking up at it for a long time.

"Senior Brother! Look! Flowers are blooming in the sky!"

Wei Xuanfeng reined in the reins and looked up.

The trail of the falling fireworks had not yet dissipated; the crimson tails of light stretched across the sky, outlining the silhouette of a distant mountain range.

He recognized the direction, and he also recognized the meaning of those three fireworks...

The Demon Suppression Division's emergency distress call has three meanings: one means "Assistance Needed," two means "Assemble," and three means "Request for Rescue."

Anyone who sees this order must unconditionally go to the Demon Suppression Division within a radius of 100 li to slay demons.

Wei Xuanfeng glanced at it once and then looked away, pulling on the reins to move the carriage forward.

I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything, I know nothing.

Wei Xuanfeng had no intention of following this rule, after all, he had no sense of responsibility or duty that the Demon Suppression Division should have.

"Senior Brother," Jiao Xiaoxiao said, still looking up, "What's wrong with that place? Why are they setting off fireworks?"

"There are demonic beasts appearing. Warn the people not to approach." Wei Xuanfeng said in a flat tone.

"Oh..." Jiao Xiaoxiao shrank back into the carriage, then poked her head out again after a couple of breaths. "Which village is that? Will we pass through there on our way home?"

Even if Jiao Yu concealed it from her, she knew how terrifying the demonic beasts were.

"Don't worry, that's Xinghua Village, in..." Wei Xuanfeng's face darkened halfway through his sentence.

Xinghua Village.

Wen Shihan's village.

He remembered Wen Shihan saying that her home was in Xinghua Village, half a day's walk from Kangcheng.

Jiao Xiaoxiao seemed to have remembered something as well.

She had already retreated back into the carriage, but suddenly poked her head out again, her voice much softer than before.

"Senior Brother...Second Senior Sister...is her home in Xinghua Village?"

Wei Xuanfeng remained silent.

"Senior Brother," Jiao Xiaoxiao's voice began to tremble, "Will Second Senior Sister be in danger?"

"Maybe……"

Upon hearing this, Jiao Xiaoxiao's eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Of the two senior sisters, Jiao Xiaoxiao undoubtedly preferred Wen Shihan.

Although Wen Shihan appears cold and speaks little.

But she would wash her own feet, tell her stories, and hug herself to sleep.

"Don't cry, Xiaoxiao." He glanced back at the carriage. "Your second senior sister is very strong. She can fight dozens of wolf demons by herself. She'll be fine."

"And what about you, Senior Brother?" Jiao Xiaoxiao climbed out of the carriage and sat down next to Wei Xuanfeng. "You're even more powerful than Second Senior Sister. Can you go help her?"

"No way! It's too far! And if something happens to you, how am I supposed to explain it to the boss..." Wei Xuanfeng frowned.

"But Second Senior Sister is all alone over there!" Jiao Xiaoxiao clutched his sleeve, her eyes red-rimmed. "Senior Brother, you said you were the senior brother, you had to be good to the junior sisters! If you send me back first and then rush back, what if... what if it's too late?"

Wei Xuanfeng opened his mouth.

Jiao Xiaoxiao's eyes were big and bright, moist with tears, staring straight at him as if she were laying all her trust in him.

She's right, time is life.

Send her back to the Northern Garrison Command first, then turn back; it will take at least two more hours round trip.

Two hours is enough time for the wolf demon to do a lot of things.

"You really dare to go to Second Senior Sister?" Wei Xuanfeng asked again, confirming, "The wolf demon won't let you go just because you're a child."

"I dare!" Jiao Xiaoxiao nodded. "Senior Brother, I won't cause you any trouble!"

"Alright! Hold on tight!" He reached into the carriage and pulled out a belt, tying Jiao Xiaoxiao around his chest three times to make sure she wouldn't fall. "When we get there, don't move or shout. I'll close your eyes when I say close them."

"Okay!" Jiao Xiaoxiao hugged his neck and pressed her face against his shoulder. "Senior Brother is the best."

Wei Xuanfeng swung his embroidered spring knife, separating the carriage from the horses.

He then sat on the horse's back, cracked the whip, and the horse, in pain, galloped away.

……

The further you go towards Xinghua Village, the more difficult the road becomes.

After entering the mountain road, we began to see a few scattered refugees.

The man carried a bundle on his back, the woman held a child, and the whole family ran towards Kangcheng.

Someone spotted Wei Xuanfeng's horse and their eyes lit up.

Three reckless men—a tall, thin man carrying a broken carrying pole, a short, fat man clutching a kitchen knife, and a middle-aged man carrying half a shovel—emerged from the roadside bushes and blocked the middle of the road.

"Stop the car! Leave it here!" the tall, thin man shouted. "We..."

Wei Xuanfeng didn't wait for him to finish speaking.

With his left hand holding Jiao Xiaoxiao, he drew his embroidered spring knife with his right, his horse moving at full speed, the blade flashing across his left side.

Before the tall, thin man could react, a line of blood appeared on his throat, and he fell backward into the grass.

Wei Xuanfeng's knife did not stop. The second cut severed the cleaver in the short, fat man's hand along with his arm, and the third cut off half of the middle-aged man's shoulder.

The three men fell down almost at the same moment. Wei Xuanfeng's horse passed between them, and the blood droplets on the blade were flung into the ruts by the night wind.

Jiao Xiaoxiao buried her face in his chest and said in a muffled voice, "Senior Brother..."

"Don't look, close your eyes." Wei Xuanfeng sheathed his sword. "I don't have time to waste words with these bastards."

He did not slow down, and the horse continued to charge forward.

After passing through the area of ​​refugees, the road ahead began to reveal gnawed animal carcasses, overturned oxcarts, and thatched huts still emitting wisps of smoke.

A smell of rust and burnt metal began to fill the air. Jiao Xiaoxiao huddled in his arms without saying a word, but her fingers, gripping his clothes, turned white.

After traveling for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, Wei Xuanfeng heard the sounds of clashing weapons and shouts coming from the desolate forest on his right.

He turned his head and saw seven or eight demon slayers dressed in flying fish robes standing back to back in a circle in the forest clearing, being forced back by more than a dozen Xuanlan wolf demons.

Those wolf demons were entirely bluish-black with crimson eyes, and they pounced with a frenzied frenzy...

It has the same madness as those soft-boned rabbit demons who were influenced by Master Mo back then.

……

Among the group being besieged, the most conspicuous was a young woman.

She was in her early twenties, with her long black hair tied back with a silver hairpin, most of which had fallen down and covered her neck.

His flying fish robe was torn open with three long slits, revealing a white undergarment soaked in blood.

The legs were bound with talismans, and the talisman paper had burned most of it, emitting intermittent wisps of blue smoke.

Her embroidered spring knife was only half left, with an uneven break, clearly indicating that it had been bitten off by the wolf demon.

Her name is Gongsun Zhi.

Gongsun Jin, a distant niece of the centurion of the Southern Garrison, had only been in the garrison for a year. She came out to patrol the mountains with a few senior officers, thinking it was just a formality, but unexpectedly encountered a pack of Xuanlan wolf demons.

The two junior officers leading the group had already perished at the village entrance, leaving seven men who fled into the woods in a sorry state, only to be intercepted again.

Gongsun Zhi felt she was about to die.

The sword was broken, the armor was almost burned out, and the internal energy was completely depleted in the previous frantic run.

She leaned against the back of a fellow soldier, and could feel that the other person was also trembling.

She suddenly remembered what her father had said when she was a child.

"What's so good about practicing martial arts? You should learn needlework properly so you can marry into a good family in the future."

At that time, she was unconvinced and insisted on passing the exam to enter the Demon Suppression Division.

Now she understood that her father was right.

She's not a female knight-errant from a folk tale; when she's at her wit's end, a hero won't descend from the sky...

She was just an unknown person who was dragged into the bushes by the wolf demon.

She closed her eyes, listening to the wolf howls getting closer.

If there is a next life, she will definitely master martial arts.

If one could cultivate to the Martial Master realm, one wouldn't be unable to cut the neck of even a wolf demon at the servant level.

A wolf demon pounced, its stench filling the air.

Gongsun Zhi raised her broken sword, preparing for a final desperate attempt, when she suddenly heard a very light footstep.

The footsteps came from behind her, unhurried and barely making a sound as they stepped on the fallen leaves.

Before she could turn her head, a bluish-white blade flashed past her ear and precisely slashed into the forehead of the wolf demon that pounced on her.

The moment the blade pierced the wolf's head, the wolf demon's body was still in mid-air, but its pupils had already dilated, and it fell straight down at her feet like a target pierced by a broken arrow.

Gongsun Zhi suddenly turned her head.

A young man stood three steps behind her, holding a sheathed embroidered spring knife in his hand. Half an inch of dark blue light still lingered on the blade as it slowly retracted into the body.

He was dressed in a uniform of a general, and in the moonlight, he looked so clean that he didn't seem to have just come from the battlefield...

Not a drop of blood, not even a speck of dust, got on him.

She didn't see how he drew his knife.

He took a step forward, and the blade flashed again. The three wolf demons fell to the ground at the same time, each with a cut of the same length between their eyebrows.

He took two more steps, and the blade flashed again, killing three more people.

The remaining few wolf demon servants began to retreat, crouching low and whimpering as they slowly shrank into the shadows of the trees.

Wei Xuanfeng sheathed his sword and looked around.

Is anyone still alive?

Gongsun Zhi leaned against the tree stump and panted for a while before she finally stood up.

She still clutched the broken embroidered spring knife in her hand, her other hand supporting her knee. The last piece of talisman paper on her leg had burned out, turning to ash and drifting into the wind.

She looked up at Wei Xuanfeng, the moonlight shining directly on his profile. He had sword-like eyebrows, a high nose, and a clean, sharp jawline. He held a knife in one hand and a little girl in the other, looking as relaxed as if he were taking a stroll in his own backyard.

She looked away, but couldn't help looking back.

The heat on her cheeks spread from her neck to her ears. She bit her lip hard to keep her voice from trembling.

"Thank you... thank you for saving me."

Wei Xuanfeng glanced at their flying fish robes...

The color is slightly lighter than that of the Northern Garrison Commander, and the cuffs are embroidered with cloud patterns from the Southern Garrison Commander.

"From the Southern Garrison?"

Gongsun Zhi nodded, then lowered her head again.

She noticed that the token at Wei Xuanfeng's waist was made of black iron inlaid with cloud patterns...

Flag officer.

Such a young flag officer, and he's from the Northern Garrison Command...

Her heart started beating even faster when the thought popped into her head.

Wei Xuanfeng had no time to ponder the blush on her face; he simply untied the token from his waist and waved it.

"Wei Xuanfeng, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Garrison. Were those the fireworks you set off?"

Gongsun Zhi quickly composed herself.

"Reporting to...Reporting to Commander-in-Chief, it was us who released them. We were on patrol in Xinghua Village when we were suddenly attacked by a large number of wolf demons. The village...the village could no longer be defended. Only a small number of people managed to escape."

"You escaped, and then what?" Wei Xuanfeng's voice turned cold.

"Then...then there was a junior officer from the Northern Garrison. She...she led away over a hundred wolf demons to the mountains to the west, giving us the opportunity to return to the city and report back."

Upon hearing this, Wei Xuanfeng's eyes turned cold!

No need to guess, that person must be Wen Shihan!

"Returning to the city to report the news..." He sneered. "You Southern Garrison Commanders really know how to pat yourselves on the back. You were clearly cowardly before the battle even started and deserted in the face of the enemy, but in your mouth you call it 'returning to the city to report the news.' If this kind of trash were in the Northern Garrison Command, I would have chopped them down with one stroke long ago."

Gongsun Zhi's face flushed red instantly, from her neck all the way to her hair roots.

She opened her mouth to argue, but when she saw Wei Xuanfeng's expressionless face and the wolf demon corpses he had cleaned up one by one on the ground, all her words stuck in her throat, and she couldn't utter a single word.

The demon slayers from the Southern Garrison behind her were also filled with shame and anger, but looking at the corpses on the ground, none of them dared to speak.

Gongsun Zhi lowered her head, bit her lip, and after a long while, she softly said something.

"sorry……"

Wei Xuanfeng didn't look at her, but turned his head to look at the mountain shadow in the west that had been swallowed by the night...

Wen Shihan led the hundreds of wolf demons into the direction they went.

Just as he was about to say something, a series of rapid hoofbeats came from the end of the mountain path behind him, growing clearer and clearer as they approached.

Wei Xuanfeng was overjoyed when he saw the person who had arrived.

……