Please, Young Master, Slay the Demon!
Chapter 887 - 96: The Real Culprit [Vote for Monthly Tickets!]

Chapter 887: Chapter 96: The Real Culprit [Vote for Monthly Tickets!]

"Yang Shenlong?"

The agitated crowd that had gathered around gasped upon hearing this name.

Although there were many cultivators in the Four Seas and Nine Continents, it was not uncommon for ordinary people to encounter a few. Yet, disciples from the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect like Yang Shenlong and Chu Liang were truly rare sights.

Of course, even if this title was false, the formidable strength displayed by Lin Bei was enough to shock them. There might be cultivators among the crowd, but they were only dominant in the surrounding villages and towns, so what great strength could they have? Seeing the level of his cultivation as soon as he made a move deterred them from coming forward.

Lin Bei didn’t often get the chance to display his prowess like this, so he puffed out his chest and raised his head, loudly scolding, "To dare conduct such an evil ritual in the land of the Nine States, plotting against innocent boys and girls, you’re unlucky to have encountered me today! Surrender now, or wait for me..."

Before he could finish his lines, Chu Liang couldn’t wait any longer and stepped forward, lifting the curtain.

It wasn’t that he wanted to see for himself, but rather to show the scholar’s resentful spirit inside the Treasure Vase that he was carrying—the sight of whether this was indeed his daughter or not.

Though the scholar’s resentful spirit dared not show itself, it now possessed considerable soul power and could sense the surroundings; upon seeing the girl, it immediately responded to Chu Liang, "That’s our daughter! Young Hero, you must save her!"

"Rest assured," Chu Liang replied.

As he turned to look at the surrounding people again, his gaze grew much colder.

The elder in black stepped forward and said with a bow, "Esteemed young heroes and Immortal Masters, this is a thousand-year-old sacrificial ritual of Ling Guan Town, not some evil sacrifice. The two Spirit Children are simply set adrift downstream, in hopes of invoking good weather and a year free from diseases and calamities next year. You see, our entire town’s people are guarding both banks, and someone will surely save them downstream."

Chu Liang looked around, and the townspeople nodded repeatedly, indicating that the elder’s words were true.

The elder continued, "Our Ling Guan Town is located in Central State; if there were sacrifices involving living people, the officials from the Regent Residence would have long since disallowed it, would they let us carry on year after year?"

What he said seemed reasonable: such a public display of a human sacrifice, especially in the Central State land not far from Yu Capital City, would probably see the Regent Residence’s people coming after them by tomorrow night, making it impossible for such a practice to exist for so many years.

With that said, the three fell silent.

Lin Bei’s momentum suddenly weakened.

Seeing this, the surrounding townspeople began to crowd closer, and voices started to rise from the group, "Disrupting the ritual, what if the two Spirit Officials get angry?"

"If there are punishments next year, who will take the responsibility?"

"They can’t be allowed to leave!"

"..."

Watching the crowd become increasingly agitated, Lin Bei awkwardly waved his hands and said, "Every wrong has a source, every debt has a debtor; I, Divine Dragon Penglai, will bear the responsibility alone. If anyone wants revenge, they can come at me."

Chu Liang, observing the crowd pressing in, asked the elder in black, "Elder, may I know who you are?"

"I am the Clan Leader of the Xiao Family from Ling Guan Town, named Xiao Youde. All six villages in this area are dominated by the members of our Xiao Family; therefore, the annual sacrifice has always been presided over by the Clan Leader of the Xiao Family," the elder in black answered.

His tone was calm, but he did not attempt to restrain the behavior of his clan members around him. More and more people were closing in, apparently trying to pressure Chu Liang and his companions.

If they were Orthodox Cultivators, they couldn’t just strike at ordinary people. And disrupting a proper ritual was also unjustifiable, so his intention was naturally to drive them away.

But Chu Liang immediately countered, "Clan Leader Xiao, in fact, our visit today is due to a pair of parents who have lost their child, Therefore, we came here to help them search. It just so happened that we found their missing child during your sacrificial ceremony, which is why we intervened. If there has been a misunderstanding, we hope for your understanding. However, you need to clarify the origins of this child."

He did not argue with the Xiao family about the issue of the sacrificial ceremony, because he knew that even if the ceremony was abnormal, it was not something they could uncover in a moment. Better to shift the focus and take the initiative.

"That’s impossible," Clan Leader Xiao firmly shook his head: "Our sacrifices have always required the descendants of the Xiao family to participate, with the selection of a Spirit Child taking turns among the six villages of Ling Guan Town. An outsider would never be allowed to participate."

"Oh?" Chu Liang asked: "Then whose child is this girl, Can they be called here to confront each other?"

"Children from Dongshan Village are supposed to participate this year, right?" Xiao Youde turned his head and looked at a middle-aged man behind him, probably a village chief or someone similar, and asked, "Where are the parents of the Spirit Child?"

"Ershan! They’re calling for you!" The middle-aged man turned back and called out twice, and then a couple squeezed their way out of the crowd, trembling.

The man was skinny and dark-skinned; the woman was not much different, also petite and apparently of simple farming stock.

"Is this child yours?" Xiao Youde, less courteous in front of his clanspeople, demanded sternly.

"Yes... yes... no, not really..." The man named Ershan stammered for a while, nodding his head before shaking it and finally said under Xiao Youde’s stern gaze: "My... my daughter is ill, and it just so happened that I found this little girl... so I... let her take her place."

He had intended to lie, but Xiao Youde may not have recognized his daughter, the other villagers around certainly did, and it was hard to cover up the truth.

"How daring!" Xiao Youde became immediately furious, "The ancestral rules dictate that only descendants of our family can participate in the sacrifice, and you dared to randomly bring an outsider to participate!"

"Clan Leader! I was wrong, I was wrong!" Xiao Ershan seemed genuinely frightened, and he began to kowtow repeatedly.

"Since it’s a misunderstanding, there’s no need to make too much fuss," Chu Liang said, smiling slightly: "Then I will return this girl to her parents. As for this sacrifice..."

"The proper time has already passed, and the bloodline is impure, if we proceed with the sacrifice, I fear the Spirit Officials will become enraged. Let’s end today’s events here and complete it tomorrow," Xiao Youde bowed with a fist and said: "I must also thank you young heroes for stopping it, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable!"

"It’s nothing, we merely happened upon the situation," Chu Liang waved his hand, and the three turned to leave.

On the side, the parents of the boy involved in the sacrifice embraced their child and left together. The people of Ling Guan Town who had been present gradually dispersed. The sacrificial ceremony ended rather abruptly, leaving everyone somewhat displeased.

Separately, Xiao Ershan and his wife, who were ostracized and scolded by everyone, did not seem to care. They kept looking back in the direction where Chu Liang and his group had left as if they were very afraid.

Chu Liang, seemingly without a backward glance, had actually extended his Divine Sense, already taking in everything around him.

The three reached a quiet hillside not far away and stopped to discuss the matter. By this time, the little girl in their arms was already asleep, probably drugged with some kind of sedative.

She looked clean and quite adorable.

Lin Bei said: "We initially thought that this sacrifice was for a Human-faced Mandrill, and if it’s not a live-human sacrifice, then where else do we look for the Human-faced Mandrill?"

"There’s no rush," Chu Liang said, smiling: "Regardless of whether there’s a problem with the sacrifice, there’s definitely something wrong with Ling Guan Town."

Just now, the resentful spirit in the treasure vase he carried had become extremely agitated, almost bursting forth directly.

Only at this moment did Chu Liang release the resentful spirit, and as soon as the Scholar’s spirit was freed, it knelt on the ground.

"My wife and I were passing through here with our young daughter, staying overnight at Xiao Ershan’s home, only to be drugged and murdered by him during the meal. If there is any justice in the world, I implore you young heroes to avenge us!"