#46 - Broken Statue

After discussing the case and finishing dinner, it was indeed quite late, so the three of them rested at the magistrate's house for the night.

Before going to bed, a young maidservant came, saying she was ordered by the master to "change clothes" for Wei Changtian, but he chased her out.

Just kidding, Xu Qingwan was in the next room.

Other than that, nothing happened overnight.

The next morning, the three of them followed the two constables to Liu Family Village.

However, Zhou Cheng looked slightly tired along the way.

Wei Changtian found a chance to smile and ask him: "Unstable breathing, weak steps, what did you do last night?"

"Cough, I drank two more cups of wine alone in my room."

"Is that so? But Brother Zhou, since we are martial arts practitioners, it's better to drink less wine on weekdays."

"Thank you for your concern, Brother Wei..."

Zhou Cheng was stunned, and suddenly seemed to understand something, looking at Xu Qingwan along with Wei Changtian.

The latter looked ahead as if she didn't notice, the red string in her hair swaying a few times with the morning breeze.

...

Liu Family Village has a total of dozens of households, mostly farmers who till the land.

Although there were gains from hunting down the chicken demons, several men were injured, so the villagers reported it to the authorities after discussing it.

After simply asking a few villagers about the situation, they learned that these chicken demons were elusive, often launching sneak attacks, and would come to the village every two or three days.

However, they haven't come in the last two days.

With such uncertain information, Wei Changtian and the others certainly didn't have the time to wait here, so after discussing it, they decided to take the initiative.

Of course, preparations must be made beforehand.

Demons love human blood and flesh the most. Although human flesh was nowhere to be found, there was plenty of human blood.

The two constables volunteered, took a wine bag and wandered around the village, and soon brought back a bag of fresh human blood.

Free blood donation, for the safety of the whole village.

Noble.

Carrying the blood and led by a villager, the group quickly entered Wanglong Mountain.

The mountain forest was quiet in the early morning, with only occasional bird calls and the sound of footsteps on the dirt road echoing within.

After walking silently for about a quarter of an hour, the leading villager finally slowly stopped and pointed to an abandoned Land God temple hidden in the forest ahead.

The yellow tiles on the temple roof were broken and incomplete, the ruins were full of weeds, and through the broken door, one could vaguely see a statue of the Land God missing arms and legs.

"My lords, those chicken demons often haunt this temple. I've seen it several times before."

Soon, the forest returned to silence once again.

The sun slowly moved overhead, and the dew hanging on the grass leaves slowly evaporated.

Nearly half an hour passed like this, but the chicken demons still hadn't appeared.

Damn it, not being the protagonist really makes everything difficult...

Leaning against a tree thick enough for two people to hug, Wei Changtian rubbed his sore eyes and habitually began to compare himself to Xiao Feng.

Although there are many demons in this world, there has never been a good solution for how to identify and find them.

Even a professional organization like Willow Leaf can only use the stupid method of luring them with human blood to find monsters.

In the final analysis, it is because there is a lack of tools that can detect demonic energy.

But Xiao Feng is different.

The reason why he knew that Zhang Hongwen was raising demons and that Yang Liushi was a fox demon was entirely because he had a magical tool—the Demon Detecting Compass.

It would react if there were monsters within a mile, and even point out the direction of the monster.

Coupled with the special power of "Capturing Demons", upgrading is simply too fast.

If I had this thing, I wouldn't have to wait here, I would have wiped out those chicken demons long ago.

Alas...

If I can catch Xiao Feng again next time, never mind whether I can kill him first, but at least I must search his body first and snatch all these good things.

It's my first time being a villain, I still don't have experience...

Wei Changtian sighed for a while, then looked around at the others hiding in other positions.

Because of the angle, the two tall and short constables couldn't be seen clearly, Zhou Cheng looked as bored as himself, and that villager was lying next to him, sleeping soundly.

As for Xu Qingwan... this woman is dedicated, still staring at the Land God temple without the slightest carelessness, even her movements are exactly the same as before.

Like a clay Bodhisattva.

Thinking of the clay Bodhisattva, Wei Changtian turned his gaze to the Land God statue that had lost its head, feeling a little puzzled.

The Land God is a god of Taoism. In a country like Da Ning that "values Taoism and despises Buddhism", he shouldn't be treated like this.

Even if no one worships it and it's abandoned, the common people shouldn't dare to do something like "destroying the statue", which would be condemned by the heavens.

Could it be natural damage?

But although this broken temple is dilapidated, the main structure is still intact. The statue is not exposed to wind or rain, so how could it lose its head?

The more Wei Changtian thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong, his eyes staring fixedly at the statue.

Then, at a certain moment, he actually saw something moving through a crack in the chest of the statue.

Damn it?

A demon hidden in the god's body??

Wei Changtian didn't jump to conclusions, and after observing for a while, he finally determined that there was indeed something hidden inside the statue.

Of course, it may not be those chicken demons, but since waiting is fruitless...

"Whirr ~"

The branches and leaves shook for a while, and Wei Changtian stood up directly and approached the Land God temple step by step.

Although the others didn't know what he was going to do, they quickly emerged from their hiding places and followed him.

It wasn't until Wei Changtian stopped ten steps away from the statue that Zhou Cheng behind him lowered his voice and asked, "Brother Wei, what did you find?"

Wei Changtian looked at the statue vigilantly while whispering, "There seems to be something in the statue."

"Impossible..."

Zhou Cheng was a little surprised: "These statues are all solid clay, and besides, so many chickens can't hide in such a small place..."

"I can't say for sure either."

Wei Changtian shook his head: "But I did see something moving just now."

"This..."

Zhou Cheng was about to say something, but was suddenly interrupted by Xu Qingwan.

"We'll know if we take a look. We've been staring at this place, if those chicken demons are really hiding in it, they definitely haven't escaped now."

She seemed a little dissatisfied with Wei Changtian and Zhou Cheng's dawdling, and after speaking, she walked forward directly, without even drawing her saber.

"Wait!"

Wei Changtian opened his mouth behind her, wanting to stop her.

He had originally planned to throw a stone or something from a distance to smash the statue open. After all, if there was something strange inside, this would be safer.

But before he could say the words, the Land God statue took the lead and suddenly exploded, followed by a small black shadow shooting towards Xu Qingwan's chest.

"Bang!"

With a muffled sound, her delicate body flew backwards.