Zhou Dao returned home and closed the door tightly.
The courtyard was small, with only two rooms and a remote location. The annual rent only cost five taels of silver.
The dim candlelight lit up the house.
Zhou Dao opened the wooden box, revealing the corpse of the carp demon.
Once a demon beast is dead, it's not much different from an ordinary dead animal. If it were an ordinary person, they might not even be able to tell the difference.
"Offering!"
Zhou Dao flicked a finger, and a drop of blood stretched out, landing on the carp demon's corpse.
[Offering the Carp Demon, you obtain a Peach Wood Sword]
A mechanical voice sounded in Zhou Dao's mind.
Immediately after, a golden light descended, and a three-foot-long wooden sword emerged.
This wooden sword was of a crimson-purple hue, with patterns on it resembling a person's blood vessels, permeated by a bloody red color.
"Crimson Spirit Peach Wood!?" Zhou Dao's eyes suddenly lit up.
This wasn't an ordinary peach wood sword. The wood came from a rare spiritual root called the Crimson Spirit Peach.
According to legend, this kind of peach tree often grows in the abyssal cliffs—blooming once every ten years and bearing fruit for another ten years. In the end, it withstands the bombardment of heavenly thunder, and only the leftover fruit is considered truly mature.
If an ordinary person ate one, they would immediately break through to the Fourth Transformation of the Refining Realm [Wandering Divine Control].
Thus, the Crimson Spirit Peach is extremely precious and is only recorded in ancient books.
There's no way that such a treasure could be found in a place like Peace Town.
As for the wood from the Crimson Spirit Peach tree, it's even rarer and is considered a treasure of heaven and earth. Its texture is comparable to fine steel, and it naturally restrains evil influences and can eradicate demonic energy.
It has a great killing power against the blood energy of cultivators.
This thing can be said not to be inferior to the [Three-star Charm] or the [Inner Divine Weapon Skill], and may even surpass them.
"Tsk tsk, what a treasure."
Zhou Dao couldn't put down the peach wood sword, playing with it in his hands.
He found that the blood energy in his body was being drawn by the peach wood sword and circulated along the blood-red veins on the sword.
Each time it circulated, his blood energy became stronger.
Enduring the impact of heavenly thunder, the Crimson Spirit Peach wood harbored pure Yang power, making it best suited for refining one's blood energy.
Back in ancient times, many cultivators would use this kind of wood to construct their closed-door cultivation chambers.
"It seems that I'll be able to step into the Eighth Transformation of the Refining Realm before long!" Zhou Dao's heart was filled with anticipation.
...
The next day, like always, Zhou Dao arrived at the Demon Control Department early in the morning.
"Fifth Guard, everyone follow me."
As soon as he stepped through the Demon Control Department's gate, he heard a panicked shout.
Immediately after, a line of demon-slaying guards came out in single file and exited the Demon Control Department.
"An incident occurred?" A chill ran down Zhou Dao's heart.
There were a total of twelve demon-slaying guard teams under the Demon Control Department. The smallest team had thirteen people, and the largest had twenty-five.
The Fifth Guard team had a total of seventeen people. The fact that all of them were dispatched was both rare and abnormal.
"A red-level incident, people have died." The prison guard in charge of the Demon Prison, Chen Gongdao, said.
"How many people are dead?" Zhou Dao raised an eyebrow.
Normally, demon beasts are not extremely dangerous. At most, ordinary people might end up with some minor injuries or a serious illness.
Like the previous case of Zhang Yuanwai being entangled with the yellow-skin demon, he had been bedridden for eight months, losing more than thirty pounds.
However, if a demon beast caused a death, it meant that it was no ordinary demon.
Zhou Dao had worked at the Demon Control Department for two years, encountering such an urgent situation only once before.
"The Third Guard went there last night," Chen Gong whispered.
"Two teams?" Zhou Dao was stunned.
This had never happened before.
"We've already sent a message to the Lord of the Capital Guard. As for how serious the situation is, more than one person has died," Chen Gong muttered.
Obviously, the Demon Control Department would be very busy, and all of them must be on 24-hour standby.
"Demon Sealing Masters, come with me."
At this moment, the Seventh Guard sprung into action, and with a single command, all seven Demon Sealing Masters, including Zhou Dao, followed suit.
"Brother Dao, why the big scene?" Wang Xiaoyi's face was somewhat tense.
"No unnecessary talk on the scene," Zhou Dao reminded.
...
In an old house in the east of the city, the charring stench was already present before the horses even stopped.
"What a strong demonic energy."
In the carriage, Wang Xiaoyi could not help but want to vomit.
"Hurry up, don't dawdle. Start working quickly!" A Demon-slaying Guard urged.
Zhou Dao and the others got off the horses and walked into the old house.
The courtyard was in disarray, with scorched earth covering the ground. Even the only remaining willow tree was charred to black, leaving only a barren trunk.
On the ground, there were wild foxes lying in all sorts of directions, all burnt. The stench of their fur, blood, and flesh mixed together was nauseating.
"Fox demons? So many of them?" Zhao Guangming couldn't help but exclaim.
As a Demon Sealing Master, he had only started three months after Zhou Dao, but he had also never seen such a large scale operation.
There were twenty one fox demon corpses in the yard.
"Don't just stand there, there are more inside."
At this point, the Demon-slaying Guards had already begun to get busy. Most of them started searching the surroundings, seemingly worried about missing any demons. A few stayed in the courtyard, urged their blood energy to eliminate the remaining demonic energy.
Demonic energy can linger and attract demon beasts. Once ordinary people become infected, endless problems would arise.
Therefore, blood energy must be used to eliminate it.
Zhou Dao and the others, on the other hand, were responsible for dealing with the fox demon corpses.
"This family is really quite unfortunate, targeted by a group of fox demons, and wiped out. It's been said that it's been half a month, and the children's bones have been turned to ash."
"No one noticed, half a month's time, there must be so much trouble to clean up."
"Those fox demons have a powerful technique, turning themselves into the appearance of this family, no one discovered it."
A group of Demon-slaying Guards were engaged in discussion.
"Brother Dao, are fox demons really this vicious? I thought the books said fox demons were charming seductive girls?" Wang Xiaoyi whispered.
Zhou Dao glanced at him, and said indifferently, "Read less in your spare time."
As he spoke, he began to busy himself.
It was a massive endeavor, and by the time they were almost done, dusk had fallen.
The Demon-slaying Guards returned to the house one after another.
"Senior Brother Xu, you're here too."
Xu Qian walked in, accompanied by Gu Xiangling, the famous beauty of the Demon Control Department.
"These beasts are really lawless," Xu Qian sneered, "If I had encountered them earlier, I would have crushed these demons into dust."
"With Senior Brother Xu here, those demons are nothing!"
"Exactly! With Senior Brother Xu here, we feel much more at ease."
A group of Demon-slaying Guards flattered Xu Qian. After all, he was a high-level expert at the Refining Realm Fifth Transformation, and his presence alone was like a reassurance pill for everyone.
A smile crossed Xu Qian's face, seemingly enjoying the compliments from everyone.
At this moment, Gu Xiangling walked around the courtyard, unwilling to miss any clues.
"Xiang Ling, don't worry about it. Let them handle these things," Xu Qian walked up to her without getting his hands dirty like the others.
"The demonic energy here is too dense, I'm afraid there are still some that got away," Gu Xiangling said with a frown.
"No matter what kind of demon it is, it will die once I'm here," Xu Qian confidently said.
"Hehehe, such big words, Young Master!"
At this moment, from the depths of the old house came a tinkling laugh like silver bells on a quiet night. It was as if a sudden thunderbolt had erupted in the night, growing closer and closer.
From the half-ruined house, a beautiful figure appeared, a young girl with beautiful features, mesmerizing eyes, and a graceful body that hinted at enchanting curves beneath her tight dress.
"Have you all come to die?" the young girl asked, laughing.