Chapter 370: Divine Pet Territory

"Escaping divine grace, he got off easy." The executioner snorted. After climbing out of the pit, he addressed the two pseudo-tigers, "Proceed with the execution!"

The pseudo-tigers, having waited impatiently, rushed the unconscious prisoner and took a huge bite. With a wet thud, blood spurted three feet high. The man awoke in intense pain. As he screamed, a large chunk of flesh had already been bitten from his belly, exposing his abdominal cavity.

He struggled desperately, of course, but human strength was like a tiny insect trying to shake a tree. A pseudo-tiger pinned him down with a paw and devoured his internal organs. The internal organs are the most delicious and nutritious; lions and tigers always start their feast with these.

The other pseudo-tiger, unwilling to be outdone, joined the struggle. After failing to snatch many bites, it angrily broke the prisoner's thigh. For a moment, tiger roars and human screams created an extraordinary din. Foreign merchants witnessing such a scene for the first time turned pale. He Lingchuan finally understood the origin of the stains on the sunken execution platform.

The local townspeople watched intently, the little girl craning her neck to try and see more clearly. But soon she complained, "Ah Dong lied, the pit's so deep, the blood doesn't even splatter up!"

After only about a dozen breaths, the prisoner fell silent amidst the two pseudo-tigers' fierce contention. One was still feasting on its delicious meal, while the other simply turned to find the dead prisoner who had rammed the pillar. The delicious meat couldn't be wasted; it was a reward they had earned with great difficulty. The "crackling" sound of sharp teeth gnawing on bones terrified many outsiders.

At this point, bailiffs brought a large black cloth and covered the entire execution platform, telling everyone, "The execution is over, you can all disperse now." Both prisoners were dead, and the pseudo-tigers didn't want to be disturbed while eating, so the townspeople reluctantly dispersed.

Shi Congshui also had cold sweat on his forehead. He asked He Lingchuan, "Well, can you still drink wine?"

He Lingchuan had seen all sorts of grotesque scenes of monsters eating humans, far more horrific than this. But seeing Shi Congshui swallowing nervously, clearly uncomfortable but trying to appear calm, he stretched and said, "No, I'm a bit tired. I want to go back to the inn to rest."

Shi Congshui secretly let out a sigh of relief. "Good, good, an early night is probably best."

Passing an alley, the scent of oil wafted from a street stall. He Lingchuan's stomach rumbled, so he went over and bought a few sesame flatbreads. He had barely started on his second flatbread when he saw a bailiff turn into the alley, followed by another person whose eyes were red as if they had just cried, sniffing as they walked.

He Lingchuan ambled over, still munching his flatbread, and stood by the wall. With his hearing, eavesdropping on a conversation in the alley from here was a piece of cake. But first, he heard the clinking of copper coins, as if the bailiff had weighed them. Then the bailiff said, "Alright, wait until the two 'Mister Tigers' have finished eating, then you can collect the body. Hmm, maybe in half an hour at most."

The person repeatedly thanked him, saying it allowed his son to suffer less. The bailiff quickly shushed him, "Go, go, don't talk nonsense."

Hearing this, He Lingchuan understood. The condemned prisoner suddenly ramming the pillar earlier wasn't due to the bailiff's negligence; it was because the bailiff had taken a bribe. The other condemned prisoner, perhaps not worldly-wise or lacking money, could only endure the "Devouring Punishment" until death. Two human lives were lost, yet the townspeople seemed indifferent, continuing with their daily lives.

He Lingchuan didn't return immediately; instead, he wandered idly through the small town. As dusk fell, lights appeared in every home, filling the air with a sense of bustling life. In this town, demons and humans coexisted peacefully. He Lingchuan even saw a cat demon counting money with its paws. The townspeople were also friendly to outsiders; learning that He Lingchuan was a guest from the south, they enthusiastically gave him directions. It was as if these people simply had a particularly peculiar hobby of watching spectacles.

A woman selling handicrafts smiled at him and said, "Old Cai's Wontons, the tenth stall from the left in the market, makes the best wontons here. If you go now, they should still be open." The market had already dispersed by this time.

He Lingchuan thanked her. Noticing she also sold masks at her stall, a colorful array, he casually picked one up to look at it. "What is this?" he asked.

"This is a Nuo opera mask," she replied. "In ten days, it's the Nuo Dance Festival. Here, both adults and children wear these to ward off evil and purify."

"Is this a ghost-head mask?" The mask's design was a fierce, grimacing blue ghost head. Hmm, or perhaps a beast head? Using ghosts to ward off ghosts?

"No, no," the woman laughed. "This is Qing Yao, the mount of the Celestial God Chana. It specializes in eating ghosts."

He Lingchuan recalled General Hong's mask, and a playful impulse struck him. He placed two copper coins for her. "Then I'll take this one." It felt light in his hand; he wasn't sure what kind of wood it was, but it would make a nice decorative item.

Just then, a little girl ran over, and he remembered that this mother and daughter had been by the execution platform earlier. The little girl's name was A Yan.

He asked A Yan, "Aren't you scared seeing the prisoner executed?"

"Why should I be scared?" A Yan's eyes were large and clear. "Bad people aren't considered human. They received divine judgment. Only by being executed this way can their sins be washed away."

"Do you know what crime they committed?"

"They set fire to the military granary. Many people will go hungry this summer because of them."

Just then, the two pseudo-tigers walked down the street and headed out of town. They had already cleaned their fur, but He Lingchuan could still smell the faint scent of blood on them. Pedestrians on the street walked and chatted as usual, no one making a fuss. The two pseudo-tigers roaming the streets seemed to be an everyday occurrence in this town.

He Lingchuan casually pointed to their retreating figures. "You're not scared of them either, huh?"

"No!" A Yan said matter-of-factly. "They don't harm us. I even rode one once."

"That impressive?"

He Lingchuan stood up and, following the woman's directions, went to the market to eat a bowl of large wontons with meat and vegetables. The taste was indeed surprisingly good. When he returned to the inn, Shi Congshan's guest room door was tightly shut, and the lights were off.

The next morning, he sought out Shi Congshui for clarification. The Second Boss Shi had recovered as usual today, sipping hot tea as he said:

"'Devouring Punishment' is a tradition. The Northern Demon Nation decrees that demon beasts cannot eat humans indiscriminately, or they will be arrested. But their nature and instincts are hard to eradicate. It's better to guide than to block, so Beijia established this law: human criminals are punished, and demon beasts satisfy their cravings. It's a win-win."

"Isn't that quite reasonable?" A new team member nearby couldn't help but say, "Second Boss, isn't this too cruel?"

Second Boss Shi thought to himself, *Of course, it's horrifying.* But he maintained a calm and composed demeanor on the surface: "Punishment, punishment. If the prisoner doesn't suffer, how can it achieve the goal of 'punishment'? Tell me, what kind of corporal punishment doesn't cause pain? Isn't slow slicing cruel? Isn't hanging cruel? Isn't quartering cruel?"

"But this is too frightening," the team member didn't understand. "Don't the other people in this town get scared watching it?"

"Quite the opposite," Shi Congshui waved his hand. "It took me a long time to figure it out too. With the Devouring Punishment in place, demon beasts only eat convicted criminals, which actually greatly increases the townspeople's sense of security. As long as you're a good person, don't do bad things, and don't break the law, the demon beasts won't eat you. Understand?" he said emphatically. "Conversely, these ferocious demon beasts are also a powerful deterrent against petty criminals."

He Lingchuan remembered what the little girl had said yesterday: she had even ridden an adult pseudo-tiger. For ordinary folk living their lives, perhaps what they need most is "certainty." Other things are secondary; they'll find a way to live anyway.

He said indifferently, "With just one decree, no demon beasts truly dare to eat people indiscriminately? Even human nature can't withstand temptation, let alone the nature of demon beasts?" He no longer had much faith in things that seemed as perfect as ideals.

"We're just here to do business," Shi Congshui smiled. "Why bother understanding everything so clearly? Although, I have heard of occasional unsolved cases in various places."

"By the way, yesterday I wandered around the town and discovered there are actually three temples here. In each one, people were burning incense and kowtowing, and I even saw them offering raw lamb heads," He Lingchuan spoke of his new discovery from last night with some emotion. "Where I come from, a single town might not even have one temple, and offering blood sacrifices is strictly forbidden." Hadn't the He family suffered misfortune precisely because they were falsely accused of making offerings to gods?

"Oh yes, some countries strictly forbid 'offerings to gods'," Wu Jinsong said, having just walked back in from outside and overheard He Lingchuan. "But in Beijia, every household does it. If you go into any town resident's home now, you'll definitely find a shrine. They perform obeisance once in the morning and once in the evening every day, and on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month, they find ways to offer blood sacrifices."

He then smiled, "Beijia is known worldwide as the Nation Blessed by Heaven, a country favored and protected by the gods. Here, the weather is favorable every year, and there are few disasters or calamities." His expression held a faint pride.

As He Lingchuan traveled with the caravan, he had heard Shi Congshan say countless times that Beijia was a nation of divine grace, a nation blessed by Heaven. Even its capital, Lingxu City, was named after the Celestial God Lingxu Sage Venerable. Beijia's Demon Emperors and Demon Kings also had to be personally appointed by the gods and receive divine baptism before they could assume power and succeed to the throne. It had been this way for five or six hundred years. The Great Kite Dynasty, conversely, had educated its subjects from its founding that gods were not to be trusted.

He didn't know which of these two approaches was more practical. He Lingchuan remembered Zhu Erniang always scoffing in the Demon Lair Swamp that the gullible would come to no good end. She truly was a cynical former demon immortal. Yet, the Beijia nation had endured for nearly six hundred years, watching other smaller nations undergo drastic changes, changing masters like a revolving lantern. How did one explain that?

After traveling for three more days, the Shimen caravan arrived at Fufeng City, the capital of the Baoshu Kingdom. They could travel so quickly partly because the main road was straight and wide, suitable for horse travel, and there were only two toll gates along the way, with relatively low tolls. Throughout Beijia, trade taxes and carriage taxes were not high, while infrastructure was well-developed and trade regulations were comprehensive, leading to thriving commerce. He Lingchuan often noticed that the number of merchants outnumbered the local townspeople.

When Beijia was founded, sixteen demon kings were enfeoffed, and the Baoshu King was one of them. However, over time, the number of demon kings fluctuated, once dropping to twelve, until another king was ennobled over a hundred years ago. Thus, Beijia currently has one Emperor and thirteen Demon Kings. The thirteen demon kings each ruled vast feudal states, or vassal states. Apart from the Prime Minister and Grand Tutor, who were appointed by Lingxu City, they had autonomy over personnel, laws, and taxation, and possessed their own armies—they were, in essence, "states within a state."