Chapter 202: Demon Extermination Society

Back at Gushan Prefecture, Meng Chuan and his wife continued their cultivation in the mountains. They returned to their residence in the prefectural city together, as usual, only at noon.

“Master, Madam,” the old gatekeeper greeted them warmly as he opened the door. The cook, a woman, also smiled ingratiatingly. Lunch, of course, was already prepared.

The prefectural city was large, and living there was not easy. The woman now resided permanently at the manor, which eased the rental pressure on her family of four. Additionally, Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue paid their two servants generously, so the woman naturally cherished her job even more. Meng Chuan and his wife also allowed both servants to take leftover food back to their relatives and friends. This was mainly because food, vegetables, and meat were all very expensive in the prefectural city these days; many families could no longer afford to eat rice and meat. Taking home leftovers was enough to bring joy to their families.

After lunch, Meng Chuan went into his study and began to paint.

He had been painting for so long that the original scroll was no longer enough; this was already the second one. What was initially planned as a single long scroll now seemed destined to become a "set" of scrolls. As for how many scrolls would be in this set, Meng Chuan himself didn't know; he would simply paint as his heart desired.

“Qian Mo.” Meng Chuan wanted to paint Qian Mo, along with other Godfiends similar to him. He picked up his brush and began to paint.

The misty morning, the half-ruined stronghold village, the many people barely surviving in tunnels... these were all background elements. The focus was on three ferocious demon monarchs, and a severely wounded Godfiend who bravely charged towards them! The demon monarchs were triumphant, as their plan had succeeded: the Godfiend hadn't fled and had indeed come, seemingly to his death. However, the injured Godfiend wore a resolute expression, determined to fight for a path to survival for the countless mortals in the stronghold.

As he painted this scene, Meng Chuan fell silent. He had witnessed more than one Godfiend do this, and heard of many more. Some Godfiends managed to hold on until reinforcements arrived, and a very small number even killed the demon monarchs they faced. However, many more perished. This was why Yuanchu Mountain had established strict rules. Godfiend teams were required to follow these rules; with four Godfiends mutually supervising each other, it was somewhat better. In the early days, many Godfiends acted alone, taking responsibility for themselves, and impulsively rushed into battles. Some were encountering a demon monarch massacre for the first time. Others simply couldn't tolerate the slaughter of so many mortals. They charged forward! Even knowing they were at a disadvantage, they still charged! Miracles did happen, but more often than not, they ended up dying in battle. Retreating when weak and striking when strong: this aligned with the essence of military strategy, yet not every Godfiend could achieve it. Meng Chuan simply wanted to commemorate these Godfiends in his paintings. If the war ever ended, future generations could look at these scrolls and know that such passionate Godfiends once existed, and that because of them, many mortals were saved. For instance, Qian Mo had saved six thousand mortals this time.

Meng Chuan and his wife continued this lifestyle, patrolling within Gushan Prefecture for extended periods. With Meng Chuan's speed, the demon monarchs within the prefecture were decimated. Even the Great Demon Monarch Fujiao suspected that a powerful Godfiend, possibly even a Marquis Godfiend, was stationed in Gushan Prefecture. Almost all Third-Heaven demon monarchs in Gushan Prefecture had fled, leaving only numerous Second-Heaven demon monarchs who frequently carried out destructive orders. These Second-Heaven demon monarchs were scattered throughout the prefecture, attacking and then fleeing. Meng Chuan, alone, could only do his utmost, often finding himself helpless when encountering ruins. As for cross-prefecture rescue missions? Because Meng Chuan and his wife's previous rescue mission was very successful, Yuanchu Mountain began assigning them more tasks, roughly one per month. Yuanchu Mountain remained very cautious in assigning missions to the couple. Firstly, they were both very young, and secondly, they both possessed great potential, almost certainly capable of becoming Marquis Godfiends. Yuanchu Mountain did not want them to encounter great danger during their weaker period. In ten or eight years, they might become two Marquis Godfiends! By then, Meng Chuan's speed would be unparalleled, and Liu Qiyue's Phoenix Nirvana deterrence would be equally formidable. Their assistance would then be far greater. Even under pressure and knowing Meng Chuan's incredible speed, the assignment of missions remained cautious.

In a county town on the border between Wuzhou and Qianzhou, smoke billowed. Five demon monarch corpses lay in the county town, while a Godfiend team, Meng Chuan and his wife, and a lone Godfiend were chatting nearby.

“Senior Brother Meng, Senior Sister Liu, this time we owe much to Brother Wang Yan's assistance,” one of the four Godfiends from the Godfiend team said, visibly excited. “Without Brother Wang Yan's sudden intervention, even if we had held out until you arrived, we might have lost one or two of our own.”

“I just happened to be passing through this county town,” the lone Godfiend, Wang Yan, said with a smile, a sword on his back. “Seeing Godfiends and demon monarchs fighting, and with an old friend among them, and the situation critical, of course I had to intervene.”

“Thank you, Brother Wang,” Meng Chuan also said.

“Oh, please,” Wang Yan said, waving his hand dismissively. The lone Godfiend, handsome and refined with distinctive whiskers, continued with a chuckle, “Although I helped, I was still suppressed by the demon monarchs. It was only when Brother Meng and his wife arrived that they instantly annihilated all the demon monarchs. That's true skill.”

Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue both had a good impression of this lone Godfiend.

“Brother Wang, are you from the Demon Slaying Alliance?” Meng Chuan inquired.

“Yes,” Wang Yan replied with a self-deprecating smile. “I also participated in Yuanchu Mountain's entrance examination back then, but unfortunately, I didn't make it into the top twenty. Accumulating merits on the battlefield to exchange for entry into the Godfiend Blood Pool was simply too difficult. I also took on some tasks for the Demon Slaying Alliance, and eventually accumulated enough merit through them to become a Godfiend.”

Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue both nodded.

The existence of the Demon Slaying Alliance was known to all Godfiends under heaven. It was a pure assassination organization that did not engage in indiscriminate killing; as its name suggested, it solely targeted the demon race. The Demon Slaying Alliance was an assassin organization primarily focused on assassinating members of the Heavenly Demon Gate and locating demons hidden throughout the world. The Demon Slaying Alliance issued missions, and completing them earned merit. This merit could be exchanged for various desired items, such as opportunities to enter the Godfiend Blood Pool or even rare treasures of heaven and earth. Who was truly behind the Demon Slaying Alliance remained unknown to Meng Chuan and others, but they subtly understood that it was connected to the three major sects. This was because one could use the Demon Slaying Alliance's connections to break through using any of the three major sects' Godfiend Blood Pools.

Human Godfiends were primarily divided into three categories. The first category consisted of inner disciples of the three major sects, who were meticulously selected and provided with abundant resources of all kinds. They were almost guaranteed to become Great Sun Godfiends. The second category comprised outer disciples of the three major sects, who earned opportunities through merit and naturally had to obey the sects' directives. The third category were those from the Demon Slaying Alliance. They operated independently of the three major sects, always lurking in the shadows, fighting the Heavenly Demon Gate, and searching for demons.

Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue held a favorable impression of the Demon Slaying Alliance Godfiends, precisely because both of their fathers belonged to it. Liu Yebai and Meng Dajiang had become Godfiends, a fact unknown even to Palace Lord Yuyang of Dongning Prefecture and unrecorded in Yuanchu Mountain's public intelligence. This indicated that Liu Yebai and Meng Dajiang were third-category Godfiends from the Demon Slaying Alliance! Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue had also inquired with their fathers, and both had confirmed it, as there was no longer any need to conceal it.

“In the past, the Demon Slaying Alliance primarily dealt with the Heavenly Demon Gate,” Wang Yan sighed. “The Heavenly Demon Gate operates in secret. While their mortal disciples are relatively easy to track down and assassinate, the 'heavenly demons' themselves are incredibly cautious in hiding, making assassination difficult. So, accumulating merit was easy at first, but became progressively harder later on.” Wang Yan then chuckled, “Now with the large-scale demon invasion, accumulating merit by assassinating demon monarchs has become easier. I usually travel between county towns and stronghold villages. If I find a Second-Heaven demon monarch, I immediately ambush and assassinate them, then make a quick escape. When I encounter Third-Heaven demon monarch teams, I can only hide. Fortunately, those of us in the Demon Slaying Alliance generally specialize in methods for concealing our aura and hiding.”

Meng Chuan nodded. The Demon Slaying Alliance was indeed skilled at stealth assassinations. For example, his own father, when not unleashing his full power, could disguise himself as a mortal so well that even his grand-aunt and others couldn't tell the difference.