Chapter One: Zhen Family Village

  In front of him was Zhen's village, and Da Yi nervously swallowed his saliva, feeling that he was so tense that his legs were trembling slightly. This was the first time he had received a killing order, and the killing order he received was to go to Zhen's village and kill the man-eating snake Jing who had been there for a hundred years. He had rushed for more than ten days before finding this place.

  As he walked past the village entrance, Da Bai slowed down his pace, paying attention to the rooftops and walls of the houses on both sides. The demon was good at hiding and changing its appearance, especially the snake demon. Sometimes it would stick its whole body to the eaves, sometimes hide in the corner of a wall, able to conceal itself so well that it blended in with the color of the bricks and tiles. It would wait for someone to pass by, then spit out poisonous gas, and after the person fainted, suck their blood dry. In this way, the person would die without any unusual signs, and many times the villagers wouldn't even notice.

  Zhuangzi was not big, with only about a hundred households. Da Bi circled around, his palms were already tense and sweating, some villagers noticed Da Bi in the distance, pointing and whispering to each other. Da Bi saw it but didn't mind, what he feared most was that the snake spirit would discover his hidden identity. He knew his own magical powers were weak, so he had to find the opponent before the monster spirit noticed him.

  He walked around the village twice, but still didn't see any signs of the snake spirit appearing. He suddenly thought that if time passed and the demon had absorbed enough human energy, it would likely attach itself to a person's body, which would be terrible.

  Da Bai suddenly stopped, thinking to himself, his face uncertain, and hastily observed the villagers in the village. If a snake spirit attaches itself to a person, that person will likely look somewhat abnormal.

  The big man ran right into the middle of the village, and just then an old man shouted loudly from a distance: "It's him, catch him!"

  Someone was frantically beating a copper gong, making a loud noise that startled Da Ye. Several strong men rushed towards Da Ye, and many villagers came out of their homes with shovels, hoes, and sickles, surrounding Da Ye in an instant. The old man walked into the crowd, pointing at Da Ye: "It's him, he's been wandering around our village for half a day, with a sly look on his face, his eyes darting back and forth from house to house."

  Dai Yun was taken aback, and only then did he remember that when he first entered the village, this old man had been staring at him for half a day. Dai Yun hastily said: "Old sir, I haven't done anything wrong, you can't falsely accuse good people."

  An old aunt suddenly slapped her thigh and cried: "Damn it, a few days ago there was also a young man wandering around the village entrance, as a result my little grandson got lost, you human traffickers are harming people."

  The crowd immediately became agitated and shouted: "Can't let him run away, catch him, catch him."

  "He's in a hurry and shouted: 'I'm not a bad guy, don't wrong good people.'"

  A group of young men surrounded Da Ye and beat him up with fists and feet. Then, without saying a word, they found some rope and tied him up securely. All Da Ye could hear was an ugly woman say: "Li's wife is so pitiful, she lost her child and went crazy, what a good person she is."

  "Yes." Someone pointed at Da Bi's big nose and cursed: "Zhang Shun's family has also lost a child, you thief who steals children should be cut into pieces."

  Dai Yu was pushed and beaten by several people, some women scolded him while spitting, pointing at Dai Yu and cursing. Dai Yu was so angry that he shouted loudly: "You can't wrong me, I'm not a human trafficker."

  After being beaten and kicked, Da Ye was pushed into a large courtyard by the crowd and locked in a woodshed. After half an hour, several elderly men came, and they interrogated him randomly, with each person saying: "Our Zhen family village has never had outsiders come, you came to our place, and our village lost seven or eight children one after another, if you say it's not you, that's all? Our Zhen family village's children will be lost in vain?"

  "Are you country bumpkins so uncouth that you can't tell black from white? How dare you shift the blame of losing your child to me?"

  The villagers couldn't find any evidence and just cursed loudly. In the end, they decided to lock up Da Ye in a woodshed and ordered two young men from the Zhuang ethnic group to take turns keeping watch.

  After being tossed around for half a day, it was already late in the evening. He had been beaten several times with fists and feet, and his hands and feet were still tied up. His body was sore and tired, and he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for half a day, making him both hungry and thirsty. Yet, he was thinking about getting rid of the demon, his mind in disarray.

  As the night deepened, one of the guards outside left and the other leaned against the doorframe, dozing off. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Dabai slowly raised his hands to his mouth, concentrated his mind, gathered his spiritual energy, and blew gently, watching as the rope was quietly blown apart.

  He untied the rope, moved his hands and feet, and took off the short sword tied to the outside of his thigh. He originally carried a package, which was also taken away by the villagers, fortunately, the most important thing was still on him. This short sword was thin and narrow, with a dull gray blade, looking really shabby, but this sword was specially made for him to exorcise demons, as it had melted several crystal irons inside, costing all his savings of over 100 taels of gold. With the crystal iron melted in, this short sword was no longer an ordinary object, but a magic weapon for exorcising demons and evil spirits.

  Dai Wen found a clean place to sit cross-legged, placing the short sword horizontally on his knees, with both hands pinching the finger seals, entering a state of quiet contemplation. After a moment, the short sword suddenly floated slowly into the air, its body gradually emitting a light glow. After another moment, the short sword emitted a low hum, its light bursting out and then quickly retracting, finally enveloping the entire sword in a layer of light aura. Dai Wen stopped his meditation and carefully wrapped the short sword around his leg again.

  At this time, the night was already deep, and Da Wei was about to rest for a while. Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound coming from outside. The sound was very light, and ordinary people would find it difficult to hear. From the sound, it seemed like someone was walking, but it was vastly different from human footsteps. Da Wei quietly walked to the window and looked out through the gap, only to see a young woman slowly walking towards this place.

  She only took a glance, and Dai Wei felt something was off. The woman wore a long skirt that dragged on the ground, although her legs were invisible, she seemed to be twisting and turning as she walked, extremely awkward. As the woman approached closer and closer to the window, Dai Wei hastily retreated behind the wall. After a moment, the woman reached the window, a black shadow was cast on the window, seemingly looking inside, Dai Wei's face suddenly turned deathly pale.

  A strong aura of evil, a very heavy aura of evil. Dahai held his breath and concentrated his mind, only to feel himself trembling violently, his heart racing like a ball.

  The girl finally left the window, and Dabai took a deep breath, listening to the movement outside. At this time, the young man guarding the woodshed suddenly woke up, and Dabai heard the man exclaim in surprise, "Ah, you scared me! Is that Miss Huan?"

  The girl softly responded with an "en". The young man casually asked: "How does Miss Huan have time to come here?"

  The woman's voice was soft and a little hoarse: "Second Brother Xuan, I came back from Li's wife's place and walked over here on purpose."

  Er Xuan chuckled twice and didn't know what to say anymore. After a moment, Er Xuan asked again: "Miss Huan has cooked fish again, it smells fishy."

  Girl: "You said I have body odor?"

  "Not at all, just a little bit."

  A sudden movement in his heart, that's not some fishy smell, it must be the bloody smell on the demon's body.

  At this time, Er Xuan chuckled and said with a smile: "Actually, Huan, you smell really good."

  The girl didn't say much more, and after a while, Er Xuan said somewhat disappointedly: "Miss Huan, you're leaving?"

  The rustling sound gradually faded away, and the young man named Er walked to the door and looked out. The woman had already gone far away, but the youth who called her name still stared blankly at her receding figure, his eyes burning with fervent gaze.

  He looked at her with a sudden thought and said in a low voice: "Hong'er is very pretty."

  "He said with a silly grin: 'She is the prettiest in the village.'"

  "Da Yan said: 'You like her very much, don't you.'"

  Er Xi nodded and said, "But it seems like Huan'er doesn't care about you much."

  "Er Xiang only reacted now and scolded: 'You just honestly stay there, what does this have to do with you, you damn bastard.'"

  "Actually, I have a way to make Miss Huan like you."

  Dai Yuan said and walked back, leaning against the wall corner, Er Xuan scolded a few more sentences. Listening to the door outside, Er Xuan occasionally sighed and lamented, Dai Yuan deliberately whispered: "What a beautiful girl, whoever marries her is really lucky."

  After a moment, Er Xuan suddenly asked through the door gap: "Hey, who are you? How did you know she doesn't like me?"

  "Needless to say, I've already calculated it with my fingers, she must like someone else, didn't I say so?"

  "Doesn't she seem to like Nan Jie's orange seller more?" Er Xuan asked. "How did you know that?"

  He smiled slyly, it's normal for men and women in love to be suspicious, thinking that the other person has feelings for them or suspecting that their crush likes someone else. He drawled, saying nonchalantly: "Didn't I say so? I'm actually a fortune teller, I can calculate it with my fingers. And I can even make her fall in love with you, don't believe me if you don't want to."

  He exclaimed and hastily asked: "Are you telling the truth? Are you really a fortune teller?"

  "Originally I was just reading the Feng Shui, but you guys beat me and scolded me, and even locked me up here. Never mind, I'm going to sleep now."

  Er Xuan muttered two sentences, seeing that Daxun had really seemed to lie down, he hastily begged: "Sir, sir, you said you can make Miss Huan like me, is it true?"

  "Hmph, what's so difficult about this? I'm a master of the Tao, just watch closely."

  Saying that, Da Yun walked to the door, stretched out his fingers like a sword, and activated his magic. Suddenly, a ball of fire appeared on the two upright fingers, and with a "pa" sound, it dispersed and turned into sparkling lights floating around. Er Xuan's one eye was stuck in the gap of the door, watching clearly, and had already forgotten that Da Yun should have been tied up hand and foot. He only begged: "Sir, sir, you are indeed a master, please teach me the method to make Huan'er like me, please, I beg of you."

  "Come on, it's easy," Da Yuan said with a dissatisfied tone. "But why should I help you? You people wronged me and even beat me up."

  "Sir, sir, I'll go find Third Uncle as soon as it's daylight. You're a noble person, absolutely not a bad one."

  "Alright then, since you're so kind, I'll teach you a trick."

  Er Xuan was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly. Da Ye thought for a moment, then said seriously: "However, I must say this beforehand, you can't use the treasure I gave you to do bad things."

  Er Xianger listened and had no more doubts in his heart. He said with a burst of energy: "Sir, how could that be? I'm a good person, even if you beat me to death, I wouldn't harm anyone."

  "That's good." Da Yun said mysteriously again: "And you must do what I say, or it won't work, don't blame me."

  Second Master nodded vigorously. Old Man stretched out his hand and took out a porcelain bottle from his bosom, saying seriously: "This is the spiritual medicine I refined, you find a large jar of wine later, pour the spiritual medicine into it to dissolve, then sprinkle some wine on yourself, and then find an opportunity to sprinkle the remaining wine on the person you like. Finally, when I cast my spell, your marriage will be tied together by me, she will marry you sooner or later."

  Er Xuan happily agreed, and with great difficulty, the two of them managed to pass the porcelain bottle through the door gap. Er Xuan repeated one side of the big wild goose's instructions, but before taking a few steps, he hurriedly came back and asked: "Sir, how can I pour wine on her body?"

  "Ha ha, this is easy! You find her home, say you're delivering something to her, then pretend to lose your grip and spill the wine all over her. Or, if you can think of a way to get her to drink it herself, that would be even better."

  Second Master's face turned serious, and he instructed him: "You must think carefully about this, as it concerns your marriage. Remember, the less you splash on yourself, the more you splash on her, the better. If you do it right, she'll be your wife."

  When he heard the word "daughter-in-law", Er Xuan's face turned red, and he quickly walked away. Da Yun looked at Er Xuan's back, but instead of feeling relieved, he felt anxious. The porcelain bottle contained snake medicine, which he had bought from a pharmacy on his way here. Who knew if it would work or not? Da Yun couldn't help but feel anxious.