The Demon King is an Idiot [BL]-Chapter 159: It’s worth a try
"Everything you have said is true but not many people know this," Quan Mu pointed out.
"I was always curious about demons and so, I studied a lot about them," Xue Lan spoke. He wasn’t lying, but at the same time, he wasn’t being entirely honest either. It was true that he had been interested in demons and hence, studied a lot about them, but his interest wasn’t as simple as he made it sound.
Xue Lan knew that he was a half-demon and that was the true reason why he knew so much about demons. However, Quan Mu didn’t seem to know that and Xue Lan naturally did not dare mention it.
"According to what you have said, it seems like that demon must currently be living in this city as a villager. That would answer a lot of questions," Quan Mu spoke as he seriously thought about it, "Many of the victims were taken from their houses and killed but there was no sign of struggle left behind. If the victims knew and trusted the culprit, there is a high chance that they would have let their guard down against the demon."
Xue Lan nodded his head as he agreed.
At this point, Xue Lan did not know that Quan Mu was also a demon, however, Hua Tianshu, who saw this memory playing out in front of his eyes clearly knew the truth and as soon as he heard the details of the case, he immediately started suspecting Quan Mu of being the culprit.
"Who could it be?" Xue Lan asked with a small frown.
"I don’t know, but I do have a guess," Quan Mu shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.
"Who?"
"The old village chief."
Xue Lan’s eyebrows creased together as he heard this and he immediately questioned, "Are you sure?"
Quan Mu nodded his head as he spoke, "I can’t be completely sure but he is the only person that I suspect."
"We are talking about the same person, are we not?" Xue Lan questioned with a small frown, "The village chief was the one who invited me here."
"You find it hard to believe, don’t you?" Quan Mu asked with a chuckle as he spoke, "That’s exactly why he is the one to suspect."
"Eh?"
"He reached out to you for help and pretended to be distressed about the situation so that nobody would ever suspect him. After all, a thief doesn’t report his own crime, and the victim who reports the crime is not likely to be the thief."
Xue Lan felt a little speechless as he heard this and questioned, "That’s it...? That’s why you suspect him?"
Quan Mu nodded his head without any hesitance.
"But he can also be an innocent man who is just concerned about the villagers."
"That’s also possible, but except for him, I have no other suspects."
"..."
"It’s worth a try."
Xue Lan didn’t know if he was supposed to laugh or not as he heard this.
In the end, Xue Lan sighed as he asked, "Is there a way to make sure whether he is a demon or not?"
"Of course, there is a way," Quan Mu nodded his head as he proudly spoke, "We can lay a trap and wait."
"A trap?"
"That’s right. A trap to catch a demon," Quan Mu smirked as he spoke, "We know that the demon only hunts at night so we’ll stay up and wait for it to appear."
Xue Lan raised an eyebrow as he heard this and looked at the man, wondering if the man was joking or being serious.
"If it was that easy, why haven’t you already tried doing it?"
Quan Mu laughed as he heard this and spoke, "Of course, I won’t try. What would I do if I really do find the demon? It’s not like a weak rogue cultivator like me can win against a demon that has killed so many people."
"A weak rogue cultivator?" Xue Lan repeated, pursing his lips into a thin line. That sounded like total bullsh*t to him.
"I was waiting for you to come," Quan Mu beamed as he looked at Xue Lan, "I might not be able to win alone but if we work together, we’ll surely catch him."
"Alright," Xue Lan sighed as he spoke, "We’ll give it a try. Tonight, we’ll stay up and wait for the demon to make a move."
"It’s decided."
The two talked a lot while waiting for the sun to go down and when it was finally nighttime, they immediately got ready to catch a demon.
Xue Lan sat down with his legs crisscrossed and closed his eyes as he concentrated his spiritual Qi and spread it around, covering the entire village.
If there was any demonic movement inside the village, he would be the first to know.
Quan Mu curiously looked at the man’s actions with an impressed expression plastered on his face. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
Xue Lan stayed in the same position for hours without rest, however, the night passed and nothing seemed to have happened.
"It seems like the demon doesn’t want to be caught by you," Quan Mu chuckled as he commented.
Before Xue Lan could give a response to that, the two were interrupted by the sudden screaming sound of a woman.
Xue Lan immediately frowned and chased after the sound, only to find that it was coming from the house that belonged to the village chief.
With a worried expression on his face, Xue Lan pushed the door open and entered the house as he questioned, "What happened here?"
However, nobody gave him a response.
Inside the house were the village chief and his daughter. However, one was alive and the other was dead.
The woman who had screamed was the village chief’s daughter who had found her father’s dead body sitting on a chair, right in front of the door.
"It looks like you were wrong," Xue Lan sighed as he whispered to Quan Mu.
Quan Mu frowned but said nothing in response, seeming to be a little shocked at this unexpected situation.
When the village chief’s daughter saw the two cultivators, she immediately ran over to them and hid behind their backs, sobbing as she spoke, "I-I came here to c-call him, but he... He isn’t responding at all. Immortal Xue Lan, please do something!"
Xue Lan walked over to the village chief’s body and pressed his fingers against the man’s neck.
From the man’s pale skin and wide open eyes, it was already clear that he was dead but he still decided to check for the sake of the village chief’s daughter.
As expected, there was no pulse. Xue Lan lowered his eyes and shook his head with a sigh as he spoke, "I’m sorry for your loss."
"Is he... Is he dead...?" The village chief’s daughter questioned, sounding extremely horrified.
Xue Lan gave a small nod and confirmed it.
The village chief’s daughter covered her mouth with her hands and seemed to be in shock.
When she calmed down a little, she looked at her father’s corpse and started muttering like a ghost, "It’s the beast. It’s the beast. The beast was here. The beast took him. It’s the beast. The beast killed him."
The more she muttered, the louder her voice got and it felt as if she had gone insane.
Xue Lan carefully examined the body and found an odd wound on the back of the corpse that looked a lot like a claw mark. He immediately showed it to Quan Mu and asked, "Is it the same?"
Quan Mu nodded his head with a small frown as he confirmed, "It’s the same culprit."
"Damn it..."
Xue Lan closed his eyes and slowly traced his fingers over the wound as he examined it a bit more closely.
"There is a trace of demonic Qi left behind," Xue Lan spoke, confirming.
"It’s really a demon," Quan Mu spoke.
Xue Lan carefully thought about something for a minute before he confidently spoke, "We can trace the demonic Qi back to the owner."
"Huh?"
"I know a way," Xue Lan spoke as he took out a small dagger, "Demons can pretend to be humans on the outside by consuming the life energy of a human being, but they cannot mask their demonic blood."
Quan Mu immediately understood the method that Xue Lan was talking about but didn’t seem to be all too enthusiastic about it as he questioned, "So you want to injure everyone in order to check whether they are a demon or not?"
Xue Lan nodded his head without any hesitance.
"..."
For a second, Quan Mu wondered whether he was supposed to be impressed or concerned.
This method was probably the fastest and the most efficient way to find the demon, however, it wasn’t exactly ethical, and not many righteous cultivators would dare to use such a cruel method.
"It’s just a few drops of blood," Xue Lan spoke, trying to justify himself, "It will heal in no time."
Unexpectedly enough, Quan Mu laughed as he heard this.
