Chapter 72

Zhu Minglang didn't mind. The bandits had probably already committed many murders to cover their tracks, and he didn't mind helping Zheng Yu eliminate those bandit groups. However, the matter of the man-eating demons was indeed important; killing one more would save the lives of a dozen or so people.

"Zheng Yu, these man-eating demons act strangely, often attacking the weak points of our towns. What are your thoughts?" Zhu Minglang asked.

"Brother Zhu, you flatter me too much. I don't understand demons!" Zheng Yu replied.

"Alright, be careful on the way to eliminate the bandits. You, a weak scholar, shouldn't charge into battle." Zhu Minglang reminded him.

Zhu Minglang had a habit: when someone was around to think, he would habitually throw all the problems to that person. Having lived a carefree life for so many years, he didn't need to think about complicated matters.

But now he could only rely on himself. Once he arrived at the scene, he would need to observe and think more.

...

Upon arriving at Baita Town, the town was already guarded by many soldiers, and even the important exits were manned by the military.

The stench still wafted from inside the town. Considering the need to find clues, some of the bodies that had been gnawed by the man-eating demons were left unattended, exposed to the sun.

"All the people are dead, and the soldiers and troops only come now. What are they doing by surrounding the town? Afraid of the bodies turning into zombies!" An old man at the town gate angrily shouted.

The city lord felt ashamed and dared not look at the old man.

He led Zhu Minglang, Jin Minjun, Chu Yanyan, and others into this tragic place. Another team from the Dragon Taming Academy had already arrived, and one of them, Nan Ye, was familiar to Zhu Minglang.

Nan Ye's team seemed to be mostly from the Nan family. They had their own demon hunters and didn't need the city lord's guidance.

Seeing Zhu Minglang and the others arrive, the Nan family members didn't even greet them and left very arrogantly, as if they already had a lead and were heading into the wilderness.

"We are late." Jin Minjun frowned.

"There are many demons. Their team might not be able to find them all. We should still follow the city lord." Chu Yanyan said.

"Go and examine the bodies, we..." the female student, who rivaled Li Yunzi in beauty, said, covering her nose with a fragrant handkerchief.

"Alright, I and Senior Brother Jin will go and check, you four look around for any traces left by the man-eating demons, such as claw marks, fur, or saliva." Zhu Minglang nodded, understanding their psychological limits.

Not all students at the academy frequently went on expeditions outside, and many dragon tamers, especially female dragon tamers, had seen little bloodshed and rarely ventured alone without a team.

Senior Brother Jin and Zhu Minglang went to the place where the bodies were stored, an old house that had been severely damaged, with bricks and tiles scattered everywhere.

Since a whole family was slaughtered by the man-eating demons here, the most bodies were found here, and the subsequent dead were also brought here.

Stepping into the large old house, which was filled with corpses, Senior Brother Jin's face changed, and he also took out a fragrant handkerchief to cover his nose. The pattern on the handkerchief was the same as the one used by the female student earlier.

However, Senior Brother Jin was clearly someone who had seen bloodshed before. He listened to the city lord's account while examining the bodies.

"The bites are very obvious, and most of the internal organs were eaten. Can you tell what kind of demon it is?" Zhu Minglang asked Senior Brother Jin.

To be one of the guardians of the Five Flowers, Senior Brother Jin must have had exceptional abilities.

"The bites are too severe, making it hard to identify, but the demon that eats internal organs is likely a human-faced rat." Jin Minjun replied.

"This woman has marks on her neck and her body was crushed. It seems someone took advantage of the chaos." Zhu Minglang shook his head, pointing to one of the bodies and telling the city lord, "Send someone to investigate the neighbors of this woman and directly question whether they killed her."

The city lord leaned in to look and found the marks on the woman's neck. He hurriedly had the scribe record it and sent people to investigate.

"Don't worry about that. Someone is already ahead of us. One man-eating demon is worth ten credits." Senior Brother Jin glared at Zhu Minglang, displeased with his interference.

"Some people's evil is no less than that of the man-eating demons. We shouldn't let them hide in the crowd." Zhu Minglang said.

"What have you found?" Jin Minjun coldly snorted.

"This old house has many side doors. The main and outer courtyards had about twenty people, but none of them escaped the man-eating demons' mouths, and there are no signs of struggle..." Zhu Minglang focused on the people who died in the old house from the beginning.

"So?" Senior Brother Jin asked.

"I think they might have been hypnotized, and the man-eating demons dug out and ate their internal organs one by one. That's why they don't look as painful, except for the open wounds, the rest of their bodies are intact..." Zhu Minglang continued.

"Hypnotized, could it be the night-flower rat weasel!" Senior Brother Jin immediately thought of this spirit.

The night-flower rat weasel eats night-flower vines, absorbing the hypnotic elements from the plant. As a result, the gas they excrete is not the foul smell of a weasel but a powerful hypnotic agent!

The man-eating demon that killed this family must have been a great demon with over five hundred years of cultivation. It hypnotized the entire family at night and then silently ate all their internal organs, without even the neighboring households noticing!

"So when we search the mountains, we should look for areas with many night-flower vines. We should find something useful." Zhu Minglang said.

"Junior Brother Zhu has a quick mind." Senior Brother Jin immediately nodded in agreement, and his attitude toward Zhu Minglang changed slightly.

"These travelers who died at the inn have marks of being fought over and bitten, and there are few survivors. City Lord, can you help us investigate the inns that were attacked, especially those near the post stations? The location of the first attacked inn is important, as it is likely close to the human-faced rat's nest." Zhu Minglang said.

The city lord nodded and asked the scribe behind him.

"The first attack was at the Xiaochi Mountain post station, about twenty miles from the town." The scribe flipped through the records and said earnestly.

"The human-faced rats should be in a large group. Everyone should go to Xiaochi Mountain together." Zhu Minglang said.

Human-faced rats are social, unlike the night-flower rat weasel, which can act alone. They are numerous and can even endanger dragon tamers.

Jin Minjun nodded heavily, believing the human-faced rats should have a large nest.

The perpetrators were several types of demons, possibly more, who invaded the town together at night.

If they could analyze the types of demons beforehand, they would have a basis for searching in the mountains and plains. Otherwise, searching aimlessly, they might not find one demon even in a whole winter.

"Chu Senior Sister has a dragon with a keen sense of smell. When the time comes, we can use our spiritual energy to capture the demonic aura in the mountains. I believe we can quickly capture them all!" Jin Minjun said.