"You... you..." The chief stammered in shock, unable to speak. Blue Spider Lily was equally stunned.
Everything he said was true.
No joke—maybe he really could save the village.
Giyu didn't care what they thought. He picked up a rope from the ground and handed it to the chief, his face blank.
"Tie me up, please. Thanks!"
Chief: "???"
Soon, he realized a serious problem—he had sold this young man's sword.
At this thought, the chief wanted to slap himself.
"But... without a sword, how will you fight?" the chief asked guiltily. Giyu was still tying himself up and glanced at Blue Spider Lily.
"Help me!"
"Make sure it's a slipknot. The demon can't tell, but I can escape when needed."
"Oh, oh!" Blue Spider Lily didn't quite understand why Giyu insisted on being tied up. Maybe it was to lull the monster into complacency—he must have his reasons.
In truth, this was just something Tendo had suggested, with no other purpose than to play a prank.
As for the chief's concerns, they weren't an issue for Giyu. Once tied up, he glanced at the chief.
"My sword is definitely with my friend now. Let's go!"
Friend?
The chief immediately realized it was the generous young man from earlier. So everything had been under their control all along.
Now, whether he believed it or not, he had no choice but to follow Giyu's lead.
Thus, the procession delivering the sacrifice set off grandly, their destination a cave two kilometers from the village.
The cave entrance was several meters high, pitch-black, with seawater flooding in. The wind howled eerily from within.
From afar, the dark cave looked like a gaping, terrifying maw, sending chills down the spine.
The villagers placed a pre-prepared raft on the water at the cave entrance and, following Giyu's instructions, lifted him onto it.
Blue Spider Lily stepped onto the raft herself, determined to accompany Giyu.
"Get off. You're not needed."
"No~" She turned her head away, ignoring him. Giyu said no more.As a wave surged toward the shore, the raft drifted along with the current, gradually swallowed by the cave.
"Ah!" The village chief sighed. In the end, he couldn't persuade Blue Spider Lily, and there was still no sign of that young man from earlier in the day. He felt uneasy.
Just then, Tendo's voice rang out. If he hadn't revealed himself, no one would have noticed his arrival.
"Chief, long time no see!"
Remembering how much money he had taken from the young man, the chief felt too ashamed to meet his gaze, his old face burning with guilt.
What he didn't know was that Tendo had been there since the abandoned temple and had roughly pieced together what had happened.
It was simply a case of good people taking the wrong path—driven to it by the Demon.
"Don't worry, leave everything to us!"
"Make sure to do more good deeds from now on!"
Without looking back, Tendo dashed into the cave along a narrow path.
Inside the cavern, the raft drifted deeper with the current. The torch in Blue Spider Lily's hand flickered unsteadily, on the verge of going out at any moment.
In the darkness beyond the torchlight, eerie rustling sounds could be heard.
The damp, cold air weighed on her like a mountain, making it hard to breathe.
Suddenly, a foul-smelling gust of wind blew past, extinguishing the torch. Though trembling with fear, Blue Spider Lily somehow managed not to scream.
Then, footsteps echoed in the distance, growing steadily closer to the raft.
"Giyu, there's danger!"
In her panic, Blue Spider Lily shielded Giyu with her body, forgetting just how strong he truly was.
At that moment, the footsteps stopped, and a bright beam of light appeared out of nowhere above the raft. Suspended within it was a floating head, its voice eerie and sinister.
"Wooooo, I'm going to eat you!"
"Do you like Giyu?"
In that instant, Blue Spider Lily's mind went blank. Without thinking, she began to answer, completely unaware of the mischief hidden in the question.
"I..."
Just as the word left her lips, she snapped back to her senses—it was Tendo playing a prank.
"What the—?!" Her face burned red with embarrassment, and she wished she could jump into the river and drown. She shot Tendo a fierce glare.
Giyu had heard every word of their exchange. Silently, he untied the knot and took up his Nichirin Blade.
Tendo tossed them an old-fashioned flashlight he had prepared earlier, then plopped down beside Giyu with a cheeky grin, whispering:
"Hey... you heard all that, right?"
Giyu shook his head, signaling that he had no idea what Tendo was talking about.
Tendo: (￢_￢)
After the brief farce, the raft continued drifting deeper into the cave without encountering any danger.
About half an hour later, the raft floated into a larger cavern where the water converged into a small lake. At its center was a tiny island, no more than twenty square meters.
The cavern's ceiling wasn't completely sealed—it connected to the outside. Moonlight streamed through the holes above like stage lights, illuminating the entire space.
The beams fell upon the island, where a gaunt figure sat hunched over in the center, motionless as a meditating monk.
It was emaciated, its skin stretched taut over bones, ribs protruding sharply as if they might pierce through at any moment.
Its body had a cold, silvery hue. Under the moonlight, three lowered heads could faintly be seen, casting an unsettling and eerie presence.This was the demon that had attacked the villagers and demanded sacrifices five years ago. For these five years, it had not stepped out of the cave—not because it didn't want to, but because it couldn't.
Sensing the presence of Tendo and the others, the demon's central head jerked upright like a switchblade, while its sunken eyes slowly opened.
In its pale gray right eyeball was etched a golden character—
Lower One.
"Heh heh heh!"
"Three sacrifices… how delightful!"
The demon's withered mouth split open, its shrill voice piercing the trio's eardrums like daggers stabbing into their brains.
Staring at the distant demon, Tendo's lips twitched before he couldn't help but erupt in curses:
"Fraud! Absolute fraud!"
"You think you can screw me over just because I don't have an anti-scam app?!"
"What kind of Lower Moon are you supposed to be, you bastard?!"
"I *******!"
He pointed at the bewildered demon in the distance and ranted for a full two minutes, leaving the demon utterly dumbfounded—it felt like being cursed out by a vegetable in a cooking pot.
Of course, Tendo wasn't entirely to blame. Outside the Lower One characters in the demon's eye was a bloody "×"—it had long been stripped of its rank by the Scrap Boss.
The Scrap Boss had no particular reason; he simply despised this thing.
Still, as a former Lower Moon, even after five years without consuming humans, its strength remained at the lower-middle tier among the current Lower Moons.
But no matter what, it was no longer a Lower Moon—that was the truth.
Blue Spider Lily turned to Giyu in confusion and asked timidly,
"Is your friend always like this?"
Giyu shook his head. He had never seen or heard of Tendo being this furious before.
But one thing was certain—this demon must have done something unforgivable to Tendo.
It truly deserved to die.
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