Confronting Village Head Fu Du

Unlike the day before, Zhao Yunxiao and the Mystic Cavalry were all gathered for breakfast at the break of dawn.

The mood was solemn, and nobody said much.

However, it was likely that all of them had a similar thing in mind.

After they were done, the party promptly left the inn and made their way to the village hall.

The villagers usually got up early, so there were many of them who were already up and about despite the early hour.

When the party walked past, all of them immediately stopped to greet them with expressions that were filled with nothing but admiration.

Mo Mian and the rest nodded back in acknowledgement, but Pu Feixiang found himself unable to do so.

He could not even if he had wanted to.

How could he, when he had read about their disgusting actions just the night before?

After a few knocks on the door, the familiar face of the village head's attendant, Xian He, appeared before them.

"We are here to meet the village head," Mo Mian explained without being asked.

Xian He nodded, then gestured for them to enter the residence.

There were multiple houses in the village hall, and they were brought to the same one that they had visited the previous time.

It did not take long before the village head, Fu Du, came over.

"Greetings, great cultivator sirs! What brings you to my humble abode this early in the morning?" Fu Du greeted immediately upon entering the house.

"No hurry. Why don't you take a seat first?" Mo Mian offered.

"My old bones are aching early in the morning, so I would have to take you up on the offer. I hope you don't mind this," Fu Du slowly sat down with the help of Xian He.

"Do you have anything else about this demon that you would like to tell us?" Mo Mian cut straight to the point.

"Is that why you are here this early?" Fu Du revealed a look of surprise before rubbing his chin in contemplation. "Hmm... I should have already mentioned everything that I can think of. Is there anything specific that you want to find out? If so, I can help to ask the other villagers. Perhaps some of them would be able to help."

"I have a question indeed," Mo Mian nodded. "Have you ever heard of the name 'Little Blackarms'?"

"W-What may that be? Who did you hear it from?" Fu Du answered awkwardly.

"Have you heard of it?" Mo Mian asked again.

"This... it doesn't sound too familiar. Then again, perhaps it is because I'm getting too old, but my memory seems to be failing me these days," Fu Du rubbed his temples.

"Shall I remind you then?" Mo Mian placed a stack of paper on the table and nudged it towards Fu Du. "Have a read."

"This..." Fu Du hesitated as he stared at the stack of paper.

"What's wrong? Go ahead and have a read," Mo Mian urged.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Pu Feixiang added. "Feeling nervous about something?"

"N-No, great cultivator sir. What can be wrong? I will read it then..." Fu Du slowly reached out towards the papers with trembling arms.

And as he picked up the paper and read the first few lines, his eyes widened in shock.

He had never seen these documents before!

Since when had there been a record of all these matters?!

Still, the initial shock did not stop him from reading on.

In fact, he was curious as well – curious about what exactly had been written in these papers.

But as he read on, Fu Du's expression gradually turned paler. He repeatedly swallowed his saliva in nervousness, afraid of the words that could possibly appear in the very next line.

He could feel the cultivators staring at him, closely scrutinising his every movement and reaction as he read.

However, it was simply impossible to suppress his emotions, especially at the exact moment when he saw his name appear in the documents.

[I have decided to take Village Head Fu's suggestion and make it an attraction.]

When this particular line appeared, Fu Du could almost feel his soul leaving his body.

"So? Remember anything now?" Mo Mian asked as Fu Du slowly lowered the stack of papers.

"As expected of you, great cultivator sirs. Nothing can get past your eyes," Fu Du answered weakly.

"Ready to talk, then?" Mo Mian leaned back in his chair upon seeing the defeated look in Fu Du's eyes.

He understood that the old villager in front of him had given up by now.

"It is as you have suspected. Even though it is impossible to confirm this matter with certainty, we share the belief that the monkey demon is likely the same monkey that had lived in the village twenty years ago," Fu Du let out a resigned sigh. "It is my decision to let everyone hide this matter, so please don't take it out on them. If someone has to take the blame, then let that be me. However, I do not regret what I did. After all, I only wish to save the village."

Bang-!

Pu Feixiang slammed his palm on the table top.

"You sure speak as though you are in the right!" Pu Feixiang shouted in rage. "Carrying out all sorts of brutality and then asking for help once the tables are turned? How noble of you!"

"I understand that we were in the wrong, but that happened twenty years ago..." Fu Du sighed. "We all make mistakes, don't we? The young ones shouldn't have to suffer for the mistakes of the old. I only hope that great cultivator sirs be magnanimous and take into consideration the fact that there are many young villagers who have no idea what even happened in the past. Please save our East Stream Village!"

Fu Du lowered his head and pleaded.

"We will do what we want," Mo Mian said imperiously. "Tell me what happened exactly, not missing a single detail."

"As you wish, great cultivator sir," Fu Du obeyed without question.

Under Mo Mian's instructions, Fu Du started recounting the events of the past.

As Zhao Yunxiao had suspected, these notes were likely to have been written by Madam Xie's son.

Twenty years ago, he found Little Blackarms while on a fishing trip, and decided to bring it back to the village. The unique and sociable monkey quickly grew on everyone, making it the joy of the village.

But as time passed, the monkey's strength grew to the point of being uncontrollable, and it ended up injuring many villagers. Its hunger was also close to insatiable, at least for a poor fishing village like theirs. It ended up stealing food from neighbours, which caused further outrage in the villagers.

To prevent further trouble, the villagers came together to trap Little Blackarms in a cage, with Madam Xie's son continuing to take care of its food and water.

But this caged monkey quickly became some sort of attraction in the village, drawing in not just the locals but even visitors from elsewhere to come and take a look. Seeing its sheer popularity, Fu Du and Madam Xie's son decided to grasp this opportunity and turn it into a business.

That was the start of all the ugly torture that had been presented as a form of entertainment.

But one day, without informing anyone else, Madam Xie's son and daughter-in-law secretly decided to release the caged monkey back in the wild.

The next thing they knew, Madam Xie was the only one who had returned from their trip to release the monkey in the woods. According to her, a troop of monkeys had attacked the young couple upon hearing the caged monkey's cries.

Madam Xie, who had been tailing the young couple from afar, fainted immediately after witnessing the brutality that played out before her very eyes. By the time she came to, even the corpses of her son and daughter-in-law were gone.

Since then, Madam Xie's mind had been broken to a certain extent, and the villagers agreed not to speak of this matter ever again.

In fact, most of them had already forgotten about this matter after so many years, up until about a year ago, when the monkey demon first reappeared.

The rest of the story was just as he had told them previously.

"And so, you decided to approach us, shamelessly hoping that we can help you get rid of the problem that you have caused yourselves?" Pu Feixiang scoffed.

"I can only hope that great cultivator sirs consider the fact that young ones are not at fault..." Fu Du emphasised again.

"Does that mean the ones who were involved in the past incident deserve to die to the monkey demon then?" Pu Feixiang narrowed his eyes at Fu Du.

"For having the audacity to lie to us as well," Gui Longcan added.

"This..." Fu Du felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

He naturally dared not agree.

"Just for the record, I agree with my companions here," Mo Mian said coldly. "I believe that for all that you have done, none of you deserve to be saved."

"Great cultivator sir, please reconsider!" Fu Du hurriedly pleaded. "If someone has to take the blame, then please just let that be me!"

Mo Mian took a deep breath to compose himself before continuing, "But you are right in that the young ones have nothing to do with your ugly actions in the past. What's done is done, and the crux of the matter now is still to take care of the monkey demon that is here to seek revenge."

"Does that mean...?" Fu Du asked hesitantly.

"We will take care of the monkey demon," Mo Mian confirmed.

"Thank you for understanding, great cultivator sir! Thank you!" Fu Du bowed in gratitude.

"Don't be too happy just yet. We will deal with you people later!" Pu Feixiang snapped.

The startled Fu Du could only hang his head low in a guilty manner.

 "What do you think we should do next, Junior Martial Brother Chu?" Mo Mian asked.

"Gather the villagers," Chu Han answered without hesitation. "We want to talk to every single person who has seen the monkey in the past, even if it is just a single glimpse."

"Gather the villagers...? Now?" Fu Du looked up at them, not quite expecting to hear this.

"Is there a problem?" Chu Han questioned.

"N-No! Not at all!" Fu Du quickly shook his head. "It's just... may I know what this is for? It is just so that I can let the villagers know when they ask."

"The reason is that we want them to gather," Mo Mian answered in Chu Han's stead. "Or is that not good enough of a reason to invite all of your honoured residents?"

From the side, Zhao Yunxiao closely observed Mo Mian's expression.

After hearing about their past brutality, it would appear that Mo Mian's patience was quickly running thin.

"No, no! Please be appeased, great cultivator sir! I will get Xian He to do that immediately!" Fu Du said. "Xian He, bring me some paper and pen!"

And with that, Fu Du started writing down a set of instructions.

Basically, every single villager above the age of twenty had to gather at the village hall. The only exceptions were those who had moved to the village within the past twenty years, which naturally meant that they would not have had any opportunity for interaction with Little Blackarms.