Chapter 63: Chapter 60 Envoy Inspector
“Jiao Dragon!”
Seeing the Jiao Dragon corpses in the jungle, with heads already shattered, both were astonished.
They still had many precious materials cut from the body of a Black Jiao, including an inner core that could boost one’s power, as well as reverse scales, Jiao teeth, and sharp claws for weapon forging.
It was due to harvesting these materials that they were delayed for a while, and unexpectedly, there was another one here?!
The two immediately thought of the senior who had secretly assisted them before. This Jiao Dragon was most likely killed by that senior.
Looking at the surrounding jungle environment, there weren’t too many trees fallen, indicating the battle wasn’t intense, suggesting it was one of suppression.
“Two Jiao Dragons entering the territory, why would they appear near the official road? If it were for hunting, they would go to remote villages…”
Li Fu’s brow furrowed, and suddenly, his pupils shrank as he hurriedly dropped all the scales and the Jiao teeth as tall as himself, rushing forward.
As he rushed, the Divine Soul atop his head was offered up, roaming heaven and earth, swiftly following the horse hoof prints on the ground.
Wei Feng also realized, his face changed abruptly, disregarding the gathering of materials, and directly using his powers to fly, catching up to the position where Li Hao and the others had been at the tea stall in a blink of an eye.
There, the tea stall old man was packing up.
It was already dark, and dark clouds were descending in the distance, as if a heavy rain was imminent.
“Old man, did a few young men on horses pass by here earlier?” Wei Feng hurriedly asked.
They had been following far behind Li Hao and the others, but they were intercepted by the Jiao Dragon that ambushed them halfway, leading to a fierce battle that caused them to lose distance from Li Hao and his group.
They had thought that the Jiao Dragon was ambushing them, wanting to consume their flesh, but there was another one, and it appeared somewhere else, which could only mean… The two Jiao Dragons weren’t targeting them, but Li Hao and his party.
“Oh, they’ve long gone,” the tea stall old man said with a smile, feeling surprised to see Wei Feng.
“Gone far?” Wei Feng was stunned. They didn’t encounter any trouble?
Without inquiring further, he directly pursued to investigate himself.
Soon, as his Divine Soul roamed, he saw five figures on horseback on the official road ahead. When he saw them clearly, a big stone in his heart fell, and he let out a long breath of relief.
Thank goodness. It seemed that the senior acted in time, preventing the Black Jiao from being able to strike.
He felt secretly fortunate while also feeling helpless. He instinctively felt that the two Jiao Dragons were not targeting the young lady, but the two young masters of the Divine General Mansion.
After all, Divine General Mansion guarded the Frontier Pass and was deeply resented by the demon clans; it seemed plausible they’d send two Jiao Dragons to assassinate them in secret.
Mixing with the Divine General Mansion on this trip, he wasn’t sure if it was good or bad for the young lady.
However, the senior who had taken action earlier was most likely someone from Divine General Mansion. Thinking of this, he felt somewhat more at ease in his heart.
Thinking of Li Fu still behind, he turned back to the tea stall, where he saw Li Fu running over hastily.
“They’re fine, don’t worry.”
Wei Feng immediately reassured him.
Upon hearing this, Li Fu took a long sigh of relief. If something had happened to Li Hao, he would have been in dereliction of duty, too ashamed to return to the Divine General Mansion.
“Would you two like to drink some tea?” the tea stall old man asked, already having packed up halfway, smiling as he spoke.
Neither of them was in the mood for tea. Li Fu said to Wei Feng, “Please go and keep an eye on them. I’ll immediately send a message back to the mansion so they can come and take care of the Jiao corpses. As for that inner core, I’ll send it to you after this mission is over.”
“Of course,” Wei Feng shook his head. “We owe our thanks to that senior’s intervention, otherwise we both would have been in trouble. The materials from the Jiao Dragon rightfully belong to Divine General Mansion. No need for long speeches, I’m going to check on the young lady.”
“All right.”
The two hurriedly went their separate ways, with the tea stall old man watching and shaking his head slightly.
“Why are they all so anxious, so impatient?”
Traveling day and night without stopping.
Two days later.
Li Hao and his companions arrived within the boundaries of Qi State, and after another half day of riding, they reached Cangyu City, where they were tasked with slaying demons.
This city wasn’t large; among the hundreds of cities in Qi State, it was of medium size, with a dozen towns surrounding it and hundreds of villages, with a population of around four or five million.
Yu Wei, who had experience executing missions, released messenger birds ahead of their arrival at the city.
As they entered the city, the trusted aides from the city lord’s mansion came to greet them warmly, especially towards Li Hao and Li Yuanzhao.
Yu Wei and Du Qiuyue watched with envy; when they had come to carry out missions before, they had never received such treatment, just a few courtesy exchanges that were neither warm nor particularly cold.
Before long, the five were led to the local Monster Suppression Department.
As soon as they arrived at the Monster Suppression Department, they spotted an acquaintance.
“It’s her!”
At first glance, Du Qiuyue recognized Song Yueyao, dressed in the Monster Suppression official attire, and was somewhat surprised; she hadn’t expected the other party to also be on a mission, let alone assigned to their group.
Li Yuanzhao and the others also recognized her as the woman who had visited Alpha Academy to find someone and heard that she was one of the top talents from the Black and White Hall.
At that moment, Song Yueyao was hurrying out of the Monster Suppression Department’s gate with another youth and two middle-aged men, seemingly about to carry out a mission.
When Song Yueyao saw the newcomers like Li Hao reporting in, she merely gave them a cursory glance, nodded slightly, and quickly took leave.
The youth, however, showed a surprised face, and his eyes flickered when he saw the Red Blood Horse led by Li Hao’s group; he gave them a gentle smile and said,
“With frequent demon calamities outside the city nowadays, all junior brothers must be careful. If you need anything, feel free to come to me.”
After speaking and waving to them, he also quickly followed Song Yueyao and the others, disappearing into the street.
“It’s Sister Song from the Black and White Hall and Brother Tian; they’ve actually come too. But Sister Song’s official attire – she’s a Monster Suppression Inspector!”
Once Song Yueyao and the others left, Yu Wei exclaimed softly in amazement.
In an ordinary city, a Monster Suppression Inspector already holds great authority, second only to the city lord.
Du Qiuyue sighed and said, “Sister Song possesses grace akin to that of celestial beings; she’s now in the Divine Travel Realm and fully capable of overseeing a city. It’s normal for her to wear the Inspector’s official uniform.”
“Lord Song is indeed formidable. Just yesterday, upon her arrival here, she took down a demon that had been around for hundreds of years,” said the middle-aged Monster Suppression official leading the five, his face showing respect.
He then led them into the Monster Suppression Department and had someone bring over official uniforms.
“Is Cangyu City so chaotic that we encounter demons just upon arrival?” Du Qiuyue asked in surprise.
The Monster Suppression instructor, named Cui Fan, treated Li Hao and the rest with considerable politeness and said,
“Lately, demons have become more rampant. Our Cangyu City is located near the border of Qi State and hence often sees the shadows of demons. It’s not as peaceful as the inner cities, but don’t worry, on your first demon-slaying mission, you just need to patrol with the Monster Suppression officials; there’s no danger.”
Clearly, the Monster Suppression Department took great care of these talents who had come for experience.
Moreover, there were two young masters from Divine General Mansion among them, and the higher-ups had already given instructions: they must not be exposed to any danger.
Hearing the other party’s solicitous words, both Yu Wei and Du Qiuyue felt a quiet joy in their hearts, knowing that thanks to the face given by people like Li Hao, they were likely to get a perfect evaluation and earn ten academic credits.
“We are here to slay demons, not to play,” Li Yuanzhao said gravely, frowning. Raised in a military household, he was imbued from childhood with a sense of discipline and righteousness.
Ren Qianqian, who was about to speak, showed a trace of surprise, glancing at Li Yuanzhao and then at Li Hao, with a noticeable change in her eyes.
Remembering the words Li Hao had shared at the teahouse, and now hearing Li Yuanzhao’s remarks, her understanding of the people from Divine General Mansion had completely shifted.
Yu Wei and Du Qiuyue were stunned, looking at each other and secretly smiling bitterly, feeling a mix of shame and embarrassment.
“Hmm…” Cui Fan hadn’t expected his attempt to brown-nose to backfire; indeed, these scions of powerful families were difficult to serve.
Let you go slay demons? Do you think it’s because I’m worried you’ll get tired? I’m trying to protect my own position! If Li Hao and the others come to harm, who knows whether the Divine General Mansion would unleash its anger? While it may not affect the Monster Suppression Department, targeting small people within the department who lack a background would be no different from crushing ants.
“Truly, the people of the Divine General Mansion are admirable for their iron-blooded spirit, I, Cui Fan, have great respect!”
Though his heart harbored sarcasm, Cui Fan still raised his thumb in admiration, as if truly moved by Li Yuanzhao’s words.
This caused the young man’s face to unconsciously reveal a slight smile and a sense of pride, proud of his earnestness.
Seeing the practiced ways of these career officials, Li Hao knew that Yuan Zhao’s words had been in vain, but he couldn’t blame others for their flattery. After all, their status was immensely intimidating.
For them, slaying demons was a way to earn fame, but for these people, it could be a means of livelihood; it was both a duty and a way of life.
Soon, five sets of official uniforms were delivered. Judging by the sleeve patterns and wooden tags, the uniforms provided to them were all for Monster Suppression officials.
In the Monster Suppression Department, those in the Power Passage Realm would be Monster Suppression Apprentices, Zhou Tian Realm practitioners could serve as Monster Suppression Officials, while those in the Soul Succession Realm would be Monster Suppression Instructors.
Above that was the Inspector level, the same rank as Song Yueyao’s uniform signified, a position of high status.
“Please trouble you, senior, to provide us with a full report of recent demon sightings throughout the territory,” Li Hao said to Cui Fan.