Chapter 51: Welcoming the New Director
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The capital of the Great Xia Kingdom, the Devil Slayers Division’s headquarters.
As a special organization in the Great Xia Kingdom that was used to deal with strange incidents, in a place like the Devil Slayers Division’s headquarters, let alone ordinary people, even those officials who were high and mighty in the eyes of mortals did not dare to rashly come here or make a fuss nearby.
This was not only because the people in the Devil Slayers Division were all extraordinary people with cultivation. It was also because the Devil Slayers Division was a special existence that was independent of the Great Xia Kingdom’s government.
In the mortal world of the Great Xia Kingdom, there had always been a saying: Once the black-robed smiled, it would be hard to determine if one could live or not.
The “black-robed” referred to the devil-slaying practitioners in the Devil Slayers Division.
This was because the devil-slaying practitioner’s standard attire was a gorgeous black uniform.
And the reason why such a saying circulated in the Great Xia Kingdom was that if a mortal met a devil-slaying practitioner, there would only be two situations.
…..
One was that they had encountered a strange incident and had no choice but to go to a devil-slaying practitioner.
The other was that one had done something that even the government couldn’t handle, so the devil-slaying practitioners had to deal with it. For example, offending someone in the Devil Slayers Division.
No matter which situation it was, it was clearly not a good thing for mortals.
After all, the former would present the possibility of losing one’s life, but one might even suffer a fate worse than death if it were the latter.
Therefore, the expressions of most people would change upon mention of the Devil Slayers Division.
They hoped that they would never see a devil-slaying practitioner in their lifetime.
With such a mentality, the people thus produced all kinds of rumors about the Devil Slayers Division’s headquarters.
For example, the Devil Slayers Division’s headquarters was the place where all the vengeful souls and evil spirits in the Great Xia Kingdom were punished.
It was filled with imprisoned ghosts and evil spirits, as well as some extremely evil people. A mortal would lose three years of their life just by looking at those beings from a distance.
Therefore, even though the Devil Slayers Division’s headquarters was located in the central area of the capital of the Great Xia Kingdom, the area was very deserted and few people came.
Only a few of the Devil Slayers Division’s subordinate organizations and the family members of some of the internal members lived in this area.
This gave the area a unique name: The Devil-suppressing Lane.
At such a place where ordinary people’s expressions would change the moment it was brought up, it currently showed a completely different scene from what outsiders imagined.
A group of devil-slaying practitioners in black were standing respectfully in the courtyard as if they were waiting for someone to arrive.
Devil Slayers Division’s headquarters, front courtyard.
“Have you heard? The current director’s term has ended. He has been called back to his celestial sect.”
“The old director has left. Do you know who the new director is?”
“Nope. In the past 50 years, the director has always been directly chosen from one of the four great practitioners in the division. But this time, the new director has come straight from the sect. No one knows who he is.”
Just as two ordinary devil-slaying practitioners were whispering to each other, another devil-slaying practitioner couldn’t help but interrupt, “So be it if the new director comes straight from the sect. Although the Devil Slayers Division is extremely terrifying in the eyes of the mortals, we know our own situation.”
“In front of those true disciples of the celestial sects, what difference is there between us and the mortals outside? We’re just dogs that will come and go at their beck and call. No matter who becomes the director, our situation will not change. We are just unlucky people who will be sent to die at any time.”
Hearing the negative words of their comrade, the devil-slaying practitioners next to him did not refute his words.
After all, the actual situation was not much different from what he had said.
They, the devil-slaying practitioners, were cultivators.
However, most of the cultivators in the Devil Slayers Division were only at the Qi Cultivation Stage.
Only a few of them had decent strength and could reach levels 7 or 8 of the Qi Cultivation Stage.
With just the cultivation of levels 7 or 8 in the Qi Cultivation Stage, one could already be a silver-rank practitioner in the Devil Slayers Division.
In the Devil Slayers Division, the ranks of the devil-slaying practitioners were divided into gold, silver, copper, and iron.
Metal-rank practitioners were usually cultivators below level 3 of the Qi Cultivation Stage or martial artists who had mastered internal force.
Bronze-rank practitioners were cultivators between levels 3 and 5 of the Qi Cultivation Stage or martial artists with decades of internal force.
Silver-rank practitioners were cultivators between levels 5 and 9 of the Qi Cultivation Stage or martial artists who had boundless internal force and blood qi.
Lastly, gold-rank practitioners, who were also known as great practitioners in the Devil Slayers Division, were all cultivators who had reached the Foundation Establishment Stage or martial artists who had broken through to the innate realm.
With such strength, once they encountered some tricky and strange incidents, it was very well possible that iron-rank and copper-rank practitioners suffered heavy casualties and even be completely annihilated in a fell swoop.
This had been the case with the previous zombie keeper incident.
Before Meng Ruyan’s arrival, the Qingyun Sect had already sent two disciples to investigate the situation.
In those two operations, the disciples of the Qingyun Sect did not investigate by themselves but brought many devil-slaying practitioners with them.
However, both operations ended in complete annihilation.
Even the whereabouts of the two Qingyun Sect disciples were unknown.
It was also because of this situation that the Qingyun Sect finally sent out a Foundation Establishment Stage disciple, Meng Ruyan.
Thanks to the demoness Meng Ruyan’s profound cultivation, she managed to deal with the Celestial Zombie Sect’s Lu Mo, who was hiding in the suburbs of the capital.
Therefore, the practitioners were very nervous about the new director.
They were deeply afraid that this new practitioner would be the kind of person who only knew how to exterminate devils and protect the Dao, and was inflexible.
If that was the case, they would be in for a good time.
After all, in many cases, one couldn’t just rely on hot-bloodedness to exterminate devils and defend the Dao. One also had to pay attention to the methods of doing so.
This was especially true for Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators like them.
If they attacked rashly without any preparation, they would only lose their lives in vain.
Most of the Qingyun Sect’s disciples didn’t care much about the lives of these ordinary practitioners.
If they could exchange the lives of these people for useful information, they even felt that it was a good deal.
It was not wrong to call them domestic dogs.
At least, in the eyes of most of the Qingyun Sect’s disciples, these practitioners were just dogs that they had raised in the Great Xia Kingdom.
As a result, the emotions of the devil-slaying practitioners were very complicated at the moment.
They were all wondering what kind of person the new director was.
This “welcoming ceremony” that was specially organized for Lu Yuan lasted until evening.
Just as many were suspecting that the new director might not come today, a ray of green light streaked across the sky.
Then, in everyone’s surprised, confused, or shocked gazes, Lu Yuan rode his sword and landed in the middle of the courtyard in front of the Devil Slayers Division.
After Lu Yuan landed, he started to size up his surroundings.
While he was doing so, four devil-slaying practitioners wearing masks, black clothes, and gold tokens walked to Lu Yuan.
“May 1 ask if you are Celestial Master Lu of the Qingyun Sect?”
Hearing this, Lu Yuan looked in the direction of the voice.
What entered his eyes was a masked man in the lead.
“Yes, that’s me,” Lu Yuan said indifferently.
As soon as he said that, the devil-slaying practitioners around him immediately knelt.
Even the four gold-rank great practitioners were no exception.
“The devil-slaying practitioners welcome the arrival of the new director!”
The loud voice and synchronized movements were rather shocking.
Looking at the grand scene in front of him, Lu Yuan, who had been cooped up in the mountains for 20 years, was more or less not used to it.
Wait. He just got here, and these guys were already putting up such a grand welcome? But you don’t say…. It did feel quite good!