Chapter 32: The Monstrous Beast Descends from the Heavens

Twenty taels of gold, calculated at the Great Ning exchange rate of one to ten, amounted to two hundred taels of silver. Two hundred taels of silver—it was neither a small sum nor a fortune. It was enough to bribe a county magistrate for a position as a squad leader. But how could a petty job in a county yamen compare to the choices Chu Chen had made? He had used those twenty taels of gold to provide free meals for the rank-and-file members of the Demon Suppression Division for thirteen days. As the saying goes, "He who takes from others is soft-handed; he who eats from others is soft-mouthed." Chu Chen’s timely act of generosity had certainly left a positive impression on the base-level staff of the division.

Bai Ning’s room had never been this lively. Wu Xingyao, who ate like a reincarnated glutton, was in top form, skewering four-happiness meatballs onto her chopsticks like candied hawthorns and popping them into her mouth one by one. Grease trailed down the corner of her mouth, but the little girl couldn't bear to wipe it away; she inhaled sharply, performing a display of "water flowing backwards."

Chu Chen had no heart for eating. He looked at his irascible master sitting to the side and asked casually, "Master, I feel Xiao Yao’s table manners are improper; they are too barbaric. I suspect you must have been a refined young lady when you were a child, always eating quietly and with proper decorum. Could you teach her? Otherwise, how will she ever get married when she grows up?"

Bai Ning seemed affected by the atmosphere and was willing to chat with Chu Chen. She looked at the little girl wolfing down her food, then glanced at Chu Chen, asking with confusion, "What is improper about it?"

"Master, did you eat like that when you were a child?"

It wasn't just the two-hundred-year-old Bai Ning; even if Chu Chen tried to recall his own childhood, unless it were a milestone event—like his first day of school or his first time getting beaten up—who could remember the trivialities of a specific month or year?

"I can't remember."

As Bai Ning replied, Chu Chen continued to probe, as if making small talk. "Master, your path of cultivation seems to have been free of any obstacles, hasn't it?"

"Obstacles? No."

"That’s quite impressive," Chu Chen offered a stiff compliment, though his inner thoughts were far more elaborate than his outward expression. For a cultivator to progress from the Qi Refining realm all the way to the Small Heavenly Circuit without encountering a single bottleneck—was that reasonable? Even if his irascible master came from a cultivation lineage with a strong foundation, it couldn't possibly be to this extent.

"Master, have you ever encountered anything that gave you a headache?" Chu Chen continued.

Bai Ning seemed to be pondering, then shook her head to indicate she hadn't. Just as Chu Chen intended to press further, his irascible master’s voice reached his ears.

"I always had nightmares as a child. I can't remember when they started, nor when they ended."

"What kind of nightmares?"

"I dreamed of a place where the sky was red and it rained red rain. The leaves were red, and the fruits were red. The ground beneath my feet was red, and the water in the rivers was red. My ears were filled with the sound of howling wind. Someone pushed me from behind, and I flew up and crashed into a river. Every time I reached that point, I would wake up."

Chu Chen thought for a moment and asked, "Is that place called Red Romance?"

Bai Ning answered quite seriously, "No."

That shouldn't be right. Before he transmigrated, he had gone to inspect premises with his captain. Unless someone reported them, they wouldn't take the initiative to raid. That raid had taught Chu Chen a good lesson, showing him that the more cultured people were, the more outrageous their play. In those rooms, everything you could see was red—even the little umbrellas on the floor were red.

When his irascible master described her nightmare, Chu Chen’s first reaction was "Red Romance." Clearly, that was just his own baseless, perverse speculation. Ending that topic, Chu Chen asked again, "Master, what was the most powerful demon beast you have ever encountered?"

Bai Ning continued to shake her head. Chu Chen pressed further, "Is it that you haven't encountered any demon beast that could put up a fight?"

This time, Bai Ning nodded.

*Snap!*

A sharp sound suddenly echoed, nearly causing Chu Chen to jump out of his chair. Wu Xingyao clapped her hands on the table, looking thoroughly satisfied, and uttered two words: "Full!"

Chu Chen glanced at the table. *I didn't watch you for one second, and you ate everything?* He stood up and went to Wu Xingyao’s side; her little stomach was only slightly rounded. *Where did the rice go? The dishes? Did you feed them to a dog?* If circumstances hadn't forbidden it, he would have sold everything to start a live-streaming food show for her.

After his gluttonous apprentice was full, his irascible master also left the table. It felt as if he were the only one who was redundant in this household. Chu Chen picked up his chopsticks, but there was nothing left for him to pick up. He sat at the table in a daze, sinking his consciousness into the Gallery of Illustrations. Aside from this gallery, Chu Chen had no way to understand this world. He wandered through the hall, hoping for anything—just a tiny bit of inspiration to prove that his irascible master wasn't a demon beast.

*BOOM!*

A loud crash came from outside. Chu Chen instantly pulled his consciousness back to reality. No sooner had the first crash ended than another followed.

*BOOM!*

"ROAR!!" A furious howl shook the basins on the table until they rattled. Chu Chen dashed outside in a single bound. Under the moonlight, two behemoths filled the entire courtyard. He recognized them immediately: these were Seventh-Rank demon beasts.

One was an evolved tiger demon; its fur was white, and the golden stripes on its forehead formed the character for "King." Its tiger claws, the size of millstones, burned with pale green flames. At the tip of its tail, a cone-shaped blade had evolved.

"ROAR!!" A Green-Flame White Tiger.

The other beast had evolved from a serpentine creature. Its thick body was coiled up, occupying half the courtyard. Its scales were pitch-black and glossy, and its flicking tongue dripped with venom that corroded the stones.

*BOOM!*

Another demon beast landed in the courtyard of the Demon Suppression Division. Chu Chen was horrified. Had his irascible master lost her mind? She had brought back three Seventh-Rank demon beasts in one go. Was she trying to test his combat skills, or was she planning to wipe out the Jinnan County Demon Suppression Division?

*BOOM!*

A fourth Seventh-Rank demon beast descended from the sky. Chu Chen took a step into the courtyard and looked up at the night sky. The black dots above were slowly enlarging; one after another, Sixth and Seventh-Rank demon beasts were falling from the heavens. It was raining demon beasts over the Jinnan County Demon Suppression Division, and every single drop was a Seventh-Rank beast.

A white shadow flashed past Chu Chen, and the two demon beasts in the courtyard were killed on the spot.

*BOOM!*

A beast smashed directly into the house behind Chu Chen, kicking up a gust of wind.

"Master! Xiao Yao!" Chu Chen shouted a warning. Bai Ning dashed toward the third beast. She appeared beneath it in a flicker and raised her fist lightly. A massive shockwave, carrying terrifying force, followed, knocking the beast into a backflip in mid-air before it died instantly.

"Damn it!" Chu Chen cursed. He knew who had done this. Meng Ran already knew he was at the Jinnan County Demon Suppression Division. *Damn you, you really are pulling out all the stops!*

*BOOM!*

In the night sky, Seventh-Rank demon beasts continued to fall. At this level, they were only one step away from taking human form. Once transformed, demon beasts gradually developed their own minds and thoughts, making them difficult to control. Among controllable beasts, the Seventh-Rank were the strongest.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!* Four figures landed in the courtyard. They were none other than the disciples of General Huang Yuan, the four who had been willing to form a team with Chu Chen for missions.