Chapter 35: Retreat to the Main Hall

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Steward Xu had been accompanying the officials from the Ministry of Personnel and had missed Chu Chen’s spectacular feat of suffocating a spider demon with a pebble.

After descending from the sky, the demon beast leaped onto the roof of the main hall.

Five great generals stood guard outside the hall. Every demon foolish enough to approach was slain in a single move.

The Jinnan Demon Suppression Bureau had twelve cultivators in the Deification Realm. They fought alone, stationed farther from the main hall.

Together with the Spirit Refining Realm personnel fighting in teams, they formed three successive layers of defense.

Steward Xu no longer had the leisure to worry about his daughter. He had no idea where the girl had run off to this time.

From top to bottom, no one in the entire Jinnan Demon Suppression Bureau claimed to have seen her.

Their most urgent task was to protect the main hall.

The officials from the Ministry of Personnel were all ordinary flesh-and-blood men, the sort who could be drowned by a demon’s spit. Not the slightest mishap could be allowed.

Should anything happen, it would only bring an even stricter investigation.

Steward Xu truly would never be able to clear his name.

He glanced at the night sky. Demon beasts continued to fly in, landing within the grounds of the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Damn it. Could someone tell me what was going on?

Why now of all times? Why during the Bureau’s inspection? Who the hell was playing this joke on him?

Standing at the highest point, he took in the entire Demon Suppression Bureau.

Some of the Spirit Refining teams had already begun to run out of spiritual energy.

“Li Heng! Go reinforce the northwest!”

Li Heng was at the third level of the Deification Realm. At the order, he sprang toward the northwest.

The moment a Deification Realm cultivator entered the fray, the battle was swiftly resolved.

A massive water buffalo with a spiraling horn atop its head was decapitated by a single sword stroke. Its enormous body crashed to the ground, demon blood gushing forth.

The Spirit Refining team finally had a chance to catch its breath. One of them recognized Li Heng and asked, “Uncle Li… what’s going on?”

“I don’t know…”

“Could it have something to do with Chu Chen?”

“What does he have to do with it?”

“His stories about slaying demons and vanquishing evil have become unbelievably popular. Maybe he offended some great demon.”

Li Heng’s expression turned stern as he rebuked the young man.

“Stop talking nonsense and do your job.”

“We’re almost out of spiritual energy. Uncle Li, tell Steward Xu to send people with some Spirit-Nourishing Pills.”

“He will.”

Li Heng agreed without hesitation. This was, after all, an emergency that had to be dealt with immediately.

Even a Deification Realm cultivator like him found the consumption of spiritual energy difficult to endure, let alone those in the Spirit Refining Realm.

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Before leaving, Li Heng glanced at the water buffalo demon.

Including the demons he had slain earlier, seven demon beasts had now fallen beneath his sword.

There had been a giant lizard demon adapted to arid climates, a venomous insect demon from the jungles, and amphibious demons capable of surviving both on land and in water.

It was obvious that someone had been gathering demon beasts from all over and had delivered the Jinnan Demon Suppression Bureau a grand gift that night.

Li Heng’s family was unlike those of most of his colleagues in the Bureau.

His father, elder brother, and elder sister were all engaged in compiling the history of Great Ning.

The Great Ning imperial examinations were divided into four subjects: history, political essays, statecraft, and diplomacy.

The history examination centered on a book titled The Life of Emperor Taizong of Great Ning, compiled by Li Heng’s father, Li Yu.

His elder brother, Li Chun, and elder sister, Li Miao, were currently compiling A Five-Hundred-Year History of Great Ning.

If completed, the book would surpass their father’s achievement.

Within his family, Li Heng was the odd one out.

He had always grown sleepy the moment he opened a book and fallen asleep as soon as he picked up a brush. All he liked was wielding blades and practicing with weapons.

Fortunately, his father was broad-minded. He hired someone to open his son’s meridians, allowing Li Heng to enter the Demon Suppression Bureau without difficulty.

Because of his family background, Li Heng understood the Great Ning dynasty better than most.

One phrase his father often repeated was enough to summarize the entire five-hundred-year rule of the Zhao family:

“When poor, people seek change; when secure, disorder arises.”

The people of Great Ning had fields to cultivate, silkworms to raise, beasts in the mountains, and fish in the rivers. As long as they were willing to work, they could earn enough to fill their stomachs.

Within the court, corruption was punished severely, and officials were strictly forbidden from imposing excessive levies.

Domestic policy and the geographical environment ensured that the people of Great Ning could live good lives.

The existence of demon beasts, however, cast a layer of danger over that prosperity.

The people were not poor enough to starve, yet neither could they live in true peace. Thus the Zhao family dynasty had remained firmly seated for five hundred years.

That was the art of kingship. Though the Demon Suppression Bureau had existed for centuries, demonic calamities within Great Ning’s borders had never disappeared.

So long as the threat of demons remained suspended over the people’s heads, the Zhao family could continue to rule securely.

In plain terms, Li Heng’s family were workers as well.

Their employer set the objectives; they merely had to fulfill them.

What could be written, what could not be written, and what would bring execution upon the entire family if recorded—they understood better than anyone.

Li Heng knew the rules of the game, which made it difficult for him to comprehend what had happened that night.

Even if someone wanted to upset the balance between demon beasts and humanity, the Demon Suppression Bureau should have been the one to make the first move.

Could that young man have been right after all? Had Chu Chen been too arrogant and angered some great demon?

Even so, there was no reason to target the entire Jinnan Demon Suppression Bureau.

At that thought, Li Heng turned his gaze toward Steward Xu.

There was one more thing Li Heng knew: Xu Liang’s rise to become the head of the Jinnan Commandery’s Demon Suppression Bureau could not be separated from his ties to a certain great demon.

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A man and a demon had reached an agreement. Demon attacks would be arranged selectively and with purpose, after which Xu Liang would take responsibility for eliminating the demons.

The great demon received human bait for cultivation, while Xu Liang gained status.

A few days earlier, as the Bureau’s highest-ranking official, he had gone to Beishan Village to eliminate demons under the pretext of stretching his limbs.

Afterward, all people knew was that the villagers of Beishan had committed countless atrocities.

But had anyone ever wondered where ordinary villagers had obtained demon-beast young?

For a demon beast to grow from infancy to the fifth rank, even with human bait at every meal, required eight years.

During those eight years, people disappeared without anyone asking questions.

Eight years later, Beishan Village was located precisely, and the head of the Demon Suppression Bureau personally dealt with the matter.

The entire village was taken away. It was said that not a single person was spared; every one of them was beheaded.

Eight years was exactly how long it took for spirit herbs and medicines to mature.

Had anyone ever wondered where those spirit herbs and medicines had gone?

Some things were better understood than spoken aloud. It served everyone’s interests.

It was precisely because he understood Xu Liang that Li Heng was puzzled by the calamity now facing the Jinnan Demon Suppression Bureau.

This matter absolutely had nothing to do with Chu Chen.

A few fabricated words from a storyteller could never cause a great demon to launch such an attack. That was absurd.

If one had to find a reasonable excuse for an incident this outrageous, the only possible answer was Pei Hu of the Ministry of Personnel.

He had offended no small number of people, both within and outside the court.

Relying on the emperor’s favor, he showed mercy to no one.

There were more than a few people secretly wishing him dead.

Lost in thought, Li Heng made his way to Steward Xu.

“Steward Xu, the men on the outer perimeter are beginning to falter. We need more Spirit-Nourishing Pills to replenish their spiritual energy.”

The instant he finished speaking, a thunderous explosion came from the Demon Suppression Bureau’s storehouse. Billowing black smoke rose into the air, and the stench of burning lamp oil spread through the surroundings.

The storehouse where the Spirit-Nourishing Pills were kept had been set ablaze with lamp oil.

A murderous glint appeared in Xu Liang’s eyes.

Someone meant to destroy the Jinnan Demon Suppression Bureau.

“Tell everyone to withdraw and defend the main hall!”

“If no one guards the perimeter, what happens if a demon beast escapes the Bureau? Won’t the civilians in the city suffer?”

“I said, tell everyone to withdraw and defend the main hall!”

“Yes!”