"Jiao Long!"
Seeing the dead Jiao Long in the forest, its head crushed, both of them were stunned.
They still had quite a bit of valuable materials from the black Jiao, including inner pills that could boost their power, as well as reverse scales, Jiao teeth, and sharp claws for crafting weapons.
The delay in gathering materials had led them to this unexpected sight. They hadn't expected to find another one here!
Both of them immediately thought of the senior who had secretly helped them earlier. This Jiao Long was likely killed by that senior.
Looking around the forest, there weren’t many fallen trees, indicating that the battle hadn't been intense, but rather one-sided.
"How did two Jiao Longs end up near the official road? If they were looking for food, they would go to a remote village..."
Li Fu frowned, and suddenly, his pupils constricted. He quickly dropped the scales and the large Jiao teeth he was carrying and rushed forward.
As he ran, he summoned his spirit to scout the area, quickly following the hoofprints on the ground.
Wei Feng also reacted, his expression changing drastically. He didn’t bother to collect more materials and flew forward, quickly catching up to where Li Hao and the others had been at the tea stall.
At that moment, the old man at the tea stall was packing up.
It was already dark, and dark clouds loomed in the distance, hinting at a heavy rain.
"Old man, did a few young riders come by here earlier?" Wei Feng asked urgently.
Earlier, they had been following Li Hao and the others from a distance, but they were intercepted by the Jiao Long halfway, leading to a fierce battle that separated them from Li Hao.
He had thought the Jiao Long was after him, but now it seemed there was another one, appearing in a different place. This could only mean that the two Jiao Longs were not after them, but rather after Li Hao and his group.
"Oh, they’ve already gone far." The old man at the tea stall replied with surprise, smiling at Wei Feng.
"Gone far?" Wei Feng was taken aback. They were okay?
Without asking further, he rushed off to check on them himself.
Soon, with his spirit scouting ahead, he spotted five figures on horseback on the official road. Once he recognized them, he felt a huge weight lift off his chest, and he let out a sigh of relief.
Great! It seemed that the senior had acted in time, preventing the black Jiao from attacking.
He secretly felt grateful, but also a bit helpless. He had a feeling that the two Jiao Longs were not after the young lady, but rather the two young masters from the Divine General’s Manor.
After all, the Divine General’s Manor guarded the borders and was deeply hated by the demon race, so sending two Jiao Longs to infiltrate and assassinate made sense.
Having the young lady mixed up with the Divine General’s Manor might be good or bad.
But since the senior who had acted earlier was likely also from the Divine General’s Manor, he felt a bit more at ease.
Remembering that Li Fu was still behind him, he turned back to the tea stall and saw Li Fu rushing over.
"They're fine, don’t worry."
Wei Feng quickly reassured him.
Hearing this, Li Fu let out a long breath. If anything happened to Li Hao, he would feel like a failure and wouldn't be able to face the Divine General’s Manor again.
"Do you two want some tea?" The old man at the tea stall asked, already halfway through packing up.
Neither of them was in the mood for tea. Li Fu said to Wei Feng, "Please keep an eye on them. I’ll send a message back to the manor to have them deal with the Jiao corpse. As for the inner pill, I’ll send it to you after this mission."
"Sure." Wei Feng shook his head. "We owe it to that senior. Otherwise, we both might have been in trouble. The materials from the Jiao Long should belong to your Divine General’s Manor. No need to say more; I’ll go check on the young lady now."
"Okay."
The two hurriedly parted ways, and the old man at the tea stall shook his head slightly.
"Why are they all so impatient and reckless?"
...
...
They traveled through the night.
Two days later, Li Hao and the others arrived in Qizhou, riding for half a day until they reached Cangyu City, where they were to carry out their demon-slaying mission.
This city wasn’t very large; among the hundreds of cities in Qizhou, it could only be considered medium-sized, surrounded by a dozen towns and hundreds of villages, with a population of around four to five million.
Yu Wei had experience with missions and sent out a message with a bird before entering the city.
As soon as they entered, guards from the city lord’s manor came to greet them, their attitude warm, especially towards Li Hao and Li Yuanzhao.
Yu Wei and Du Qiuyue watched enviously. When they had come for missions before, they hadn’t received such treatment; it was usually just a few polite words.
Before long, the five were taken to the local Demon Suppression Office.
Upon arriving, they spotted someone familiar.
"It’s her!"
Du Qiuyue recognized Song Yueyao, who was wearing the uniform of the Demon Suppression Officer. She was surprised to see her there, not expecting her to also be on a mission and assigned to their group.
Li Yuanzhao and the others also recognized her as the one who had come to the academy looking for someone, rumored to be one of the top talents in the Black and White Hall.
At that moment, Song Yueyao was hurriedly leaving the Demon Suppression Office with another young man and two middle-aged men, seemingly heading out on a mission.
When she saw Li Hao and the others reporting in, she merely glanced at them, nodded slightly, and quickly left.
The young man, however, looked surprised. When he noticed the red-blood horse being led by Li Hao and the others, his eyes lit up, and he smiled gently at them.
"With the recent demon troubles outside the city, you guys should be careful. If you need anything, feel free to find me."
After saying this, he waved at them and quickly followed Song Yueyao and the others, disappearing down the street.
"That’s Senior Sister Song from the Black and White Hall and Senior Brother Tian. They actually came too, but Senior Sister Song’s uniform is that of the Demon Suppression Inspector!"
After Song Yueyao and the others left, Yu Wei said in surprise.
In most cities, a Demon Suppression Inspector held significant power, second only to the city lord.
Du Qiuyue sighed, "Senior Sister Song is extraordinary. Now that she’s reached the Spirit Travel stage, it’s normal for her to wear the inspector’s uniform."
"Senior Song is impressive. Just yesterday, she took down a demon that had been around for hundreds of years."
The middle-aged demon suppression officer who had greeted them spoke with respect.
He then led them into the Demon Suppression Office and called for someone to bring them their uniforms.
"Is Cangyu City really that chaotic? They encountered demons right after arriving?" Du Qiuyue asked in surprise.
The demon suppression officer, named Cui Fan, was quite polite to Li Hao and the others.
"Recently, demons have been getting more rampant. Cangyu City is close to the border of Qizhou, so we often see signs of demons, unlike the more peaceful inner cities. But don’t worry, since you’re new to demon-slaying, you’ll just need to patrol with the demon suppression officers. There’s not much danger."
Clearly, the Demon Suppression Office was taking good care of these talented newcomers.
Moreover, two of them were young masters from the Divine General’s Manor, and they had already been instructed not to let them take risks.
Hearing the officer’s attentive words, Yu Wei and Du Qiuyue felt pleased. With Li Hao and the others’ status, they would likely get a high score and earn ten credits easily.
"We’re here to slay demons, not to have fun."
Li Yuanzhao, however, looked serious. Coming from a military family, he had been raised to uphold discipline. He frowned and said, "You should arrange things as you normally would. If there are no demons to slay, what’s the point of our coming?"
Ren Qianqian, who was about to speak, looked surprised. She glanced at Li Yuanzhao and then at Li Hao, her expression changing slightly.
Recalling what Li Hao had said at the tea stall earlier, and hearing Li Yuanzhao’s words now, her perception of the Divine General’s Manor changed significantly.
Yu Wei and Du Qiuyue were stunned, exchanging glances and feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Uh..." Cui Fan hadn’t expected his flattery to backfire. It was clear that these young masters were hard to please.
Did he really want them to slay demons? Did he think he was worried about their fatigue? He just wanted to keep his position safe!
If anything happened to Li Hao and the others, who knew how the Divine General’s Manor would react? While they couldn’t do much to the Demon Suppression Office, they could easily target some lesser figures without background, just like squashing ants.
"Truly impressive, coming from the Divine General’s Manor. I, Cui Fan, admire this iron will!"
Though he grumbled internally, Cui Fan gave a thumbs-up, looking genuinely impressed, as if he was truly moved by Li Yuanzhao’s words.
This made the young man smile a bit, feeling proud of his seriousness.
Li Hao could see that Cui Fan was experienced in dealing with people, so he knew that Yuanzhao’s words were in vain. It wasn’t really Cui Fan’s fault for being flattering; their status was just too imposing.
For them, slaying demons was about gaining fame, while for these officers, it was a matter of survival, both duty and livelihood.
Soon, five sets of uniforms were delivered. Judging by the sleeve patterns and wooden tokens, they were all given the uniform of Demon Suppression Officers.
In the Demon Suppression Office, those at the Tongli level were Demon Suppression Officers, while only those at the Zhou Tian level could be Demon Suppression Inspectors. The highest rank was the Inspector, like the uniform worn by Song Yueyao, which held a very high status.
"Could you please provide us with the latest information on demon appearances in the area?" Li Hao asked Cui Fan.
(End of Chapter)