Liang Capital - Bonus Chapter for "How Could Such Cute Bunnies Not Be Delicious?"'s Ten-Thousand Reward

They had encountered three attempts to claim the corpses along the way.

There had been ghosts, and spirit creatures that mimicked human speech.

If they were to speak of danger, the last encounter had been the worst.

That hedgehog spirit creature, capable of speaking human words, had charged into the military formation and brazenly killed several soldiers.

It had nearly reached the carriage when the old Hundred-Household Officer led men to surround and kill it.

The Soul Banner gained a hedgehog yin soul.

It had possessed some supernatural qualities, but it had only just entered the ranks.

It only knew how to charge in recklessly and understood no spells at all.

To prevent the scent of blood from drawing needless trouble, the convoy decided to travel through the night.

When dawn was just beginning to break, they finally saw the walls of Liang Capital.

Once they neared Liang Capital, those ghosts and specters no longer harassed them.

The immortal masters of the Attendant Tower would deal with them.

"Finally, we're here."

The old Hundred-Household Officer let out a long breath, and the heart hanging in his throat finally settled.

When the old Hundred-Household Officer rose, his right side was already empty.

To block that spirit creature, he had lost an arm.

Early morning Liang Capital was shrouded in a thin veil of gray mist.

The yawning gate guards immediately sobered up when they spotted the convoy bearing the Embroidered Uniform Guard's banner.

The clerks at the gatehouse did not dare stop them.

The city gates swung wide open.

The convoy entered Liang Capital, five patched-up corpses of soldiers lying on the flatbed carts behind them.

Unknown street vendors steamed and boiled something, clouds of vapor pouring from their steamers.

Shop assistants dismantled the plank doors piece by piece, preparing to welcome customers.

An old man in patched clothes carried candied hawthorns on a pole and hawked them along the streets.

Peddlers with novel little trinkets had set up their stalls early.

Ox carts and donkey carts traveled through the streets, cutting through the mist and crushing the remaining filth beneath their wheels.

The drivers raised their whips and shouted something.

Beggars huddled against the walls, clustering together for warmth.

Fortunately, it was not cold enough to freeze someone to death, so there was no need to fear falling asleep and never waking again.

The market district's lofted buildings stood open, and the scent of rouge drifted down from their windows.

From time to time, they saw brothel women drawing their brows and applying makeup.

Liang Capital was indeed more prosperous than Eight Directions Prefecture City.

Its streets were wider, and its people more numerous.

But all the convoy felt was exhaustion.

Only by racing day and night back to Liang Capital could they finally feel at ease.

"Stone Pillar, take a few brothers to collect the pensions for the brothers who died."

"Ironhead, come with me to deliver the immortal masters' bodies to the Attendant Tower." At the crossroads, the old Hundred-Household Officer gave orders to his trusted right- and left-hand men.

They could not deliver the bodies to the brothers' families first.

When someone died, there had to be an explanation.

If all they saw was a corpse, how could they go on living afterward?

After filing the report and collecting the pension, the brothers would add some of their own money. They had been comrades for many years, so it counted as a small token of their hearts. Hopefully, those households that had lost their main pillars could endure.

"Got it, Chief." Stone Pillar nodded.

The convoy split apart at the crossroads.

There were not actually many people in the Attendant Tower. Once the immortal masters' corpses reached the entrance, designated personnel came to receive them.

Along with the two immortal masters, they handed over Li Qingfeng's corpse, whom they believed to be a Demon Cultivator.

Paulownia wood and green stone, carved balustrades and jade masonry.

A faint cyan glow flickered, blocking the old Hundred-Household Officer and his men.

This was the Attendant Tower's spell formation.

It kept ordinary people from disturbing the immortal masters within.

Those capable of inviting an immortal master were invariably high officials or nobles.

Of course, since they were court attendants, they naturally had to share the court's burdens.

If strange incidents arose that ordinary people could not solve, the immortal masters would need to act.

They also guarded against assassins targeting the emperor and dealt with attendant immortal masters from other countries.

Immortal masters held a somewhat transcendent status.

The young Daoist attendant looked stunned. He had not expected three corpses to return.

Immortal Master Wen and Immortal Master Zhu were both dead.

The Daoist attendant immediately realized something major had happened and ran back into the cluster of buildings without looking back.

Before long, an elderly man in a cyan Daoist robe hurried over, pushed through the crowd, and saw the three corpses lying on the carriage bed.

"Who would have thought that this journey to eliminate demons would cost us two attendants?"

Dressed in a cyan Daoist robe and holding a fly-whisk, he looked every inch an immortal sage.

Tu Shan Jun, within the Soul Banner, narrowed his eyes slightly. This old Daoist's cultivation was not low.

The old Daoist inspected the Demon Cultivator's body. Baleful Intent coiled around it, while bloody baleful qi seeped out.

Its face was pale and withered, quite fitting the image of a demonic-path fiend.

"Chief."

An Embroidered Uniform Guard soldier hurried to the old Hundred-Household Officer's side, panting as he lowered his voice.

He whispered, "Something happened. Brother Stone Pillar and the others have been detained."

"What?" The old Hundred-Household Officer's expression tightened.

Though the old Hundred-Household Officer's expression changed drastically, with an immortal master before him, it would not be appropriate to simply lead his men away.

He cupped his hands toward the robed elder. "Now that we have delivered the immortal masters' remains, we have urgent business to attend to, so we shall not disturb you further, Immortal Master."

The old Daoist had already inspected them. The Storage Talismans were all present, and none of their magical artifacts were missing.

There was even a Sword Hairpin on that Demon Cultivator's body, and it appeared rather extraordinary.

So he simply waved a hand and let the old Hundred-Household Officer and his men leave.

Nothing was missing, so there was no need to keep the military households behind.

Besides, it sounded as though trouble had arisen on their side as well.

Though the soldier had lowered his voice, as a cultivator, the old Daoist still possessed such basic sharpness of the senses.

With the immortal master's approval, the old Hundred-Household Officer led his brothers away in their carriages.

The old Daoist in cyan robes instructed the Daoist attendant beside him, "Go. Gather all the attendants."

The departing Embroidered Uniform Guards headed for the yamen.

The old Hundred-Household Officer asked what had happened, but the soldier who had brought the message knew very little. He had only heard that a conflict had broken out in the yamen, after which Stone Pillar had suddenly been detained.

Seeing that things had gone wrong, he had raced to the Attendant Tower without looking back.

The old Hundred-Household Officer unconsciously touched his saber with his only remaining left hand. At that touch, he remembered the small command flag tucked at his waist.

He had obtained it from that Demon Cultivator immortal master.

He had taken it out then to bolster his courage, hoping the magical treasure would help him.

Unexpectedly, it had truly been useful against ghosts.

It had even successfully frightened off the ghostly thing inside the bridal sedan.

So he had kept it on him all this time.

When the soldier had shouted the news just now and he learned that Stone Pillar had been detained by the yamen, he had actually forgotten to hand this magical treasure over to the immortal masters of the Attendant Tower.

"Forget it. I'll hand it over when I have time."

"Saving people is like fighting a fire; there's no time to waste." The old Hundred-Household Officer tucked the little command flag back into his waist and urged the soldier driving the carriage to hurry.

Tu Shan Jun neither approved nor disapproved.

It was simply a pity that he had not gained a new Qi Refiner banner master.

Tu Shan Jun felt that as long as the banner master was not an evil person, he could support him.

Taking certain matters into account, Tu Shan Jun did not make any move.

Though the old Hundred-Household Officer was strong, he could only be considered a second-rate martial artist of the jianghu who had cultivated inner qi.

He had also lost an arm, and he was no longer young. He likely had no way to embark upon the immortal path.

Most importantly, no one knew whether the old Hundred-Household Officer possessed spiritual roots.

That was the more crucial matter.

Without spiritual roots, he would only waste much more time.

A short while later.

The carriage arrived at the Embroidered Uniform Guard yamen.

The old Hundred-Household Officer hurried toward the main gate, only to be stopped by two soldiers. "My lord Hundred-Household Officer, please allow this lowly one to report your arrival."

The old Hundred-Household Officer forced a smile and stopped the brothers behind him. "Of course."

After leaving him hanging for quite some time, the gate guard finally sauntered over, a false apology plastered across his face. "Oh, my lord Hundred-Household Officer, you have waited long. Lord Thousand-Household Officer requests your presence."

The old Hundred-Household Officer nodded slightly and walked toward the yamen.

In the open space beyond the gate lay the corpses of those five brothers, while the remaining brothers were held off to one side by drawn sabers.

Stone Pillar, meanwhile, was pinned down by two Embroidered Uniform Guards, unable to move.

The moment he saw the old Hundred-Household Officer enter, Stone Pillar's eyes widened.

Just as he tried to rise, the soldier behind him kicked him.

His hands and feet were bound, and a rag had been stuffed into his mouth. He struggled to shift his body across the ground.

The old Hundred-Household Officer's face turned cold. He looked at the two men restraining Stone Pillar, said nothing, and walked straight into the central hall of the yamen.

A man in a silver-white embroidered uniform robe was bent over a desk, writing something.

With the light behind him, his face could not be seen clearly.

"My lord." The old Hundred-Household Officer called out stiffly.

He forced an awkward, constrained smile onto his face. "If the men under my command have offended you in any way, I ask that you, my lord, forgive their small transgressions."

"I apologize to you on Stone Pillar's behalf. When we return, I will teach him a proper lesson."