Assessment Mission

After work, Wei Fan led Hu Qing and Zhou Qi to the restaurant they had agreed on earlier, handing the Demon Sac dug out of Old Bear to the chef for preparation.

After the three waited a while, Ning Xuan and the other two also arrived.

"Brother Wei, what a righteous man you are. Everyone in Cloud City now speaks of your kindness!"

Ning Xuan gave Wei Fan a thumbs-up at once. Wei Fan had practically changed Cloud City's situation all by himself.

Once they were seated, Su Xuerong looked at the Reception Envoy. "Reception Envoy, Wei Fan's character investigation should have passed by now, right?"

The Reception Envoy nodded. "Naturally. After all he has done, if even he cannot pass, then there are few people in the world qualified to enter the Demon Suppressing Division."

In his view, Wei Fan had done exactly right by waiting until the Cloud City Lord was killed by evil beings before acting.

Had the Cloud City Lord not died, the Reception Envoy would have reported the matter to the Demon Suppressing Division upon returning to Su City.

As guides for the Demon Suppressing Division, they did more than recruit fresh blood for it. They also monitored the realm and gathered intelligence on demons and monsters from every region.

"Brother Wei has finally passed! We have to drink a few extra cups later!"

Ning Xuan and the others were overjoyed.

The Demon Suppressing Division kept the demons of the realm in awe, and everyone yearned to join it. Entering such a place was like passing the highest imperial examination—good news anywhere.

A while later, the wine and dishes began to arrive.

Old Bear's Demon Sac had been stir-fried and served on a large platter, fragrant enough to make mouths water.

Pointing at Zhou Qi, Wei Fan asked the Reception Envoy, "By the way, Zhou Qi is still an ordinary person. He won't have any problems eating a Demon Sac, will he?"

Both the Reception Envoy and Ning Xuan nodded affirmatively.

A Demon Sac was where demons stored their demonic power, the essence of their entire being. If martial artists handled it improperly, it could make their true qi impure; but for ordinary people, eating it strengthened the body and might even allow them to cultivate true qi.

Even they only got to eat such things once in a while. Otherwise, why would they have come so eagerly to enjoy Wei Fan's feast?

After eating for a while, sweat began pouring from Zhou Qi's entire body, his qi and blood boiling.

Ning Xuan and the others hurriedly told him to sit down and meditate.

Zhou Qi did not waste words. He immediately sat down. Half a quarter-hour later, he felt heat rising in his abdomen, and a strand of pale yellow true qi appeared in his dantian.

"My Golden Bell Shield has reached the first level!"

Zhou Qi jumped to his feet in excitement, nearly moved to tears. From this day onward, he too was a martial artist. His standing had changed at once.

"Congratulations."

Wei Fan offered his congratulations. In truth, this was why he had invited Zhou Qi. They were friends, and Wei Fan was about to leave Cloud City. This was the only thing he could do for Zhou Qi.

The former owner of this body had been upright and unyielding. As his partner, Zhou Qi had often been dragged into trouble because of him, yet Zhou Qi had never complained or considered finding another partner.

The group ate and drank for a while longer before Hu Qing and Zhou Qi were the first to take their leave.

"Now that there are no outsiders, let me tell you about the assessment."

As soon as Zhou Qi and Hu Qing left, the drunken haze vanished from the Reception Envoy's face. He straightened in his seat. "The assessment I have arranged for you is the destruction of Black Wind Stronghold outside the city!"

Black Wind Stronghold?

Ning Xuan, Wei Fan, and Su Xuerong all froze. Wei Fan raised a brow. "The Demon Suppressing Division handles bandits too?"

Since he intended to see a good deed through to the end, Wei Fan had planned to wipe out Black Wind Stronghold before leaving Cloud City.

He had not expected the Reception Envoy's assessment mission to be the destruction of Black Wind Stronghold.

The Reception Envoy shook his head. "The Demon Suppressing Division naturally does not concern itself with bandits. However, according to the Demon Suppressing Division's intelligence, the chief of Black Wind Stronghold is a demon."

He looked at Wei Fan. "Do you remember the Crocodile Demon from the E Shen Gang? That Crocodile Demon was only an Initial Realm Demon. How could an Initial Realm Demon have the nerve to come into the city and establish a gang? The true great demon is the chief of Black Wind Stronghold. That Crocodile Demon was merely a descendant of Black Wind Stronghold's chief.

"The one truly colluding with the Lu Family was also the chief of Black Wind Stronghold!"

Wei Fan was somewhat shaken. The Demon Suppressing Division's intelligence network was truly terrifying.

They had only set their sights on Cloud City, yet they had already discovered that Black Wind Stronghold's chief was a demon. Even the Cloud City authorities likely knew nothing of these matters.

No!

That bastard Wei Qingyuan probably knew.

Wei Fan recalled how Wei Qingyuan had ordered them to take down Black Wind Stronghold within seven days. No wonder he had not sent Wei Fan after other demons, instead choosing Black Wind Stronghold.

That bastard must have tipped off Black Wind Stronghold in advance, just waiting for Wei Fan to walk into their den and die.

Wei Fan frowned. "As far as I know, Black Wind Stronghold's other two chiefs are both martial artists at the second Aperture Opening level. Who knows how strong their chief is? Cloud City once organized over a thousand people to attack, yet still failed to take Black Wind Stronghold. Can the three of us manage it?"

That was why he had hesitated to storm Black Wind Stronghold before.

Even if he did not fear Black Wind Stronghold's chief, Ning Xuan and Su Xuerong had only just entered the Aperture Opening Realm. They were no match for the two other chiefs, let alone the fact that Black Wind Stronghold had far more than just those three.

The Reception Envoy said, "You misunderstand. By destruction, I do not mean for you to kill everyone in Black Wind Stronghold. The three of you only need to find a way to eliminate Black Wind Stronghold's demon chief. You are only responsible for killing demons; others will handle the bandit suppression. And I have not finished telling you all the intelligence you are entitled to. An assessment mission will not be something impossible to complete.

"The Demon Suppressing Division has already determined that Black Wind Stronghold's chief is a third-grade True Realm demon. You even killed Old Bear, that fourth-grade True Realm demon. Killing a third-grade demon should not be difficult for you!"

Only a third-grade True Realm demon, and they only needed to kill Black Wind Stronghold's chief—the difficulty had plummeted at once.

Wei Fan looked at Ning Xuan and Su Xuerong. "If neither of you has any objections, then we'll take this mission."

Naturally, neither of them had any objections.

"Now that the mission has been assigned, you have five days to act. If the Black Wind Stronghold's chief is still alive after five days, your assessment will be deemed a failure.

"One more thing: each person only has three assessment attempts. If you fail all three, you will lose any chance of entering the Demon Suppressing Division!"

After saying that, the Reception Envoy departed. To ensure fairness, he would not appear before Wei Fan and the other two again until they completed their mission.

Ning Xuan looked at Wei Fan. "Brother Wei, do you have any clever plan? That demon is hiding in a bandits' den—it won't be easy to kill."

With Wei Fan's combat strength combined with the two of them, killing a third-tier True Realm demon would not be difficult. The hard part was how to kill the Black Wind Stronghold's chief without having to face an entire nest of bandits.

Wei Fan shook his head. What clever plan could he possibly have? His previous idea had been to breach them from within and take out the three chiefs first.

The Black Wind Stronghold's chief kept such a low profile that, over all these years, hardly anyone had known he was a demon. There was simply no way to lure him out of the stronghold with a scheme.

"I was already planning to wipe out Black Wind Stronghold, so I gathered quite a bit of information on them. But I've never gone to inspect the place in person. Tomorrow night, let's first take a look around the vicinity of Black Wind Stronghold."

If worse came to worst, they would simply launch a frontal assault. At most, he could haul out the Golden Bell and smash them with it.

He could not say the same for others, but Ning Xuan and Su Xuerong were trustworthy.

Or Su Xuerong and Ning Xuan could wait at the foot of the mountain while he wiped out Black Wind Stronghold alone.

He had been wary before because he had not known the Black Wind Stronghold chief's cultivation. Now that he had definite information, Wei Fan's wariness toward Black Wind Stronghold had all but vanished.

After arranging a time and place to meet the next day, the three parted ways outside the restaurant.