Don't Provoke Me

Nan Yan Commandery City was a dazzling pearl in the southeastern region of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Its towering walls and broad streets were far beyond what a remote little city like Qingyang County could compare to.

Traffic flowed like a river, voices roared like a tide, and even the air was steeped in prosperity and strength.

Lin Feng, Chu Mengxi, Zhao Tie, and Li Rui rode their fast horses through the massive city gates, heading straight for the sprawling, imposing complex in the north of the city.

The Nan Yan Commandery Demon Suppression Division.

There were no stone lions outside the Demon Suppression Division like those at the County Office. In their place stood two ferocious beast statues, each three zhang tall and cast from entire blocks of dark iron.

An invisible aura of slaughter rushed at them, enough to make ordinary people shrink back at the sight.

"So imposing."

Huang Fugui poked his little head out from Lin Feng's collar, so stunned by the sight before him that his jaw dropped. "Master, this place is ten thousand times more impressive than Benefactor Wang's mansion!"

"What little ambition."

Lin Feng laughed and scolded him inwardly before dismounting.

Chu Mengxi displayed her Bronze Token, and the guards at the gate immediately bowed respectfully and let them through.

The moment Lin Feng stepped through the gates of the Demon Suppression Division, he sensed dozens of powerful yet concealed auras sweeping over him from every direction.

Even the weakest of those auras belonged to the Meridian Opening Realm. Several were so vast and profound that they far surpassed Chu Mengxi's.

This is the stage for the strong.

Lin Feng thought to himself. Not only was he unafraid, a fierce battle intent rose within him instead.

Chu Mengxi first took Lin Feng to the Registry Hall to register his information.

The clerk was an old man with a goatee, too lazy even to lift his eyelids. When he saw "former Qingyang County constable chief" written on Lin Feng's file, the corner of his mouth curled with barely perceptible disdain.

"Name, age, cultivation," the old man asked in a businesslike tone.

"Lin Feng, nineteen, ninth level of the Meridian Opening Realm," Lin Feng answered calmly.

"Meridian Opening... ninth level?!"

The goateed old man abruptly raised his head, a flicker of shock flashing through his cloudy eyes.

Nineteen years old, yet already at the ninth level of the Meridian Opening Realm?

With such talent, he could be called a genius even in the entire Nan Yan Commandery Demon Suppression Division.

After registering, Lin Feng received a new set of residence keys and an identity token.

His residence was in the Iron Token Courtyard at the very edge of the Demon Suppression Division. It was the shared dormitory for all newly promoted Iron Token Demon Slayers, and the surroundings were noisy.

"Lin Feng, get settled here first. By the rules, Demon Slayer Envoys may freely accept missions, earn Merit Points, and exchange them for cultivation manuals, pills, and better lodgings."

Chu Mengxi instructed him, "I need to report back first. If anything comes up, come find me in the Bronze Token Courtyard."

With that, she hurried off with Zhao Tie and Li Rui.

Holding his key, Lin Feng followed the directions to the Iron Token Courtyard.

Before he even entered, he heard a burst of noisy shouting and cursing from within.

"Newcomer! Don't you know the rules? Why aren't you saluting Brother Wei?"

In the training ground at the center of the courtyard, more than a dozen young men in Demon Suppression Division uniforms were shoving around a newly arrived recruit.

At their head stood a tall young man with arrogant eyes.

"Iron Token Demon Slayer Wei Jin."

Huang Fugui swiftly provided the information in Lin Feng's mind. "He may be a good-for-nothing, but he has a cousin who's a Bronze Token envoy. He's narrow-minded and loves suppressing newcomers. He's gathered a bunch of followers under him and runs wild in the Iron Token Courtyard."

Lin Feng frowned slightly but ignored them, walking directly toward his room.

"Stop!"

Wei Jin had clearly noticed Lin Feng as well. He flashed over and blocked Lin Feng's path, sizing him up with an examining, disdainful gaze.

"You're that kid Lin Feng from Qingyang County? I heard you stepped in dog shit and got lucky, picking up some huge merit, which was why Captain Chu exceptionally promoted you here?"

His voice was loud and openly provocative. Every gaze on the training ground immediately focused on them, filled with gleeful anticipation.

What they loved most was watching newcomers get put in their place.

If you can't find a book by its title, try searching for the author. It may simply have been renamed!

Lin Feng glanced at him and said indifferently, "What do you want?"

"What do I want?"

Wei Jin seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. "Kid, I don't care how impressive you were in some backwater county town. Once you're here, if you're a dragon, you coil up; if you're a tiger, you lie down! In the Iron Token Courtyard, I, Wei Jin, call the shots! If you want to stay here, you follow my rules!"

He reached out and patted Lin Feng's cheek, the gesture deeply insulting.

"Every month, hand over half your salary as 'protection money.' And when you see me, call me Brother Wei. Do that, and I'll make sure you stay safe and sound here. Fail to do it..."

He leaned close to Lin Feng's ear, his voice turning cold and sinister. "I'll teach you what it means to wish you were dead."

A naked threat. Blatant extortion.

This was an unspoken rule within the Demon Suppression Division, and also the first show of force given to every newcomer.

Yet Lin Feng's reaction surpassed everyone's expectations.

He was neither angry nor afraid. He merely looked at Wei Jin calmly, as though he were looking at a corpse.

"Your hand is filthy."

"What did you say?!"

Wei Jin froze.

The next moment.

Crack!

A crisp sound of shattering bone rang out!

Lin Feng moved like lightning, seizing the hand Wei Jin had used to pat his face and giving it a light twist.

Wei Jin's entire arm instantly snapped backward at a grotesque angle, white bone fragments even piercing through the skin!

"Ah—!!!"

A shriek so miserable it scarcely sounded human burst from Wei Jin's mouth!

The entire Iron Token Courtyard fell into deathly silence.

Everyone stared blankly at the scene before them, their minds utterly empty.

This newcomer... actually dared to attack Brother Wei?!

And with one move, he had crippled one of his arms?!

Had he gone mad?!

Silence.

Deathly silence.

Wei Jin's lackeys stood as if under a body-freezing spell, their eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. They simply could not believe what they were seeing.

That was Brother Wei!

A veteran Iron Token Demon Slayer at the seventh level of the Meridian Opening Realm, the tyrant whose word was law in the Iron Token Courtyard!

Yet a newcomer who had just arrived had crippled him in a single exchange?!

"My hand! My hand!"

Wei Jin clutched the arm twisted like a rope, rolling across the ground in agony. Veins bulged across his forehead as cold sweat streamed down his face.

The way he looked at Lin Feng was filled with venom and disbelief.

He could not understand it. Lin Feng was clearly only at the ninth level of the Meridian Opening Realm, so why were his speed and strength so terrifying?

Before him, Wei Jin had not even possessed the ability to fight back!

"You... you're dead! You dared to assault someone within the Demon Suppression Division! Just wait to have your cultivation crippled and be expelled from the Division!" Wei Jin roared fiercely, though his heart was weak.

Lin Feng looked down at him from above, his eyes utterly unmoved.

"You struck first. I merely defended myself."

He swept his gaze over the followers standing around in terrified silence. His voice was not loud, yet every word clearly reached each of their ears.

"My rule is simple. There is only one."

"Don't provoke me."

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