This Commission... I Accept It!

"White Dragon Horse, hooves facing west; carrying Tang Sanzang, plus those three disciples; heading west for scriptures, putting on a grand show, singing for tens of thousands of miles..."

Humming a tune with the wrong melody and lyrics, Duan Mu walked unsteadily through the moonlit wilderness, carrying several newly bought jugs of good wine, exuding an air of extreme nonchalance.

Of course, this was Duan Mu's perception of himself.

If anyone else saw him, they would just think he was a drunk lunatic. In reality... Duan Mu hadn't even taken a sip of the wine he bought, he had only smelled its fragrance.

The information he unexpectedly obtained today made Duan Mu incredibly grateful that his small shop was located in District 38. Staying so far from Seireitei, even if Seireitei were to be wiped out by a nuclear bomb tomorrow, it shouldn't affect his little shop.

"Still ten years left?"

Duan Mu muttered to himself, but then he shook his head.

It didn't concern him anyway.

Rather than thinking about what would happen in ten years, it was better to focus on his upcoming training.

"Next time I visit the Shiba Clan, I'll borrow the Great Kūkaku Training Hall from Sister Kūkaku again."

The stronger he became, the greater the disturbance caused during training. After leaving the Great Kūkaku Training Hall, Duan Mu hadn't been able to train with his full strength for a long time.

On one hand, he lacked a suitable venue to unleash himself freely. On the other hand, large-scale Spirit Particle fluctuations would inevitably be detected by Seireitei.

But the Great Kūkaku Training Hall was different. Under the Shiba Clan's unique Spirit Crests, the internal Spiritual Pressure fluctuations were completely isolated. No matter how much Duan Mu messed around inside, he wouldn't be perceived by the outside world.

He also didn't have to worry about being monitored by the Onmitsukidō.

It's just that the stored experience points were too few. If he were to go into secluded training in the Great Kūkaku Training Hall borrowed from Sister Kūkaku, he might exhaust them completely before long.

"Sigh, women!"

Duan Mu realized that, he didn't know when it started, but there wasn't a single day that went by without him thinking about women. Although the reason he thought about women was a bit strange...

Still, to obtain a large amount of experience points, he needed to make friends with women from Seireitei.

"Speaking of which, it seems like I haven't encountered anyone from the Onmitsukidō in a while."

For some reason, ever since Duan Mu's Yorozuya was converted into a bar, the Onmitsukidō members who used to have frequent contact with Duan Mu suddenly disappeared, as if they were unwilling to interact with Diao Ao and the others.

Although he had always been supervised by the Onmitsukidō, Duan Mu didn't have any ill feelings towards them; on the contrary, he quite liked them!

Because...

The Onmitsukidō were very good at 'playing to people's preferences'. They sent female members to contact Duan Mu, and they were also one of Duan Mu's sources of experience points.

With them gone, Duan Mu felt a bit regretful.

Suddenly, Duan Mu's footsteps halted. He turned his head towards the forest on his left, his body instantly tensed, and a hint of vigilance flashed in his eyes.

Whoosh~~

Almost simultaneously, a slightly bulky figure rushed out from the forest by the roadside. Upon seeing Duan Mu in the middle of the road, the person first froze, then revealed a look of joy.

"Hmm?"

Upon seeing the approaching person, a look of surprise flashed across Duan Mu's face. He was no stranger to this person; it was Habutae, who had previously tried to apprehend Diao Ao's group.

At this moment, she looked extremely disheveled, covered in blood. Her left arm was severed at the shoulder, blood flowing down like water. With her remaining right hand, she was holding someone – a man, alive or dead, it was hard to tell. It was precisely because of this that she appeared somewhat bulky.

The man looked to be around thirty years old, covered in stab wounds. Among them, a particularly gruesome gash from his neck to his waist was the most terrifying, with internal organs faintly visible through the wound.

Great Villain!

The three words instantly appeared in Duan Mu's mind. The person who triggered his instinctive reaction at that moment was not Habutae, nor those chasing her, but this man who was barely clinging to life and could die at any moment.

To be threatened by someone in such a severely injured state could only mean the legendary 'Great Villain'!!

"Help me!!"

Habutae rushed directly towards Duan Mu and persuaded him with the simplest words: "Commission fee, one million Ring."

Although he didn't know the whole story, and was even a bit confused, the words 'one million Ring' still jolted Duan Mu, and he instinctively let go of the wine jug in his hand.

Crack—!

The wine jug shattered, its fragments scattering along with the rich aroma of wine, and Duan Mu vanished from his spot.

When he reappeared, he was already behind Habutae.

"Bakudo #39: Enzansen!"

He drew a vertical golden line in the air before him with his index finger, as if splitting the night sky in two. Almost simultaneously with the incantation falling from Duan Mu's lips, the golden line unfolded like a folding fan, instantly forming a golden circular shield that shielded both Duan Mu and Habutae.

All of this, though seemingly complex, actually happened in an instant.

Bang—!

As Enzansen formed, several blades carrying powerful Spiritual Pressure simultaneously struck the shield.

Behind the blades were faces filled with killing intent. However, when they realized their blades hadn't caused the golden shield to even tremble, their killing intent turned into vigilance, and they used the force to spring back.

"Who are you!?"

A man who appeared to be the leader looked at Duan Mu with vigilance. As he spoke, more than a dozen figures emerged from the surrounding forest. Each of them possessed at least the Spiritual Pressure fluctuations of a low-ranking officer, and the leader's Spiritual Pressure fluctuations were comparable to a high-ranking officer!

"The specific commission details!?"

Duan Mu ignored him and asked Habutae behind him.

Habutae's unease gradually faded from her face. Although she had fled to District 38 intending to seek Duan Mu's help, she hadn't known if he would accept her request before meeting him.

Duan Mu's words now brought her a sense of relief.

"Kill... protect the two of us before the boss wakes up!"

Habutae had initially wanted to say "kill these people," but the words changed in her mouth. The immediate priority was to preserve the boss's life, not to kill these small fry.

As for those pursuing them, if their boss and the enemy leader hadn't fought each other to a standstill, the enemy's numbers wouldn't have been enough for their boss to handle alone.

Duan Mu remained silent, glancing at the system interface instead.

[Habutae Affection +4, Gained 160 experience points, Current Affection 9]
[Habutae Affection +10, Gained 800 experience points, Current Affection 19]
[Habutae Affection +10, Gained 1600 experience points, Current Affection 29]

The influx of 2560 experience points made Duan Mu's eyes light up, as he had just been worrying about how to gain experience.

"This request..."

Duan Mu deactivated Enzansen, and the aura around him changed drastically.

"I accept."

[Habutae Affection +1, Gained 320 experience points, Current Affection 30]