Lin Guanhuo didn't even think about it. He flatly refused. "I work for the government. I eat from the government's bowl, not Foreman Zhao's."
On ordinary days, he worked in the Miscellaneous Room Courtyard. He didn't mind the dirt or the hard labor. After all, he'd arrived in this world with no one to rely on, and he'd managed to hold on here for a while.
But who the hell was Zhao Sihai?
As he spoke, Lin Guanhuo turned to leave.
But when he heard those words,
Zhao Sihai's hand, holding the teapot, froze.
He hadn't expected that the taciturn fellow who usually kept his head down would dare talk back to him like that.
"You've got a lot of nerve!"
Smash!!
The teacup in Zhao Sihai's hand shattered on the floor.
He shot to his feet, his expression dark. "Lin Guanhuo, don't think that just because you've made a few friends in the Miscellaneous Room, I can't deal with you! Believe it or not, I'll strip you of that uniform and kick you out of Blackwater County right now?!"
Zhao Sihai's eyes bulged. His voice grew louder with every word. "Damn it, you must be tired of living! You don't even take me seriously anymore?!"
Lin Guanhuo turned around and looked Zhao Sihai straight in the eye.
He took a step forward.
Now, he had reached the Third Rank of the Body Tempering Realm.
The terrifying pressure of his surging qi and blood crashed down on Zhao Sihai.
"What, you got a problem with that?" Lin Guanhuo asked calmly.
"You!!"
In that instant, Zhao Sihai felt as if he weren't facing a young man at all.
He was facing a ferocious beast that had just crawled out of a mountain of corpses!
This...
Usually, Zhao Sihai could beat or bully anyone he pleased in the Miscellaneous Room Courtyard.
But now, his legs nearly gave way, and an unprecedented terror enveloped him from head to toe.
Crash!!
Zhao Sihai lost his footing and fell flat on his backside.
The shards of the teacup he'd just smashed stabbed him in the rear.
The pain made him bare his teeth, leaving him a sorry sight.
"Ow!! Ow!! You're out of line!! You're out of line!!"
Humiliated and furious, Zhao Sihai was just about to scramble up and make a scene.
Clip-clop, clip-clop...
Just then,
a sudden burst of hoofbeats came from outside the gate. A moment later, a pitch-black carriage stopped at the entrance, the Demon Suppressing Division's banner hanging from it.
At the sight of it, the two White Servants on gate duty hurried inside, shouting, "Chief Zhao... an officer from the Demon Suppressing Division is here!"
The Demon Suppressing Division?!
Zhao Sihai jolted at the words.
He didn't even have time to argue with Lin Guanhuo. He scrambled to his feet and hurried out with a welcoming smile.
At the courtyard gate, the carriage curtain lifted. A man in black stepped down, sword in hand, and strode toward them.
It was Chen Jianxing, the Bronze Badge Walker of the Demon Suppressing Division, back on his feet after recovering from his injuries.
"Oh! Official Chen!"
The moment he saw Chen Jianxing, Zhao Sihai's face filled with obsequious delight. "What brings you here?"
"This Miscellaneous Room Courtyard is filthy and disorderly. I wouldn't want it to offend your eyes. Let's go to the front hall. It's clean in there..."
But Chen Jianxing didn't even glance at Zhao Sihai. He treated him like thin air.
His gaze passed over Zhao Sihai and landed squarely on the young man in the middle of the courtyard.
Then he cupped his hands. "Brother Lin, it's been a while!"
What??
The moment those words fell, Zhao Sihai's mind buzzed. He was utterly dumbfounded.
B-Brother Lin?!
A Walker of the mighty Demon Suppressing Division
was addressing a White Servant who swept floors as his sworn brother?!
"Brother Chen, you seem to have recovered well." Lin Guanhuo returned the salute.
"Thanks to you, Brother Lin, I got my life back." Chen Jianxing laughed heartily. "This isn't the place to talk. Mind stepping aside with me?"
"After you."
The two headed toward the front hall as if no one else were there.
Zhao Sihai stood frozen in place, his face turning from green to white.
But he was an old hand at dealing with officials and reacted quickly. He hurried after them, bowing as he ushered the two into the front hall's Living Room.
"Gentlemen, please, have a seat. Please!"
Zhao Sihai, who'd been cursing Lin Guanhuo just moments ago, now called them "sir."
He briskly wiped the table and poured tea. He was more attentive than a man serving his own father.
Once the tea was poured, Zhao Sihai was just about to stand nearby, hear what the two men were discussing, and perhaps ingratiate himself with them.
But then...
"Foreman Zhao."
Chen Jianxing lifted his teacup and gave him a cool glance. "You're not needed here. Wait outside."
Chen Jianxing despised people like Zhao Sihai, who did nothing but fawn and flatter, from the bottom of his heart.
"Ah? Y-yes..."
The smile froze on Zhao Sihai's face. Embarrassed, he could only obey and leave.
Standing outside the door, Zhao Sihai's expression turned as ugly as could be.
He couldn't understand how Lin Guanhuo, a White Servant who'd been coasting in the Miscellaneous Room, had become sworn brothers with an officer from the Demon Suppressing Division.
And judging by Chen Jianxing's attitude, he treated Lin Guanhuo with even more respect than Wang Bai, the head of the Miscellaneous Room!
If Lin Guanhuo had connections like that, why was he still holed up in the Miscellaneous Room as a White Servant?
Was he some young master from a Noble Family out to experience life?
He couldn't make sense of it.
The moment he remembered that he'd just tried to make Lin Guanhuo work as a long-term servant in his household,
Zhao Sihai felt a chill run down his back, and cold sweat broke out all over him.
Inside the front hall's reception room in the Miscellaneous Room.
"Last time, we parted in such a hurry that I didn't get a chance to properly thank you, Brother Lin." Chen Jianxing raised his teacup in place of wine and toasted him.
After exchanging pleasantries, Chen Jianxing set down his teacup and asked, "Brother Lin, forgive me for asking, but how old are you?"
"I just turned eighteen this year." Lin Guanhuo didn't bother hiding it.
"Eighteen..."
At those words,
even though he'd already been braced for it, Chen Jianxing was still deeply shaken. "An eighteen-year-old Ranked Martial Artist... and from your aura, Brother Lin, you must have reached at least the Second Rank, haven't you?"
Lin Guanhuo smiled, neither confirming nor denying it.
But Chen Jianxing's heart was already churning like storm-tossed seas.
Eighteen!
Here in Blackwater City, among all the martial arts schools and Noble Families,
every one of those who reached the ranks before turning eighteen was a genius raised as a core successor.
"Brother Lin, do you know that I come from a modest local family? I started learning martial arts as a child, entered a martial arts school at sixteen, trained hard for seven years, and only barely reached the ranks at twenty-three."
"I joined the Demon Suppressing Division at twenty-five and fought for five years. Now I'm thirty, and all I've managed to become is a Badge Walker. Among ordinary people, I'm already a rare talent... but compared to you, I've spent half my life living like a dog."
He looked at Lin Guanhuo, his tone turning more earnest. "Brother Lin, with your skill and talent, you could make a name for yourself in Blackwater City—or even Kaiyang County. How can you be content doing odd jobs here?"
"I'm used to it..." Lin Guanhuo gave an awkward laugh. In truth, he'd only awakened his Golden Finger recently. Before that, he'd barely had enough to eat.
Even with a Golden Finger, he had to be cautious. Without one, charging out to make a name for himself would have been asking for death, wouldn't it?
Chen Jianxing continued, "On the Martial Path, the ten years between eighteen and twenty-eight are when one's qi and blood are at their peak. They're called the Golden Foundation Establishment Period. How much you achieve later in life depends entirely on what you build during those ten years."
"Brother Lin, you might not even realize how dazzling your future could be."
Lin Guanhuo fell silent for a moment, then slowly asked, "And what do you suggest, Brother Chen?"
"Join the Demon Suppressing Division!"
That was actually why Chen Jianxing had come today.
Lin Guanhuo was so young and came from such humble origins, yet he'd already achieved such mastery of the Martial Dao.
Maybe this fellow really was a Bright Sun Talent!
Chen Jianxing said, "The Blackwater City Demon Suppressing Division is one of the eight branch divisions under the Kaiyang Prefectural Division. The most powerful expert in Blackwater is our Commander, the head of the Blackwater Division."
"Locally, the Blackwater Division is powerful enough to stand as an equal to top forces like Luohe Martial Arts School, the Martial Xu Family, and the Blood Spear Sect. It would never let Brother Lin's talent go to waste."
As he spoke, Chen Jianxing pulled a letter of recommendation from inside his clothes and slid it across to Lin Guanhuo. "This is my personal letter of recommendation. By the rules, anyone who wants to join the Demon Suppressing Division needs a personal recommendation from a local force of at least the second tier."
"The tenth of this month is the Demon Suppressing Division's annual recruitment day at the beginning of the year. When it comes, Brother Lin can take this letter and join the Demon Suppressing Division directly."
Chen Jianxing looked at Lin Guanhuo and urged him earnestly, "A man should set his sights on the four corners of the world. These are chaotic times; humanity is in decline. We should all be slaying demons and banishing devils, proving that the Martial Dao of humankind will never perish."
"Don't let your talent go to waste. I urge you to give this serious thought."
Lin Guanhuo looked at the letter of recommendation on the table.
After a moment, he said, "Then let me think it over for a couple of days."
Before you continue