Reward Treatment, Sending a Threatening Letter

"Don't be so quick to refuse!"

Seeing the old man, who called himself a porter, show a flicker of interest, the middle-aged man with a goatee chuckled, "I know you lone travelers prefer freedom and dislike being bound by factions.

But you also know very well that without aligning with a faction, you can't obtain resources.

Just like when you eliminate fugitives, you still come to our Demon Suppressing Division to claim your reward. This is also cooperation, not a contradiction.

However, if you join us, you'll gain even more resources and benefits.

Compared to families and sects, I believe the system of our Demon Suppressing Division is more suitable for lone travelers like yourselves who cherish freedom!"

As he spoke, he pulled out a booklet from his chest and handed it to Chu Ge, saying, "This contains all the detailed benefits and treatment. You can take it with you to look over. If you have any thoughts in the future, the doors of our Jiangcheng Prefecture Demon Suppressing Division will always be open to you.

Oh, right, my name is Feng Shan. I'm one of the external officers of the Demon Suppressing Division. You can look for me directly next time you come."

He then took out a waist token from his chest.

"Feng Shan. I think I've seen that name on the Blood Ranking."

Chu Ge's heart stirred. After thinking for a moment, he decided to accept it for now.

His identity as a porter was, after all, fabricated out of thin air.

Joining the Demon Suppressing Division would likely involve various checks. If anything suspicious were found, it would inevitably lead to trouble.

Therefore, he hadn't actually considered joining the Demon Suppressing Division as a porter.

However, he could still look at the related benefits.

As for Feng Shan's waist token, that would be even more useful.

Just then, attendants began entering the hall, carrying trays.

"Here are the rewards you've earned," Feng Shan said, hands behind his back. "For eliminating the Soul Chasing Old Man and the Dark Poison Child, according to the Great Zhou's Class D fugitive rewards, you will receive four Exotic Power Crystals and two Qi and Blood Pills, as well as two Level 1 Spirit Material Vouchers from the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.

These items are all very valuable. You should know that one Exotic Power Crystal is worth a thousand taels of gold on the market."

Chu Ge was a little stunned, but his expression remained calm. This was the first time he had heard of such a thing, and he hadn't expected it to be so expensive.

"By eliminating the Soul Chasing Old Man, you have indirectly saved the people of Linyuan City. Our Jiangcheng Prefecture Demon Suppressing Division is adding an extra reward of two Exotic Power Crystals for you."

Feng Shan paused, then added, "If you join the Demon Suppressing Division, we will also add cumulative merit rewards for you, which will be valid in the future and can be included in your file."

"Okay!"

Chu Ge nodded, but he didn't respond about joining the Demon Suppressing Division. Instead, he accepted all the rewards.

Looking at the six Exotic Power Crystals packed into a small bag, Chu Ge sighed inwardly.

The lives of two top experts on the Blood Ranking were worth only this small bag of items after they died.

The wealth and martial arts accumulated by these two were far more than this.

"So, people only have value when they are alive. I need to stay steady and not take unnecessary risks if I want to reach the pinnacle of Martial Arts, uncover the truth of my transmigration, and solve the mystery of the Dragon Bell..."

After receiving his rewards, Chu Ge left the Demon Suppressing Division.

Outside, the old woman saw him and didn't dare to put on a bad face, bowing and escorting him out.

When he reached the street, several families from the city came to invite him.

This included people from the Yun Family and the Lin Family.

Chu Ge accepted their invitation letters, stating that he would consider them later, and then left. Following the Prairie Fire Saber, he entered the bustling crowd and quickly disappeared down an alley.

A moment later.

In a small alley filled with the aroma of tea, Chu Ge, dressed in a Sea Dragon Little Eagle Shoulder Robe, with a Jade Red Leather Belt cinching his waist and a Silver Crown tying his hair, emerged from the alley with an elegant demeanor, carrying a bundle on his back.

The pedestrians in the alley, seeing the man's attire and sturdy build, knew he was either wealthy or powerful and not to be trifled with, and they all averted their gazes.

"Zhu, Zhu Zi, where are we going now?" Xiao Qian's voice transmitted from inside the bundle as she poked her head out, her antennae touching Chu Ge's skin.

Chu Ge 'pushed' her little head back in and said, "To mail a letter, then go to the market to browse. See if there are any good antique items to hunt for in this Prefectural City, or if I can pick up a few Spirit Fish!"

Compared to Linyuan City, the Prefectural City not only had more people and experts but also a greater abundance of resources.

Chu Ge was looking forward to acquiring some good antique items or Spirit Fish.

The Red Scale Claw Fish bloodline he inherited in his arm was now so diluted that it could only be used one more time.

If he could buy another Red Scale Claw Fish, that would be quite good.

"As for antique items... compared to Exotic Power Crystals, refining Exotic Power from them seems more cost-effective. If I'm lucky, I'll only need to spend six thousand taels of silver to refine one hundred and twenty strands of Exotic Power. One Exotic Power Crystal, however, costs a thousand taels of gold and is scarce."

"The only trouble is that antique items are harder to acquire than Exotic Power Crystals, the refining speed is slower, and I'm not sure about the prices of antique items in this Prefectural City."

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Chu Ge soon arrived at the Prefectural City's Post Office.

However, at the same time, he vaguely sensed a gaze fixed on him, and his heart immediately tensed.

"Hmm? Who is it?"

Chu Ge stopped motionlessly, pretending to be amused by the Mynah Bird at the entrance of the Post Office. His gaze swept over casually, and he saw a familiar figure.

"The person who introduced me to the powers within the Prefectural City last time."

Chu Ge was slightly surprised, thinking a master from the Demon Suppressing Division had set his sights on him, but it turned out to be just a nobody.

He merely swept his gaze over them, not alerting the other party, and stepped into the Post Office as usual.

He then took out the letter he intended to send to his elder sister at the Hidden Water Sect, registered it, and leisurely walked out of the Post Office.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

From a window on the third floor of a restaurant opposite the Post Office, Chu Ge calmly watched the scholar who had been secretly observing him enter the Post Office.

Not long after, the person emerged from the Post Office again, glanced left and right, and quickly departed.

"This person is strange. He's not just someone trying to recruit for the Lin Family. It's like he's been targeting me since the first day I arrived in the Prefectural City. Could he know my identity? But I've always kept a low profile in Linyuan City and haven't made any enemies. Could it be because of my eldest sister, Chu Feixue?"

Chu Ge pondered for a moment, feeling he had a grasp of the situation.

He dismissed the idea of going shopping at the market.

He took out a bamboo hat from his bag and put it on, donned a Grey Squirrel Carved Green Cloak, and then lit a Lady Lantern, holding it in his hand as he quickly went downstairs.

With the Lady Lantern acting as a warning, he wasn't afraid of being secretly followed.

These trackers were quite skilled, possibly having learned relevant tracking martial arts. If he hadn't been wary beforehand, fearing he might be tracked by people from the Demon Suppressing Division, he might not have even noticed them in the bustling crowd.

But now, he wanted to see who this person secretly watching him was working for and what their objective was.

Soon, Chu Ge followed the person from a distance, winding through several turns, gradually arriving at the affluent residential area of the Prefectural City.

Finally, he watched the person enter a sprawling estate with high walls and deep courtyards, covering dozens of acres, before stopping far away. His gaze fell upon the grand and imposing plaque above the mansion's gate – Lin Mansion!

"As expected, it's someone from the Lin Family, one of the five great families of the Prefectural City."

A hint of realization and contemplation flickered in Chu Ge's eyes.

Yesterday, when this person introduced him to the five major powers in the city, he had spoken highly of the Lin Family, which had already made him suspicious. Now, it was confirmed.

But the question remained: why would the Lin Family target him, a newly arrived country squire?

Chu Ge took out an invitation letter from his怀.

This was respectfully given to him by an official from the Lin Family after he left the Demon Suppressing Division today, posing as a porter.

If his guess was correct, the letter he sent to his eldest sister, Chu Feixue, had likely already fallen into the hands of the observer. Otherwise, there would have been no need for the other party to risk exposure by entering the Post Office.

"It seems I'll have to rely on Wang Xiuyun's connection to send a new letter to my eldest sister and ask her what's going on with this Lin Family."

Chu Ge abandoned the idea of entering the Lin Family mansion under the guise of a porter. Although it would be logical, and the Lin Family might even warmly welcome a porter who was a Blood Ranking expert, he was unwilling to put himself in danger before understanding the situation. The waters in the Prefectural City were far deeper than in that small corner of Linyuan City. Even now, he had to pretend ignorance about the Lin Family to avoid alerting them.

He had initially planned to stay in the Prefectural City for a few days and, if he couldn't join the Demon Suppressing Division, head to the Hidden Water Sect to see his eldest sister and find a new path. But this current situation left him bewildered, and he decided to lie low and investigate first, to avoid any trouble before he even reached the Hidden Water Sect after leaving the city. After all, while the Hidden Water Sect's mountain gate wasn't too far, it was still a six-hundred-mile journey, and anything could happen along the way.

Without further ado, he returned to the inn and directly sacrificed all six Exotic Power Crystals into the Dragon Bell, converting them into seven hundred and twenty strands of Exotic Power. Combined with the more than two hundred strands he had stored, he now possessed over nine hundred strands of Exotic Power.

But at the same time, a line of numbers suddenly appeared within the core of the Dragon Bell. Chu Ge was taken aback, thinking he had misread. Upon closer inspection, he realized he hadn't. The center of the Dragon Bell clearly displayed a value representing '1000'.

"What does this mean? Is this black bell asking me to hand over a thousand strands of Exotic Power?" Chu Ge was stunned. He didn't have a thousand strands of Exotic Power right now, though he could probably gather them with some effort. But the Dragon Bell's state left him utterly confused.

"Perhaps, after providing a thousand strands of Exotic Power, some of the Dragon Bell's functions can be enhanced, like increasing the speed of item refinement." The Dragon Bell's slow item refinement speed was something Chu Ge had always wanted to improve but couldn't find a way. He hadn't expected this development.

He had to admit, over the past three years, the total amount of Exotic Power he had accumulated must have surpassed a thousand strands. But he had almost always used it as soon as he accumulated some, and the consumption rate was high, leaving him constantly short. This was the first time he had approached a thousand strands of Exotic Power, which might be the reason for the Dragon Bell's reaction.