What was going on? Why had so many reckless young fools suddenly appeared? Not a single one of the brothers who'd gone into the mountains last night had returned.
Only today had I learned that your county office had sent quite a few people to the surrounding villages and towns a few days ago. The black-robed figure's tone suddenly changed. "You've broken our agreement."
"How could that be? How could that be? Fox Commander, please calm down. I'll get to the bottom of this and give you and the Great King an explanation."
Magistrate Chen's eyes flickered as he looked at the figure before him, but he felt no fear. His face was all smiles and flattery.
"Whether you investigate or not is your business. We had an agreement."
The black-robed figure sneered and raised his head in an eerie fashion, revealing a horrifying fox's face. His expression twisted into a savage grimace. "You're the ones who broke the rules. You must give us a clear answer today."
Magistrate Chen hurriedly explained, "Of course, of course. Fox Commander, please wait a moment."
These days, Zhou Tao was responsible for the county office and all the tedious matters concerning defenses in the various regions. Now that he was summoned, they could ask him about the details.
Magistrate Chen's original name was Chen Dao. He knew that the demonic beasts in this area had powerful backing. To keep the city outwardly peaceful for the time being,
and with the demonic beasts secretly providing precious medicinal meat, he had naturally chosen to avoid provoking them.
Magistrate Chen had barely finished speaking when hurried footsteps sounded outside. A man in his forties, with a dignified face, entered the hall in a few strides, carrying a young man's corpse. His voice was cool as he said, "My lord, there's something wrong with Zhou Tao."
"Patriarch Qin, tell me everything." Magistrate Chen looked at his brother-in-law, then turned to the corpse in his hands, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
"Hmph. Zhou Tao has been working against us behind our backs. He secretly sent his son to tail the people from the Demon Suppression Division. I think he meant to sell us out." Patriarch Qin, Qin Ganglong, spoke through gritted teeth.
As he spoke, he flung the corpse in his hands heavily to the ground. "This is Zhou Tao's son."
At this, Magistrate Chen's expression changed drastically, and a sudden chill of fear ran through him. "Good, good. I've treated Zhou Tao well, yet he dares betray me."
"Guards!"
As soon as the order rang out, a middle-aged constable hurried into the hall.
"Bring Zhou Tao here. Tell him I have something important to discuss with him."
A cold smile curled across Fox Commander's furry face. "Old Man Chen, you're truly useless. You keep stirring up one damned mess after another, making a laughingstock of yourself."
"Fox Commander, you flatter me."
It wasn't long before the constable who'd gone to summon Zhou Tao hurried back into the hall. He bowed to Magistrate Chen and said, "My lord, Zhou Tao didn't come to the office today. According to what I've heard, he secretly left the city last night."
Hearing the constable's report, Magistrate Chen slammed his teacup down beside the desk and shouted, "It seems that bastard saw this coming. Go notify Assistant County Magistrate Cai at once and issue a wanted notice. Say that Zhou Tao colluded with demonic beasts and fled out of guilt."
"Old Man Chen, don't just stand there getting angry. Let's talk about our business."
Fox Commander's eyes gleamed coldly as they settled on Magistrate Chen. He said ominously, "So many of our brothers were killed or wounded last night. Tell me, how will you compensate us?"
"I'm not sure what you mean, Fox Commander. If it's within my power, I'll do as you ask." Magistrate Chen refilled the teacup before him and spoke mildly.
Glancing at the three furry, sharp claws, Magistrate Chen relaxed slightly. "Three hundred people is a little much, but this matter began because of me."
Before he could finish, Fox Commander's gaze turned colder. "You're getting senile. We lost dozens of brothers last night."
"And you think three hundred mouths for our larder will settle the matter? You must be dreaming."
"Listen carefully. Three entire towns."
Magistrate Chen abruptly rose to his feet, aghast. "How can that be? Linshan County has only eighteen towns in total. You're asking me to hand over three of them!"
"How am I supposed to explain that to my superiors? That's more than ten thousand people!"
"No." Fox Commander stood as well, his expression grim. "This isn't up to you."
"Is there really no room for discussion?" Magistrate Chen's eyes turned cold as he glared at Fox Commander, who had already walked out the door.
"None."
Fox Commander's answer was crisp and decisive. He knew he had to take a hard line. These humans were all treacherous and sly, and besides, they didn't have the guts to break off negotiations. Even if this matter came to light, they would be the ones to suffer first.
Once they had carried this out, they planned to flee. For now, they were merely keeping the other side off guard.
Qin Ganglong looked at Magistrate Chen, silently asking what he intended to do. With his Meridian Mirror cultivation, taking down the fox demon before them would be easy, but he needed his brother-in-law's approval first.
Magistrate Chen weighed the matter in silence. The sect's mission had reached the critical moment of closing the net; he absolutely could not afford any mistakes now. After some thought, he said, "Tell your Great King that I can only do my best to keep this matter under control."
"Very well. I didn't expect Magistrate Chen to be such a straightforward man."
"But before that, I have one more request."
"By all means, Magistrate Chen. Go ahead." Fox Commander turned and smiled.
"Two thousand jin of precious medicinal meat."
"Agreed." Fox Commander accepted at once. Then, as if remembering something else, he lowered his voice. "What about the weapons we asked you to make some time ago? Why haven't we seen them yet?"
Magistrate Chen turned to Qin Ganglong. "Ganglong, the Qin family was in charge of this. Why haven't the weapons been delivered yet?"
"These past few days, Gang Hu and I have been busy dealing with other matters, so we arranged for Qin Hao to deliver the weapons once they were finished." Qin Ganglong cupped his hands toward Fox Commander and apologized. "Please don't be angry, Commander. They'll be delivered within the next couple of days at most."
With Qin Ganglong's assurance, Fox Commander's expression eased somewhat. Then, at Magistrate Chen's arrangement, he took the two children and disappeared into a secret chamber.
Watching Fox Commander vanish, Qin Ganglong sprang to his feet. "Brother-in-law, those are more than ten thousand households! Our sect has worked with the demonic beasts plenty, but if we just hand them over like this, will we still have time to carry out our plan?"
A gleam flashed in Magistrate Chen's eyes as he replied calmly, "Everyone knows the demonic beasts are insatiably greedy. A Tiger Demon at the Meridian Mirror level dares to call itself a Demon King? It's laughable."
"Our sect needs them right now, so we can only endure it for a while. But it's strange that this fox demon was so forceful today. I wonder what changed."
"Forget it. It's only a little earlier than planned. Ganglong, you and the others need to speed things up so we can get out of here sooner."
Qin Ganglong nodded slightly.
After breakfast, Su Ye returned to the town office. With nothing else to do, he searched the inside and outside of the building again. He spent half the day at it and found nothing.
These bastards really hadn't left behind a single thing.
In the bedroom, Su Ye quietly pondered the situation. Huang Qianqing and his Second Uncle weren't much cause for concern.
But the Qin family and the demonic beasts from last night both had powerful forces backing them. Neither side would let things go easily. He needed to prepare in advance so he wouldn't be caught off guard.
Time slipped by in a flash. Darkness had fallen. Su Ye opened his eyes, got up and stretched his limbs, then picked up the Ghost Head Saber beside him and headed out.
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Su Ye lay on the thatched roof, looking toward the mountain's foot, only a few hundred meters from the town.
Had I misjudged it?
He'd been lying on the roof for more than an hour. The waning moon was already past its halfway point, and the night was deep, yet not a sound came from the forest before him.
The demonic beasts probably aren't coming.
He rolled onto his back, the blade of grass in his mouth tipping upward. Suddenly, his ears twitched, and he heard a rustling sound coming from far away.
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