Leaving Early

The three Enforcers couldn't see the Scroll, but they could clearly see the memorial floating in midair.

With every word Zhu Jiusi spoke, another appeared on the memorial. The three of them immediately went pale.

"Path Seeker, wait!"

"Fellow Daoist, hold on!"

"Sir, you've got it wrong!"

All three shouted at once. The man behind them who looked like Black Impermanence lunged forward, trying to cover Zhu Jiusi's mouth, but he didn't dare.

They looked at Zhu Jiusi as if they'd seen a ghost.

Zhu Jiusi took several steps back and looked at the three of them.

As expected!

They hadn't really come to enforce the law. They were abusing public office for private gain!

"Putting aside what an Enforcer is, the three of you don't look very official!" Zhu Jiusi spoke without leaving a single opening, acting as if he had no idea what an Enforcer was.

The old man no longer looked haughty and contemptuous. He even watched the memorial in Zhu Jiusi's hand with a hint of fear.

"Fellow Daoist, please put away the Heavenly Listening Memorial. It's a minor matter; there's no need to make a mountain out of a molehill."

Make a mountain out of a molehill? You were about to tie me up!

Zhu Jiusi kept the memorial suspended in the air and looked at the three of them. "How about you three try rephrasing that?"

The old man stared at Zhu Jiusi for a long moment.

"This Earth Vein Node is an important site belonging to the Enforcement Bureau. Cave Master, you were in the wrong to blow it up!"

Zhu Jiusi rolled his eyes at him. "So those places are called Earth Vein Nodes? That's a fitting name."

A flicker of disappointment passed through the old man's eyes. This man had found the Earth Vein Nodes not because he understood divination or fortune-telling, but because he was simply lucky!

Zhu Jiusi sneered. "Let's put aside what the Enforcement Bureau is. Does Journey Survival have a law forbidding the destruction of Earth Vein Nodes? Or a law saying Path Seekers can't touch anything occupied by the Enforcement Bureau?"

The old man fell silent for a long time. He wanted to say yes, but as he watched the memorial flicker, he gritted his teeth and finally replied, "No!"

"Then you were abusing your authority for personal gain?"

The old man looked up at him and shook his head slightly. "Cave Master, there's no need to quibble. Just promise not to blow up any more Earth Vein Nodes, and we'll let today's matter pass."

Each side giving a little was enough to show his sincerity. As he spoke, he glanced at the memorial before Zhu Jiusi.

Zhu Jiusi was so angry he laughed.

"The law doesn't forbid it, so I broke no rules. Yet you came to arrest me. You're the ones breaking the law while enforcing it. And now you expect me to take the loss and let it go?"

Zhu Jiusi laughed in fury. "The three of you can take it up with Journey Survival's laws!" As he spoke, the memorial swung, ready to submit another report.

The three of them finally changed their expressions. "Stop! What do you want?"

Zhu Jiusi watched them coldly. He didn't know much about Enforcers; he only knew they were emotionless beings, something like special NPCs.

But this supposed lack of emotion clearly applied to outsiders. They seemed pretty emotional when it came to their own people.

"It's not about what I want. It's about what you intend to do. Enforcers... should be a fair and impartial department, shouldn't they?"

"Not only did you break the law while enforcing it, and come to arrest a Path Seeker for no reason, you also interfered in a dispute between Path Seekers. Is that right?"

Black Impermanence raised his head, wariness and impatience flashing in his eyes at the same time. "When did we ever interfere in a dispute between Path Seekers?!"

Zhu Jiusi feigned sudden realization. "Oh—so you're really not allowed to get involved!" He grinned and pointed into the distance. "I was hunting down a Path Seeker and was just about to finish him off when you suddenly appeared, stopped me, and tried to arrest me. If that's not interference, what is?"

Black Impermanence's expression changed. He glared at Zhu Jiusi resentfully.

This Path Seeker had tricked him into giving away information!

"Your enemies aren't the only ones, are they?" The old man took half a step forward and said, "We can mark your enemies' locations for you as compensation."

Zhu Jiusi looked at him.

The meaning in his eyes was plain: That's it?

The old man shook his head. "You've already figured it out, so there's no need for us to hide it. We can't interfere in matters between Path Seekers. Marking their locations for you is already the limit."

As he spoke, he looked up at Zhu Jiusi. "But you must also promise that once you've killed them, you'll leave the Secret Realm at once and never enter again..."

He hadn't finished speaking before Zhu Jiusi shook his pair of pig ears like a rattle drum.

"Then forget it. I'll blow up my nodes, and you can carry on being Enforcers."

Did he need them to mark his targets? He could find them himself! It would just take a little more effort.

As he spoke, he turned to leave, taking out his last Thunderbolt Fire and tossing it on the ground to show them before immediately putting it away again.

The three Enforcers abruptly looked up. "Fellow Daoist, what do you mean by that?"

Zhu Jiusi let out a mocking laugh. "You can exchange for cultivation techniques in this Secret Realm Instance. One technique costs a thousand points!"

As he spoke, he did the math. "The first time I blew up a node, I wasn't very familiar with it and got only 84 points. The second time went much better; I got 750. With those two experiences, I'm confident that if I do it once more, I'll earn enough points to get both techniques!"

The old man looked utterly miserable, and Black and White Impermanence stared at him in shock.

He was going to do it again?

Did he even hear himself?

"Fellow Daoist, you've only just entered Journey Survival, so I'm afraid you don't know what the Enforcement Bureau is. I advise you not to bring trouble upon yourself..."

Zhu Jiusi turned around and asked curiously, "Is the Enforcement Bureau above the law? I entered after receiving the Imperial Decree of the Heavenly Emperor. Is the Enforcement Bureau greater than the Heavenly Emperor?"

The old man immediately fell silent, as if a steamed bun had lodged in his throat.

He drew a deep breath, turned his head away from Zhu Jiusi, and even closed his eyes.

Zhu Jiusi didn't mind. He even started running forward. The Woren had escaped, but his scent seemed nailed to the air; Zhu Jiusi could smell it perfectly clearly.

He ran more than a hundred meters, nearly disappearing from sight, before the old man suddenly opened his eyes. "Which two techniques can be exchanged for in this Secret Realm? The Enforcement Bureau will grant them to you!"

Zhu Jiusi suddenly stopped in mid-run.

As expected, the Enforcement Bureau and its Enforcers weren't Journey Survival's rules themselves!

They didn't know the Scroll's exact contents!

Zhu Jiusi put on a genial smile and turned back. "The Spirit Refining Primer and the Treatise on Cloud-Resting Consciousness Refinement."

How ugly!

The old man didn't look at his face. The more a wild boar grinned, the more it looked like it was baring its teeth, ready to devour someone. "Fine! The Enforcement Bureau will grant you both techniques! You leave the Secret Realm!"

Zhu Jiusi snorted twice. "Mark my enemies. I'll leave after I've killed them!"

"Fine. Give me their Daoist Numbers!" The old man's voice had grown tinged with bitterness.

Zhu Jiusi acted as if he hadn't noticed and cheerfully gave him the Daoist Numbers.

Black Impermanence produced a bamboo slip, fiddled with it for a while, then tossed it to Zhu Jiusi.

Five glowing points appeared on it. One was green and represented Zhu Jiusi; the other four represented his enemies.

"Three of them are nearby. You can kill them. The other one is hundreds of miles away. It'll take you at least six or seven days to get there."

The old man shook his head. "You certainly didn't make this enemy in the Secret Realm, and he didn't escape because we interfered. You should resolve your problems after you leave!"

The old man pointed at the farthest red dot.

That was Daoist Number 323.

"The Secret Realm will remain open for a long time. I can walk there step by step. Once I return to the road, I'll have to use up a Dao Discussion Card..."

After seven or eight days, the price of a Dao Discussion Card had begun to rise.

"Fellow Daoist, don't push your luck!" The old man looked at Zhu Jiusi and refused to yield further.

Zhu Jiusi grunted. "Fine, I'll take the loss. Give me the techniques!"

Seeing him agree, the old man ran his bark-like hand over the bamboo slip, and the red dot representing Daoist Number 323 disappeared.

At the same time, he shoved two bamboo booklets into Zhu Jiusi's hands.

As if afraid Zhu Jiusi might change his mind, he immediately backed away once he'd done it.

Zhu Jiusi waggled his ears in farewell. "See you later, fellow Daoist!"

The old man's steps faltered. "Hopefully not!"

An official who could report on anything he heard was the most troublesome sort. It would be best never to see him again!

Zhu Jiusi roared with laughter and put the two bamboo scrolls into his inventory.

He wasn't worried they had tampered with the techniques. He only needed a legitimate source for them; he already knew both techniques. He could just start cultivating them from scratch.

He no longer needed more points, so Zhu Jiusi spent all his remaining points on Life Stones and Warm Jade.

Those things would be worth a fortune outside the Secret Realm!

Only after finishing all this did Zhu Jiusi look at the bamboo slip. The nearest red dot was less than five miles away.

A cruel grin spread across his ugly pig face.

Everyone, I'm coming!