Five Forces

"Lord Shen!"

In the inner hall of Everlasting Fortune Pawnshop, Situ Bei respectfully cupped his hands.

Only after Shen Changqing had taken his seat did he sit down in his original place.

As soon as the two had sat down, servants promptly brought tea before quickly withdrawing again.

Shen Changqing did not touch the teacup beside him. Instead, he looked at Situ Bei. "Has the Skywatch Guard obtained the information I wanted?"

"There are leads. I invited Lord Shen here today precisely for this matter!"

Situ Bei nodded.

"According to the information gathered by the Skywatch Guard, five factions have currently arrived in Lin'an City: the Seven Luminaries Sect, Burning Heaven Manor, the Wave-Cleaving Gate, the Origin-Returning Sword Sect, and the Heavenly Blade Gate!"

Seven Luminaries Sect?

Heavenly Blade Gate?

A puzzled look crossed Shen Changqing's face. He had never heard of any of the five factions Situ Bei had mentioned.

"What is the background of these five factions?"

"They are all local factions of Vast Source Prefecture. Among them, the Seven Luminaries Sect and the Heavenly Blade Gate are the strongest, with living Grandmasters overseeing them. The remaining three factions are somewhat weaker, with no Grandmasters currently alive."

Situ Bei answered without hesitation. As a Skywatch Guard stationed in Lin'an City, he possessed extensive knowledge of Vast Source Prefecture.

Hearing this,

Shen Changqing gained some understanding as well.

It was not strange for two factions to possess Grandmasters.

Beyond the Innate Realm lay the Grandmaster Realm.

He did not know much about that realm, but one thing was certain: within the Demon Suppression Bureau, even the weakest Grandmaster was an Earth-rank Demon Slayer, far beyond anything he could compare to now.

However,

having never truly fought a Grandmaster,

Shen Changqing did not dare say how great the gap between the Innate Realm and the Grandmaster Realm truly was.

After pondering for a moment, he asked again, "How many Grandmasters do the Seven Luminaries Sect and the Heavenly Blade Gate have in total?"

"It is rumored that the Heavenly Blade Gate has two Grandmasters, while the Seven Luminaries Sect has one."

"Three Grandmasters between the two factions!"

Shen Changqing nodded.

Grandmasters were not so easily attained. From what he understood, there were not many Earth-rank Demon Slayers even in the capital's Demon Suppression Bureau. Including the Demon Suppression Bureaus across the land, the total number of Grandmasters might be more considerable.

But no matter what, that could not erase the fact that breaking through to Grandmaster was extremely difficult.

Two factions

being able to have Grandmasters overseeing them meant their formidable strength was only natural.

Afterward,

Shen Changqing continued, "What about the other information?"

"From the intelligence currently available, none of the five factions have brought any Innate Realm experts or above for the time being. The Seven Luminaries Sect has two people suspected to be at the late Meridian Opening Realm, while the Heavenly Blade Gate and the other three sects are roughly the same.

"Besides that, some independent martial artists have also arrived after receiving the news.

"Among them are two at the late Meridian Opening Realm, one at the middle Meridian Opening Realm, and five at the early Meridian Opening Realm. However, we have not tested them in battle, so there may be slight discrepancies."

Situ Bei recounted all the intelligence he had gathered, point by point.

The five factions had ten late Meridian Opening Realm martial artists.

Adding the two independents meant Lin'an City currently had twelve late Meridian Opening Realm martial artists in total.

There were also six remaining Meridian Opening Realm martial artists.

Altogether, there were eighteen people.

With Situ Bei's answer, Shen Changqing understood much more.

"For the time being, no Innate Realm martial artists have appeared. That is good news. There are only a dozen or so Meridian Opening Realm martial artists, and they are not of the same camp. If they truly cause trouble, I can suppress them all. Besides, with the Demon Suppression Bureau's name hanging over them, they will not dare act too outrageously unless necessary."

"However, when the demon essence blood truly emerges, Innate Realm experts—or even Grandmasters—may show themselves. That is a serious problem."

Sitting in his chair, thoughts churned through Shen Changqing's mind.

His greatest confidence in guarding Lin'an City came from his own strength.

The eleventh level of the Pure Yang Art.

An Innate Realm martial artist!

In the martial world, although he could not compare with a Grandmaster, he was still stronger than countless martial artists.

As long as no Innate Realm martial artist appeared, Shen Changqing was confident he could suppress them all. Even if an Innate Realm expert did make a move, he was not afraid.

But if it was a Grandmaster,

he would have to weigh matters carefully.

Once that thought passed,

Shen Changqing said, "What about the monstrous evil side? Once the demon essence blood emerges, they certainly will not let this opportunity slip away. Have you obtained any relevant information?"

What concerned him most was still the monstrous evils.

No matter what, the five factions were human factions. On Great Qin's territory, the Demon Suppression Bureau was the sky itself. No matter how rampant they were, they would not dare go too far.

Monstrous evils were different.

The Demon Suppression Bureau took slaying monstrous evils as its duty. The two sides had long been irreconcilable, like fire and water.

If given the chance,

the monstrous evil side would certainly strike at him.

Shen Changqing felt it was necessary to make preparations in advance.

"As for monstrous evils, we have not been able to uncover much information for now." Situ Bei looked troubled and shook his head. "The movements of monstrous evils have always been elusive and strange. Even the Skywatch Guard has found it difficult to track their whereabouts.

"Only when monstrous evils slaughter people somewhere and expose their tracks can the Skywatch Guard receive information."

Investigating the whereabouts of monstrous evils had always been an immense challenge.

Though Shen Changqing was somewhat disappointed, he held no dissatisfaction. "At Ancient Moon Village, I slew a Wraith-rank strange creature and then killed a demonized human. The monstrous evil side will not let the matter rest.

"I ask for nothing else. I only require the Skywatch Guard to thoroughly investigate the area within fifty li of Lin'an City. If anything strange or unusual happens, report it to me immediately."

Since he had decided to guard Lin'an City, he naturally had to increase his strength.

Without slaughter value at hand,

and with both the Thirteen Guardians Body-Hardening Art and the Pure Yang Art having already broken past their limits, relying on his own bitter cultivation was no longer possible.

The best method

was to find those weaker monstrous evils and obtain a batch of slaughter value from them. Only then would Shen Changqing be confident of raising his strength in the shortest possible time.

Having received the order,

Situ Bei nodded as well. "Rest assured, Lord Shen. The Skywatch Guard will certainly carry this out."

The Skywatch Guard existed to serve Demon Slayers and Guardians. There was no issue with obeying Shen Changqing's command.

Though the other man was only a probationary Demon Slayer now, Situ Bei believed that once he returned to the Demon Suppression Bureau, he would certainly become a Yellow-rank Demon Slayer.

As a Skywatch Guard stationed in a small city, how could he dare show disrespect to a Yellow-rank Demon Slayer?

"Also, there is one more matter in which I need the Skywatch Guard's help."

"Please speak, Lord Shen!"

"From what I understand, the person who bewitched Zhao Fang came from the Eternal Life Alliance. Do you know anything about the Eternal Life Alliance?" Shen Changqing recalled the Eternal Life Alliance token he had obtained.

Hearing this,

Situ Bei froze for a moment before cupping his hands. "The Eternal Life Alliance is an organization that emerged two or three hundred years ago. After the monstrous evils failed in their attempt to conquer the human race, they changed their methods and began to erode humanity.

"Thus, the monstrous evils created the Eternal Life Alliance, seeking to use it to divide the human race from within."