County Magistrate of Lin'an City

"Speak!"

When Situ Bei brought up the matter, Shen Changqing visibly perked up.

His own strength had reached a bottleneck. If he wanted to break through in the short term, he had to rely on Slaughter Value.

The only way to obtain Slaughter Value was through demons and evil spirits.

"According to our intelligence, more than twenty li east of Lin'an City, everyone in a village was slaughtered overnight. Skywatch Guard's preliminary assessment is that demons or evil spirits were responsible."

Situ Bei paused as he spoke.

"However, after Skywatch Guard conducted a thorough investigation, we found no trace of that demon or evil spirit in the village. So I suspect it has already left in search of its next target. Skywatch Guard has already spread out.

"I believe it won't be long before we accurately locate its whereabouts."

Demons and evil spirits did not remain rooted in one place.

Though they might attach themselves to certain objects, they could use their surroundings to confuse people, making them unknowingly carry the demon or evil spirit away.

What was more—

Powerful demons and evil spirits could leave the objects they had originally possessed, travel elsewhere, and seek out new vessels.

Therefore—

It was nothing strange to find no trace of a demon or evil spirit at a place where one was suspected of wreaking havoc.

"A demon or evil spirit capable of wiping out an entire village is no ordinary one. If it used an illusion to deceive someone into carrying away its true body, that would still be manageable. What I fear is that it walked out on its own—"

By the end, Shen Changqing's expression had turned solemn.

Any demon or evil spirit capable of leaving on its own had at least surpassed the Specter level.

Though he was already a Connate martial artist, he had little confidence in facing a Resentment-level demon or evil spirit.

Situ Bei shook his head. "Based on our assessment, that demon or evil spirit should still fall within the Specter level. If it were Resentment-level, Skywatch Guard could not possibly have received no information at all.

"As for anything above the Resentment level, that is even more impossible.

"Vast Source Prefecture has a guardian envoy. If any aberration above the Resentment level appeared, the guardian envoy stationed here would certainly take action!"

"Mm."

Shen Changqing nodded.

The guardian envoys of the Demon Suppression Bureau differed from other demon slayers. They were generally stationed in a specific location.

Of Great Qin's nine prefectures, each had a guardian envoy stationed there.

Besides that—

Some particularly important cities also had guardian envoys.

But a small city like Lin'an City would not have one. After all, the Demon Suppression Bureau had only a limited number of guardian envoys.

Any demon or evil spirit of Baleful Intent level or above was a disaster on the scale of a natural calamity. Destroying a city or a region would be no difficult feat.

Once a demon or evil spirit of that level appeared—

Guardian envoys throughout the land would act at once and completely slay it.

"Hurry and find that demon or evil spirit's exact location. Since it left after exterminating one village, it must be heading for other villages. We cannot delay for too long. The more blood essence it absorbs, the harder it will be to deal with."

Shen Changqing's face was grave. He vaguely suspected that this demon or evil spirit might be connected to the emergence of demon blood essence.

After all, twenty-odd li from Lin'an City was, strictly speaking, still under Lin'an City's jurisdiction.

First there had been the demon or evil spirit in Ancient Moon Village, then another elsewhere.

Honestly—

Lin'an City was only a small city. How could demons and evil spirits appear one after another? There had to be something drawing them here, or some presence behind the scenes quietly driving them on.

If they are fighting over demon blood essence, that would be one thing. But if they have some other purpose, then this will be quite a spectacle!

Shen Changqing pondered inwardly, his gaze growing deep.

The Eternal Life Alliance had wanted to nurture a Baleful Intent-level aberration in Lin'an City, but he had ruined their plans. There was no way the Eternal Life Alliance had not received word of it.

How could a force controlled by demons and evil spirits behind the scenes possibly be benevolent?

To say nothing else—

Putting himself in their shoes, if someone had ruined his plans, he certainly would not let that person go.

Thus, the suddenly appearing demon or evil spirit might have come for the demon blood essence, or it might have come for him.

No matter which possibility it was—

Shen Changqing would not allow it to remain alive.

"Rest assured, Lord Shen. At most, in a day or two, we will find that demon or evil spirit's location."

"Mm. Also, there is no need to report this information to the Demon Suppression Bureau for now. The Demon Suppression Bureau cannot spare anyone anyway, so leave it to me."

After thinking it over, Shen Changqing added another sentence.

He did not want other demon slayers coming over to compete with him for the demon or evil spirit.

Taking a step back—

The Demon Suppression Bureau truly could not spare the manpower right now.

Situ Bei nodded. "When Skywatch Guard learned of the demon or evil spirit, we immediately reported it to the Demon Suppression Bureau. But if Lord Shen takes responsibility for it, Skywatch Guard can send word back to the Demon Suppression Bureau.

"That way, the Demon Suppression Bureau will not dispatch new demon slayers to handle this matter."

"Then I'll leave it to you."

Shen Changqing stood and left.

After leaving the Everlasting Fortune Pawnshop, he headed toward the yamen.

With the letter of appointment in hand, he was now Lin'an City's county magistrate. Even if he was only acting in the role, he was still the county magistrate.

As the county magistrate—

He naturally ought to live in the yamen.

Shen Changqing was more than happy to finally escape the awkward situation of living in an inn.

At the yamen entrance—

Two yamen runners stood guard.

Most of the yamen runners were surrounding the Zhao Family, leaving very few people behind at the yamen.

"Lord Shen!"

Seeing Shen Changqing arrive, both men's expressions changed. They hurriedly lowered their heads in greeting.

"Is the registrar here?"

"Lord Registrar is handling official business inside the yamen!"

"Have him come to the inner hall. I have something to discuss with him." After giving the order, Shen Changqing strode straight into the yamen. From beginning to end, the two men did not dare obstruct him in the slightest.

The inner hall was still the same inner hall.

Zhao Fang's corpse had already been dealt with, and all the bloodstains had been thoroughly cleaned away. There was no sign that anyone had ever died here.

Not long after sitting down, Shen Changqing saw a plump middle-aged man with a hurried expression enter at a brisk pace.

"Greetings, Lord Shen!"

"You are the yamen's registrar?" Shen Changqing carefully examined the man before him. The first time he had come to the yamen, this man had been following behind Zhao Fang, so they had met once before.

It was only then—

That Shen Changqing had not known the man was the yamen registrar.

"Yes!" The registrar nodded nervously.

"Take a look."

Shen Changqing took out the letter of appointment and handed it to him.

At this—

The registrar accepted the letter. After cautiously opening it and reading through it, his expression changed again.

Very quickly, he handed the document back and bowed solemnly. "Shi Qingsheng pays his respects to Lord County Magistrate!"

"There is no need to call me county magistrate. I am only acting in the position for now. A new county magistrate will take office in the future."

"But for now, Lord Shen, you are Lin'an City's county magistrate!"

Shi Qingsheng said with a flattering smile.