Prolonging Life

Twenty years of lifespan—it was not exactly long.

For Shen Yi, however, it counted as a tremendous surprise.

When he first transmigrated, his predecessor had left behind only thirty-some years of life. Counting it all up, he would have kicked the bucket by his fifties; he was a short-lived ghost in the truest sense.

The so-called arrival of one's destined end was a matter of heavenly decree.

With the help of the Wind and Thunder Precious Scroll, he had barely managed to perfect his physical body, but he remained confined to the realm of mortals.

Being able to slightly extend his limit was already no small feat.

Shen Yi collected his thoughts, feeling increasingly expectant about the Demon Suppression Division inspection a month away.

Of course, he had to prepare for two eventualities before then.

The first was strength.

The Great Gan Dynasty had founded the Demon Suppression Division as an entity independent of the imperial court.

Even the lowest-ranking members, despite having no soldiers or generals under their command, were specially conferred the rank of seventh-grade lieutenant, comparable to the magistrate of Baiyun County.

A mere ordinary lieutenant could casually gift a transcendent method like the Wind and Thunder Precious Scroll to Chen Ji, simply because his talent was decent.

To join the ranks of such people, one had to demonstrate something extraordinary.

The Initial Realm... or perhaps higher?

Shen Yi was not entirely certain, but having a higher cultivation base never hurt.

Although he currently possessed neither cultivation techniques nor precious medicines, he had previously managed to grasp an Initial Realm martial art from the Demon-Subduing Blade Technique. Now that he had half of the Wind and Thunder Precious Scroll, as long as he was willing to burn through his lifespan, he could always deduce something of value.

Thinking of this, Shen Yi looked at his panel, feeling quite a pang of heartache.

He had just felt like he was holding a windfall, yet in the time it took to eat a meal, he had become a pauper again.

[Remaining Demon Lifespan: Seventeen Years]

Killing demons was, in truth, not an easy task.

Shen Yi had only managed to secure opportunities to be alone with demons by leveraging his predecessor's network. But as one demon after another went missing, the trust built up over several years would collapse at an unimaginable speed.

To forge iron, one must be strong oneself. Shen Yi had to accumulate enough strength to face the demons' frantic retaliation before they discovered his betrayal!

Beyond strength, there was the second matter: reputation. After all, if things continued as they were, the yamen would eventually be unable to hide the evidence.

Once the Demon Suppression Division lieutenant arrived in Baiyun County, he feared the first thing they would do before slaying any demons would be to drag the "illustrious" Master Shen to the vegetable market to be hacked into a thousand pieces.

However, there was no need to rush this.

As long as he killed enough demons, a better reputation would naturally follow.

"Hmm..."

Shen Yi stood at the doorway and stretched his body. No longer needing to worry about dying next year, he felt his entire being relax significantly.

Just then, two yamen runners came sprinting from the end of the street, panting heavily. "Master Shen, we finally found you! Chief Song wants you to return immediately to report for duty."

"Report for duty?"

Hearing the voice, Chen Ji, who was tidying up the bowls and chopsticks, looked up.

The "Chief Song" the two spoke of was none other than Song Changfeng, the head of the criminal division.

Logically speaking, a subordinate reporting to a superior was the most normal thing in the world.

But in the Baiyun County yamen, that was not the case.

Chief Song was in his forties, an age when his spirit should have been at its peak, but because he had backed the wrong side regarding the handling of demons, he had been suppressed by the yamen repeatedly and could no longer control his subordinate, Shen Yi.

Furthermore, while he was upright in his dealings, his character was not exactly firm. Watching the waters of Baiyun County grow increasingly murky, he felt anger in his heart but dared not truly stand up to criticize anything.

After being suppressed, his spirit gradually withered away.

He simply became a hands-off manager, spending his days nursing a teacup to pass the time, and as for Shen Yi, he avoided him whenever possible to save face.

Why would he deliberately seek him out today?

"I'm going to the yamen. Go to sleep early; don't leave a light for me."

Chen Ji turned to retrieve his saber. Chen Jinyu nodded obediently. She had always worried that her brother's stubborn temper and intolerance for injustice would lead to him being ostracized and bullied by his colleagues while on duty. Now, it seemed he had found a superior worth trusting.

Thinking of this, she quietly glanced at the tall, slender figure at the door.

She wondered what kind of person could make her proud and arrogant brother so convinced.

Shen Yi turned back, raising an eyebrow slightly. "What? Put the saber down and wash your bowls."

"..." Chen Ji silently dropped the saber.

Shen Yi looked back at the two runners in front of him; they were his own men.

But at this moment, their eyes were darting around, clearly hiding something.

To scare them to this extent, the person who had summoned him was, in all likelihood, not that Chief Song.

"Let's go."

Shen Yi did not ask further and stepped out onto the main street.

The two runners led the way without daring to breathe loudly, all the way back to the duty room.

The slightly plumper one finally looked back, his face twisted in misery as he whispered, "Be careful..."

As soon as he finished, he immediately turned back around.

The two stood before the tightly shut door. "Chief Song, Master Shen is here!"

Hearing this, Shen Yi felt a slight sense of doubt. Was it really Song Changfeng?

In the mere moment of his hesitation, a response came from inside, though it was not the voice of the Chief...

Bang! Bang!

Two large holes were punched through the wooden door, and black shadows lunged out, simultaneously piercing the chests of the two runners.

Shen Yi stared at the two black shadows protruding from the runners' backs; they were a pair of wrinkled, black-furred palms.

At this moment, each palm clutched a faintly twitching heart, slowly extending them toward him before sharp claws suddenly plunged into them!

"Brother Shen, why do you stop?"

"..."

Shen Yi closed his eyes and took a gentle breath of the warm, foul-smelling air.

Following that, he slammed his foot into the door!

As the wooden door shattered, a sharp, startled cry erupted from within, and the black shadow darted toward the back with extreme agility.

Shen Yi stepped inside slowly, his indifferent gaze sweeping across the room.

The first thing to enter his sight was the wretched face of Song Changfeng. The middle-aged man was kneeling before a rattan chair, his entire body trembling like a sieve—not entirely out of fear, but mostly due to what was on his shoulder.

It was a thick, powerful, furry thigh.

Just by resting so casually on Song Changfeng's shoulder, it was enough to nearly fracture all his bones, leaving him drenched in sweat from the pain.

The owner of the furry thigh lay in the rattan chair, wearing a loose, oversized Confucian robe that hung open. It slowly propped itself up with an elbow, revealing an ugly ape face, and bared its teeth slightly. "Brother, sit."

Besides it, there were two other ape demons in the room.

One of them was hunched over, its long arms dangling to the ground, its face filled with malice.

Its fingertips were still dripping blood; it was clear that the "show of force" from earlier had come from its hand.

"Why did you only just arrive... look at the good work you've done..."

Song Changfeng's face twitched, his emotions nearly collapsing. "Is this how you handle demons? You've handled them right into the yamen..."

It was unclear what had happened previously, but the grown man was now weeping and wailing like a grieving woman.

Shen Yi looked at the table, where three bloody dog heads were neatly arranged.

He glanced back at the two warm corpses of the runners at the door.

The old ape in the Confucian robe smacked its lips, reached out a claw to stroke Song Changfeng's head, and laughed, "There's one more, right here."

As it spoke, the other two ape demons had already quietly blocked the door.