What Do Demon Cultivators Need with Social Niceties?

"There's no need for such formalities, colleagues."

Tan Shuchang returned the salute with refined courtesy, looking more like a scholar than a court official, without the slightest air of authority.

However, after saying that, Tan Shuchang simply headed deeper into Heavenly Wonder Pavilion on his own.

At the sight of this, the attendant servant of Deputy Pavilion Master Yun Shoutian was undoubtedly stunned. If they were going to West Isle City to handle affairs, they should have gone in another direction at this point.

This was the direction toward Heavenly Wonder Pavilion's inner city.

Yes, the inner city.

Though Heavenly Wonder Pavilion bore the name of a pavilion, it actually had nothing to do with one. Or rather, it had at the beginning, but Heavenly Wonder Pavilion's headquarters had now become like a city.

And it was likely the largest city among the twenty-five prefectures of the Jia Five Realm.

"My lord, my lord, you're going the wrong way!" The attendant servant snapped out of it. This was no time to stand there in a daze, so he hurried after Tan Shuchang and called out a reminder.

"The wrong way? No, I'm not." Tan Shuchang looked rather surprised upon hearing that.

"This is the way to the inner city. If we're going to West Isle City, we need to head the other way and leave Heavenly Wonder Pavilion from there." The attendant servant hurriedly explained. He assumed Tan Shuchang had only just arrived and naturally didn't know his way around Heavenly Wonder Pavilion.

Yet Tan Shuchang merely smiled faintly. "I never said I was going to West Isle City..."

"Not going to West Isle City..." The attendant servant was instantly dumbfounded.

In the past, even if the Spirit Official Dao Generals who came to take up office didn't actually accomplish anything, wouldn't they at least put on a show? Especially while they were still at Heavenly Wonder Pavilion's headquarters, each acted more eager than the last.

Though they usually spent an entire day bustling about without getting anything done, at least they had put on the appearance.

They could give an account to those above and below alike.

"On my first day in office, shouldn't I first pay a visit to my superiors?" As Tan Shuchang spoke, there was something unfathomable in his eyes. Previously, he had intended to visit the four Pavilion Masters and Deputy Pavilion Masters to test their attitudes toward him, using that from another angle to verify the black shadow's words and those of that old man.

The black shadow had said he was the stepping stone for Sword Disciple Mountain's Heaven's Chosen, while the old man guarding Qiu Junlin had said he was Sword Disciple Mountain's designated whetstone.

Both were metaphors involving stones, but their meanings were not the same.

Because a whetstone ranked a little higher than a stepping stone.

But now, Tan Shuchang no longer needed to test them. He had only just arrived and wasn't familiar with anything, yet they had already sent him to work. They hadn't even provided him with detailed information about West Isle City. Their intentions were already perfectly clear.

Whether the role they had arranged for him was that of Heaven's Chosen's stepping stone or Heaven's Chosen's whetstone, one thing was certain.

They definitely wanted him dead!

The Diyi Era Emperor knew this, Heavenly Wonder Pavilion's higher-ups knew this, those close to those higher-ups knew this, and even the higher-ups of the immortal cultivation sects throughout the world knew this!

Thinking of this, Tan Shuchang looked at the man who had called after him and continued, "Could it be that I needn't pay visits to the Deputy Pavilion Masters? Or is it that, as a Dao General, I don't even have the qualifications to meet a Deputy Pavilion Master?"

When Tan Shuchang said this, his expression remained gentle and his tone unchanged, just as mild and refined as before. But when those words fell into the attendant servant's ears, his face instantly turned deathly pale, and his body involuntarily staggered back several steps.

It wasn't because Tan Shuchang had done anything, nor because he had intimidated him with profound cultivation. It was the unique charm of the system.

"This subordinate wouldn't dare!"

The attendant servant spoke with a panicked expression. As a Deputy Pavilion Master's servant, he naturally held a post within Heavenly Wonder Pavilion. A ninth-rank official before the prime minister's gate—let alone the personal attendant of a Deputy Pavilion Master.

"I wasn't talking about you. Why are you..." Tan Shuchang was speaking when he suddenly sensed something. He turned toward one direction, just as an astonished cry rang out, "Tan Shuchang? Why is it you? How did you come to Heavenly Wonder Pavilion?"

"Brother Qiu, long time no see." Tan Shuchang greeted him with a smile, as though they were old friends reuniting after many years, and as though the life-and-death battle with that old man had never happened at all.

Qiu Junlin was still as he had been before, with a slightly arrogant look on his face. But this time, he didn't refute Tan Shuchang's form of address, "Brother Qiu."

He merely asked with some displeasure, "Did you come to Heavenly Wonder Pavilion because you need my help with something? Go on, tell me. I'll see whether I can help."

"Could you introduce me to the Chief Pavilion Master?" Tan Shuchang didn't refuse.

"Meet my father? Just for something this minor?" Hearing that was all it was, Qiu Junlin couldn't help suspecting that Tan Shuchang was looking down on him. But he promptly nodded. "Come with me!"

When Yun Shoutian's attendant servant saw Qiu Junlin, he respectfully stepped aside.

After all, in Heavenly Wonder Pavilion, no one was unaware of Qiu Junlin's identity.

With Qiu Junlin leading the way, Tan Shuchang got to enjoy what true super privileges meant. Heavenly Wonder Pavilion's headquarters was enormous, so even a place meant merely for people who had traveled here via the Water Spirit Lord to bathe, change clothes, and rest briefly covered an area of ten mu.

Its architectural style consisted mainly of courtyards. Flowers, grass, trees, rockeries, pools, and brilliantly colored rare beasts could be seen everywhere.

But because of that, even cultivators needed some time just to walk out of this place.

However, after Qiu Junlin took out a small triangular flag and casually waved it twice, Tan Shuchang felt watery vapor spreading around him. The next instant, he appeared within a resplendent palace.

This palace was enormous. Even one of the stone statues within stood dozens of zhang tall.

Among those stone statues stood a middle-aged man. His eyes were closed, one hand held behind his back while the other seemed to be calculating something with his fingers. But after noticing the movement here, the middle-aged man said, "The Water Spirit Banner I gave you isn't meant to be used like this."

Qiu Junlin had naturally come along as well, but upon hearing that, he acted as though he hadn't heard a thing and said on his own, "His name is Tan Shuchang. He has business with you."

"So you're Dao General Tan. This is our first meeting, so I didn't recognize you. I hope Dao General Tan won't take offense." The middle-aged man opened his eyes and looked at Tan Shuchang.

"Greetings, Chief Pavilion Master." Tan Shuchang cupped his fists in salute. As for the man's words, I hope Dao General Tan won't take offense, he didn't respond in the slightest.

After all, he had already become a demon cultivator. What did he need with social niceties?

A perfunctory fist salute was enough.

The middle-aged man couldn't help being somewhat surprised at this sight. That had merely been a polite remark, and ordinarily, a Dao General who heard him say that should have been overwhelmed with apprehension and gratitude.

Thus, Chief Pavilion Master Qiu smiled. "Dao General Tan truly has your father's bearing!"

It sounded like praise, but in truth, he was reminding Tan Shuchang that his father was already gone, that the Tan family was no longer there to support him, and that he ought to mind his attitude.

"My father and I weren't close, so Chief Pavilion Master, I'll take your words however you mean them."

"..." If not for his status and the occasion, Chief Pavilion Master Qiu really wanted to ask just how unfamiliar a father and son had to be with each other.