Great Responsibility, Glorious Mission

Hearing Su Yuan's outrageous words, Ink Qilin's dark face flushed slightly as he snapped in anger.

"Bah! You bastard!"

"What kind of qilin do you take me for?"

He hemmed and hawed for a moment before lowering his voice somewhat sheepishly.

"I meant... if you can descend to the mortal realm this time, help me look for... look for some bloodline descendants I left behind in the human world before my Investiture of the Gods, so they may attend me in my old age..."

He hurriedly put on a stern expression and added solemnly:

"Remember! I only want my descendants! Don't you dare bring their mortal mothers up to Heaven along with them! Do you hear me?!"

Su Yuan understood at once and nodded gravely.

"Your Reverence is so loyal and righteous, truly a model for our generation. Leave this matter to me. I will search carefully!"

On the afternoon of the third day, at the Pacification Recruitment Team's mobilization meeting, Su Yuan, who was filming off to the side, received a message.

"They got him!"

Su Yuan looked up at Venus Star Lord, who was delivering an impassioned speech on the stage about mobilizing for the descent to the mortal realm, and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Venus Star Lord paused mid-sentence, having received the signal.

He cleared his throat. A layer of grief instantly settled over his face, and his voice became incomparably solemn:

"Fellow colleagues! Let me say something behind closed doors."

He deliberately paused, drawing everyone's attention.

Everyone tacitly stopped working on their recording arrays and placed their jade slips on the tables.

"I have an announcement that pains me deeply! One of the prospective recruits for this Pacification Recruitment Team—naturally, I will not mention his name here—has been detained by the Thunder Bureau for investigation just moments ago due to serious issues of his own!"

An uproar immediately broke out below the stage.

Venus Star Lord continued with an expression of heartfelt anguish:

"This matter has sounded a thunderous warning for every one of us! It fully demonstrates the necessity and timeliness of disciplinary inspection work in the Heavenly Court! It also shows that even within a team about to undertake such an important mission, we absolutely cannot relax our demands upon ourselves!"

His voice suddenly rose:

"Our descent to the mortal realm this time carries great responsibility and a glorious mission! We must keep the string of integrity and self-discipline taut at all times! We must firmly establish institutional and ideological barriers against 'daring to be corrupt, being able to be corrupt, and wanting to be corrupt'! Remember—do not reach out, for once you do, you will be caught!"

His righteous, high-minded speech frightened quite a few immortal officials below the stage until their faces turned pale.

They trembled and began examining and reflecting upon themselves one after another.

Seeing that the atmosphere had been sufficiently set, Venus Star Lord shifted the topic and softened his tone somewhat:

"Since that member came under disciplinary investigation during the public notice period, pursuant to Article Seventeen, Clause Three of the <Heavenly Court Public Recruitment and Personnel Replacement Management Measures>, the immortal official who ranked second in the comprehensive evaluation shall now fill the vacancy in order."

Someone below the stage could not hold back and wanted to raise an objection.

But Venus Star Lord abruptly changed the subject and continued discussing requirements for anti-corruption and integrity work.

With every other sentence invoking "the Heavenly Emperor's instructions" and "His Majesty's decree," he stopped everyone's words in their throats.

Once the meeting had discussed and finalized the entire personnel roster,

Su Yuan finally put his mind fully at ease.

Once a matter like this was finalized at a meeting,

even if Dou Yin invited Wenqu Star Lord to plead his case,

even if Gouchen Dijun came in person, at most they could add another slot to the team.

His actual deputy-director-level position was finally set in stone.

Dou Yin did not come looking for trouble as expected.

There was no movement from Wenqu Star Lord either. He did not rely on his cultivation to bully the weak and simply slap Su Yuan to death.

This was completely at odds with the common cultivation-world routine of "beat the young, and the old will come."

It instead left Su Yuan, who had long prepared himself for every possible emergency, feeling faintly unaccustomed to it.

All struggles in the Heavenly Court were constrained within the rules and regulations. No one dared cross the line.

At present, the Pacification Recruitment Team's foremost task was preparing the rewards for this recruitment.

The Heavenly Court had mobilized such a huge force to descend and suppress the lower realm, only to return in crushing defeat and lose all face.

To ensure that this recruitment could be successfully concluded, Venus Star Lord had also done his utmost to secure favorable policies from above and obtained extraordinarily generous rewards.

Su Yuan spent an entire morning simply writing out the detailed catalog of the various rewards.

Fifth-turn Golden Pills, Peaches of Immortality ripened for three thousand and six thousand years, divine wine stored in ten-thousand-year jade marrow, Nine-Leaf Lingzhi Herb, Star Sand, Phoenix-Roost Parasolwood seeds, Dragonblood Orchid, imitation blanks for Immortal-Binding Ropes, and even Astral Spirit Iron, which had always been strictly prohibited from sale to the lower realm... all kinds of rare treasures filled twelve enormous Unfixed Flying Boats to the brim.

Su Yuan stood on the platform of the massive warehouse, expressionlessly overseeing dozens of temporary strongmen as they loaded the goods aboard.

At the same time, drawing on his extensive reselling experience, he estimated the black-market value of these items.

If they controlled the pace of sales and did not rush to unload them,

these treasures could easily fetch five billion spirit stones.

Even if they hurried the sale, they could still bring in three and a half to three point six billion.

Such an astronomical fortune was going to be handed over to those monsters in the lower realm for nothing?

How was that any different from aiding the enemy?

I must put a stop to this wicked trend.

Everything is for the Heavenly Court!

Su Yuan swiftly took out a communication jade talisman and contacted Ink Qilin.

Su Yuan: "Your Reverence, I have a big job here. Interested?"

Ink Qilin: "How big?"

Su Yuan: "Very big!"

Ink Qilin: "If even you say it's big, then it definitely isn't small! Is it safe?"

Su Yuan pondered for a moment before replying decisively.

"Worth the gamble. Bring your people to Berth Four at the flying boat docks tonight. I'll be on duty."

Ink Qilin: "Will two people be enough?"

Su Yuan: "Twelve ships."

Ink Qilin: "Then I alone will be enough. Just twelve ships, no big deal. I can pull them!"

"Su brat, you never said there were twelve fully loaded ships!"

Ink Qilin had now revealed his true form, as enormous as a small mountain. The scales all over his body opened and closed as dense inky clouds poured from them.

His four massive hooves were braced firmly against the cloudstone ground, hot white vapor billowing from his nostrils as he struggled to drag the long chain of Unfixed Flying Boats behind him.

The spirit keys required to activate the flying boats' launch arrays were in the hands of the head of the materials team. They could only rely on the most primitive brute force to drag them away.

Meanwhile, Su Yuan stood at the rear of the last flying boat, magical radiance flowing around his body. Both palms pressed against the cold hull, he shoved forward with every ounce of strength he possessed.

Though the veins at his temples bulged, he was still like an ant trying to shake a tree, with almost no effect.

"Save your breath, Your Reverence. You'll need to conserve your strength. Before dawn, we still have to drag these big fellows back to the harbor without anyone noticing for inventory and inspection."

The moment Ink Qilin heard the words "drag them back to the harbor," his four legs nearly went limp and sent him collapsing to the ground.

Left with no choice, he violently tossed his head. A scale on his neck flipped open, sending out a packet of white powder wrapped in oil paper. He opened his huge maw and inhaled sharply, swallowing every last grain.

In an instant, his blood and energy boiled, his muscles knotted and swelled, and blue-black veins protruded like coiling dragons.

The fleet of flying boats suddenly lurched forward, their speed increasing by more than forty percent at once.

"Hah—!"

Ink Qilin let out a long breath of foul air, his voice rumbling like muffled thunder.

"Damn it, you really need a hit of this to get fired up before working! Good stuff! Su brat, want a hit too?"

Su Yuan looked at the suspicious powder and waved his hands repeatedly.

"I'll respectfully decline. Your Reverence may enjoy it yourself."