Demon-Hunting Office

"Liu, sharpening your axe won't delay your work. I can guarantee that if the workshop is kept clean, the quality and sales of our wine will increase by at least 20%. You have the Hundred Crafts Furnace, so the products you make are not affected by the outside world, but what about the other ordinary craftsmen? What about their tools that are exposed to the elements? These seemingly insignificant things have a huge impact," Li Qingxian said.

"Then let's clean up the workshop first."

As Liu Muwa spoke, he patted his Luck Silver-Fish Pouch, and a large pile of white, gleaming arm bones rushed out and landed on the ground with a clatter.

Each arm bone exploded into blue smoke.

As the smoke dissipated, one by one, green-eyed White Bone stood up.

Liu Muwa gave the order, and the skeletons cleaned the workshop as if they were living people.

"Everyone, listen to my command! Clean up the workshop first! I want the future brewery to be spotless, without a speck of dust in sight!" Liu Muwa shouted.

Before long, hundreds and thousands of skeletons began to move.

Although it was efficient and quite good, Li Qingxian still felt something was off when he saw people dressed in official robes standing like necromancers among a group of skeletons.

After tidying up, Li Qingxian continued designing the winery with Liu Muwa.

Li Qingxian lacked practical skills, but having been exposed to a massive amount of information, he clearly understood what a successful distillery needed, and thus constantly offered his own insights.

Many things that seemed ordinary to him were considered nitpicking by the officials of the Ministry of Works.

Li Qingxian originally had many improvements planned, such as those related to safety in production, but ultimately abandoned them.

Changing the distillery is easy; changing the people is difficult.

It wasn't until late at night that Li Qingxian dragged his exhausted body back home.

Doing things is difficult, but being a person is even more difficult.

Back in Jia-Nine Office, Han Anbo whispered, "My men have found out about Ye Han."

"Explain."

"The person hosting the banquet on that pleasure boat is none other than our Left Commander of the Night Guard and Director of the Daren Demon-Hunting Office, Lord Song Yanxue. It is said that just two days ago, Ye Han encountered the descent of Heavenly Fire and obtained a wisp of its true Heavenly Fire True Intent. However, his cultivation level is not high, and he has Entry Rank of cultivation, so the Heavenly Fire True Intent was accidentally leaked. Daren Song happened to be passing by, sensed the aura of Heavenly Fire around Ye Han, and took a liking to his talent. He took the initiative to instruct Ye Han in Ye Han arts and invited him to be his guest. If nothing unexpected happens, Ye Han will be transferred from the Divine Capital Office Demon-Hunting Office."

"That female general Song Yanxue?"

"It was indeed her. Martial King Zhao Longgu, once praised her, saying, 'This woman is most like me.'"

Li Qingxian looked puzzled and asked, "Didn't the Martial King use these words to praise Jiang Youfei?"

Han Anbo said, "You're still young. Martial King has used those words to praise at least a dozen people."

Li Qingxian fell silent. Was there no decent person left in the Great Qi besides himself?

"We suspect that Ye Han deliberately leaked the aura of the Heavenly Fire to attract Daren Song. Daren Song is aloof and only enjoys practicing martial arts, and she is particularly fond of cultivating martial arts talents. Ye Han grasped this point and was able to get close to her."

"This Ye Han is something else," Li Qingxian muttered, a thought suddenly occurring to him: could he perhaps reveal a trace of the Divine Firmament Thunder Seed's aura?

No way! I, Li Qingxian, would rather starve to death than follow Ye Han's example.

Han Anbo said, "In the future, we will be going out to hunt demons and accumulate military merits. We will likely be led by people from the Demon-Hunting Office. Be prepared."

Li Qingxian said, "The Demon-Hunting Office should be the strongest division of the Night Guard, right?"

"It should be the Imperial Prison Bureau, but the Imperial Prison Bureau is only responsible for Imperial Prison, and its strength is not usually apparent. In terms of external affairs, the Demon-Hunting Office is indeed the strongest, far surpassing our Divine Capital Office."

"This Ye Han truly possesses Fortune and Fate Mold," Li Qingxian said.

"That's true. With the Heavenly Fire True Intent, Ye Han's ability to cultivate all fire-based Daoist arts, techniques, and martial skills is dozens or even hundreds of times greater than that of ordinary people. The question now is, does he actually harbor any ill will towards you?"

Li Qingxian frowned.

Having obtained Ye Han's Divine Firmament Thunder Seed, as well as the Flood Dragon Transformation Pill and the flying sword, and having an excellent relationship with Zhou Chunfeng and Jiang Youfei, any normal person would find it impossible not to care.

You may be unknowingly being suppressed by his Fate Mold.

Li Qingxian said, "No matter what he does, I'll just focus on my own cultivation."

Han Anbo asked, "I've noticed that you sometimes practice Daoist arts and sometimes Fate Arts. Which do you prioritize and which do you use as a supplement?"

Li Qingxian paused for a moment, then looked at Han Anbo.

Han Anbo smiled honestly and said, "I don't know how to practice, but I know how to practice."

"The Fate Arts," Li Qingxian said.

Han Anbo remained silent.

Li Qingxian knew that Han Anbo was reminding him that no matter what he was repairing, he must distinguish between primary and secondary tasks.

Li Qingxian silently walked to the table, ground ink and laid out paper. Then, using the Brush-Wielding Art, he consumed his magic power to transform all the contents of the Measuring Fate Measuring Sect that he had memorized into scripture and imprinted it into his Spirit Platform.

Then, I slowly studied and thought, and didn't go to sleep until late at night.

Early the next morning, Liu Muwa sent someone to look for Li Qingxian, so Li Qingxian had no choice but to go to the Imperial Prison Bureau.

For several days in a row, Li Qingxian handled the winery's affairs during the day and focused on studying Fate Arts at night. Only when he was tired of studying and needed a mental break would he study Thunder Arts.

The establishment of the distillery was not smooth. There were always problems, such as errors in the process, mistakes by officials of the Ministry of Works, or problems with the distillation equipment. The process was full of setbacks.

That night, Li Qingxian was fast asleep when a loud, pounding knocking sounded at the door.

"What's wrong?" Han Anbo rushed to the door and opened it.

"The still at the distillery has exploded; we've come to fetch Daren Li."

Li Qingxian suddenly woke up.

Other things can have problems, but not this distillery; it's a matter of life and death for me.

Li Qingxian hurriedly stood up and said loudly, "I'll go right away."

Li Qingxian hurriedly dressed and went outside.

Han Anbo said, "I'll go with you."

The two followed the jailers from the Imperial Prison Bureau out of the Street Patrol Office, asking for details along the way.

The cause is currently unknown; all that is known is that Yi-Three Room collapsed, but fortunately, the Ministry of Works 'Puppet Cultivator was tough and only suffered minor injuries.

Before even reaching the entrance of the Imperial Prison, a strong aroma of wine wafted through the air.

After bypassing cell A and arriving at B-grade cells, we saw that the once towering cell B3 had been reduced to ruins, and the air was thick with the smell of alcohol.

Jing Guan, a eunuch from the Inner Treasury Office, approached and said, "Daren, from now on, we'll have to listen to you on this matter! How many times have you told these scoundrels to pay attention to production safety, to pay attention to production safety, but they wouldn't listen to a single one of you. They treated your words like water off a duck's back. Now look what's happened, the whole place is blown up. Luckily, this was only the initial construction phase. If it had been blown up after completion, how could this distillery have continued operating? I'm making this decision on behalf of Lord Daren: from now on, in this distillery, your word, Li Qingxian, is law! Any servant girl who dares to disobey will be thrown directly into the Imperial Prison and tortured. It's conveniently located."

Seeing Jing Guan's anxious expression, Li Qingxian knew he was afraid of being punished by the Inner Treasury Office. The infighting among the eunuchs was even more brutal than that in the outer court.

"Don't worry, Lord Daren. If anything goes wrong, I'll go to Lord Daren... no, I'll have Daren Liu go. You support me, and the Ministry of Works' Puppet Cultivator aren't afraid of death, so they don't care about production safety," Li Qingxian said.

"What you said makes perfect sense. These Puppet Cultivator always think they know everything and look down on us eunuchs. But now that something has happened, you can't blame me, can you?" Jing Guan said.

Li Qingxian chatted with Jing Guan for a few minutes, then summoned the Ministry of Works 'Puppet Cultivator to investigate the cause.