What Are You Protecting Now?

Gu Changge listened in silence without interrupting.

Within the Demon Suppression Office, the chance to enter the Martial Temple had to be earned through merit.

Guan Youlong was already advanced in years, and his strength in the Core Formation Realm had long since fallen short of what it once was.

Whatever courage he had possessed to fight a Core-Formation Great Demon to the death had likely withered along with his blood and vitality.

"According to the Office's rules, slaying a Great Demon in the Core Formation Realm earns you one chance to enter the Martial Temple. Alternatively, keeping the demons of a region suppressed for twenty years also earns you one chance."

"Lord Guan... he's getting on in years, and that beast was severely wounded. Neither could do anything to the other..."

Gu Changge sneered. "So, as long as that beast didn't cause too much trouble during his tenure, he simply kept one eye open and the other shut, pretending nothing had happened?"

"..."

Scarface fell silent.

His silence was clearly an admission that Gu Changge was right.

Jiang Yuechu listened quietly, gently tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

No wonder the old man tried to stop me from killing the demon.

If she had killed that beast, the local demon threat would naturally have been considered resolved.

And why would a place without demons still need someone to guard it?

When that happened, Guan Youlong's progress toward earning his reward, accumulated over more than a decade, would come to an abrupt halt.

He would either have to slay a Core-Formation Great Demon.

But he had likely long since lost both the strength and the nerve to kill one.

Or he would have to guard another region to make up the remaining years.

Hah.

*But how many