"A Bear Demon was wreaking havoc in our Black Goose City!!"
"No wonder people had been disappearing from the city lately. They must have been eaten by that Bear Demon!!"
"Where did you get this news?"
"Ah, at dawn today, someone carried a Bear Demon's head all the way to the government office in the north of the city!"
"That head was bigger than half my body! It had to weigh several hundred jin!"
"Something that terrifying?! Who was the hero who slew the demon?"
"Tsk, we're not too sure about that, but he looked somewhat like the executioner from the execution grounds."
"..."
The rumors spread even faster than Qin Zheng had expected.
By the time he reached the northern government office, the rumors had already swept through all of Black Goose City like a tornado.
After all, it concerned the Demon Race. In Black Goose City, such things were still rare, and few had ever seen one.
Thus, when he arrived at the entrance of the government office, Advisor Liu had already been waiting there for quite some time.
"Young Hero Qin, you're here."
Advisor Liu still wore his usual smiling expression.
Qin Zheng nodded, then tossed the enormous Bear Demon's head in his hand before the government office gates.
"Wuchang the Monk of Rebirth Temple was a Half-Demon that ate people. The monks he brought with him were also a filthy lot."
At the same time, Qin Zheng looked at him and spoke.
Advisor Liu smiled and nodded, then gave him a thumbs-up as he praised, "Young Hero Qin has eliminated a scourge for the people. You truly are an outstanding young man!"
"Young Hero, please come with me. Magistrate Gao came to the government office early and is waiting for you inside."
Qin Zheng's gaze flickered slightly. He then nodded and strode into the government office.
The government office's attitude was not as fierce as he had anticipated. On the contrary, it appeared quite peaceful.
But that was definitely not a good thing!
Qin Zheng remained vigilant. The spiritual power at his brow was exceptionally active, constantly sensing the situation around him.
Advisor Liu led the way. This time, they still headed for the rear garden deep within the government office.
However, the day was still young. There were no warbling beauties, dancing long skirts, fine wine, sumptuous dishes, or delicacies from land and sea.
Beside an artificial mountain and flowing stream in the garden stood an octagonal pavilion.
At that moment, the slightly plump Gao Wusheng sat inside the pavilion, boiling a kettle of scalding water as though he were preparing tea.
When Qin Zheng arrived under Advisor Liu's guidance, Gao Wusheng immediately rose to his feet and waved with a smile. "You're here? Come, take a seat!"
Qin Zheng nodded as well, entered the pavilion, and sat across from Gao Wusheng.
"It is still early. Drinking wine now would be rather absurd, so let us use tea in place of wine."
Gao Wusheng lifted the hot water from the stove. After fussing with the tea set before him for a moment, he handed Qin Zheng a cup of steaming tea.
Qin Zheng nodded slightly, but did not lift the teacup to his lips. Instead, he asked directly, "How does Magistrate Gao intend to handle the matter of Wuchang the Half-Demon?"
He could not remain uninvolved in this matter. He wanted to see how this Magistrate Gao intended to deal with it.
"No rush, no rush."
Gao Wusheng waved his hand, then said in an apparently casual tone, "If I remember correctly, Young Hero Qin is a native of Black Goose City, isn't he?"
"Ever since Black Goose City was designated by the imperial court as one of Qingzhou's execution grounds, your Qin family has served as executioners at the Black Goose City execution grounds for generations."
"Before that, you were refugees who migrated here from Yanzhou. Though you had no notable family background, you could still be considered loyal and upright folk."
As he spoke, he nodded and offered his appraisal.
Qin Zheng's expression remained calm, wholly unaffected by the man's words.
The information revealed by those words was nothing more than a display of power.
He had investigated everything about this body thoroughly.
At the same time, he was reminding Qin Zheng that he was merely an ordinary man with no backing.
"If Magistrate Gao has something to say, why not speak plainly?"
Qin Zheng spoke directly, cutting off the other man's roundabout probing.
Gao Wusheng smiled faintly upon hearing this, then continued, "Black Goose City lies at the edge of Qingzhou, and it is also on the northwestern fringe of the Great Jin Dynasty."
"Travel another hundred li west from here, and you will reach towering mountains and endless ridges: the boundless Moxu Mountain range."
"Within it are countless wolves and wild beasts, as well as ferocious Great Demons that devour flesh and swallow bones."
"What I wish to tell you is that the father of the Black Bear Half-Demon you killed was a Grandmaster of the human race!"
"His mother is a Shapeshifting Great Demon of the Moxu Mountain range, an existence even more powerful than a Grandmaster!"
"You killed their son. Neither that human Grandmaster nor that Shapeshifting Great Demon will let you go."
"And you are alone, without the slightest backing. Even if you possess some martial talent, how could you possibly escape their pursuit?"
Qin Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "What does Magistrate Gao mean?"
Gao Wusheng smiled faintly, then took an exquisite little box from his robes.
After opening it, Qin Zheng saw a blood-red pill that emitted an intense stench of blood.
"This Great Return Pill was refined from numerous precious medicinal herbs. Outside, a single pill sells for one hundred gold!"
"After an ordinary person consumes it, their qi and blood will surge like a rolling tide, inexhaustible and unending. They will soon pass through the four great barriers of the first realm of martial arts."
"Young Hero Qin's talent is not lacking. After taking this Great Return Pill, I believe you will soon break through and advance to Grandmaster!"
"And after that, you will be one of my people, Gao Wusheng's people."
"The name of the Quan Yang Gao Clan is surely known to everyone beneath heaven."
"That human Grandmaster and that Shapeshifting Great Demon, no matter how furious they may be, would not dare do anything to you!"
"No matter how you look at it, this is a deal in which Young Hero Qin cannot possibly lose. This is my answer. What do you think?"
Worthy indeed of the Quan Yang Gao Clan!
He was simply taking out a Great Return Pill worth one hundred gold to recruit someone.
Just like the internal cultivation art, the Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art, that he had rewarded Zhang Xiuwen with.
No matter how rare or difficult to obtain such things were outside, in the eyes of the Quan Yang Gao Clan, they seemed to be nothing more than ordinary objects.
Qin Zheng felt a sigh rise in his heart, but he also stood up.
He shook his head and said, "I am merely a commoner with a bitter fate. I do not dare presumptuously cling to the name of the Quan Yang Gao Clan."
Sure enough, just as Xu Weisai had predicted.
This man did not mention Zhang Xiuwen, the leader of the bandits, in the slightest. Instead, he directly wanted Qin Zheng to become his subordinate.
And that Great Return Pill was not a true Great Return Pill at all. It was a Brain-Devouring Pill containing a parasitic insect!
If he accepted it, then for the rest of his life, he truly would become a puppet at the other man's mercy, enslaved and commanded as he pleased.
That was something Qin Zheng would never agree to!
Gao Wusheng's expression did not change, nor did his posture. He slowly said, "You should think this through. Without the protection of the Quan Yang Gao Clan, how will you escape this calamity?"
"That need not trouble Magistrate Gao!"
Qin Zheng turned and left without the slightest hesitation.
After Qin Zheng's figure disappeared.
Advisor Liu slowly stepped forward.
"My lord?"
There was a trace of probing in his tone.
"Spread his reputation for slaying demons within the city even further."
"In the end, he is merely a frog at the bottom of a well, a lowly thing whose life is thinner than paper. How could he know what the two words 'Grandmaster' truly represent!"
Gao Wusheng looked in the direction Qin Zheng had departed, let out a mocking snort, and spoke coldly.
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