Demon Suppression Bureau Agent, Zhang Xuan!

Zhang Xuan continued asking, "How exactly does the Prefectural Headquarters issue assignments?"

The monk replied, "Once a Demon Suppression Bureau agent follows orders and goes to the scene to exterminate the demons and ghosts, the local dispatch runner reports their extermination to the Prefectural Headquarters. That way, the Prefectural Headquarters knows the agent is safe and can continue sending orders and assignments."

"But if the Prefectural Headquarters receives no confirmation of their extermination within a certain time, it means the agent responsible has been killed, or something else has happened. The next step is to send a special inspection team to track down the agent and investigate."

At this, Zhang Xuan crouched down and gave the mechanical Falcon struggling inside the cloth sack a few kicks. After studying it for a moment, he asked, "So I can use this thing to contact the Chongzhou Demon Suppression Bureau headquarters right now? Also, as long as we finish the Prefectural Headquarters' assignments within the allotted time, they won't discover who we really are?"

The monk shook his head. "No. Communication is one-way, and there is a time restriction. After each contact, seven days must pass before another connection can be established."

Zhang Xuan nodded, thinking, That makes sense. Otherwise, Xu Ming would have had plenty of chances to send word of what happened here through the Long-Beaked Messenger before he died.

"As for your second question, the Prefectural Headquarters might not notice that Xu Ming is dead, but someone will certainly investigate." As he spoke, the monk's gaze grew deep.

Zhang Xuan frowned slightly and immediately picked up where the monk had left off. "Xu Ming was only a Hundred-Man Commander. Feeding over a thousand lives to an Orthodox God of a mountain to turn it into a Wild God—that's beyond what he could pull off. There must be someone behind this. Say, monk, could the Prefectural Headquarters itself be the mastermind?"

Without a moment's thought, the monk shook his head. "No. Yuwen Zheng, the current commander of Chongzhou's Demon Suppression Bureau, lost all eighty-three members of his family on the night the demonic calamity first descended three years ago, including his parents, wife, and legitimate daughter. He despises all evil fiends and followers of the Outer Dao. As long as he remains in Chongzhou, he would never allow anything like this to happen."

Zhang Xuan was somewhat surprised. "You said earlier that things were bad in Western Zhou. I didn't expect a frontier province to have such a good official."

Hearing this, the monk shook his head with a bitter smile. "Yuwen Zheng can hardly be called a good official. After what happened three years ago, his temperament changed drastically, and his methods became increasingly extreme and brutal. Among demons and ghosts, there are creatures called 'Painted Skins' that excel at disguising themselves as humans. Yuwen Zheng once slaughtered an entire village just to find a single Painted Skin."

Zhang Xuan inwardly clicked his tongue. In this world, human lives truly were worth less than pigs and dogs.

"Oh, and one more thing. A Demon Suppression Bureau agent can only refine the Azure Phoenix Jade and control the Long-Beaked Messenger through a secret technique. Otherwise, it will keep struggling out of control, just as it is now, and the Prefectural Headquarters will notice something is wrong."

When the monk finished, Zhang Xuan froze...

"Huh? Wait, couldn't you have mentioned something that important first? After all that talk, it turns out we can't even control this thing?"

The monk pressed his palms together. "This humble monk happens to know that Secret Art..."

Zhang Xuan: "???"

Under Zhang Xuan's dubious gaze, the monk took a drop of blood essence from the web between Zhang Xuan's thumb and forefinger and dripped it onto the Azure Phoenix Jade. Forming seals with both hands, he recited an intricate, profound incantation...

As the monk's hands shifted continuously through the seals, roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea passed. Suddenly, Zhang Xuan felt a jolt in his heart, followed by an unfathomably mysterious sense of connection through blood.

Zhang Xuan was speechless. "Wait, man, you really know how?"

At the same time, the mechanical Falcon's struggles inside the sack grew weaker and weaker.

Finally, the monk crouched down and untied the cloth strips binding the Long-Beaked Messenger.

"Amitabha. The technique is complete!"

As the monk finished invoking the Buddha's name, the Falcon hopped on its talons, beat its long wings, and rose into the air before landing steadily on Zhang Xuan's shoulder.

Seeing the astonishment and doubt in Zhang Xuan's eyes, the monk smiled and made no attempt to conceal the truth. "Before shaving my head and entering the monastic life, I was a member of the Demon Suppression Bureau."

From their earlier conversations, Zhang Xuan knew the monk had possessed skills before taking up Buddhist practice. He had never imagined those "skills" came from the Demon Suppression Bureau!

A Secret Art that could bind the Azure Phoenix Jade pendant—the proof of a Demon Suppression Bureau agent's identity—to a new master was surely beyond the reach of ordinary agents. Yet the monk knew it?

Besides, most Demon Suppression Bureau agents should have been people who had entered the Dao—in other words, the legendary cultivators.

But during their conversations, the burly monk had said he possessed no spiritual power and was an ordinary person without it. How had he joined the Demon Suppression Bureau, then?

Zhang Xuan thought, He not only knows how the Demon Suppression Bureau operates, but also knows a Secret Art like this. This burly monk's identity must be anything but simple!

"I have erased the original spell formation and imprinted a new one, while also making a few modifications. From now on, whenever the Prefectural Headquarters uses its master command to locate your Long-Beaked Messenger, you will receive a warning as well."

"Now, in the Prefectural Headquarters' eyes, you and your Long-Beaked Messenger are simply an ordinary Demon Suppression Bureau agent and his messenger. As long as you finish the Prefectural Headquarters' assignments on time, you will not be exposed. But beware of the forces behind Xu Ming. They will certainly pursue this to the very end." The monk's tone was solemn.

At that moment, Zhang Xuan bent down and pulled off Xu Ming's boots as well. Carrying a pile of clothes, he found a tree stump, sat down, and began changing.

While putting on the Demon Suppression Bureau uniform, Zhang Xuan gave the monk a thumbs-up. As expected of a mature, steady adult—he really did handle things reliably.

Seeing the monk's grave expression, as though he still had reservations about Zhang Xuan impersonating a "Demon Suppression Bureau agent," Zhang Xuan smiled and asked, "Monk, why did you return to Great Zhou this time?"

"To investigate why supernatural disturbances are appearing so frequently within Great Zhou, and to subdue demons and exorcise fiends along the way!"

Zhang Xuan nodded and looked up at the monk. "First, monks and Daoist priests don't have much standing in Great Zhou. Ordinary people may even shun them. If we want to investigate anything, we'll meet resistance at every turn. But being a Demon Suppression Bureau agent changes that. This is exactly what they do."

Ever since the demonic calamity had erupted, terrifying incidents of evil creatures wreaking havoc had sprung up endlessly throughout Great Zhou. A neighbor one had chatted merrily with yesterday might be found dead at home the next day, parts of their body missing. The people lived in such fear day after day.

The Buddhist and Daoist orders, once revered and supported with offerings, had accomplished nothing. Even the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, the birthplace of Buddhism, had been slaughtered overnight by some unknown, terrifying power until blood flowed in rivers.

How were the people of Great Zhou supposed to view Buddhism and Daoism after that?

Monks and Daoist priests were now widely ostracized throughout Great Zhou. Some extremists even openly declared that these useless bald donkeys and Daoist charlatans should be burned alive as sacrifices to Heaven.

Zhang Xuan's words were no exaggeration.

"Second, a Demon Suppression Bureau agent's duties are to patrol the land, exorcise fiends, and subdue demons. That aligns with our own goals."

At this point, Zhang Xuan raised an eyebrow. He looked at the naked, headless corpse on the ground, his gaze sharp. "Finally, aren't you curious why people whose job is to slay demons and exorcise fiends would secretly feed human lives to this evil creature? And why did the perfectly respectable Phoenix-Cry Mountain God fall so far?"