The Demon-Quelling Office Assessment

Early the next morning.

After eating the breakfast provided by the inn, Ye Qianfan arrived at the government office bright and early to wait!

As he rested with his eyes closed, more and more people with unusual abilities gathered around him.

"Why hasn't the office opened yet?"

"I wonder what the Demon-Quelling Office assessment will involve this time. Will we have to leave Fog City?"

"Look at that beggar over there. He's blind, yet he still wants to join the Demon-Quelling Office. What a joke!"

"I heard everyone who gets into the Demon-Quelling Office this year will receive a Mirror-Breaking Pill! I've been stuck at the eighth rank for far too long. This time, I'm determined to succeed!"

"Look! The office is opening!"

As the office doors opened!

Everyone who had been sitting or lying around rose to their feet.

An old man with a pale, beardless face slowly emerged from the office. First, he surveyed the people gathered outside. After a long pause, he took a white silk handkerchief from inside his robes, coughed, and said, "It seems..."

"You're all here to take the Demon-Quelling Office assessment?"

"I won't waste words!"

"If you want to join the Demon-Quelling Office, you must first have some ability. This first trial will assess whether you're qualified to take the assessment!"

"Starting now..."

The old man delicately raised a finger and waved toward the people behind him. A bailiff immediately emerged carrying an incense burner.

An ordinary stick of incense, about a foot long, stood in the burner.

Then...

Once the bailiff had carried the burner over to the old man, another bailiff respectfully offered him a glowing fire stick. "Eunuch He, please!"

"Mm."

Eunuch He wrapped the fire stick in his silk handkerchief before delicately pinching it between his fingers. He lit the incense and said, "You have three sticks of incense's worth of time to reach the Passage Gate twenty li south of Fog City. It will take you to the actual examination grounds!"

"The first person to reach the examination grounds will receive a reward!"

"That's all..."

"Off you go. Don't keep me from drinking tea and watching the show."

The moment Eunuch He finished speaking, Ye Qianfan saw the people gathered outside the office rush toward the city exit, each scrambling to get ahead!

Some clearly possessed lightness skills. A mere tap of their toes sent them flying onto the rooftops, and a few more leaps carried them far away.

Several people dressed like martial fighters lacked such graceful lightness skills, but they had plenty of stamina. They simply shouldered their weapons and broke into a brisk run!

Even the blind beggar, who swung his cane from time to time, moved at an astonishing speed.

Ye Qianfan had no idea how he did it...

One moment, Ye Qianfan saw him right there; a blink later, he was already more than a dozen meters away. It was as if he possessed some ability to shrink the earth to a foot, each step carrying him a great distance.

Yet, strangely enough, Ye Qianfan didn't feel that the beggar was moving quickly!

By contrast, Ye Qianfan really did walk one step at a time, even more slowly than the people heading to the early market.

It wasn't that Ye Qianfan couldn't run. It was just...

He worried that he might accidentally rub his skin open again.

"Carriage!"

Just then...

A young gentleman in white, walking at an unhurried pace, stretched out a hand and hailed a carriage!

Watching him ride away, Ye Qianfan said in astonishment, "That's allowed? Doesn't that count as cheating?"

"Heh. If hurrying did any good, the Demon-Quelling Office would've been packed to bursting long ago," the Daoist scoffed. "Believe me, not even half of these people will make it to the first assessment checkpoint!"

"True. There are still those elusive evil entities prowling outside the city."

Only then did Ye Qianfan remember that the hardest part of this assessment wasn't seeing who could run fastest, but who had the ability to survive the attacks of evil entities!

When Ye Qianfan slowly reached the city gate, the guards didn't stop him.

They even let him through without checking his identity!

They probably knew these people were all here for the Demon-Quelling Office assessment, so none of them dared provoke these extraordinary individuals. Most likely, they feared offending someone they shouldn't!

"He's out! He's out!"

"The last one's finally out. He certainly took his time. Half a stick of incense must have burned by now!"

"I told you not to wait for him, but you insisted. Look at that pale skin and soft flesh. He's obviously some pampered young master who's never suffered a day in his life! Why wait for him? So he can drag us down?"

The moment Ye Qianfan stepped outside the city gate, he heard a chorus of complaints.

He took a closer look and discovered, to his surprise, that most of the extraordinary people who had rushed away from the government office were actually waiting outside the gate. Only a few were missing, presumably having set off on their own!

Just then...

Someone even stepped forward and threw an arm around Ye Qianfan's shoulders. "Brother, you certainly took your time."

Ye Qianfan frowned and unobtrusively slipped away!

Quite apart from the fact that his current body couldn't withstand casual touching, even if it could, Ye Qianfan didn't like people draping their arms around his shoulders.

"What are you all doing?"

Ye Qianfan was puzzled.

If you think I'm slow, why not just leave on your own? Why insist on waiting for me?

"That blind man cast a divination."

The person who had tried to put an arm around Ye Qianfan was a young man in a long blue-green robe. His hair was tied in a careless topknot, with a few long strands hanging over his forehead. His scruffy beard gave him a rakish, unrestrained air.

He didn't seem embarrassed by Ye Qianfan's avoidance. Instead, he shrugged indifferently and pointed his long flute toward the old beggar, who used a bamboo stick as his cane. "He said the more people there are, the safer we'll be. So we decided to wait for everyone in the city and set off together!"

"Why do you trust him so much?"

Ye Qianfan distinctly remembered that quite a few people had mocked the old beggar earlier.

Now that they were outside, these strangers should have scattered like loose sand, each going their own way. Why would they be willing to listen to an old beggar?

"Because several who didn't believe him died."

The rake smiled.

After hearing their discussion, the old beggar covered his chipped, battered bowl with his hand again and shook it hard. The copper coins inside jingled and clattered!

After shaking it nine or ten times, the old beggar stopped, then reached into the bowl and felt each copper coin in turn.

"Heaven and Earth Blocked. It's actually the Blocked hexagram!"

"Odd brings misfortune, even brings good fortune!"

After speaking, the old beggar counted on his fingers by himself. A long while later, he asked someone beside him, "Does the number of people here end in seven?"

"Let me count!"

The person replied and pointed at everyone in turn. Then his expression abruptly changed. "There are twenty-seven people here in total."

"Ah!" The old beggar sighed. "So be it, so be it. If it's a blessing, it isn't a calamity; if it's a calamity, there's no escaping it! Let's go!"