Shangguan Changyue Resigns from Office

"Badass!"

After listening to Luo Chen's brief account.

Xiao Xiuzhu fell silent for a moment, then gave him a thumbs-up.

A crude expletive slipped from his mouth.

The two had spent quite some time together during this mission.

Working together often, Xiao Xiuzhu had picked up some of the words that occasionally popped out of Luo Chen's mouth.

Supporting each other, the two arrived at the ruins where the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha had collapsed.

Xiao Xiuzhu looked at Zhuge Yucheng's corpse with a complicated expression.

"Zhuge Yucheng is dead. We'll have to bear responsibility for the losses this time ourselves."

"We might even retire on the spot."

Luo Chen gave a bitter smile and also fell silent.

Xiao Xiuzhu did not ask in detail how Luo Chen had defeated that Demonic Beast alone.

This little brother had hidden himself far too deeply.

The key was his age.

If Xiao Xiuzhu thought too hard about it, his martial heart might crack apart on the spot.

No matter what, Luo Chen had saved his life.

If the Demon Suppression Bureau punished them afterward.

Xiao Xiuzhu intended to shoulder it all alone.

As for whether a Demon Suppression Captain like him could bear it.

Even if he could not, he had to!

Amid the silent atmosphere.

The two casually found an empty patch of ground and sat cross-legged to recover their strength.

An hour later.

At the edge of the horizon, Shangguan Changyue swept through the air.

A streak of light landed before the two.

With a single glance.

She took in the general situation at the scene.

Luo Chen and Xiao Xiuzhu rose and saluted her.

Shangguan Changyue drew a deep breath. She had just followed the trail of destruction all the way here from the main camp.

She had already prepared herself for the worst.

But she had not expected the sight before her.

"I'm sorry. Zhuge Yucheng's fall is my responsibility as well."

After hearing Luo Chen's account.

Shangguan Changyue looked at Zhuge Yucheng's corpse, her expression complicated.

She had no intention of holding them accountable.

Instead, she apologized to them first.

"Chief Director, you overstate it. It was this subordinate who failed to fulfill his patrol duties."

Xiao Xiuzhu bowed.

Shangguan Changyue said nothing further.

Not long afterward.

The surviving Demon Suppressing Guards from the main camp, who had narrowly escaped death, gradually gathered.

They carried away Zhuge Yucheng's corpse and the broken body of the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha.

Luo Chen stood amid the crowd.

He exchanged a glance with Xiao Xiuzhu, and neither spoke.

After that.

For half a month.

The Chief Director of the Qingyuan City Demon Suppression Bureau, Shangguan Changyue, personally oversaw the White Dragon River Tributary.

Once the Bureau's reinforcements gradually arrived.

The reconstruction work began in an orderly fashion.

Inside the main camp.

Shangguan Changyue and Luo Chen sat facing each other.

After thinking it over, Luo Chen finally spoke softly and voiced his suspicion.

"Changyue, there should be traces of the White Dragon River behind Zhuge Yucheng and the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha this time."

Shangguan Changyue glanced at him with her beautiful eyes and did not question his strength.

She merely said softly.

"The Dragon Palace may have added fuel to the flames, but how did Zhuge Yucheng come into contact with the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha and develop the idea of refining it?"

"There is another hidden hand pushing things forward behind the scenes."

Silence descended over the main camp.

Only after a long while.

Did Shangguan Changyue rise to her feet and say in a complicated tone.

"When I return this time, I will resign from office!"

Luo Chen came to her side, opened his mouth, then ultimately fell silent.

"Don't overthink it. The losses this time are too great. As Chief Director, I cannot evade responsibility."

"You possess peerless talent. Cultivate well!"

Shangguan Changyue left.

Luo Chen stood at the entrance to the main camp, watching the figure vanish into the horizon.

At that moment.

Xiao Xiuzhu also came to Luo Chen's side.

Patting his little brother on the shoulder, he said softly.

"Let's go. It's time for us to head back too."

After half a month of reorganization, the matters here had already come to a close.

The Demon Suppression Captain dispatched by the Demon Suppression Bureau to patrol this stretch of river had also arrived.

The two of them should return to report.

Luo Chen nodded lightly and led Wang Yue and the others, who had long been waiting outside the main camp, toward Qingyuan City.

Three days later.

The turmoil gradually subsided.

Shangguan Changyue took all responsibility upon herself and resigned from her position as Chief Director of the Demon Suppression Bureau.

For a time.

Undercurrents surged throughout the Qingyuan City Demon Suppression Bureau.

As one of the Twelve Fortresses of the Northern Border, Qingyuan City's Chief Director of the Demon Suppression Bureau commanded more than a thousand Demon Suppressing Guards. Her authority was no small thing.

One had to know that these Demon Suppressing Guards were no ordinary martial artists.

They were warriors hardened through countless battles, who fought Demonic Beasts year-round.

With such a position suddenly left vacant.

Deputy Directors from other major cities, as well as Deputy Directors with sufficient merit and seniority, immediately began to stir restlessly.

All factions were playing their game.

But it made little difference to Luo Chen.

After this mission, it was already fortunate that he had not been demoted. He did not dare hope for any merit.

These past months had left him exhausted in both body and mind, yet even the rare leisure time he had was scant.

The Qingyuan City Demon Suppression Bureau was now severely understaffed.

Even he, a Demon Suppression Captain who had only just returned from a mission, had no time to rest.

Though he had not been assigned any demon-slaying missions.

He still had to temporarily handle some official duties.

Demon Suppression Bureau.

The top floor of Listen to the Wind Tower.

Luo Chen sat before a desk, calmly steeping tea leaves.

A faint fragrance drifted lazily through the air.

After living with Liu Xingsheng for so long, he too had grown fond of tea.

Across from him.

Xiao Xiuzhu sat quietly in meditation.

After the battle against the Eight-Armed Stone Buddha, the two could be considered comrades who had faced life and death together.

"After returning these past few days, I never expected the Chief Director to cause such a huge stir again."

Xiao Xiuzhu picked up the hot tea Luo Chen had poured for him, took a light sip, and remarked with feeling.

Luo Chen's gaze shifted as he said in an inscrutable tone.

"The Qingyuan City Lord was defeated. I heard he was executed."

Xiao Xiuzhu set down his tea cup and corrected him. "All the city lords of the Twelve Fortresses of the Northern Border are now people of the Prince's Mansion."

Once, even though the Great Gan Dynasty had gradually weakened.

It had still been a mighty dynasty that stood firm for three thousand years.

After the passage of countless years.

The Great Gan Dynasty had completely lost control over the Northern Border.

Luo Chen also felt some unease.

The times were turbulent.

No one knew whether the king of the Northern Border would suddenly begin a war.

Before such an overwhelming tide.

His current strength was like that of an ant.

How could he protect his family in the coming chaotic age?

Only his own strength would do.

Luo Chen now yearned more and more for a Visualization Chart of the Divine Intent Realm.

But his merits were far from sufficient to obtain a Visualization Chart inheritance from the Demon Suppression Bureau headquarters.

"Luo Chen, with your talent and strength, joining King Zhenbei's Mansion should be easy, shouldn't it?"

Xiao Xiuzhu said with a smile.

"The Chief Director left with King Zhenbei's Consort. Her future remains bright. You were personally promoted by the Chief Director, so if you entered the Prince's Mansion, someone would look after you."

He still addressed Shangguan Changyue as Chief Director, unchanged as ever.

At the same time, he envied Luo Chen deeply.

At such a young age, Luo Chen's strength had already far surpassed his own.

He was someone qualified to stand at the peak of the Northern Border.

As for loftier ambitions, Xiao Xiuzhu did not dare imagine them, nor could he.

"Even after resigning, the Chief Director remains a prodigy ranked among the top three of the Latent Dragon Ranking. How could I possibly compare with her?"

Accustomed to not revealing too much of his strength, Luo Chen answered modestly.

Xiao Xiuzhu heard the perfunctory note in his words and merely smiled.

After chatting for a while, they went their separate ways.

From Luo Chen's sleeve, a palm-sized Green Turtle slowly crawled out and landed on the desk before him.

"Senior, how are your injuries recovering?"

"So-so. Without several decades, it'll be hard to fully recover."

"Then, for the sake of protecting you better, Senior, do you have a Visualization Chart inheritance?"

Luo Chen finally revealed the dagger hidden beneath the map, his eyes gleaming as he stared at it.