In truth, Lu Guan had not been trying to show off.
There were no idle words in the military. Deliberately concealing his realm was foolish.
Greater strength meant better treatment, corresponding resources, and even the threshold for fortuitous opportunities!
Under the gazes of the captains around him, Lu Guan's expression remained unchanged. He simply cupped his hands in salute.
Almost simultaneously, all the Langya scions, Wu Yong included, returned the salute with solemn expressions.
If Lu Guan had merely been a captain who had just entered the Qi and Blood Realm, such conduct would have been perfectly ordinary.
After all, although everyone present was young, they were still his seniors. Saluting them was only natural.
Yet despite being a prodigy at the perfected Qi and Blood Realm, he was still so courteous.
That could only mean one thing.
This young man was humble and polite, neither arrogant nor impatient, and worth befriending!
In a peach grove outside Qianqiu County, one li from White Bone Mountain.
Dozens of sturdy blood-sweating horses thundered along, their hooves churning up long billows of dust and breaking the tranquility.
Where their hooves fell, soil flew and grass flattened, leaving deep hoofprints.
These fine steeds had been bred by the Demon Suppression Bureau. Every one was magnificent, sleek and powerful. Any single blood-sweating horse was worth enough to feed an ordinary family for a lifetime.
"Whoa-!"
Everyone reined in and swung down from their horses together, pitching camp in the grove and lighting fires to cook.
The setting sun sank westward, its lingering light spilling across the peach grove.
The pink petals acquired a golden fringe. Pink and gold intertwined, and when the breeze blew, blossoms drifted down like a silent fall of pink snow, forming a beautiful painting.
Yet not far from this very paradise stood White Bone Mountain, where demons gathered.
The fragrance of peach blossoms mingled strangely in the air with the faint, bloody stench drifting from afar.
Cooking smoke curled upward, and the captains ate and drank their fill.
Wu Yong clapped his hands and rose, the sunset lighting the side of his face as he said with a smile:
"By the commandant's orders, we are to keep watch over White Bone Mountain. Since we're keeping watch, we ought to let the demons recognize their visitors!"
As his words fell, the captains understood his meaning and rose together.
Qi and Blood surged up like beacon smoke!
Dozens of captains released their Qi and Blood at once, and the air in the grove abruptly grew heavy.
Their Qi and Blood was so dense it seemed solid, gathering above their heads into a crimson haze that overwhelmed even the sunset's lingering glow.
Standing among them, Wu Yong moved his palms in a flurry, actually performing a Secret Method!
Amid the roiling Qi and Blood, an enormous blood saber took shape, spanning the sky above the peach grove with its tip pointed straight at White Bone Mountain.
Its blade was crimson as fire, staining half the sky the color of blood.
Within it, Wu Yong used his own Qi and Blood as the hilt to establish a firm foundation, while using Lu Guan's Qi and Blood as the blade, incomparably sharp!
As Lu Guan released his Qi and Blood without the slightest concealment, these Langya scions no longer harbored any doubts.
Here was a young hero!
Lu Guan raised his eyes to the enormous blood saber spanning the peach grove, finding it utterly wondrous.
What Secret Method is this?
He could clearly sense that all his Qi and Blood had become the saber's edge, merging seamlessly with Wu Yong's Qi and Blood, their Qi connected.
With this Secret Method's enhancement, he even felt his strength increase by twenty percent out of nowhere, and a measure of sharpness had been added to his Qi and Blood.
"This is Gather Blood into a Blade."
Glancing over and noticing Lu Guan's confusion, Wu Yong explained:
"A Secret Method of our Demon Suppression Bureau. It is a technique for combined attacks and coordination. With this Secret Method, our First Squad can escape unscathed even against a True Qi Realm demon."
He paused here, a smile curling his lips before he continued:
"But with Captain Lu joining us, its power has increased further. We might even be able to wound the demon king of White Bone Mountain!"
"Otherwise, how could we keep watch over a demonic force with a True Qi Realm expert presiding over it?"
Lu Guan raised his brows at that.
No wonder the Great Li Dynasty remained standing strong. It really did have a few tricks up its sleeve.
At the Qi and Blood Realm, there were Secret Methods that assembled formations to contend against True Qi Realm greater demons. Were there similar Secret Methods at higher realms?
If there were...
Just then, waves of Yin Qi spread toward them.
Suppressing his thoughts, Lu Guan looked up.
Through the Qi and Blood blade, he clearly sensed a disturbance on White Bone Mountain.
Although called a mountain, White Bone Mountain was actually a stretch of ridges crisscrossed with ravines.
Sinister black Qi rose among the uneven peaks, flowing slowly through the valleys like mist and smoke.
Most striking of all was the billowing column of near-solid black smoke atop the highest peak. As thick as a palace pillar, it shot into the sky and lingered there without dispersing, like a black finger stabbing at the heavens.
The True Qi Realm White Bone Demon King!
One of the four True Qi Realm greater demons near Qianqiu County, it had occupied White Bone Mountain for years, an existence whose name made the county's children cry.
If it attacked, no one in Qianqiu County could stop it apart from Zhou Kaishan and a handful of others.
Qi and Blood formed a saber, facing White Bone Mountain from afar.
The column of black smoke on White Bone Mountain trembled slightly, as though it, too, were staring in their direction. The two presences clashed invisibly in the air.
A moment later, as though of one mind, both sides withdrew at once. The blood saber dispersed, and the black smoke flowed back.
Heaven and earth fell still.
"That should do."
Wu Yong rubbed between his brows, his eyes showing a trace of fatigue. Clearly, performing such a Secret Method was not without cost.
"We've announced our presence. Unless those skeletons on White Bone Mountain want to die, they'll behave themselves for a while."
Lu Guan nodded thoughtfully.
"What if they don't behave?"
"For instance, what should we do if that White Bone Demon King attacks us at night?"
"Rotate shifts and patrol at night!"
Wu Yong knew that despite Lu Guan's extraordinary talent, he was genuinely a newly appointed captain. Having no experience attacking demonic forces was perfectly normal.
So he explained carefully, without the slightest impatience: "Change shifts every watch. Maintain strict vigilance day and night, and don't withdraw in rain or snow. If demons attack, sound a horn as a warning."
"Captain Lu, like me, you are at the perfected Qi and Blood Realm, so you needn't take part in night patrols."
He patted Lu Guan's shoulder. "You'll be on mobile duty."
Lu Guan nodded, his expression unchanged, but a somewhat different idea had formed in his mind.
What if it isn't the demons misbehaving, but me taking the initiative to attack?
That seems to count as... mobile duty, too.
Night descended, and the sun and stars hid their radiance.
Torches were lit in the peach grove, firelight and shadows intertwining amid shifting silhouettes.
The captains on night patrol paced around the camp's perimeter with hands on their sabers, their footsteps rustling.
In the distance, White Bone Mountain lay pitch-black, as though some enormous beast lurked there. Occasionally, a few pinpricks of ghostly green light flashed in the darkness and vanished.
Wu Yong presided over the field headquarters tent, holding a volume on military strategy, though his thoughts were nowhere near the book.
He felt utterly secure.
Two men at the perfected Qi and Blood Realm. Never before had he fought a battle with such abundant resources!
Thinking of Lu Guan, the young company commander's lips curled into a smile.
"Though Captain Lu has reached the same realm as me at such a young age, his experience slaying demons and exterminating fiends falls far short of mine."
"This is his first mission of this kind. Though he looks calm, he must be terribly nervous inside, right?"
Outside the tent, the night breeze brushed through the peach grove, scattering petals all over the ground.
A figure slipped silently past the edge of the camp.
Saber in hand and Qi and Blood drawn inward, Lu Guan vanished into the night like a phantom.
He did not head toward White Bone Mountain's main peak. The demon king presided there, beyond his reach for now.
But when he had sensed the area with his Qi and Blood earlier, he had clearly detected several places on White Bone Mountain's outskirts where Yao Qi gathered.
Those places had no True Qi Realm greater demons presiding over them.
Tonight, mobile duty.