It was noon, and the sun blazed overhead.
A sudden black wind swept through the entire county town.
The sky darkened for an instant, as though someone had draped a black cloth over it.
Banners along the streets snapped in the wind. Scraps of paper, dead leaves, and debris whirled into the air.
Many people stopped their work and stared at the strange, inexplicable black wind.
In this chaotic age ruled by demons, any bizarre occurrence could be linked to demons to some degree.
Then this black wind...
Perhaps it was, too?
People silently retreated indoors and shut their doors and windows tight.
After all, when their lives and livelihoods were at stake, there was no need to gamble on uncertainty.
Professional matters had to be left to professionals.
As ordinary people who had never tempered their Qi and Blood, all they could do was keep themselves safe as best they could and avoid making trouble for the lords of the Demon Suppression Bureau.
"Ah, this damned world."
The demons in the surrounding area had only just been swept away. Why had another appeared so soon?
The young might have been puzzled.
But the elderly had already grown numb.
That was how the world was: the wolves left, and the tigers came.
At the Demon Suppression Bureau offices.
Lu Guan rested a hand on his saber and looked up toward the outskirts of town, a flicker of bloodthirsty excitement crossing his eyes.
He strode toward the town gates, the hem of his flying fish robe lifting in the wind and fluttering with a snap.
"Everyone else, stay at the offices and wait for me to return."
His retreating figure grew more distant, soon disappearing at the end of the street.
The Demon Suppression Bureau officers, led by Wu Yong, remained silent. Only after Lu Guan had gone far away did a voice speak up:
"Has Lord Lu always been like this?"
There was considerable bewilderment in his voice.
The speaker was a young officer from the First Squad. His surname was Wei, and his name was Wei Jincheng. He, too, was a scion of an Aristocratic Clan who had come down from the commandery city.
An indescribable bewilderment hung over his face.
After accompanying Lu Guan on so many missions, he should, by rights, have long since grown accustomed to the commandant's ways.
Yet today, he could not hold back and decided to get it off his chest.
"Ever since I joined the Demon Suppression Bureau, I've been taught that colleagues should work together and support one another, moving in groups of three, advancing and retreating with discipline, balancing attack and defense."
A trace of self-mockery entered his voice. "But serving under Lord Lu, how did we end up just waving flags and cheering?"
Then he added, "In fact... this time, he doesn't even need us to wave flags and cheer."
To be honest, picking up free merit felt great. They did not have to do anything, yet still received an entry in the merit ledger.
But the young officer was simply unhappy.
They had come down from the commandery city to build their records, not to serve as ornaments.
If they never got a chance to act in any battle, what were they supposed to write in their evaluations when they returned? "Watched Commandant Lu slay demons from start to finish"?
He could not afford that humiliation.
Wu Yong glanced at him and said evenly, "Only ordinary martial artists like you and me need to work together, outnumbering the enemy to ensure nothing goes wrong."
"With Lord Lu's strength, he naturally has no need to follow those rules and restrictions."
"If you could fight many alone, you wouldn't need teamwork either."
The young officer was left speechless. He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, only to find he had no idea where to begin.
In truth, there was something Wu Yong had left unsaid.
He, too, harbored a faint question.
He kept having the impression that Lord Lu was a little too hungry for demons.
Just as someone who loved money as dearly as life looked upon gold, so Lu Guan looked upon demons.
Could it be... this is a genius's peculiar habit?
Wu Yong did not understand, but he respected it.
The benefit was that having a superior like this would undoubtedly greatly reduce casualties among the Demon Suppression Bureau's officers.
After all, slaying demons had never been empty words.
It meant tucking your head into your waistband and staking your life!
Many of the Aristocratic Clan scions who had come with him from the commandery city were childhood companions. Naturally, he did not wish to see them die.
That was even more true for some of the Bureau's veteran officers.
During Zhou Kaishan's tenure, they had rarely fought demons. He never let them tackle tough opponents.
They only occasionally cleared out a few minor demons that had yet to amount to anything, going through the motions before returning.
Now that their commandant was personally leading the charge, they could hardly ask for anything better.
Only Zhao Tielin wore a worried expression, standing behind the crowd with his left hand clenched around his scabbard.
He had watched this child grow up.
He had known Lu Guan since the boy wore split-crotch pants.
Such earth-shattering changes in just a few days were difficult for the middle-aged man to adjust to all at once.
In his heart, Lu Guan was still the boy who needed looking after.
At festivals and New Year, he had to send over two jin of meat; when the weather turned cold, he had to remind him to put on more clothes; before he went out to slay demons, he had to tell him to be careful.
Yet reality told him that this boy's wings had already fully fledged, and even his cultivation realm had long since reached heights Zhao Tielin could only look up to.
"Boy Lu, make sure you come back safe this time, too."
Outside the town.
At the edge of sight, beneath the scorching sunlight, stood a figure in black robes.
It stood on the main road, tall and powerfully built, fully a zhang in height.
Its loose black robes wrapped its body tightly, leaving only its head and face exposed.
It appeared human, but the few exposed tufts of white fur reminded the world of its demonic identity.
The black wind sweeping through the county town was spilling from its body, strand by strand.
The farther it traveled from its body, the stronger and fiercer the black wind became, sweeping up yellow sand from the ground and blotting out the sky and sun.
Like black tentacles, it stretched endlessly outward from within its body, devouring every trace of vitality along its path.
The ape demon drew closer and closer to the county town.
The next instant, however, it suddenly stopped, raised its head, and stared at the slowly opening town gates.
The gates opened only a crack, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
A figure with a saber slung diagonally at his waist slowly emerged.
The youth was slender, dressed in a black flying fish robe, with a pitch-black saber hanging at his waist.
He walked slowly, his steps steady, treading across the yellow earth of the main road one step at a time, fine dust rising beneath his feet.
The ape demon grinned, baring the fangs on either side of its mouth, looking utterly delighted.
"Not the Gang Condensation Realm. The person who made that dragon's cry that night has left."
In fact, sending the black wind ahead to clear the way had been its way of probing the county town.
If that Gang Condensation Realm expert were still in town, it would turn around and leave without another word.
At worst, it could choose another town. There was no need to fight to the death here.
It understood the gulf between the Gang Condensation Realm and the True Qi Realm very well.
If the expert had already left, that would be ideal.
Then it could feast freely on an entire county's vital essence, condensing it into a great medicine to aid its advancement.
The outcome was clearly the best it had hoped for.
No dragon's cry rang out again. The newcomer was merely a minor officer of the Demon Suppression Bureau.
It looked Lu Guan up and down. He appeared eighteen or nineteen, wore a brand-new flying fish robe, and the saber at his waist looked decent enough.
"Did Zhou Kaishan send you?"
"Tell that turtle hiding in its shell that I'll only kill half the town. Now scram!" the old ape said in a low voice.
Yet what happened next defied its expectations.
At the town gates, the youth slowly drew his saber.