Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 126 - 126 125 Patrolling the Four Directions【Extra for Alliance Hierarch Kängfeldton's Dumplings】

126: Chapter 125: Patrolling the Four Directions【Extra for Alliance Hierarch Kängfeldton’s Dumplings】 126: Chapter 125: Patrolling the Four Directions【Extra for Alliance Hierarch Kängfeldton’s Dumplings】 Hou Niao began his patrol career, honestly, it was his first time.

Yinyue Castle, Ironwood Castle, Black Soil Castle, Three Mountains Castle, King’s Castle…

and so on, a total of thirteen places, he had to visit each of them.

According to the internal rules of patrollers, barring unexpected events, he was supposed to visit all the fortresses within a month, which was not difficult,

For instance, Yinyue Castle and Ironwood Castle were only a half-day’s journey apart on foot.

Some fortresses were so close to each other that from the highest point of one, one could even see the spire of another.

After all, he was not patrolling the entire Yinling, but only part of it; Tianfeng Plain was the state county, Jin City was the state city, places like Jiangyou, Miao Gao, Yinling, Bimu Hill, Black Swamp and such towns were county domains.

The area he was responsible for patrolling was roughly comparable to a township?

Just a slightly larger township.

The primary goal of the first inspection was to get acquainted with everyone so that they could familiarize themselves with him, and he could familiarize himself with the key figures in each fortress.

At least if trouble arose, he would know who to talk to and wouldn’t be completely disoriented.

The locals were all very enthusiastic—after all, a powerful patroller was the greatest guarantee of their safety, and they didn’t have to pay much for it.

The greatest expense was food and drink, a rule set by the Quanzhen Sect.

The Quanzhen Sect, with its thousands of years of history, had countless rules.

With time, the current and the ancient doctrines have diverged significantly, with most of the rules existing in name only.

However, at least within the Yinling Wilderness, the lineage of patrollers has continued to uphold these ancient rules generation after generation, passing the torch.

Just as Xiang Zhiwen had passed down to him, Hou Niao, and then from these people to the next batch of patrollers.

If there were those unfit for the role, one could tell from the conversations between Dou Gong and Xiang Zhiwen—it wasn’t a matter of being weeded out, but a question of whether one could survive the Yinling or not.

Hou Niao had been with the Quanzhen Sect for nearly a year, and only after arriving in Yinling and interacting with these patrollers at the grassroots level did he deeply feel the essence of the Demon Sect.

Hmm, perhaps the four fellows from Jiangyou Town belonged to a similar type?

As for the figures of the Jin City Quanzhen, it might be due to his low status that he only saw the tip of the iceberg, not enough to make hasty conclusions.

He planned to quickly make one complete round and then take his time on the next.

As a Yinling patroller, patrolling the human fortresses was only part of the job; the other, more critical, part was to get acquainted with the various local Demon Clans.

He didn’t need to become friends with them, but at the very least, he should be able to communicate.

In this respect, he had an advantage as the battle outside Yinyue Castle had been against the local Demon Clan powers.

Therefore, they were all genuinely apprehensive when they met him, fearing that the madman would once again declare, “No talk!”

Times had changed.

This time, Master Hou was finally willing to negotiate and did so with sincere intentions.

He wasn’t in a hurry for results; closing the gap and dissolving barriers were the priorities.

Everyone was scrambling to make a living here; couldn’t always keep each other at arm’s length, right?

If he was willing to relax his pride, in most cases, the Demon Clan would accept his goodwill, whether it was superficial or heartfelt.

That was the significance of that battle.

When a strong person humbles themselves, it’s seen as noble and gracious; when a weak person does so, it’s considered cringing and begging for mercy.

Everything was proceeding normally until he arrived at King’s Castle and Xiang Zhiwen’s Wild Geese Letter caught up with him.

He opened it and, as expected, it was pretty much what he had anticipated.

It affirmed his judgment and agreed with his direction of investigation.

They would truly intervene only after he had some initial results.

This made Hou Niao immediately understand the situation at the Fang Family’s Castle—likely not good—which was why, even though the Town Government had recovered and staffing began to increase, they still didn’t send anyone to assist him.

There was an unspoken difficulty, leaving him to conduct the investigation on his own.

But it wasn’t entirely without help.

Xiang Zhiwen mentioned in the Wild Geese Letter that after the Town Government’s lineage suffered an incident, they had sought help from Jin City, requesting additional manpower.

The final response was that Jin City sent two more Quanzhen disciples to Yinling, both assigned to the Patrol lineage.

This was Jin City’s reply.

The people have already arrived at Fang Family’s Castle and are now on their way to Yinling to assist him in the investigation; what was Brother Xiang thinking?

He was just a novice who had been in Yinling for a few months, and now, he’s gathered three greenhorns together?

It was somewhat puzzling.

But Jin City sure had a cavalier attitude toward the problems occurring in Yinling, just sending two Essence Building novices for support?

Yet, upon further thought, it made sense.

Similar cultivation incidents were happening all the time, in Yinling, at Bimu Hill, and at any other place.

If every time they had to mobilize significantly to nip problems in the bud, how many people would be enough to allocate?

He continued to patrol.

Before he truly began investigating the giant rat clan, he needed to get a clear picture of the state of his jurisdiction, as well as the relationships between each human fortress and the surrounding Demon Clan.

If there were any with poor relations, those would need to be resolved in advance.

Among all options, the survival of the human fortresses was the primary element; this was the principle.

Red Fur Castle was famous for the hills of red velvet flowers sprawling outside its walls.

When the season came, the red fluff would fly about, and the sky here seemed as if it were dyed red.

Of course, that wasn’t now.

At present, Yinling was just a barren expanse, with cold ruling over everything.

Hou Niao could see the fortress from miles away.

Honestly, it had nothing to do with red fur; now it was white fur, as snow began to fall from the sky.

The snowfall was not heavy, but once it started, it went on tirelessly.

Judging by the densely packed clouds, it seemed it wouldn’t stop anytime soon.

What caught his attention was not the fortress itself but the continuous roars of beasts several miles away in another direction, signaling a fight.

In Yinling, battles were happening at any given time, mostly among the Demon Clan themselves.

On his way here, he had already witnessed many such incidents, and the experience he gained was to simply stand far away and enjoy the show.

The worst choice would be to go forward and mediate, which only invited trouble.

This time was no different.

He jogged leisurely toward the site of the battle, hoping it would be over by the time he arrived.

If not for the proximity of Red Fur Castle and the fear that the losing Demon might harm the human fortress in desperation, he would have been inclined to pretend not to see it.

In just a few months here, he had already learned the essence of being a Patrol member.

But after taking only a few steps, he sensed something was off in the noise.

He nudged his horse’s belly, and the steed immediately picked up speed.

Circling around Red Fur Castle and turning over a dirt mound, he had a clear view of the battling parties.

It wasn’t a fight between members of the Demon Clan but a struggle between the Demon Clan and humans.

About a dozen beastly Demons and apish monsters surrounded two people, screeching incessantly and attacking in waves.

But the two were not easy prey, leaning back-to-back with several Demons already lying defeated at their feet.

Seeing this, Hou Niao halted his steps and quietly began to appreciate the spectacle.

The younger one possessed impressive archery skills, striking frequently with the cover provided by the other person; the other swung a large sword, the Sword Momentum forming a curtain impenetrable as a screen.

The combatants also noticed the newly arrived Hou Niao, which was the last straw for this battle.