Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 420 - 342: With No Tigers on the Mountain, Li Xuan Becomes Dominant_1

Chapter 420: Chapter 342: With No Tigers on the Mountain, Li Xuan Becomes Dominant_1

"The matter now rests on all of you." The deputy Venerable’s eyes sparkled with intensity as he stared at everyone in the room. "We all understand the risk posed by the Demon Qilin. Regardless, we must hunt and kill it within five days!"

"Yes!"

The deputy Venerable had barely finished speaking when the fifteen Fumo Zhonglangjiang in the room stood up, their clothing rustling in response.

Since the deputy Venerable had only ordered the Zhonglangjiang, Li Xuan simply stood up in formality, without saying a word. He didn’t consider himself among the Zhonglangjiang’s ranks, nor did he want to draw too much attention to himself.

Then, the very next moment, the deputy Venerable turned his gaze back to Li Xuan. "Li Xuan, this goes for you and your Shenyi Department as well. Find the Demon Qilin as soon as possible."

Li Xuan was taken aback before replying with a bow. "I will do my utmost best!"

"I hope so." The deputy Venerable responded indifferently. "Regarding your Shenyi Department, Li Xuan, I was against its formation from the beginning. However, citing the frequent occurrences of demon chaos in the Capital City, the Venerable insisted on opening another department outside the Shenlei Mansion. While I disagreed, I couldn’t go against his wish.

"Moving forward, I hope to see the value of both you, Xiaowei Li, and your Shenyi Department. I don’t expect you to live up to the Venerable’s expectations, but at the very least, show we gave you that sum of money for something. If the Shenyi Department fails to do so, it would be better off closed."

His gaze swept across the numerous Zhonglangjiang in the room. "Try to make me a bit proud. Don’t make people think you’re all good for nothing. It’s a shame the Venerable has to bring in people from the South to clean up your mess."

At that moment, Li Xuan felt the glares directed his way were especially keen and harsh. They felt like a hailstorm of daggers and swords.

※※ ※※

Once everyone had left the grand hall of the Shenlei Mansion, Lei Zhen clapped Li Xuan on the shoulder with a laugh. "We’ve got your back, haven’t we? Not many are brave enough in Beijing to stand up to Zhu Chiling. Remember to thank us with a meal sometime. You don’t have to pick somewhere fancy; just the Mingyue House across from our headquarters. A full ox feast will do."

Li Xuan had been in Beijing long enough to know that Mingyue House was even fancier than Shanweiju. The ’ox’ in the ox feast wasn’t a regular ox either but a triangle Qingchui ox with Kuiniu blood, the pride of Mingyue House. Just reserving the place would cost five hundred teals of patterned silver.

He couldn’t help but laugh. "That’s a pretty grand meal, so grand it seems you’ve been avoiding me for the past ten or so days. Lei, if you really want me to treat you, just transfer some of the difficult cases on your hands to the Shenyi Department. We can negotiate terms over the full ox feast."

As far as Li Xuan was concerned, going on leave for a while longer wouldn’t be an issue; he’d be fine spending his time cultivating.

But his subordinates wouldn’t stand for it. Without cases, there were no merits. Without merits, there were no chances to exchange for extra elixir or magical instruments, let alone promotion.

They’ve come all the way to Beijing from far and wide for a better future. And so, Li Xuan had been thinking for some time about how to break the impasse.

Although the current situation could be easily handled once the Venerable returned, who knew when the Venerable would be back?

Lei Zhen burst into laughter at Li Xuan’s idea, deflecting the matter entirely. "Don’t take what Zhu Zhonglangjiang said to heart; he always has that careless personality, thinking he’s next in line only to the heavens and earth.

Today, you’ve embarrassed him, but he’s the type to respect you for that. Given his character, if he decides to trouble you, he’ll do it openly. But as for those who are all smiles... Li Xuan, you should be extra careful."

Having said his piece, Lei Zhen casually strolled away, leaving Li Xuan to twitch his lips before heading in another direction toward the Shenyi Department.

What Li Xuan didn’t know was that Zhu Chiling was standing on the stairs of the Shenlei Mansion, his arms crossed behind his back, his eyes burning as he watched Li Xuan walk away.

"That Lei guy is definitely badmouthing me. But the Tiger of Jinling really does live up to his reputation. His martial skills are impressive, particularly his speed with the sword. The combined talents of the headquarters and the Qinglong Hall barely match him.

If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t have been able to parry his rapid moves. Those of lesser skills would have been sliced by his first lunge."

"Don’t flatter yourself; he obviously didn’t use his full strength," responded Mu Qiangwei, who stood next to Zhu Chiling. She seemed indifferent. "The key point is he’s a Confucian cultivator; he barely used any Hao Qi."

"Even if he had, it wouldn’t have made a difference. If I truly put my all into it, it would be all over in one strike."

Zhu Chiling huffed, then turned his gaze to a young Zhihuishi standing behind him with the character "Dao" etched into his brow. "Han Chuji, you’re 14th on the white list, whereas he’s 4th. It’s said that if it weren’t for his lack of experience and cultivation, he’d have a steady spot as the number one. How’s your confidence?"

"If he was capable of turning the tide in South Zhili, then he certainly has some ability," said the young man named Han Chuji, while he measured Li Xuan’s retreating figure with his eyes. "But as Zhihuishi said, the hero of the mountain is no match for the city. This isn’t Nanjing, this is Beijing! We’ve got our eyes on this round’s reward from the Merit Calculation Tower!"

Zhu Chiling couldn’t help but roar in laughter before descending the steps, moving with the stride of a dragon and tiger.

Instead, Mu Qiangwei looked at a pretty woman wearing a scholar’s robe behind her, who raised her eyebrows, "Why are you looking at me? If people of the number 14 white list can be so bold, why can’t I be? Given that I’m number 12 on the white list. I just find the competition unexciting. Winning against him, a newcomer to Beijing, unfamiliar with people and places, with no connections or resources, is pointless."

"Very well. This is the spirit that people from my Qinglei Department should possess." Mu Qiangwei nodded approvingly, "Then, Xiao Yuan, where are you planning to start your investigation?"

This elegant woman is called Sikong Yuan. She pondered for a moment before finally looking up, "I guess there must be someone in Beijing City who helped hide its traces. But first, we have to investigate within the rank of Admiral Jiumen, find out how it got into the Capital City. Once we verify what it’s capable of, we can truly zero in on its tracks."

※ ※ ※ ※

The first thing Li Xuan did after returning to Shenyi Department was to release his Divine Blood Azure Phoenix in the sky.

This spirit pet of his has ten times the vision of a hawk, and possesses the Divine Skill of Spirit Eye, which could detect a demon’s aura. More importantly, it could share its vision with Li Xuan. From above, its effectiveness was equivalent to that of a surveillance satellite or an unmanned aerial vehicle with reconnaissance and attack capabilities.

Next, Li Xuan summoned Luo Yan, Yue Qianqian, and others to discuss the matter.

After hearing Li Xuan’s brief introduction of the situation, Yue Qianqian plucked up her courage and spoke, "That Demon Qilin couldn’t have forcibly broke in from outside the city, nor could it have traveled from the dream world to the Capital City. Should at least be incapable of traversing through dreams in Beijing."

"Why is that?" Li Xuan asked perplexedly, "From what I see, many people are heading towards Neiguan Bureau."

As the Divine Blood Azure Phoenix eyed from above, a large group of knights was heading out from the main hall, rushing in the direction of Neiguan Bureau at that very moment. The nine officers of Jiumen Admiral all worked there.

"That’s unnecessary. You should know that a considerable part of the walls of Beijing City was built on the basis of the Yuan dynasty Grand Capital. And in the thirty-seventh year of the Yuan Zhiyuan era, a similar event occurred where a Demon Qilin broke into the city.

Therefore, at the time, the State Preceptor of the former Yuan dynasty, Basiba, mixed powder from Star Blue Stones into the walls of the Grand Capital. As a result, not even a Demon Qilin of the twelfth house level, let alone one from the heavenly level, could easily traverse within Beijing City."

Yue Qianqian’s eyes sparkled as she spoke, "This event was recorded in the ’Record of Dao Dream’ by Daxian Monk of the former Yuan. I read out of curiosity how the Yuan hunted for the Demon Qilin. Although the Mongols didn’t eventually catch it, they discovered many usable clues which we might learn from. For instance, the Demon Qilin especially enjoys seafood like fish and shrimp, specifically the Yuhanzhu Shrimp from the North Sea.

Also, the Demon Qilin can hide inside people’s dreams. But ordinary people will usually die the next day after it infiltrates their dreams. So, that Demon Qilin used ’Dream Silkworms’ to hide its traces and thousands of Dream Silkworms would gather and weave dreams to provide it cover."

So-called "Dream Silkworms" are a kind of monster species, relatively harmless before reaching the Fourth-Floor Territory, only drawing on various emotional energies from people’s dreams as sustenance.

However, once "Dream Silkworms" reach the Fourth-Floor Territory, they will transform into "Dream Butterflies". At this point, they become terrifying. They can cause people with illnesses to die directly in their nightmares, or experience extreme joy and shock in dreams, thereby triggering severe internal organ diseases due to extreme happiness or sorrow.

Li Xuan’s eyes brightened up, he thought how much of a walking encyclopedia Qianqian was. "Is there anything else?"

Yue Qianqian shook her head, "That’s all I know. Since ancient times, Demon Qilins have been seen a few times only. Few people know their specific magical powers and preferences."

Li Xuan nodded slightly. The clues Yue Qianqian provided made him very satisfied.

"Zhang Yue, Elder Peng, the two of you go and investigate the seafood. Look for any restaurants or families that have recently purchased seafood in bulk, or report seafood missing, especially the Yuhanzhu Shrimp that Qianqian mentioned. Luo Yan and I will look into the ’Dream Silkworm’."

As Li Xuan said this, his eyebrows slightly scrunched up. He didn’t know how to start investigating, ’Dream Silkworm’ was a kind of Demon with hardly any Demon power response, and could be found everywhere, lurking in every corner of the city.

However, Luo Yan had already stood up, leaning on his sword, "We can ask around the Demon Market. Snakes have snake paths, rats have rat paths. Only the Demon Tribe knows their kind best. We can go there and ask a few informants."

Li Xuan cast a doubtful look. "Do you know where the Demon Market in Beijing is? Also, you’ve just arrived in this city, where do you find informants?"

As the name suggests, the Demon Market is a market for monsters.

Even in Beijing City, where heavenly levels gather, many kinds of monsters exist. They are generally harmless to humans, and even beneficial, with a knack for hiding their traces.

For example, common pets like dogs and cats can deter snakes and mice and guard houses.

Another example would be a kind of demon toad called Jinxing Toad that can eliminate mosquitoes and attract wealth for its master. All these can coexist with humans.

These gathering places for monsters are called the Demon Market.

"What do you think?" replied Luo Yan with a wide grin. "My friends are everywhere. Not only in Nanjing."