"Huuu."
The Qingming Demon General took a deep breath.
She knew all too well how serious it was to have one’s Life Blood and Demon Qi taken.
As long as Old Xu was still alive, the Demon-slaying Bureau could follow the trail straight to them. There was no shaking them off.
"We’re not leaving," Monkey said, struggling free from the large hand that gripped him.
"Nonsense! Do you have any idea what’s about to happen? Scattered Demons like you will be caught in the middle and crushed until not even bone dust remains." The old man was so overcome with anger that he coughed up another mouthful of black blood.
"They aren’t Scattered Demons anymore," the Qingming Demon General said suddenly.
Then, the same words echoed from the distance.
"We aren’t Scattered Demons!"
Lu Yun took the carefully polished great banner from Monkey and hoisted it onto his shoulder. The two flamboyant, calligraphed characters for "Moon-Devouring" burned into Elder Xu’s eyes.
"With the Demon Banner to clear the way and us to protect you, we can all escape together!" The bald demon wiped away his tears.
"Who gave you permission to act so recklessly?"
Heavily injured as he was, Elder Xu couldn’t actually bring himself to break Monkey’s legs. He sighed helplessly. "Do you really think you can just make any old flag and call yourselves banner-wielders?"
This wasn’t some children’s game.
Suddenly, he heard the beautiful woman’s voice again.
"It wasn’t just ’any old flag’."
"This Moon-devouring Demon Banner already bears the lives of several Immortal Descendants, three Core Formation cultivators, and dozens of Demon-slaying Captains."
The Qingming Demon General let out a long breath, her expression turning cold. "I will plant this banner outside my mountain. I’d like to see just how many lives those dogs of the Immortal Families will have to pay to break through Qingming’s gates."
Even a clay figure has a bit of fire.
Just because she didn’t start trouble didn’t mean she was afraid of it.
What Demon General didn’t live with their head on the line? If she went weak in the knees at the first sign of trouble, she would have died in a Pill Furnace long ago.
"..."
Elder Xu stared back in a daze, his eyes fixed on the crimson banner.
He couldn’t quite understand. What in the world had happened while he was gone?
"Get him somewhere to recover first."
After giving the order, the Qingming Demon General glanced at the burly man beside her. "You’re still here?"
"Tsk. If I hadn’t seen it, that would be one thing. But he fell right in front of me with a THUD. Wouldn’t it be a bit too cowardly of me to run now?"
The Golden Bear grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. "But you’ll have to give me a decent weapon. Otherwise, I’ll be at a huge disadvantage in a fight."
"Deal."
The Qingming Demon General looked away, her voice crisp. "Go fight as you please. For every one you break, I will give you three more!"
The one thing her mountain wasn’t short on was Magical Artifacts.
「Evening.」
Yongzhou Pass, Shihu Inn.
Yu Sheng lay sprawled on the table, yawning endlessly. "Lin Shu, how much longer do we have to stay here?"
"Please don’t be anxious, Little Mountain God. It should only be another three to five days."
Steward Chen said respectfully.
He had already reported the matter to his superiors.
He had also informed the Immortal Family Qiheng, who was stationed at Yongzhou Pass, that the Immortal Descendant Yu Sheng was approaching adulthood.
"You see, I’ve even prepared a carriage for you."
He pointed outside the inn.
An exquisite and luxurious carriage was parked there, just waiting for the transfer order to arrive. Then, Yu Sheng could take her disciple and return to Yongzhou.
"But before that, it seems Immortal Qiheng wishes to speak with you personally. After all, this also involves Senior Brother Lin’s promotion to Mountain Master Disciple, something unprecedented within the Immortal Sect."
As he said this, a peculiar look flashed in Steward Chen’s eyes.
Everyone had witnessed Immortal Qiheng’s attitude toward Yu Sheng when they first arrived at Yongzhou Pass.
But now, this Little Mountain God had displayed considerable talent.
Immortal Qiheng’s attitude had subtly shifted.
According to rumors, the Little Mountain God’s branch of the clan had apparently died out, leaving her as the sole posthumous child.
Since she had come from Yongzhou Pass, Immortal Qiheng likely didn’t want to miss this opportunity. He probably wanted to claim an adult junior for free to make his own branch of the family more prosperous and robust.
While this move was somewhat lamentable, it could also be considered a win-win situation.
"Alrighty!" Yu Sheng wasn’t very interested in Yu Qiheng, but she was very interested in Lin Shu becoming a Mountain Master Disciple and taking her to Yongzhou to live a life of leisure.
"..."
Lin Shu was flipping through a book on the strange tales and peculiar events of Yongzhou. He lifted his gaze to the carriage outside the inn.
’He was a little reluctant to part with the Mountain God Mirror, but under the warning of the ever-thickening tribulation clouds, he suppressed that little bit of selfish ambition. The merits he had accumulated were now enough to establish himself in Yongzhou, where he could finally start investigating the matter of his missing heart.’
Just then, two familiar faces walked into the inn.
The woman with the scar on her face was the Demon-slaying Bureau’s Vice General, Ruan Xiangling, followed by Chang Yi.
"Greetings, Little Mountain God."
She first politely clasped her hands toward Yu Sheng, then casually sat down at their table as if they were old friends. "Junior Brother Lin, we’re planning to head back as well. Care to travel together? It’d be a perfect chance to come visit our Demon-slaying Bureau."
"We’re still not sure when we’ll be departing." Lin Shu stopped turning the pages of his book.
After witnessing the scene outside the City Lord’s Mansion, he could see that the Demon-slaying Bureau was not a monolith.
If nothing else, these two at least treated the constables under their command like human beings.
After discovering that the Demon Mountain was too dangerous and not a suitable place for training troops,
they had called all the new recruits over, stopping the other Vice Generals who wanted to continue using those constables as human scouts.
"Alright. Just don’t get overwhelmed by the choices when the time comes."
Ruan Xiangling didn’t press the issue; she was simply here to make a friendly impression. "If you decide to join the Demon-slaying Bureau, remember to find me first. Don’t just go in directly."
"Mhmm... There’s a lot of internal politics. If you get assigned to the other faction, it’s easy to be led astray by them."
She gave a meaningful smile, not spelling it out too bluntly.
As soldiers of the Demon-slaying Bureau, should they strive to maintain stability in the Nine Mansions, or should they curry favor and act as dogs for the Immortal Descendants for the sake of their own careers? This disagreement had persisted for years without any resolution.

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