Chapter 315: Monster Suppression Bureau

Chapter 315: The Demon Suppression Bureau

With the yellow-haired man's loud shout, the other four men around him all closed in on Qi Yuan.

Their faces bore ferocious expressions, cracking their knuckles, with the mocking look of thugs in their eyes.

At that moment, Qi Yuan swung his fist, his voice cold: "By the Heavenly Law, those who serve as demon slaves shall be executed without mercy!"

The yellow-haired man laughed: "What era are you in, still spouting the Heavenly Law!"

But then, the smile on his face froze.

For a pair of iron fists, at a speed he couldn't react to, slammed straight into his chest.

Stomach acid churned, stars burst before the yellow-haired man's eyes, his eyes bulging with bloodshot veins, his body bent like a roasted lobster, his blood-red eyes exposed.

The burly men beside him were stunned, their bodies halting, unable to react.

Yet the young man before them had his fists wrapped in a red bridal veil, his eyes filled with disdain: "How long has it been since you last bathed? Lucky I had the foresight to cover my hand with this veil, or your chest hair would have dirtied my hand."

But the yellow-haired man at that moment couldn't even reply to Qi Yuan.

He couldn't catch his breath.

Not far away, Xiaomei's eyes widened; the scene before her exceeded her expectations.

But before she could be shocked, Qi Yuan casually pulled a butcher knife from the woodpile.

"No wonder ancients used knives to kill, and moderns use guns—it's to avoid dirtying their hands."

Qi Yuan, holding the butcher knife, grasped another truth.

A flash of cold light streaked by as Qi Yuan's body leaped up, using the momentum of his descent—swish, swish, swish—a fine head tumbled down.

Blood splattered, adding another touch of red to this festive day.

Qi Yuan moved swiftly; while the head hadn't yet hit the ground, the butcher knife swung again.

Blood mist sprayed, the smell of blood not yet spreading.

Those present heard the thud, thud, thud of heads hitting the ground.

Qi Yuan, cleaver in hand, his eyes filled with killing intent, stood like a god of slaughter.

Old Master Huang, who had been squinting, now looked on with surprise: "A blood warrior... you are actually a blood warrior!"

But it was merely surprise.

"You've hidden deep enough, breaking through to become a blood warrior without a sound, stepping onto the path of transcendence," Old Master Huang remarked, his voice tinged with admiration. "But don't think that becoming a blood warrior means you can act recklessly. In this Yunyan County, you're not allowed to run wild!"

Old Master Huang's eyes held arrogance; he reached out and pulled out a walking stick.

The stick was crystal clear and white as jade, clearly no ordinary item.

"This walking stick is made from the bones of a blood warrior," Old Master Huang said, his kind face speaking these words in a gentle tone. "He was like you, relying on his skills to defy the law.

My elder brother's grandson took a fancy to his pregnant wife—that was his wife's honor.

But who knew, his wife, as clueless as he was, died on my nephew's bed, and even bit my nephew's lip until it bled.

Our Huang Mansion hadn't even sought him out, yet he, relying on his skills, dared to storm our mansion.

My elder brother saw his arrogance and killed him.

I saw his bones were hard, so I asked my brother for a few of them and made this walking stick. Oh, and the bead on the stick is ground from his wife's skull!"

Old Master Huang said unhurriedly.

Xiaomei, standing nearby, broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this.

The demons of Yunyan County truly devoured people.

Qi Yuan listened, his expression calm: "This setup of yours is indeed that of a great villain.

I never expected the villain boss in my game to appear in a game within the game."

His mood remained unruffled.

This slightly surprised Old Master Huang.

He had said these words partly as a matter of course to warn Qi Yuan, and partly to provoke him into anger.

Blood warriors... their bloodlines are inherently flawed, prone to anger and loss of reason.

At such times, their strength might increase slightly, but their speed and agility would greatly decrease.

Old Master Huang's specialty was speed.

Yet his words failed to anger Qi Yuan.

"You are smarter than the owner of these bones, but only to a limited extent!"

With Old Master Huang's voice, his originally frail body leaped lightly, like a nimble monkey.

The walking stick in his hand suddenly struck toward Qi Yuan's back.

Light Crane Touching the Green!

What Old Master Huang executed was clearly a demonic martial art.

This martial art was renowned for its speed; once mastered, it could strike a person thirteen times in an instant.

One strike could gravely wound an ordinary blood warrior, let alone thirteen.

Qi Yuan immediately felt a gust of wind at his back.

A smile flickered in his eyes: "Dodge!"

His figure flashed, evading the Light Crane Touching the Green.

"This martial art in the game... is quite interesting, giving you a lot of boosts."

Martial arts and Dao techniques are two different concepts.

Even more so, spell combat and martial combat are two different concepts.

The experience from the Canglan Realm cannot be fully applied here.

However, Qi Yuan was not lacking in combat experience either.

During his time on Wangyue Continent, he had thoroughly mastered the Heaven's End technique, so he had no shortage of martial combat experience.

Facing Old Master Huang, he was completely overwhelming.

The only area where Old Master Huang surpassed him was in martial arts, or martial skills.

This kind of bloodline martial skill could unleash the hidden power within one's blood, bursting forth with immense strength.

It was very similar to the spells of the cultivation world.

At present, Qi Yuan, if compared to a cultivator, was like one with only cultivation level but no spells.

"But... I have skills!"

Heaven-Slaying Sword-Drawing Art!

Since becoming powerful, Qi Yuan had rarely used skills.

His skills were universal across all realms.

This time, he unleashed them directly!

A mighty gale of tearing wind swept forth, and the butcher knife in Qi Yuan's hand seemed coated in a layer of blood as it descended from the heavens.

Crack.

The cleaver struck Fourth Master Huang's head, and an expression of disbelief spread across his face.

He had never imagined that Qi Er, who had just entered the Blood Qi realm, could kill him with a single blow?

And what was that sword strike just now?

Qi Yuan sheathed his knife, a joyful smile in his eyes: "Not bad, finally got that feeling of playing a game—harvested three drops of blood."

From Fourth Master Huang's body, Qi Yuan extracted three drops of blood.

These three drops were the very essence of the monster, the most valuable thing to Qi Yuan.

On the ground now lay a weasel's corpse, reeking of a foul stench.

Xiao Mei stood not far away, her body trembling, but she gritted her teeth and said, "Brother Qi, you can't drink that blood. Without the government's Blood-Calming Pill, drinking monster blood will drive you mad!"

Qi Yuan's mind sifted through many memories, but none concerning the Blood-Calming Pill.

"How do you know so much? Are you some kind of special NPC?" Qi Yuan looked at Xiao Mei with eager anticipation.

Xiao Mei's body quivered; his words left her bewildered. Finally, she clenched her teeth and said, "I won't pretend anymore. Actually... I'm from the Zhao family of Jiangcuo."

"Never heard of it," Qi Yuan shook his head.

"The Zhao family of Jiangcuo is a martial arts clan, often escorting goods..."

"Get to the point."

"I once heard that the most precious thing on a monster is its essence blood.

Consuming their essence blood can enhance one's strength.

Moreover, taking the essence blood of monsters can greatly improve mastery of martial techniques.

But monster essence blood is poisonous. An ordinary Blood Warrior needs one or two years to digest a single drop. If you take too much, no amount of time will help—you'll go mad, become a demon, and be executed.

Only the Blood-Calming Pill, produced by the government, allows you to consume a bit more monster essence blood.

But even then, you can't take too much—you'll still go crazy!" Xiao Mei said nervously.

In simple terms, a warrior's cultivation is a step-by-step path; devouring monster blood is a shortcut.

But shortcuts easily backfire, leading to madness, becoming a demon, and eventually exploding to death.

The Blood-Calming Pill can neutralize the toxicity in monster blood, letting warriors consume a little more essence blood.

But still, you can't overdo it—you'll die.

"Oh, I see. Got it."

Qi Yuan shrugged.

Indeed, players always get special treatment.

Did he need the Blood-Calming Pill?

No.

Besides, taking the Blood-Calming Pill had its limits, while he... had obtained the Devouring Origin from the Starving Mother.

The Devouring Origin was said to devour all things; swallowing some monster essence blood should be a trivial matter.

"It's fine. I'm a player, and I have a license. Even if I really go mad, I'm not afraid." Qi Yuan put away the three drops of blood, not consuming them for now.

According to Xiao Mei, essence blood not only boosted strength but also improved martial technique mastery.

He had to keep them.

Fourth Master Huang's martial technique had caught his eye earlier.

Since he had to complete this game, he definitely needed to learn the martial techniques within it.

Why train techniques the hard way when monster essence blood could speed things up?

Diligently study martial arts? Wrong!

Monster essence blood—add points! Right.

"Brother Qi, you killed Fourth Master Huang—run now!

His elder brother is a monster at the Great Completion of Blood Martial!"

At this, Xiao Mei was very worried.

Fourth Master Huang was a monster at the initial stage of Blood Martial, a notable figure in Yunyan County.

But the reason he could be called 'Master' in Yunyan County was because of his elder brother's Great Completion of Blood Martial.

"Oh? Great Completion of Blood Martial? That's a bit tricky." Qi Yuan pondered.

Great Completion of Blood Martial, by his calculations, might be comparable to the Perfection of Qi Refining.

And his own martial cultivation was only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining—a huge gap.

With just his martial arts, if he ran into Elder Brother Huang now, he'd probably kick the bucket.

But if Qi Yuan used his immortal cultivation methods, the outcome...

"It seems I need to keep a low profile." Qi Yuan was always steady and cautious.

This county had beings comparable to Qi Refining Perfection, and maybe even comparable to Yang God.

He had to stay low-key.

"Elder Brother Huang might come after me. I don't have time to protect you—you should run." Qi Yuan, after all, was kind-hearted and still cared about NPCs.

Seeing this, Xiao Mei's face lit up with wild joy: "Brother Qi, I'm off!"

Clearly, she had wanted to run long ago.

She didn't have much attachment to Qi Yuan.

After all, life was more important.

"So sleepy. Time to sleep, sleep. I'll finish the mission tomorrow."

For some reason, after that fight, Qi Yuan felt quite tired.

Probably because the martial battle had drained too much blood energy.

Watching Xiao Mei leave with her belongings, Qi Yuan lay on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

...

In Yunyan County, inside the county office.

The county magistrate looked nervous, facing four men and women in black tight outfits. He smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Your Excellency, all the files concerning the Luo and Chen families are here.

This incident is strange. Some say it's the work of demons, others say that Luo Bufan consumed too much monster essence blood, went mad, and slaughtered both the Luo and Chen households."

The magistrate looked at the four, bowing as if facing his superiors.

The four before him were the Demon-Suppressing Envoys of the Demon-Suppressing Bureau.

In this age, demons and monsters ran rampant; the reason the Tianhu Dynasty could stand tall was precisely because of the Demon-Suppressing Bureau.

The time of the Bureau's founding was unknown, and the history books held no detailed record.

Within the Bureau gathered a strange group of martial artists from across the realm, who took it upon themselves to slay demons and monsters.

"Mm, you may leave now." At that moment, a hoarse voice rang out.

The former county magistrate, upon receiving the order, immediately breathed a sigh of relief and left the room.

Now only the four remained in the room.

If Qi Yuan had been there, he would have recognized the speaker as the man he had met on the yacht… Chen Fan.

At this moment, he was dressed in black tight-fitting clothes, a trace of nostalgia on his face.

The other three were poring over the dossiers, and finally the only female demon-suppressing envoy spoke: "Captain, what do you think of this mission?"

Chen Fan was the strongest among them all, so he had been chosen as captain.

They had come to Yunyan County on a mission.

On the surface, they seemed formidable, but in reality, danger lurked everywhere—who knew if the county magistrate harbored ulterior motives?

Moreover, the number of monsters in Yunyan County was rather large.

They dared not make a sound, afraid of provoking those monsters.

Exorcise demons?

Forget it, better to complete the mission and keep their lives intact.

If it weren't mission-related, they wouldn't actively provoke those monsters.

Chen Fan put down the dossier, his gaze deep: "We need to find this key figure, Luo Bufan."

"But… didn't Luo Bufan ascend to immortality?"

"Ascension must be false—how could an ordinary martial artist ascend?" the round-faced woman said, her voice certain.

"The mission mentions this person, which means he is definitely not simple."

"How strange—if I remember correctly, in the real world, there was also a Luo Bufan who broke through the limits of martial arts and ascended. Could it be the same person?" Yang Xuewen asked.

"Kid, this is your first mission, so you might not understand—this kind of thing is very common.

Our missions are mostly twisted adaptations of reality.

Some say… it might be a parallel world.

As for the specifics… I'm not sure either," the round-faced woman explained.

Hearing this, the nostalgia on Chen Fan's face deepened. He warned: "In Yunyan County, there are three factions we must not offend lightly: the fish by the sea, the weasel in the gambling den, and the snake in the Yihua Brothel."

"Don't worry—before we make progress on the mission, I have no intention of clashing with the local forces. Even if they're rude, I'll hold back," the round-faced woman said, taking it in stride.

"Mm, our primary task is to find Luo Bufan," Chen Fan said.

…

"Sigh, if I form my golden core here, where would my stellar golden core appear?

Here… or in the real world?"

At dawn, Qi Yuan ate a steamed bun, staring at the sun in the sky, a sudden thought striking him.

He was already on the verge of forming his golden core.

"Forget it, I'd better go out to form it—otherwise, appearing in a game within a game, what would that even mean?"

Qi Yuan muttered to himself, stuffed the bun into his mouth, and slowly walked toward the Luo residence.

(End of chapter)