Han Anbo smiled, observing covertly. He noticed that Ye Han was also smiling faintly, glancing at the four people with cold attitudes. He then studied the details of those four—their figures, hands, shoes, and so on—while keeping an eye on their movements with his peripheral vision.
More and more Night Guards arrived at the training ground, their numbers soon exceeding one hundred.
A group of High-Grade Officials walked onto the reviewing stand. Five Eighth-Grade Captains clad in Iron Rhino Breastplates began to form up their squads, assembling five teams in front of the stand.
Li Qingxian looked toward the reviewing stand. There was only one Director from the Demon Hunting Bureau, wearing a Senior Sixth-Grade Official’s Uniform. The Disciplinary Officer, Songg Yanxue, was not present.
The Director went through the motions, first speaking of the harms caused by the demon scourge, then the needs of the Imperial Court. Next, he covered some points to remember for Demon Hunting, and finally, he offered words of encouragement to the Night Guard demon hunters.
Once the ceremony concluded, the five teams left the small training ground in sequence.
The team first went to the stables to collect an ox-drawn cart and some supplies. Everyone loaded their heavy belongings onto the cart, and then, under Wuu Jingtian’s lead, they departed the Night Guard headquarters and walked toward the North City Gate.
At first, everyone was quiet, but before long, someone started chatting.
Seeing that Wuu Jingtian didn’t intervene, the others also began to chat in low voices.
Li Qingxian asked in a low voice, "Brother Han, how come we aren’t riding horses? The esteemed Night Guard, reduced to traveling on our own two feet?"
"Six months ago, we would have certainly ridden horses on a mission like this, but the Night Guard isn’t what it used to be. The Ministry of Imperial Stables has cut off our supply, so we can’t get any horses. Nowadays, unless it’s an emergency deployment, the Night Guard travels on foot, just like common soldiers."
"I see. It would be nice if we had a Puppet Cultivator, then we could just take a puppet-drawn carriage. Much more convenient than walking."
"Those are precious assets. How could the higher-ups possibly deploy them for ordinary Night Guards like us? Take a good look around. Forget Tenth-Graders, even among the Ninth and Eighth-Grade members, how many are decked out in Magical Artifacts like you are?"
"You’re right. Besides Ye Han, it seems like only Captain Wuu has a Magical Artifact, right?" Li Qingxian said.
"And when this Demon Hunting mission is over, Captain Wuu will have to return his Magical Artifact. How many people do the Sects support versus how many the Imperial Court supports? The Court really can’t afford such expenses."
Chatting amongst themselves, the group left the Capital City and headed north.
At the Divine Capital Bureau, inside Chunfeng Inn.
Zhou Chunfeng stood by the window, gazing north.
Zhou Henn, who was usually standing guard at the door, was nowhere to be seen.
「On the road north of the Capital City.」
Wuu Jingtian walked to the middle of the column and said, "The place we’re headed this time is Dadong County in Yanzhou Guangtong Prefecture. There’s a river there, the Dong River, that connects to the Great River, and Little Demons often drift downstream to attack people. It will take us about five days to get there, traveling about a hundred li each day. We’ll be stationed there for a month and return to the Capital once the demon scourge subsides."
Li Qingxian did a quick calculation. A person’s normal walking speed was about ten li per hour. To cover a hundred li a day, they would have to walk for ten hours. ’Wouldn’t my legs break after five straight days of that?’
But then he had a second thought. With his current physique, forget walking for ten hours—he could probably run for ten hours straight and be as right as rain after a good night’s sleep.
Li Qingxian glanced at the pale, chubby Yur Ping. ’This poor guy is in for some real suffering,’ he thought.
However, when they finally made camp and rested late at night, Yur Ping hadn’t complained about being tired at all. Upon asking, Li Qingxian learned that Yur Ping had traveled far and wide with his elders since he was a child. Though he had put on weight in recent years, his fundamental conditioning remained.
On the second day, the twenty-one members of the group had grown much more familiar with one another, chatting idly as they walked.
Worried that Li Qingxian might be at a disadvantage, Han Anbo spent the journey explaining the key points of travel and Demon Hunting, using his own experiences as examples.
Wuu Jingtian didn’t stop him; in fact, he encouraged the others to listen in as well.
Han Anbo spoke for the entire journey, and Li Qingxian and the other Night Guards listened for the entire journey.
Han Anbo’s status in the team rose accordingly. Every time they took a break, someone would bring him water and rations.
That evening, Wuu Jingtian gathered everyone before the campfire. With a cold expression, he scanned the faces of the group.
The firewood burned with a CRACKLE and POP as the leaping flames danced.
Unsure what was happening, no one dared to even breathe too loudly.
After a long moment, Wuu Jingtian pointed back toward the Divine Capital. "That is the Capital City. You all saw the boundary marker at dusk. We are now more than one hundred twenty li from the Capital. This means we have completely lost the protection of the Divine Capital. It also means that at any moment, we could encounter the Demon Race, Evil Sects, the Demon Sect, or even river bandits. You’ve all heard the saying: ’The Qii Country spans ten thousand li, but peace extends for only a hundred.’ Well, now we are in the other nine thousand, nine hundred li of peril."
Wuu Jingtian snorted, pacing as he spoke. "In the Capital City, in any city, this uniform we wear might still intimidate someone. But out here in the wilderness, it’s not worth shit. A few Seventh-Grade masters could slaughter all of us. Do you know the survival rate for Demon Hunting teams over the past six months? For every one hundred who go out, how many do you think come back? Sixty. And that includes the severely wounded."
The crowd was horrified.
"Old Han, you were holding back earlier because you were afraid of scaring them. Now, tell them the scary stuff," Wuu Jingtian said.
Han Anbo sighed. "What’s there to say that’s scary? Once you leave the hundred-li zone of peace, it’s a coin toss between life and death. You just have to leave it to fate."
Cold sweat trickled down everyone’s backs.
Li Qingxian glanced at the pitch-black surroundings. Even the chirping of insects, which had once sounded pleasant, now seemed tainted with a sinister air.
With Wuu Jingtian and Han Anbo playing off each other, the entire team became completely obedient.
The initial excitement for their first Demon Hunting mission vanished without a trace.
The night passed peacefully.
The journey on the third day was somewhat somber. Unlike the previous two days, there was no more laughter and joking. Instead, hands rested intermittently on weapons as everyone scanned their surroundings.
They passed the Great Boundary Marker of Yanzhou and skirted Guangtong Mountain. By the time it was late at night, they found a clean, flat spot by the roadside to light a fire and make camp.
The others gradually fell asleep, leaving Li Qingxian, Yur Ping, and Han Anbo to stand the first watch.
Deep in the quiet of the night, Han Anbo called the other two outside the camp, pretending to be patrolling the perimeter.
Seeing that no one had followed, Han Anbo lowered his voice. "There’s something wrong with Ye Han. You two need to be extra careful."
"What is it?" Li Qingxian asked.
"You took leave, and Ye Han also took leave. You join a Demon Hunting mission, and he shows up too. It’s all too much of a coincidence. I’ve been observing closely these past two days. Most of the people in this team are Night Guard veterans, but four men who are close to Ye Han were just recently transferred in. I recognize two of them from behind—they used to be Ye Han’s followers. As for the other two, they’re either skilled soldiers from the army or Entering Grade masters raised by a wealthy family. They have to be at least Ninth Grade; I wouldn’t be surprised if they were Eighth Grade."
"Is Ye Han trying to harm me?" Li Qingxian had also been secretly on guard against Ye Han.
"He won’t harm you directly, but he might do it indirectly. Also... Ye Han’s True Essence is stronger than I imagined. I fear he’s already advanced to the Ninth Grade."
Li Qingxian recalled Ye Han’s powerful Fate Grid and nodded. "It’s very likely he has advanced to the Ninth Grade."
"You don’t need to worry about them during normal times; they won’t be stupid enough to make a sudden move. But once we encounter the Demon Race and a battle begins, you have to be extremely careful. It’s highly probable they’ll use the demons to inflict heavy injuries on you. I’ve personally seen this kind of thing happen no less than ten times," Han Anbo said.
Yur Ping whispered, "How about I find an opportunity, pretend I was aiming for a demon but missed, and just knock Ye Han out with my club?"
Han Anbo and Li Qingxian both rolled their eyes at him in unison.
Li Qingxian and Han Anbo discussed for a long time and basically confirmed their theory: Ye Han wouldn’t dare to act openly, nor would he dare to kill Li Qingxian. To do so would surely incur the wrath of both Zhou Chunfeng and the Imperial Court. However, he would definitely find some way to harm him indirectly.
Li Qingxian then sped up his production of Thunder Talismans. With every batch he created, he gave half to Han Anbo and Yur Ping.