I Can Devour Spirits

Early that morning, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Duan Rong dragged his exhausted body back to Xianggu County.

The effort of jumping from the cliff top was even more consuming than the climb; Duan Rong barely managed to maintain control and landed at the base of the cliff only with great effort.

By then, his inner breath was completely depleted, and his body had not a single ounce of strength left. Even the juice in the gourd hanging from his waist had been drunk dry halfway down the mountain.

At that moment, he was so weak and vulnerable that an ordinary martial artist could easily have killed him!

Fortunately, Duan Rong projected his divine sense outward and was sure that there wasn’t a soul within a hundred meters.

Duan Rong gasped for air as he sat at the base of the cliff for quite a while, finally regaining some strength before returning to Xianggu County!

He had breakfast at a street stall and then returned to Liu’s House. As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he strode into his room, grabbed a gourd from the table, and poured several gulps into his mouth.

On the table, there were still three other gourds, all filled with the same greenish medicinal soup.

After gulping down a few mouthfuls, Duan Rong ignored his sweat and dirt-covered body, collapsed onto the bed, and slept like a dead dog.

Duan Rong slept until the afternoon before waking.

Lying on the bed, he briefly circulated his inner breath and found that it had already recovered, and even grown slightly stronger.

Duan Rong’s eyes glittered with thought; a day and night of training at Gu Mountain was equivalent to three days of stake standing in the courtyard!

After some consideration, Duan Rong decided to visit Gu Mountain every three days from now on.

Gu Mountain was beneficial, but it left his dantian completely dry, and doing this every day could harm the foundation of his dantian. But once every three days should be fine; each time he drained it dry, he could spend two days standing stakes in the courtyard to recover...

Having made up his mind, Duan Rong got up from the bed, went to the courtyard, and thoroughly washed himself clean.

By now it was already afternoon. After washing up, Duan Rong went to the street to have some food. After the meal, he was originally planning to head back to Liu’s House to practice standing stakes, but as he walked toward the Martial Arts Arena, he overheard a few fellow students discussing their monthly salaries.

Calculating the days, Duan Rong realized that today was the seventh, the day they distributed the monthly salary.

Though the escort master’s monthly salary was a trivial matter to Duan Rong now, hardly worth mentioning,

he still collected his salary every month, at least to appear normal. Who would go several months without collecting their salary?

Additionally, because of the Ruan Jing incident before, Ruan Fengshan had specially approved a cultivation expense of a thousand taels for him, to be distributed monthly.

But he had only collected it once. When he went to collect it the second month, Chief Accountant Xu Shouxian said that the Escort Agency had many expenses lately, and there was no extra silver in the account, telling him to come back in a couple of months.

Now, by his count, it’s about time for him to collect the silver for the second month.

Duan Rong made a slight turn off his path, heading from the Martial Arts Arena to the backyard.

Generally, escort masters would collect their monthly salary at the accounting office in the middle courtyard. However, Duan Rong needed to find Xu Shouxian to collect the specially approved cultivation funds. Xu Shouxian usually stayed in the accounting office at the back courtyard and rarely came to the middle courtyard.

Duan Rong approached the gate of the back courtyard and explained his intentions to the guard, who didn’t give him a hard time, checked his badge, and let him in.

Entering the accounting office of the back courtyard, Duan Rong saw several tables in the hall piled with account books being flipped through, and a few apprentice accountants taking notes with pens.

Among them, there was one person Duan Rong recognized, named Huang Qing, who had lived next to him in the dormitory when Duan Rong resided in the middle courtyard.

The accounting office isn’t easy to get into, with a lot of intricacies involved, and without several years of immersion and study, it’s tough to get the hang of it.

Duan Rong wasn’t sure about other places, but in the Yuan Shun Escort Agency, it was said that it was even harder for apprentice accountants to be promoted to formal status than it was for escort masters.

As Duan Rong entered, the others raised their heads to look at him. While the others didn’t recognize Duan Rong, Huang Qing did immediately and smiled, ”Brother Duan, haven’t seen you in a while! What brings you to our back courtyard accounting office?”

Duan Rong smiled back. During his time in the dormitory, he and Huang Qing often exchanged greetings, though they weren’t particularly close, but Huang Qing was nonetheless warm in meeting him.

”Brother Huang, you’re at the core here, unlike us rough men who can see you whenever we want,” Duan Rong joked.

Referring to the back courtyard accounting office as the core not only flattered Huang Qing but also the other apprentice accountants.

Sure enough, no sooner had Duan Rong finished speaking, than a few of the apprentice accountants raised their heads, smiling at Duan Rong as if pleased by the compliment.

Huang Qing said, ”Brother Duan jests. Though the back courtyard accounting office is important, I only handle odd jobs here.”

Duan Rong glanced at Huang Qing, feeling that he was quite prudent, and replied, ”Brother Huang is modest.”

Duan Rong stopped chatting idly, changing the subject, and asked, ”Is Chief Accountant Xu around?”

Huang Qing’s eyes moved slightly, ”He is. In the East Jia Room. Brother Duan, you can go there directly.”

Duan Rong gave a slight salute and then headed towards the east wing.

Upon hearing that Duan Rong was looking for Chief Accountant Xu Shouxian, the apprentice accountants started discussing him.

”Who is this? He looks quite young, yet he’s looking for Chief Accountant Xu?”

Huang Qing, seeing their curiosity, said, ”He is Duan Rong.”

”He is Duan Rong?”

”The one who saved Young Master Ruan Jing?”

”He looks so young and speaks quite gracefully...”

Huang Qing’s words made them even more talkative.

Duan Rong continued into the east corridor. There were four rooms in the east wing, with signs for rooms A, B, C, and D hanging on their doors. Duan Rong walked slowly to the door of Room A, just about to knock, when suddenly the door of the innermost room opened, and a thin-faced, graying-bearded man stepped out, glanced at Duan Rong, and walked away with a few account books.

Though Duan Rong wasn’t familiar with the personnel in the back courtyard accounting office, he knew that the east wing rooms were the most important in the back courtyard.

East Jia Room was where Chief Accountant Xu Shouxian reviewed accounts.

In the East Yi and East Bing Rooms, Wang De’an and Zhu Shicheng, Xu Shouxian’s trusted aides, were stationed.

When Young Master Ruan Jing had his incident, Ruan Fengshan had Xiao Zongting detain four people. Besides Zhou An, the remaining three were from the back courtyard accounting office, showing their importance there.

However, the man who just came out from the innermost room was obviously the chief of the East Ding Room, yet someone Duan Rong had neither seen nor heard of.

Watching the man’s retreating figure, Duan Rong felt that his face bore some resemblance to Xu Shouxian, for some reason.

Only after the man had vanished from the hallway entrance did Duan Rong turn back, gently knocking on the door three times. When there was no response, he paused for a few seconds before knocking harder three more times.

This time, after knocking, Duan Rong stood waiting quietly.

After a while, a long and elderly voice from inside said, ”Come in!”