Immortality by Merit and Sin Coins

Chapter 237: Chapter 127: Great Demon Sealing Monarch, The Fool and the Cripple

This was the attitude of the Yu Family.

”Still can’t get over Yongzhou Pass, Master Lin?” Fan Li picked up the prefecture gazette, deftly changing the subject. He tried to console him, saying, ”Let the past be the past. Something as major as the Great Demon Sealing Monarch is beyond our power to change. You’ve already saved two hundred disciples, and they’ve all been taken in by the Martial Arts Academy now. That’s a good deed in itself.”

”...”

Lin Shu gazed into the distance, genuinely a little surprised.

He had clearly already left the Border Region, yet somehow, the title of the last Demon Monarch had still fallen upon him.

A Demon Monarch in the Core Formation Stage was unheard of; there was no way he could command the respect of the masses.

But in truth, he didn’t really care about any of that.

The most important thing now was figuring out how to access internal information and uncover the Qi Family’s secrets without having to join the Demon-slaying Bureau.

”But you can rest assured, Master Lin. This incident has enraged both the Yu and Qi Families.”

”They’ve renamed Yongzhou Pass to Dragon Ridge. First comes the spine, then the flesh and limbs attach. From that name alone, you can tell those Demons want to use the Border Region as their foundation. They plan to recruit hordes of other Demons and force their transformation into a dragon from that barren wasteland.”

Fan Li smiled and said slowly, ”Unfortunately for them, that’s not going to happen.”

”Why?” Lin Shu asked, glancing over with some curiosity.

”The Yu Family lost Yongzhou Pass, so they have to regain face. No matter how much they clashed with the Qi Family in the past, they’ll have to join forces now to retake their lost territory.”

Fan Li glanced around before leaning in close. ”The Yu Family’s *real* Mountain Master Disciples are about to descend... I’m not saying you’re a fake Mountain Master!”

”You just did,” Lin Shu said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

”Heh heh, a slip of the tongue, just a slip of the tongue.” Fan Li gave a sheepish laugh and quickly shook his head.

Although they were both instructors at the Martial Arts Academy, the other man was a clan’s Mountain Master. Even the Mountain Master of Qiankun Academy had to show him some deference.

”What I meant is that a group of Golden Core Seniors is descending the mountain. I heard that five of them have come out, and two will be arriving in our Anren Prefecture very soon.”

Fan Li took a deep breath. ”The other Mountain Masters are descending to slay demons, but that Qian Yiru is also acting in the name of avenging his Master, Immortal Qiheng.”

”If it’s for revenge, why come to Anren Prefecture instead of going straight to Yongzhou Pass?”

A flicker of confusion crossed Lin Shu’s eyes. ’It’s not like he has the nose of a bloodhound and has sniffed out the Moon-Devouring Demon Monarch sneaking around the Qiankun Martial Arts Academy, right?’

”I know you’re eager for revenge, but you have to pacify internal threats before dealing with external ones.”

”Don’t be fooled by the fact that Yongzhou Pass only had three Demon Monarchs—that was half a month ago. By now, other Demon Monarchs must have moved in, and there’s likely a Demon King pulling the strings from behind the scenes.”

”This battle cannot be lost. We need to mobilize a large number of powerful experts to go and suppress them.”

Fan Li explained, ”And that’s not even mentioning other places. Right here in our Anren Prefecture, two great Demon Monarchs are watching like tigers. While they may not be as savage and reckless as Cloud Dragon and Moon-Devouring, they’ll definitely make a move if they find out the Demon-slaying Generals are heading to the Border Region.”

”We wouldn’t want to lose Anren Prefecture before we’ve even taken back Yongzhou Pass,” the older man joked with a laugh.

Of course, that was an impossibility.

The defenses in the Border Region hadn’t been stringent enough, partly because one of Immortal Qiheng’s disciples failed their tribulation, giving the Demons an opening.

Secondly, the area was simply too poor. Aside from a few scarce Spiritual Objects, all that remained were dilapidated mountains and Earth Cities. No Immortal wanted to go there.

Although it was called the Border Region, the Liang Kingdom and Great Shun had in fact been at peace for many years. It had merely become a slaughterhouse of flesh and blood, tacitly agreed upon by both sides as a place to temper their disciples.

Why would Great Shun risk conquering such a vast, boundless wasteland? Only Demons would see any value in it.

But Anren Prefecture was different. It was a prosperous and wealthy place, overseen by both a branch of the Demon-slaying Bureau and the Qiankun Academy.

What reckless Demon would dare to force its way in? Wouldn’t that be courting death?

”The Demon-slaying Bureau has already started working with the Yu Family to purge the surrounding Demons. Even if they can’t slay them, they’ll at least severely wound them first.”

”Wait...”

Fan Li was speaking animatedly when he suddenly noticed something. He shouted to a figure holding a broom outside the courtyard, ”You fool, what’s wrong with you? The other courtyards are all swept spotless, yet you’ve ignored Master Lin’s residence! Look how high these leaves are piled up!”

Outside the courtyard, a thin, middle-aged man, his body covered in old scars and his face without a single patch of smooth skin, slowly came to a halt.

He glanced silently at the young man before saying in a gruff, muffled voice, ”I don’t like him.”

”...”

Lin Shu rubbed his temples.

’Before coming to Anren Prefecture, he had already considered that he might face provocations from so-called Celestial Prides or various head disciples, and he had even rehearsed in his head how he would handle such situations.’

However, none of that happened.

’Golden Core Realm cultivators weren’t a dime a dozen. He’d been here for days without seeing a single one, and certainly, no one had come to his courtyard looking for trouble.’

’Except for this sweeper. Every day, the man would walk by and shoot him a disdainful glance.’

’For no reason at all. It was like there was something wrong with the man’s head.’

”Nonsense! Get this floor swept, now!”

Fan Li looked embarrassed and turned back to say, ”Pay him no mind. He’s been sweeping the academy grounds for decades. We don’t even know who got him the job. He’s a bit crazy, but we’re all used to him.”

For a place like the Qiankun Academy to employ someone with such unclear origins was, in fact, a rather strange affair.

Either the person backing him had an impossibly powerful background, or his background was simply too insignificant. For instance, a menial worker could have secretly paid some silver to get him the job, and perhaps the people originally involved were long gone, making it impossible to trace his origins.

But for a mere sweeping job that he’d been doing for decades, the latter was far more likely.