First-Year Internship—And You Went to Site 749 to Contain Monsters?!

Lu Ding gave him a once-over. Hmm, he knows how things work.

He took the letter and documents and opened them.

[To my friend Lu Ding,]

[Since we parted, mountains and rivers have stretched vast and distant, with no way to send word. Every time the night grows deep and the dew heavy, when the cold moon peers through the window, I stand alone in the courtyard and often feel my solitary shadow bleak and desolate, as if I can still hear the echoes of us venturing to Wei Gao together in days past...........]

[My abrupt departure back then was truly the rashness of youth, thinking myself no weaker than any man, wishing to compete with my friend to see who reaches greater heights, foolishly waiting for the day we meet again, when heroic spirit would arise naturally, our demeanor unchanged as ever, discussing matters at the summit. Who could have imagined.......]

[Now, hearing of my friend’s impending arrival, Wuyang cannot personally come to welcome you. I beg your forgiveness and offer my apologies in advance. I shall have gifts of atonement when we finally meet.....]

[Later, I heard of my friend’s carefree actions in Laicheng, and my heart yearns for such freedom. However, the court and the common folk are shaken. Officials high and low are rising together, speaking of attack. The populace is influenced by rumors and slander, wishing to obstruct my friend’s journey south. The enemies blocking the path number not just thousands, but tens of thousands.]

[Wuyang’s cultivation is still weak, trapped in a cage of wealth and status, unable to extricate myself, unable to offer any truly powerful assistance. I immediately present a golden token bestowed by the current Great Jing Emperor, inscribed with ’As if the Emperor is Personally Present’. I will do all within my power, tell all that I know.....]

The ending was one plain, straightforward sentence.

[Remember to return it to me after you’re done using it.]Reading through it, Lu Ding gathered it was mostly reminiscing about old times, informing him about the court situation, warning Lu Ding to be careful as many people were coming to stop him from going south, among them no shortage of powerful individuals, prodigies, and so forth...

”He’s still got quite the literary flair.”

Performing a hand seal and incantation, he pointed at the golden token imprint on the letter.

A golden token leaped from the paper, bearing the large characters ’As if the Emperor is Personally Present’.

The usefulness of this thing goes without saying.

Lu Ding caught the golden token.

Sensing An Wuyang’s sentiment.

He said to Fu Xinghe beside him: ”It seems he’s quite favored.”

Fu Xinghe replied: ”I heard that in the Great Jing court, the originally most favored was that Prince Xuanchen. After An Wuyang rose up, he became the most favored one.”

Lu Ding nodded: ”No wonder then, that he has something like this.”

He put away the golden token. While a real man’s fight must be fist to flesh, this is a gesture of goodwill.

He then unfolded the intelligence documents presented by White Eagle.

Tianshun Prefecture’s ’Block Lu’s Southward Journey’, Clear Bright Lake’s ’Gather Idle Talents from All Directions’, Four Dukes Mountain’s ’Resist Lu’s Central Plains Advance’.

These three places were the three most prosperous locations Lu Ding would pass through on his journey south from Laicheng.

And these people were precisely waiting at these three places to block him.

”Good, good, good...... Then we’ll trample Tianshun Prefecture flat, dye Clear Bright Lake with blood, and carve a path straight through Four Dukes Mountain!!”

Lu Ding put away the documents: ”Alright, I know. You can go back now.”

”We’ll meet again in the Royal Capital of Great Jing.”

Mars hurriedly nodded: ”Yes, yes, yes, understood, Grand Duke Lu. Before I leave, I hope you can accept this.”

He handed over a piece of hide from some unknown animal, saying: ”Afterwards, the White Eagle Embassy will spare no effort in gathering all useful information within Great Jing’s borders that concerns you. We will transmit it onto this object for your review.”

Such a polite attitude made Lu Ding feel a bit embarrassed.

But he kept it all in his heart!

We’ll see it in future actions!

”Fine, I’ll accept it. Thank you. If there’s anything you need my help with in the future, if I’m still in Great Jing, then anytime, anywhere. If I’m not in Great Jing, then send someone to find me in the new city.”

”Understood, Grand Duke Lu. We shall take our leave now. You must be busy?”

Mars and his men came quickly and left just as fast.

Fu Xinghe, standing beside him, took over the documents Lu Ding passed to him and asked: ”Brother Lu, so what do we do next.......”

Without turning his head, Lu Ding pointed to the circled location marked ’Block Lu’s Southward Journey’ on the map intelligence White Eagle provided, within Tianshun Prefecture.

”We go here.”

”Aren’t they trying to block Lu’s southward journey?”

A smile gradually spread across Lu Ding’s face, black smoke billowed out directly, and red light blazed fiercely in his pupils.

As he spoke, it was as if two voices intertwined in a reverberating mix, one tyrannically brutal, the other viciously ferocious: ”I beg them, to stop me!!”

Lu Ding was excited. The Inner Demons were delighted.

Lu Ding’s current state genuinely frightened the investigators who had accompanied him.

Because this was clearly a state of Inner Demons breeding, an unstable mental state.

For an ordinary person, the next step would probably be an Inner Demon outbreak, a deviation into demonic cultivation.

But Lu Ding could directly take the reins and drive the chariot, his rationality as normal as any person’s, yet this state was far removed from that of a normal person.

Including the waves of aura emanating from his body.

Every time it swept over these investigators, it made them involuntarily tremble, their body hair standing on end, impossible to smooth back down.

If it weren’t for their trust in Lu Ding, if it weren’t for this being during a mission, they would have bolted long ago.

It’s just too damn scary.

......

Tianshun Prefecture, Shuntian Manor.

The Four Great Gates. The Three Great Sects.

The renowned righteous sects numbered over thirty thousand, while the unorthodox and evil paths numbered tens of thousands without end.

In the past, notorious demonic path madmen, demonic cultivators and sorcerers, even human-transformed spirits and monsters that brought calamity to entire regions, all gathered here at Shuntian Manor. Just by saying the phrase ’Block Lu’s Southward Journey’, they could set aside their grudges, unite for a greater cause. Past enmities would be settled another day.

Today, they only discussed how to block Lu Ding.

They had no personal feud or grievance with Lu Ding, but Great Han’s precedent was all too real.

If they really let Lu Ding successfully journey south, openly walking into the Royal Capital, although they didn’t know his purpose for coming, if it truly was to interfere with the imperial succession, or for state cooperation...

Then if Great Jing were to once learn from Great Han’s reforms.

Their good days would be over.

The solidified social classes would loosen.

Their lofty, elevated statuses would collapse. They could no longer rely on personal might to ignore the law, no longer lean on sect influence to lord over a region.

No longer enslave the weak in a one-way, exploitative system.

Everything, everything, would have to follow the law.

How could they possibly stand that?

Therefore, even without direct conflict of interest with Lu Ding, they absolutely could not let Lu Ding succeed in his southward journey!!!

They must resist Great Han, resist Lu Ding!!

Maintain the feudal status quo, reject modern thought!

On the stage of the grand gathering at Shuntian Manor.

The Dragon Tiger Gate, one of Tianshun Prefecture’s Four Great Gates, acting as host, had its Gate Master, Guan Long, speak from the stage: ”I thank all fellow practitioners of Tianshun Prefecture for responding to the call and coming to jointly block Lu Ding’s southward journey. Today, my Dragon Tiger Gate has prepared a banquet and guest rooms here at Shuntian Manor. Everyone, please rest awhile.”

”After you have eaten and drunk your fill.”

”At sunrise tomorrow, I hope all fellow practitioners will disperse your sect disciples to seal off all routes leading south from Tianshun Prefecture. We must ensure Lu Ding is blocked outside Tianshun Prefecture!”

The sect master of the Golden Womb Sect, one of the Three Great Sects, spoke up: ”Well said. If he knows what’s good for him, then we merely need to block him outside Tianshun Prefecture. If he doesn’t know what’s good for him, then don’t blame us for being ruthless and merciless.”

As he spoke.

He looked towards the figure sitting nearby, who, though human in form, had an aura ghostly and sinister, clearly not human: ”Old Ghost Lei, what’s your view?”

The man called Old Ghost Lei, using a crystal spoon to gently scoop up human brain from his plate, tasting it delicately while speaking casually: ”If not for consideration of Great Han, I would ensure he comes but never returns!!!”

A sudden smile appeared on his face: ”Presumably, the brain of this so-called Corpse-Shattering Taishui must be quite delicious....”

Suddenly.

”REPORT!!!! Black clouds press down upon the sky outside Tianshun Prefecture, Anomalous Phenomena churn and float! A chariot pulled by six dragons approaches!!!!”