Chapter 137 Town Demon Guard

After hearing Zhu Shan's words, Sun Xuan deliberately put on a look of hesitation and indecision on his face.

He did not answer Zhu Shan's question immediately either.

After all, if Sun Xuan agreed too readily, it would seem as though he had some ulterior motives.

After all, to everyone in Qinghe County, Sun Xuan was a stranger and an expert.

Although Sun Xuan himself claimed that he had lurked in the Li family because he was secretly searching for a true spirit artifact,

this was, after all, only Sun Xuan's side of the story, and no one could say for sure how credible it really was.

Therefore, it was better to appear somewhat hesitant and indecisive, as this could also dispel any doubts in Zhu Shan's mind.

Seeing the look of hesitation flash across Sun Xuan's face, Zhu Shan was overjoyed inwardly.

As long as there was no on-the-spot rejection, it meant that the other party was still somewhat tempted to join the Town Demon Guard.

Furthermore, the fact that the other party did not immediately agree also indicated that he should not be someone harboring malicious intentions.

Otherwise, if someone wanted to infiltrate the Town Demon Guard to cause trouble, he should have agreed instantly when invited just now.

Thinking of this, the last shred of doubt in Zhu Shan's heart was completely dispelled.

Immediately afterward, Zhu Shan eloquently rattled on to Sun Xuan about the benefits of joining the Town Demon Guard.

He glossed right over the responsibilities that the Town Demon Guard had to undertake, and didn't mention a single word about the considerable casualty rate caused by fighting numerous eerie demons and monsters.

Listening to Zhu Shan's explanation, Sun Xuan gained a basic understanding of the Town Demon Guard, this violent organization used by the imperial court to suppress demons and eerie entities.

It could be seen that the look of temptation on Sun Xuan's face was becoming increasingly obvious, as if he had been persuaded by the various benefits and privileges mentioned by Zhu Shan.

After a short moment, Sun Xuan cupped his fists at Zhu Shan and then spoke:

"Since Brother Zhu sincerely invites me to enter the Town Demon Guard,

if I were to continue declining, it would appear that I am somewhat unappreciative of favors.

Regarding the matter of joining the Town Demon Guard, I must trouble Brother Zhu to look after this!"

Having spoken eloquently for a long time, Zhu Shan, whose mouth was somewhat dry, saw that Sun Xuan finally spoke up to agree to join the Town Demon Guard.

He instantly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and the joy on his face immediately became apparent.

"What trouble is this? You and I, brothers at first sight, find this to be merely a trivial matter.

After entering the Town Demon Guard, with Brother Sun's strength, you will definitely rise rapidly in your career.

In the future, even entering the prefecture-level Town Demon Guard will be an absolute breeze.

This younger brother only hopes that when Brother Sun is promoted in the future, you won't forget this younger brother!"

Listening to Zhu Shan's slightly flattering words, Sun Xuan knew that the other party was only being so polite to him because he saw his formidable strength.

In this world, when all is said and done, strength still reigns supreme.

"Brother Zhu is too polite. In the future, when the two of us become colleagues, supporting each other is only right and proper."

After exchanging a few polite words, Sun Xuan and Zhu Shan hastily inspected the Li family's residence, and then under Zhu Shan's lead, headed toward the direction of the Qinghe County Demon Suppression Guard.

As for the subsequent matters of collecting corpses and handling the family property of the Li family, the logistics department under the Town Demon Guard naturally came to handle them, so it had nothing to do with Zhu Shan and the others.

However, while searching the Li family, Zhu Shan and his group still took quite a bit of gold and silver treasures from within the Li family residence.

They even found a secret technique for the integration of soul and body to advance into a ranked Martial Artist inside the Li family's secret treasure chamber.

However, this secret technique was far too crude, falling far short of both the Mysterious Gang Qi obtained by Sun Xuan and the Prison-Suppressing Force inherited by the Town Demon Guard.

Therefore, neither Sun Xuan nor Zhu Shan thought much of this Cultivation Technique.

However, Zhu Shan still carried this Cultivation Technique with him. According to Zhu Shan, although they couldn't use this Cultivation Technique themselves,

turning it in to the treasury of the Town Demon Guard could still exchange it for a good amount of contribution points.

At that time, these contribution points would be split evenly directly with Sun Xuan.

Seeing how resolute Zhu Shan sounded, Sun Xuan did not decline.

Of course, taking the first wave of spoils when the Town Demon Guard went on missions was an unwritten rule within the Town Demon Guard.

After all, every time the Town Demon Guard went on a mission, there was considerable danger, although benefits would be settled later based on contribution.

However, anything obtained during the Town Demon Guard's mission belonged personally to the individual Town Demon Guard members.

In this way, after Sun Xuan divided a lot of benefits such as gold and silver treasures under Zhu Shan's care, he was led by Zhu Shan to quickly rush toward the location of the Town Demon Guard garrison.

The Town Demon Guard was stationed in the eastern part of Qinghe County City, where there was a cluster of buildings that all belonged to the territory of the Town Demon Guard.

In the eastern part of the city, the most prominent building was the Town Demon Guard.

Upon approaching the garrison of the Town Demon Guard, the first thing that came into Sun Xuan's view was a huge black gate.

The gate was cast from an unknown metal, radiating a black metallic luster on its surface, giving people a sense of hardness and heaviness.

Above the metal gate was a plaque with the three large characters of Town Demon Guard standing horizontally across the door frame.

On both sides of the gate were two huge carved stone exotic beasts, giving off a fierce and majestic feel.

The courtyard walls surrounding the entire garrison of the Town Demon Guard were even taller and thicker, rivaling the city walls themselves.

As they approached the garrison of the Town Demon Guard, a solemn and heavy aura immediately rushed toward them.

"Brother Sun, this is the garrison of the Town Demon Guard. Please follow me, Brother Sun, and the two of us will go to report to Town-Demon Envoy."

Zhu Shan made a gesture of invitation toward Sun Xuan.

The Town Demon Guard reserves in the back immediately stepped forward to open the gate of the Town Demon Guard.

Subsequently, Sun Xuan and Zhu Shan entered the interior of the Town Demon Guard garrison.

After entering the gate, there was first a plaza similar to a roll-call platform. After passing through the plaza, there was a fairly large grand hall.

This grand hall should be the council hall where the Town Demon Guard discussed important matters.

After passing through the grand hall, there were various courtyards and houses. These should be the living quarters for the Town Demon Guard and members of its functional departments.

Further back, there was also a prison-like building, a few small palaces, and a nine-story stone pagoda.

Under Zhu Shan's guidance, Sun Xuan headed toward one of the small palaces.

In the palace, Sun Xuan finally met the actual controller of the Qinghe County Demon Suppression Guard, Town Demon Envoy Lü Qing.

Town-Demon Envoy Lü Qing had a lean figure, an unsmiling face, and an air of impartiality and seriousness.

When receiving Sun Xuan, after verifying that there were no Red Lotus Karmic Fire seeds in Sun Xuan's body, Town Demon Envoy Lü Qing encouraged Sun Xuan a few words and then saw him out with tea.

He didn't seem to care much about Sun Xuan's Late Stage Ninth Grade cultivation base.

It was only upon hearing that Sun Xuan had independently refined a true spirit artifact that he looked at Sun Xuan a few more times with some surprise.

As for that Red Lotus Karmic Fire, Sun Xuan also learned afterward:

this thing was also a true spirit artifact, but this true spirit artifact was extremely powerful, ranking thirteenth on the chaos myriad spirits ranking.

Of course, power was not the reason why the Red Lotus Karmic Fire was valued so much by the Town Demon Guard.

After all, on the chaos myriad spirits ranking, there were still more than a dozen true spirit artifacts even more powerful than the Red Lotus Karmic Fire.

The real reason why the Town Demon Guard was so vigilant against the Red Lotus Karmic Fire was because this Red Lotus Karmic Fire was the sect-protecting treasure of the Baihuo Cult, which specifically opposed the imperial court.

This made the Baihuo Cult and the Town Demon Guard natural mortal enemies.

News of the Town Demon Guard in various places being directly crippled by Baihuo Cult members constantly spread within the Great Wei Dynasty.

Of course, there was even more news of the Town Demon Guard uprooting certain strongholds of the Baihuo Cult.

However, the Baihuo Cult members were like venomous snakes hidden in the darkness, who would launch fierce sneak attacks on the Town Demon Guard and the imperial court whenever caught off guard.

And because all of their members were hidden in dark corners, the Town Demon Guard, which wanted to completely exterminate them, often returned empty-handed.

One characteristic of Baihuo Cult members was that they had seeds of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire inside their bodies.

These seeds, on one hand, could assist the cult members in cultivating martial arts, and on the other hand, were equivalent to a time bomb that could control the lives of the cult members anytime and anywhere, thereby ensuring their loyalty.

Therefore, anyone with the Red Lotus Karmic Fire seeds in their bodies was absolutely prohibited from entering the Town Demon Guard.

After the inspection, Sun Xuan was confirmed to have no problems.

He took his leave from Town-Demon Envoy Lü Qing. With Zhu Shan's help, Sun Xuan registered and was entered into the roster within the Town Demon Guard, received his uniform, waist token, and that month's stipend, thus officially joining the Town Demon Guard.

Afterward, Zhu Shan also had Sun Xuan select a single-person small courtyard as his residence, thus allowing him to gain a foothold within the Town Demon Guard.

At Sun Xuan's new lodging, Zhu Shan explained some common-sense issues regarding the Town Demon Guard to Sun Xuan once more.

Amidst Zhu Shan's explanation, Sun Xuan gained an even deeper understanding of the Qinghe County Demon Suppression Guard.

Through Zhu Shan's explanation, Sun Xuan learned that within this Qinghe County Demon Suppression Guard, there was a treasury specifically for exchanging treasures, and an armory housing various Cultivation Techniques and Martial Skills.

There was also the Town Demon Prison holding some special demons and vicious criminals, and the Demon-Sealing Pagoda sealing some demons that could not be killed or temporarily could not be dealt with.

Within the Town Demon Guard, besides ordinary gold and silver, the most important circulating currency was contribution points.

As long as you had enough contribution points, basically everything you wanted could be exchanged for in the treasury of the Town Demon Guard.

Even if the county city's treasury didn't have it, you could go to the prefecture city, the state city, or even the headquarters of the Town Demon Guard in the center of the Great Wei Dynasty's imperial city to exchange for it.

It could be said that for all members of the Town Demon Guard, contribution points were a currency far more important than gold and silver treasures.

After all, some things could be exchanged with contribution points, but could never be bought with gold and silver treasures.

The organizational structure of the Qinghe County Demon Suppression Guard was not complicated either, excluding those logistics functional departments.

The actual person in charge was Town-Demon Envoy Lü Qing.

According to what Zhu Shan secretly told him behind the scenes, this Town Demon Envoy Lü Qing was no simple character.

Town Demon Envoy Lü Qing was originally an expert in the prefecture city, and seemed to have offended someone in the prefecture-level Town Demon Guard, which was why he was demoted down to this impoverished place of Qinghe County.

His strength was not something that a Town-Demon Envoy in an ordinary county city could compare with.

However, this was also a good thing. With such a martial arts expert presiding over the Town Demon Guard,

whether encountering powerful demons, or provocations from the Baihuo Cult or other forces,

they could often seize the initiative and completely suppress these enemies.

Beneath the Envoy of the Town Demon Guard were the Deputy Envoys of the Town Demon Guard.

This Deputy Envoy was not a formal position, but rather more like a substitute for the Envoy.

There were generally around three to five people, all served by powerful members of the Town Demon Guard.

These Deputy Envoys usually assisted the Envoy in doing some administrative work, and would also independently undertake certain missions.

And once they encountered some powerful demons or relatively eerie events,

these Deputy Envoys would lead teams, bringing along some ordinary Town Demon Guard members and Town Demon Guard reserves to handle them.

And once the Envoy left office or was transferred to a higher post, the next Envoy would generally be produced from among these Deputy Envoys.

Below the Deputy Envoys were Sun Xuan, Zhu Shan, and other ordinary members of the Town Demon Guard.

To become a member of the Town Demon Guard, one needed at least the martial arts cultivation base of the Early Stage Ninth Grade.

If one's strength had not reached the Ninth Grade realm and yet still wanted to enter the Town Demon Guard,

then they could only go into the Town Demon Guard reserves.

These Town Demon Guard reserves were all young people with decent martial arts skills.

They belonged under the jurisdiction of the formal Town Demon Guard, and each of their martial arts cultivation bases was quite good.

Among them, those equivalent to the level of Master Han and Master Zhao of the Li family were everywhere, and there was no shortage of Martial Artists even much stronger than them.

However, the ages of these Town Demon Guard reserves were much younger than both Master Han and Master Zhao.

Every single one of them could be said to be a little Genius.

They were the supplementary forces of the Town Demon Guard. Once someone among them reached the Ninth Grade in strength, they would become a formal member of the Town Demon Guard, soaring straight up in a single bound.

And if they reached fifty years old without achieving a Breakthrough, they would be retired from the Town Demon Guard.

Then they would be assigned to the yamen to be constables or go to the city defense team to be minor military officers, which could also be considered retiring to a peaceful old age.

From top to bottom, the Town Demon Guard had such an organizational structure, which revealed a sense of rigor amidst its simplicity.

Just like a machine, it operated day and night.

Besides these, Sun Xuan also heard Zhu Shan mention that formal members newly joined like Sun Xuan

would generally be arranged with a mission to suppress demons and eerie entities in the near future.

This was to exercise the newcomers' ability to deal with demons. Sometimes, some newly joined members of the Town Demon Guard had never even seen what a demon actually looked like.

Under such circumstances, newcomers were generally not allowed to go on missions alone; instead, a veteran member of the Town Demon Guard would lead them to execute the mission.

Under this circumstance, the possibility of encountering danger was not high, and it was considered more of an initiation ritual sort of thing.

Zhu Shan said that although Sun Xuan had long possessed experience in dealing with demons and was formidable in strength, such an initiation ritual had little meaning for him.

However, the Town Demon Guard should still arrange one for him. This was just a ritualistic thing, so he shouldn't overthink it.

Sure enough, not long after Zhu Shan left, just as Sun Xuan had rested in the courtyard for a while, someone came looking for him at his door once again.

"Lord Sun, Lord Town-Demon Envoy has passed down an order for all Lord members of the Town Demon Guard to gather at the grand hall for a council meeting!"

Upon hearing the knock on the door, Sun Xuan opened it, and then the face of a young reserve of the Town Demon Guard came into Sun Xuan's view.

He first cupped his fists and bowed to Sun Xuan, and then respectfully spoke to Sun Xuan.

After nodding in agreement, Sun Xuan put on the uniform of the Town Demon Guard and lifted his feet to head toward the direction of the grand hall.