"Big Brother, Second Brother, we've crossed the Yellow River; we have to be careful from here onwards." Households Commander Zuo's expression was solemn, his aura exuding a cold intensity.

He led the elite team of the Demon Hunting Bureau, just stepping out of Fengling Ferry.

Fengling Ferry, positioned at the Yellow River's eastern turning point, is presently the largest ferry crossing on the river. Its strategic position is extremely important, making it historically a place desired by military strategists.

This time Households Commander Zuo brought the people of the Demon Hunting Bureau not to spy on Northern military affairs—that is the duty of the Military Statistical Investigation Department under the command of Duke Wei's Princely Heir.

Since the Demon Hunting Bureau's inception, it has been tasked with purifying the world of demon scourges. No matter where in the heavens, as long as there are demons rampaging, the Demon Hunting Bureau is obliged to rise to the occasion, slaying demons and rescuing innocent people from peril.

This is also Xu Qing's stringent requirement for the Demon Hunting Bureau. Even if in enemy territory, facing demon disturbances, the Demon Hunting Bureau must never stand by idly.

In Xu Qing's grand vision, the Demon Hunting Bureau is like a peacekeeping force, maintaining justice in the world.

If in the future the Immortal Dynasty matures completely, a Thunder Department of gods can be established using the existing framework of the Demon Hunting Bureau, or a Judicial Celestial could be found to lead the Demon Hunting Bureau.

In any case, the current actions of the Demon Hunting Bureau are filled with justice, which is the unspoken agreement between Xu Qing and the old Emperor.

Although the purpose of the Demon Hunting Bureau's establishment is not entirely pure, its leader is a man of justice, which is sufficient to make this mission shine gloriously.

In this world, certain ideals indeed require the tenacious guard of idealists. Of course, Xu Qing exploited Households Commander Zuo's righteous character, appearing somewhat despicable from a certain perspective; this is also an inherent flaw of power strategists.

Power strategists can act with shameless tactics but cannot rely solely on despicability. In this regard, among monarchs below the third generation, Emperor Wen of Han is an exemplary model, far superior to both Xu Qing and the old Emperor.

The Big Brother and Second Brother mentioned by Households Commander Zuo were precisely the Guo brothers. After a long journey filled with hardships, they finally arrived at a village to rest, this village being called Niu Village.

The village elder had been waiting at the entrance, his hair grayed, his face wrinkled, and his eyes anxious with anticipation.

He was an old acquaintance of Households Commander Zuo, as Households Commander Zuo had not come to the north to hunt demons for the first time.

Currently, the number of demons in the north far exceeds that in the south, and Prince Yu pays it no mind.

Without Xu Qing's regulation, those major powers in the north, to the point of insanity, even actively fed demons using common people. These vile acts severely harmed the prestige of the Great Yu Court.

Unlike the south, when Households Commander Zuo reveals the Demon Hunting Bureau's name in the north, not only does he receive no cooperation from officials and nobles, he faces repeated difficulties. It could be said that demon hunting in the north is an excruciatingly difficult task that everyone tries to avoid, yet Households Commander Zuo came resolutely.

Now Xu Qing has sent two confidants to assist him, and Households Commander Zuo silently vowed to never betray the trust of Your Majesty and Young Protector Xu.

…

…

The setting sun like blood threw ghost-like shadows from the old locust tree at Niu Village. The village elder familiar with Households Commander Zuo clutched a faded sweat cloth with trembling hands, his knuckles white from exertion as he spoke with a voice filled with fear and tremor:

"Since Niu Erzhu had an outbreak under the old locust tree on the third day of last month, the village hasn't found peace." As he spoke, he tremblingly took out an indigo cloth shoe from a vine box, the sole stuck with foul black mud, exuding a stench. "This was what his wife found beside the grindstone…"

Households Commander Zuo's expression was grave as he received the shoe, gently sniffing it, causing the bronze compass at his waist to suddenly tremor violently. Guo Li curiously drew closer, glimpsing three parallel dark red claw marks inside the shoe vamp, which greatly resembled the spider demon claws recorded in the "Demon Chronicles."

"After the Ghost Festival, things have been more wicked." The village elder continued, suddenly unbuttoning his tunic, revealing a grotesque burn on his chest. The scabs surprisingly formed the three seal characters "Moon Lady," making one's skin crawl. "The night before the Zhou Family girl went missing, I personally saw her standing on the river beach singing a ghostly chant, her eyeballs glowing with green light..."

Before his voice faded, the direction of the ancestral hall suddenly emitted a woman's mournful wail. Guo Li followed the sound and saw a disheveled and dirty peasant woman hanging a red cloth on the locust tree. The fabric had eerie talismans drawn in chicken blood, and upon closer inspection, it was a reverse-written "Rebirth Scripture," exuding unspeakable eeriness.

"That's Shuanzhu's mother." The village elder's turbid tears rolled, extracting a peach wood rattle from his sleeve. The drum face's Yin Yang Fish was bitten through by sharp teeth, the remaining slime shimmering phosphorescently in the twilight, "The night before last, at the hour of the night watch, I saw a shadow carrying a sack to the mass grave; that thing...that thing had gills at the back of its neck!"

Households Commander Zuo's face changed drastically, the Nine-Ring Saber swiftly unsheathing with a "swish," the blade encased in a biting chill. The demon mirror embedded in the saber's spine reflected the ancestral hall's roof—several blue-gray scales were wedged between the tiles, their edges still smeared with undried blood. He scraped a bit of the crushed powder, and the blood color unexpectedly congealed on the compass's surface, forming a Yellow River trajectory map, a particular whirlpool marking aligned with a demon lair from the Demon Hunting Bureau's secret report.

Households Commander Zuo immediately pulled out a bronze compass from his bosom, its needle wildly trembling pointing to the village's eastern mass grave.

He first instructed Guo Zhuang to take the others to rest and protect Niu Village during this period. Then he untied the mechanical artifact resembling a bamboo dragonfly from his waist, pricked his fingertip, inscribing a blood symbol on the wing, his expression solemn as he spoke to Guo Li: "This is the newly developed 'Blue Kite Wing' from the Heavenly Work Institute, Second Brother hold tight."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.