Without anyone quite noticing, another month and more had slipped past, and the Spring Festival was now less than a fortnight away.

During this time, word arrived from Zeng Qiang. Every last one of the disreputable factions Xiao Mo had placed on the list had been rooted out and eliminated by the Zhou Kingdom's forces.

As for the cultivators belonging to those factions who had committed the most grievous wrongdoings, even without the common people's testimony, everyone in their hearts already knew who most deserved to face justice. Not to mention that these cultivators had never bothered to conceal their misdeeds, and their reputations had preceded them far and wide. With each faction eliminated, Zeng Qiang had little difficulty combing through the official records and drawing on word of mouth to bring every last offending cultivator to account. Their spirit stones and magical artifacts were naturally confiscated into the national treasury.

Of course, within not a few of these small factions there were also cultivators who had simply been cultivating peacefully, without having committed any particular offense. For these, Zeng Qiang, acting on Xiao Mo's orders, presented them with a choice: serve the Zhou Kingdom.

For Xiao Mo had decided upon something. After the New Year, he intended to establish an institution to be called the Demon Suppression Bureau.

The purpose of the Demon Suppression Bureau was to manage cultivators, giving them an official position within the Zhou Kingdom's framework, so that they might contribute their efforts toward the kingdom's greater cause. If, for instance, rogue cultivators, demon spirits, or wandering monsters committed acts of evil anywhere across Great Zhou's counties, prefectures, and provinces, the Demon Suppression Bureau would be responsible for dealing with them.

The Bureau would be organized into four tiers corresponding to county, prefecture, province, and the capital, with the capital's bureau serving as the Bureau's central headquarters. Every cultivator within the Demon Suppression Bureau could work their way upward through the ranks. With each promotion, the annual stipend of spirit resources and heaven-and-earth treasures they received would naturally increase. Beyond this, whenever a Bureau cultivator completed a mission, they could accumulate merit based on the difficulty of the task, and that merit could be exchanged within the Bureau for a wide variety of heaven-and-earth treasures.

In essence, the Demon Suppression Bureau was structured rather like an ordinary sect. Only, a sect was merely a sect, while the Demon Suppression Bureau stood behind a dynastic nation.

Beyond human cultivators, Xiao Mo also intended to welcome cultivators of the demon race into the Bureau's ranks. Any demon cultivator with sufficient ambition was welcome to join, receiving an official position under the Zhou Kingdom's authority. The guiding principle was simple: equality between human and demon alike.

The finer details, however, Xiao Mo felt were better left until after the New Year. For now, at least, he intended to enjoy the festival in peace.

With less than seven days remaining before New Year's Eve, every corner of the palace had been draped in festive decorations. Long ribbons of red silk hung high from the treetops and the roof beams, and beneath the eaves, lantern after lantern glowed a deep, vivid red.

In years past, the festival had been a quiet affair within the palace, with only Xiao Mo and Empress Dowager Yan between them. Xiao Mo would go to pay his New Year's respects to the Empress Dowager, and was even obliged to bow before that treacherous minister Yan Shan'ao. After Ruxue and Siyao entered the palace it had grown somewhat livelier, but only somewhat.

This year, however, seemed different from the rest.

This year, the inner palace of the Zhou Kingdom's capital was no longer the quiet, hollow place it had once been.

Walking through the palace grounds, Xiao Mo would frequently come across Xue Kui leading Little Hundun in snowball fights with the palace maids. Because Xiao Mo had granted her special liberties, Xue Kui was free to roam the palace wherever she pleased, going wherever she and Hundun wished. And because she was so adorable, and Little Hundun endearingly round and funny-looking, not a few of the palace maids had grown genuinely fond of them and were happy to play.

On this particular day, however, Little Hundun was unavailable to keep Xue Kui company. Yu Yunwei was still turning over in her mind how best to deal with Bai Ruxue, and had no time to spare for Xue Kui either. The other palace maids were all busy with the year-end preparations, and so a bored Xue Kui was left to entertain herself alone.

It struck Xue Kui suddenly that she would make herself a fishing rod and go fishing at Ten Thousand Carp Lake.

By this time, Ten Thousand Carp Lake had frozen over. Xue Kui chipped a small hole through the ice, dragged over a little stool, dropped a length of thread into the opening, and set about fishing with the utmost seriousness.

Before long, the ice gave way beneath her, and Xue Kui plunged into the lake with a splash. At the Qi Refinement realm, Xue Kui was barely any different from an ordinary person, and she could not swim. She thrashed and flailed without pause as the freezing water soaked through her clothes and poured into her mouth, the bone-deep cold leaving her close to despair. Before long, Xue Kui's strength gave out entirely, and her eyes began to close.

Just as she was about to sink to the bottom of the lake, she felt, in a daze, a length of silk ribbon winding itself around her then she was pulled out of the water.

"And whose child is this, getting herself into such mischief?"

Looking at the little girl before her, drenched from head to toe like a drowned chick, Bai Ruxue smiled softly and pressed a slender finger gently against her brow.

In an instant, Xue Kui felt warmth wrap around her entire body. When she opened her eyes, she found herself suspended in the air by the silk ribbon, her clothes completely dry, her body pleasantly warm but the moment she saw clearly the face of the beautiful elder sister before her, her heart gave a lurch, and the image of the hundred-zhang true dragon from that day surged back into her mind.

"Don't hit me! Don't hit me! Xue Kui is very well-behaved! Really, truly well-behaved!"

Xue Kui curled herself into a ball in fright, arms wrapped tightly around her own head.

"Who said anything about hitting you? I just saved you." Bai Ruxue laughed softly, lowering Xue Kui gently to the ground. "What is this? I rescue you, and I do not even get a word of thanks?"

"Th... thank you, Elder Sister Ruxue..." Xue Kui swallowed, and spoke in a very small voice.

"No need to thank me." Bai Ruxue crouched down and ruffled Xue Kui's hair lightly. "Come now, let Elder Sister walk you back."

"Oh?" Hearing that this elder sister intended to walk her back, Xue Kui startled and hurried to say, "Elder Sister Ruxue, I know the way back by myself..."

Xue Kui was worried that if Elder Sister Ruxue walked her back and Sister Yunwei saw them, it would set off another clash between the two.

Though, to be fair, Sister Yunwei would not exactly win...

"It is fine. I happen to have something to discuss with your Sister Yunwei." Bai Ruxue turned and set off, and Xue Kui had no choice but to follow.

Walking at Bai Ruxue's side, Xue Kui kept tilting her head upward now and then, stealing glances at her profile. The more she looked, the more she felt this elder sister was truly lovely. And Xue Kui was beginning to feel that this elder sister really did not seem like a bad person, because she had never once done anything to hurt her or Sister Yunwei. Even now, she had saved Xue Kui's life.

"Elder Sister..." After quite a while of hesitation, Xue Kui called out softly.

"Just call me Elder Sister Ruxue," Bai Ruxue said with a quiet smile. "Go on, what is it?"

"Well then... Elder Sister Ruxue..." Xue Kui pressed her small hands together, her voice carrying a trace of nervousness. "Someone as beautiful and as powerful as Elder Sister Ruxue, what man in the world could you not have? So why does Elder Sister Ruxue have to compete with Sister Yunwei for Brother Xiao?"

"Do you want to know the answer?" Bai Ruxue said with a smile.

"Yes, yes!" Xue Kui nodded vigorously.

"It is quite simple."

Bai Ruxue stopped walking, bent down, and gave the little girl's nose the gentlest tap.

"Because every other man in the world... is not him."

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