Chapter 124: Lord Shen Goes Online (Trying a 3000-Character Chapter)

Just like Lin Rou, demon hunters who have long roamed the Jianghu inevitably pick up some bad habits.

They insist on masters fighting masters and juniors fighting juniors.

Liu Bin, a personal adjutant general from the Zhen Mo Si with blood-stained hands, cares only about eliminating opponents as quickly as possible, sparing no opportunity.

This spear thrust was clearly delivered with full force!

Xiao Qiangwei had originally intended to avoid his initial sharpness; seeing this scene, her heart tightened involuntarily.

Trying to summon her qi again to stall Liu Bin was already too late; she could only hastily shout a warning: "I'll attack his right shoulder, you dodge first!"

These words were actually meant for Liu Bin, hoping to disturb his mind.

However, how could a veteran general who had risen through slaughter as a Captain be affected by her? His long spear surged forward like breaking bamboo, without the slightest pause.

Cold light like stars pointed straight at the throat!

Overwhelming qi surged forth; Shen Yi's robes billowed, his hair lifted, as he gazed at this aged adjutant, seeming to see something, a strange flicker abruptly crossing his clear black eyes.

At the instant the spear tip thrust toward him, he shifted slightly, his five slender fingers suddenly grasping the frosty spear shaft.

Beneath that palm, the torrential momentum settled into calm in an instant; the force capable of tearing demons apart vanished like a mud ox entering the sea.

Liu Bin's face changed drastically; just as he intended to withdraw the spear and thrust again, he found the long spear in his hand uncontrollably slipping from his grasp, seized by Shen Yi and held horizontally across his palm.

When two fight for their lives, what kind of move is seizing an opponent's weapon?

Not only him, but even Xiao Qiangwei, rushing in with a palm strike, was stunned for a moment: "..."

On the old general's face, brimming with intent to kill, rage suddenly surged: "How dare a young upstart insult me!"

Accompanied by a long roar, he once again recklessly mobilized his Inner Elixir, momentum surging wildly, determined to attack bare-handed again!

"She is merely injured; you probably stink by now, don't you?"

Shen Yi raised an eyebrow, gave the opponent no further chance, and casually flung the long spear back.

Under the enhancement of the Nine Molts of Immortals and Demons, the spear erupted with even more terrifying momentum than before, blasting forth with a boom!

Hearing this, panic suddenly flashed across Liu Bin's face; before he could react, the spear tail fiercely thrust forward, piercing his abdomen with a wet crunch and pinning him to the ground with force still remaining!

A faint metallic tremor hummed incessantly.

"..."

Xiao Qiangwei still held her palm-strike pose, but Liu Bin was already lying on the ground, with only Shen Yi remaining before him.

Shock indescribable surged in her heart, followed immediately by confusion; she stared blankly at the ground... How could a master of the Elixir Formation Realm fall so easily?

Shen Yi stepped forward, slapped her hand away, approached Liu Bin, squatted slightly, and reached out to tear at the man's clothes.

"Get away!" Liu Bin, no longer covering his bleeding abdomen, panicked and tried to stop the youth.

Slap!

Shen Yi's expression remained unchanged; he delivered a fierce slap right across the old man's face.

Liu Bin's head tilted sideways, spitting blood mixed with several broken teeth; his graying beard stained dark red, his mind dazed, yet he still roared indistinctly: "Dare you disrupt the public officials of Tingyang Commandery? Do you not fear the Regional Commander will cut off your head!"

"You should worry about your own head first."

Shen Yi's eyes showed no anomaly; he casually tore open the ink-black robe on the man's body.

The next moment, even Xiao Qiangwei could not help but widen her eyes.

Compared to the spear wound, Liu Bin's entire ribcage was stripped of flesh and skin; the bare bones were corroded into a pitted state, revealing the slight undulation of internal organs directly, with disgusting green fluid covering even the viscera.

Clearly, he had been struck by a deadly poison.

Shen Yi had noticed something amiss the moment the man made his move.

Possessing the abilities of the Mountain Lord, his eyes could distinguish gods and ghosts, having the skill of the Soul-Driving Envoy and the Corpse-Controller.

At the instant the opponent mobilized his qi, his soul showed signs of detaching from his body.

Looking at this injury again, even if Shen Yi had not intervened today, Liu Bin would already be half a dead man.

No wonder he rushed to attack first; he intended to establish authority by killing the weak, thereby intimidating Xiao Qiangwei...

He gathered his thoughts.

Shen Yi stood up again, looked down at the old man, and said softly: "I am very curious; in your current state, how do you guard the demons here?"

All this happened so fast that even many Captains could not react in time.

Hearing these words, their faces all turned somewhat panicked, standing tensely in place.

Xiao Qiangwei's chest heaved unevenly; she cried out in shock and anger: "No wonder you refused to return for your report; you were afraid General You would find someone else to replace your adjutant position? Why not tell him and let him treat your injuries?!"

"I do not need treatment! I demand the Wumiao's Refinement!"

Liu Bin bared his teeth like an old lion, drooling as he roared: "I have fought all my life to become a Great Demon-Subduing General! Not to be suspended for treatment, barely clinging to life!"

Hearing this, Xiao Qiangwei trembled with rage, unable to speak for a long time.

The opponent must guard for fifty years without error to earn one chance at the Wumiao's Refinement; at that time, not only would his strength be preserved, but he could even improve slightly further.

But the problem is, Liu Bin still needs at least three to five years before his next Refinement.

And during this period, Outside Qingzhou is completely undefended against the Black Stone Pool Demon Lord they guard!

He could have discussed it properly with General You, yet chose to conceal and not report.

"I understand; you think General You is too young, you won't outlast him, worried that accepting his favor will make it hard to leave later, planning to switch allegiance after the Wumiao's Refinement... Heh, perhaps to Chen Laoyezi, right?"

Xiao Qiangwei gritted her teeth, wishing she could slap him again.

"This is a matter of the Zhen Mo Si; what business is it of yours? What business is it of yours!!"

"If you wish to punish this general, let General You Longtao come! Let the Regional Commander come! What qualification do you demon hunters have to judge this general!"

Liu Bin did not bow his head; at this point, he finally stopped mentioning anything about "unknown identity."

Hearing this, Xiao Qiangwei turned away indifferently, preparing to rush back to Tingyang Commandery as fast as possible: "Wait; I will not let you down."

The opponent was right; matters of the Zhen Mo Si must be handled by the people of the Zhen Mo Si.

Liu Bin closed his eyes, panting; the many Captains surrounding him, their faces complex, made way.

Just then, Shen Yi reached a hand toward her and said calmly, "Give me the letter."

"Huh?" Xiao Qiangwei turned back, momentarily stunned. Although she felt it no longer mattered whether the letter was read or not, recalling the fierce manner in which he had just struck out, she found herself inexplicably trusting the young man a bit more.

She reached into the silver bell and took out a letter.

Shen Yi took it, the envelope pinched between his fingers, and waved it at Liu Bin: "Open your eyes. See if this is General You's handwriting?"

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Liu Bin opened his eyes coldly. Xiao Qiangwei had cared for General You's mother for many years and had been adopted as a sworn sister; the letter she delivered on behalf of his sworn nephew could not possibly be fake.

"Your acknowledgment is enough."

Under the puzzled gazes of the crowd, Shen Yi tucked the envelope away, brushed his hand past his waist, and flung his waist token onto Liu Bin.

"..."

Liu Bin gripped the waist token, staring at the young man in confusion.

He watched the other slowly turn around, a fierce wolf cloak now in hand, draped casually over his shoulders.

In an instant, the rich, solemn authority that appeared on that young face made the surrounding Captains instinctively fall silent.

Shen Yi adjusted his collar with one hand, his voice indifferent.

"Liu Bin has allowed demons and monsters to run rampant, and knew yet failed to report it."

"Shen Yi, under General Chen Qiankun, by order of General You's handwritten directive, temporarily takes command of this place."

He lowered his gaze to glance at the old man on the ground, then turned and walked toward a nearby house.

"Bind him for me."

Once the words fell, Liu Bin finally looked down at the waist token in his hand. His pupils abruptly contracted, and even his breathing grew much more rapid.

Neither the waist token of an aide-de-camp nor General You's handwritten directive alone would be enough to shake his position here.

But the two together...

"I want to see that letter!" He whipped his head around abruptly, but received no response. He refused to believe it—refused to believe You Longtao had truly sent someone from Zhen Mo Si to investigate him!

The Captains' faces were hesitant. Avoiding General Liu's gaze, they quietly slipped their hands behind their backs and drew out Demon-Suppressing Chains, faintly cold to the touch.

Compared to their earlier united front against an outsider, this was now Zhen Mo Si's internal family matter.

It was obvious that General You's command outweighed Liu Bin's.

"Bind him?"

Xiao Qiangwei was still wondering when General You had ever issued such an order, when she saw that the deputy generals and Captains who had just been standing against her with blades now had completely changed their attitude.

Though still somewhat hesitant, they were nonetheless stepping toward Liu Bin one pace at a time.

"General Liu... forgive us..."

The deputy generals crouched down and together pulled the long spear out with force.

They knew of Liu Bin's many years of hard service, so as long as they did not see General You's order with their own eyes, they would not... and dared not defy Liu Bin, pretending they knew nothing.

But now that the other party had already been discovered by Zhen Mo Si, there was nothing more to be said.

Although that aide-de-camp was much younger, he looked no weaker than General Liu at his prime, holding both authority and strength firmly in hand.

When the Demon-Suppressing Chains wrapped around him, Liu Bin's eyes finally darkened.

Even after being helped up by his subordinates, he still hung his head, his spirit utterly lost.

"General Liu... Lord Shen's waist token..."

Two Captains bound him tightly, then carefully tried to take the waist token clenched in his hand.

If nothing unexpected happened, once this old general was escorted back to Tingyang Prefecture, he would become the first aide-de-camp personally executed by General You.

They themselves, having known and failed to report, did not know if they could even keep their lives.

"What is even going on here."

Xiao Qiangwei's old injury flared up. Frowning, she pressed a hand to her lower abdomen, yet still walked briskly toward the house.

She pushed the door open and entered, only to find the young man sitting behind a desk, carefully reading through a Juan Sect dossier.

With the fierce wolf cloak draped over him, he looked like an entirely different person from the one who had been following behind her earlier.

"Besides the silver bell, you also took Old Man Chen's aide-de-camp waist token?"

She stood at the doorway, her face full of astonishment.

Either of these two things required decades, even a hundred years, of bitter toil. The other party looked so young—how could he possess both?

"Is there a problem?"

Shen Yi slightly raised his eyes.

Xiao Qiangwei bit her lip, suddenly finding this person awfully strange. It had been the same back in Ning'an City—after killing the tiger demon he came back without a word, as if these astonishing events meant nothing to him, as if he didn't care at all.

"No problem!"

Shen Yi nodded: "Then please trouble you to call two deputy generals in for me. I want to know about the matter of the demons at Black Stone Pool."

Taking the big shot's advice, today I split three chapters of six thousand characters into two chapters of three thousand. I don't know if the reading experience will be any better... anyway, it's six thousand characters either way; I'll post whichever looks more substantial, and if not, I'll switch back tomorrow.

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(End of this chapter)