Chapter 655: The Bottomless-Pit-Like Dragon-Tiger Fruit-Position

"This Bimahou is a bitter cultivator who came from the mortal world, ascended through merit and virtue. His lineage is unknown, and since coming to the Celestial Court, he has never been seen to have any friends visit him — he looks like a lone wanderer."

In a short span of time, General Hongjing had already gathered most of the information.

The post of Bimahou was originally a sinecure, and furthermore this person was not promoted by anyone, but ascended through the merit of heaven and earth, so there was no need to investigate his background — that is why there is only this much information.

"You suspect that he has a grudge with Princess Ziling, and worry that after you return she will hear his complaint and take revenge on him, so while Ziling has gone to attend the ceremony, he has tampered with something in the mortal world to throw people off the trail?"

General Hongjing nearly laughed at himself as he spoke.

Although that woman Ziling was adept at social maneuvering and rarely made enemies in the Celestial Court, the only one she could be said to have had a conflict with was this Bimahou.

But the problem was, even if this person truly had such an intention, he would need the ability to match.

Ziling herself is a dragon demon at the sixth-rank Heavenly Immortal realm, and surely still carries protective items bestowed by Qingluan, let alone the fact that her lion-tiger beast was once an Arhat from whom the Puti Sect stripped the fruit-position — even now that the fruit-position has been stripped, its demon body, tempered by that fruit-position, is absolutely not something an ordinary Heavenly Immortal could handle.

As for those above Heavenly Immortal, those would be Taiyi Immortals.

Cultivators who have reached this level — which of them does not have a clear lineage and sect? The monk may run away, but the temple cannot; to dare lay hands on someone carrying a Celestial Edict to the mortal world on business — wouldn't that be wanting to be classified by the Celestial Court as a demonic evil, and have their entire sect swept clean along with them?

Moreover, if there really were a Taiyi Immortal backing him, for a matter like this, wouldn't it suffice to simply hold a banquet and clear the air a little?

Kill someone over such a trivial matter?

Bored out of one's mind!

"..."

Qingluan did not respond, and slowly stepped into the Imperial Stables.

Rather than relying on logic to speculate, he trusted his own eyes more.

When a person should have returned but did not, then something has gone wrong.

Since something has gone wrong, there is always a reason.

Investigate one by one, and that will be enough.

"Sigh."

Seeing this, General Hongjing could only heave a helpless sigh.

How on earth did a cultivator with a sick mind like this manage to sit at such a high position as fourth-rank?

However... the other party did not seem to regard Ziling as unimportant as he had appeared that day; on the contrary, judging by today's abnormal behavior of Qingluan coming uninvited to his own residence—

That little she-dragon clearly held quite a significant place in this general's heart.

Relying on the relationship between that nephew and this Zi Ling Xianzi... tsk, Hongjing stepped forward to follow, and his confidence in befriending this Hongze Daxian suddenly grew considerably.

With two generals visiting the Imperial Stables, there should have been someone to receive them.

But after sensing the two men's auras—

The Supervisor and Deputy Supervisor, supporting each other, were already so weak in the knees they could not walk out of the great hall.

General Qingluan had returned to heaven and come straight here without going anywhere else — the implication could no longer be more obvious.

Their own Bimahou, my lord, was truly in for a great calamity this time!

"My lord!"

The Supervisor glanced back into the hall, saw that towering Golden Body still sitting steady, and in his anxious urgency, his voice even cracked.

The two had just wanted to speak up and try to dissuade once more, but before the words could leave their mouths, they saw two figures, one after the other, already step into the hall.

It's over!

The Supervisor and Deputy Supervisor, forcing awkward smiles to bow, simply collapsed to the ground from weak legs, then hurriedly crawled back up in a most comical fashion.

"We humbly welcome Great General Qingluan Xuanwei!"

"We welcome General Hongjing!"

After the two finished calling out with lowered heads, they stole a glance at Bimahou — their expressions panicked yet tinged with sorrow, as if looking at a dead man, hoping only not to be implicated themselves.

General Qingluan paid no attention at all to the state of these two, and simply walked slowly to the desk.

"This humble official welcomes the General." Lady Qinghua rose to her feet and bowed with meticulous propriety.

"..."

Qingluan, as if he had not heard, simply gazed silently at the Golden Body; after a long silence, without a single wasted word, he said lightly: "Are you afraid of me?"

At these words, everyone else in the hall, including General Hongjing, showed expressions of astonishment.

Isn't that a rhetorical question! You bullied his mount, and he rushed over here in such a hurry — and he's a celebrity of the Celestial Court, just promoted — who wouldn't be afraid?

Yet Lady Qinghua shook her head: "Not afraid."

Since showing weakness in front of Princess Ziling last time, she had made great progress; now, facing a fourth-rank great general, she could still remain neither overbearing nor obsequious.

"Why?" Qingluan's expression did not change.

"Because this humble official handles affairs according to Celestial Court law, with no errors or omissions, has committed no fault, and therefore is not afraid." Lady Qinghua met his gaze with composure.

At first hearing, this statement made a great deal of sense, but when she was merely a seventh-rank Bimahou and the person before her was a fourth-rank Hongze Daxian, it seemed somewhat pale and feeble.

As the saying goes, one rank higher is enough to crush a person.

Between the two of them lay a full six ranks, like an impassable chasm, difficult to cross.

The Supervisor and Deputy Supervisor, who had just barely managed to stand, collapsed limply to the ground once more.

Yet the next moment, General Qingluan simply nodded: "Good."

He turned and walked straight toward the hall's exit, but as he passed Hongjing, he left behind a single flat, unruffled remark: "Have someone draw up the paperwork, transfer him under my command, promote him to subordinate sixth-rank."

Before the words had finished settling, this Hongze Daxian had already left the Imperial Stables.

"Huh?"

Hongjing never in his wildest dreams imagined that the two of them had come over today in such a fierce manner, only to end up promoting this Bimahou.

The Supervisor and Deputy Supervisor were also full of bewilderment; looking again at Lady Qinghua, their eyes held nothing but blank stupefaction.

"..."

Lady Qinghua silently gazed in the direction the general had departed.

His two hands slowly clenched into fists.

From the brief exchange of gazes just now, she could sense a great deal.

Qingluan the Immortal General harbored no suspicion toward her, yet no trust either; he was like an emotionless dead thing, content to simply watch in silence.

The so-called promotion was nothing more than reassigning her right beneath his nose, making it easier to keep an eye on her.

This kind of person was the most terrifying, for he was utterly uninfluenced by outside factors.

This tribulation... was probably not so easy to cross.

Jianyang Prefecture, the Demon-Slaying Official's residence.

Within the empty courtyard.

Shen Yi sat with his eyes closed, a faint trace of joy playing on his face.

He seemed to have found the right path to remedy the flaw in the Dragon-Tiger Fruit Position.

Originally, when crossing tribulation alone, after enduring eighty-one tribulations, he had fallen into a certain bottleneck; he could now faintly glimpse the essence of tribulation, and even without the protection of a precious scripture, he would no longer face the risk of utterly sinking into it at the mere glimpse of a tribulation, as he once had.

But it was also very difficult to transform tribulation into his own strength any longer.

But now it was different.

With a dragon and a tiger constantly by his side, he could simultaneously bear three portions of tribulation, suddenly raising the upper limit.

Moreover, he himself did not need to suffer; the only trouble was that he occasionally had to release two demon souls and nurture them with demon essence to prevent them from perishing, so it consumed a rather long time.

Truly worthy of being the Puti Sect's great scripture of the Fruit Position!

If the Dragon-Tiger Fruit Position, ranked thirty-first, was already like this, what profound mysteries must that Grand Void Dao Fruit hold?

"A pity, it just costs too much demon lifespan."

Shen Yi opened his eyes and looked at the empty panel; the remaining eighty-eight tribulations had all been transformed into part of the Dragon-Tiger Fruit Position.

His current strength, compared to before, had more than doubled.

This path seemed to have no end; no matter how much demon lifespan, it could all be swallowed in.

Just as Shen Yi was pondering where to go to replenish demon lifespan to fill this great void, he slightly raised his gaze and looked toward the outside of the residence.

Ye Lan had returned.

(End of this chapter)