Chapter 124

Su Hanlin finished his late-night snack and set Su Jian to work.

As dawn broke, the entire inner city had been cleared. Patrol squads and all the heroes summoned by the Neijian Office received orders to begin sweeping the outer city district by district.

Xiancheng had always been divided into the inner city, outer city, and the area beyond the walls.

After clearing the inner city, each clan and every hero turned their attention to the outer city.

They first recruited a large number of temporary laborers.

Then, seasoned veterans who had already learned how to organize the purge of parasites led the rookies. This way, even if minor uprisings occurred, the veterans could quickly summon the City Guard to eliminate all parasites.

One original purge squad was split into five or six smaller squads.

Su Jian was thus separated from Su Hanlin.

Sigh, there was no choice. Everyone followed orders from above; no one could say, “I won’t work apart from someone I know.” If you dared say that, you’d get beaten!

Those senior veterans, already itching to punch someone, wouldn’t miss this perfect chance to give you a lesson you’d never forget.

So he resigned himself to becoming a new squad leader and set out with a group of rookies.

Fortunately, after working all night, he had memorized the procedures.

But the outer city was far harder to clear than the inner city.

Conflicts and uprisings occurred frequently.

The purge operation began to face restrictions and slowed down increasingly.

Moreover, squads responsible for clearing began suffering casualties.

The reasons for casualties were bizarre and varied!

At this moment, patrol messengers from all four city gates rushed in, reporting that the area beyond the walls had descended into total chaos.

Large-scale disturbances had broken out there.

Gangs were fighting each other in a bloody mess, and others took the opportunity to storm shops and loot goods.

Looting shops wasn’t enough—some even broke into homes to smash, steal, and kill.

The patrol squads there couldn’t contain the unrest and sent messengers in to report, requesting the City Guard to sortie and quell the rebellion.

Ridiculous. At this point, everyone knew the City Guard could not be moved.

Only after the entire outer city was cleared would the four great gates of Xiancheng be sealed shut. Only then would the City Guard be dispatched beyond the walls.

But the area beyond the walls couldn’t be entirely ignored. Although the Neijian Office and the City Lord’s mansion were currently overwhelmed, they could at least organize self-defense and self-rescue.

Bao Junyi immediately ordered patrol units to deliver crates upon crates of devices for detecting parasites to trusted factions beyond the walls.

He told them to defend their own territories, gather manpower, and form self-protection squads.

In short: you guys fend for yourselves—we’re busy right now and have no time for you.

What could the heroes and warriors beyond the walls do? They could only obey and save themselves.

The system currently enforced by City Lord Xu Yi and Bao Junyi was flawless.

Even if other sect members came down, they’d do the same.

After all, the outer city had greater value to protect than the area beyond the walls.

The outer city contained not only various spirit fields but also the direct mortal descendants of numerous high-level cultivators.

If you don’t save them, do you think their ancestral elders won’t remember you? Won’t they silently curse you: “You’ve lost your conscience! I only have a few bloodlines left, and you won’t even save them?!”

As daylight grew stronger, the great purge operation in Xiancheng gradually reached a stalemate in the outer city.

Nearly every neighborhood cleared yielded dozens of parasites.

Obstacles multiplied, and some resisted the inspections.

Some organizations banded together to resist the purge.

The pace of clearing the outer city slowed further, becoming increasingly difficult.

All kinds of reports converged before City Lord Xu Yi and Neijian Office Director Bao Junyi.

Both faces were grim.

“At this rate, it’ll take ten days just to clear the outer city,” City Lord Xu muttered.

The key issue was that the outer city was five times larger than the inner city.

If resistance grew stronger, completing the purge quickly would be impossible.

Could Bao Junyi not see this?

He could see it perfectly. But there was nothing he could do.

The more this large-scale operation dragged on, the more his weak control over the Neijian Office became apparent.

Some slacked off, some busied themselves pointlessly, some sought fights, and others used the chaos to settle personal scores.

In short: chaos.

“Take your time. After this operation, anyone who’s incompetent, disobedient, or troublemaking will be purged,” Bao Junyi said calmly.

“What do we do now?” Xu Yi frowned.

“Call in more manpower,” Bao Junyi declared.

Xu Yi stared at his face: “You want me to activate that, don’t you?”

“Besides activating it, what else can we do? The sooner we finish clearing the outer city, the sooner we can rescue people beyond the walls. Don’t hesitate—activate it.”

Bao Junyi kept pressuring City Lord Xu.

City Lord Xu: Am I just your tool for doing your dirty work?

Whatever you want me to do, I just do it?

“Once activated, the entire sect will be shaken. If no large-scale rebellion breaks out beyond the walls, we’ll both be held accountable by the sect,” City Lord Xu said, his face dark as water.

“Do you think a large rebellion will break out beyond the walls?” Bao Junyi countered.

After a long pause, City Lord Xu said: “I believe it will. I’ve analyzed it—the delay in clearing the outer city means the probability of rebellion beyond the walls exceeds eighty percent.”

“I also believe a massive disturbance and rebellion will erupt beyond the walls.

The death toll will likely be extraordinarily high. You must prepare mentally. If the death count exceeds one million, the thing sealed beneath our Xiancheng will stir.” Bao Junyi warned. “Don’t let it escape—that’d be disastrous.”

City Lord Xu’s face first turned icy, then warmed slightly.

“It’s fine. That thing is just a worm.” The sect sealed a high-energy entity beneath every Xiancheng. That entity might be alive.

Under the sect’s great array, it was drained as a daily energy reservoir.

That worm had been drained for over three hundred years—and still had plenty of energy.

Every night it hissed beside his ear.

“Huh?” Bao Junyi was startled.

“We have Xue Chi Luo,” City Lord Xu reminded Bao Junyi.

“Cough, cough,” Bao Junyi realized: “But our Xue Chi Luo seems too small. It probably can’t handle that giant worm.”

“The giant worm beneath our Xiancheng is currently under seal.

It cannot move. Even if it someday tries to break free, it will still need time to snap its binding chains.

As long as Xue Chi Luo chooses a spot beyond its reach and drains it, won’t that giant worm panic?

As long as it retreats back into its underground seal, we win,” City Lord Xu said confidently.

“Then, City Lord Xu, hurry and activate the Full City Summoning Order,” Bao Junyi urged again.