Chapter 95: Swallow

"Huh? Why is it so small? Only three leaves? It's still in the sprouting stage?" Su Huchen said in shock.

"It's five leaves, the other two are still leaf buds! This little guy only broke out of the seed not long ago," Su Jian said, pointing at the two leaf buds he had deliberately drawn.

Su Huchen couldn't help but laugh as he looked.

"I've never seen such a small Blood Xue Chiluo."

"Then have you seen a big Blood Xue Chiluo?" Su Jian retorted speechlessly.

"Cough cough cough." Su Huchen also shook his head. "Although I haven't seen one with my own eyes, I've heard of a large Blood Xue Chiluo. It's said to be ten meters tall and has already made a formidable name for itself on the battlefield between the human and demon races. This one is still a cub."

Su Huchen said, poking the Blood Xue Chiluo in the portrait with his finger.

"It is indeed a cub." Su Jian didn't deny it either. "But it should be enough to lead you to the worm nest."

Su Huchen nodded in strong agreement.

"Then hurry home and discuss it. I'll find someone to cover your shift."

"No, it won't make much difference to you whether it's one or two days. The matter of the Blood Xue Chiluo still needs to be kept as secret as possible. After all, my little sister is only six years old. I don't want her exposed and chased every day," Su Jian said.

Su Huchen wasn't angry at being refused, after all Su Jian's thinking was right.

As their elder brothers, it was better to be cautious and thorough in doing things.

"Then think about this matter as much as you can. I'm in a great hurry. The mother worms originally hidden in the city have all been found, but the worm nest has yet to be discovered. I'm worried it'll lead to a catastrophe.

If one day endless worms emerge from around Xiancheng or beneath it, then our Xiancheng will really be in for it.

Losing face to the sect!" Su Huchen complained.

"Does Xu Chengzhu know about you borrowing the Blood Xue Chiluo?" Su Jian asked again.

"Naturally he knows. The matter of your family raising a Blood Xue Chiluo was told to me by him personally," Su Huchen said.

"A city lord of his stature, acting so unscrupulously. Spreading everything he hears," Su Jian immediately became dissatisfied with him.

"He did it for the safety of the whole city.

Mainly because the current situation is indeed quite complicated.

Based on the intelligence I've gathered, I've summarized it.

The worm disaster in the city is mutated black locusts, but the monsters outside the city are also a type of worm.

This means there are at least two types of mother worms and two types of worm nests near our Xiancheng.

Also, last night two more households in the outer city were wiped out.

The outer city is now in a state of panic.

After all, being wiped out is just too bloody, too much of a challenge to people's psychological endurance.

I worry the new things will be even harder to deal with."

Su Huchen laid out his concerns one by one.

"I really want to ask what your Patrol Inspection Office has been doing for the past ten years?" Su Jian, hearing his words, really wanted to curse. "For someone to arrange worm nests right at our Xiancheng's doorstep, that absolutely couldn't have been done in just one or two years."

"Don't ask me, I wouldn't know either even if you did. You, someone who's been squatting in Xiancheng for over ten years, didn't notice, let alone me. Bro only came back to recuperate because he Suffered Heavy injuries. I haven't even been home for a month," Su Huchen complained. "But I just gradually replaced the Intelligence Office with my own people. So the news I've been receiving lately is relatively plentiful."

"What does Xu Chengzhu mean? The Patrol Inspection Office is right under his nose and yet created such a huge loophole?" Su Jian continued to complain.

"When Xu Chengzhu first came, he was the head of Xiancheng's Elixir Office, not in charge of the city lord's duties. He was only promoted to city lord last year," Su Huchen explained. "Those people specifically chose the moment of the city lord transition that happens once every thirty years.

But the former city lord was indeed just holding a dead-end job, bearing inescapable responsibility."

"Will the sect deal with him?"

"Definitely, I heard he's already been secretly arrested."

Su Jian felt a weight lift from his heart upon hearing this.

He thought: This is better.

At least it shows the sect manages its subordinate Xianchengs very strictly.

"In other words, you and Xu Chengzhu aren't having an easy time of it now?" Su Jian asked again.

Su Huchen rolled his eyes directly.

Taking over a pile of messes right away, who'd be happy about it?

"How is Su Hanlin's injury?" Su Huchen asked.

"He needs a few more days of rest," Su Jian said.

"Mm, got it. Tell him that once he's recovered, he'll be the External Intelligence Supervisor of the Intelligence Office," Su Huchen said.

"Wait, what does an External Intelligence Supervisor do?" Su Jian hurriedly asked.

"The External Intelligence Supervisor is the supervisor in charge of investigating intelligence on spies from various hostile factions externally," Su Huchen said.

"If there's an External Intelligence Supervisor, is there also an Internal Intelligence Supervisor?" Su Jian asked curiously.

"Yes, the Internal Intelligence Supervisor is in charge of patrolling Xiancheng, defense, and hunting down traitors," Su Huchen said. "The sect's woods are too big, there are too many birds. All sorts of weird traitors."

Su Jian felt helpless upon hearing this.

"By the way, have you investigated the person who stabbed Su Hanlin? Su Hanlin treated him well, why did he have to strike so heavily?"

"Sigh, no choice. Because he is a 'Swallow'."

"What is a 'Swallow'?" Su Jian looked at Su Huchen in confusion.

"I forgot you've never left Xiancheng. So you don't understand the term 'Swallow' at all. 'Swallows' are child spies secretly and strictly cultivated by the demon race, who deliberately collect children with cultivation talent from the human race.

Most of them are trained in early childhood, and once they grow up a bit, they're dispatched into sect territories.

Some are taken into sects to become sect disciples, some infiltrate the major Xianchengs, rogue cultivator markets, subsidiary forces, and other areas within sect jurisdiction. Collecting all sorts of intelligence for the demon race and engaging in covert activities," Su Huchen said.

Su Jian was greatly shocked upon hearing this.

He stared wide-eyed at Su Huchen. "The demon race can play this dirty?"

"That's how ruthless they are. Human children, raised by the demon race, have long had their natures twisted. They often appear cheerful, generous, even chivalrous and kind.

But all of this is just a temperament they deliberately put on.

In truth, their real temperaments were, at base, all quite unhinged. Take that child who stabbed Su Hanlin — his current name is Deng Yuzhou. He actually can't remember where his home was, or what surname and given name he once bore. The age at which he was taken to the demon race's base for cultivating "Swallows" was far too young.

Moreover, the demon race would not teach the Swallows demon-race Cultivation Techniques; they would instead temper these children's bodies, using all manner of bizarre, quick-result methods to enhance their aptitude. Or they would teach them some of the most ordinary human-race Cultivation Techniques, and then send them back.

The biggest difference between these Swallows and real human-race children was their temperament.

They had all been trained into demons wearing human skin.

Demons would only identify with demons.

So they would not hesitate in the slightest when turning their hands against the relatives and friends around them, their colleagues, or even their wives and children."