Chapter 697

Since it had been agreed that they would go together, Che Lin had no way to refuse, and Tang Zhao would not vie to be first, but instead followed Che Lin's main force.

Che Lin came out first and, rather than waiting for the team to assemble, returned to headquarters first. He had to go back to the Land Inspection Bureau to retrieve the data for this Demon Cave calculation.

Logically, all Demon Caves in the world are calculated by Qingtian Temple and then sent out to various regions. Local areas are not permitted to calculate celestial timing privately. But to say nothing of the fact that Qingtian Temple is becoming increasingly chaotic, with Demon Caves of all sizes failing to be calculated on time, even in its heyday, Qingtian Temple's manpower was limited; they couldn't even calculate the large Demon Caves, so how would they have the energy to calculate every Small Yin Calamity? To calculate them, most places relied on queuing and drawing lots.

Therefore, local areas found loopholes and each obtained monitoring Dharma Artifacts—not for calculation, but for monitoring, monitoring the movement of Yin energy. If it got a bit sensitive and the Yin energy grew thick, they would report it; this is very reasonable, right?

People have been doing this with seismographs for years.

In most cases, thick Yin energy is a sign of a Yin Calamity, and monitoring Yin energy can achieve a preventive effect. There are even more signs before a Demon Cave descends, and the Land Inspection Bureau in every region has long had a set of methods to analyze the time, type, and scale of a Demon Cave's descent based on these signs; every branch has its own insights.

These insights and experiences are Internal Data. Due to the decentralized nature of the Land Inspection Bureau itself, each prefecture has its own teaching materials, each with differences, and each has its merits as well as errors.

If, back when the national power was strong, the Land Inspection Bureau had produced a powerful figure capable of communicating and coordinating between the various prefectures and counties to unify the teaching materials and data, perhaps they really could have compiled a practical manual with realistic guiding significance.

It is a pity that the opportunity has been missed. Never mind unified coordination; even the branches of the Land Inspection Bureau in each prefecture have different situations. In chaotic places like Lingzhou, the Land Inspection Bureau has long existed in name only, while in places like Yan Prefecture, where warlords fight, the Land Inspection Bureau has become a tool for warlords to scrape the land. Even in those relatively peaceful prefectures, many Land Inspection Bureaus have long since given up because their superiors do not value them; those who slack off just slack off, and those waiting for reinforcements just wait. Never mind knowledge like Internal Data, even large instruments like monitoring devices have mostly been abandoned.

Under these circumstances, the Youzhou Land Inspection Bureau—at least the Kuan Cheng Land Inspection Bureau—being able to handle Yin Calamities according to procedure and still play a role, has already surpassed ninety percent of the Land Inspection Bureaus.

To say that coordinating a case between two prefectures is troublesome—it is not easy to even gather the agencies of two neighboring prefectures to coordinate a case now.

Che Lin returned to headquarters, found the Thousand-Household Officer Wang who had been responsible for monitoring and analysis, met up with his deputy, and brought the remaining core personnel before setting off.

When the Land Inspection Bureau travels, especially for a distance as long as fifty li, mounts must be arranged. Che Lin led out the horses, saw Tang Zhao smiling at him, and hurriedly said, "Thousand-Household Officer Wang, prepare a horse for this official from Yunzhou as well. The bureau originally had a Wuyun Leopard; let Lord Tang ride it."

Tang Zhao was faster running on his own than riding a horse, but if everyone else was riding and he was not, wouldn't that be out of place?

That Thousand-Household Officer Wang looked at Tang Zhao with some surprise and indeed prepared a steed with a body of pure black. After Tang Zhao mounted, he quietly asked Che Lin, "People from Yunzhou have come to coordinate? So fast? We only just monitored the Yin energy. Do they have calculations from Qingtian Temple?"

Che Lin said, "No, Lord Tang happened to be in this area, and since he encountered this matter, he is traveling with me and is willing to do the coordination work for us."

Only then did Thousand-Household Officer Wang realize that the person before him was actually a Sword Hero, and he hurriedly changed to a respectful expression; everyone below the rank of Deputy Envoy came to pay their respects.

Because there was a mission ahead, the formalities were simplified, and the group set off directly. On the road, Che Lin asked, "How is your analysis?"

Thousand-Household Officer Wang was not a Sword Guest, and he was not young; he was not one of the young reserve cadres from when Mai Shiyu was a Thousand-Household Officer, but rather a scholarly civil servant responsible for intelligence analysis. With many years of experience and rarely making mistakes, he said, "This time it is confirmed to be a Demon Cave descent. It is coming aggressively. It is somewhat unusual."

Che Lin said, "Unusual?"

Thousand-Household Officer Wang said, "Yes, we just dealt with one Demon Cave, and in the blink of an eye, another one is coming. This has never happened before."

Che Lin sighed, "This cannot be counted as unusual; it can only be counted as bad luck. Other prefectures have had such things too. Such things might be common in the future. This world will eventually fall into ruin, and there is no seeing the bottom. Tell me the specifics."

Thousand-Household Officer Wang said proficiently, "The location is thirty to fifty li outside the city, almost right on the border with Yunzhou. It is currently still in the stage of Yin energy accumulation. The scale is not small; it is at least a Medium-sized Demon Cave, and it should be a Water-type Demon Cave. The ground outside has already begun to disturb."

A Water-type Demon Cave is a Demon Cave that will completely change the material existence form of the Human World, but it will not cause additional matter to descend.

"A Water-type Demon Cave, that is a rather troublesome type."

Although all Demon Caves are troublesome, both Water-type Demon Caves and Earth-type Demon Caves leave behind permanent changes in appearance and are prone to spawning a Demon Prison. By comparison, Earth-type Demon Caves are at least a bit richer; they will cause extra resources to descend from the Waijie, and besides fighting, one can still scrape some profit. Water-type Demon Caves only change the local terrain of the Human World and will not immediately produce resources; they can be said to be poor and annoying.

The only benefit is that when collaborating with Yunzhou like this, there is no need to spend too much energy fighting over spoils; one only needs to focus on combat coordination.

"The actual situation still requires on-site inspection, but the time of descent should be very close, perhaps this evening or at night."

Che Lin frowned and said, "The signs of a larger Demon Cave descending have always been obvious. A Medium-sized Demon Cave would produce a Great Heavenly Demon at the level of a Sword Guest; logically, it should have been detected at least a month in advance. Why is it so late this time?"

Moreover, a Medium-sized Demon Cave is on the important task list of Qingtian Temple. They can excuse themselves from Small Demon Caves by saying they are too busy, but a Medium-sized Demon Cave must be calculated, otherwise it would be a major dereliction of duty, and Youzhou could report them. Although reporting them is useless, Qingtian Temple still cares about its reputation now and would not allow itself to fall into such a state.

However, now that they say a Medium-sized Demon Cave will descend in half a day, no one knows about it, and Qingtian Temple hasn't sent any news, yet it was still detected—that is too absurd.

Never mind anything else, if Qingtian Temple had sent the message a month, or even half a month ago, then the communication work with Yunzhou could have been carried out long ago; where would there be a need for on-site adjustment? Now that things are chaotic, who knows how many things will go wrong.

At this time, Tang Zhao said, "This matter is indeed unusual; one must consider that an external force has acted to obscure the heavenly secrets."

This was also the reason he changed his mind and decided to follow.

Che Lin shuddered, and a chill rose up.

He had never thought from this angle; perhaps in his consciousness, some things were unquestionable, such as common sense, such as heavenly secrets, such as the calculations of Qingtian Temple.

But Tang Zhao knew that in this world, there was originally nothing that was unquestionable.

He reminded him again, "Think about the Demon Sect."

Che Lin was startled, and then suddenly enlightened: Did the Demon Sect at his manor previously appear just by chance?

Could the Demon Sect have come to steal a sword?

A sword is indeed an extremely precious object, but the Demon Sect is not lacking a sword, and furthermore, turning a finished sword into a Sword Seed is truly a waste of heaven's gifts. Sword Seeds are actually not of much use; they have great power on the Qianxian, and they have plenty of Sword Seeds.

To go to such trouble for a sword, preparing days in advance, specifically digging up floor tiles, and even bringing the victim to point the finger at Che Lin, painstakingly creating an atmosphere, and even that demon person being brave enough to throw themselves onto the sword's edge, disregarding their life—is this the attitude a thief should have?

One must know that a thief should not make a scene; by making such a big fuss, she was not aiming to steal something, but rather to cause a big scene.

Perhaps it was for the sake of the Demon Cave matter today; first, to ruin his cultivation, and second, to distract him, entangling Che Lin until he was mentally exhausted and self-doubting—how could he still manage the Demon Cave matter?

With this chain of plans, it is not strange at all to say they had a plan to block the heavenly secrets.

Once he thought about how he was deep in the layers of the Demon Sect's conspiracies, Che Lin's mood was very heavy, and he ordered a subordinate, "Go back and send a message to the Inspector. Say that the newly descended Demon Cave has been targeted by the Demon Sect, and ask his old self to come and support."

Tang Zhao said, "Asking the Inspector is correct. Although the investigation says it is a Medium-sized Demon Cave, who knows if there is concealment within it? In case it attracts a Great Heavenly Demon, there always needs to be a Sword Hero to hold the fort."

Che Lin smiled bitterly, "Our Inspector is also a Sword Guest, just more senior than me. It is really hard to say who among us is stronger."

Tang Zhao said in astonishment, "How can a Sword Guest be an Inspector?"

Che Lin said, "Everyone wants a Sword Hero to lead, but there aren't enough Sword Heroes, so can't we only ask a Sword Guest to be one? When I serve as a Town Guardian for a few more years and don't want to live a dangerous life, and want to be leisurely and retire, I can also be transferred to be an Inspector."

Tang Zhao shook his head and said, "Is the Inspector a leisurely position? Theoretically, one must be present at all Demon Caves within a prefecture to provide a safety net for the Town Guardian..."

He thought about it; this can only be said to be that each prefecture has its own conditions.

Alright, then the Inspector cannot be counted on.

If it is a Large Demon Cave and there is a Great Heavenly Demon at the level of a Sword Hero, a Sword Guest is also useless. Not to mention that the Demon Sect will send experts to assist. In Yunzhou, where the Gaoyuan Marquis sits in town, it can be said to be a forbidden zone for outside experts; whether it is the Turtle Bandits or the Demon Sect, they cannot easily send experts at the Sword Hero level in. Youzhou does not have this standard; if the local snake is not strong, the dragon crossing the river is like a school of carp.

Fortunately, there is him, right?

Since Tang Zhao is here, he thinks this Demon Cave can also become a forbidden zone for experts.

The few people met up with the main force and galloped toward the Demon Cave.

Fifty li of road, if the common people were to travel it, it would take a whole day, but galloping on fast horses, it took no more than a large half-hour, and from afar, a stretch of grassland could already be seen.

Without needing to sense the Yin energy, the people of Youzhou knew they had reached the edge of the Demon Cave—this place was not originally a grassland!

It was clearly wasteland that had been abandoned, yet in a single night it turned into a grassland, and the place had even become wider; what kind of "seas changing into mulberry fields" is this? Only a Yin Calamity could have such power.

Tang Zhao saw this change in the grassland and suddenly had a thought: isn't this just like the Momentum of the Kun Sword?

Could it be that the Demon Cave is also a form of sword Momentum?

In other words, does every single Demon Cave, regardless of whether there is a powerful Heavenly Demon, involve power at the level of a Sword Immortal?

Just at this moment, the sound of hoofbeats rang out; from the other side of the grassland came a troop of men and horses, which at a glance were no fewer in number than those on this side, and even the attire of the riders was much the same.

There was no need to Ask; it was the Land Inspection Division from Yunzhou on the opposite side that had arrived.

Then the other side spoke first: "Are these colleagues from Youzhou?"

Che Lin said: "Indeed, Che Lin of Youzhou greets all colleagues from Yunzhou."

Tang Zhao heard the voice and found it somewhat familiar, saying: "Is Deputy Envoy Chi here?"

The other side was silent for a moment, and then the familiar voice replied: "Oh my, what a coincidence? Tang Commander!"