Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Assessment Task

After finishing work, Wei Fan led Hu Qing and Zhou Qi to the restaurant they had agreed on earlier and gave the demon pouch dug out from Old Bear to the restaurant’s chef to handle.

The three waited for a while, and Ning Xuan and his two companions also arrived.

“Brother Wei, such righteousness! Now everyone in Yun City speaks of your benevolence and virtue!”

Ning Xuan immediately gave Wei Fan a thumbs up. Wei Fan had almost single-handedly changed the current situation in Yun City.

As everyone sat down, Su Xuerong looked at the Reception Envoy and said, “Reception Envoy, the character investigation on Wei Fan should have passed, right?”

The Reception Envoy nodded, “Of course, after all he’s done, if he doesn’t pass, then not many in the world would qualify to enter the Demon Suppression Bureau.”

The matter of Wei Fan acting only after the Cloud City Lord was killed by evil spirits seemed correct to him.

Had the Cloud City Lord not died, he would have reported the incident to the Demon Suppression Bureau upon returning to Su City.

As a guide for the Demon Suppression Bureau, they not only help the bureau absorb fresh blood but also monitor the world and collect information on demons across regions.

“Brother Wei finally passed; we must drink a few more cups later!”

Ning Xuan and the others were overjoyed.

The Demon Suppression Bureau frightened demons all over the world, and everyone yearned to enter such a place as if passing a high-level examination, a cause for celebration anywhere.

After a while, the food and wine began to be served.

Old Bear’s demon pouch was fried into a large, fragrant dish and brought to the table.

Wei Fan pointed to Zhou Qi and asked the Reception Envoy, “By the way, Zhou Qi is still an ordinary person; it should be fine for him to eat the demon pouch, right?”

The Reception Envoy and Ning Xuan both nodded affirmatively.

The demon pouch is where demons store their demonic power, a place of concentrated essence. Improper processing by martial artists can lead to impure true qi, but if ordinary people eat it, it can strengthen their bodies, and they might even cultivate true qi from it.

Such a dish is a rare treat even for them; otherwise, why would they eagerly attend Wei Fan’s banquet?

After eating for a while, Zhou Qi began to sweat all over, and his qi blood boiled.

Ning Xuan and the others instructed him to quickly sit down and meditate to cultivate.

Zhou Qi didn’t waste words and hurriedly sat down. After half a quarter of an hour, he felt warmth in his abdomen, and a pale yellow true qi appeared in his dantian.

“I have reached the First Layer of the Golden Bell Shield!”

Zhou Qi stood up excitedly, tears nearly welling up; from today, he was also a martial artist, and his status immediately changed.

“Congratulations!”

Wei Fan congratulated, as this was the purpose of inviting Zhou Qi; they were friends, and as Wei Fan was about to leave Yun City, this was the only thing he could do to help Zhou Qi.

His previous upright and unyielding temperament had often implicated Zhou Qi as his partner, yet Zhou Qi never complained nor considered changing partners.

The group continued eating and drinking for a while before Hu Qing and Zhou Qi first made their farewells and left.

“Now that there are no outsiders, I will tell you about the assessment!”

With Zhou Qi and Hu Qing gone, the Reception Envoy’s drunkenness faded instantly, and he sat up straight, “The assessment I’ve arranged for you is to annihilate the Black Wind Stronghold outside the city!”

Black Wind Stronghold?

Ning Xuan, Wei Fan, and the others were taken aback. Wei Fan raised an eyebrow and said, “Does the Demon Suppression Bureau also handle matters with bandits?”

Since he intended to do good deeds thoroughly, Wei Fan planned to clear out the Black Wind Stronghold before leaving.

He didn’t expect the assessment task arranged by the Reception Envoy would be to destroy the Black Wind Stronghold.

The Reception Envoy shook his head, “The Demon Suppression Bureau certainly does not handle bandit matters, but according to the bureau’s intelligence, the leader of the Black Wind Stronghold is a demon.”

He looked at Wei Fan, “Remember that Crocodile Demon from the E Shen Bang? That Crocodile Demon was just an Initial Realm Demon Fiend. What Initial Realm Demon Fiend would dare to come into the city to support a gang? The true Great Demon is the leader of the Black Wind Stronghold; that Crocodile Demon was merely a descendant of the Black Wind Stronghold’s leader.

The one truly colluding with the Lu Family is the leader of the Black Wind Stronghold!”

Wei Fan was somewhat moved; the intelligence of the Demon Suppression Bureau was truly terrifying.

From just watching Yun City, they quickly discovered that the leader of the Black Wind Stronghold was a demon; the Yun City Government Office likely had no idea about this.

No!

That dog Wei Qingyuan must know.

He recalled Wei Qingyuan demanding they capture the Black Wind Stronghold within seven days; no wonder he didn’t want them to hunt other demons, choosing instead the Black Wind Stronghold.

That dog must have been tipping off the Black Wind Stronghold, waiting for them to walk into a trap.

Wei Fan frowned and said, “As far as I know, the other two leaders of the Black Wind Stronghold are Martial Artists of Acupoint Opening Second Layer, and the capabilities of the chief leader are unknown. Yun City previously organized over a thousand people to attack but couldn’t capture the Black Wind Stronghold. Can we three manage?”

He had long hesitated to attack the Black Wind Stronghold for this reason.

Even though he wasn’t afraid of the chief leader of the Black Wind Stronghold, Ning Xuan and Su Xuerong, who had just entered Acupoint Opening, weren’t a match for the two other leaders, let alone the entire stronghold.

The Reception Envoy said, “You’re misunderstanding; my definition of annihilation isn’t that you have to kill all the people at Black Wind Stronghold. You three just need to find a way to eliminate the demon chief leader of the Black Wind Stronghold; you only need to deal with the demon. There will be others tasked with dealing with the bandits, and I haven’t even told you all the intelligence. The assessment task will not assign an impossible mission.

The Demon Suppression Bureau has already determined that the chief leader of the Black Wind Stronghold is a Third Grade True Realm Demon. You managed to take down that Fourth Grade True Realm Old Bear, so killing a Third Grade Demon should not be too hard!”

Just a Third Grade True Realm, only killing the Black Wind Stronghold leader seriously reduced the difficulty.

Wei Fan looked at Ning Xuan and Su Xuerong, “If you two have no issues, then let’s take this task.”

Both naturally had no issues.

“The task is set; you have five days to act. If the Black Wind Stronghold leader is still alive after five days, your assessment will be considered a failure.

Let me add one more thing; each person only has three chances at assessment. Failing all three means no more opportunities to enter the Demon Suppression Bureau!”

After speaking, the Reception Envoy left; for fairness, he wouldn’t appear before the three again until they completed the task.

Ning Xuan looked at Wei Fan, “Brother Wei, do you have any brilliant plans? That demon hiding in the bandit nest is not easy to kill!”

Though combining Wei Fan’s combat power with theirs made defeating a Third Grade True Realm Demon not difficult, the challenge lay in how to kill the Black Wind Stronghold leader without confronting the entire bandit stronghold.

Wei Fan shook his head, “What brilliant plan would I have? My previous idea was to break from within, taking down the three leaders first.”

The Black Wind Stronghold leader lived so low-profile that few knew he was a demon over the years, making it impossible to draw him out of the stronghold with a plan.

“I had intended to clear out Black Wind Stronghold and collected substantial intel on them, but have never seen it in person. Tomorrow night, we’ll first check the area around the Black Wind Stronghold before deciding!”

If all else fails, they’ll attack directly. At worst, they could use the Golden Bell to smash.

Though he couldn’t say for others, Ning Xuan and Su Xuerong were trustworthy.

Or, he would have Su Xuerong and Ning Xuan wait at the mountain foot, and he would single-handedly clear the Black Wind Stronghold.

His past caution stemmed from ignorance of the Black Wind Stronghold leader’s cultivation. Now, with solid information, Wei Fan no longer dreaded the Black Wind Stronghold.

Having set a time and place to meet tomorrow, the three parted ways from the restaurant and went their separate paths.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep