In the world of demons and warriors, I slay demons through wordplay.

Chapter 21 Martial Artist Rank 9, Hidden Crisis

"One, two, three, four... including the one from Liujia Village, there are only eight in total, which means..."

Li Qingchen used the Qi-gazing technique.

As expected, the black demonic aura in Caijia Village had disappeared.

"Tsk, one escaped."

Li Qingchen bent down and cut off a wrist from each fox demon, stuffing it into a sack.

Generally speaking, handing over these evidence items to the Demon Extermination Bureau will earn you a substantial reward.

Of course, this is on the premise that it is a legitimate government agency.

Li Qingchen naturally wouldn't go to collect it himself.

—At least until he has the ability to take on the entire Demon-Slaying Bureau single-handedly.

Li Qingchen tossed the sack to Lin Bufan, saying, "Please collect the bounty on my behalf."

Lin Bufan was silent for a moment, then said, "Come find me in the seventh room of the seventh alley in Furong Lane three days from now."

"Also, remember to be prepared to deal with the northern dog demon and the chief constable of the yamen."

"Thank you for reminding me."

Li Qingchen shrugged. "So, can you tell me about the realms of martial arts?"

"Actually, there's not much to introduce."

Looking at the villagers arriving one after another, Lin Bufan said, "It seems we need to find another place to talk."

……

After seeing off the village chief and his entourage, the two arrived at a simple restaurant.

on the wine table.

Lin Bufan silently downed three bowls of wine, then slowly explained his cultivation level.

The martial arts realms in the world are governed by a nine-rank system.

The highest grade is called the "Sacred Grade".

Martial artists who reach this level are already martial saints among mortals, and there are only a handful of them in the entire Divine Continent.

The ninth rank is the lowest, and is called the "lowest of the low" or the "beginner level" or "entering the inner sanctum".

Furthermore, since "lowest grade" doesn't sound very appealing, most people prefer to use "first grade" instead.

Although a ninth-rank martial artist is the lowest rank in the nine-rank system, they are not someone that ordinary martial artists can easily provoke.

To reach the initial stage.

At least the bones, blood, flesh, and skin must all be polished to achieve a perfect mortal form before it can be considered qualified.

Otherwise, it will not be considered a grade.

From the ninth to the first rank, there is a major threshold every three ranks, which will not be discussed here.

"So, we're all not up to par?"

Li Qingchen drank the osmanthus wine in the bowl in one gulp.

Perhaps due to a lack of personal cultivation, Li Qingchen did not have a clear understanding of his own realm, and there were no related prompts in the system.

Lin Bufan said leisurely, "Brother Li, this joke is not funny. You have strong internal strength, abundant true qi, and can skillfully draw spiritual energy from heaven and earth into your body. You are at least in the middle stage of the initial realm."

"As for me, I'm just not good enough."

"..."

"By the way, what's the cultivation level of your chief constable in the Demon Extermination Bureau?" Li Qingchen changed the subject.

Lin Bufan thought for a moment: "Half a year ago, I was already in the late stage of the initial realm."

Upon hearing this, Li Qingchen rubbed his temples helplessly.

Looking at it this way, he realized he still had a long way to go. The initial joy of defeating the fox demon quickly turned into a sense of crisis.

Fortunately, this time I got seven resurrection attempts in one go, and the fox fur has been significantly improved.

You can go back to the mass grave and explore it more thoroughly.

"What about those four great demons? What are their cultivation levels?" Li Qingchen asked again.

"The realm of demons is different from that of humans. There are clear class distinctions among demons, and each level is an insurmountable gap."

"The Demon Slayer Division typically uses battlefield positions for categorization."

"Demon soldiers, demon generals, demon kings, demon emperors... I don't know anything beyond that."

Lin Bufan thought for a moment and said:

"In my opinion, Fox Immortal, Wolf King, Flesh Mountain, and Dog General should all be leaders such as 'centurions' and 'chiliarchs' among the demon soldiers."

"The strongest among them is the Great Fox Immortal, whose strength is at least comparable to an eighth-rank martial artist."

Li Qingchen sighed softly.

Things turned out to be more complicated than he had anticipated.

Apart from the chief constable, the other demons are not to be underestimated.

Lin Bufan heard him sigh and said in a deep voice:

"Don't worry, I can hold off the Demon Extermination Bureau for a while. If you have no ties, you can leave the city and run away after I give you the reward."

"The goalkeepers have already asked me for their services; they'll slack off for you, that's absolutely no problem."

Li Qingchen asked, "I'm a little curious, how will you withstand it?"

Lin Bufan was silent for a moment, then said:

"Actually, my boss, Lord Niu, was a good person who cared about the people at first. However, some things happened later, and he became too disappointed with the world, so he willingly degenerated and took advantage of the chaos."

"But recently, he suddenly had a change of heart."

"Now it seems that this demon bounty was issued because of you, which led him to release it and choose to go against the chief constable."

"If I plead with him, I think he'll definitely help me out and we'll deal with the chief constable together."

Seeing Li Qingchen's strange look, Lin Bufan smiled wryly:

"Don't worry, although we are no match for the chief constable, the Demon Slayer Bureau has clear regulations that demon-slaying officers cannot fight each other at will. At most, we will just be given a hard time."

—For example, being sent on a dangerous demon-slaying mission.

Lin Bufan would naturally not say these words aloud.

Li Qingchen narrowed his eyes.

The emperor is far away and the sky is high.

In this chaotic world where demons roam freely, especially in remote areas like Liaocheng.

A constable whose strength is likely at the peak of the ninth rank, or even the eighth rank, has a higher status than the county magistrate.

Such a person clearly has the ability to fight the four demons.

Instead of slashing the demons' necks with their swords, they aimed them at the common people.

That's ridiculous.

That's really damnable.

Li Qingchen drank another bowl of osmanthus wine, then got up.

"Brother Li, where are you going?"

"Now that we've killed the fox demon, it's time to head home. Oh, and you don't need to worry about the reward."

Lin Bufan was taken aback. "Why?"

"There's no particular reason. I'll go to the Demon Subduing Office to collect it in a few days."

Li Qingchen said casually.

By the way, collect a few more heads.

…………

Liaocheng, northern suburbs.

At the foot of a deep mountain forest, in a dilapidated tile-roofed house.

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

A demon with a human body and a dog's head is holding a gleaming kitchen knife.

The food on the cutting board was a naked middle-aged man.

"Help."

"Someone, please save me..."

"I don't want to die... I still have an elderly mother to support..."

The man coughed up blood, his voice was barely audible, his eyes were lifeless, and his whole body was convulsing and trembling.

Although he kept muttering words of distress.

However, judging from his ashen face, it was easy to see that he had no hope of surviving at all.

"What's all the noise about?" The dog demon snorted twice and slowly raised its butcher knife.

The man shed two streams of tears and closed his eyes in despair.

"Mother, your unfilial son has caused you, an old woman, to bury your son..."

Knife up and down.

Click.

The force was too great, and a human head fell off the cutting board to the ground.

The head slowly rolled to the doorway.

A fox demon with a strong scent of rouge bent down, picked it up, held it in her hands, and respectfully walked over to hand it to the dog demon.

The dog demon grinned, raised its head, and greedily sucked the brain marrow.

After smoking it all up, he casually tossed it aside and said:

"No one visits a temple without a reason. Tell me, Ninth Sister, what brings you here to see your Second Brother?"

The fox demon said pitifully:

"Second Brother, all eight of my brothers were killed by a swordsman in the past two days. I beg you, Second Brother, to avenge my brothers!"

"Is this really true?"

The dog demon was startled and said:

"However, Ninth Sister, although our two families have always been on good terms, your father is very concerned about his reputation."

"Isn't it inappropriate for you to come to me instead of your father to ask for help with murder?"

The fox demon explained, "Second brother, you've been staying in the deep mountains and forests for too long. You may not know, but my father went out to seek the Dharma a long time ago and hasn't returned yet. Otherwise, I wouldn't have troubled you with your help."

"I see. Then I'll take the liberty of making the decision for my older brother."

The dog demon threw the chopped pieces of other people's flesh into the large pot.

"Next, I'll trouble Ninth Sister to prepare three pairs of virgin boys and girls for me as a celebration banquet."

"I'm going to kill this man!"

The fox demon was overjoyed: "Thank you so much, Second Brother!"

The dog demon laughed heartily: "No need to be polite. Little sister, you just need to say a few good words for your second brother in front of your father. If you can pass on some demon magic to me, that would be even better."

"Definitely, definitely!"

The fox demon said happily.

A strange, meaty smell filled the room.

A fox and a dog, each gnawing on a human leg bone.

We chatted back and forth, bursting into laughter.

It was as if, in their eyes, Li Qingchen was already a dead man.

…………