In the past, Chen Xuanze never paid attention to the old man at the north gate. He merely regarded him as someone who had been in the Demon Subduing Bureau for a long time and was now too old to be of much use, thus assigned to retirement duty here.

It was not surprising that he thought so. Anyone would consider this unremarkable old gatekeeper as just a senior employee nearing retirement age.

Chen Xuanze's change in attitude today was solely due to the scene he witnessed after forgetting to dispel his Qi Observation Technique. Normally, he thought the large blue stone, which seemed decorative, contained a fiery red five-tailed unicorn-shaped beast, emitting a red aura nearly ten meters tall. How could he not recognize it? This ferocious red beast was the great demon 'Zheng' recorded in the Nine Provinces Records.

Old Han's situation was even more exaggerated; his aura was slightly higher than Zheng's. However, there was something different in his aura compared to what Chen Xuanze usually observed – there was only a rusty and cracked broken sword inside.

If there was something noticeably different, it was the clear visibility of this broken sword. Chen Xuanze didn't know what it represented, but at the moment, he only knew that Marquis Baihundred was a sixth-grade official with a height of five meters. Following common sense, Old Han was at least a fourth-grade expert.

Despite the appearance of two second-grade beings during the attack on the Demon Subduing Bureau on Mid-Autumn Festival, second-grade beings were extremely rare in the Nine Provinces, with first-grade beings being even rarer.

The great demon Huang Jiuchong, the leader of hundreds of thousands or even millions of demons in the Black Mountain White Water area; the wandering swordsman Hong Xiaotian, once the pride of Sword Pavilion, who traveled the world for Sword Pavilion.

Both the monk and the demon mentioned earlier had illustrious reputations in the sect's holy places.

Zheng and Hong Xiaotian spoke of the situation at the Demon Subduing Bureau after Huang Jiuchong's death, Six Mi's sealing, the dispersion of the fifteen demons, and Hong Xiaotian's withdrawal. Why did they say that the holy places couldn't do anything to the Demon Subduing Bureau?

Fourth grade and above were considered high grades, and there was only one well-known figure in the whole of Da Liang – Prince Jin, Zhao Chang'an.

The old eunuch hidden in the imperial city was at most a half-step into the first grade. Among the guardians protecting the emperor, there were only a few with a third-grade realm.

Wang Qingxuan and Sanzang, reaching sixth grade in one day thanks to their moral classics and heart sutras, were indeed fortunate. Furthermore, these two supreme scriptures continued to bring them more enlightenment. Because of this, the monk and the Taoist were willing to follow Chen Xuanze.

Fourth-grade was already a height that cultivators in the Nine Provinces could achieve after a lifetime of effort.

Old Han was quite accommodating. After taking the lotus leaf-wrapped buns and opening one, he stuffed it into his mouth, eating it deliciously.

After consuming three large buns consecutively, he casually wiped the oil stains on his hands on the hem of his hemp robe.

Chen Xuanze looked at the dirty hem of the hemp robe that could almost be used as an iron-smithing material, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

After finishing his meal, Old Han waved his hand and said, "Alright, go in."

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Chen Xuanze didn't leave. Since he had finished the buns and hadn't revealed any information, wasn't this freeloading?

So he opened his mouth and asked, "Master Han, were the newcomers from Prince Ning's Mansion? What happened? Do you know?"

Looking at Chen Xuanze's simple and honest face, Old Han, with a smile that seemed like a joke, said, "Trying to get information with three buns? Your strategy is quite cunning."

Chen Xuanze, with his ever-present simple smile, had used this tactic successfully many times.

Watching the hemp pole in front of him with this expression, Old Han said with a bit of impatience, "Alright, put away that annoying expression."

Once Chen Xuanze restrained his simple smile, Old Han continued, "Did you clash with Prince Ning's son last night? That carp demon went after Prince Ning's family. Since it didn't violate taboos, we didn't bother. But you, this kid, directly exterminated it. Regarding Prince Ning's son, if he doesn't trouble you, forget about it. It's not like Qingfeng Academy; the mansion has a fifth-grade expert. No matter what you think, the son cannot be touched. Also, they came this time because you guys were not clean in your actions. Demanding silver is one thing, but talking about a blood contract? It's not rigorous at all."

Chen Xuanze concealed his shock. He had thought they were doing things secretly and unnoticed, but it turned out they were being watched all along. As for the matter of the blood contract, he didn't care. He could inform Li Gou about it later.

"Uncle Han, what are you talking about? If he doesn't come to bother me, I'll be relieved. How dare he come looking for trouble?"

Old Han sneered. The words of this guy with the pole were hardly believable. Xiao Zhuo might not know who was behind the scenes in the recent supernatural activities, but he kept a close eye on this guy with the pole. Most likely, he was the one responsible.

"Whatever you're thinking, you know it yourself. Stop complaining to me. Hand it over!" Old Han said, extending his hands, which were not entirely clean and still had oil stains, towards Chen Xuanze.

"What? Uncle Han, what does this mean?"

"The rule in the bureau is to submit fifty percent of the earnings from private jobs. What you did is not something to be proud of. Five thousand taels, consider it a punishment."

Chen Xuanze, with a bitter expression, used his spatial storage technique to hand over five thousand taels worth of silver bills and gold ingots to Old Han.

Since Old Han already knew about the events of yesterday evening, there was no need to hide the spatial storage technique from the public eye.

Old Han took the money, waved his hand, signaling Chen Xuanze to leave quickly. With a disappointed face, Chen Xuanze walked into the gate of the Supernatural Control Bureau, criticizing himself in his mind, "Being talkative, why provoke him for no reason? Is money not as good as the Prince Ning's?"

After a while, Chen Xuanze began to chuckle again.

Old Han took five thousand taels from him, probably close to the total amount in the Qingfeng Guild. He wouldn't even think that Chen Xuanze had taken away everything, including the pots, pans, and even the stone lions at the entrance.

In fact, Old Han was right. The success at the Qingfeng Guild had made him somewhat arrogant, and he even considered taking the time to visit Prince Ning's mansion.

The words on the big blue stone at the north gate entrance were suitable for Chen Xuanze with a slight modification: "As long as conditions permit and the time is ripe, Chen Xuanze will seek revenge!"

After entering the Supernatural Control Bureau and delivering buns and tofu brains to Chen Qianqian and the others, Chen Xuanze took the remaining buns to Ma Baihu's courtyard.

Li Gou didn't stay at the Supernatural Control Bureau last night. Whether he went home to deliver public grain or went to the Eight Great Alleys to repair tombs was unknown. The buns intended for him were conveniently given to Ma Baihu.

Thinking of reporting the matter of the peach blossom demon and then going back to sleep, the half-month in the Yellow Register Library had made his mana more refined, but the mental fatigue was not so easy to eliminate.

However, after reporting the matter to Ma Baihu, he was not allowed to leave. Instead, he was taken straight to Lord Wang's courtyard.

Along the way, Ma Baihu kept complaining, "Are you sure it's the peach blossom demon? After you confirmed it, you let her come on her own? Why didn't you apprehend her? What are you thinking?"

Chen Xuanze followed behind Ma Baihu with his head down, softly retorting, "It's a shape-shifting demon, and I can't beat her!"

One sentence shut Ma Baihu up completely.

Chen Xuanze was right. He had just become an official for less than a month, chose the ninth-grade Supernatural Control Guard with a twelve-year cicada for his cultivation method, and was not skilled enough to capture the demon.