Demon Sword Immortal

Bai Xiang even saw a person with a neat buzz cut, an eye patch on one eye, and his entire left arm gleaming with metallic silver light—clearly a mechanical prosthetic body.

Coupled with the bloodstains on their bodies and the large black cloth bag they were dragging, which was constantly seeping blood, even though the hall was already quite crowded, everyone still tried their best to spread out and avoid getting too close to them.

Bai Xiang stood a little further away, so he could hear people boldly discussing them.

"Judging from their attire, they are a mercenary group that has just returned from the wilderness."

"Is that bag filled with monster organs? You'd have to go deep into the wild to get those, right?"

"Swordsmen who forge their swords dare not venture deep into the wilderness; is it because they're supported by rich guys?"

"Why bother with nonsense? That's the 'Black Water Serpent Combat Suit,' a set costs over 200,000. We couldn't afford it even if we sold it."

"Keep your voice down, that Iron Hand is looking over here...!"

As the one-eyed man looked in their direction, the crowd in front of him quickly fell silent.

The one-eyed man held an assault rifle, the muzzle pointed diagonally at the ground, and indifferently scanned the crowd, like a hunter inspecting a flock of sheep.

He was stunned when he saw Bai Xiang.

Because this girl wearing a hat didn't lower her head or turn around like the others... avoiding eye contact in various ways, but calmly turned her head back and looked up at the electronic screen.

The one-eyed man squinted and continued to stare at her profile.

Bai Xiang seemed to sense it and turned his face back at a normal speed, their eyes meeting in mid-air.

"Jiansheng?"

The one-eyed man saw the wooden sword in her hand and grinned.

"interesting."

"Captain Tan?" A woman with a ponytail and a scar on her face approached. "Who are you looking at?"

"It's nothing," the one-eyed man shook his head.

"Let's settle the payment quickly."

"It's a rare opportunity like this."

"After we calculate the points, we'll go again."

Meanwhile, Bai Xiang received another text message.

"You saw me, why didn't you say hello?"

The other party coldly sent a question.

Did I see it?

Bai Xiang frowned, picked up her sword and went out of the hall. She saw that the man in the black suit and sunglasses from before was also holding a Nokia phone in his hand, but he stubbornly turned his back to her.

"You didn't tell me what you look like."

Bai Xiang stared at him and responded to her phone.

"Didn't I say that?"

The voice sounded hesitant.

"Yes, you didn't say that."

"..."

"..."

After a moment of silence, the man in the suit turned around, quickly walked up to Bai Xiang, took off his sunglasses, revealing an ordinary face.

"My name is Cao Chuan, and I serve as a clerk in your household," the man said. "You can call me Cao Clerk."

Gongcao Congshi.

This position is roughly equivalent to the head of human resources in a modern company.

"God's White Thoughts".

Bai gave a brief response.

This wasn't the place to talk, so Cao Chuan led the way, and the two found a fast food restaurant next door. They had to go up to the third floor to find a seat.

"here!"

Tao Shuohua was sitting in the corner eating fries with great enthusiasm when he saw Bai Xiang and immediately started shouting, attracting the attention of the other diners.

Bai wanted to go with Cao Chuan, but when they got closer, they realized that there was another person in the innermost seat.

This man also wore sunglasses, a black robe, and had shiny black hair. His short beard, covering his chin, was meticulously groomed.

"You've got nothing to lose."

Upon seeing Bai Xiang, the short-bearded man smiled at her.

"Due to the special circumstances, it's not convenient for me to take off my sunglasses."

"You should be able to guess who I am, right?"

of course.

Bai Xiang wouldn't be fooled by his disguise. By comparing and superimposing the man's outline with the image he had seen on television, the face behind the sunglasses suddenly became clear.

He is Fang Xianzhang, also known as Fang Xiaochun.

Fang Wenya's father, and Tao Shuohua and Cao Chuan's superior.

And the highest-ranking official in the entire Chilong Road, and even the entire Qizhou.

"I have something I want to ask you."

Before they sat down, Fang Xiaochun tilted his head and stared at Bai Xiang.

“You should be able to predict the date I will arrive here, and I have also heard that you and your dojo are facing some trouble.”

"So why didn't you call Shuohua even once?"

"Of course it's because..."

Bai Xiang murmured softly, his eyes fixed on the sunglasses.

"What I get from you is different from what I get from you seeking me out."

Chapter Forty-Five Hidden Dangers in Nanshan

Having been bedridden with a terminal illness for ten years in my previous life, I can't guarantee anything else, but I can say that I've mastered the art of cultivating inner energy.

If schools are a microcosm of society, an independent kingdom refined and condensed from social rules, then hospitals must be a microcosm of life, where one can see all walks of life.

Through personally experiencing those flavors, and through what he has seen and heard in daily life, Bai Xiang has developed his own understanding of how to treat people, seize opportunities, and understand human nature.

Fang Xiaochun had already arrived in Chilong. Why didn't he look for me?

It's clearly impossible that he forgot.

A man who cares so much about his daughter couldn't possibly not be curious about who had saved Fang Wenya from the brink of disaster. He couldn't possibly not want to see her.

But he is Fang Xiaochun.

Before becoming a father, he was a governor of a state, and he could not act solely on emotion.

He might worry about Bai Xiang's character, or that she might try to take advantage of his success to ask for something in return, making demands that "although he could actually do them, doing so would definitely break some conventions."

This is undoubtedly detrimental to his prestige.

Even though the information Tao Shuohua provided didn't suggest she was that kind of person, Fang Xiaochun was the governor.

Governor, what kind of scoundrels haven't you seen? Those who use cunning and two-faced tactics—how many officials like that have you encountered?

Even if Bai Xiangzhen isn't that kind of person, he still has to assume she is first.

This thought was easy to guess; Bai Xiang saw it at a glance.

She also knew that she couldn't hide anything from Fang Xiaochun, and she couldn't let him feel that she was being schemed against.

Rather than being secretive and mysterious, she simply spoke her mind, convinced that the master whom Tao Shuohua followed was no ordinary person.

"Truly a dragon and a phoenix."

Fang Xiaochun stared at her for a while, then gestured for her and Cao Chuan to sit down.

He also ordered two more meals and told Bai Xiang to eat more.

Bai Xiang didn't stand on ceremony, treating it as if someone had treated him to lunch. He ate two large bags of fries and a full five hamburgers, which made Tao Shuohua, who was diagonally opposite him, stare wide-eyed and bite his nails longingly.

Unlike Bai Xiang, she is a woman approaching fifty and cannot eat too much fast food.

She's been dieting lately...

Fang Xiaochun waited until Bai Xiang had eaten and drunk her fill before he began to talk to her.

"There is indeed one reason why I am only contacting you now, as you mentioned," he admitted frankly. "But that's not all of it. There's also a big problem with the Crimson Dragon. I haven't been able to get away since I came here. It was Shuohua who said... that you have a unique talent for investigating the Demon Pool, so I moved the date for meeting you to today."

Bai frowned.

Is this still ahead of schedule?

Fang Xiaochun nodded: "The original plan was to wait six days."

Six days later.

Without him as a variable, that would truly be the most dangerous time in the Divine Sword Path.

Fang Xiaochun's words made it clear that he didn't consider the Kendo Association an obstacle at all, as if he was absolutely confident that he could help, but this scheming sounded rather unsettling.

But Bai Xiang's expression remained unchanged, seemingly without any fluctuation.

"It was truly out of necessity, please forgive me." Fang Xiaochun paused for a moment, then revealed a hearty smile. "After all, for a 17-year-old swordsman who has just entered the path to have such a performance, especially since she was not famous before, I have to make full preparations before I can feel at ease."

Oh.

This is because the other party is afraid that they are a demon, and that they have been replaced by evil forces.

So, her medical examination reports from the hospital must have been thoroughly examined. Only after confirming that she was human and not a demon could this meeting have taken place.

However, judging from Fang Xiaochun's previous words, another reason was that he valued her talent.

It's not his talent for swordsmanship, but his talent for detecting demonic pools.

Did they run into some trouble?

"Given the recent situation, you must have heard some rumors."

Fang Xiaochun nodded slightly as he spoke, deliberately controlling his volume so that those around him could not hear him.

Bai Xiang recalled the mercenary squads in the Recruitment Office hall and asked, "Is there another demonic disturbance around the Crimson Dragon Path?"

This isn't referring to isolated demonic disturbances like those in the Poisonous Water Demon Pool, but rather large-scale demonic disturbances originating from the wild.

“Yes.” Fang Xiaochun nodded, “but the real situation is much more complicated.”

"If it's just a demonic disturbance—even a large-scale one—it shouldn't be enough to attract the Demon Immortal Path here."

"Because they specifically stole the Jade Phoenix Sword, a treasure for healing, and continued to hide and linger in the Southern Mountains after obtaining it, there must be a bigger scheme behind it."

"It's a demon kingdom!" Tao Shuohua couldn't wait to interject, whispering to Bai Xiang, "We suspect that the Demon Immortal Path discovered an ancient demon kingdom in the Nanshan Forest! They want to accelerate the resurrection of the demon pool and demon king in the demon kingdom, so they've set their sights on the Jade Phoenix Sword."

"Our men, along with Commander Huang's Crimson Dragon Army, have been conducting a detailed search of that area for the past few days and have found a illusory demon pool."

"That should be the entrance to the demon kingdom."

"But the mechanism is too strange, none of us can solve it."

“A brute-force approach might destroy the entrance and allow the demon kingdom to hide again, so we need people who specialize in investigating the demon pool.”

"And in this regard," she said, staring intently at Bai Xiang and smiling slightly.

“I heard about your performance that night from Wenya, and I thought you might be able to help, so I recommended you to the adults.”

After saying that, Tao Shuohua ignored Cao Chuan, who was sitting opposite him cosplaying as a sculpture, and tried desperately to make faces and gestures.

He's still mouthing the words, it sounds like he's saying: "Yes..."

She recommended this opportunity. On the surface, the state government was looking for Bai to do something, but those in the know understood that this was Bai giving her merits.

That's the prefectural capital.

The appointment made by the highest government office in a prefecture—there are only nine such government offices in the entire Great Yu.