The Speedrun Begins with Choosing Hunter

Chapter 337: Chapter 328: Dispelling Calamity

"Lord Liu."

Bai Yuan walked forward.

"Lord Bai."

Liu Zhengwen smiled cheerfully and returned the greeting. The demon eradication mission had gone exceptionally smoothly, which put him in an excellent mood.

This was an excellent bargaining chip for his future bid to become the Vice Director of the Astronomical Bureau.

In Xuan Yang, besides background and strength, meritorious achievements were also crucial for promotion. Only with merits to one’s name could an official secure their position.

Just then, the other three columns of the army began to converge on their position.

Liu Zhengwen looked out at the crowd gathered around the lake and announced in a booming voice.

"The demonic scourge has been purged! This is a monumental achievement! I will personally petition His Majesty to reward all of you for your service!"

"Hail!"

"Hail!"

...

The sounds of celebration resounded throughout the mountain forest.

Thousands of men had struggled for days in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. This was the moment they had all been fighting for.

The officials who had accompanied Yan Shao’an to Ling Province were also grinning from ear to ear.

Most of these officials had little hope of promotion in the Capital City, which was why they had come to the Northern Territory to seek opportunities.

Xuan Yang had been established for a thousand years, and all the important posts had long been monopolized by the great aristocratic families.

How could it be easy for anyone else to get ahead?

The Central Plains had long been at peace, offering no chance to earn merit. Only in a place as chaotic as Ling Province could they accumulate military achievements and leverage them for better official posts.

The Xuanyang National Fortune was currently on the rise.

As long as they could secure a promotion, the fortune that came with it might even allow them to achieve a breakthrough in their own power.

Countless such examples had occurred over the past millennium.

The subsequent arrangements were much simpler. The officials of Ling Province returned to their posts first, while the rest stayed behind with Liu Zhengwen and his group to handle the aftermath.

The Snake Blood had turned the nameless great lake into a literal lake of blood.

According to Liu Zhengwen, whenever a great demon died, its baleful resentment had to be neutralized through special means. Otherwise, it would accumulate over time and affect the Xuanyang National Fortune.

Five thousand soldiers of the Lingzhou City Guard Army surrounded the lake.

Bai Yuan and Liu Zhengwen circled the great lake.

Liu Zhengwen held a small, glazed jade vial. At each stop, he would take a crystal-clear pill from the vial and toss it into the lake.

As the saying goes: an amateur sees the spectacle, but an expert sees the method.

Anyone else watching would have surely thought it was just mystical mumbo-jumbo.

But Bai Yuan, who had studied the Four-Nine Book and practiced Demon Hunting techniques, could see the method behind the spectacle.

Each place Liu Zhengwen stopped was a nexus where the Snake Demon’s resentment was strongest, and the peculiar pills from the vial were designed to neutralize that calamitous energy.

Furthermore, his throwing technique was precise; after entering the water, the pills formed what resembled an Array.

’The techniques of the Astronomical Bureau are truly extraordinary!’

Bai Yuan thought to himself.

After tossing all the pills into the lake, Liu Zhengwen proceeded to chant the Scripture of Supreme Clarity and Stillness by the shore for three days and three nights.

Some soldiers of the Lingzhou City Guard Army who witnessed this assumed Liu Zhengwen was just performing some mumbo-jumbo, but then something astonishing happened.

The crimson, foul-smelling surface of the lake gradually began to clear.

By the final day, it was completely indistinguishable from its original state.

Only then did the crowd marvel at the techniques of Liu Zhengwen and the Astronomical Bureau.

Only after confirming that no trace of the Snake Demon remained in the lake was Liu Zhengwen satisfied.

He rose and bowed with clasped hands to Bai Yuan and Fang Yong, who were standing nearby.

"Lord Bai, General Fang, I’m indebted to you for your trouble."

"It was merely our duty. Think nothing of it."

For three days, while he had been by the lake chanting the Scripture of Supreme Clarity and Stillness, Bai Yuan and Fang Yong had stood guard for three days and three nights.

Liu Zhengwen gazed at the clear surface of the lake, his smile deepening.

"Lord Bai, now that this matter is concluded, General Fang and I intend to return to the capital immediately to report on the demonic scourge to the Holy Emperor."

"That is as it should be."

Bai Yuan gave a slight smile.

"Your contribution to this demon-purging campaign was immense, Lord Bai. I will be sure to report it as such to His Majesty."

Liu Zhengwen made no effort to conceal his admiration for Bai Yuan.

Before coming to Ling Province, he and Fang Yong had been influenced by the Imperial Censors, and their impression of this young General of Lingzhou was hardly favorable.

After all, a moniker like "Ren Tu" was hardly a respectable one.

But after arriving in Ling Province, their opinion of Bai Yuan had been completely overturned.

First, there was his swift and decisive handling of the Jingyang Mine incident, and now he had slain countless foes in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

’No wonder Minister Xu and Lord Du hold him in such high regard,’ Liu Zhengwen and Fang Yong both thought.

They were both optimistic about Bai Yuan’s future and resolved to put in a good word for him, hoping to forge a bond with him sooner rather than later.

Anxious to return to the capital, the two men took their leave and departed the Hundred Thousand Mountains that very day.

Leading the five-thousand-strong Lingzhou Army, Bai Yuan naturally couldn’t travel as quickly as the two of them.

The army marched through the dense forest.

Yang Fangyu’s face was alight with excitement.

"Ah Yuan, this whole experience has been a real eye-opener."

First the giant Snake Demon, then the old Daoist and Yan Shao’an... grand spectacles like these were rare. Most Martial Artists go their entire lives without witnessing such things.

Watching masters clash is, in itself, an infinitely rewarding experience.

He had seen the old Daoist at the Peach Fragrance Inn before, but he never imagined the man living in the tavern was so terrifyingly powerful.

’Just how many more secrets is this kid hiding?!’

A peerless master on par with Yan Shao’an was actually Bai Yuan’s tenant. No one would believe it if he told them.

Bai Yuan said, "Fang Yu, I’m going to petition for you to become the Vice Governor of Lingzhou. The Yang Family should start making the necessary arrangements."

Yang Fangyu’s eyes lit up.

The Vice Governor of Lingzhou was a major official of the junior fourth grade.

Although the fifth-grade and junior fourth-grade were only one rank apart, the difference between them was as vast as that between heaven and earth.

The authority of a fifth-grade prefect couldn’t hold a candle to that of a Vice Governor.

The entire reason he had come to Ling Province to serve as Prefect was to eventually secure the position of Vice Governor.

According to his original plan, without a personal breakthrough, he would have needed at least another eight years for a chance at promotion. But now, thanks to Bai Yuan, his progress had been greatly accelerated.

’Riding the coattails of a powerful patron is truly the most satisfying thing in life!’

"I’ll write to my second uncle at once."

Yang Fangyu rubbed his hands together in excitement.

Bai Yuan smiled faintly.

He was now the Lingzhou General, a bona fide high-ranking official of the Court. If his post were in the Central Plains or Jiangnan, it would be a senior third-grade position.

It was only because the Northern Territory couldn’t compare to those prosperous regions that its Chief Official was ranked as junior third-grade.

But even so, he had the right to submit memorials directly to the Emperor.

He would, of course, write about the demonic scourge in great detail in his report, and while he was at it, add a few extra lines about Yang Fangyu’s contributions.

As the Chief Official of Ling Province, it was his duty to recommend local officials for promotion.

For a fifth-grade official like a Prefect, the Ministry of Personnel would rarely stand in his way as long as he submitted the petition.

It was only because the status of a Vice Governor was so significant that the Yang Family’s influence was also needed to ensure there were no mistakes.

He didn’t share Old Du’s principle of "promoting the worthy without nepotism." Promoting Yang Fangyu would help him consolidate his control over Ling Province.

Yang Fangyu’s merits from this demon-purging campaign were already sufficient for him to be considered for the Vice Governor position. Furthermore, his personal strength had grown, now rivaling that of Chen Danian. Bai Yuan was merely giving him a helpful push.

Otherwise, no matter how close Yang Fangyu was to Bai Yuan, the Ministry of Personnel would never allow an incompetent person to assume the role of Vice Governor.

An official in Xuan Yang might be foolish, but they would never be weak.

Even an official as complacent as Chen Danian had possessed the cultivation of a Master of Knowledge and Sensation—a power not to be underestimated.

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