Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

He knew Chen Cheng didn’t want to reveal his identity, so he had intended for Chen Cheng to take the wooden box and leave first.

「A moment later.」

As expected, several Red Armors from the Evil Extermination Bureau rushed to the scene.

They carried no torches; their eyes shone with a startling light.

The pale moonlight glinted off their blood-red armor, creating a grim, murderous aura.

Sensing movement behind the broken wall, they gripped their weapons—sabers half-drawn, swords held at the ready—and rapidly closed in.

”Wang? Manor Master Wang?”

The leader stopped short and casually slid his saber back into its sheath.

”Lord Pang... Save... save me...”

Wang Peng recognized the middle-aged man in the lead; it seemed they were on good terms.

A light immediately returned to his nearly unfocused eyes.

”Old Pang!? Old Pang—!”

Du Wenshun seemed to know the leader even better.

He whipped his head around, scrambled out from his hiding spot, and huddled close to the man. Only then did the heart lodged in his throat finally drop back into place.

Pang Qingyuan composed himself and asked no questions.

He simply took a pill from his robes, knelt, and fed it to Wang Peng.

”Manor Master Wang, Old Du, I have urgent business to attend to. We can catch up another day.”

As Pang Qingyuan spoke, his gaze swept over the two young people at the rear of the squad, and he ordered:

”Zhang Wen, Shen Chun, you two are responsible for escorting Manor Master Wang and Boss Du back to the city. Be careful on the road. No more mishaps.”

”Lord Pang, I...”

The Red Armor named Shen Chun was clearly unwilling.

Her breastplate rose and fell sharply, strained by her ample bosom.

But the moment her eyes met Pang Qingyuan’s, she deflated completely, not daring to say another word.

With a wave of his hand, Pang Qingyuan led the rest of his men and sped toward the signal point.

In the distance, from a dark corner, Chen Cheng silently took in the entire situation by the broken wall.

Watching the Red Armor named Zhang Wen carry Wang Peng on his back down the mountain, Chen Cheng could finally relax.

He slung the wooden box onto his back, turned silently, and vanished into the deeper darkness.

Zhang Wen’s steps were still light, even with Wang Peng on his back.

Du Wenshun stuck close by his side, practically glued to Zhang Wen.

Shen Chun, however, was distracted. Every few steps, she would glance back toward the signal point, an indescribably complex look in her eyes.

”Brother Zhang.”

After they had walked some distance, Shen Chun couldn’t hold back any longer.

”It should be safe around here now. Why don’t you escort Manor Master Wang and Boss Du back by yourself? If I hurry to the signal point now, I might still be able to help.”

”Absolutely not!”

Zhang Wen shook his head decisively.

”We’re both new recruits who were just given provisional posts in the Evil Extermination Bureau by special exception. Neither of us has reached Transforming Force. If we run into the ’Cloth-Wrapped Demon’ and I’m on my own, I won’t be able to handle it!”

”If something really does happen, Lord Pang will definitely hold us accountable! Getting kicked out would be the least of your worries. He might even resort to clan punishment. You’d better think this through before you act!”

”...”

Shen Chun’s lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing more.

’She was well aware of her own limitations, after all.’

She had only secured this provisional post in the Evil Extermination Bureau by forgoing all the merits and rewards from discovering two pages of the Red Moon Original Vow Scripture at the Han Family’s estate and insisting on this opportunity instead.

Otherwise, with her strength, having only recently formed her Sixth Pillar of Blood Qi, she wouldn’t have been qualified for a post in the Evil Extermination Bureau.

Zhang Wen was a notch stronger than her, but he also only possessed Six Pillars of Blood Qi. He had been recruited into the Evil Extermination Bureau by special exception for the great merit he earned during the annihilation of the Bai Family last month.

The two of them had been officially inducted for less than a month, and this was their first time on a mission outside the city.

Neither of them had ever seen the Cloth-Wrapped Demon; they had only heard various rumors about it after joining the Evil Extermination Bureau.

The creature was said to be absurdly powerful.

If they really had to face it alone, they both knew they would be terrified.

Better safe than sorry.

...

「Meanwhile.」

On his way down the mountain, just as Chen Cheng rounded a messy cluster of ruins, his gaze was drawn to the flicker of firelight in the distant woods.

With his sharp eyesight, he could clearly see figures moving about in the firelight.

It was another squad of the Bai Family’s private soldiers, about ten of them, busy with something in the woods.

He could have just left.

But for some reason, an inexplicable thought surfaced in his mind...

’Might as well...’

That patch of forest was also on a hillside, one much steeper than the surrounding area. The trees were relatively dense, making it a good place to hide things.

At that moment, this squad of Bai Family soldiers was using the terrain to set up falling rocks and logs.

Below this slope lay a relatively wide and flat road, where a tripwire for horses had already been set.

If a convoy of horses or carriages were to pass, the tripwire would first halt the group and throw them into disarray. Then, the rocks and logs would come crashing down the steep slope, sending men and horses tumbling. Finally, the squad of soldiers would finish them off with several volleys of poisoned arrows.

With this seamless little ambush combo, an ordinary convoy would stand no chance. Even with Martial Artist escorts, their chances of survival would be slim.

”It’s so damn cold, the fat’s frozen in our bones. If we can’t rob any money or grain, carrying a few ’vegetables’ back will do just as well. Boil ’em into soup if they’re alive, mince ’em for filling if they’re dead. Nothing goes to waste.”

A brutish-looking squad leader with a fleshy face squatted by some ruins, sheltered from the wind. He was chewing on something, his lips and beard glistening with grease.

A tall, skinny man squatted next to him. A torch was wedged in a crack in the wall, and the light from the side made his sallow, gaunt face look even more haggard.

His eyes were narrowed to slits, his gaze sticky, as if savoring a memory: