Cultivating in Different Professions

Chapter 197: Chapter 138: Shocking Development

Outside Wuling City.

The outskirts of Daxing Mountain.

On a gentle slope, several Taiping Captains dressed in Brocade and Ink Shirts stood side by side.

On the official road not far away, a fully armed troop of the City Defense Army and the Taiping Imperial Guard advanced slowly.

They had come from the city to set up a temporary defensive line.

The remnants of the Hu Family, their wicked ambitions still burning, had incited a demonic disturbance.

The villages outside the city were all under threat. The Taiping Bureau couldn’t protect all of them, so the City Defense Army had been ordered to assist.

”Junior Brother Su, do you think we’re being pathetic?”

Zhang Chenchen suddenly spoke up from her spot on the slope.

”Senior Sister Zhang, that’s a serious accusation. How could I possibly think that?”

Su Mu shook his head, denying it.

After spending these past few days with them, Su Mu had discovered that their direct superior, Lin Qi Huan, was basically a hands-off manager, while Zhang Chenchen was like the great steward of their team.

She was always mediating the relationships within their small squad, doing her best to maintain its integrity.

Sometimes, when Ding Shiyun and Liu Yang were joking around, they would even call Zhang Chenchen ”Deputy Captain.”

”Outsiders all think our Taiping Bureau is awe-inspiring, but the truth is, we have to put up with just as much crap as anyone else.”

Zhang Chenchen sighed and said, ”Demons, devils, even those corrupt officials in the imperial court—any of them can give us grief.

In this situation, I also want to lure out the remnants of the Hu Family, but I can’t. They’re the ones in the open while we’re in the shadows, but we simply aren’t strong enough.

The Taiping Bureau slays demons, vanquishes evil, and stands guard over the land. Sometimes, you really can’t just do whatever you want.

If we acted on our every whim, then these villages, Wuling City, and even the entire Da Xuan Dynasty would have to pay the price.

The old-timers all say, ’Peace is secured by the Taiping, but the Taiping are not allowed to see peace.’

Once you join the Taiping Bureau, the first step is to shed the glamour of the Bureau’s name and learn to compromise.”

Everyone fell silent. Even Cong Yuanlong, who was usually the most talkative, said nothing.

”Junior Sister Zhang, you’re being pessimistic.”

Liu Yang, looking like he hadn’t woken up yet, let out a yawn and said lazily, ”In the end, it’s just that we aren’t strong enough.

Anyone who frequents the gambling tables knows that as long as your pockets are deep enough, you’re not afraid of losing.

If we had the strength of a Captain, or even a Governor, why the hell would we compromise!

We would’ve dug up the remnants of the Hu Family and killed them long ago.”

Su Mu nodded. The words were crude, but the logic was sound.

The reason he hadn’t insisted on his own plan and had instead accepted returning to the city for help was that he understood his own limits.

Furthermore, he didn’t know how many Hu Family remnants were still in the outskirts of Daxing Mountain, nor did he know the scale of the demonic disturbance they could unleash. He truly had no confidence he could handle them.

After all, the Hu Family came from a line of devils and acted with the style of the Demon Sect. They would genuinely dare to lure out the powerful demons from the depths of Daxing Mountain—if they had the means.

”So, brothers, we just have to train hard.”

Ding Shiyun tilted his head back to look at the sky. ”Only with absolute power can one defy heaven and change their fate.

Our Taiping Bureau’s prestige shakes the world not because of special privileges, but because of real, tangible power. If our Taiping Bureau didn’t have a mighty Lord Commander and several Marquises who are among the world’s top experts, could we really keep all the demons and devils under control?”

Ding Shiyun’s tone was somewhat ironic. The ”demons and devils” he spoke of didn’t just refer to literal ones.

Sometimes, the things those corrupt officials or even the major sects and clans do are no better than what demons and devils do.

”Of the ten strongest people in the world, our Taiping Bureau has six. That is the true source of our confidence,”

Ding Shiyun said.

”Above the Commander-in-Chief, our Taiping Bureau also has six Marquises. Their cultivation realms are unfathomably deep, and each has mastered a unique phenomenon.”

Luo Anning whispered in Su Mu’s ear.

She knew that due to his background, Su Mu didn’t know much about these matters.

Su Mu, for his part, was humble enough to listen and learn.

The six Marquises of Taiping: Marquis Jin, Marquis Sui, Marquis Yi, Marquis Lin, Marquis Mingyi, and Marquis Dayou.

They occupy six of the ten seats for the world’s strongest experts and are the unshakable pillars of the Taiping Bureau.

It is precisely because of their existence that no matter how the imperial court changes, the Taiping Bureau always remains steadfast and unmovable.

It is also because of them that the Taiping Bureau has the confidence to suppress demons and devils, and even to keep those major sects and clans in line.

Listening to the others talk back and forth about the great achievements of the Taiping Bureau’s six Marquises, Su Mu felt a sense of yearning, a feeling of ’though I cannot reach it, my heart yearns for it’.

’A true man should be just like them,’

Su Mu thought to himself.

Just as they were speaking,

Suddenly, a world-shaking roar erupted from deep within the Daxing Mountain range, as if the very heavens were collapsing and the earth was splitting apart.

Immediately after, even the ground where they stood began to tremble violently.

In the distance, the City Defense Army and Taiping Imperial Guard members setting up the defensive line staggered and swayed, nearly losing their footing.

Su Mu looked up in astonishment.

He saw plumes of mushroom-cloud-shaped smoke rising from deep within Daxing Mountain.

He could even faintly make out a cloud-piercing peak collapsing and crumbling.

However, because the distance was too great, he couldn’t see clearly what had happened.

But the sight of the cataclysmic landslide still sent a tremor through his very soul.

’Faced with a landslide like that, forget about the Blood Transformation Realm. Even someone in the Rebirth Realm, or an even higher realm, would probably be crushed without a trace.’

Su Mu thought to himself.

”Was this the work of the Hu Family remnants?”

Cong Yuanlong’s jaw dropped in shock. ’Are they trying to poke a hole in the sky?’

”The Hu Family doesn’t have that kind of power.”

Zhong Guizheng shook his head. ”If they did, Wuling City would have been theirs long ago.”