I Can Devour Spirits

The man got up, opened the fence post, and shoved a sweet potato into Duan Rong’s hand, saying, ”Go look elsewhere.”

Duan Rong looked at the warm sweet potato in his hand and was slightly stunned.

The man was about to close the fence gate when Duan Rong suddenly raised his hand to hold it open.

The man furrowed his brow, seeming ready to get angry, but Duan Rong bit into the sweet potato, reached into his crotch with his right hand, and pulled out a palm-sized black token.

It was the sect’s Taiyi Order.

Seeing the man’s shocked expression, Duan Rong knew he was undoubtedly the contact. A real farmer wouldn’t be familiar with the Taiyi Order.

Duan Rong stuffed the Taiyi Order back into his crotch, biting the sweet potato while walking into the yard, and this time the man naturally didn’t stop him.

Duan Rong passed by the wooden table in the yard, picked up another sweet potato from the black ceramic bowl. After running such a long way, he was indeed hungry.

In this yard, there were only two mud-brick rooms and one low kitchen. Duan Rong stepped over the threshold and walked straight into the main room.

The room was sparsely furnished, quite impoverished.

”No wonder he can’t find a wife,” Duan Rong surveyed the surroundings, casually sat at a shabby wooden table, and the chair creaked as he sat down, clearly on the verge of breaking.

The man followed in as well, standing over by the doorway, examining Duan Rong suspiciously and asking, ”Where’s the Sect Cloud Scroll? Show it to me!”

Duan Rong sat there, eating the sweet potato, straightened one leg a bit, then reached into his crotch again and pulled out the Sect Cloud Scroll, tossing it onto the shabby wooden table in front of him.

The man looked at the Sect Cloud Scroll on the table and recalled where Duan Rong had pulled it from, raising an eyebrow, but he still walked over, picked up the Sect Cloud Scroll, and opened it.

The man examined the Sect Cloud Scroll, scrutinized Duan Rong again, his face frostily cold, saying, ”This isn’t you!”

Duan Rong had finished two sweet potatoes by now, wiped his mouth, smiled, and suddenly stood up. As he did, the bones in his body exploded in a series of pops, and Duan Rong’s figure expanded circle by circle.

The man’s eyes widened in shock as he watched Duan Rong transform from a small beggar to a robust, well-proportioned youth.

Duan Rong pulled back his greasy hair, revealing a grimy face, and said, ”This is to deceive people. The leprous patches on my face are fake too. Do you want me to take them off?”

”No need!” the man said coldly.

Duan Rong was already recognizable to him. They had trained for this, identifying people by the distance between the eyes, the shape of the nose, the mouth, and the lines of the chin.

The man tossed the Sect Cloud Scroll back at Duan Rong and asked, ”Don’t you have a three-month family leave? Why are you reporting now?”

Duan Rong replied, ”I didn’t want to come either. I just stumbled upon a major case as soon as I returned.”

”A major case?”

Duan Rong then recounted all his findings over the past few days in Xianggu County.

When the man heard Xianggu County had been turned into a base for the Filthy Blood Sect, he was already astonished, and upon hearing Duan Rong say that four days later, the Head Altar Law Envoy and the Yuan Yang Hall Master would both come to Xianggu County, he was open-mouthed and in a daze, unable to recover for a long time.

”You mean, four days later, the Head Altar Law Envoy will come to Xianggu County?”

”Yes,” Duan Rong answered decisively.

The man was still pondering.

Seeing his hesitant expression, Duan Rong explained, ”The stronghold in Xianggu County has been successfully established. The Head Altar Law Envoy is coming for inspection.”

The man looked up at Duan Rong and asked, ”Can you ensure the accuracy of this information?”

”I can.”

The man replied, ”To deal with a figure of such rank, the sect must mobilize considerable resources. I must warn you, if the information is incorrect, you will be punished.”

Duan Rong said, ”If it’s wrong, I’ll accept any punishment.”

The man saw Duan Rong’s serious expression and finally hesitated no more. By now, he had accepted the shocking information Duan Rong shared: in the remote Xianggu County, within one day, two big fish—one being the Head Altar Law Envoy—would appear.

If the net was successfully cast on this case, all those involved would be rewarded according to their merits, and he wouldn’t have to endure hardship in this godforsaken place anymore.

Duan Rong asked, ”It’s only four days, will there be enough time?”

The man smiled slightly and said, ”There’s time. Do you think our Ministry of Communication just sits around doing nothing?”

Hearing this, Duan Rong felt much more at ease. If sect support didn’t arrive, facing a Head Altar Law Envoy and a Hall Master from the Filthy Blood Sect alone, he felt he would have struggled!

”That’s good!”

Duan Rong stood up, and as the bones in his body crackled with chaotic sounds, his figure shrank circle by circle, and in a few breaths, he became the beggar who first entered the door. He greeted the man and left this farmer’s house.

After Duan Rong left, the man first fetched paper and pen to write a secret letter, and stamped it at the signature spot. Only then did he lock the door and left the village, heading towards Xiao Mountain beside the village.

Xiao Mountain wasn’t a large mountain, nor was it steep; there were no fierce beasts in the mountain, only occasional wild boars appeared.

The man came to a mountain hollow and suddenly whistled.

At the sound of the whistle, a gray-white shadow suddenly shot out from the dense forest like an arrow.

Seeing the shadow, the man smiled slightly.

The gray-white shadow folded its wings and landed on the man’s shoulder. It was an adult Goshawk, and when it flew over, it was still clutching a field mouse in its mouth. The mouse wasn’t dead but was scared stiff, only cowering and trembling.