Chapter 28: Ch 28 Second of three.

After a small chat with Zhao Yun, Wan Ling left their estate.

He didn’t have time to talk with Fei Yun given she had gone in to freshen up and time was also not on his side.

He needed to fight a demonic beast and gathered some herbs.

The village that wanted him to handle their pest problem was about a few hours away from the city.

That was for a Cultivator at least.

For a normal mortal it would take an entire day.

So having exited the city by sunset he quickly dashed across the rough road leading outwards.

His speed was incredible and each step left him gasping in shock because of how further it took him.

In less than an hour he arrived at the village and was greeted by the guards.

"State your business?" The tallest of the duo asked full of wary while the shorter stood behind him imposily.

This earned a chuckle from Wan Ling as he pulled out the mission poster and showed it to both of them.

The taller one grabbed it, scanned through it before his expression paled and he quickly bowed.

"I am so sorry young Daoist. Forgive my rudeness." He apologized.

The shorter one was confused but after hearing the word Daoist he also followed and Wan Ling was left to witness as two men began a competition to see who could be the most dramatic.

In the end he sighed and spoke.

"So this demonic beast of yours. When was it last sighted and is there more than one?"

The tallest quickly stood straight and began to explain.

"The first sighting was a month ago. Hunter Yu, who lives around the outskirts, began complaining about foul stenches and growls near his hut at night. "

"At first we thought it was a bear. So the village chief organized a group of hunters to track it." The shorter one chimed in and continued with an increasingly horrifying expression.

"We were all wrong. We took our spears and swords to hunt the bear but came out with none of them because what we saw wasn’t a bear." He said with trembling hands.

"What happened next?"

"We quickly posted a request for help to Golden Bay City. That was about a few days ago." The tallest answered.

"No I mean how has the demonic beast been acting since then, has it attacked anyone else or is it just sightings?"

" A few of our children have been going missing lately. There was Tai Su’s wife who stepped out one night and hasn’t returned." The both explained and Wan Ling grabbed his chin.

He was trying to gauge how strong this demonic beast was.

"Did you two see it? Can you describe it for me?" He asked.

The tallest pointed at his comrade who stepped forward.

" Well it kind of looked like a very big lion with a flaming tail." He recalled.

Wan Ling nodded, a clear sign of relief evident through his eyes.

Wan Ling was quite knowledgeable about demonic beasts and if there were some things he had learnt from his decade long period of researching more about them within the sect’s library, it was the fact that the more humanoid a demonic beast looked the deadlier it was to fight.

So hearing this wasn’t the humanoid kind reassured him he would win the fight.

"That fact that it hasn’t slaughtered the entire village means it’s wary. It’s not confident in its strength so it’s a new born. Finally it only hunts when in its territory."

He began a short analysis on the demonic beast and each one further proved victory was his.

Feeling more confident and glancing at the two guards,he spoke calmly.

"Inform the chief about my arrival and tell him to force the town into total lockdown if he doesn’t want further casualties."

"Yes Daoist Sir!"

"Yes Daoist Sir!"

Both guards gave him a firm and serious salute before rushing back into the town to do as he instructed.

Watching them leave, Wan Ling sighed deeply and began to check the equipment he brought.

There was Chen Yu’s very expensive sword which he had plundered after her humiliating defeat against him.

Since those four idiots have willingly become his slaves, Wan Ling didn’t waste time dealing with them.

He had established the system of a weekly quote.

At the end of every week, they will bring him a number of spirit stones.

It varied from person to person.

The one he detested the most, Li Wei paid him fifty high grade spirit stones.

Chen Yu whom he detested just as much paid forty five high grade spirit stones.

Zhang Hao paid forty.

Finally He Xue also paid forty because while she didn’t participate in the bully itself she didn’t stop them either.

Her indifference annoyed him and if it was up to him, he would have made her pay more but he already had something installed for her so he would leave it at that.

Either way in terms of equipment he was pretty stacked.

There was Chen Yu’s blade and his previous sword.

He had a few daggers which his sister, Wan Mei had gifted him but he didn’t think he needed anything else for a job on their caliber.

He simply needed to believe in himself, not get too cocky and he would survive this mess.