Chapter 31: The Five Forces

“Lord Shen!”

Inside the inner hall of the Yongfu Pawnshop, Situ Bei bowed respectfully with his hands clasped.

Only after Shen Changqing had taken a seat did he sit down in his original position.

As soon as the two sat down, a servant timely brought forth tea and quickly withdrew.

Shen Changqing did not touch the teacup beside him, but instead looked at Situ Bei: "Has the Heaven Observation Guard obtained the information I requested?"

"There are leads. The reason I asked Lord Shen to come today is for this very matter!"

Situ Bei nodded.

"Based on the information obtained from the Heaven Observation Guard, there are currently a total of five factions that have arrived in Lin'an City: the Seven Luminaries Sect, Burning Heaven Manor, Wave-Slaying Sect, Guiyuan Sword Sect, and the Heaven Blade Sect!"

The Seven Luminaries Sect?

The Heaven Blade Sect?

Shen Changqing’s expression was one of confusion; he had previously heard nothing of these five factions Situ Bei mentioned.

"What are the backgrounds of these five factions?"

"They are all local powers of Guangyuan Prefecture. Among them, the Seven Luminaries Sect and the Heaven Blade Sect are the strongest, as they are presided over by living Grandmaster experts. As for the remaining three factions, they are somewhat weaker, with no Grandmasters currently alive."

Situ Bei replied without hesitation. As a member of the Heaven Observation Guard stationed in Lin'an City, he possessed extensive knowledge regarding the affairs of Guangyuan Prefecture.

Hearing this, Shen Changqing gained some understanding.

It was not strange for two factions to possess Grandmasters.

Above the Xiantian realm was the Grandmaster realm.

He did not know much about that level of cultivation, but one thing was certain: within the Demon Suppression Division, a Grandmaster expert would, at the very least, be an Earth-rank Demon Suppressor, a level he could not currently compare to.

However, having never truly fought a Grandmaster, Shen Changqing could not be certain exactly how vast the gap between the Xiantian and Grandmaster realms truly was.

After a moment of thought, he asked again, "How many Grandmasters do the Seven Luminaries Sect and the Heaven Blade Sect possess in total?"

"Rumor has it that the Heaven Blade Sect has two Grandmasters, and the Seven Luminaries Sect has one."

"Three Grandmasters between two factions!"

Shen Changqing nodded.

Grandmasters were not easily attained. From what he knew, even within the Demon Suppression Division in the capital, Earth-rank Demon Suppressors were not numerous. If one counted all the local branches, the total number of Grandmasters might be considerable, but that did not change the fact that the realm was difficult to break through.

With Grandmasters presiding over them, it was only natural that those two factions possessed great strength.

Subsequently, Shen Changqing continued, "What about other matters?"

"According to the information gathered so far, none of the five factions have had any experts at or above the Xiantian realm appear yet. The Seven Luminaries Sect brought two individuals suspected to be in the late stage of the Pulse Connection realm, and the Heaven Blade Sect and the other three sects are similar.

Aside from them, there are still some rogue martial artists who arrived after hearing the news.

Among them, there are two in the late stage, one in the middle stage, and five in the early stage of the Pulse Connection realm. However, since no one has made a move to test them, there may be some inaccuracies."

Situ Bei recounted all the collected information in detail.

Five factions, ten late-stage Pulse Connection experts.

Including the two rogues, that meant Lin'an City currently had a total of twelve late-stage Pulse Connection martial artists.

The remaining Pulse Connection martial artists numbered six.

In total, there were eighteen people.

With Situ Bei's answer, Shen Changqing understood much in his heart.

"The fact that no Xiantian martial artists have appeared yet is good news. With a dozen or so Pulse Connection experts present, and not belonging to the same camp, I could suppress them all if they truly caused trouble. Furthermore, with the reputation of the Demon Suppression Division, they won't dare to act too flagrantly unless absolutely necessary."

"However, once the demon essence appears, it is not guaranteed that Xiantian or even Grandmasters won't show up. That will be a serious problem."

Sitting in his seat, Shen Changqing's thoughts raced.

His greatest confidence in guarding Lin'an City stemmed from his own strength.

The eleventh layer of the Pure Yang Art.

A Xiantian martial artist!

In the martial world, while not equal to a Grandmaster, he was still far more powerful than many martial artists.

As long as no Xiantian experts appeared, Shen Changqing was confident he could suppress them; even if a Xiantian expert acted, he would not be afraid.

But if it were a Grandmaster...

Then he would have to weigh the situation seriously.

Having cleared his thoughts, Shen Changqing said, "What about the side of the demons and evil spirits? When the demon essence appears, they certainly won't miss the opportunity. Have you obtained any relevant information?"

His most pressing concern was still the demons and evil spirits.

No matter how powerful the five factions were, they were still human factions. On the territory of the Great Qin, the Demon Suppression Division was the law; no matter how flagrant they were, they wouldn't dare overstep.

The demons were different.

The Demon Suppression Division took the slaying of demons as its mission; the two sides had long been irreconcilable.

If the opportunity arose, the demonic side would certainly target him.

Shen Changqing felt it was necessary to make preparations in advance.

"As for the demons, we haven't been able to gather much information yet." Situ Bei looked troubled and shook his head. "The movements of demons have always been eerie. Even the Heaven Observation Guard finds it difficult to track them.

Unless a demon commits a massacre in a certain location and reveals its whereabouts, the Heaven Observation Guard can only obtain information then."

Investigating the movements of demons had always been a major difficulty.

Though Shen Changqing felt somewhat disappointed, he was not dissatisfied: "I killed a Ghost-level anomaly and a demon-human at Gu Yue Village; the demonic side will not let this go easily.

I don't ask for much, just ensure the Heaven Observation Guard thoroughly investigates the fifty-mile radius around Lin'an City. If any strange or unusual occurrences happen, report to me immediately."

Having decided to guard Lin'an City, he certainly had to increase his strength.

Without Kill Points, and with the Thirteen Grand Protectors Hard Qi and the Pure Yang Art having already broken their limits, he could no longer rely on mere bitter cultivation.

The best way was to find weaker demons and obtain a batch of Kill Points from them. This way, Shen Changqing could be certain of raising his strength in the shortest amount of time.

Receiving the command, Situ Bei nodded: "Rest assured, Lord Shen. The Heaven Observation Guard will certainly carry this out."

The Heaven Observation Guard existed to serve Demon Suppressors and Guardians; following Shen Changqing's orders was no issue.

Despite the man currently being only a trainee Demon Suppressor, in Situ Bei's eyes, once he returned to the Demon Suppression Division, he would inevitably become a Yellow-rank Demon Suppressor.

As a member of the Heaven Observation Guard stationed in a small town, how would he dare to be disrespectful to a Yellow-rank Demon Suppressor?

"Additionally, there is one more thing I need the Heaven Observation Guard's help with."

"Please speak, Lord Shen!"

"From what I understand, the person who bewitched Zhao Fang came from the Eternal Life Alliance. Do you know anything about the Eternal Life Alliance?" Shen Changqing thought of the Eternal Life Alliance token he had obtained.

Hearing this, Situ Bei froze for a moment before clasping his hands: "The Eternal Life Alliance is an organization that emerged two or three hundred years ago. After the demons failed in their attempt to conquer the human race, they changed their methods to erode humanity from within.

Thus, the demons created the Eternal Life Alliance, intending to use it to divide and conquer the human race."