Chapter 144

On the way, there was a slight delay. When the special event handling bureau's divine beasts, along with the local Buddhist association, arrived, they only saw the chaotic and noisy scenes around the neighborhood, and the police station, in contrast, was as quiet as a chicken.

Such a disjointed scene immediately brought the mood of everyone who arrived down to rock bottom.

The divine beasts from the special event handling bureau saw more. As soon as they looked up, they noticed remnants of demonic energy at every vantage point for an ambush. The windows on the east side of the second floor of the police station were still continuously emitting demonic energy.

The residents around were obviously affected by the demonic energy!

Everyone’s expressions immediately turned serious. The elderly monks of the Buddhist association folded their hands in prayer and murmured, "Amitabha."

The senior abbot spoke without joy or sorrow: "The demon race is so audacious; human society will likely fall into chaos soon. Please, everyone, quickly contact the higher-ups and remind them to prepare in advance."

After speaking, he was about to lead the way into the police station.

However, before he could take more than two steps, he was stopped by the young man with the beard beside him.

The abbot turned to look.

This young man was actually the reason for their delay—while passing by a vegetable market, the special event handling bureau’s people suddenly made an emergency stop and, without a word, rushed in to tie this young man up and bring him out.

Until now, they still didn't know the identity of the young man and just assumed he was a member of the special event handling bureau, so they were still polite.

The senior abbot said, "Benefactor."

The young man with a beard flicked his head: "You all stay outside, the rest is up to this Dragon King."

The senior abbot: "…?"

He couldn’t help but glance at Xiang Ting and the others, thinking, the other people from the special event handling bureau all seem quite elite and normal. How come this one...

Xiang Ting: "…"

Xiang Ting wiped his face, then shot a look, and Xuanwu quickly pulled the young man away.

Xuanwu repeatedly apologized to the senior abbot: "Sorry, abbot, his mind isn’t quite right. But you should still stay outside, we can handle things inside."

Then, turning around, he grabbed the young man with the beard, lowering his voice: "What are you doing? Dragon King? Stop saying such things!"

The young man with a beard pursed his lips, clearly not taking these words to heart.

The senior abbot was left speechless.

Furrowing his brows, he surveyed the people from the special event handling bureau. Upstairs, the demon race was wreaking havoc, and even a few Mo Luo were not easy to deal with, not to mention the news they had earlier that the Demon Ancestor, Luo Hou, was there.What can ordinary people do?

They were merely hoping to use their bodies to slightly slow down the demon race's invasion of the human world, just to buy time for their fellow practitioners who would arrive later.

The senior abbot had intended to offer some advice, but the next moment, he saw Xiang Ting and the others suddenly drop to the ground, their bodies rapidly changing, gradually transforming into—

White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Qilin...

The senior abbot: "…"

The masters: "…"

Looking at the scene before them, as if it were a holographic projection of The Classic of Mountains and Seas, everyone fell into silence.

The senior abbot opened his mouth but could only slowly nod and step aside, "Then, please, excuse me."

After speaking, he glanced at the young man with a beard, who hadn't transformed but had still charged to the front, and his confusion deepened.

Are there humanoid divine beasts?

Or did they specially recruit a human?

The masters downstairs were chanting sutras and praying, waiting for a long time, but the fight upstairs had yet to start.

Eventually, even the armed forces arrived, standing outside with guns and ammunition, looking ready to charge in and start shooting if anything went wrong. The nearby residents, who had been discussing with the property management about compensation and gifts, were too frightened to speak, and the surroundings immediately fell silent.

There were a few brave ones, though, who quietly gathered to ask what was going on.

However, no one could get any information from the soldiers. The soldiers in charge of evacuation and guarding kept their mission a secret, not saying a word as they drove the crowd away.

It wasn’t until the commander received orders to cancel the operation that the armed forces quietly withdrew, just as they had arrived.

The residents around were left completely puzzled—what was going on?

There was the fire alarm, and now the armed police forces—today seemed unusual... But soon, their doubts were dispelled.

The local police issued an announcement on social media, stating that they had captured lawbreakers who had escaped from the previous extermination operation of the southwest evil sect, assuring the citizens not to worry.

"So it was the evil sect, but that kind of thing is just fraud. It shouldn’t have warranted such a huge response, right?"

"You don’t know, the evil sects in the southwest are quite something. I was traveling there before and happened to run into one of their rituals. When the Taoists from Xiaoyao Sect and Jiangcheng fought the evil sect, I was there! The noise—saying it was like a hot weapons battle wouldn’t be an exaggeration, but they didn’t have any weapons in their hands, strange, right?"

"So powerful? I guess we really should be on guard... Speaking of which, I just saw a lot of bald heads at the police station. They must have come to subdue the evil sect!"

"Our country is so good! The military responded so quickly. We didn’t even realize anything was wrong, and they already protected us. Living in a peaceful country in peaceful times—so fortunate!"

While the residents were marveling at the country’s safe environment, the masters on the other side were still puzzled.

The demonic energy upstairs had not decreased, but instead suddenly surged for a while. They thought something had gone wrong.

Why did it suddenly calm down?

Not long later, someone poked their head out of the window, which was still leaking demonic energy, and waved at them: "Masters, come up here! The ground is so cold! Come inside and enjoy the heating!"Masters: "..."

--

When Zhu Chu looked out the window, he happened to see the armed police force withdrawing and was startled: "How big of a disturbance is happening in the neighboring district, that even the military had to be deployed?"

Everyone: "..."

Nie Chen felt embarrassed and grabbed the back of Zhu Chu's collar, pulling him back inside and assigning him a task: "Call Assistant Liu."

Zhu Chu let out a soft "hey." His junior brother was being too casual, ordering him around so confidently—what was with this tone?

He was the senior!

However, he then obediently took out his phone and went to make the call.

Forget it, it must be because the master gave him a raise but not his junior brother, and his junior brother was feeling off balance. As the senior brother, he had to take on more.

After all, he got the raise!

--

The bearded young man, who had been sent out early, was squatting in the corner, still wearing a fish-cleaning apron and waterproof shoes. When he saw Zhu Chu come out, his eyes lit up for a moment.

But then, he noticed that Zhu Chu had taken out his phone to make a call, and the spark in his eyes quickly faded.

He took a deep drag on his cigarette and sighed: "So dull, it's so dull."

Earlier, when the armed police surrounded the police station, the divine beasts, rushing up the stairs, discovered that the situation was not as tense as they had expected. Their morale suddenly dropped.

To be honest, if the demon race wasn’t trying to cause chaos in the human world, who would want to fight them? Wouldn't it be better if everyone just got along?

Therefore, when they found out that Luo Hou was preparing to sign the documents and compensate for human losses, the divine beasts had no intention of continuing the fight.

The only one who was very radical was the bearded young man, who didn't care what the demon race was planning and charged straight ahead to challenge Luo Hou to a duel.

The Taoist priests had opened their eyes early and, seeing that he had no energy fluctuations and was obviously just an ordinary person, couldn’t help but fall into silence. In the end, they turned their questioning gazes towards their own divine beasts.

"…"

What was the point of bringing an ordinary person here?

...So, the bearded young man, who had been at the front, ready to fight the Demon Ancestor in a fierce battle, was abandoned by the divine beasts and left at the door.

After some inner turmoil and back-and-forth persuasion, they finally reached an agreement with Luo Hou and decided to engage in an unprecedented, in-depth exchange—

Negotiations.

The bearded young man took a long drag on his cigarette, extinguished the remaining butt, and threw it into the ashtray in the trash can. He sighed deeply: "An invincible life! Truly, loneliness like snow."

Zhu Chu had just finished calling Assistant Liu to come over and take meeting minutes and draft documents when he heard this.

He couldn't help but take another look at the bearded young man.To be honest, although he was often out of place in many matters, after learning about the identity of the Special Event Handling Bureau members, he was quite respectful of these divine beasts.

After all, they were the ones who had sacrificed themselves for the human world in the past. He had originally thought they were long gone, but to his surprise, they were still secretly protecting the human world.

Therefore, he naturally viewed the people the Special Event Handling Bureau brought in with admiration.

At this moment, seeing the bearded young man sighing deeply, he couldn't help but start a conversation: "Buddy, why do you want to fight Luo Hou? Do you think you can beat him?"

The bearded young man finally found someone who understood him, and he straightened up proudly, nodding his head: "Of course. I am the Azure Dragon."

Zhu Chu was immediately respectful: "So you’re the Azure Dragon!"

But after looking at the aura around the Azure Dragon, his expression soon turned to one of confusion: "But buddy, you don’t seem to have the aura of a divine beast. Who told you that you’re the Azure Dragon?"

"They did." The Azure Dragon pointed to the mediation room and generously recalled the moment when he was discovered to have the true dragon bloodline: "I was at the market, killing fish. That old man, who usually only buys scraps, finally decided to buy a whole black fish. I was about to slice the fish for him…"

"Slicing fish?" Zhu Chu interrupted, "Buddy, are you a dragon from the south?"

"Yeah, what about it?" The Azure Dragon didn’t understand, but didn’t mind and continued, "Don’t interrupt. I was saying, that old man is really stingy. I already sliced the fish for him, and he said it wasn’t thin enough. He even accused me of stealing his innards, so we got into an argument..."

Zhu Chu, getting into the story, started looking at him with more admiration: "And then you brought down heavenly thunder?"

"No, that didn’t happen." The Azure Dragon said, "I was still yelling when someone covered my mouth and grabbed me. I thought they were human traffickers. I struggled for a while, then heard them say I was the Azure Dragon and that they were going to take me to wipe out the demon race."

Zhu Chu: "...And you believed them?"

The Azure Dragon blinked: "Uh, why wouldn’t I?"

He had always felt that he was extraordinary. He had read no less than ten books on "The Return of the Dragon King." With such a strong desire, wasn’t it completely reasonable to become a Dragon King?

Zhu Chu: "..."

Azure Dragon: "..."

The Azure Dragon paused, seemingly realizing that his story might not be so impressive, and hesitated.

Zhu Chu also regretted his earlier attempt at small talk.

Had he known, he would have gone to buy food for the master. He hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, and it had been so long since he came out.

This was one of the rare moments when he could beat his junior brother to something.

What a misstep!

Fortunately, at this moment, the masters slowly walked upstairs and came toward them.

Zhu Chu immediately jumped up from the ground: "Masters, you’ve arrived! Welcome, welcome. Let me take you inside!"

Masters: "…"

The old abbot couldn’t help but glance at Zhu Chu and then look at the Azure Dragon, who had been sitting with him just moments ago.

Old abbot: "...Thank you."Inside the room.

The Taoist Association and the Buddhist Association exchanged pleasantries, and the Taoist priests then introduced the disciples of the Xiaoyao Sect, speaking with a sense of pride: "This operation was made possible thanks to the mediation of the Xiaoyao Sect, which saved us from many misunderstandings."

The head of the Changsheng Temple, as the president of the Taoist Association, also expressed his approval of the Xiaoyao Sect. He then said to the old abbot: "Masters, please take a seat. We will begin the meeting once the auxiliary members from the Xiaoyao Sect arrive. Speaking of negotiating with the demon race, this is my first time as well, hahaha!"

"..." The old abbot, however, seemed unusually silent.

The old abbot turned his gaze away, glancing at the demon race's side. He could immediately tell which demon gods these different-looking demons were, based on Buddhist legends.

Luo Hou had not raised any objections to what they had said. The demons standing behind him were a little restless, but except for the Celestial Demon, none of them dared to question the Demon Lord's decision, appearing completely clueless, scratching their ears and cheeks.

The Celestial Demon was still kneeling, looking as if he had made a mistake, his expression filled with guilt as if the sky were about to collapse.

A Taoist priest nearby, seeing that the old abbot’s gaze fell on that side, leaned in to explain: "We don’t really know what happened. When Luo Hou came in, he slapped the Celestial Demon twice. It seems like there was a communication issue between the higher and lower ranks. After all, Luo Hou doesn’t seem like he wants to fight us."

The police chief had just gone to find the communication personnel, still the same small officer in charge of making calls. Upon hearing this, the officer immediately started talking: "What? That’s just unrequited love being exposed. The other side clearly doesn’t like him, and now they can't even be friends. These guys really are into cosplay, aren’t they? Even their real lives are this dramatic."

"..." The old abbot became even more silent, slowly turning his gaze away.

Whatever.

He didn’t understand this world anymore. He didn’t get why the Taoist Association and the police station had become like this.

Soon, the all-around assistant, Liu, arrived with a few trusted aides. The communication personnel arranged by the police chief also established a video call with their superiors.

Everyone sat down, preparing to begin the meeting, when Ke Xingzhou suddenly spoke up and called for a stop: "Wait a minute."

Everyone turned to look at him.

Ke Xingzhou noticed Luo Hou’s gaze and, for some reason, felt a little uneasy. He gave him a strange look and then quickly turned away, finally speaking: "Shouldn’t someone from the underworld be here?"

The masters immediately turned their attention to Qingyun Temple.

The close relationship between Qingyun Temple and the underworld had long been spread around, and they all naturally assumed that if anyone was to summon the underworld officers, it would be Qingyun Temple.

However, the head of Qingyun Temple, who had no intention of summoning any ghosts, looked at Ke Xingzhou with hesitation: "..." After a moment of hesitation, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the Buddhist Association, he gritted his teeth and said, "I’ll give it a try."

With that, he set up his ritual instruments and began chanting the ghost-summoning incantation: "On the Three-Life Stone, the Five Elements turn. Spirits descend, and heaven and earth become transparent."

As his words fell, he threw a stack of talismans onto the ground, and they spontaneously caught fire without a flame. Once the talismans fell, a peculiar portal suddenly opened, and cold wind surged, lowering the temperature of the entire meeting room by several degrees.

On the other side of the portal, a hand reached out, tapping on the table before decisively snatching the printed paper in front of Assistant Liu.

Assistant Liu: "..."

Head of Qingyun Temple: "..."

Everyone: "..."

Soon, the ghost officer on the other side seemed to realize something was wrong. Angrily, he extended his head but froze when he saw a group of Buddhist and Taoist masters standing in the room. His angry expression instantly stiffened on his face.The head of Qingyun Temple was sweating. At this moment, he recognized that the ghost officer was one of the ones previously summoned by his own temple. He quickly cleared his throat and reminded him: "Lord Ghost Officer, we are about to negotiate with the demon race to confirm the losses they need to compensate. Shouldn't the Underworld send a few officials over to join us?"

The ghost officer: "..."

The ghost officer disappeared with a whoosh.

--

Half an hour later, the leadership from the Underworld also arrived.

The mediation room gathered the leaders of the four races: humans, ghosts, demons, and monsters. The human, ghost, and demon races all looked at the demon race with vigilance and caution.

There was no choice; since the birth of the demon race, they had been synonymous with destruction and chaos. They believed in boundless freedom and followed no rules, except for their instinctive submission to the upper echelons of their race. They were beings exiled by the Heavenly Dao.

For such a race to suddenly say they would compensate for their losses was like a fantasy.

Everyone exchanged glances, their expressions tense.

Based on the demon race’s past actions, it was likely they would make demands that jeopardized the safety of individuals from other races. But these were no longer the days from millennia ago, when people sacrificed their own kind for temporary stability. Now, equality was preached everywhere, and no one would choose to sacrifice their own race for peace.

But the appearance of the demon race was too sudden. They weren't prepared. If they angered them, they feared it would affect the safety of the nearby residents.

They had to minimize the losses without provoking the demon race!

In case the negotiation failed...

It would be life and death, coexistence and annihilation!

Everyone stood on high alert, and when they saw Luo Hou open his mouth, their nerves suddenly tightened.

Luo Hou spoke: "Compensation is fine, but I want him."

Everyone’s hearts tightened, and they all looked in the direction he pointed. Finally, their gaze landed on Ke Xingzhou, who was lazily leaning against his second disciple.

Leaders of the three realms: "…?"

Ke Xingzhou: "?"

Nie Chen: "…"