He could predict the location of the demon after it entered the water...and accurately shoot it through the brain...his keen insight and judgment were simply terrifying...Lv Qing, as a female, served as the head of the catching department in the county government, and she was proud to be able to suppress all the heroes.

But at this moment, she was convinced and overwhelmed by Xu Qi'an's amazing skills.

Hmm, not only is he powerful, but also very humble and low-key, much better than those men who look down on women.

Hoo...if the monster hadn't been injured and poisoned, and there wasn't a layer of water between us, I might not have been able to shoot it with one arrow...Xu Qi'an put away the military crossbow, feeling a little regretful. This crossbow could only be fired three times, and its durability was too poor.

After three shots, it would become an ordinary military crossbow.

It was supposed to be used to protect his life and deal with monsters, but it was a pity.

Following his gaze, Lv Qing also noticed this ordinary-looking military crossbow, and was surprised when she took a closer look.

The crossbow was engraved with complex and mysterious patterns. Thinking of the surging aura when the arrow was shot, it was not difficult to guess that this was a magical instrument.

Nightwatchers only had copper gongs as magical instruments...was this his own personal property? He said he could invite the sorcerers of the Celestial Observatory, and it turned out not to be a boast...Lv Qing's impression of this man changed again, and her favorability increased.

Xu Qi'an turned to the side, not letting her continue to look at his treasure, and smiled, "If we don't retrieve it now, it might wash away. It's a huge credit."

Lv Qing smiled and nodded in a reserved manner.

The two of them entered the river together and dragged the monster's body onto the shore.

At this time, Song Tingfeng supported Zhu Guangxiao, staggering out of the woods.

"Did you kill it?" Song Tingfeng couldn't hide his smile, feeling relieved.

The taciturn Zhu Guangxiao let out a long breath.

"How are you?" Xu Qi'an asked Zhu Guangxiao about his injuries.

Zhu Guangxiao shook his head, "It's nothing, just broke two ribs."

The four of them rested briefly on the riverbank, and the two catching officers in the refining realm led the village chief down the mountain.

The village chief, seeing the monster's body, was both angry and afraid. He cautiously approached and kicked it, then fled with an agility that an old man like him shouldn't have.

After waiting a few seconds and seeing no response, he felt relieved and ran over to punch and kick it in impotent rage.

After venting, the village chief knelt down and kowtowed to Xu Qi'an and the others.

Xu Qi'an waved his hand, "I ask you, when was that cave in the south mined?"

The village chief thought for a moment, "That was a kiln left over from before. There isn't much limestone in the south, and the road is not easy to travel, so it was abandoned many years ago. This old man doesn't know when it became like this."

Xu Qi'an continued, "Did people often go there before?"

The village chief said, "Not many people passed by."

Just say occasionally, why bother with the literary language...Xu Qi'an muttered to himself, "You go back first and wait for the government's summons."

The old man had been kicked by Zhu Guangxiao just now and was slightly injured. Xu Qi'an saw him holding his waist.

Lv Qing had no objections to Xu Qi'an's handling, so she immediately asked a colleague to send the village chief back.

The remaining people stayed in place to regulate their breathing, recover their strength, and replenish their water and food.

Fifteen minutes later, three horses were pulling the monster's body slowly along the official road.

On the way, Lv Qing vividly described Xu Qi'an's amazing operation, exuding admiration.

Song Tingfeng rode his horse closer to Xu Qi'an and whispered, "She seems to have a good impression of you."

Xu Qi'an responded softly, "What do you mean?"Song Tingfeng said: "Lv Catcher has quite a reputation in the Six Sects of the capital city and is still unmarried. Every man desires to be a lone traveler on a certain road, don't they?"

In this era, she belongs to the category of leftover women... Xu Qi'an laughed, "Then you should work hard."

Song Tingfeng squinted his eyes and sighed, shaking his head. "I'm only suitable for the Official Brothel Sector."

Xu Qi'an laughed, "Even if you long for the path of trees, every morning and evening is covered in frost?"

Zhu Guangxiao frowned, not understanding what his two colleagues were talking about.

"By the way, what was that move you just used?" Xu Qi'an asked.

"The Wind Howling Sword Technique," Song Tingfeng said.

Sword technique... But the Catcher Lv's machine-like knife technique during the battle just now was also a unique skill... Wait, sword technique?!

Xu Qi'an stared at the sword hanging from Song Tingfeng's waist.

Song Tingfeng shrugged, "Although a sword cannot use the sword technique."

Yes, yes, who said you can't kill someone without a gun? Xu Qi'an silently cursed in his heart.

As they chatted, they saw a group of commoners walking towards them from the road, gathering towards the official road.

The head of the group was the village chief, accompanied by the alchemist who had brought him back.

The alchemist shook his head helplessly, "They insist on coming over to thank us."

The village chief held a basket of eggs and raised it high in front of Xu Qi'an, "These are all the eggs collected by our village. Sir, please accept them."

"In the past six months, we really couldn't live on. If it weren't for you gentlemen getting rid of the monsters, to say something brazen, we wouldn't be able to pay the taxes and would have to flee and become refugees."

Xu Qi'an looked at the village chief's uneasy eyes and scanned the faces of the gray households, whose faces were yellow and thin.

"Good!" He smiled and took the basket of eggs, hanging it on the saddle.

The people around them showed smiles, and only then did they dare to discuss loudly, cursing the monster's corpse.

If I insist on not taking anything from the people, I might scare them. Xu Qi'an sighed silently.

...

Returning to the capital city, the monster's body was received by the white servants waiting outside the city. After being loaded onto a cart and covered with white cloth, they processed the traces before entering the city.

"The saltpeter mine is a big deal and needs to be reported." Song Tingfeng ate an egg and swallowed the yolk.

Parasitic worm warning... Xu Qi'an nodded.

Returning to the Nightwatcher's yamen, the three of them didn't have time to write a report and went directly to Spring Breeze Hall to tell Li Yuchun about the incident.

After listening, Brother Chun looked serious.

"You've done well, Xu Qi'an, you have accomplished a great deed." Li Yuchun walked up to the three of them and personally tidied up their clothes, making them neat and tidy.

He returned to his seat and pondered, "What do you think?"

The three of them looked at each other, and Song Tingfeng said, "According to Xu Ningyan's analysis, the monster consciously drove away the gray households, and through our investigation, we found a saltpeter mine in the mountains... This is definitely not a coincidence."

"Do you have more specific and powerful analytical results?" Li Yuchun asked.

Song Tingfeng shrugged, "Boss, I'm good at killing people, not investigating..."

It's just average.

The three of them turned to Xu Qi'an at the same time, and Li Yuchun looked at him expectantly, "Ningyan, what do you think?"

They had all witnessed Xu Qi'an's ability to analyze cases.

Although he was just a newcomer who had just stepped into the realm of cultivating Qi, with him around, they always felt inexplicably at ease.

When people are in fields they are not good at, they will subconsciously rely on the strong.

Xu Qianan thought for a moment and said, "Let me add that I am now certain that the reason the monster drives away the surrounding gray households is to monopolize the saltpeter mine.

"At first, I thought it might be laying eggs in the Dahuang Mountain watershed and returning to the capital, but I found out it was male.

"There is just one question I can't figure out: why does the monster target the saltpeter mine? Besides being used for medicine, the only other purpose is to make gunpowder."

Of course, saltpeter has other uses, but Xu Qianan thought the generation gap was too deep to explain.

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He subconsciously looked at Li Yuchun, but was surprised to find that the other party was stunned and stiff, as if he had figured something out.

"It's the demon race, it's the demon race..." he murmured.

Li Yuchun didn't explain, but spread out paper and quickly wrote.

...

Song Tingfeng took Xu Qianan to the study to fill out the "injured" document.

"After writing this, we can rest for two days and don't have to be on duty tomorrow," Song Tingfeng said. "You need to learn to seek benefits for yourself appropriately."

This is the legendary work injury, no, paid leave... Xu Qianan deeply agreed with his colleagues' wit.

When they left the study, it was already dusk, and Xu Qianan planned to go home to rest.

Song Tingfeng stopped him and said, "Didn't we agree to go to the brothel tonight?"

Xu Qianan was stunned, then looked at Zhu Guangxiao, who was following Song Tingfeng, and asked in surprise, "Is your injury not serious?"

Zhu Guangxiao said in a low voice, "The women in the brothel know how to serve people."

...Does that mean they will ride on top by themselves? Xu Qianan arched his hand towards him.

Indeed, how could he give up the pleasant socializing between colleagues for a small injury like a fracture.

It doesn't matter if he doesn't go home tonight. His uncle knows that the night watchmen have to be on duty. As for his aunt, well, she obviously doesn't care whether he comes home or not. She just hums and haws at him all day.

Tonight, Xu Qianan, along with two colleagues, will attend a social event that conforms to the official etiquette of Great Feng.

Destination: the brothel!

He had experienced many similar social events in his past life, but the form had changed from dinner parties to visits to brothels.

In Great Feng, or rather in this era, brothels were the preferred socializing places.

Their night watchman badges allowed them to ignore the curfew in the inner city. When they encountered colleagues who were also night watchmen and were questioned, they turned a blind eye.

...

The three walked in the alleys of the brothel, and Song Tingfeng, who smiled with his eyes closed, said, "When you patrol at night in the future, you can turn a blind eye to colleagues you meet near the brothel. If you meet them in other areas, it's best not to be lax. You can't guarantee what their purpose is for traveling in the middle of the night.

"I once heard an old senior tell a story about a night watchman who had a grudge with someone and went to their house at night and killed the whole family. They couldn't find out who did it for a long time. They had to spend a lot of effort to identify the killer, who was also a night watchman.

"We'll talk about the details when we have tea."

Xu Qianan smiled and nodded.

These insider secrets in these circles were very valuable experiences. Jealous colleagues who liked to scheme might not be willing to tell you.

"By the way, which courtyard are we going to?" Zhu Guangxiao, who spoke sparingly, asked.

"Yingmei Xiaoge."

"Let's just find any one."

The first answer was from Xu Qianan, and the second was from Song Tingfeng.

Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng looked at Xu Qianan together, as if to say, "What are you thinking?"Song Tingfeng patted his new colleague on the shoulder and laughed, "Fu Xiang charges ten taels of silver for her tea-serving services, and she rarely accompanies guests. Usually, she only has tea-serving clients for several days without any guests of honor. This is a brilliant strategy..."

It's just hunger marketing, I understand... Xu Qi'an remembered that they didn't know about the plot to frame Zhou Li, so this kind of insider information couldn't be widely spread. They didn't know that he and Fu Xiang, the courtesan, had slept together.

Just simply slept together.

Zhu Guangxiao reminded them, "Fu Xiang doesn't like us."

He didn't say much, but what he said was either insightful or well-intentioned.

The two colleagues didn't want to waste money at the Shadow Plum Blossom Pavilion. Xu Qi'an thought for a moment and said, "Let's just go and broaden our horizons. I'll pay for the tea-serving."

Treating senior colleagues to seafood is a common way of socializing for new employees.

Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao smiled, and no one would refuse a well-intentioned treat.

Soon, they arrived at the courtyard of the Shadow Plum Blossom Pavilion, where they heard the sound of silk and bamboo music.

Xu Qi'an looked at the courtyard and thought, "I'll make up for my previous embarrassment."

PS: This chapter is incredibly long.