Acceptance

S.

After that incident, they reached the village without any issues.

"Well, it's the perfect timing, the sun is about to set and the monsters will be out then." Liu Qingge was itching to hack down those menaces and go back since he disliked being in proximity to Shen Qing Qiu.

"Yes but now, we have to work faster if we want to get more detailed information from the people" and with this sentence, Liu Qingge was sure that Shen Qing Qiu had no intention of dallying around either.

"So, what do we know about this case?" Liu Qingge finally remembered that in a hurry to leave, he hadn't glanced at the mission report that was handed to him.

Shen Qing Qiu let out a deep sigh as if he had already predicted that, and it was very much possible that Shen Qing Qiu had predicted this because even though Liu Qingge didn't want to admit it, Shen Qing Qiu had an excellent perception and deductive reasoning.

"Why do I even expect anything from you" Shen Qing Qiu muttered, before Liu Qingge could express his disapproval of this sentence, Shen Qing Qiu continued," We are here to investigate the group of wolf demons who are terrorising the citizens of this town and have taken the lives of many people."

"Yeah, I know that, what else?" Asked Liu Qingge impatiently. Why was this man repeating the sect leader's words? Liu Qingge did listen to the sect leader.

"It is very improper to interrupt someone shidi especially when said someone is at a higher position of authority."

And there he goes, flexing his authority on people as if Liu Qingge doesn't know that he earned this place through deceit.

After Shen Qing Qiu was done admonishing him, he continued," the only thing known about these wolf demons is that their numbers exceed 30, no fixed value was found because the scouts sent by the other cultivation sects weren't able to return."

"To properly assess the situation, we are to question the villagers but before that, we have to visit the mayor of this village."

Once again, without waiting for Liu Qingge to follow, Shen Qing Qiu headed off in the direction of the mayor's house.

***

The mayor's house was in the middle of the village. It could be called the most beautiful structure in the entire village but it didn't have any life to it. The stone walls were a dull grey colour, the carved door was a stark red, the large wooden table in the courtyard seemed barren as it didn't have any plants to accompany it. This house seemed to be a really weird structure as it had the best architectural design but the lack of vegetation made it seem very unwelcoming.

Liu Qingge was very intrigued by such horrible decoration choices, turns out he is in fact, not the worst decorator in this whole world.

While Liu Qingge was paying attention to all the details of the carvings on the walls and the gates, Shen Qing Qiu walked past them without even throwing another glance at them.

'What kind of investigation are you doing if you can't even focus on details?' Thought Liu Qingge as he followed behind Shen Qing Qiu.

The mayor was sitting in the main hall and hadn't bothered to invite them in but as soon as he saw Shen Qing Qiu entering, Liu Qingge could have sworn that he saw the man salivate.

Rushing towards Shen Qing Qiu, the mayor grabbed the Qing Jing peak lord's pristine hands in his slimy paws, being too intimate than it was necessary. He then kneeled and said," great immortal, thank you for listening to our help cries. We will be forever indebted to the Cang Qiong sect."

"So, you did know that cultivators from the Cang Qiong sect were arriving and yet you thought it beneath you to come and welcome your benefactors?" Questioned Liu Qingge as he eyes the slimy hands of the man still clutching Shen Qing Qiu's hands. How this man kneeled and spoke or did anything in general, did not feel right to Liu Qingge.