Starting as The Young Master of A Pharmacy, He Trained Swordsmanship in Seclusion For Twenty Years - Chapter 140

As Prefect Hong Zhi spoke, he was also deeply puzzled.

How strange!
How on earth did that fellow Luo Jinghe manage to provoke this Black Crow Envoy?
Without even an interrogation, a prominent Prefectural Judge was executed directly by the Envoy.
This was because the Black Crow Guard generally did not interfere in the affairs of local governments.
The duties of the Black Crow Guard were to slay supernatural anomalies, eliminate demonic beasts, and pursue the Lotus of Purity cultists.
Therefore, Hong Zhi concluded that this reckless Luo Jinghe must have, at some point, crossed a line drawn by the Black Crow Guard.

However, Hong Zhi felt no pressure himself; after all, he wasn’t the one who died.

“Rest assured, Envoy. I will personally deliver this evidence of Luo Jinghe’s crimes to the Provincial Governor,” Hong Zhi said. After speaking, he carefully gathered the letters and tucked them into the front of his robe.
“Envoy, I shall take my leave now!”

As Hong Zhi walked out the main hall entrance, three Black Crow Guards followed him, carrying an object wrapped in thick cloth.

Shortly after Hong Zhi left, He Yan came before Lu Xuan.
“Envoy, Luo Jinghe had contacted a Jianghu organization called the Misty Rain Pavilion, attempting to act against the Lu Family Herb Shop.”
Lu Xuan: “Misty Rain Pavilion?”
“Yes. The Misty Rain Pavilion is an assassin organization based in An Province. Its leader, Feng Yumu, is a martial artist who has recently entered the Inner Qi realm.”
“The four assassins Luo Jinghe hired are currently at the Hidden Dragon Inn.” After providing this information about the Misty Rain Pavilion, He Yan continued, “Envoy, how should we deal with them?”

Lu Xuan, of course, would show no mercy to these assassins. “Kill them.”
“Yes, sir!”

After giving the order, Lu Xuan recalled the aura belonging to the Lotus of Purity cult he had sensed in Lanshan County.
“By the way, I discovered traces of the Lotus of Purity cult in Lanshan County.”
“Notify all Black Crow Guards. During this period, while patrolling Baidao Prefecture, immediately inform me if any suspected information about the Lotus of Purity cult is found!”

Hearing news related to the Lotus of Purity cult, He Yan’s expression turned grave.
“Are those cultists from the Lotus of Purity becoming active in the world again?”
Not long ago, He Yan remembered, Old Li had led a large contingent of Black Crow Guards to Lingshi County to pursue a Lotus of Purity elder.
Who would have thought that after such a short time, the cult had appeared again in Baidao Prefecture.
Truly, a centipede dies but never falls down! These Lotus of Purity cultists were like rats in the sewers, popping up from time to time to cause trouble.

The Lotus of Purity cult, prematurely resurgent supernatural anomalies… Sigh, troubled times indeed!
Over in Liusha County, Old Yu remained as before, having found no trace of that Tiger Wraith Demon King.

In contrast to He Yan’s deep concern, Lu Xuan remained perfectly calm. He was thinking about how to obtain new system points.
The Black Crow Guard’s storeroom had been nearly exhausted by Lu Xuan’s “harvesting.”
The few remaining supplies were intentionally left by Lu Xuan for the Baidao Prefecture Black Crow Guards. Lu Xuan still had some sense of propriety; he hadn’t refined all of those heaven and earth materials.

“Deputy Envoy He, the men sent to the Imperial Capital should have arrived by now, right?”
“When can we expect the personnel from the Imperial Capital to deliver the heaven and earth spiritual materials I requested?” Lu Xuan asked.
He hadn’t forgotten about that high-grade spiritual material; he was still very much looking forward to it.

Hearing Lu Xuan bring this up, He Yan couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness.
“Envoy, judging by the normal journey, the Black Crow Guards dispatched to the Imperial Capital should have arrived there a few days ago.”
There was one more thing He Yan didn’t dare say out loud: With the Envoy making such an outrageous demand, it was still very uncertain whether approval for that batch of spiritual materials would even be granted.

The Imperial Capital!

A majestic and vast city stood upon the earth.
At the center of this city, a dignified and sacred palace complex resided.
The palace gates were solemn and towering. Vermilion-red doors were inlaid with golden reliefs, inspiring awe and deterring direct gaze.
This palace was the power center of the Great Xia Dynasty: the Great Xia Imperial Palace, the residence of the Emperor.

Closest to the imperial palace, about a hundred li away, stood an enormous estate.
The estate covered thousands of acres, with high walls rising up, appearing impregnable.
A massive plaque hung before the estate gate, engraved with three large characters. Around these characters, different patterns of black birds were carved.

Black Crow Guard!

The plaque and its contents were personally crafted by the founding emperor of Great Xia and bestowed upon the Black Crow Guard.

Inside the Black Crow Guard estate, in a spacious courtyard, several dozen Black Crow Guards were present.
All wore the white Black Crow uniforms and were reviewing correspondence from Black Crow Guard branches across the land.

The previously quiet atmosphere was broken by a sound of bewilderment.
A man wearing the white Black Crow uniform, who appeared quite young, made the sound.
Holding a letter from Baidao Prefecture, he looked it over repeatedly.
Finally, his hand holding the letter seemed to tremble slightly. His eyes widened in disbelief at what he was reading.

“Huh?”
“Is there a mistake in this message from Baidao Prefecture?”
“How could they request such an astonishing amount of heaven and earth spiritual materials?”

Three portions of high-grade spiritual materials, twenty portions of medium-grade, one hundred portions of low-grade…

Good heavens, is this for real?
Leaving aside the massive quantities of medium and low-grade materials for a moment…
Just the mention of high-grade materials alone was enough to cause astonishment.
High-grade materials… In his two years reviewing correspondence here, he had never seen any prefectural Black Crow Guard branch dare to even mention high-grade materials.
Yet, the Black Crow Envoy of Baidao Prefecture actually dared to request high-grade heaven and earth spiritual materials? And three portions at that!
This… this is…

Actually, what he didn’t know was that Lu Xuan had originally considered asking for an ultimate-grade heaven and earth spiritual material.
However, He Yan had managed to dissuade him from this wishful thinking.
After some hesitation, Lu Xuan changed it to three portions of high-grade materials instead.

“No, I must inform Envoy Huang!”
With that, the Black Crow Guard holding the letter from Baidao hurriedly ran out of the courtyard.

Not long after, in the Black Crow Guard conference hall…

Several figures were present in the hall at this moment.
On the main seat sat an elderly man in a red Black Crow uniform, appearing to be in his seventies or eighties.
Without a doubt, the old man was an Earth-rank Black Crow Guard, an expert of the External Release Grandmaster level!
As it happened, he was one of the Earth-rank Black Crow Guards responsible for delivering heaven and earth spiritual materials.
An Province and several nearby provinces were under his personal responsibility for deliveries.