Chapter 152: One Year

“Senior Brother Meng, I just saw about thirty thousand demon ice sculptures outside the northern city wall. Were any demons able to escape?” the thin man continued to ask.

“The demons might have split their forces beforehand,” Meng Chuan said. “However, not a single one of the thirty thousand demons I encountered managed to escape.”

The thin man was secretly astonished.

Not a single one?

This fellow disciple is truly a genius!

“All right, I’ve asked everything I needed to,” the thin man said with a smile. “You can leave the rest to our Earth Net.”

“Understood,” Meng Chuan replied, familiar with the procedure. He instantly transformed into a streak of lightning, streaking across the sky, then flashed again on a distant mountaintop before completely disappearing from sight.

From start to finish, Meng Chuan did not reveal his identity as a patrol inspector. The identity of a patrol inspector is a secret. To many, Meng Chuan simply appeared to be passing by, intervening to eliminate demon monarchs. Even the fact that Meng Chuan saved Cangshan Prefecture would be kept confidential! It’s common knowledge that divine demons pass through and save cities, but the identities of these saviors are rarely disclosed. Too much public information would allow the demon race to deduce the human race’s 'patrol network.' After all, only a small fraction of the so-called divine demons who 'happened to be passing by' are truly coincidental; most are patrol inspectors who were specifically dispatched.

A streak of lightning pierced the sky, landing in North River Pass. North River Pass, home to hundreds of thousands, was comparable in size to Cangshan City. Meng Chuan quietly returned to his residence shortly after. The window was still open. Meng Chuan swiftly slipped through it and landed inside. Liu Qiyue, illuminated by a lantern, was sitting on the bed reading. Seeing Meng Chuan, her face lit up. “Achuan, you’re back? Did everything go well?”

“Yes,” Meng Chuan replied. He hung his demon-slaying saber beside the bed frame, shed his robes, and got into bed. He chuckled, “It went pretty well. When I arrived, the demon race hadn’t even begun their assault on the city. I first went inside and killed six demon monarchs, then annihilated the thirty thousand demons.”

Liu Qiyue nodded. She considered it normal. As a Great Sun realm divine demon with a Phoenix Divine Body, her widespread destructive power, especially with flames, was even stronger than Meng Chuan’s. However, her speed was slower; if thirty thousand demons scattered and fled, three to five thousand might have escaped her.

“Still, the demon monarchs’ entry into the city affected hundreds of mortals,” Meng Chuan said, shaking his head slightly.

“For a demon invasion, only a few hundred casualties is quite fortunate,” Liu Qiyue comforted him.

“Don’t worry, I’m used to it,” Meng Chuan said as he lay down. “It’s not morning yet; let’s get some more sleep.”

“Okay,” Liu Qiyue replied, putting down her book and going back to sleep.

At North River Pass, perhaps the demon race was trying to figure out how to deal with Meng Chuan, this formidable opponent, as they made no further attempts to attack.

On August 27th, Meng Chuan received a distress call in the early morning. He immediately sped over six hundred *li* to Gaolan County within Yuxia Prefecture. Twelve *li* outside Gaolan County, an unstable world entrance had appeared, and a Second Heaven demon monarch, leading five thousand demons, attacked the county. Gaolan County, lacking a stationed divine demon, had no means of resistance. Upon his arrival, Meng Chuan first eliminated the demon monarch. He then spent over ten breaths of time running back and forth throughout Gaolan County, thoroughly eradicating all the scattered demons. Of Gaolan County’s ninety thousand-plus residents, over eight thousand perished! Due to Gaolan County’s weak defenses, the residents immediately hid in tunnels. The demons, scattered throughout the city, were primarily focused on forcibly breaching the heavily fortified underground passages. Meng Chuan arrived before most of these passages could be breached. Had he been just a quarter of an hour later, the entire city might have been annihilated. A mere quarter of an hour, of course, would have been enough for Meng Chuan to cover another three thousand *li*! His speed far surpassed that of Marquis-level divine demons, and he was considered fast even among King-level divine demons. Should he become a Marquis-level divine demon in the future, his speed would become unmatched in the world! If his strength continued to improve, Meng Chuan’s speed would increasingly approach that of true lightning.

On September 19th, shortly after dinner, Meng Chuan was practicing his saber techniques when he received another distress call. He immediately traveled over five hundred *li* to Yuchan County in Guhe Prefecture, where he killed a Second Heaven demon monarch and six thousand demons. Of Yuchan County’s more than sixty thousand residents, over three thousand died.

As the year drew to a close, Meng Chuan had been at North River Pass for a year. During this time, he had only encountered one demon attack on the pass itself but had responded to three distress calls.

On the night of December 3rd, on Yuanchu Mountain.

“Venerable One, these are today’s dossiers,” the Yuanchu Mountain Master said, placing the documents on the desk.

Venerable Qin Wu, who had been reading, put down his book and picked up the dossiers, beginning to flip through them. He frowned slightly. “Today, two world entrances appeared within our Great Zhou territory?”

“Yes,” the Yuanchu Mountain Master nodded. “Indeed, these unstable world entrances are appearing more and more frequently. However, today’s two entrances were too far from any cities, so the demon race did not send troops to attack. But according to Earth Net’s investigations, demon monarchs and demons likely used these two entrances to infiltrate our human world.”

“Hmm.” Venerable Qin Wu frowned, nodding slightly. “More and more demon monarchs and demons are infiltrating our human world.”

Unstable world entrances can appear anywhere. In reality, only a small fraction appear close to prefectural or county cities. Most appear in desolate wildernesses, deep mountains, or vast swamps, far from cities. If they are more than fifty *li* away, any large demon army dispatched would be discovered en route. Given the travel speed of lesser demons, divine demons would likely arrive with reinforcements before they could reach a city. Therefore, when the distance is great, the demon race refrains from attacking cities. Instead, they send demon monarchs and other demons to quietly infiltrate various parts of the human world, spreading out to find opportunities for destruction.

This is also a matter of survival for them. The number of demons that can be sustained within the Demon Realm is limited, and there is constant internal strife. Now, by using unstable world entrances, batches of demons are sent into the human world. This alleviates the burden on various factions within the Demon Realm, allows those demons to make a living in the human world, and simultaneously attacks humans, weakening their strength. It is truly an excellent strategy for the demon race!

“These infiltrating demons scatter and hide everywhere, whether in lakes or deep mountains, usually in groups of a few greater demons leading dozens of lesser demons,” the Yuanchu Mountain Master explained. “Finding them is very difficult, and even when found, it’s only dozens of demons eliminated. These demons, in turn, seek opportunities to attack human villages and strongholds.”

“Indeed,” Venerable Qin Wu nodded. Human villages are now constructed as fortified strongholds. This is a direct result of repeated demon raids.

“To reassure the populace, we claim that these village and stronghold raids are due to the sudden appearance of world entrances,” Venerable Qin Wu stated. “However, in reality, most of these smaller attacks are carried out by demons already lurking within our human world. As their numbers grow, this truth may become increasingly difficult to conceal. If people learn that too many demons are hiding everywhere, it could cause widespread panic.”

“Earth Net is already hunting them down relentlessly.” The Yuanchu Mountain Master added, “They investigate various locations repeatedly, eradicating demons wherever they are found. As a result, those demons dare not show themselves easily.”

“But demons are different from us; many live underground or in water,” Venerable Qin Wu pointed out. “According to the dossiers, Earth Net doesn’t have enough divine demons. If the number of divine demons in Earth Net could increase by fifty percent, the search and hunt across the realm would become much more intensive.”

“However, many city passes are currently in dire need of divine demons,” the Yuanchu Mountain Master said, resignedly.

Qin Wu nodded. The human race’s biggest problem in this war was the insufficient number of divine demons!

“If we had more fast-moving patrol inspectors, it could also alleviate the pressure,” the Yuanchu Mountain Master suggested. “Take Meng Chuan, for example. He is responsible for eighteen prefectures within a thousand *li* of North River Pass, and he has done exceptionally well this past year. All three of his rescue operations were swift, resulting in negligible losses for one prefectural city and relatively minor losses for two county cities.”

“Meng Chuan is the only disciple with a perfected Thunderous Annihilation Divine Body. Those who have undergone seven or eight refinements are few and far between, and their speed is much slower than Meng Chuan’s, limiting their rescue range significantly,” Venerable Qin Wu mused. “I have an idea: in the numerous smaller city passes scattered across the Great Zhou territory, we could assign a regular Great Sun realm divine demon to each pass, and have them also serve part-time with Earth Net.”

“Every month, they would dedicate ten days to searching for demons within a three-hundred-*li* radius. Smaller city passes are generally stable, and the absence of one regular Great Sun realm divine demon would have little impact, even if the pass were to face a demon attack,” Venerable Qin Wu explained. “However, if a Great Sun realm divine demon were to consistently search a three-hundred-*li* radius, with hundreds of such passes throughout the Great Zhou territory, and hundreds of Great Sun realm divine demons conducting searches, it would significantly reduce the burden on Earth Net as a whole.”

“This is just an impromptu thought of mine,” Venerable Qin Wu instructed. “Discuss it with the other elders and see if it’s feasible.”

The Yuanchu Mountain Master nodded slightly. “I will go back and carefully assess the strength of each small city pass to determine the best way to ensure their defensive capabilities while also enhancing Earth Net’s strength.”

“Venerable One,” the Yuanchu Mountain Master could not help but add, “This past year, more divine demons have fallen in battle than last year. While we and Black Sand Grotto-Heaven are still holding steady, the situation on Two World Island has become somewhat chaotic.”

“I know. You may go now,” Venerable Qin Wu instructed.

“Understood.” The Yuanchu Mountain Master could only take his leave.

Venerable Qin Wu sat there for a long time before picking up his book and resuming his reading.