CH 63

Chapter 63: Not Worth Investing.

Edited by: Mochiusagi 

"It is impossible to say that there was not a single loss after all of the commotion from last night."

"The number of people who died because of the fire has almost reached a hundred, while the number of people who died because of the monsters are still being counted."

"As for the Officials, eight of them were lost last night."

By the time Zhang Yue finished, the atmosphere in the hall became heavy.

Shi Qingsheng sighed: "Since this is the case, I'm afraid that there are hundreds of people in total that have died. If this matter is not handled properly, it will certainly cause a big panic."

"What does Mr. Shi suggest we do?" 

Shen Changqing's eyes fell on Shi Qingsheng and he asked a rare request, seeking advice from the latter.

In the end, Shen Changqing was only a temporary Governor. He did not have any experience as an Official.

If the matter was just dealing with demons and monsters, things would be much simpler as he could just kill them all.

However, pacifying people cannot be solved by killing.

In contrast to him, Shi Qingsheng had been the Book Master for many years and was considered to be the most experienced one in this area.

After some pondering, Shi Qingsheng said, "Your Excellency, the Government should still post an announcement as usual. Stating that all of the monsters have been eliminated, and at the same time, let the Officials increase their patrols." 

"People's fears will gradually fade as time goes on, and if someone wants to take advantage of this opportunity to create chaos, they would be severely punished. Lest the others think that the Government is weak."

"At the same time, the people and their family members who were killed and/or injured by the fire and the monsters, as well as those who survived, would be given some relief or compensation."

Shi Qingsheng proposed a two-pronged approach of punishing the troublemakers severely, while giving compensations to those affected by the incident.

Shen Changqing thought for a moment and then nodded: "Good, then let's do as you say."

After a pause, he added: "The Government has some extra funds, so there should not be a problem with the compensations."

After the decision was made, Shi Qingsheng immediately got up and left, leaving Zhang Yue sitting there, motionless.

"My Lord, after what happened last night, there are some Officials who want to leave. What should we do?"

Not everyone wasn't afraid of death.

Last night, those Officials had no other choice, but to fulfill their duty. They did not dare to escape from the battlefield.

But it's different now. The matter had already subsided. It was the best time to resign and leave.

Shen Changqing said: "If anyone wants to leave, let them. However, they will no longer be hired in the future. You can just recruit a new batch of Officials. This is just a small problem."

Great Qin had a shortage of everything, but not of people.

Even a small place like Lin'an City had 100,000 people, not to mention the big cities.

To be honest, Shen Changqing was not even sure what the total population of Great Qin was.

Anyway, one thing was for sure and that the population of Great Qin was much larger than the place he was from in his previous life.

Receiving his order, Zhang Yue got up and left.

At this moment, only Shen Changqing was left alone in the inner hall.

"The Demon's Essence Blood has already been returned to the demons' hands, and all of the monsters have retreated, so there won't be any more problems in Lin'an City in the near future."

"This time's matter is not small, but Lin'an City's Heavenly Inspector Guard was destroyed, so the news can not be sent back to the Demon Suppression Division for the time being."

"However, with the eyes and ears of the Heavenly Inspection Guard, I believe it won't take long for someone to take over."

Sitting at the head of the table, Shen Changqing's mind was thinking about the events of the past two days.

Although two days were short, a lot of things had happened.

It was only now that he had the time to smooth everything out a bit.

Shen Changqing then sank into his mind and began to check the panel.

___________________________

Name: Shen Changqing

Faction: Great Qin Demon Suppression Division

Status: Yellow Rank Official Slayer

Martial Arts: Thirteen Cross Practice (Level 20, can be upgraded), Heavenly Martial True Qi (Level 13, can be upgraded), Seven Killings Blade Technique (Level 3), Iron Sand Palm (Level 2)

Killing Value: 53

___________________________

"53 points of Killing Value!"

Shen Changqing breathed a sigh of relief.

Last night, he killed a lot of demons; one Grudge Level monster, plus a few Ghost Level monsters.

The Grudge Level monster alone had contributed more than 20 points, while the rest of the Ghost Level monsters contributed only 7 or 8 points a piece.

Still, although a mosquito's leg was small, it was still meat. If you had enough, it would become substantial.

It’s just that 53 points, although it seemed to be a lot, each level of upgrade needed a lot of Killing Value!

"In the [Thirteen Cross Practice], from Level 20 onwards, would consume a minimum of 10 points for each level of upgrade. This is not counting the possible incremental increases."

"As for the [Heavenly Martial True Qi], it would currently consume 8 points. However, judging from the past increase, 8 points of consumption wouldn't last long."

"In addition, since the [Heavenly Martial True Qi] is higher ranked, it's increments in the Killing Value needed would definitely be more frightening than the [Thirteen Cross Practice]..."

If he really counted, Shen Changqing knew that 50 points was not that many.

Oh, how he missed the old days when one point could upgrade a level.

If the upgrade cost didn't increase, with the 50 pints, he could have grown to a terrifying level.

Shen Changqing expelled the distracting thoughts from his mind.

"Even if I used the 50+ points wisely, it is still unknown whether I can break through to the Grandmaster Realm."

Level 13 of the [Heavenly Martial True Qi] made him stronger than the average Outer Astral Innate Realm.

But so far, Shen Changqing had not even touched the threshold of the Grandmaster Realm.

He didn't really understand what a Grandmaster was, but one thing was certain. If the [Heavenly Martial True Qi] was upgraded by several levels, he would have a high probability of advancing directly to the Grandmaster Realm.

The only thing was that to upgrade the [Heavenly Martial True Qi], he needed to have a huge amount of Qi and blood to support his physical consumption.

What the [Thirteen Cross Practice] could provide, could no longer keep up with the consumption of the [Heavenly Martial True Qi].

"It is not easy to obtain Killing Value, and it is not worth investing in the [Thirteen Cross Practice] any further."

"The appropriate way to go about this is to go back to the Demon Suppression Division and find a more powerful External Martial Art to cultivate."

Finalizing his decision, Shen Changqing's mind receded from the panel.

Without the support of Qi and blood, he had no way of upgrading the [Heavenly Martial True Qi].

Everything had to wait until he got back to the Demon Suppression Division.

"Counting the time, the new Governor should be almost here."

Shen Changqing estimated the time from Zhao Fang's death to now; almost half a month had passed.

Even if it takes time to go through the process in between, half a month was about the correct time frame.

As long as there was no accident, the new Governor should arrive soon.

Standing up, Shen Changqing went back to his bedroom to rest.

After nearly two days of no sleep, plus last night's high concentration in killing monsters everywhere in the city, he had consumed a lot of energy.

Now that things are almost settled, a sudden feeling of drowsiness welled up inside him.

He laid down in bed, still wearing his clothes. Shen Changqing then slept until the next day at noon.

It was only when Shi Qingsheng came knocking on the door, that Shen Changqing woke up from his slumber.

Pushing open the door, Shen Changqin saw the other party already standing there.

"Your Excellency!"

"What's going on?" Shen Changqing yawned. Now that he had slept for a whole day, he was much more energetic.

"I was worried that something had happened, so I came to take a look."

Shi Qingsheng replied truthfully.

"Lunch has been prepared, my Lord can now take his meal."

•×•×•×•

After lunch, Shen Changqing left the Government Office and went straight to the outside of the city.

Unlike the old days in Lin'an City, the current Lin'an City had a much heavier atmosphere.

The usual scene of people coming and going was replaced by scarcity.

It could be seen that yesterday's events had no small impact on the people of the city.

Regarding this issue, Shen Changqing had no solution.

Only time could eliminate a person's inner fear.

Leaving Lin'an City, Shen Changqing soon came to the area where the mass grave was located.

The trees had collapsed and the dense forest was gone.

The entire burial ground seemed to have become plowed over by a terrifying force, making it resemble nothing like what it was before.

"That night's fight had caused a lot of turmoil!"

Shen Changqing looked solemn.

The burial mound was not a small area, and to be able to move the entire burial mound, such power could not be achieved by just one or two Innate Realm Cultivators.

Even for him, if he wanted to move the burial mound, it would not be an easy task.

From the scene in front of him, he could see how intense the battle really was.

The dense Evil Aura in the burial mound, also had not disappeared. 

Most of the coffins buried in the mass grave were unearthed, the bones inside were destroyed by the force of the fight.

Shen Changqing then came to where the Demon's Essence Blood appeared.

The canyon was still there, and there were a lot of bloodstains left on the ground.

Spreading his perception, Shen Changqing found that although the Evil Aura did not dissipate, there was no monster left.

A few moments later, he left the mass grave.

He came to see if there were any hidden dangers left.

But now, although the burial mounds had been leveled and there were some Evil Aura left, the monsters were either already killed or fled. There was nothing left behind.

The canyon was created by the Demon's Essence Blood's appearance. Shen Changqing only glanced at it for a short moment, before he no longer paid any attention to it.

The canyon was unfathomable.

He was not sure if there was something inside. The risk of going in was large.

Back at the Government Office, Shen Changqing lived in seclusion.

A few days had passed, and the chaos left by the monsters had dissipated by a lot.

Coupled with the frequent patrols of the Officials and the posting of notices, the people also gradually let go of their fears.

Although the atmosphere in the city had not fully restored to its former glory, compared to the beginning, it was much better.

Regarding the changes in the city, Shen Changqing was also happy to see it.

It was not until five days later when someone suddenly came to the door and broke the peace.