Chapter 1816: Inspection Office
Alternative arrangements?
Everyone instantly came to a realization.
However, Shi Zhan grew anxious immediately. "Old Fei, how can that be? The only reason I could break through to the Dao Fusion Realm within these two hundred years is because Brother Zhou was constantly tipping me off and guiding me. If you take him away, how am I supposed to advance to the ninth transformation!?"
He spoke with complete righteousness, and sparks of urgency even flickered in his eyes.
"Stop messing around," Fang Chen shot Shi Zhan a look. "Your ability to advance to the Dao Fusion Realm is because your own talent isn't weak and you are not scared in the face of death, achieving results through battle after battle. What does it have to do with me? Do not jeopardize my future, or else I'll beat you up."
By that point, how could the crowd still not understand? This guy was clearly going to follow Old Fei to seek refuge with the Wang Family and work for that big shot. To be perfectly honest, that was absolutely much better than climbing the ranks tier by tier within the Luoxue Alliance system. For a noble clan like that, the rewards they handed out were boundless. If they were pleased on any given day, they might just bestow a Spiritual Treasure directly.
Shi Zhan looked at Fang Chen with an aggrieved expression. "Brother Zhou, back then when I asked if you were willing to come to my Shi Family, you turned me down. How come you..."
"Alright, the Shi family is very impressive, but compared to the Wang family, they are still a notch below," Old Fei waved his hand. "You stay here as commander for now. If you break through to the ninth transformation and your family doesn't object, I'll arrange for you to work together with Zhou Chen again when the time comes."
"That's all I can do then..."
Shi Zhan sighed softly in his heart and fell silent, essentially accepting Old Fei's arrangement.
Weng Lang shook his head with a bitter smile at this moment. "It's one thing for you to leave by yourself, but you're taking this kid with you too. He is a rare elite."
"You can't bear to see me run off to take up an appointment over there completely all by myself, can you? If I don't even have a trustworthy subordinate with me, I'll definitely be bullied by others," said Old Fei, putting on a pitiful act.
Weng Lang waved his hand. "Fine, go on."
Fang Chen bid farewell to Shi Zhan, and then followed Old Fei to leave North Wind Ridge, returning to the Envoy Division at Gale Valley.
Deacon Niu walked over with a beaming smile, greeting Old Fei. "Old Fei, I heard long ago that you broke through to the ninth transformation. I didn't expect that it would happen to be me receiving you today. The two of us really share some fate."
The Envoy Division at Gale Valley had clearly heard about the incident involving Wang Chongsong as well and knew that Old Fei shared a decent relationship with him, so his tone was exceptionally warm and friendly.
"Old Niu, I'm here to report on my duties. Zhou Chen and I plan to resign from our positions in the Luoxue Alliance and go work for a noble clan," said Old Fei with a smile.
"Zhou Chen!?"
Deacon Niu blanked out slightly, subconsciously sizing Fang Chen up for a few moments. He finally remembered this kid whom he had personally thrown into the Great Mang Warzone over two hundred years ago.
He was shocked and uncertain. Observing closely, he suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air. "You're at the peak of the Dao Fusion Realm!?"
Fang Chen smiled and cupped his hands. "I must offer my thanks to you for arranging for me to go to the Great Mang Warzone back then, Overseer Niu. You've given me many opportunities to temper my divine ability."
Overseer Niu wore a very strained smile on his face, nodding. "Naturally, the more dangerous a place is, the more it tempers a person. Old Fei is the most prominent example of that. Work hard under him in the future, and your prospects will be limitless."
Having said that, he led the two of them to complete their reporting, and both of their Luoxue Alliance tokens became blank tokens, no longer carrying any job titles. Once all of that was sorted out, Old Fei and Deacon Niu exchanged a few standard pleasantries, and then Old Fei swiftly departed with Fang Chen.
As for their destination this time, Fang Chen had long known it in his heart.
A few years ago, right when Old Fei had just advanced to the ninth transformation, he had approached Fang Chen and asked if he would be willing to join the Inspection Division.
This Inspection Division was not considered an official faction of the Luoxue Alliance. Rather, it was formed by the Wang Family itself, specifically to apprehend major fugitives on the wanted list, using that to exchange for rewards and maintain law and order within the Nether Ruins.
The moment Fang Chen learned of this, he agreed without the slightest hesitation. That way, he could continue using his current identity. That was because Old Fei had mentioned that achieving merits within the Inspection Office could yield far greater rewards than doing so within the Luoxue Alliance. Even the Saint Canon was entirely obtainable. In addition, since the Inspection Division targeted major fugitives on the wanted list, that Half Saint, Fang Lie, was naturally one of its targets as well.
Fang Chen felt that if he could get an opportunity to meet him, he might be able to gather some useful information.
***
Several months later.
After passing through almost countless regions, the two of them finally arrived in a city with an exceptionally vast population base.
That place was within the territory of the Luoxue Alliance, but the presence of an Inspection Division branch meant that the Wang Family was the one running the place.
Old Fei led Fang Chen into the Inspection Division branch, presented his Luoxue Alliance token, and stated that his name was Chen Feifei. Immediately, a branch superior personally came out to welcome them.
Li Tingjiu laughed warmly. "Brother Chen, I received word from above long ago saying that you would be coming here to take up the post of Deputy Branch Officer. I, Li Tingjiu, have already been waiting for you for a long time."
Fang Chen swept a glance over him. A third-transformation immortal.
His cultivation had not even reached the fourth transformation, which indicated that the administrative tier of this Inspection Division branch was not particularly high either.
"You're too polite. I wasn't very familiar with the route and took a few wrong turns, which delayed me for some days and kept you waiting," said Old Fei with a beaming smile.
Hearing that, Li Tingjiu burst into a hearty laugh, "Not at all, not at all! Since the Deputy Branch Officer has arrived, I will gather the subordinates so we can have a meal together to welcome you properly."
Old Fei naturally would not refuse.
A short while later, within a magnificent and heavily adorned building, a grand hall was filled with exactly ten round tables. Li Tingjiu and Old Fei were naturally seated at the main table, which also hosted eight other individuals.
Aside from Li Tingjiu, there were a few first-transformation immortals among these eight. One had reached the second transformation. Right now, the second-transformation immortal was raising toast after toast to Old Fei with a fake smile.
Old Fei was completely open to all drinks, and before long, a faint look of tipsiness surfaced on his face. "Officer Li, I am a newcomer here and don't quite know what kinds of duties I am primarily responsible for?"
Everyone's expressions shifted slightly.
The mouth of that second-transformation immortal twitched at the corners, but he stayed silent.
Seeing that, Li Tingjiu immediately smiled and said, "Deputy Officer Chen, I have a suggestion. Since you have just arrived and are not yet familiar with this area, how about you start by consolidating the case files? There are quite a few unresolved cases within them that will require you to invest a good deal of care. If we can crack a few of them, our Lishui City Inspection Division will certainly turn some heads."
Meanwhile, Fang Chen was seated at another table. The divine ability users at his table, as well as those at the other tables, had cultivations ranging between the Awakening and Dao Fusion Realms, and their statuses within the Inspection Division were starkly different.
Those sitting with Fang Chen were all in the Dao Fusion Realm. Hearing Li Tingjiu's words, a faint trace of mockery could not help but surface in their eyes.
Hearing that, the somewhat heavily tipsy Old Fei immediately chuckled and scolded, "Li Tingjiu, you want me to manage case files? Isn't that using a great talent for a trivial task? I was stationed in the Great Mang Warzone for hundreds of years and killed no less than eight to ten thousand Flame Race bandits. How can my talents be wasted like this? I think I'll temporarily take charge of investigation and apprehension duties to catch some wanted fugitives. It's settled then. Come, cheers!"
He raised his cup, nudged his way in front of Li Tingjiu, forced a toast with him, and then drained it in one gulp.
Everyone was stunned, seemingly not expecting Old Fei to react in this manner.
Was it because he was drunk? Or was it...