This Villain Ch.208

Chapter 208: The Tiger Descends the Mountain

In the blink of an eye, more than two months passed, and the Tianchong Class was about to begin their internship at the Exorcism Bureau.

Wang Rongqing once again called Yu Guang to the Shuoxue Building.

“I’ve observed all that you’ve accomplished since joining. You’ve exceeded our expectations, and I’m very pleased. Under your guidance, the students of the Tianchong Class have also improved significantly.”

After offering her warm encouragement, Wang Rongqing’s smile faded, replaced by a serious and concerned expression.

“But the situation within the Exorcism Bureau is complex, with various factions interwoven. It’s not as straightforward as it is here in the academy. Even though your skills are impressive, you will still face challenges there.”

“According to tradition, the Tianchong students are typically split up and assigned to different branches of the Exorcism Bureau. This time, however, I hope you can keep them together, form a new team, and make them your support…”

After their serious discussion, Wang Rongqing watched Yu Guang’s departing figure with even deeper concern.

She asked her old friend beside her, “Do you think Yu Guang understood what I was saying?”

The academy head chuckled, stroking his beard. “Of course he did. Didn’t he confidently say, ‘Leave it to me’?”

“That’s exactly what worries me. This mission is so challenging that even I have my doubts. Yet he didn’t show the slightest hesitation and agreed immediately. I can’t help but wonder if he truly understood the gravity of my words.”

“Hahaha, don’t worry. If the students can’t handle it, aren’t we still here to back them up? The original plan was to let them take the initiative and break the current stalemate. If anything serious happened, we could step in later.”

“I’m being overly cautious. Yu Guang has the guidance of the four ancestors and usually knows his limits. Even if he doesn’t meet my expectations, he wouldn’t act recklessly.”

Thinking this, Wang Rongqing felt more at ease.

*

After two months of intensive training, the Tianchong Class showed a completely transformed spirit. For one, everyone, even the young women, had visibly tanned.

Even Master Pei Wenjue, who was usually the most concerned about his graceful demeanor, now had a wild, rugged aura about him.

When this group eagerly followed their Big Brother down the mountain and reached the mountain path, they almost scared off some students who had just arrived, mistaking them for a gang of fierce bandits.

Yu Guang led more than thirty people directly to an Exorcism Bureau in Zhuzhou.

There were more than a dozen such bureaus inside and outside Zhuzhou, most of which were richly decorated and spacious, fully showcasing their wealth and power.

The Exorcism Bureaus were primarily responsible for receiving reports of evil spirits causing trouble in various regions, documenting the reports, and distributing the tasks to the cultivators affiliated with each bureau.

The cultivators were usually supported by the bureaus, and completing tasks also earned them rewards.

The more skilled the cultivator, the more wealth they could accumulate. Not only the cultivators but even the minor officials in the Exorcism Bureaus could profit handsomely from some gray areas.

Clearly, this was an extremely lucrative business.

On their way to Lower Dongyu Street, Pei Wenjue couldn’t help but repeatedly examine the documents signed by the Divine Academy, his face filled with confusion.

Most of the Tianchong Class was now used to following the lead of their Big Brother. When Yu Guang shouted, “Shall we go?” no one asked questions; they simply followed along.

However, Pei Wenjue, who used to act as their “strategist,” was still prone to overthinking things. He pointed to the words on the document and asked his Big Brother, “The Academy instructed us to report to the Exorcism Bureau on Upper Dongyu Street, but we’re heading to the bureau on Lower Dongyu Street. Did you misread it, Big Brother?”

Yu Guang laughed and said, “It’s fine; we need to go to both places. Let’s stop by Lower Dongyu Street first, then we’ll head to Upper Dongyu Street.”

Pei Wenjue was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, Young Master Pei, if Big Brother does it this way, he must have a reason!”

“Yeah, we just need to follow his lead! Haha, I thought we’d be split up for this internship, but it turns out we get to stay together—how great is that!”

Pei Wenjue looked at his carefree classmates, who were laughing without a care in the world. Although speechless, he couldn’t help feeling a little optimistic too.

True, with Big Brother being so reliable, what could possibly go wrong?

The Exorcism Bureau on Lower Dongyu Street had a massive gateway, making it the most eye-catching building on the street. However, most passersby avoided walking directly past its entrance, filled with a mixture of respect for the cultivators and an innate awe of such grandeur.

On a normal day, the open gates might go hours without a single person entering or exiting.

Today, however, thirty spirited young people marched inside in a grand manner.

Inside the Exorcism Bureau, a chubby, idle official was dozing off in his chair when the sound of footsteps abruptly startled him awake. He scowled before even opening his eyes, muttering, “Who has no sense…”

Then, he opened his eyes to see a large group of people rushing in. Shocked, his words caught in his throat as he clutched his chest, trying to steady his breathing.

If he hadn’t looked carefully and noticed that they were all wearing the gray robes of the Academy’s cultivators, he might have mistaken them for bandits coming to rob the place.

“Oh my, what’s going on here? I don’t recognize any of you cultivators. What brings you here?”

The chubby official, who had recognized their identities, twisted his previously impatient expression into a forced, friendly smile as he stood up to greet them.

Standing at the front, Yu Guang wore a bright, refreshing smile, looking both righteous and friendly. He said, “I’m here to ask for your task book.”

The task book was a ledger that recorded where evil spirits had appeared and the details of the situation.

The entries came partly from reports made by the public and partly from the investigations of cultivators. It included tasks for dealing with newly appeared evil spirits that hadn’t yet been assigned to a cultivator, as well as tasks that had been investigated but couldn’t be resolved immediately, awaiting stronger cultivators to take over.

The chubby official chuckled, “This task book isn’t something I can just hand over to you. That wouldn’t be proper.”

“I see you’re quite young, probably just graduated from the Divine Academy, so maybe you don’t know,” he continued. “You can only go to the Exorcism Bureau you’re assigned to and wait for tasks to be handed out. There’s no reason you can just show up at any Exorcism Bureau and demand to see the task book.”

Of course, ordinary cultivators just out of the Academy might not be able to receive tasks. If they came from a prestigious family with power, or if older, more experienced cultivators took them under their wing, that would be a different matter.

The chubby official understood all these nuances but felt that these young people were either too naïve or just trying to annoy him. He couldn’t be bothered to deal with them and just wanted to send them away as quickly as possible.

“So, are you saying you won’t give us the task book?” Yu Guang asked again.

The official, now growing more impatient, forced a smile and said, “I’m just a small official here who can’t make decisions. Why make things hard for me? Just leave quickly, or if you make a scene, your mentors will definitely hear about it, and you’ll get a good scolding.”

He wasn’t a cultivator, but his family had some connections, which allowed him to work as an official here for a few years.

Having been in this position for a while, with control over the distribution of tasks, he wasn’t particularly afraid of these young, inexperienced cultivators.

At this moment, he still spoke in a friendly tone, not wanting to offend such a large group, but if it weren’t for that, he would have already called someone to kick them out.

Yu Guang nodded. “Alright.”

The chubby official responded, “That’s more like it. You all may leave—”

But just as he spoke, Yu Guang suddenly issued a command, “First, capture him and bind him. Anyone resisting, control them.”

“Xiao Pei, Xiao Ban, you go find all the task books. Xiao Wu, Xiao Ming, you two go take notes.”

The chubby official was taken aback. “Huh? Ahh!”

Before he could react, Wu Jin had already restrained him, while Ming Yu didn’t hesitate to draw his blade to threaten anyone trying to escape.

Ban Ying tugged at the dazed Pei Wenjue and said, “What are you standing there for? Let’s go, we’re looking for the task books.”

Pei Wenjue stammered, “Wait! What’s going on? This isn’t right!”

The group moved like a whirlwind, raiding the place as if they were bandits storming a village. A few of the more stunned individuals were still processing what was happening, but seeing the others carrying on without a second thought, they quickly joined in the excitement.

They gathered the task books, and Yu Guang started flipping through them:

“The task books are too simplistic. They only record where evil spirits have appeared. There’s no mention of what the spirits were before, why they became evil, or the cause and effect behind it. This isn’t good.”

“That’s how it is now. They just want to kill the evil spirits, no one bothers with all that extra stuff,” Pei Wenjue said.

Ban Ying, also flipping through the piled-up task books, added, “I remember that in the past, we had to record all the details like Big Brother said. But later, they thought it was too cumbersome and useless, so they stopped doing it.”

“This record here: a demon appeared in Tianzhu Town, but it’s just a low-level one. How come it’s been more than half a month, and it’s still piled up here without anyone dealing with it?”

“Maybe they didn’t pay enough money, so the official is deliberately delaying it, trying to get them to pay more.”

“Using this as a way to profit! This is outrageous!”

Yu Yin, who was sitting casually behind his big brother, was the most idle person there. He was so bored that he was playing with his puppet cat.

The chubby official, being held captive, squirmed and glared with his little eyes, whining constantly. As the students overheard the conversation between Yu Guang and the others, one of them couldn’t help but sneakily kick him.

As the chubby official squirmed, a gold-inlaid jade ornament fell from his body.

One of the students picked it up and said, “This looks nice. Let’s take it with us.”

His companion gave him a blank look. “We’re not here to rob like bandits.”

“Ha, right! I almost forgot!” The student scratched his head, suddenly realizing they weren’t here to steal money.

Yu Guang led them to gather all the task books, then temporarily locked the chubby official in a room to prevent him from warning anyone. Afterward, they set off for the next Exorcism Bureau.

The Exorcism Bureau on Upper Dongyu Street was the largest in all of Zhuzhou, with the most complex factional relationships.

There were dozens of cultivators affiliated with this bureau.

The head official on duty today, Manager Hou, was from a family faction, not from the Academy.

He flipped through the appointment letter sent by the Academy and weighed how to handle the situation.

Receiving more than thirty young intern cultivators all at once was something he would never have agreed to if it hadn’t been personally assigned by Wang Rongqing, one of the heads of the main Exorcism Bureau.

However, he couldn’t refuse openly. Instead, he was considering how to quietly manipulate things behind the scenes.

Pei Wenjue, Ban Ying, Wu Jin, and Ming Yu were all from prominent families in Zhuzhou, so the head official, Manager Hou, naturally had to show them some respect. He could arrange for them to receive tasks and pacify them without much trouble.

As for Yu Guang, due to his connection with the four ancestral masters, his reputation had spread widely. It was best not to offend him; instead, it would be wise to try and win him over.

If he couldn’t be swayed, though, even the most talented genius could be made to fade into obscurity with the right methods.

The rest of the group had some potential and could be nurtured if they showed the right attitude. There was no need to suppress them; they could be introduced to the larger families for “collaboration.”

As for the remaining ones, they were basically useless. Manager Hou kept shaking his head. Even the transfer students were included—what could they possibly contribute?

He thought he had a plan to discipline these young people and make them more obedient, when suddenly, a loud series of footsteps echoed through the hall.

More than thirty excited youths stormed into the main hall.

Manager Hou’s eyelid twitched as he barely managed to put on a smile and approach them. “What brings you here so early? Haha, I’m sure your journey was tiring. Please, come sit and rest.”

Yu Guang scanned the entire hall as soon as he entered, quickly assessing the people there to confirm there were no threats. Then, he looked at Manager Hou and said, “No need to rest. We have business. Can you give us the task book?”

Manager Hou was taken aback. “What?”

Yu Guang repeated, “We want the task book.”

Manager Hou’s face darkened. “What nonsense are you all up to?”

Before Yu Guang could respond, Wu Jin, unable to hold back, clenched his fists and loudly declared, “You don’t want to hand it over? Well, we’re not unfamiliar with using a little force!”

Yu Yin, who had been quietly following Yu Guang, couldn’t help but smirk.

How interesting. These people seemed even more like bad guys than he did.

Pei Wenjue, meanwhile, looked away, unwilling to watch. Big Brother had said similar things before, and at the time, it felt quite imposing. But hearing Wu Jin say it now, it felt more like something a bandit would say.

Manager Hou, still unaware of what was about to happen, turned pale and asked, “Young Master Pei, Young Miss Ban, why are you also going along with this nonsense?”

“Don’t do that,” Yu Guang said, patting Wu Jin’s shoulder to stop him. “There’s no need to actually fight. This one wouldn’t be able to take a single punch from you. Just control them.”

“We’re in a hurry. Everyone, get moving.”

“Yes, Big Brother!” everyone responded in unison.

*

On the first day that the Tianchong Class was let loose, Wang Rongqing was urgently woken up in the middle of the night.

“What? You’re telling me Yu Guang and the others took all the task books from the Exorcism Bureau in Zhuzhou?”

Wang Rongqing looked at the students who had come to report the news, still in shock, thinking she was dreaming.

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**TN

I added the words Upper and Lower in Dongyu Street, they were both called Dongyu Street but with different characters.

东御街 (Dongyu Street with 御) – The character 御 (yù) implies “imperial” or “to guard.” This street might be associated with a more official or prestigious area, possibly near government or authoritative institutions.

东余街 (Dongyu Street with 余) – The character 余 (yú) means “remaining” or “extra.” This street could indicate a more residential or less formal area.