Chapter 206: Chapter 116: Old Limp, Demon Suppression Guard, White Snake Demon (Part 2)

"Follow me."

He turned and walked toward the most dilapidated thatched hut behind him. His pace wasn’t fast, but each step was exceedingly steady. The hem of his ragged clothes brushed past the weeds without disturbing a single leaf.

Chu Fan followed slowly.

Inside the hut, Old Limp’s movements were still unhurried as he rummaged through chests and cabinets.

He pulled out an ancient-looking black wooden box from under a pile of tattered cotton, his fingertips tracing a crack on its surface.

’A Demon Suppression Guard’s Token, stuffed in this pile of junk?’

Chu Fan was stunned.

Even a common thief from the black market probably wouldn’t bother giving this shabby hut a second glance.

Old Limp opened the wooden box. Inside lay a palm-sized Token.

The Token was jet-black, neither metal nor wood. Intricate cloud patterns were carved upon it, seeming to flow slowly in the dim light. A blank space was left in the center.

"Watch closely."

Old Limp formed a hand seal and began chanting.

Obscure syllables rolled from his throat. They weren’t loud, yet they made the hut’s beams and pillars tremble slightly.

The Token slowly floated out of the box. Only when it was hovering steadily before Chu Fan did Old Limp shout in a low voice, "Raise your left hand. Focus your mind, calm your breath, and do not resist."

Chu Fan did as he was told, his gaze fixed on the Token.

The next moment, something strange happened!

The black Token suddenly erupted in a brilliant glow. A searing white light burst from its dark surface, enveloping his entire left hand.

The faint golden mark on Chu Fan’s palm lit up at the same time, as if it had been summoned.

The gold and white lights illuminated each other, casting flickering shadows across Old Limp’s face. Yet he remained standing ramrod straight, his eyes without a ripple of emotion.

Immediately after, a condensed beam of light shot out from the blank space in the center of the Token, connecting precisely with the golden mark on Chu Fan’s left palm.

It was as if a mystical connection had been established between the two.

Light flowed and auras mingled.

"Name," Old Limp asked solemnly, his voice still steady and flat.

"Chu Fan," Chu Fan replied clearly.

As he spoke, the light from the Token flickered more rapidly, as if in confirmation, as if engraving his name.

The light gathered in the Token’s central blank space, sketching out a design. Streaks of golden thread swirled about, finally coalescing into a powerfully written, radiant, faint-gold character: "Chu."

Once the character was fully formed, all the light abruptly receded, pulling back into the Token.

The character "Chu" also transformed from dazzlingly bright to having a soft, deep luster, branded deeply onto the Token as if it had always belonged there.

With a wave of his hand, Old Limp made the Token float gently down into his grasp.

He swiped a fingertip across the Token, and a streak of light flowed into it. The motion was as smooth as flowing water, as if he had done it a thousand times before.

Handing the Token to Chu Fan, he finally spoke. "Keep it safe. From this moment on, you are a member of the Great Yan Dynasty’s Demon Suppression Bureau."

With that, Old Limp turned and retrieved several Jade Boxes of various sizes and a small cloth pouch.

Opening a Jade Box, he gently tapped the Elixir Pills with the pad of his finger, his tone carrying the caution of an experienced elder. "These are Nascent Condensation Pills, Nourishing Source Pills, and this is Starlight Grass—you can’t touch any of them right now. Your meridians can’t withstand their medicinal power."

"Forcing yourself to take them isn’t beneficial; it’s suicide."

He paused, pulled a yellowed slip of paper from his robes, and tucked it into the Jade Box. "Wait until you’ve undergone Mortal Transformation, then follow the Method on this paper to consume them."

Old Limp then took out a thick stack of silver notes and pressed them into Chu Fan’s hand.

As he passed the silver notes over, his knuckles accidentally brushed against Chu Fan’s hand, carrying a bone-chilling coldness—like touching a block of thousand-year-old ice, though it vanished in an instant.

"Five thousand taels, for your initial expenses," he said flatly. "Being a Demon Suppression Guard looks glamorous, but it’s a job where you put your life on the line. This amount of silver isn’t much."

Chu Fan, who originally hadn’t thought much about becoming a Demon Suppression Guard, now felt the cool Token, the heavy stack of silver notes, and the box of precious Elixir Pills. A heartfelt smile finally spread across his face.

He might not have had a deep understanding of slaying Demon Fiends and protecting the common people.

But with tangible benefits in hand, this trip hadn’t been a waste.

Seeing his money-grubbing expression, Old Limp’s mouth twitched again, pulling into a smirk. "Kid, don’t just stand there looking happy."

His voice slowed, each word landing with weight. "With this Token, you can act first and report later—a special privilege granted by imperial authority. But authority is a blade. It can slay Demon Fiends and eliminate evil, but it can also wound its wielder."

"The iron laws of the Bureau are stricter than you can imagine."

Upon hearing this, Chu Fan’s eyes lit up, and he blurted out, "Then... with this Token, can I mobilize the garrison outside the city?"

The question made Old Limp choke and cough abruptly.

He looked up, staring at Chu Fan for a long moment, before helplessly squeezing out two words through gritted teeth: "You can’t!"

He carefully went over a few more points of caution, then waved his hand dismissively as if shooing a fly. "Go on, get out of here. Don’t just stand around in this rundown courtyard. An old man like me needs to get some sun."

Chu Fan tucked the Token securely against his body, carefully placed the silver notes and the Elixir Box inside his robes, and bowed to Old Limp one more time before turning to leave the hidden, dilapidated courtyard.

The courtyard gate closed softly behind him.

Old Limp gazed in the direction Chu Fan had disappeared, a sharp glint flashing in his murky eyes as he muttered to himself. His voice was soft, yet it carried the weight of ages. "’A Demon Suppression Guard at the Bone Tempering Realm... Yue Mankong, oh, Yue Mankong, you’ve spent your entire life doing the most unexpected things.’"

"Sending someone at the Bone Tempering Realm to slay Demon Fiends?"

He looked down and wiped his broken blade. As the rust flaked off, a sliver of snow-bright steel was revealed beneath. "Isn’t that just serving them up as a snack for the Demon Fiends?"

"But..."

"That kid’s aura is very strange. Something feels... off about him."

Silence returned to the courtyard, leaving only the soft SHUSH of Old Limp wiping his broken blade.

A breeze slipped through a crack in the broken window, gently stirring his white hair, but he didn’t move an inch.

The sun was obscured by thick clouds, casting Old Limp’s stooped silhouette onto the mottled wall, stretching it long and thin.