In an era where everyone is cultivating immortality, the system wants me to become a demon?

Chapter 370 Victory is assured: What a corrupt official! (3K views, please subscribe!)

The Celestial Law Main World consists of seven continents, five of which are connected and named after the cardinal directions (east, west, south, north, and center).

The other two continents are fairy islands at sea, called Fazhou and Baizhou respectively.

Of the seven continents, the most prosperous is the Central Continent, which is the political power center of the entire Heavenly Law World. Not only does it have an imperial court that connects directly to the Immortal Realm, but every year an immortal god descends to hold a grand court assembly.

Outside of the Central Continent, the prosperity levels of the six continents, from highest to lowest, are: East Continent, West Continent, South Continent, North Continent, Fa Continent, and White Continent.

Among them, Fa and Bai are overseas enclaves, which are more difficult to manage, and have always been the main gathering places for rogue cultivators and demonic sects.

A large group of pirates, composed of demonic cultivators, roam between the two largest oceans in the Heavenly Law World, the Heavenly Ocean and the Law Sea, threatening the civilians living along the coast.

Longcheng County is a prosperous city built along the Luhai Sea under the jurisdiction of Shengyang Prefecture in Dongzhou.

Su Yuan, Ying Ding, and Qi Junxiang arrived at Shengyang Prefecture via a teleportation array. After meeting with the local prefect and officials in the prefectural government, they immediately boarded the official dragon-scale carriage and headed towards Longcheng County.

It was noon, and the sun was shining brightly. Su Yuan lifted the curtain of the carriage and casually looked at the scenery outside.

Ying Ding and Qi Junxiang rode tall horses, serving on either side of the carriage.

With the curtain lowered, Su Yuan's mind stirred, and the entire carriage was quickly enveloped in blood and flesh, completely sealed off.

Even the spiritual sense of a Golden Core cultivator cannot intrude without alerting Su Yuan.

After taking precautions, Su Yuan took out a communication headset from the Moon-Slaying Pearl and put it on his ears.

Previously, I was either in the examination hall of the Celestial Official Examination or in the government office, making it difficult to communicate with my superiors.

Now that we've reached the remote wilderness, we can finally report our progress to the organization.

With the infusion of spiritual energy, the communication headset quickly connected, and Captain Zhang's calm voice sounded through it:
"Su Yuan, what were the results of the Celestial Official Examination?"

Su Yuan gave a brief report on what he had seen and heard since entering the Heavenly Law World.

The greed and corruption described in his words left Captain Zhang speechless.

When discussing the part about spending money to buy information about the Celestial Official Examination, Su Yuan said very sincerely:
"Captain Zhang, in order to increase my chances of passing the Celestial Official Examination, I spent a total of 20,000 spirit coins to obtain important information such as the exam questions and the examiners' residences from information brokers."

"You may not know what Spirit Coins are, but you just need to know that one Spirit Coin is equal to one thousand Federal Coins."

"Adding the toll of 100 spirit coins, the total is 20.1 million. Please help me reimburse this amount. Transfer it to my account now, and my vice leader Chen Nuoyi will confirm it for me."

After a long silence on the other end of the earpiece, the person slowly spoke:
"So, how did you do in the Celestial Official Examination after spending so many spirit coins?"

"It's alright. I only became a county magistrate of the seventh rank, which is roughly equivalent to a county-level official. I was still the absolute top leader."

Su Yuan's lips curled slightly as he tried to maintain a calm tone.

Captain Zhang: "..."

Becoming a civil servant with a position equivalent to or even more powerful than a division-level cadre through a single civil service exam is hardly ordinary.

In ancient times, a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) was essentially a county magistrate.

This is obviously wrong!
"Su Yuan, tell me honestly, besides spending spirit coins, did you resort to any other underhanded tactics? You're in another world now, you absolutely can't be reckless!"

"Tell me exactly what you did, so that we can remedy any problems in time."

Su Yuan had nothing to hide about impersonating the disciple of the Corruption Demon Lord and controlling the examiner Huai Lingwei, so he honestly recounted the whole story.

After listening for a while, Captain Zhang said:
"In short, apart from revealing to Huai Lingwei, who is already under your control, that you are a Nascent Soul disciple, everyone else's understanding of your identity is purely based on their own imagination, right?"

"You handled it very well, leaving no room for criticism, so that you can cover up the lie if problems arise in the future."

"It's worth taking some risks for a starting position of the seventh rank."

After giving Su Yuan some instructions, Captain Zhang added:
"Your next task is simple: make achievements as county magistrate, and then work hard through the connections with celestial officials like Huai Lingwei to strive for a rapid promotion."

"If you can rise to the rank of a fourth-grade prefect, you can go directly to the central government and have a chance to ascend to the celestial realm and meet the gods."

"If you need any external assistance during this period, just let us know. The Guanlu ship can locate you directly and send you certain resources."

"Including but not limited to various rare and precious materials, magical artifacts with different uses, modern flying boats in the style of ancient times, war-grade armor in the style of ancient times, etc."

Su Yuan responded, feeling much more at ease.

Having a powerful backer is great; you can just ask the organization for anything you need.

Moreover, in a real emergency, he could first have the Guanlu ship send over the personal items of a Golden Core cultivator, and then use the Holy Sect's Blood Sacrifice Technique to send over the corresponding Golden Core cultivator.

It wouldn't be impossible to just bring Captain Zhang over directly.

At that time, unless a Nascent Soul expert personally intervenes, he can easily escape no matter how great the crisis he encounters.

However, this would lead to the complete failure of the mission, and it should only be done as a last resort.

After explaining the assistance the organization could provide, Captain Zhang suddenly said:

"By the way, Su Yuan, could you reduce the reimbursement amount for this 20,100 spirit coins...?"

"Hello, what? Captain Zhang, what did you say?"

"My signal isn't very good here, and someone's coming, so I'll hang up now."

Su Yuan hung up quickly and stuffed the communication headset into the earphone case.

The flesh and blood inside the carriage were also fading away at a visible speed.

Just then, someone knocked on the carriage window and pulled back the curtain.

It was Ying Ding, the county magistrate. "Your Excellency, Longcheng County is just ahead."

Ying Ding bent down from his horse and said with a big smile.

Su Yuan nodded slightly.

Immediately afterwards, he saw Ying Ding show a slight look of pain on his face as he took out two heavy money bags from his pocket and put them into the carriage.

With just a glance, Su Yuan estimated that there were a full 20,000 spirit coins in the money bag.

He feigned ignorance and said:

"Xiao Ying, what do you mean by this?"

Ying Dingmang chuckled and said:
"Your Excellency, you really have a bad memory. I borrowed 20,000 spirit coins from you before the Celestial Official Examination. Now that I have a little more money, I'm returning it to you as soon as possible."

Su Yuan suddenly realized:
"Oh, yes, that's right. Look at my memory, I almost forgot."

"Look at you, why are you in such a hurry to pay me back? You're being too polite!"

Ying Ding quickly put on a smiling face and agreed, secretly cursing the corrupt official in his heart!
Shameless! Absolutely shameless!
He's only just become the county magistrate, yet he's already spouting all sorts of official jargon so fluently; he's practically born for this job!

A full 20,000 spirit coins!
The money from selling intelligence back then had to be used to bribe various parties, and he was lucky to get one-twentieth of it.

Spending those 20,000 spirit coins would definitely be a huge financial blow.

Not to mention that when he checked his income before, he found that he had inexplicably lost 20,000 spirit coins, which meant a loss of 40,000 spirit coins in total.

They lost so much money they almost dropped their pants!

It should be noted that the official salary of a county magistrate is only three hundred spirit coins per month.

However, despite the heartache, he felt that the 20,000 spirit coins were well spent!
If he didn't spend the money, given Lord Su's corrupt and lawless behavior, who knows how many times he would be made to suffer.

Paying money for peace of mind is a good thing.

"Moreover, although the official salary of a county magistrate is only three hundred, after all the miscellaneous expenses, it should amount to more than one hundred thousand a year. He can make back the money he lost in two years."

Ying Ding muttered to himself, a greedy flame gleaming in his eyes.

The more you invest before becoming an official, the more you need to earn it back with interest after you become an official.

Moreover, Longcheng County is not some poor county town; it is a first-class county in Shengyang Prefecture, with plenty of lucrative opportunities to make money.

Looking towards the future with anticipation, Ying Ding was filled with excitement.

But at that moment, the county magistrate inside the carriage suddenly asked a question.

"Xiao Ying, what exactly was the situation in Longcheng County last year?"

"How could such a wealthy county have vacancies in three important positions—the county magistrate, the county assistant magistrate, and the county lieutenant—all at once?"

Ying Ding was slightly taken aback and fell into deep thought.

The county magistrate, the county assistant magistrate, the county constable, and the county registrar constitute the most important components of the county government.

With three leaders missing—the top four—the situation is indeed quite serious.

"Your Excellency, this matter requires a thorough investigation by your humble servant."

Ying Ding did not rush to conclusions and gave a cautious answer.

Su Yuan nodded slightly, but he already had a plan in mind.

Considering the geographical location of Longcheng County, there are likely two possibilities for the vacancy of the county magistrate position.

Firstly, the local powerful families were too strong, and even a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake, which forced the county magistrate to leave.

The second reason was that the coastal area of ​​Longcheng County was frequently harassed by pirates, which meant that even the county magistrate's life was in danger, forcing him to abandon his post and leave.

The worst-case scenario... is both.

"If my guess is correct, those examiners had ulterior motives in arranging for me to go to Longcheng County."

Su Yuan thought to himself.

However, he did not believe that Huai Lingwei and the others were trying to trick him.

On the contrary, these people are likely giving him credit.

After all, in their eyes, Su Youlin had a terrifying force behind him, and the local cultivation families were nothing compared to him; they could easily take him in as their dogs.

Suppressing pirates is an undeniable political achievement and a fast track to promotion.

"Following this line of reasoning, Huai Lingwei and the others should not have revealed my fabricated powerful background to anyone."

"Even if some clever people can see some clues from my performance in the celestial official examination, which started as a seventh-rank official, they would never guess my background as a 'divine transformation master'."

"This development is exactly what I wanted."

Su Yuan quickly figured out the advantages and disadvantages of Longcheng County.

Just then, shimmering waves appeared outside the car window.

A magnificent city built along the coast appeared before Su Yuan.

We've arrived at Longcheng County!
(End of this chapter)