One Dao Fruit a day, starting with the Dragon Taming Technique.

"mighty!"

On the training ground, someone suddenly shouted, and then voices came from all directions.

This wasn't flattery; it was simply a victory in a bare-knuckle fight, a recognition of strength among the soldiers.

In the military, the strong are always respected.

But I have to say, it really feels good to be cheered on by so many people.

……

From a distance, Qian Yue watched this scene. Although he was surprised by Xu Guang's fighting prowess, he felt increasingly disappointed.

In today's chaotic world, military governors have come and gone like a revolving door. The soldiers will never be loyal to a military governor for long, and the military governor will not tolerate the soldiers forever and let them continue to grow stronger.

However, due to the political situation, the soldiers and the military governor did not break off relations.

He valued Xu Guang because of his patience and martial arts talent. He intended to send Xu Guang to the military governor's side to gather information.

But today's commotion revealed Xu Guang's arrogance, forcing him to abandon his previous plans.

His subordinates were unaware of his thoughts, but seeing him frown, they knew that Xu Guang had lost favor with Qian Yue, and they were very happy.

It took them so many years to climb to this point. If Xu Guang catches Qian Yue's eye, he might soon be able to stand on equal footing with them.

……

Xu Guang was fairly satisfied with his performance. After cultivating the Dragon Taming Technique, even without using the supernatural Dragon Transformation, the residual effects of the cultivation traces were enough to easily defeat He Nian.

Fights and brawls were common in the army. After He Nian was dragged away, no one paid much attention to the matter. When they saw General Qian Yue arrive in the distance, they quickly lined up in formation.

Qian Yue was extremely strict in disciplining his troops. If you didn't stand properly when he arrived, you would be punished with fifty laps in armor on the training ground at best, and twenty lashes would be considered lenient if he was in a bad mood.

Soon, Qian Yue arrived. He also practiced the Iron Body Technique and had already reached the Marrow Realm. It was said that he was just one step away from becoming a physical perfection expert. Standing there, he exuded an extremely terrifying aura, like a lion ready to pounce at any moment.

Seeing that the troops were fairly well-prepared, Qian Yue didn't say much.

After glancing at it a few times, he turned around and summoned the four captains to the camp for a meeting, mainly to allocate territories.

Soon, Du Zhong returned and gathered his 150 men.

"General Qian has already made arrangements, with his five teams divided into..."

Xu Guang was assigned to a place called Anxinfang on South Street.

Upon receiving the order, the squad leader and the officer did not hesitate and immediately led their team out of the military camp.

Xu Guang and Du Changwei were left behind by Du Zhong.

Inside the military tent, Du Zhong's expression was solemn and his face was deep.

"Father, what's wrong?"

Du Zhong ignored his son and looked at Xu Guang, "Xiao Guang, what do you think of General Qian's arrangements today?"

Xu Guang frowned as he thought about the arrangements Du Zhong had made for his subordinates. "It seems like they're intentionally undermining the governor's mansion. Some key points in the alleys, and the rules about forming groups of three and not being allowed to be alone, seem... more like a defensive deployment."

Du Zhong looked pleased; Xu Guang's comprehension was far superior to that of his foolish son.

"Be careful what you do. I suspect... the higher-ups want to take action against the officialdom in Shuocheng."

The implication was that one should be careful around the people from the governor's office.

While those above are engaged in fierce power struggles, those below treat human life like dirt.

"From now on, you should take Changwei's authority into account when you do things. I don't trust him to do things."

He paused, then continued.

"But don't be afraid of trouble. The Ya Jun army has never been afraid of anything."

Xu Guang nodded in agreement and then left with Du Changwei.

He only glanced at Qian Yue's camp before leaving.

Xu Guang could never see through General Qian Yue; the man was very cunning and did not seem like an easy person.

Previously, Qian Yue wanted to transfer Xu Guang to the Imperial Guard, but Du Zhong refused because Xu Guang had not been in the army for long.

Du Zhong once said in private that Qian Yue was not someone who liked to mentor younger generations. The reason he took a liking to Xu Guang must be because Xu Guang had some kind of quality that attracted him to a rather dangerous mission.

……

On the surface, Shuocheng appeared extremely stable, but after Xu Guang actually inspected South Street, the so-called stability was merely an illusion.

If someone goes missing today, a body will be found on the street tomorrow, and gangsters will break into a civilian's home the day after.

In just three days, nearly twenty volumes of documents piled up in Xu Guangjun's tent, all involving matters of life and death. Of course, these were not cases that had occurred in the past few days, but rather cases that had been reported to the soldiers by the local officials after they had been unable to get results from their investigations. The people were hoping that the soldiers would help solve these cases.

The constable was naturally dissatisfied with this matter, but those commoners who dared to file a complaint with the constable were either relatives of the constable or neighbors with close ties to him, so there was nothing they could do.

Xu Guang closed the documents on his desk and sighed inwardly.

He can't control these things. He's not strong enough right now, and he can't digest the negative consequences of his cheat ability to fully convert them into combat power.

He felt a sense of urgency; whether it was the demons entering the city or the unpredictable events between the military and the governor's mansion, he needed sufficient strength.

Improving our capabilities is the top priority.

Currently, he has three most important things to do. One is to investigate with Zhang Hu what exactly happened to his father and second uncle.

He was already working on it. In three days, he had already figured out the location of Zhang Hu's house and planned to find a pretext to send Zhang Hu to prison and then interrogate him.

The next step is to find a way to save people, but saving people... it seems that timing is really important.

Finally, there is the matter of finding demons. Although the probability of demons saving people is very small, and the chance of getting good results from killing them is pitifully small, there is still some possibility. It is better than doing nothing at all.

Du Changwei entered the military tent, picked up the teapot in front of Xu Guang, and took a large gulp. "Xiao Guang, the Black Snake Gang and the Canal Gang are dueling tonight. Niu Zhen asked me to ask if you're interested in participating?"

Such gang fights are commonplace in the city, and the reason why the police and the government tolerate them is simply because of money.

A bloody battle would often cost hundreds of taels of silver to bribe officials from both sides, from head constables to ordinary soldiers, from jailers to errand boys.

The Black Snake Gang is a newly emerging gang, mostly composed of young people. Its leader is a young man who returned from practicing martial arts in another region. He gathered a large group of people to form the so-called Black Snake Staff and challenged the Canal Gang to a duel, but he only wanted to take advantage of the Canal Gang's name to rise to power.

Xu Guang shook his head. "No, I have things to do tonight. Brother, you should bring some people over tonight too."

Xu Sheng, Zhang Hu's brother-in-law, invited him to a banquet today, and he will most likely actually meet Zhang Hu today.

However, he was giving Xu Sheng face and, with the intention of breaking down the talks, planned to proceed according to his original plan after a few days.

Upon hearing this, Du Changwei didn't say a word; watching the excitement was nothing compared to Xu Guang's matter.

"What is it?"

Xu Guang mentioned Xu Sheng's invitation and said that Zhang Hu would most likely be there that evening.

"Alright, I'll take Erben and the others. But Uncle Xu Sheng is also a captain, so it's best not to make a move if possible."

Xu Guang remained noncommittal.

If we don't act today, we might have to take action once Zhang Hu is imprisoned.

……

When Zhang Hu returned home that evening, he thought about going to the military camp on South Street to see Xu Guang.

He decided to tidy up, after all, he was a respected figure in the street, and he couldn't afford to lose face.

Pushing open the door, the room was pitch black, but filled with a strong, fishy stench.

Zhang Hu was startled. He lit the kerosene lamp and saw that the narrow little house was filled with a nauseating dark red color.

The room was dimly lit, and on the table were the disassembled torsos, neatly stacked.

A bull-headed demon sat on the ground, holding a thigh in its hand, chewing it expressionlessly.

Its eyes were somewhat vacant, but it was precisely this vacant look, combined with the scene before it, that gave people a strange sense of dread.

"You've arrived. This person has such delicate skin; was she prepared for me?"

Zhang Hu took a deep breath. This was his male concubine; he never expected this…

He put on a smile, "Brother Niu Er, you've arrived! This is exactly what I prepared for you. How is it? Is it to your liking?"

Niu Er slowly stood up, his head almost touching the roof beam, but fortunately the bull demon's neck was slightly tilted forward.

Zhang Hu still had a smile on his face.

The next moment, Niu Er suddenly made a move and grabbed Zhang Hu's head.

"My brother is dead, did you know?"

Zhang Hu was terrified. "Impossible..."

A fierce glint suddenly appeared in Niu Er's bloodshot eyes. He really disliked these humans; they were full of tricks and lies. If it weren't for the king needing them, he would have devoured them all long ago.

But now that the third brother is dead, he can't care about anything else.

Seeing that Zhang Hu was so stubborn, he decided not to ask any more questions.

……

Xu Guang, accompanied by Du Changwei and his three brothers, met Xu Sheng at the restaurant, but waited for two full hours without seeing Zhang Hu.

"Brother Xu, it seems Brother Hu doesn't think much of me. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

After Xu Guang finished speaking, he didn't even look at Xu Sheng's extremely ugly face, and turned to leave.