I defeated the saint with a parry.

"Mongrel" is certainly not a good word.

Xu Ling understood what the Song family head meant: he was saying that the Li family head was a descendant of a human and a demon, which was absolutely new information.

"Don't you believe me?" Song Tianyou noticed Zhang Li's surprise and doubt, but Xu Ling's calm expression surprised him.

"To be honest, my lords, some of the pills from our Pill Sect cannot be separated from demon blood and certain materials from the demon race, nor can they be separated from some unique natural treasures from the demon race. Therefore, I am very sensitive to the smell of certain medicines and demon blood."

He touched his waist and took out a blood pill from his storage bag.

Xu Ling was familiar with this because he had once seen Xu Huaixu "make" one on the spot. This small blood pill contained all of the original owner's essence.

Song Tianyou claimed that he stole it from that place ten years ago and had kept it hidden ever since, not daring to reveal it in the slightest.

After a full ten years of waiting, Xu Huaixu has finally arrived.

If it were someone else, he probably wouldn't dare to bring it out; that's the reputation of Lao Xu.

But to be fair, Old Song is quite patient; in the past ten years, no one has ever doubted him.

Xu Ling took the Blood Pill and could see that there was still a half-human, half-demon soul inside that was moving. Moreover, the Blood Pill had obvious blood energy, and even Xu Ling, an amateur, could feel the power of the bloodline inside.

Song Tianyou explained, "When refining elixirs, we require that rare and precious materials be of a certain age in order to have the right medicinal properties. Therefore, we also emphasize the age of materials such as demon blood and demon body materials."

"The Dan Sect happens to have a technique for identifying the age of materials, called the Treasure Identification Technique."

As Song Tianyou spoke, he already formed hand seals, channeling his spiritual power to cast a spell on the blood pill in Xu Ling's hand.

"I am not as talented as those geniuses in the sect, but I have learned this skill of identifying materials quite well."

A faint golden light emanated from the blood pill.

"Pale gold indicates a material that has been growing for ten years; gold indicates fifty years; light red indicates a hundred years; bright red indicates five hundred years; blackish red indicates a thousand years... There's no need to differentiate beyond that, since even a turtle would be treated like a treasure."

Upon hearing this, Xu Ling and Zhang Li's expressions changed.

Doesn't this mean that the Blood Pill in front of us only has ten years of growth left? What about ten years ago?

Song Tianyou added, "The hybrids hidden beneath Li Family Village were not born from humans and demons at all, but were cultivated by the Li family using special methods. They weren't sent to the brothel for people's enjoyment either. After all, it's more believable that the blood pool was used to cultivate demonic cultivators, not for people's amusement."

"I think the rumors that the Li family has found a way to suppress the demonic calamity are very likely true, and these specially bred 'hybrids' are the materials."

"That's why I didn't refuse when my rebellious son wanted to go treasure hunting, thinking that maybe it would bring out something."

When it comes to alchemy and experimentation, the Dan Sect are all professionals.

"But unfortunately," Song Tianyou sighed, "the Li family withdrew from the brokerage business ten years ago, probably because they realized something was wrong. That's why Song only dug up a white snake ten years later. I also heard that your Demon Suppression Division found a blood pool down there, but didn't find anything else amiss."

"It seems the Li family moved away a long time ago."

The Song family had recounted what happened ten years ago, and the matter should have ended there, but Old Song was no simple man.

"Are you two still curious about how I know the Li family's background?" Song Changyou deliberately saved the most important thing for last, gesturing for Xu Ling and the other to drink tea and have some snacks.

"When my Song family moved to Fancheng, it was sent by the Grand Elder of the Dan Sect. At that time, the Grand Elder said that the Li family was a hybrid of human and demon, with demon blood in their bodies, and their cultivation was far more than it seemed. He specifically instructed that our Song family was here to do business, not to fight. The Li family looked down on my cultivation level, and told me not to push the Li family too far."

"The Grand Elder's cultivation is superb, and he has already mastered all kinds of alchemy techniques to the highest level. The Li family may be able to escape the eyes and ears of your Demon Suppression Division, but they cannot escape the Grand Elder's appraisal."

"Furthermore, the Demon Suppression Division of that time had a very good relationship with Prince Kang and the Li family, so this secret has been kept in my heart until today."

That's why they say everyone has their own area of ​​expertise.

The alchemists may not be as strong as the people from the Demon Suppression Bureau, but in this aspect, they are absolutely superior to the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Even the alchemists within the Demon Suppression Division might not be as good as the Grand Elder of the Pill Sect.

"Thank you very much, Senior Song." Xu Ling said sincerely.

"Hey! I, Old Song, am here to do business, Lord Xu, there's no need for you to be so polite."

Xu Ling understood what he meant, and he silently took out a communication talisman: "Please trouble Senior Song to set up the array."

Yo!

Could it be what he's thinking? Lord Xu is a good person.

Song Tianyou's eyes lit up slightly when he saw the communication talisman, and he silently stroked his beard and removed the array plate.

Xu Ling smiled and nodded in acknowledgment, then sent a message to Xu Huaixu in front of the others.

"My lord, would you like some pills?"

"???"

Although Xu Huaixu didn't understand, he still replied, "What do you want to do?"

Xu Ling looked up and smiled at Old Man Song, who returned the smile without any intention of bothering him.

Although Song Tianyou didn't know what Xu Ling was saying, Xu Huaixu's token was there, which was more convincing than anything else.

Xu Ling lowered his head: "Have you heard of the Pill Sect, the gullible sucker?"

"???"

Xu Huaixu realized something was wrong: "You didn't go to the Song family, did you?"

"Yes! That's why I say you're the garrison commander."

"Did he offend you? Let me make this clear first, Song Tianyou just has a mentally challenged son, and his pills are a bit pricey. He hasn't done anything wrong, so don't kill him."

Song Tianyou was only at the Spirit Platform Realm; Xu Ling could easily kill him with his own hands.

Xu Ling: "Don't make my subordinate sound so terrifying. I secured a cooperation opportunity for the Song family, and they're more than grateful to me. How could they possibly offend me? Our Demon Suppression Division suffered such heavy losses in battle; they must be desperately short of elixirs, right?"

"Hmm?" Xu Huaixu was a man of great talent, and he considered one possibility. "You're trying to create something like a royal tribute?"

"No, no, no, that's too presumptuous. The Pill Sect isn't stupid. Do they really think we have to pay tribute? Taking things for free isn't a good habit." Xu Ling continued to transmit the message through divine sense: "I want the Pill Sect to help our Demon Suppression Division share some of the pressure."

"Patriarch Song just told me that their Pill Refining Sect often needs materials from all over the country. Unlike our Demon Suppression Division, which is spread across the land, the Pill Refining Sect always needs materials, even if cultivators actively come to them for pills. If the Pill Refining Sect could obtain materials from the Demon Suppression Division, and the Demon Suppression Division could obtain a large quantity of pills in return, wouldn't that be a win-win situation?"

It sounded good, but Xu Ling had a criminal record, so Xu Huaixu had to remind him: "Using public office for private gain is a major taboo."

"My lord, please don't panic, let me finish. Such corrupt officials are not the kind of people we comrades would do." Xu Ling naturally knew the cardinal sin of cooperation between officials and the people, but in his plan, neither the Pill Sect nor the Demon Suppression Bureau needed to change any existing systems; they simply each gained a more advantageous channel.

"What I mean is: the Pill Sect will provide free pills to the Demon Suppression Division as a guarantee for cooperation, and give the Demon Suppression Division the benefit of being able to purchase pills at a discounted price. At the same time, within our Demon Suppression Division, we only need to set up some daily tasks to obtain materials in addition to the tasks of slaying demons and monsters. In the future, we will use part of the materials obtained from all tasks ourselves, and use part of them to provide medicinal materials to the Pill Sect in exchange for better resources."

The Demon Suppression Bureaus vary in their organizational structure, meaning many demon slayers and bureau chiefs are likely without missions. They might be reluctantly doing clerical work like Zhang Li, or simply waiting for assignments. Rather than letting them idly do nothing, we should put them to use. This way, we demon slayers will have an easier way to obtain cultivation resources without interfering with our duties, and it will also save the Demon Suppression Bureau a significant amount of money on elixirs.

On this research trip, we can also supplement our Demon Suppression Division with information on "discernment" and improve our detective skills.

...

After speaking, he cited the example of how the Song family head helped identify the age of the materials and determine the bloodline of the demon race today. This advantage of specializing in divination techniques can undoubtedly be utilized in the cooperation between the two parties.

Private enterprises provide professional technical support to government departments, and government departments appropriately relax policies to help them, so that they can make progress and develop together. This can be described as a win-win situation with no harm whatsoever.

Xu Ling said, "I would call them technical advisors. Their elixirs and various professional techniques are their technology, while our powerful resource network and military force are the special benefits provided by their government."

"If we cooperate for a long time, it wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate the Pill Sect."

Xu Huaixu's lips curled up as he listened. Xu Ling had done a good job, but... was this what he called communism? Very well.

What's extremely rare here is that the cooperation proposed by Xu Ling was based on the premise of non-interference between the two parties, yet the result was still a stable win-win situation.

It was completely different from what Xu Huaixu had imagined about government and people's livelihood.

However, discussing cooperation at this level is no longer something Xu Ling can do.

Xu Huaixu took a step forward and reappeared next to Xu Ling. Zhang Li and Xu Ling bowed to each other.

"Σ(°ロ°)??"

When Song Tianyou saw the person who had arrived, he was completely dumbfounded.

He glanced around, especially at Xu Ling, and a ridiculous thought popped into his head, as if he had wasted all these years.

He had indeed thought that Xu Ling's message was meant to benefit the Song family, but he didn't expect this big shot to come in person.

When did a bronze-level demon slayer become able to reach the ears of the emperor and even directly command the garrison?

With a forced smile, Xu Huaixu took the initiative to invite, "Patriarch Song, may I speak with you in private?"

Song Tianyou felt it wasn't quite real, so he secretly pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming before excitedly leading Xu Huaixu to the inner room.

Xu Ling had no idea what the two talked about.

All he knew was that not long after the two went inside, the Song family gained another extremely powerful aura, which rivaled Xu Huaixu's.

When Xu Huaixu finally left the Song family with him and Zhang Li, Song Tianyou, the head of the Song family, followed them all the way, and even wanted to escort them all the way to the Demon Suppression Division before he would leave.

When Lao Song got home, he rushed to Song Cai's room and gave the unfilial son a good beating.

This was the first time Song had ever been treated like this since he was a child. He asked stupidly, "What is Father doing? What did I do wrong? Can't I correct it?"

"Hehehe (*¯ㅿ¯*;), can't change it now." Song Tianyou sighed, "A son should be like Xu Ling."

I have to say, this kid used to be hard to manage, but after I beat him up, he learned to admit his mistakes. That's quite a new discovery.

Recalling Song Cai's usual outrageous behavior, Song Tianyou couldn't help but curse again: "You're still too green! Going to a brothel in the middle of the night, it's one thing if you don't know how to play with women, but all you know how to do is learn some kind of demonic script!"

This event is only recorded in mythology; a monkey once did something similar.