Fu Juemin rode on horseback, traveling with a large troop of men along a country path overgrown with weeds.

Behind him were forty-some sturdy men from the Civil Affairs Bureau, each dressed in sharp, practical attire and holding a Western rifle. Two of them also carried large, half-man-high bundles on their backs, bulging with unknown contents.

Fu Guoping hadn’t spoken another word to him the entire way. With a sullen face, he rode at the very front of the procession. When men from the Civil Affairs Bureau occasionally approached to report something, he would only give a slight nod.

However, Qian Fei and Ma Dakui, who had also come along, voluntarily sidled up to Fu Juemin, staying by his side and chatting with him from time to time.

"Young Master Fu, you really shouldn’t have come..."

Qian Fei wasn’t riding his precious bicycle; instead, he was leading Fu Juemin’s horse. Walking at a brisk pace the whole way, his forehead was faintly beaded with sweat. "This is no game."

"You knew the truth about the docks all along and deliberately hid it from me."

Fu Juemin said calmly from atop his horse.

Qian Fei scratched his head in embarrassment. "It was all Second Master’s orders. We two brothers can only follow his word.

Besides...."

Qian Fei’s expression turned serious. "Even if we told people, most wouldn’t believe it. And knowing isn’t necessarily a good thing. Don’t you agree, Young Master Fu?"

Fu Juemin thought for a moment, then asked, "Does the Civil Affairs Bureau always handle these kinds of things?"

"Pretty much."

Qian Fei nodded. "Occasionally we help the county catch a few wanted criminals and whatnot, but our main job is to help Luan River County deal with these bizarre, sensational incidents.

Why do you think the County Government turns a blind eye to Second Master recruiting men, buying guns, and privately building a fortress? It’s because when trouble strikes, they have to rely on him, isn’t it?

You probably don’t know this, Young Master Fu, but the daily expenses for us brothers in the Civil Affairs Bureau, our monthly salaries, the money for guns, the compensation for those injured or killed... it all comes out of Second Master’s own pocket.

In Second Master’s words, the Civil Affairs Bureau is the County Government’s chamber pot. They don’t even bother to wipe it clean. They just pick it up when they need it, and toss it aside when they’re done..."

Qian Fei was clearly a naturally talkative person. Before, because Fu Guoping had ordered him to keep things secret from Fu Juemin, he hadn’t dared to say much in his presence. Now that the restriction was gone, he could tell Fu Juemin anything.

"Cases like this one in Taohuang Village... have you run into many over the years?"

Fu Juemin tugged on the reins, guiding his horse around a pit in the path as he asked.

"Not many."

Qian Fei shook his head. "Only five or six in total, I think. The most sinister one was this Water Demon at the docks. We lost over a dozen brothers, and to this day, we still don’t even know what the Water Demon looks like.

The second worst would be..."

"Shili Village."

The usually taciturn Ma Dakui suddenly spoke up. "Two years ago, in Shili Village, they were opening a mountain to build kilns. The gunpowder blasted out an Old White Ape that had achieved sentience. It specialized in cracking open skulls to eat people’s brains."

"Right."

Qian Fei nodded. "That time, Second Master led a hundred of us brothers. We surrounded that beast with dozens of guns, but we emptied our ammo and still couldn’t kill it.

That beast even held a grudge. It ran off during the day, but came back for revenge that very night and killed a dozen more of our brothers..."

"What happened then?"

Fu Juemin’s eyes shone with fascination, and he couldn’t help but ask for more.

"In the end, it still got away."

Qian Fei said helplessly, "But we did manage to break one of its arms and blind one of its eyes.

After that, Second Master spent a fortune building the fortress we have now. Heaven knows if that beast will suddenly come back one day..."

The more Fu Juemin chatted with Qian Fei, the more shocked and astonished he became.

He was realizing for the first time that this world was far more dangerous than he had ever imagined.

Ever since the previous dynasty, those so-called mountain spirits and monsters had been more than just figures in folklore. After the fall of that dynasty, they had become even more ferocious.

As Qian Fei put it— "Chaotic times breed monsters." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Can martial artists... deal with these kinds of mountain spirits and wild monsters?"

After listening to Qian Fei for a long time, Fu Juemin finally couldn’t resist asking.

Hearing this, Qian Fei immediately turned his head, his expression grave as he warned, "Young Master Fu, you must never think such a thing.

I’ve been with Second Master for a long time, and I’ve seen my fair share of bizarre and evil things. These creatures are simply not something that can be fought by human strength.

Take that Old White Ape I mentioned. Back then, the County Government hired some kind of martial arts master. They said he could even dodge bullets from a Western rifle and shatter a foot-thick stone slab with a single palm strike...

And the result?

He was torn to shreds and eaten like a common dish. It was a miserable death, only half his body was left....

To deal with these abominations, you have to rely on the Westerners’ guns and bullets."

Fu Juemin nodded, a glint in his eyes.

’If what Qian Fei said is true, then these sentient evil spirits and wild monsters are truly terrifying. A martial artist who could dodge bullets should be at least at the Tongxuan Realm, yet he was utterly powerless against the Old White Ape and was torn in half. The difference in strength must be immense.’

’I wonder if a supreme master at the Heart Intent Realm, like Emperor Qianming, could compete with these mountain spirits and water monsters.’

As Fu Juemin was thinking, the outline of a village gradually appeared ahead.

At Fu Guoping’s command, the procession immediately halted. Two men from the front split off, running quickly but cautiously toward the village, rifles in hand.

Fu Juemin waited quietly on his horse for a while. Before long, the two men from the Civil Affairs Bureau who had been sent to scout returned. It was unclear what they reported to Fu Guoping, but the procession soon continued on, though they deliberately bypassed the village.

Another period of silent travel passed. It was around four in the afternoon when Fu Juemin heard Qian Fei’s reminder from beside him: "Past the peach grove ahead is Taohuang Village."

The entire procession clearly grew tense.

Fu Juemin saw many of the men take the long rifles from their backs and begin to work the bolts, chambering rounds.

Qian Fei led his horse into the inner ranks of the formation, where they were guarded on all sides by men with guns.

Taohuang Village was famous for its peaches, and peach trees were planted all around the village.

September was the time for peaches to ripen. In the grove before them, every tree was laden with fist-sized fruit. Some were already overripe, yet no one had picked them. A strange odor, a mixture of cloying sweetness and rot, filled the air.

The troop moved slowly through the peach grove. Halfway through, someone muttered, "This damn grove, how come there’s not a single living thing in here?"

Fu Juemin was suddenly startled. He realized that ever since they entered the grove, he hadn’t heard so much as a single bird call.

The various tales of evil entities that Qian Fei had so vividly described began to churn in his mind. Fu Juemin couldn’t help but grow tense. He took one hand off the reins and secretly gripped the revolver tucked at his waist.

The sun was about to set. The sparse sunlight that filtered into the peach grove was sliced into fragments by the overlapping branches and leaves, casting distorted shadows upon the ground.

The grove was terrifyingly quiet, and everyone was anxious to get out of it as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, Fu Juemin heard a RUSTLE beside him—the sound of something running past at high speed.

He whipped his head toward the sound, simultaneously drawing his revolver and gripping it tightly.

He wasn’t the only one in the group who reacted. Many of them had clearly seen a black shadow dash through a nearby thicket of peach trees.