Volume 1, Chapter 44 – An Audience

On the other side, Bai Xiang had already arrived.

The Jobs Directorate, full name “Directorate for Job Qualification Inspection.” Its nature is similar to a job market; every day many individuals and groups come here seeking short-term work.

All kinds of needs show up here, from renovation to security, as well as Sword Dao sparring partners. Some companies even buy a screen in the Directorate’s hall to post bounties, looking for people to solve their problems.

Lately, because of the Demon-Immortal Dao’s activity, schools across the circuit city were on break. Many students were bored and came to the Jobs Directorate for part-time gigs, the whole street a sea of people.

She took out a five-yuan bill to pay the fare and got out. Bai Xiang found no shortage of people, like her, carrying swords.

Some, like her, held sword-student wooden swords. Those are usually for finding work as instructors or sparring partners at small dojos or training grounds.

You deal either with ordinary folk who know nothing of martial arts, or with eager parents who want their children to soar. The workload is relatively light, the pay steady. Most students who look for part-time work aim for these posts.

Others who carried swords had the real thing in their hands.

As Bai Xiang moved through the crowd, she saw a man in a suit and tie, wearing sunglasses, cold and aloof and cool. In his arms he cradled a long sword with a simple, cylindrical hilt.

This round-hilted sword resembled the “Han sword” Bai Xiang had seen in her previous life. The grip was long, full and solid. The blade came in four-faced and eight-faced types. If eight-faced, the body would be very heavy, with tremendous chopping power, a war sword.

His sword was sheathed, so she could not tell four faces from eight. Bai Xiang only sensed by instinct that it gave off a vicious aura.

That would be a sword forged by a Forge-the-Sword method.

There was likely a Demon Pool sealed in it.

A line had formed outside the Directorate. Bai Xiang had no business to transact, so she did not need to queue. She slipped through a gap and went straight into the hall.

Inside, even more people were carrying real swords. The men were either in suits, or in black robes, clutching their swords tight in their left hands.

Most of the women wore slit qipaos like Liu Mengqing’s. A few wore imitation ancient ceremonial dresses. Their swords hung at their waists or were slung over their backs. Few kept a hand on the hilt at all times.

Bai Xiang also saw a group in tight combat suits, the kind often seen in sci-fi films or modern war films, settling a job at a corner of the hall.

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She had seen these suits in TV ads. They seemed to be products of Xingta Group.

The fabric itself was stab resistant. Plates were fitted over the chest and joints. In addition to swords they carried various light and heavy firearms.

Bai Xiang even saw one man with a neat buzz cut and an eye patch, his entire left arm gleaming metallic silver, plainly a mechanical prosthetic.

Add the blood on them, and the big black cloth sack they were dragging, blood seeping through and dripping down. Even though the hall was already crowded, everyone still tried to spread out, keeping a distance.

Bai Xiang stood a bit farther off and so could hear someone boldly whispering about them.

“Judging by their kit, a mercenary unit back from the wilds.”

“Is that bag full of demon-beast organs? You would have to go deep into the wilds to get that.”

“Even swordsmen who have forged their swords do not dare go that deep. Do they have a rich patron behind them?”

“Do you need to ask? That is a ‘Black Water Serpent’ combat suit. One set is over two hundred thousand. Even if we sold up, we could not afford it.”

“Keep it down, the iron hand is looking this way…!”

As the one-eyed man looked over, the crowd in front fell silent at once.

The one-eyed man held an assault rifle, the muzzle angled to the floor. His indifferent gaze swept the crowd at will, like a hunter checking a flock.

When he saw Bai Xiang, he paused.

This girl in a cap did not duck her head or turn away like the others, did not avoid his eyes by any method. She simply turned her head back calmly and looked up at the electronic screen.

The one-eyed man narrowed his eyes and kept staring at her profile.

Bai Xiang seemed to feel it. She turned her face back at a normal pace. Their eyes met in midair.

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“Sword student?”

He saw the wooden sword in her hand and showed his teeth in a smile.

“Interesting.”

“Captain Tan?” A scar-faced woman with a ponytail came up beside him. “Who are you looking at?”

“Nothing,” the one-eyed man said with a shake of his head.

“Hurry and settle it.”

“It is not often we get chances like this.”

“Once the points are tallied, we go again.”

Elsewhere, Bai Xiang received another message.

“You saw me. Why did you not say hello.”

The other side sent a cold question.

Did I see him?

Bai Xiang frowned, gripped her sword, and walked out of the hall. She saw that same man in black shades and a suit holding a Nokia, stubbornly keeping his back to her.

“You did not tell me what you look like.”

Bai Xiang stared at him and replied on her phone.

“I did not say?”

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The voice sounded a bit hesitant.

“Right, you did not.”

“…”

“…”

After a pause, the suited man turned, walked quickly up to Bai Xiang, and took off his sunglasses, revealing an utterly ordinary face.

“My name is Cao Chuan. I serve as Gongcao Congshi in His Excellency’s Chancery,” the man said. “You can call me Congshi Cao.”

Gongcao Congshi.

This post is roughly equivalent to an HR director in a modern company.

“Shenming’s Bai Xiang.”

Bai Xiang gave a simple response.

This was not the place to talk. Led by Cao Chuan, the two found a fast-food place next door. They only got seats on the third floor.

“Over here.”

Tao Shuohua was in the corner, eating fries with gusto. He saw Bai Xiang and squawked at once, drawing looks from nearby diners.

Bai Xiang went over with Cao Chuan. Only then, up close, did she find there was one more person in the innermost seat.

He also wore sunglasses and a black robe. His hair was glossy black. The short beard along his jaw was groomed to an almost fussy neatness.

“Bai Xiang is here.”

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Seeing her, the bearded man smiled.

“Special circumstances. It is not ideal for me to take off the sunglasses.”

“You can probably guess who I am.”

Of course.

Bai Xiang would not be fooled by his disguise. She matched his outline to a face she had seen on TV. The features behind those sunglasses resolved clearly at once.

He was Fang Xianzhang, Fang Xiaochun.

Fang Wenya’s father, superior to Tao Shuohua and Cao Chuan.

Also the highest official in the entire Chilong Circuit, indeed in all of Qizhou.

“I have a question for you.”

Before they sat, Fang Xiaochun tilted his head and fixed Bai Xiang with a look.

“You should have been able to figure out the date I would arrive. And I heard you, and your dojo, are facing some trouble.”

“So why did you never once call Shuohua?”

“Quite naturally, because…”

Bai Xiang spoke low, her eyes straight at the sunglasses.

“What I get when I seek you out, and what I get when you seek me out, are not the same.”