Edited by Aelryinth

At Bei Du...

Huang Juyun couldn't help but start worrying for Zhang Che's safety again.

It had already been about three hours since that brat went chasing after He Luotu. It was now evening, and soon the sky would turn dark, yet there was still no news from him.

He didn't dare send a message to Zhang Che asking about his situation. It would be a tragedy if Zhang Che was at the crucial moment of their fight and was distracted by his message, affecting the results of the battle.

As such, he could only wait helplessly after reporting the raid on the Freemason headquarters to the higher-ups.

"But, that kid shouldn't be in any danger, right? He's overcome so many difficulties. This is only the head figure of a mere cult…"

At that thought, however, Huang Juyun didn't dare to think any further.

Huang Juyun knew he was only subconsciously deceiving himself. What head figure of a mere cult? He Luotu was clearly a mysterious expert of the demon realm who had infiltrated their world. Heavens knew what kind of powerful methods he had up his sleeves, waiting for Zhang Che to send himself right to his doorstep?

Putting all else aside, Huang Juyun still felt some lingering fear from the huge explosion he had experienced this afternoon. He was very wary of their demonic methods.

If he hadn't let his Metal Tyrant go up and block the shockwave from the huge explosion decisively, who knew how many casualties his forces would have sustained?

Even so, his Metal Tyrant had yet to recover from the injuries. It was in a severely injured state even now. At present, the card of that powerful epic-quality subdued beast was submerged in a recovery fluid, healing its injuries. According to the his staff, the powerful subdued beast would only fully recover tomorrow.

The cause of all that was just one of the demonic expert's tricks. He Luotu had wreaked such destruction just by detonating his subordinates and their subdued beasts. Could Zhang Che really deal with him safely if he had some other hidden aces?

Huang Juyun had no idea. As a result, his expression was gloomy. After the destruction of the Freemason headquarters, he returned to Bei Du to give a report on the mission and was praised by the top brass, but his mood wasn't bright at all.

Suddenly, he felt a vibration from his personal terminal.

Huang Juyun's expression changed slightly. A hint of joy flashed in his eyes. He hurriedly opened the device. It was indeed a message from Zhang Che!

"Great! I knew that kid was hiding deep. Given his strength, how could he be defeated by a demon spy?!"

Huang Juyun finally relaxed completely after he read the short and simple message from Zhang Che. The brat said that he had gotten rid of He Luotu and was on his way back now. He would arrive at Bei Du in a few hours.

Much more excited, Huang Juyun immediately turned around and left his office to find his superiors and report this matter.

As the biggest contributor to destroying the Freemason headquarters, Huang Juyun wasn't the only one worrying about Zhang Che. Both the military and government were also paying attention to this.

After all, Zhang Che wasn't an ordinary beastmaster. Putting aside the fact that he became a powerful high-tier beastmaster before the age of twenty, and there being a high chance for him to become a divine-tier beastmaster in the future, the contributions he had made to Hua Xia thus far weren't something ordinary beastmasters could compare to.

Previously, he had brought back research information regarding exotic beast genetic evolution fluid from the Bei Mei region, allowing Hua Xia to rise to the top of the field immediately. After absorbing the Bei Mei region's study results, Hua Xia's results in this area became much better than any other country.

This time, Zhang Che had even discovered the location of the largest cult's headquarters, and found out He Luotu was actually a demonic being. His achievements weren't small at all.

It was absolutely impossible for such a young talent to not draw the attention of the top brass. As such, Huang Juyun immediately went to report the news of Zhang Che's safe return upon learning about it.

------

At the same time, in the skies ten thousand kilometers away from Bei Du, a deep blue figure was streaking across the skies like a bolt of lightning. Its speed was faster than even the military's most advanced fighter jets, almost comparable with the sky shuttles from two generations ago.

This was the first time Zhang Che had flown such a long distance on his pet across Mercury. It was a rather amazing experience.

Of course, no matter how great the experience flying on the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon was, it was much inferior to sky shuttles.

Regrettably, Huang Juyun had flown Zhang Che's Dijiang-hao back to Bei Du, and Zhang Che thought that taking a commercial sky shuttle was troublesome, not to mention it being slow. Naturally he chose to fly on the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon all the way back to Bei Du.

Fortunately, the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon's strength was incomparable to the past after he advanced to eight-star epic-quality. His flight speed exceeded the imagination of ordinary people. Although they were currently ten thousand kilometers away from Bei Du, they wouldn't need very long before Zhang Che returned safely.

As for whether he would encounter some powerful exotic beast and end up finding himself in a dangerous situation… Zhang Che wasn't worried at all.

He was in Hua Xia's territory. If an exotic beast so powerful that he couldn't handle really appeared, Hua Xia would have fallen into chaos long ago.

------

The road back was smooth. By the time Zhang Che returned to Bei Du's borders, it was already about nine in the evening.

However, he didn't go home directly, nor did he go to the Huang family's ancestral house. Instead, he flew on the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon directly to the headquarters of the military.

Although the authorities knew Zhang Che was returning by flying on his aerial mount in advance, when the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon appeared in the skies, Zhang Che still sensed several powerful auras in the dark, ready to move at any moment. He'd be on the receiving end of a fierce assault if he dared to make any strange movements!

-As expected of Hua Xia's military headquarters. Although the security here dioesn't seem like much, there are really quite a number of elites hiding in the dark. I actually sensed multiple auras belonging to epic-quality subdued beasts! Every one of them aren't weak, and two of the auras are even stronger than Hanming's! They should be nine-star epic-quality subdued beasts…-

Nine-star epic-quality subdued beasts were without a doubt the strongest creatures aside from divine-quality subdued beasts.

With so many powerful subdued beasts surrounding this area, the headquarters could be said to be impenetrable. Whoever dared to cause trouble here would only end up losing their lives!

Even though Zhang Che was confident of his strength, with an army of epic-quality babies at his beck and call, there didn't seem to be a chance at victory if he faced all those elites hiding in the dark.

It was only after Zhang Che landed and recalled the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon that those powerful auras observing him disappeared.

---

Huang Juyun was waiting outside the headquarters building with a group of guards. Seeing Zhang Che return safely, he walked up laughing loudly, patting the youngster's shoulder and said, "Hahahaha, Xiaoche, you're really something! You actually finished off that He Luotu! The biggest credit for taking down the Freemason goes to you!"

"Uncle Huang, I was fortunate to not disappoint and completed my mission!"

Zhang Che was feeling all kinds of emotions inside, too. It had taken him several days, from the initial planning to infiltrating the Freemason headquarters, and finally killing He Luotu. He went through many thrilling moments, and had faced great danger on more than one occasion.

Now that things had finally drawn to a close, Zhang Che's mood wound down, and he could finally relax.

"Let's get going. The chief of headquarters is waiting to commend you in front of everyone and celebrate your achievements. The thing you mentioned in your message caught their attention, too. Everyone wants to ask you about that in detail."

Huang Juyun patted Zhang Che's shoulder once more, and the two walked into the building under the escort of a squad of guards.

Sensing the powerful aura from Zhang Che, then thinking of everything he had done, Huang Juyun felt all kinds of emotions inside, gratified at getting such an exceptional son-in-law. What more could he ask for?

------

Zhang Che followed Huang Juyun to a small conference room at the top story of the headquarters building.

The reflection from a sea of shining stars entered his sight.

Many generals sat in the meeting room, all of them with at least two shining golden stars hanging on their shoulders. There was one elder who was especially noteworthy. The insignia on his shoulder was actually a big, resplendent star, with golden patterns at the sides.

Without a doubt, that man was the highest ranking chief of the military, the holder of the rank of Marshal, set in Hua Xia after the arrival of the new age.

After entering the conference room, Huang Juyun immediately stood at attention and saluted. "Reporting, Xinjing military division commanding officer Huang Juyun has brought Zhang Che here. Chiefs, please give us your instructions!"

The generals in the room immediately stood up as well, returned his salutate, then indicated that Huang Juyun should bring Zhang Che in and take their seats.

Zhang Che wasn't a soldier, so naturally he didn't need to salute. However, everyone present was his senior. He still bowed very humbly and greeted everyone, "Junior Zhang Che greets the generals!"

"Hahahaha, this young man is Xiaohuang's son-in-law Zhang Che? Not bad, not bad! He looks especially spirited. I heard you're the one who sent news of discovering the Freemason headquarters, and that He Luotu was possessed by a demon? Really, heroes emerge from the youngsters! Us old-timers were very impressed after hearing that. At your age, we were far from comparable to you!"

The military chief in the middle wearing the insignia of the Marshal looked at Zhang Che with a smile, nodding at him and laughing heartily. "Come, come, don't be so uptight, young man. You're not from the military. You don't have to follow our etiquette. Quickly come over here and take a seat.

"We have been waiting for you for a long time now. We have heard from Xiaohuang earlier that you have discovered some other information and needed to report to us. Quickly speak and spare us from imagining things."

Zhang Che quickly saluted the crowd and followed Huang Juyun into the conference room, then faced the generals and explained his findings.

As expected, he drew the attention of all the generals present after revealing the information.

A hint of worry showed on the Marshal's face. He sighed, "Actually, we discussed this problem before the meeting started. After hearing what you said, Xiaozhang, I'm afraid this is true. He Luotu is surely not the only demon who has infiltrated our world. The other cults have been very secretive, and we were having difficulty trying to strike at their core. Surely those demons were controlling things behind all of this.

"Times are truly difficult! We'll be facing the fifth beast swarm in another three years' time, and so many demons have infiltrated us now. I'm afraid we'll be heading into a difficult situation going forward...

"What's most troubling is that we have no idea what those demon spies' true objective is. But even so, it's certainly about destroying the stability of our world and causing trouble for us during the upcoming beast swarm, perhaps even opening the tunnel connecting our two realms once more and letting those truly powerful demon warriors descend into our world. There's nothing worse than that."

The atmosphere in the conference room immediately turned dark and gloomy.

Unlike dealing with exotic beasts, which they had over three decades of experience to draw from, the demons were completely unfamiliar opponents. Although they had difficulty gaining the upper hand against the exotic beasts all this time, at the very least, humanity would only become stronger and stronger, judging by the trend. There would be a day when humans could drive all the exotic beasts on Mercury back to where they came from, or eliminate them.

Not only that, the spatial gateways connecting to the beast worlds would become the precious fortune of the humans, allowing the human world to gather endless resources from the beast worlds, providing great help to further improve human society.

However, the demons that had appeared had completely messed up the government and the military's plans in all areas. No one knew how much trouble the demons that had infiltrated the human world would cause, in the end.

At the worst, if the demons used the strength they had amassed and truly opened a gateway connecting the two worlds one day, it would be a disaster for all of humanity on Mercury.

Heavens knew exactly how powerful the strongest demons were. Once they invaded Mercury on a large scale, they could well imagine that humanity would fall into a perilous situation, and might face extinction.

---

After reporting his discoveries and conjectures, the top brass let Zhang Che go back and rest first. Huang Juyun remained and continued participating in the military's meeting.

Normally, Huang Juyun wouldn't have the qualifications. All this was thanks to Zhang Che, since all the intelligence was gathered by him. As for Huang Juyun, the military naturally had to view him with exceptional importance, saving him decades of time and allowing him to enter the core of the military.

Although Huang Juyun didn't have great ambitions for power, he was happy nonetheless.

That night, the top brass didn't just hold a meeting at the headquarters. They also conveyed the information Zhang Che brought back to the government.

---

The next day, both the military and government held another joint meeting, and sent out a series of orders, picking out elite forces from everywhere to launch a comprehensive strike and investigation on all cults.

Of course, all of this no longer concerned Zhang Che. He was considered to have completed his mission above and beyond after eliminating the Freemasons and providing information on the demons.

On Zhang Che's side, he returned to his villa in Bei Du and chatted with his family for a while before washing up early and going up to his room to rest.

Although Zhang Che didn't have to worry too much about his personal safety during the past few days, he had to worry about other things. He hadn't had a good rest all this time.

Even though high-tier beastmasters didn't require nearly as much rest as ordinary people, his mind was very tense during the past few days, tiring him out.

As such, Zhang Che didn't agree to play chess with the elemental queen, even when she tried using her beauty to tempt him. He directly locked his room's door.

At that moment, let alone the elemental queen, who was someone who could only be seen and not touched, even if Miss Tienan herself were to open up and agree to have fun with Zhang Che for a night, he wouldn't be up to the occasion!