“Please, have a seat.” Yue Wen invited the girl in and had her sit down on the old sofa. Then he asked, “May I ask how I should address you?”
“My name is Zhao Xing’er.” After sitting properly, the girl smoothed her hair and answered with easy composure.
“Congratulations, you’ve passed the interview. You can officially start tomorrow. If there’s a commission, you’ll take a trial shift; one trial shift and you’ll be made permanent. Is that all right?” Yue Wen said smoothly.
“I… huh?” Zhao Xing’er seemed to have prepared something, but after uttering a single word, she froze.
Wait.
She passed just like that?
Was the requirement for this interview being able to say her own name?
The bar for getting into kindergarten back then had been higher than this. At least they had asked her to say her mom and dad’s names!
For one instant, the girl began to suspect that this place might be some criminal den—the kind where, after one month on the job, they would take her on a “team-building trip” to somewhere in Southeast Asia, and after two months, they would have her start inviting all her friends and relatives…
Of course, Yue Wen wasn’t lowering his standards because she was pretty. The standards had been this low to begin with.
There was simply no room to lower them further.
He wasn’t trying to hire some incredible fighter, just an assistant to make up the numbers. When a commission came in, he would still be the one dealing with the evil spirits.
If she actually wanted to help him kill evil spirits, he wouldn’t be pleased at all.
So as long as the other party was a cultivator, that was enough.
This young lady’s eyes held spiritual light, her spirit was full and her qi abundant. One glance was enough to tell she had cultivation. That was sufficient.
“Um…” Success had come so suddenly that Zhao Xing’er had to reorganize her words before saying, “Don’t you need to ask a bit more?”
“Haha, all right, then I’ll ask one more question.” Yue Wen said, “Ms. Zhao, are you satisfied with our office?”
“Me?” Zhao Xing’er pondered for a moment, then said, “Our office has an understated storefront, it’s very down-to-earth, and the furnishings inside are orderly amid the chaos. At a glance, one can tell this is a vibrant startup team. I’m very satisfied.”
Yue Wen immediately nodded. “Pleasure working with you.”
He hadn’t prepared any interview process at all. There was no need to waste too much thought on this assistant. As long as there was such a person and the office’s business license could be processed, that was enough.
Looking at Yue Wen’s smile, Zhao Xing’er even had a rather strange thought.
Were things between them moving too fast?
Had they really reached this step already?
After the fastest interview in history ended, she walked out of the office still looking a little dazed. Only after walking past an entire street did she take out her phone and send a message to someone on the other end.
“I got hired! The process was a little strange… but it went pretty smoothly. I specifically found a tiny, completely unknown office that’s shabby, run-down, messier inside than a dog kennel, and looks especially like it’s operating without a license. It definitely won’t attract any attention.”
After a while, the other side replied, “That’s great! Now you’ll be able to get a foothold in Jiangcheng.”
Zhao Xing’er added, “The office is shabby, but the boss is a super handsome guy.”
“Hehe, that’s even better,” the other party replied.
Zhao Xing’er asked again, “There won’t be any problems with the identity and documents you arranged for me, right?”
The other side replied with certainty, “Just go work and attend school with peace of mind. If there’s even the tiniest flaw, then may ten muscular hunks capture me and lock me up for three days and three nights!”
Zhao Xing’er: “Are you sure you’re not making a wish?”
“You’re the one who should be careful. Don’t beat your colleagues into serious injuries again,” the other side said, changing the topic.
Zhao Xing’er looked troubled and silently replied, “I’ll try my best.”
……
Having found a new assistant as he wished, Yue Wen once again rode his little e-scooter to the cemetery in the east of the city at dusk.
Only this time, the one who came out to welcome him was not just Uncle Huang.
Old Huang walked over with a beaming smile, followed by a cold-looking young man.
He was a young man dressed in a white training uniform, around one meter eighty tall, with a lean build. Long, slanted bangs hung down, covering his right eye. His eyes weren’t large, and his skin was clean. He couldn’t be considered especially handsome, but he had a cool, arrogant air about him.
“Little Yue.” Old Huang greeted him. “Sorry to trouble you into coming all the way again. I didn’t have time to notify you yet, but we won’t need you to take action to clear the evil spirits tonight. The higher-ups invited another newcomer over.”
“They invited someone else?” Yue Wen frowned slightly, looked at the young man opposite him, then asked, “Why?”
“It’s not that we’re dissatisfied with you. Didn’t you say last night that a demon had appeared? I hurriedly reported it to the higher department. The people above were worried you wouldn’t be able to handle it, so they specially invited an immortal sect disciple to hold the fort,” Old Huang explained.
An immortal sect disciple?
Yue Wen looked the young man over again and thought, No wonder he’s so aloof.
Even if he came from the smallest and weakest immortal sect, the background and resources behind him were still not something ordinary wandering cultivators could compare to.
For those wild cultivators whose cultivation methods for each realm were pieced together in fragments, and who couldn’t scrape together even a single intact magical artifact from head to toe, immortal sect disciples cultivated faster and more safely. When in the same realm, their combat strength was an overwhelming existence. There was simply no comparison.
Of course, Yue Wen was not a traditional wandering cultivator.
He only looked wild.
“This is just a public cemetery. Why spend so much?” Yue Wen asked curiously. “Inviting an immortal sect disciple must be quite expensive, right?”
Old Huang chuckled. “As for the price, it certainly isn’t cheap. The higher-ups agreed to invite him entirely because they value our East City Cemetery. It should have absolutely nothing to do with the public security chief of the East Suburb District being my son.”
“Then I understand.” Yue Wen nodded, then patted the seat of his little e-scooter. “Uncle, sit while you talk. Don’t tire yourself out.”
“Ah, it’s fine.” Old Huang waved his hand and said, “In any case, you don’t need to refund the money. It’s like working one less day. Pretty good, right?”
Not good at all.
Yue Wen thought, Do you think I came for the money? I came for the lantern monsters!
Otherwise, how could it possibly be this price?
After a brief moment of thought, he said, “No.”
“Hm?” Old Huang and the young man both looked at him.
They saw Yue Wen’s solemn expression. “As the saying goes, when you accept someone’s money, you resolve their troubles. Since I accepted payment to clear out the lantern monsters, then I must personally clean this entire cemetery thoroughly for you! Uncle Huang, this is my principle as a person. I hope you can understand.”
“This…” Old Huang was silenced by his words. Then he scratched his sparse scalp and sighed with emotion. “Ah, Little Yue, there aren’t many youngsters as particular about honor as you these days.”
He could clearly take the money and leave without doing anything, yet insisted on finishing his share of the work.
Two words: righteous and loyal!
The young man’s gaze toward Yue Wen also gained a hint of admiration. He took the initiative to walk forward and said, “I am Qi Dian of the Linjiang Sect. Although you are a wandering cultivator, you have such principles. That deserves respect. Tonight, I will stay here and hold the fort for you. If any troublesome evil spirits appear, I will take action.”
In the understanding of these immortal sect disciples, most wandering cultivators had subpar cultivation and were sinister and cunning people.
Having no background also meant having no restraints.
Their elders often reminded them that when traveling outside, they had to be especially careful of these wandering cultivators. Especially in the wastelands outside the cities, they were even more dangerous than evil spirits.
That was why Qi Dian’s attitude toward Yue Wen had been very cold at first.
But after hearing Yue Wen speak this way, Qi Dian felt that this person’s character seemed decent. His impression changed somewhat, which was why he was willing to speak with him of his own accord.
“Many thanks.” Yue Wen nodded. “With my mere late-stage Integration Realm cultivation, having Fellow Daoist Qi here to hold the fort will indeed put my mind at ease.”
The Linjiang Sect was a local sect of Jiangcheng. In the entire cultivation world, it naturally did not amount to much, but locally, it could already be considered a major sect.
After all, the entire Tianbei Province had always been called a “cultivation desert.”
Other than the people from the Supernatural Administration Bureau, this was Yue Wen’s first time interacting with this kind of “formally trained” cultivator, so he naturally regarded the other party a little more highly.
But after hearing him finish speaking, Qi Dian’s gaze clearly trembled.
Uncle Huang, standing beside them, was happy to see this happen and said with a smile, “This is good. You two young men working together will make things more interesting. Little Qi comes from an immortal sect, so if something happens, he’ll be able to handle it. Little Qi, what realm are you at again?”
What realm am I at?
I’m at the middle stage of the Integration Realm. Among the disciples of my generation in the Linjiang Sect, I’m already one of the outstanding ones.
This wandering cultivator looks about the same age as me, yet he’s already at the late stage of the Integration Realm? If he had enough resources to support him, wouldn’t he have a very good chance of breaking through to the Astral Realm?
Is this someone you can hire with one thousand yuan?
Qi Dian was shocked inwardly, but his face remained silent.
Although he was one minor realm lower than the other party, he was still confident that his combat strength far surpassed his. But for an immortal sect disciple of around the same age to have a lower realm than a wandering cultivator was indeed rather embarrassing.
While he was at a temporary loss for words, Old Huang pressed further, “Eh? Little Qi, why aren’t you saying anything? Hehe, does the cultivation level of an immortal sect disciple need to be kept secret?”
Ask, ask, ask.
At your age, can’t you read the room at all?
Qi Dian silently gritted his teeth. After holding it in for a long while, he finally said, “I’m ordering takeout. Do you two want fried chicken?”