Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

"Crazy."

Zhang Ze pushed open the manhole cover, stuck his head out, and looked at the unique architecture of Wangyang City with speechlessness.

Dan Dan's home was actually very deep beneath Wangyang City.

Eighty years ago, Wangyang City acquired new technology from the Northern Territory's Demon Capital, enabling the new array to more efficiently utilize Earth Vein Power for heating the city.

As a result, the entire city shifted eastward, settling directly over the Earth Vein, which led to the abandoned buildings in the West District.

And directly beneath this Earth Vein was Dan Dan's home.

In preparation for his dazzling debut, Dan Dan, in the shape of a sun, had long designed an exit here in Wangyang City.

And this was something he hadn't told Wei Dalu.

Everyone climbed out of the manhole cover one by one, their expressions exactly like Zhang Ze's.

Luckily, there weren't many people around, so no one noticed.

Finally, Dan Dan climbed out too.

But he wasn't in the form of a double-yolked egg.

He had long crafted a set of armor for himself, entirely silver-white, with two legs and three arms, modeled after Wei Dalu's physique.

And Dan Dan hid within the armor, studying the principle of small walnuts, attempting to understand the design philosophy of those Thousand Mechanism Tools produced by the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion.

Seeing Dan Dan, cloaked and wearing a metal mask, looking like an evil metal villain, Zhang Ze thought his style truly suited the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion.

"Let's head to the Demon-slaying Bureau first."

...

Demon-slaying Bureau.

Qiu Jidan was sitting cross-legged in a solitary cell.

In front of him stood a Demon Race cultivator, who had been staring at him unblinkingly since he woke up, standing there all night.

Their eyes never blinked, and even when they turned to talk to a companion or take an item, only their body moved; their head remained motionless.

Qiu Jidan opened his eyes, glanced at the Demon Race cultivator, but still felt uneasy about this gaze, so he simply closed his eyes and waited for the Demon-slaying Bureau's interrogation.

To return to the Sword Hall to continue studying, Qiu Jidan had already prepared two sets of stories before he planned to betray those Demon Path loose cultivators and Blood Tooth.

One set to deal with the Demon-slaying Bureau, and one set for Lin Feng.

Now those Demon Cultivators were dead, leaving no evidence to contradict him.

But he didn't understand why no one had come over yet.

...

In a small room upstairs, Zhang Ze and Lin Feng were watching Qiu Jidan in the cell through a magic mirror.

"Who's that Demon Race brother, what's he doing?" Zhang Ze asked.

"Mr. Wei said the Yulin Guard's defense is lax and needs readjusting, with more personnel assigned. That one is an Owl Race cultivator responsible for one-on-one surveillance." Lin Feng pointed at the back of the Demon Race cultivator in the mirror. "Owl Race cultivators don't need to blink, don't need to sleep, they're the best guards."

"Isn't it the Demon-slaying Bureau?" Zhang Ze asked.

"Just changed, now it's the Yulin Guard." Lin Feng didn't want to dwell on this topic, so he moved on to business.

"When Qiu Jidan was unconscious, Mr. Wei checked his body and found problems with his meridians, including several internal injuries... quite strange."

"Moreover, last night, Mr. Wei was keeping an eye on West City; he saw everything Qiu Jidan did on the rooftop, and we're currently uncertain..."

"You suspect he defected from the Hundred Demons Sect?" Zhang Ze asked.

"Hmm, that's the intuition, but I think we should be cautious." Lin Feng nodded.

Lin Feng and Zhang Ze discussed for a while, finally deciding to go with the flow and first listen to what Qiu Jidan had to say. And this Infernal Affairs task fell to Lin Feng again.

Brother Feng thought his identity was more suitable for this task.

With Qiu Jidan's matter temporarily resolved, Zhang Ze had just left the small room when Bai Tao stopped him.

"Teacher, let's talk business."

...

Besides being the next Gang Leader of the Divine Egg Gang, Bai Tao was also a member of the Zhendong Trading Company.

She naturally came to Zhang Ze for matters concerning Dan Dan.

The place where Dan Dan lived was a treasure trove, with several mineral veins and that wondrous inverted-growing forest, all of which were quite valuable.

Although those trees' specific uses were unknown, Li confirmed by taste that these trees were indeed treasures.

Based on the principles of 'Finder's rights' and 'Might makes right,' that underground world became the private property of the Divine Egg Gang's Supreme Gang Leader, Dan Dan.

But Dan Dan didn't understand these matters and handed them over to Wei Dalu.

Wei Dalu, even more clueless, passed the matter on to Bai Tao.

Bai Tao was now here to work with Zhang Ze, figuring out how to sustainably exploit that underground world.

And also spend a little money to have the Zhendong Trading Company handle the mining and transportation.

"Don't worry, it'll be handled well. With Old Wei overseeing Wangyang City, nobody dares to slack off, especially since I'm his little aunt," Bai Tao confidently stated.

"And I also have an idea for Zhendong Trading Company. I think we might not even need to spend money."

After speaking, Bai Tao took out the small walnut Zhang Ze had given her.

"I think many things from the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion would be very popular here in the Northern Territory. If the trading company could act as their northern agent, then the company could work for Dan Dan for free."

"The company is indeed struggling to find sales channels for many products."

Seeing Bai Tao, a member of the Zhendong Trading Company whose heart was elsewhere, Zhang Ze thought the company had found a gem.

However, it was in fact a win-win situation. If the deal went through, Bai Tao's position in the company would certainly rise. The next time they traveled to the Northern Territory, especially beyond the Great Wall, it would be an asset.

Moreover, the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion did indeed require many ores and materials only available in the Northern Territory.

Instead of letting middlemen profit, it was better for the two entities to do business directly.

Having discussed the basic details with Zhang Ze and reminding him not to halt updates on his writings, Bai Tao left the place, which was yesterday's Demon-slaying Bureau and today's Yulin Guard, and headed towards the city's branch of the trading company.

Watching Bai Tao leave through the window, Zhang Ze turned around to see Hui Xue wagging its tail at him.

"What is it this time?" Zhang Ze asked.

"Old Wei said there's something he'd like to discuss with your Sword Sect."

According to Hui Xue, Wei Changsheng wanted to send Hui Xue and the others to the Sword Hall of the Sword Sect in batches for training.

To learn from the Sword Sect's excellent practices so that if trouble arose again, they wouldn't be as disorganized as this time.

This was something Zhang Ze couldn't decide; he needed to discuss it with the Pavilion Master before anything could be done, so he could only agree tentatively, saying he'd have Bai Tao relay the result.

"Alright! I'll go tell Old Wei now."

Watching Hui Xue's joyous silhouette disappear, Zhang Ze thought it definitely just wanted a public trip to play at Cyan Thorn.

Having been delayed by Bai Tao for some time, it was afternoon by the time Zhang Ze met up with his junior sister again.

Chen Qin stood by the flying ship, waving at Zhang Ze.

"Let's go, Senior Brother, let's go home."

...

Qiu Jidan needed to concoct stories, and Lin Feng had to perform his role thoroughly; the two of them, as undercover agents with conflicting identities, needed to stay in Wangyang City for a few more days.

Now, on Chen Qin's personal flying ship, besides them, only Li and Dan Dan were aboard.

Li was munching on a piece of melon, while Dan Dan wandered around the ship, examining the various functional arrays.

After a night, the flying ship landed in the back mountain of the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion.

Lily had been waiting with her people for quite a while, and as soon as Dan Dan got off the ship, Lily and the others warmly ushered him away.

Being treated like an expert, Dan Dan was rather pleased.

"Senior brother, take me for a walk in Thousand Mechanism Town," Chen Qin said, grabbing Zhang Ze's hand.

"Alright, let's go to the morning market in Thousand Mechanism Town," Zhang Ze replied.

Both held hands, laughing as they descended from the mountain. Then, just as they reached the main gate of Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, they simultaneously stopped in their tracks, released hands, and turned around together.

"You two, stop right there." Sect Leader Chen Qianhu's voice came from behind them.