Though difficult, life must go on. Gu Yuan sighed softly and tidied up his home.
After tidying up the house, Gu Yuan closed the door and headed to the Demon Suppressing Division. There was no point in staying home without resources.
He needed to hurry to the Demon Suppressing Division to participate in missions.
Gu Yuan jogged all the way to the Demon Suppressing Division. As soon as he entered, he saw Lu Yi standing not far from the entrance.
Upon seeing Gu Yuan, Lu Yi quickly ran over, waving and calling out to him.
From his demeanor, it was clear he was waiting for Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuan guessed that Lu Yi probably knew he had come to the Demon Suppressing Division in the morning to claim his resources. Being able to claim resources proved that his blood qi compression was complete and he was ready for missions.
Lu Yi arrived beside Gu Yuan, patted him on the shoulder, and asked with a smile, "How do you feel?"
Gu Yuan knew Lu Yi was asking about the feeling after compressing blood qi. Jiang Yuyang had mentioned before that only Demon Suppressing Envoys and the imperial family knew about blood qi compression; no other factions did.
Even low-ranking Demon Suppressing Envoys in the Demon Suppressing Division were not privy to this information, so it was best not to discuss it outside.
"Not bad. My strength has at least doubled," Gu Yuan replied with a smile.
"Hiss, you brat, your strength increased so outrageously. Mine only increased by about eighty percent back then," Lu Yi gasped, marveling at Gu Yuan's incredible progress.
Gu Yuan looked at Lu Yi with surprise. He hadn't expected the strength increase from blood qi compression to vary.
Lu Yi seemed to sense Gu Yuan's confusion and explained with a smile, "This depends on individual talent. The better your talent, the more strength you gain. It seems your talent is truly amazing!"
He then gave Gu Yuan a thumbs-up.
Gu Yuan chuckled. He didn't take Lu Yi's praise to heart. Some things were better heard than acknowledged; a smile and silence were enough.
"This time, I'll show you the mission retrieval location for patrolling Demon Suppressing Envoys," Lu Yi changed the subject, a mysterious smile on his face.
"Huh? The mission retrieval location for patrolling Demon Suppressing Envoys? Isn't it in the mission hall?" Gu Yuan was confused. Had he not been to the right place to get missions before?
"The mission hall is just a small branch. The missions available there are those that have been weeded out from the patrolling Demon Suppressing Envoys' exclusive retrieval location," Lu Yi explained with a smile.
"Oh~ I see." Gu Yuan suddenly understood. The process of taking on missions was so convoluted.
"Isn't it amazing? Hehe, I had the same reaction as you when I first found out," Lu Yi rubbed his head and chuckled.
"Let's go. The two captains are waiting for you. I'll tell you more about other matters in the Demon Suppressing Division when we get back," Lu Yi suddenly seemed to remember someone was waiting for Gu Yuan and changed his expression. He then led Gu Yuan towards the patrolling Demon Suppressing Envoys' mission retrieval location deep within the Demon Suppressing Division.
Hearing Lu Yi's words, Gu Yuan knew that the two captains were likely waiting for him.
It seemed he would be busy from now on, Gu Yuan mused.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the depths of the Demon Suppressing Division.
A three-story building appeared before Gu Yuan. It had no markings on its exterior. Only the main entrance was open, and a sparse number of Demon Suppressing Envoys were entering and exiting.
Lu Yi pointed to the building and explained to Gu Yuan, "This is where patrolling Demon Suppressing Envoys retrieve missions. Let's go, I'll take you inside. The captains are waiting for us."
The two approached the entrance of the three-story building, where a man in black stood and blocked their path.
Lu Yi then took out his token and showed it to the man in black.
Seeing this, Gu Yuan also presented his token. After examining both tokens, the man in black let them enter.
Upon entering, Gu Yuan noticed that the layout of the first floor of the three-story building was similar to the mission hall.
"Only patrolling Demon Suppressing Envoys are allowed here. Every Demon Suppressing Envoy needs to show their token here to prevent ordinary Demon Suppressing Envoys from mistakenly entering. After all, some of the missions here are classified," Lu Yi explained Gu Yuan the special status of patrolling Demon Suppressing Envoys. Gu Yuan nodded in understanding.
"Let's go, we're going to the second floor. The two captains are waiting for you on the second floor," Lu Yi said, waiting for Gu Yuan to finish observing his surroundings before speaking again.
Gu Yuan nodded. He wasn't surprised that the two captains were waiting for him.
They went upstairs together, and Lu Yi led Gu Yuan to the front of a room.
He pointed to the door and said with a smile, "You go ahead. The two captains are waiting for you inside. I have some other matters to attend to, so I'll be going now."
Gu Yuan smiled, nodded in thanks, and watched Lu Yi's retreating figure.
Then, he reached out and knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock!
Guan Ye's voice came from inside, "Come in!"
Gu Yuan pushed the door open. As soon as he entered, he saw Guan Ye and Cui Hua sitting opposite each other at two tables.
Hearing the door open, Guan Ye and Cui Hua both turned their heads towards the entrance. Seeing that it was Gu Yuan, smiles appeared on both their faces.
Guan Ye quickly stood up and warmly welcomed Gu Yuan, saying, "Gu Yuan, you're finally here."
A smile appeared on Gu Yuan's face. "I've been seizing every moment these past few days to compress my blood qi. By last night, I finally completed the compression of all my blood qi."
Guan Ye's eyes showed admiration upon hearing Gu Yuan's words. He exclaimed, "You brat, you're truly capable! You finished compressing your blood qi in less than a month. Back then, all of us took more than a month."
Cui Hua also came up to Gu Yuan and asked with curiosity, "So, how much strength did you gain from compressing your blood qi?"
Gu Yuan answered honestly, "It's more than double, I think. I'm not sure, as I haven't been tested."
"Good heavens, you brat, you're really impressive! Such talent, I, old Cui, am convinced," Cui Hua exclaimed, once again astonished by Gu Yuan's formidable talent.
"Alas, back then, after compressing blood qi, I gained ninety percent more strength, and Guan Ye gained a little over ninety percent. You're much stronger than us."
Hearing Cui Hua's words, Guan Ye also wore a helpless expression. Indeed, Gu Yuan's talent was quite discouraging.
Gu Yuan just smiled at their reactions.
After chatting for a while longer, Guan Ye pulled Gu Yuan to retrieve a mission. They had a bet earlier, and Guan Ye had won, so Gu Yuan's first mission would be under Guan Ye.
The mission retrieval process involved each of them leading a team, and each team had assigned missions. Gu Yuan would then select missions he could complete from these assignments.
There were also some more dangerous missions that required a large number of personnel, in which case Guan Ye and Cui Hua would lead their teams to complete them.