The next day, the Jade Emperor convened his ministers in the Lingxiao Palace, highly satisfied with the previous day's battle, even personally commending Erlang Shen and Nezha on the spot. As for the injuries sustained by the True Martial Emperor, the Jade Emperor immediately ordered the four divine physicians of the Heavenly Medical Bureau—Hua Tuo, Bian Que, Sun Simiao, and Zhang Zhongjing—to hold a joint consultation at the True Martial Hall, sparing no expense in providing countless celestial treasures and instructing them to ensure the True Martial Emperor's severed arm was healed.
After the court session ended, Jiang Yuan returned to his Criminal Investigation Office and began handling the backlog of cases from the past few days. To his astonishment, he spotted a name in the suspect list that thrilled him: Earth Demon Star Li Yue. Glancing at the crimes committed by Li Yue, Jiang Yuan was taken aback! The case file read: "During the border conflict between immortals and demons, the Earth Demon Star secretly colluded with the demons, stealing the defense map of Yimu City and offering it to the demons in exchange for a large number of treasures." Jiang Yuan exclaimed in shock after reading it! Without a second thought, he dipped his brush in cinnabar and wrote a verdict: "Guilty of treason, sentenced to death, and all personal property confiscated!"
Ordering his subordinates to rush the verdict for Li Yue to the Ministry of Justice for approval, Jiang Yuan personally led a team to escort him to the Execution Platform for beheading. Soon, the Ministry of Justice's approval arrived at the platform. Neither the celestial nor Buddhist realms tolerated traitors, so the ministry raised no objections to Jiang Yuan's judgment and immediately approved it. With a "crack," the Earth Demon Star's head was severed, and his treasure pouch naturally fell into Jiang Yuan's hands.
Back at the Criminal Investigation Office, Jiang Yuan retrieved the Earthly Demon Star Earrings from Li Yue's pouch, secretly pocketing them, while the rest was handed over to the Jade Emperor as required.
[Super Mythical Equipment: Earthly Demon Star Earrings] Earthly Demon Star Set Accessories: 1/4 Level: 110 Required Realm: Ascension Class Requirement: None HP + Magic Attack +5000 Spirit +150 Magic Critical Rate +20% Magic Critical Damage +50% Casting Speed +10%
After reviewing the earrings' attributes, Jiang Yuan happily equipped them and continued handling a few minor cases. Once those were done, the Jade Emperor sent a reward and a message praising Jiang Yuan for his excellent work as a criminal investigator, urging him to keep it up for future promotions. Opening the gift box, Jiang Yuan found 500 celestial crystals, 20 drops of True Dragon Sacred Blood, 500 Victory Stones, 50 Thousand-Hua Dragon Tendons, and 500 Heavenly Battle Jades. Delighted, he thought, "What a lucky day—I've made a small fortune!"
After finishing his duties and collecting his golden elixir, Jiang Yuan immediately flew his sword back to the Eternal Life Immortal Sect. First, he returned to his residence to see Beiluo Shimen, whom he hadn't visited in a while, playing with him for a bit. Realizing it wasn't good to keep him cooped up, and since Beiluo's injuries had long healed, he decided to keep the cat by his side from now on.
"Meow! Master, you should've let me out ages ago! I was suffocating in that boring room of yours!" Beiluo Shimen, finally seeing the light of day, sniffed the fresh spiritual energy outdoors and complained indignantly, clearly upset about being confined for nearly half a month.
"Sorry, little Beiluo. From now on, wherever I go, you'll come with me, okay?" Jiang Yuan patted Beiluo's head with a smile.
"That's more like it! Meow!" Beiluo nodded, licked Jiang Yuan's palm with his pink tongue, and habitually jumped onto his shoulder.
Bringing Beiluo to the functional area, Jiang Yuan found the celestial blacksmith NPC and handed over the 20 drops of True Dragon Sacred Blood from the Jade Emperor's reward, asking the blacksmith to upgrade his artifact, the [Demon-Subduing Ruler]. True Dragon Sacred Blood was far more valuable than Heavenly Dragon Demon Blood—one drop could boost artifact experience by 5,500 points, and Jiang Yuan had a full 20 drops! Soon, the blacksmith completed the artifact's energy gathering, and the result showed a massive level increase!
[Artifact: Demon-Subduing Ruler] Owner: Jiang Yuan Required Level: 105 Required Realm: Ascension Quality: Immortal Grade Current Artifact Level: 27 Max Artifact Energy: 1026 Current Artifact Growth: 0% Attack: 317-909 HP +5398 MP +4620 Fire Resistance +185 Ice Resistance +185 Light Resistance +185 Dark Resistance +185 [Artifact Skill: Demon-Subduing Strike Level 3] Adds 115% of the user's base attack power; 60% chance to trigger "Demon-Subduing Strike" on attack, instantly killing the enemy. [Artifact Class Skills] Nine Spirits Summon: Dragon Beard Tiger +1 Arcane Mark +1 Summon Beast Enhancement +1 Sacred Beast Summon: Vermilion Bird +1
Delighted with the artifact, Jiang Yuan equipped it and headed to the sect's trial envoy with Beiluo to start the daily golden elixir quest. Along the way, he chatted with Beiluo, no longer feeling lonely.
"Beiluo, you've been in the celestial realm for a few thousand years, right?" Jiang Yuan asked.
"Meow! Let me count, master, hold on." Beiluo extended his two cat paws, staring at them with his sapphire-like eyes for a long time, then said, "Meow! Almost ten thousand years!"
"That long? How did you first come to the celestial realm?" Jiang Yuan asked curiously.
"Master, that's a long story! My ancestors were originally part of the demon race. Back then, the Heavenly Court was ruled by Emperor Jun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi. Our Void Cloud Shadow Cat clan was under the jurisdiction of the Spirit Masters. Later, during the second War of Wu and Yao, the demon race declined, and the Spirit Masters were nearly wiped out. My ancestors wandered the celestial realm, fleeing from the Wu clan's pursuit. It wasn't until Emperor Gouchen took charge of all demons that our clan could thrive again until now, meow!" Beiluo explained.
Jiang Yuan immediately latched onto the key term "Spirit Masters" and asked, "Were the Spirit Masters very powerful? What do you know about them?"
"I wasn't born back then! But from what the elders in the clan said, Spirit Masters were incredibly strong—they could control demons, beasts, immortals, and ghosts, specifically to counter the Wu clan's necromancers. Unfortunately, after the War of Wu and Yao, the Spirit Masters and necromancers nearly annihilated each other, with very few survivors, meow!" Beiluo said, then tilted his head to groom his fur.
"Beiluo, do you think I could become a Spirit Master?" Jiang Yuan cautiously probed.
"Master, you can communicate smoothly with our demon race, which is very similar to the Spirit Masters' unique ability. But they're almost extinct. Otherwise, I'd hope you could become one—then I'd get a lot stronger too!" Beiluo replied, and Jiang Yuan's heart burned with excitement!