In the southern district of the Seventh Satellite City, beneath an overpass, lay a lively night-market street.
At the mouth of the street, several storefronts crowded together: on the left, a funeral-supplies shop called "Come Again"; on the right, the century-old "Old Soldier BBQ."
In the middle, with the narrowest frontage of the three, stood the Yue Cultivation Agency.
So when Yue Wen claimed he could offer one-stop service, it was no lie — after all, his neighbor was in the funeral business.
He had connections.
Manager Chen, for his part, hadn't been badly hurt — just a scare, plus a bump from his fall. The doctor said a few days of rest at home would set him right. After seeing Manager Chen home, Yue Wen returned to the agency as well.
He pulled open the door and was met by a smell both mouthwatering and funky.
Inside was a space that could hardly be called spacious: a wrinkled leather sofa, a cluttered coffee table, and a computer desk buried in junk — such was the reception room of the Yue Cultivation Agency.
A stairway led upstairs, and on the ground floor there were two more doors, one the washroom and one the storeroom.
Yue Wen had opened this agency not long ago. From principal down to clerk, he was the entire staff; business was thin and fees low, so naturally he couldn't afford a proper storefront.
Right now, on the sofa, sat a woman in a black skirt suit. She looked to be about thirty, black hair loose about her shoulders, skin fair and delicate, features bright and striking. Tall, she reclined at a slight angle, the curves of her waist and hips standing out, her legs long and full.
She had the kind of aura that would get half the internet calling her "mommy."
This elegant woman was at the moment hunched over a tray, eating for her life. On it were a few lamb skewers, two big skewers of grilled kidney, and several cloves of garlic.
These were also the source of the smell in the room.
"True Person Zhiguang?" Yue Wen said, mildly surprised at the uninvited figure. "What brings you here?"
This was no ordinary person.
True Person Zhiguang was deputy director of the Seventh Satellite City's Supernatural Management Bureau, a figure of the very highest standing in the city. She was said to hail from a top-tier immortal sect, with cultivation beyond fathoming.
She spent the whole year in secluded cultivation; those who walked abroad were avatars of hers — and the one before him was surely one as well.
"Mm." True Person Zhiguang waved a hand without looking up. Only after finishing every skewer on the tray did she wipe her mouth, put her icy, aloof face back on, and look at Yue Wen. "I came today to discuss something with you."
"Please, have a drink." Yue Wen dug a bottle of yogurt out of a drawer and handed it over, asking with a smile, "Did my business license come through?"
True Person Zhiguang picked up the yogurt, saw the label read photinia-flavored, and silently set it aside. Then she shook her head. "No. Your license application was rejected."
"Why?" Yue Wen asked quickly.
Without a license, his agency wasn't legal — meaning that, strictly speaking, what he had just done counted as taking an illegal job and exorcising without a permit.
"I'm sure you've never read the Bureau's regulations carefully. For a civilian agency to handle evil-entity incidents, there must be at least two cultivators on site," True Person Zhiguang said. "We can't stop you from taking private jobs. But if you want to run an official agency, then of course you have to meet the requirements."
"Ah." Yue Wen smacked his forehead, a headache coming on.
If that was the rule, he would have to hire at least one assistant.
This was not a post you could fill with any drudge fresh out of college — any actual cultivator's monthly wage would not come cheap.
The agency, hardly flush to begin with, was about to be dealt another blow.
"But I didn't come about that today. There's something else I need to tell you," True Person Zhiguang said, changing tack.
"Oh?" said Yue Wen. "What is it?"
"It concerns your parents."
At that, Yue Wen straightened up a little, his expression turning serious.
"Three years ago, right after you finished the college entrance exam — you scored in the province's top five, didn't you?" True Person Zhiguang said.
"There was a lot going on at home around then. I did underperform," Yue Wen said.
True Person Zhiguang was silent for a beat, then decided his humblebragging wasn't worth engaging with. "It was during a trip with your whole family that you ran into a spatial rift and an evil entity descended. In that sudden incident you were gravely injured and lay comatose for half a year, and both your parents vanished. Correct?"
"Yes." Hearing her recite his own history, Yue Wen nodded.
Then True Person Zhiguang asked abruptly, "Do you want to find them?"
"Of course I do. It's just…" Yue Wen answered without hesitation, then stopped himself.
True Person Zhiguang said, "As it happens, the Bureau holds some intelligence about your parents. That incident was very likely no ordinary spatial rift — it was connected to a research subject your father had long been pursuing."
"What subject?" For once, Yue Wen's eyes were no longer calm.
"I can't tell you more — it involves classified intelligence. Unless…" True Person Zhiguang paused, finally coming to her point, "you join the Bureau."
…
"Me?" Yue Wen was taken aback. "Join the Bureau?"
That he had genuinely not expected — she had come this time to recruit him.
"That's right." True Person Zhiguang glanced around the room. "Only by entering the Bureau and raising your clearance can you access classified files. Naturally I can't promise you'll find them once you've read them — but the more you know, the more of a chance you may have. Besides, you're already handling evil-entity incidents either way. Better to join us than strike out on your own, no?"
Yue Wen gave a noncommittal smile. "Is the pay good?"
"A permanent official post. Six insurances and two funds."
"It really is tempting," Yue Wen admitted, with a trace of apology. "It's just that I've grown used to doing as I please — I'm afraid I wouldn't fit in at the Bureau. My sincerest apologies. You've come down here in person, True Person Zhiguang, and I'm being so unappreciative."
"Ordinarily, I would of course never have sought you out myself." True Person Zhiguang looked at him and went on. "But the Youth Cultivation Assembly opens in under a year, and this cycle Jiangcheng City has produced no seed competitors with any real edge. The higher-ups have handed us a hard quota: go out and actively recruit young cultivation talent."
"Talent?" Yue Wen scratched his head and laughed. "I wouldn't dare claim that."
The Youth Cultivation Assembly's full name was the Assembly of Young Cultivators, also called the Rising Dragon Assembly.
This grand gathering, held once every four years, was open to any cultivator no older than twenty-five, staged specifically to select the human race's most heaven-favored talents for concentrated training. Whoever performed well there could become famous overnight and win countless admirers.
But it had always been a stage for true prodigies.
He was just a rogue cultivator hoping to run a small agency. He had never once fantasized about showing his face at the Assembly.
"You cultivated your way to your current realm in only two and a half years. For a rogue cultivator with no sect and no school, that absolutely deserves to be called genius." True Person Zhiguang's eyes blazed. "But on the road of cultivation, resources and backing are everything. A rogue cultivator's ceiling is ultimately far too low. With the Bureau's focused training, I am confident your talent could be realized far more fully."
"So the Bureau trains me — and then I risk my neck for the Bureau?" Yue Wen refused with the same smile. "I know a thing or two about your casualty rates. I'll just stay head of my own agency, thanks."
"Cultivation has always meant defying heaven. Where in it will you find no danger?" True Person Zhiguang was somewhat disappointed, but still said, "Very well. If you ever change your mind, come find me."
Yue Wen's refusal held firm, and she did not press him. With that, her figure stiffened almost imperceptibly — then, with a pop, she burst into a wisp of green smoke and was gone.
All that remained where she had stood was a single long black hair, faintly fragrant.
"Hoo—"
Only once True Person Zhiguang had been gone a little while did Yue Wen let out that long breath, his whole body easing at last.
Her cultivation towered far above his. Even as a mere avatar, the pressure she let slip so casually had been hard for him to withstand.
Especially since he had lied during that conversation.
The reason he refused to join the Bureau was not fear of danger.
The Bureau's full name was the Supernatural Power Management Bureau, the official organization founded after the spiritual-qi calamity, charged with managing cultivators and handling evil-entity incidents.
In principle, joining them meant a stable backer: you would certainly be put to use, but you would also gain no small amount of support. As True Person Zhiguang had said, its ceiling was surely far higher than a rogue cultivator's.
And she had sounded utterly sincere today. Young cultivators recruited for the Assembly were bound to receive the best training — a pouring-in of resources you could count on.
An opportunity countless people craved and could not get.
But Yue Wen could not join.
Because there were many things about him that no one could ever know.
For one, the excitement just now had been an act. He had long known that his parents' disappearance was bound up with certain secrets.
For another, in those six months of coma, Yue Wen had not been entirely unconscious.
He had seen a dragon.
Chapter 2