"This kid! To possess such powerful soul force!" Li Qianren was utterly shocked.
Even with his typically expressionless face, he couldn't help but show emotion - Gu Qingfeng had actually cured his facial paralysis.
If Li Qianren was this affected, the other Earth-rank Demon Eliminators were even more astounded. They felt their entire worldview being challenged.
Only at Qi Gathering Realm level four, yet possessing soul force comparable to a Grandmaster!? What kind of monster was this?
Could there really be someone with such powerful innate soul talent in this world?
The soul force standoff between Gu Qingfeng and Li Qianren lasted for a moment before both simultaneously withdrew like receding tides, as if by prior agreement.
After all, Li Qianren was only testing him, not engaging in actual combat.
Besides, if they hadn't withdrawn, someone in this room might have died.
Wang Fatty and Xu Daizi had already passed out with their eyes rolled back, their souls unable to bear the pressure. If exposed to such intense pressure for too long, their souls might have collapsed completely.
After withdrawing his soul force, Li Qianren stared intently at Gu Qingfeng, remaining silent for a long while.
The room fell into a deathly silence.
After what seemed like an eternity, Li Qianren finally spoke: "Your soul force is no weaker than mine, and your aura is balanced and righteous, without a trace of demonic energy. It seems you weren't lying."
Li Qianren's words served as the final verdict on this matter.
The Earth-rank Demon Eliminators nearby were stunned for a moment before regaining their composure. Some began showing expressions of joy: "Since Gu Qingfeng wasn't lying, we can report this tremendous achievement to the imperial court! Our Wutong Prefecture Demon Suppression Bureau can finally hold its head high among our peers!"
Another Earth-rank Demon Eliminator chimed in: "And that's not all! Besides the mirror demon incident, who would have thought our bureau would produce such a genius? We've heard of naturally gifted individuals whose soul force far exceeds normal people, but even among those geniuses, no one has ever been comparable to a Grandmaster. Our bureau has truly struck gold this time!"
The other Earth-rank Demon Eliminators nodded in agreement, their gazes toward Gu Qingfeng softening.
Who wouldn't like a subordinate who was righteous, brave, dedicated, and exceptionally talented?
It was mainly thanks to Wang Fatty's earlier praise that had given these Earth-rank Demon Eliminators a favorable first impression of Gu Qingfeng's character.
Gu Qingfeng himself breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself: "You old fellows sure change your tune quickly."
However, he didn't blame them, as they were just doing their duty.
"Since everything has been confirmed, let's discuss the rewards," Li Qianren said concisely.
Gu Qingfeng looked at Li Qianren expectantly, wondering what benefits he would receive.
After pondering for a moment, Li Qianren announced: "Promotion by one rank, one thousand gold taels, and one million merit points."
Upon hearing this, the Earth-rank Demon Eliminators nearby couldn't help but draw in sharp breaths.
These rewards were incredibly generous!
The promotion and thousand gold taels were reasonable enough, but one million merit points made even the Earth-rank Demon Eliminators envious.
One million merit points!
Merit points could be considered the internal currency of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau, accepted at all branches. They were normally earned through completing missions and eliminating demons, and could be exchanged for desired resources at the bureau's Contribution Hall.
As an official institution backed by the Great Yan Dynasty, the Demon Suppression Bureau had extremely rich resources covering the entire nation. They had virtually everything one could think of.
If you couldn't find what you wanted at the Wutong Prefecture branch, no problem - as long as you had merit points, you could even requisition resources from the bureau's headquarters. Even items not available to the public or impossible to buy with money could be exchanged for merit points.
In simple terms, merit points were more valuable than money.
And one million merit points was an astronomical figure.
Killing a demon at the Innate Realm would earn you one hundred thousand merit points, so one million points was equivalent to killing ten Innate Realm demons - its value was unimaginable.
Such generous rewards made Gu Qingfeng almost think he had misheard.
A promotion by one rank! That meant he would become a Dark-rank Demon Eliminator!
He had only been a Yellow-rank Demon Eliminator for a few days, and now he was already being promoted? This was faster than riding a rocket!
A thousand gold taels! That's equivalent to ten thousand silver taels! This was more money than he could earn in a lifetime on salary alone.
Of course, the most valuable reward was the one million merit points! This was priceless - even an Earth-rank Demon Eliminator wouldn't have this many merit points.
Gu Qingfeng never imagined that the mirror demon he had dealt with so easily would be worth so much!
One mirror demon was worth the same as ten Innate Realm demons.
It wasn't until this moment that Gu Qingfeng realized just how formidable and valuable the Seven Demon Marshals were! He wondered if any others were still alive.
In fact, each of the Seven Demon Marshals was among the elite of Grandmaster level, each with records of killing Grandmasters. Especially the mirror demon with its bizarre abilities - it had killed no fewer than ten Grandmasters, showing just how terrifying it was.
Ordinary Grandmasters would meet their doom when encountering the mirror demon. Only a cheat like Gu Qingfeng could kill it as easily as slaughtering a chicken.
At this point, Gu Qingfeng was almost laughing out loud, but then Li Qianren added another statement that made him even more ecstatic.
"Gu Qingfeng, these are just the internal rewards from the Demon Suppression Bureau. Once we report to the imperial court, they will surely bestow additional rewards."
Holy crap! There's more!?
Gu Qingfeng suddenly felt like he had won the lottery.
Seven Demon Marshals! Where the hell are the rest of the Seven Demon Marshals hiding? Come out right now!
After being excited for quite a while, Gu Qingfeng finally came to his senses and hurriedly said: "This subordinate thanks Lord Li."
"You've earned it," Li Qianren said calmly.
At this moment, someone suddenly interjected: "Lord Li, I have no objections to the promotion and thousand gold taels, but isn't one million merit points too much? Gu Qingfeng is only at Qi Gathering Realm level four - he won't even be able to use that many merit points."
Damn it!
Gu Qingfeng immediately glared at the Earth-rank Demon Eliminator who had spoken.
In his heart, he thought, "Whether I can use them all or not is none of your business!"
Li Qianren gave that person a cold look: "If you can kill a demon of the Seven Demon Marshals' caliber, your reward would be even greater than Gu Qingfeng's."
The person immediately broke out in a cold sweat and dared not speak further.
As for killing a demon of the Seven Demon Marshals' caliber? That was a joke - he wasn't even a Grandmaster. Just surviving an encounter would be considered lucky.
His words were mainly driven by jealousy. How could he feel balanced when a Qi Gathering Realm level four Demon Eliminator received so many merit points while he, a Tough Qi Realm expert, didn't even have a hundred thousand?
In his view, Gu Qingfeng had just gotten lucky, happening to counter the mirror demon's abilities.
Although this youth had talent in external techniques and soul force, so what? At his age, only being at Qi Gathering Realm level four was practically worthless. In martial arts cultivation, developing Qi was paramount. Without advancing in realm, other talents were ultimately meaningless.
No matter how strong his external techniques were, they couldn't compare to Tough Qi protection.
No matter how strong his soul force was, at most it could only affect reality by breaking a few floor tiles.
With such trash aptitude, even with the help of pills, he would probably never advance beyond the Internal Qi Realm in this lifetime.