Chapter 159: Senior Advisor

When he first received the news, Elder Situ was terribly frightened. The message he got was that the Nangong Family had run into massive trouble. The Nangong Family, as one of the four great families, possessed extremely formidable strength, and their head was a martial artist himself. For them to issue a distress signal meant the situation had become grave indeed.

Elder Situ hurriedly contacted Yanfei, and they rushed to the Nangong Family together, preparing themselves for the worst along the way.

To his surprise, however, the moment they stepped through the door, they saw that Ling Tian had already resolved the matter. Not only did they not have to exert any effort, but they were also about to reap a massive merit for free—it was literally a pie falling from the sky. The Evil Master was an S-rank criminal; capturing him was undoubtedly a monumental achievement.

"My brother, you have rendered a great service. I don't even know how to thank you," Elder Situ said excitedly. As a retired veteran, Elder Situ cared little for official rewards; what made him happiest was that eliminating the Evil Master reduced the harm done to innocent people. Otherwise, as long as the Evil Master remained at large, he would not be able to sleep peacefully for a single day.

Ling Tian smiled and said, "It was just a small effort, hardly worth mentioning as a great service. By the way, I have already crippled this man's evil arts, so you can take him away now. However, I hope you will be careful on the road; this person is full of tricks, so make sure nothing goes wrong." Although Ling Tian had disabled the Evil Master's techniques, he was concerned that the man might still have accomplices. If they were intercepted along the way, it would spell trouble.

Elder Situ laughed and said, "Don't worry, I will personally escort him this time. But there is a matter I would like to trouble you with. Yanfei understands this best, so I'll let him explain." With that, Elder Situ beckoned to Yanfei.

Ever rigorous by nature, Yanfei maintained his usual expressionless demeanor as he said, "The Evil Master cultivated unorthodox and crooked arts, making him poor at close combat. Therefore, when accepting assassination missions, he generally chose to travel with a partner—a martial arts practitioner skilled in close-quarters combat. Since we have only captured the Evil Master and not yet his accomplice, I hope Young Master Ling can assist us in capturing the Evil Master's partner."

An accomplice? Ling Tian had harbored this worry in his heart for a while, but he had not expected it to come true. The Evil Master actually had an accomplice, and judging by the expressions of Elder Situ and Yanfei, the accomplice's strength was clearly not weak—at the very least, they were a headache-inducing expert.

Suddenly, Ling Tian thought of someone, because that person's aura bore a strong resemblance to the Evil Master's.

"My brother, we really have to trouble you with this. As you should understand, the Security Bureau is a specialized department for dealing with extraordinary incidents, and its strength is formidable. However, the country is simply too vast, which means the bureau's forces are spread very thin across the entire nation. The forces in Yunhai City are particularly weak; with our current strength, it would be difficult to locate the Evil Master's accomplice in a short time, and even if we found them, we might not be able to capture them."

At this point, Elder Situ looked somewhat helpless. The Security Bureau was indeed powerful with a large headcount, but once dispersed across various cities, the numbers in each place became extremely scarce. After all, the country was just too vast.

Ling Tian nodded and said, "No problem, I will help you. However, I will need you to provide sufficient intelligence."

Seeing Ling Tian readily agree, Elder Situ said gratefully, "My brother, I truly don't know how to thank you."

"Brother, I didn't expect you to be a member of the Security Bureau. Judging by your status, you must be the head of the Yunhai City branch, right? And Yanfei is intended to be your successor. Am I right?" Ling Tian asked with a faint smile.

Elder Situ chuckled. "You guessed correctly. By the way, brother, would you be interested in joining us? I believe that with your participation, the strength of the Yunhai City Security Bureau would rise by several tiers instantly." In truth, the very first time he met Ling Tian, Elder Situ had wanted to recruit him, but he had simply lacked the right opportunity. Today, the old man could finally hold back no longer and issued the invitation.

Many martial arts experts chose to live in seclusion and cultivate, rarely interacting with the state except under special circumstances.

This resulted in a severe shortage of strength within the Security Bureau. Even though the bureau had established specially trained departments over the past dozen years to independently cultivate martial artists, it still failed to resolve the manpower shortage, particularly the acute lack of top-tier experts.

Yanfei also gazed at Ling Tian with expectant eyes. As Elder Situ's successor, Yanfei bore a heavy burden; the strength of his subordinates currently varied wildly, and he desperately needed an expert like Ling Tian to hold down the fort.

Ling Tian frowned slightly. Having always cherished freedom and unconstraint, he certainly did not wish to be tied down. Truth be told, the organization Ling Tian had previously belonged to was similar in nature to the Security Bureau, except that it specialized in dealing with overseas hostile forces—and his former organization operated with an even greater level of secrecy.

"I'm sorry, I don't wish to be bound by restrictions." Ling Tian shook his head decisively, rejecting Elder Situ's invitation.

A look of disappointment crossed Elder Situ's face as he said helplessly, "My brother, I genuinely hope you can join the Security Bureau. Going anywhere else would be a waste of your talent; only a grand stage like the Security Bureau can allow an expert like you to fully display your abilities. Won't you reconsider?"

Ling Tian shook his head once more and replied, "Brother, the path I walk is different from yours, and different from other cultivators as well."

"Could it be that you're worried about losing your freedom?" Elder Situ countered. Experienced and shrewd, the old man suddenly thought of a brilliant idea.

Ling Tian nodded. "That's right."

Elder Situ slapped his thigh and said excitedly, "That makes it easy! I'll contact superiors immediately and apply for the position of Senior Advisor of the Security Bureau for you. You won't be required to take on regular missions; whenever you have free time, just drop by the bureau to give some guidance and pointers. Of course, if we encounter particularly difficult problems, we would still need your help. How does that sound?"

Fearing that Ling Tian would refuse again, Yanfei hurriedly chimed in, "Young Master Ling, this way you can enjoy complete freedom while only holding an honorary title at the bureau. With your help, my own strength has already improved, and I can easily handle ordinary missions, so you will practically never have to go out on field operations."

To retain Ling Tian, Elder Situ and Yanfei had practically worn out their tongues, yet they continued to persuade him without pause. To the two of them, having Ling Tian join meant the Yunhai City Security Bureau would finally possess an invincible guardian deity.

"You captured an S-rank target with your own hands; based on this feat alone, the senior leadership of the Security Bureau will grant you this privilege," Elder Situ continued to urge.

Ling Tian felt that Elder Situ's proposal was reasonable. Since it was merely an honorary position requiring no mandatory missions, having this status would also make it much more convenient for him to handle matters in the future. The Security Bureau wielded massive privileges, and the rank of Senior Advisor carried even greater authority.

After a moment of consideration, beneath the expectant gazes of Elder Situ and Yanfei, Ling Tian nodded and said, "I accept your request."

"Splendid! Here is your identification credential." Like a magician, Elder Situ produced a small red booklet from his chest pocket. The cover bore a golden national emblem with the three characters "Security Bureau" inscribed below it. Inside were Ling Tian's photograph, personal credentials, and right in the center, an embedded identification chip...

Ling Tian could not help a wry smile. Elder Situ was truly as crafty as an old fox; he had obviously prepared the documents long in advance, simply waiting for Ling Tian to take the bait. What baffled Ling Tian the most was when the old man had even managed to take his photograph. Stowing away the credentials, Ling Tian smiled and said, "Brother, you old fox are practically a spirit by now. You were plotting against me all along."

Elder Situ laughed sheepishly and said, "There was no help for it; you're just too mysterious. If I hadn't used some extraordinary methods, you certainly wouldn't have agreed. As you should know, the threshold for the Security Bureau is extremely high, and ordinary people cannot simply enter. Coupled with the fact that genuine martial arts families and sects choose to live in seclusion, the number of Security Bureau members has always remained small. So when we finally stumble upon someone like you, we have to drag them into the bureau even if it talks our mouths dry."

Ling Tian was utterly speechless at the old man's antics, but out of curiosity, he asked, "Is the rank of Senior Advisor in the Security Bureau very high?"

Elder Situ nodded and said, "The rank is above mine. Currently, there are only thirty-some Senior Advisors in the entire Security Bureau, and most of them are grey-haired old men past fifty. You are by far the youngest one."

The structure of the Security Bureau was massive—so massive it was somewhat frightening. Ling Tian had not expected to become one of only thirty-odd Senior Advisors. It seemed the Security Bureau had truly spared no expense to recruit him. "Brother, do you possess such high authority? You were able to secure the position of Senior Advisor for me just like that?" Ling Tian asked.

Elder Situ chuckled. "Being able to craft spiritual talismans and help Yanfei break through a bottleneck that had stumped him for years proves you are fully qualified for the post. Of course, what we value most is your potential. You are only in your twenties; your future achievements will undoubtedly surpass all of us." There was one thing Elder Situ left unsaid: the Security Bureau assumed that someone as formidable as Ling Tian must be the scion of some hidden family or major sect. Once Ling Tian entered the bureau, it meant the powerful forces behind him would implicitly become entangled with the Security Bureau as well.

This would indirectly enhance the overall strength of the Security Bureau.

If they knew Ling Tian was merely a solitary individual with no backing, heaven knows if they would cry their eyes out.

"My brother, you are currently an ultra-high-potential stock. If we didn't invite you now, once you achieve even greater greatness, we wouldn't be able to afford your price," Elder Situ laughed heartily. Today was truly a day of double blessings: Ling Tian had joined the bureau, and the Evil Master had been captured.

Yanfei immediately snapped a military salute to Ling Tian and said, "Yanfei greets the Chief."

Ling Tian returned the salute. Ever since he had left the Thunder Squad, this was the first time he had returned a military salute, and it felt remarkably refreshing.

"Before you take the Evil Master away, I need to retrieve something from him." Turning back to look at the Evil Master, Ling Tian reached out and grabbed the man's shoulder. Having had his evil arts crippled, the Evil Master had lost his formidable spiritual power and could no longer block Ling Tian's spiritual sense. Just as Ling Tian was about to use his spiritual sense to probe, a miserable smile appeared at the corner of the Evil Master's mouth.

[Author's Note: Who could the Evil Master's accomplice be? No prizes for guessing correctly. Haha~~]