Chapter 1一行人在克洛德的带领下向寒冰堡垒深处走去，而在这一路上，克洛德都在说着上次郝仁他们离开之后猎魔人这边的变化。

"...Last month, the demons opened the portal. As agreed, they collectively withdrew from Corpus, very decisively. To be honest, I was a bit surprised; these demons feel more honest and reliable than other races. And when they left, they helped us clean up many battlefields, which made our subsequent reconstruction work much easier," Claude said as he walked. "The temples in Corpus are very solid. The war did not destroy those buildings, so the main facilities of the Holy Land are still intact. However, due to the shutdown of the energy nodes and the bombing of large-scale magic, Corpus is full of residual energy fields and arcane pollution. It is no longer suitable for habitation, and it will take time to clean up those things.

"The Lingjie Zhongta (Spirit Realm Clock Tower) is still closed. After you terminated that evil ritual, the space-time distortion in the tower has recovered, but the tower itself has been in a state of space-time turbulence for a long time. The previous incident completely reset the space-time order of the entire tower. Now there are many mysterious new areas in the tower. For safety reasons, the Council of Elders has announced a temporary ban on ordinary demon hunters from approaching the tower. We have organized some investigation teams to operate inside. The Lingjie Zhongta (Spirit Realm Clock Tower) will not be opened until the new 'map' is drawn.

"In general, things are getting better. The biggest disaster has passed. The biggest problem we face now is the lack of manpower. The Council of Elders has ordered the shrinking of all demon hunter organizations in the Southern Hemisphere and the concentration of manpower in the North: this is where our foundation lies. In addition, some field battle groups have also been reorganized. After the reduction of personnel, eighty percent of the You Lie Zhe (Roving Hunters) have stopped operating. The focus now is on maintaining the status quo. We are considering canceling the You Lie Zhe (Roving Hunter) system, and merging all of them into the Shou Ye Ren (Night Watcher) sequence may be the only option."

Vivian interjected, "That's how it should be—the hunting war is over, and arranging You Lie (Roving Hunters) to go out, are they supposed to hunt rabbits?"

"Uh... You Lie Zhe (Roving Hunter) doesn't mean that... Well, almost," Claude smiled awkwardly. "Times have changed. Times are really going to change."

"Times have changed," Vivian tilted her head slightly. "Have the other races contacted you?"

The expression on Claude's face changed. Obviously, even though the hunting war was over, the habits developed over thousands of years still made a traditional demon hunter feel a bit at a loss about the current situation: "Six days ago, we received a secret letter from the Athens Sanctuary, which was marked with the seal of Elder Mimir..."

"What did the secret letter say?" Hao Ren asked casually.

Claude hesitated for a moment: "This..."

"Just tell me what you were told," Vivian glanced at him. "I have people on both sides. Even if you don't tell me, I can go directly to Athens and ask someone—what's with the coyness in front of me, and trying to keep secrets from me?"

Claude coughed twice, "Ahem, there's actually nothing to keep secret. The letter mentioned a new organization called the Shadow Council. The Council of Elders is considering a direct contact with the other races in the near future... but there is some controversy over the specific meeting location and candidates."

"That's normal. I guess the Athens Sanctuary is also arguing about the same thing," Vivian said indifferently with her arms crossed. "After all, they've been fighting for so many years. Suddenly there's going to be peace talks. Who isn't worried that someone will sneeze during the talks and three hundred ax-wielding soldiers will jump out from the side?"

They chatted all the way, and by the time they arrived at the tower square, Hao Ren had basically figured out the series of changes that had taken place in the demon hunters after he left, as well as the current situation in this northernmost land. Finally, led by Claude, they came to a tall building next to the tower square.

Like the surrounding facilities, this building was also completely made of opaque giant ice blocks, with subtle magical glows flowing between the solid ice. The ice walls were towering, majestic and spectacular. The style of the entire building couldn't help but remind people of an ancient Gothic church, but with a heavy texture like a military fortress.

"The Frost Temple, the location of the Council of Elders," Claude stood in front of the door. "Please come with me. Elder Grigowan is waiting inside."

Unlike the cold exterior, the inside of the house built of solid ice was not cold. After entering the Frost Temple, Hao Ren even felt a warm breeze blowing on his face: perhaps this was the power of magic. They walked for a long time in this huge building that resembled a cathedral, during which they saw many demon hunters walking in a hurry in the corridors, and many of them had met a few times before. They stopped to greet Hao Ren and his party, and then continued to hurry on their way. As Claude said: the Council of Elders is really short of manpower now.

Finally, they arrived at Elder Grigowan's office.

This was an ordinary room in the Frost Temple. Except for being quite spacious, it had no more decorations than other places. In the rectangular room, one wall had a huge bookshelf, and the other wall was hung with various weapons, armor, and ritual supplies. Judging from their weathered appearance, these things hanging on the wall were obviously not decorations. A warm fireplace was crackling in the corner of the room, and two figures were standing in front of the fireplace, one was the old Grigowan, and the other was Hasu.

The two of them are now the top leaders of the Council of Elders.

Claude bowed and exited the room, and Grigowan greeted them: "It is a pleasure to see you again, Your Excellency the Countess."

"You've suddenly become so polite," Vivian looked at the old hunter with a smile. "I'm not used to it."

Grigowan smiled: "After all, the truth about what happened back then has come to light."

The group sat down by the warm fireplace. "Gun" immediately took Dou Dou out of his arms to let the little guy warm himself by the fire, and even presented a few small pieces of wood from his pocket with great diligence, looking humble and flattering. Even Hasu, who was almost expressionless, was stunned on the spot: he couldn't imagine what this cat usually went through, so that his worldview was distorted like this...

Grigowan was also surprised for a while, but he quickly turned his attention back to Hao Ren: "I have read the message you sent, a demon hunter named Zhao Xi was 'possessed' by the will of a god?"

"It's said to be possessed... Well, although it's not accurate, it's not much different," Hao Ren nodded. "That demon hunter has recovered, but we are worried that the power of the gods still remains in Corpus, so we came here this time to conduct an investigation."

"This is not a big problem," Grigowan stated on the spot, "The Holy Land was preserved because of you. Your army once pacified the entire Corpus, and then withdrew as agreed without any offense, so I think the demon hunters can give you enough trust. And your investigation is for our safety."

But at this time, Hasu interjected: "I also think you can go in for investigation, but we must consider that there are still some people who will worry about this—Corpus is, after all, the home of demon hunters. Our ancestors have lived here for generations. After the war, many people hope to live a peaceful life. If an investigation team comes in at this time... I'm afraid some people will be uneasy."

Vivian waved her hand: "Let them be pretentious. You demon hunters have been in the limelight for thousands of years. When did you start being cowardly? Our investigation is to eradicate hidden dangers for you. If people really die, no one will care if you regret it."

Grigowan glanced at Hasu, winked, and muttered in a low voice: "I told you to say less..."

Vivian glared: "Can you please not pretend I can't hear you in front of me?"

Hasu coughed awkwardly twice, and immediately changed the subject: "Ahem, let's settle the matter like this. I wonder if you need any help from us during the investigation?"

"There's nothing you can help with. We have our own technical means," Hao Ren waved his hand. "Just arrange a guide for us, someone who was born and raised in Corpus and is familiar with the environment."

Hasu nodded: "Then Bai Huo (White Flame) is suitable. That child grew up in Corpus. She happens to be at the Ice Fortress today."

As soon as Lily heard Bai Huo's (White Flame’s) name, she looked around immediately: "Oh right, I was just about to ask, why isn't Bai Huo (White Flame) here? Isn't she your little follower?"

"...Bai Huo (White Flame) is just my apprentice, she has her own things to do," Hasu was choked by the "late emperor's" words for half a second, with an embarrassed expression, "She just came out of Corpus and is resting today. I'll send someone to call her."

"Forget it, listening to you... we'd better go there ourselves," Vivian interrupted Hasu. "After all, we're asking for help."

When Hasu heard this, his expression suddenly became a little subtle, as if he was worried about something, but in the end he didn't say anything, just nodded slightly: "That's good, that's good."