CHAPTER 485: CHAPTER 232 ALMOST THERE (REQUESTING MONTHLY PASS)

"Brother Shen is here!"

Jiang An had been inscribing runes, but he stopped his work when he saw the visitor.

"Hmm."

Shen Changqing nodded and surveyed his surroundings. This place was not the outskirts of the Demon-Subduing Prison but an inner area. Here, individual cells had already taken shape, and members of the Suppressing Evil Hall were meticulously inscribing runes to complete the Demon-Subduing Prison.

After a brief glance, he shifted his gaze away.

"How much longer will it take for the Demon-Subduing Prison to be fully constructed?"

"Not long, at most about half a month or so," Jiang An replied without hesitation. "Now, all other aspects of the Demon-Subduing Prison are complete. The only step remaining is the final inscription of runes. On the first three of the Demon-Subduing Prison’s five floors, the runes have been fully inscribed, leaving only the last two floors."

Half a month.

Shen Changqing nodded.

That time frame wasn’t too long. But, all things considered, the Demon-Subduing Prison’s construction had taken nearly four to five months from its start until now. And that was just for the Demon-Subduing Division in Mountain-Breaking City. Including the upcoming Demon-Subduing Division in South Sea City, the construction of both Demon-Subduing Prisons would take about a year.

Looking at the cells, Shen Changqing continued his inquiry, "How many Demon Evils can the five floors of the Demon-Subduing Prison hold in total, and what is the upper limit to the strength of Demon Evils each floor can contain?"

He knew that each level of the Demon-Subduing Prison had different containment capacities. Similar to the Demon-Subduing Prison in the Capital City, the deeper the level, the more powerful the Demon Evils imprisoned there. The reason for this was clear: constructing the prison deep underground significantly hindered the escape of Yin Evil Aura.

"The five floors of the Demon-Subduing Prison each house thirty cells, totaling the capacity to imprison one hundred and fifty Demon Evils. The first three floors are capable of holding any Demon Evil up to, but not including, those at the true Demon Evil level, while the last two floors can imprison low-rank Demon Evils. However, these are limited to low-rank Demon Evils. For those exceeding low-rank, the Demon-Subduing Prison has no means of containment; that would require the construction of a Demon Sealing Tower. As for the building costs of the Demon Sealing Tower, they are much higher than those of the Demon-Subduing Prison, and the time consumed is also greater. Only those from the Demon Sealing Hall could undertake such a task," Jiang An explained.

Five floors for the Demon-Subduing Prison. One hundred and fifty Demon Evils.

Shen Changqing nodded with satisfaction. "That is enough. Being able to imprison low-rank Demon Evils will suffice. The difficulty of capturing even low-rank Demon Evils is considerable. As for capturing mid-rank or higher Demon Evils, with the current power of the South Nether Prefecture, the possibility is almost negligible."

It wasn’t that he underestimated the strength of the Demon-Subduing Division of South Nether Prefecture. Rather, there weren’t many Marquis Rank Defender Envoys within the South Nether Prefecture’s Demon-Subduing Division; most were at the General Rank. As for King Rank Defender Envoys, apart from the Dominators of the various branches, there were no others to spare. To capture a mid-rank Demon Evil, even the weakest of its kind, would require several Marquis Rank Defender Envoys to act. Capturing one alive was far more difficult than simply killing it on the spot. The former’s difficulty was at least two or three times greater than the latter’s. If it were a powerful mid-rank Demon Evil, then only a King Rank Defender Envoy, by personally intervening to suppress it, would have a chance of capturing it alive. Therefore, Shen Changqing didn’t believe that the South Nether Prefecture’s Demon-Subduing Division possessed the capability to capture a mid-rank Demon Evil. Let alone mid-rank Demon Evils—even capturing a low-rank Demon Evil would be commendable. His true targets were those weaker Demon Evils. A single Ghostly Level Fiend might only contribute a few Slaughter Value points. However, a hundred Ghostly Level Fiends would contribute Slaughter Value comparable to several low-rank Demon Evils. Furthermore, capturing Ghostly Level Fiends was immeasurably easier than capturing low-rank Demon Evils.

"I’ll entrust this matter to you, Brother Jiang."

"Brother Shen, you’re too polite; this is simply part of my duty," Jiang An replied with a faint smile. The reward had already been agreed upon beforehand, so there was nothing more to discuss.

Shen Changqing also smiled and said, "The items Brother Jiang requested will be delivered to you when the Demon-Subduing Prison is completed."

"No problem."

After inspecting all five floors of the Demon-Subduing Prison, Shen Changqing departed.

Upon leaving, he promptly sought out the heads of the Demon Slaying Hall. Within the Demon Slaying Hall, each sub-hall had its own person in charge. This time, Shen Changqing summoned the individuals responsible for the four major mission sub-halls: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.

Inside the Council Hall, the sub-hall heads bowed with clasped fists. "Lord Defender!"

"You may dispense with the formalities."

"Thank you, Lord Defender!"

The heads then straightened, exchanging puzzled glances. Indeed, they were perplexed. Although they were in charge of the sub-halls, none had ever been individually summoned by Shen Changqing before. This sudden summons from Defender Shen made them somewhat uneasy, despite having nothing to hide. This was their awe of the powerful, and also a fear stemming from Shen Changqing’s recent reputation.

After a long moment of silence, the head of the Heaven Rank mission sub-hall clasped his fists and asked, "Lord Defender, may we know why you have summoned us? Are there any instructions you wish to give?"

"There is something I need your assistance with."

"Please speak, Lord Defender!" The head of the Heaven Rank mission sub-hall was inwardly shaken but did not betray it, replying respectfully.

The other heads also wondered silently. What matter could be so important that he would summon all of them?

At that moment, Shen Changqing got straight to the point. "I’d like to know, for the Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow Demon Hunters, what is the approximate Merit Point reward for completing a typical task?"

"Ah..." The head of the Heaven Rank sub-hall was startled for a moment, then quickly clasped his fist and replied, "For Heaven Rank Demon Hunters, each task primarily targets powerful Fiend Level Strange Monsters, and the reward is mainly based on difficulty. If it only involves a single powerful Fiend Level Strange Monster causing havoc, the task reward is roughly one hundred Merit Points."

Heaven Rank Demon Hunters were extraordinary; only those at the late stage of the Grandmaster realm could be promoted to this level. A task reward of one hundred Merit Points, combined with the Yin Evil Aura obtained from slaying Demon Evils, could be exchanged for a total of about one hundred and thirty Merit Points. Converted using black market rates, one hundred and thirty Merit Points were indeed equivalent to tens of thousands of silver taels. This reward was considered very generous.

While Shen Changqing was pondering, the other sub-hall heads continued.

"An average task for an Earth Rank Demon Hunter is rewarded with roughly fifty Merit Points, but the specifics also depend on the task’s difficulty."

"The reward for a Profound Rank Demon Hunter’s task is between fifteen and twenty Merit Points."

"A Yellow Rank Demon Hunter’s task reward will not exceed five Merit Points, unless a large number of Demon Evils are causing trouble, in which case the Merit Point reward will be correspondingly higher."

After each sub-hall head had spoken, Shen Changqing, who now had a general idea, said, "You are all likely aware of the Demon-Subduing Prison’s construction. Its primary purpose is to imprison Demon Evils. I plan for each sub-hall to issue tasks related to capturing Demon Evils."

As his words fell, the sub-hall heads merely lowered their gazes. They were waiting for him to continue.

Sure enough, Shen Changqing’s voice resumed, "For capturing Ghostly Level Fiends, regardless of difficulty, a uniform reward of thirty Merit Points will be given. For capturing Resentment Level Monsters, regardless of difficulty, a uniform reward of one hundred and twenty Merit Points will be given. For capturing Fiend Level Strange Monsters, Earth Rank Demon Hunters will be rewarded with three hundred Merit Points, and Heaven Rank Demon Hunters will be rewarded with six hundred Merit Points."

This task reward was what he deemed appropriate after careful consideration. The reason was simple: the task reward for a Heaven Rank Demon Hunter was generally around one hundred Merit Points, but that was primarily for *killing* Demon Evils. Capturing them consumed far more manpower and time than simply slaying them. Six hundred Merit Points might seem like an increase of four to five times compared to usual task rewards. However, capturing a single Demon Evil required at least two or three individuals of the same rank. Spread among them, the reward wasn’t as excessively inflated as it appeared. Moreover, the Merit Points offered here were nearly ten times less than the prices Shen Changqing had set for the Yuanyang Auction House to purchase Demon Evils. Six hundred Merit Points, even if sold externally at the highest possible price, would only be equivalent to about three hundred thousand silver taels. Yet, the lowest price he had instructed the Yuanyang Auction House to pay for Fiend Level Strange Monsters started at one million silver taels.

But sometimes, the price couldn’t be calculated so straightforwardly. Although six hundred Merit Points at the highest external price equated to about three hundred thousand silver taels, possessing three hundred thousand silver taels didn’t necessarily mean one could acquire six hundred Merit Points. Merit Points available on the market were limited. Even Shen Changqing himself, with tens of millions in silver, couldn’t purchase a large quantity of Merit Points. Besides, Merit Points had other uses within the Demon-Subduing Division. For instance, silver alone could not grant access to secluded cultivation in the Martial Hall or allow one to exchange for unique treasures; only Merit Points offered this qualification. Therefore, while Merit Points and silver taels could be exchanged, this was only feasible up to a certain amount. For many in the Demon-Subduing Division, Merit Points were often more important than silver. Those who actually sold their Merit Points usually did so out of some pressing, unavoidable need.

After a pause, Shen Changqing added, "If they are willing to accept silver taels as task rewards, then each Ghostly Level Fiend will be valued at ten thousand silver taels. For Fiend Level Strange Monsters, an early-stage one is priced at one hundred thousand silver taels, a middle-stage one at two hundred thousand, and late-stage or peak ones at three hundred thousand. For Fiend Level entities, an early-stage one is priced at one million silver taels, a middle-stage one at two million, and late-stage or peak ones at three million."

This was the same purchasing price he had given to the Yuanyang Auction House. Since the Demon-Subduing Division was his own force, he had no intention of being stingy. The price offered to the Demon-Subduing Division members would be the same as the external acquisition price.

After Shen Changqing finished speaking, the sub-hall heads exchanged glances and nodded in unison. One of them then asked, "That’s no problem, Lord Defender. But how do you plan to handle the disbursement of Merit Points and silver?"