Chapter 167

Inside Huaiyang Prefecture City there really is an atmosphere utterly unlike that of Jicheng, though its prosperity is quite ordinary. Bai Lang found an inn to board his Huangbiao horse, while he himself went to the Weiwei Office inside Huaiyang City to seek help. "It's not like he's a local snake; relying solely on the information in his hand, he simply can't find this Maodong Mountain."

As Bai Lang thought, Maodong Mountain has committed so many crimes; how could this local Weiwei Office not keep a long-term watch on him—wanted notices have been issued, and collusion inside and out must have limits. Moreover, Maodong Mountain's existence is tantamount to slapping the face of this local Weiwei Office.

The head of the local Weiwei Office is a fat man, a middle-aged greasy fat man named Qiao Feng—upon hearing this person's self-introduction, Bai Lang, with his ability, sized him up from head to toe. Qiao Feng is also an Innate Expert; what Bai Lang finds strange is why he doesn't personally move to capture that Maodong Mountain.

When Qiao Feng heard the Silver Chapter Guard Bai Lang White Jade Pillar ask him this, his expression didn't change in the slightest: "Naturally, because this Maodong Mountain has also entered the Innate realm, lacking absolute certainty, this official really isn't keen to act. If this official doesn't act, he still wouldn't dare act recklessly; if this official were to act and make a mistake, I'm afraid I really couldn't hold down this place."

The Two Rivers converge, all sorts of people gather; this place is just like Jicheng, with gangs flourishing and dividing territories and trades. In the city there is more than one Innate Expert; clans, sects, and gangs all have Innate Experts, intertwined with each other, and as the Innate Expert of the Weiwei Office, Qiao Feng suppresses everyone on the official front.

After all, they don't dare to rip open the facade and act; not to mention what would happen if the three Innate Experts in the Weiwei Office made a move—just thinking about the Weiwei Office experts transferred from Jicheng or elsewhere starting a purge, everyone present would surely not get away with it.

Bai Lang received Qiao Feng's enthusiastic welcome; for someone capable of breaking the stalemate, especially an Innate Expert who could apprehend the utterly wicked Maodong Mountain, Qiao Feng was very glad to have him come. He took out a stack of paper; these were the conclusions and inferences drawn from analyzing Maodong Mountain's movements, outlining Maodong Mountain's forces and his sphere of activity.

"These are the ones with solid evidence, belonging to those who obey Maodong Mountain's orders; and these are the ones without solid evidence, only said to possibly be Maodong Mountain's hidden agents, right?" Bai Lang looked at the two stacks of paper, "Easy, I'll go deal with them." Qiao Feng grabbed Bai Lang, "Guard Bai, how do you intend to handle them? Could you tell me?"

Bai Lang smiled, patted the stack with solid evidence, "Those that can be interrogated, interrogate them; after interrogation, just kill them." He patted the other stack, "This one... hahaha, handle it the same way." Qiao Feigned shock—this was Bai Lang's personal understanding and view.

"Absolutely not, these too are cases where pulling one thread moves the whole body; absolutely cannot be so reckless, Guard Bai. Let's consider again, research further..." After saying that, he made a motion to take them back, but Bai Lang snatched them away with a swipe and strode off—unsurprisingly, Qiao Feng didn't manage to stop him.

Although there are not few people in the local Weiwei Office, most have their own duties—in fact they are constable heads, more akin to the police in Bai Lang's modern society, under vertical management. Bai Lang tucked the papers into his lapel, then after leaving went to the inn to rest.

He also needed to weigh how to act—Bai Lang had never conducted a social survey, and he wasn't too clear on how to verify the truth and falsehood of this. But he would kill and dare to kill; in any case, first find those with solid evidence, "These mountain bandits along the way... are there whole villages that are mountain bandits?"

Bai Lang rubbed his eyes; the paper wrote that in the whole mountain village are veteran bandits, and the old bandits bring in new ones, so that from birth children take up banditry as a trade, counting as one of the locality's major stubborn problems. "Why not exterminate them? The terrain is nothing—sending in a single Innate Expert would settle it all; or is it just lax governance?"

In that bandit village there is no Innate Expert, but Maodong Mountain has connections with these people—ties of money and manpower; it seems Maodong Mountain originates from this sort of bandit village.

Bai Lang decided to first go cause trouble for that village; this sort of banditry has no scruples—don't look at them killing and setting fires, but once caught and interrogated, not one can hold out without confessing.

Crossing mountains and ridges needs no horse; Bai Lang simply set out like that—at most bringing a few strips of dried meat and a gourd of water, not even bringing trauma medicine. Using Lightness Skill Grass Flying to rush dozens of li, he then squatted in a tree to rest for a night; ensuring good rest, Bai Lang entered the mountain region.

In these mountains there is no sense of direction, the forests are extremely dense, the terrain not very high but quite perilous. Originally there were no major roads; the two paths were laid along the banks of the Gan and Xiang Rivers as they flow from the mountain edges. "The bandits in these bandit villages all have martial arts; their agility and mobility rely on robbing passersby for a living. Moreover, there are not a few outsiders who have committed crimes..."

Throughout these mountains are poisonous snakes and fierce beasts; the beasts are fine, but these poisonous snakes and insects are indeed troublesome—there are also many poisonous flowers and herbs. Bai Lang utterly disregarded these things; with the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill activated, these poisonous snakes and insects could in no way break through his vigorous energy.

In theory that's indeed the case, but exceptions always exist.

"What is this?" Bai Lang leapt up, flashing in midair to dodge a golden stream of light. This golden stream truly pierced his protective aura—pushed outward three chi from his Golden Bell Shield aura. It was a beetle, a golden beetle the size of a child's fist. The beetle had a pair of large mandibles, looking quite ferocious; the wings inside its shell buzzed, keeping it aloft.

On the beetle's carapace was a forward-protruding horn—"A super-sized rhinoceros beetle? But how come this carnivorous creature has such mandibles?" Bai Lang felt a bit surprised, and the beetle suddenly burst with a sound from its back, again turning into a stream of light and charging at Bai Lang. Bai Lang tilted his body, and as he swung his hand, he whipped up a whirlwind, directly scooping the beetle in.

The whirlwind failed to deflect or slow the beetle, but a palm strike hit its body and directly slammed it into the ground. "It's not dead? Is this beetle's whole body made of gold and iron?" Bai Lang stared at the beetle embedded in the ground still twitching, and without hesitation thrust out a finger to stab it.

This stab employed the martial art of the Southern Dipper Holy Fist, and his finger indeed pierced metal and broke iron, directly impaling the beetle's back. Bai Lang swiftly retracted his finger, then flicked it, flinging away the aura on his finger. "The beetle's bodily fluid is toxic!" He watched his finger discolor, channeling Internal Force to push the gray-black from the base of his finger upward, finally forcing it into the tip of his fingernail.

The tip of his fingernail, under the effect of Internal Force, spontaneously snapped off and fell to the ground. The green bodily fluid that seeped from the stabbed beetle hissed upon contact with air, gradually dissolving the creature itself, leaving only a golden shell and six hollow golden claws. All vegetation within three chi of the nearby ground withered, and even the earth's surface showed an abnormal gray-black hue.