Chapter 24: The government office Makes Its Move

"So that's how it is."

Shen Yi savored the Blood Fiend Blade Art that had newly appeared in his mind; every stance was saturated with a fierce, savage aura.

It was clearly stained with the vicious cruelty belonging to demons and monsters, and one could not tell at all that it had been reborn from that proper, by-the-book Demon-Subduing Blade Art.

Using violence against violence!

This was a complete martial art truly belonging to the initial realm, not in the same league at all as the Zhengyang Blade, which had taken shortcuts and forcibly crossed realms.

Add to that his cultivation at the peak of the initial realm, and if he faced the weasel again, Shen Yi was confident he could take it down within three blades.

He looked at the panel.

The demon's lifespan had only a hundred and thirty years left; the surplus had been spent on the other two martial arts, but the harvest was small—he had only obtained a talent similar to Fist-and-Palm Mastery.

【Light as a Swallow: Years of accumulated lightness skill have made your control over your body ever more practiced; your movements have grown lighter.】

One could only say it was better than nothing.

Shen Yi did not feel disappointed; by now he had more or less figured out the use of this panel.

To deduce new martial arts, compared to time, what mattered more was the accumulation of "material."

Relying on lifespan alone, one could only place hope in the ethereal, elusive flash of inspiration.

Only by learning more martial arts himself could he, when deducing, achieve mastery through comprehensive understanding and draw inferences, thereby creating something new.

This was not something that could be done with an empty head, just sitting there idly fantasizing.

For example, the Blood Fiend Blade Art combined the blood-fiend power within the beast essence; the Wind Thunder Scroll, too, was able to evolve a path of the initial realm precisely because the Zhengyang Blade existed.

"A man should know contentment."

His own improvement in a single night, if exchanged for an ordinary person, without the aid of precious medicines or chance encounters, might well take a lifetime.

This was already an enormous stroke of fortune.

Shen Yi got out of bed and looked at the cabinet, where the clothes Lin Baiwei had washed and dried for him were placed.

He reached out and took them, pulled off his inner shirt, revealing a set of near-perfect muscle lines; the only flaw was that, because he had been too lazy—even too lazy to take his own steps on patrol—his skin had taken on a cold, pallid white, not very healthy.

This was no major problem; a bit more sun would fix it.

Shen Yi quickly changed, turned around, and saw the woman standing on tiptoe at the back door.

"Something?"

"Just looking around."

Lin Baiwei reluctantly drew back her gaze, rubbing her belly expectantly: "Is there breakfast today?"

"Wait for me."

Shen Yi turned and went out the door, bought two flatbreads at a small stall, and, remembering the two martial arts he had yet to obtain, hesitated: "Add an egg… how much?"

Logically speaking, he was at least a head constable, and had no bad habits, so he ought not to be short on silver to spend.

His predecessor had quite a few ways of making money; if he steeled his heart…

"Master Shen, what talk of money for two flatbreads? Eat as many as you like, come again often." The vendor bowed and scraped, wrapped the flatbreads neatly, and handed them over.

"Many thanks for the kindness, but there's no need." Shen Yi shook his head, took out ten copper coins and set them on the table.

He brought breakfast home.

Shen Yi bit into a flatbread as he walked toward the government office, and halfway there he sensed something was off.

He saw that along the way, whether they were selling buns or carrying vegetables, passersby all cast curious glances; but when he looked back at them, they hurriedly buried their heads, pretending to be busy with the work in their hands.

"From now on in our Boyun County, any matter of demons or evil spirits, you have to go find him."

"Him? Master Shen?"

"What nonsense are you spouting at the crack of dawn? If you're worried your Miss or your wife is too virtuous, or that the silver in your pouch is too plentiful to spend, then yes, he could be of great help—demons?"

"Keep your voice down, do you know what happened yesterday? There are no more demons outside Chengxi. Two villagers with mud on their legs said it with their own mouths—demons all over the mountains and plains, every one of them had its head chopped off and brought to our county, and the one leading them was Master Shen."

Now already an initial-realm martial master, Shen Yi gathered every whisper around him, faint as a mosquito's hum, into his ears.

He quickened his pace and stepped into the government office's duty room.

The scene inside was no different from usual, just somewhat emptier than usual.

In the vast courtyard, there were only four people: Chen Ji, expressionless, sweeping the ground with a broom; the Niu brothers and Zhang Dahu squatting at the doorway, eyes vacant, exchanging uneasy glances.

Seeing Shen Yi come in.

Zhang Dahu leaped up from the ground with a howl, raised his voice and called out: "My lord Shen, you're finally here! You've got to stand up for us!"

He rushed over, aggrieved beyond words.

"Why won't they let us patrol the streets, and make us go manage some demon business? The three streets of Chengxi are full of fat pickings—that's the livelihood we've brothers worked so hard to scrape together, and Head Song wiped it all away with a single sentence!"

"My lord Shen, you're the man in Liu Dianli's good graces. That surnamed Song dares to act so arrogant—where is he slapping our faces? He's clearly…"

Chen Ji silently bumped him aside, came to Shen Yi's side, and said softly: "This is the Commandant's intention."

The four people left in the duty room were exactly those who had gone to the Liu family massacre site yesterday.

Liu Dianli's meaning was already very clear.

He not only wanted to marginalize these men, he wanted them dead, so that the others would see what became of those who ran with Shen Yi.

Aren't you very good at killing demons?

Then go kill them all.

Post notices, make it public—first hoist you to the very top, then watch coldly as you crash down.

If you don't dare, then behave, and stop stirring up trouble.

"He knows it was you who killed the weasel. He came in the middle of the night, threw a tantrum, and left before dawn, afraid of running into you."

Chen Ji showed a bitter smile.

Clearly, the strength Shen Yi had suddenly revealed had thoroughly shaken Liu Dianli—one might even say it had left him terrified.

But this still was not enough…

Even the powerful cultivator the magistrate my lord invited back from Outside Qingzhou, who could actually fight the yellow weasel, only earns a salary of six hundred taels of silver a month.

Six hundred taels of snow-pattern silver could crush an ordinary person to death, but if thrown into the murky waters of Cypress Yunxian, it wouldn't even splash.

Apart from the dog demon, there were even more terrifying man-eating monsters outside the county.

Once trouble broke out, even if the Zhen Mo Si was dispatched, they would still need to first take over the entire county, relocate the common folk, then proceed steadily—being able to resolve the demon scourge within three to five years would already be considered good.

Don't think it's just a mere few years.

For the magistrate and the rest of the officials, it would mean ten years of hard study wasted, their future forever darkened, with no chance of advancement.

Even if the imperial court, after eliminating the demon scourge, let him sit back in this position, what he'd hold in his hands would be nothing more than a poor county with a dwindling population—that was absolutely unacceptable.

If not for the fact that obstructing the extermination of demons was a crime punishable by execution of nine generations, and Shen Yi possessed extraordinary martial skills.

The authorities probably couldn't even be bothered to come up with such a despicable scheme, and would simply strip him of his robes, or have someone take his head.

"Lord Shen." Chen Ji's expression was complicated. He still had a younger sister at home who needed looking after, yet he had suddenly been branded as Shen Yi's "accomplice" by the authorities above; his mood was inevitably somewhat heavy.

If he himself was already like this, the other party was even more the primary target being singled out.

Thinking of this, a few traces of sympathy appeared in his eyes:

"Liu Dianli left me a message before he left. He said, if you've thought it through, bring a pot of wine and go sit at his place… He said the magistrate my lord can give others six hundred taels, could he possibly shortchange you…"

(End of this chapter)