Chapter 34: A Master Comes to Join

What Shen Yi regretted most was not being able to hitch a ride on someone's banner to slay a few more demons.

Of course, he couldn't say that out loud.

He took off the scabbard and pressed the saber back under his arm again; though it was a bit uncomfortable, it was still better than losing his head without even knowing it.

Seeing him so cautious, Lin Baiwei pressed her crimson lips together.

If only she herself had been more careful back then, she wouldn't have ended up in such a state today.

She went to the cabinet, fetched paper and brush, sat down at the desk, and added some more oil to the lamp.

Under the flickering lamplight, she closed her eyes, grinding ink while recalling.

A moment later, Lin Baiwei began to copy carefully in earnest; under the sway of her slender fingers, one elegant little character after another leapt onto the paper.

"What are you doing, not sleeping?" Shen Yi turned his head.

"If you can't get the thing, can you sleep?" Lin Baiwei pouted.

They're all ordinary people with their heads tied to their waistbands—what's the act of being calm for.

She still remembered the first time a demon had gripped her throat, the instant she nearly stopped breathing; even though a colleague had quickly lopped off its head, she had still been trembling with fright the whole night.

If only there had been someone by her side back then, she wouldn't have been scared awake in the middle of the night crying from a nightmare.

"..."

Shen Yi was silent for a long while, then closed his eyes.

When the roosters crowed, he rose slowly and glanced at the woman yawning by the desk.

Sure enough, it still wouldn't do... Even knowing she came from Zhen Mo Si, Shen Yi still wasn't used to having a clothed, living person beside him while he slept.

"Mm, half copied."

Lin Baiwei rubbed her wrist and carefully reviewed it: "Don't complain it's slow—one tiny mistake on something like this and there'll be a big problem."

Shen Yi changed into clean clothes and nodded: "You've worked hard."

"Tch." Lin Baiwei feigned surprise: "So you do know how to talk properly."

"After all, I'm still counting on trading you to the Lin family for some silver—you know I'm broke."

Shen Yi tidied his cuffs, picked up his saber, and went out the door.

Bai Yunxian wasn't big; many things only needed one night to spread everywhere.

It was still early, yet a crowd had already gathered outside the constabulary yard, clamoring and packing the doorway tight.

Someone shouted: "Captain Shen is here!"

A wide path instantly opened before Shen Yi; he looked ahead in puzzlement and saw Chen Ji and the others, all red in the face with urgency.

"I'll say it one more time: this office handles demons, not lechers, and certainly doesn't help you find your lost money pouch!"

"Nonsense! Old Yang's daughter-in-law brought a man home—it was those two tall ones who went to grab them! I saw it with my own eyes!"

The crowd instantly erupted: "Maybe my money pouch was taken by a demon too, my lord, you must see justice done for me."

"..."

Shen Yi walked silently into the yard and waved a hand: "Close the door."

Several men pressed hard against the wooden door and only managed to slide the bolt down after great effort, then sat on the ground exchanging uneasy glances.

Zhang Dahu said in terror: "Damn it—before they used to dodge out of my way, now the world's gone mad, daring to storm my constabulary!"

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized something was off and hurriedly gave Shen Yi an awkward smile: "You're the daddy, you're my own daddy."

Chen Ji rose with a smile, then his expression suddenly shifted as he looked toward the wooden door behind him.

The next instant, the wooden door was being slapped with a great thumping.

"Now they're getting cocky."

The Niu brothers rolled up their sleeves and swung the door open, just about to start cursing—when suddenly their whole bodies trembled and they looked up in shock.

The two of them were already considered big, burly men, yet the newcomer was not only a full head taller than both of them, his frame was immensely thick as well—especially that bulging, greasy gut, which looked utterly terrifying.

Just based on that build, without any martial training he could easily fling a few men aside.

The Niu brothers had never seen such a fierce character; they retreated two steps, trembling: "Boss, someone... someone's picking a fight."

Chen Ji stood with a solemn expression, not daring to act rashly.

He couldn't figure out why a master from the Vajra Gate would come to this tiny constabulary; if there was something even he couldn't handle, then in all of Bai Yunxian there probably wasn't a second person who could step forward.

"Closed up in broad daylight—I thought I'd come to the wrong place."

Zhang the Butcher chewed on a grass root and smiled at the man opposite: "You're really here."

Shen Yi didn't see any trace of Skinny Head behind him, and cupped his fist: "What business brings you here, senior?"

"What 'senior'—bullshit."

Zhang the Butcher squeezed his way into the yard and replied calmly: "I came from Outside Qingzhou at someone's invitation, and now I've been called too dull for their taste. Coincidentally, I can't stand his cleverness either. Thinking it over, you're as dumb as I am, so I figured I'd come mooch a meal."

Hearing this, Chen Ji nearly lost his footing.

A trained master at the Initial Realm still lacking for food—utterly absurd.

Not to mention anything else, given the current situation in Bai Yunxian, if he named a price, plenty of rich merchants would happily spend silver to keep him like an ancestor.

The combined salaries of the hundred-odd runners in the whole government office wouldn't be enough to hire him for half a month.

"First of all, I'm not dumb."

Shen Yi looked up helplessly, then spread his hands: "And I'm very poor."

"Then I'm not dumb either." Zhang the Butcher laughed soundlessly and walked straight inside: "And I'm just as broke as can be—plain tea and simple food to fill my belly will do."

Shen Yi was about to explain that he might not even be able to afford plain tea and simple food—after all, that belly of his was no small matter.

Chen Ji was already hopping mad with impatience.

What kind of brains were these—one letting real silver and gold slip by, the other watching a master deliver himself to their door and actually thinking up excuses to push him away!

He pulled a silver ingot from his waist, shoved it hard into Shen Yi's hand, nearly squinting his eyes shut.

Shen Yi glanced at Chen Ji and pushed him back: "Go play with your eggs somewhere else."

Did he really look that stingy?

"Who is this?"

The Niu brothers might not have understood, but Zhang Dahu knew Chen Ji's temperament all too well — not a single copper of his monthly stipend would he spend recklessly, every coin saved for his sister — so why was he suddenly being so generous?

"The magistrate's junior martial brother."

The moment those words left his mouth, the few men's minds went blank.

To them, Skinny Monk was nothing more than a figure from hearsay; only someone of Liu Dianli's level would have the chance to see him in the flesh, and even then only catch a glimpse.

Yet now a master of that very same caliber had actually appeared inside their own duty room, and was even playing with a stone lock that hadn't been moved in years, looking thoroughly entertained.

The stone lock was purely for show, weighing at least three or four hundred catties, and the man was lifting it with his bare palm and tossing it about as he pleased…

"Do you usually train your strength with this thing?"

Zhang the Butcher asked curiously.

"No, I usually practice martial arts before bed."

Shen Yi replied without a flicker of expression.

What he said was also the truth — after all, constantly deducing martial arts in the middle of the street would easily get him taken for a fool by passersby.

"In the study of martial arts, the worst thing is to shut yourself away and brood over it alone. I've been cooped up here in Bai Yunxian, bored out of my mind — when you have the time, how about the two of us spar a little?" Zhang the Butcher set down the stone lock.

"No problem." Shen Yi nodded — it happened that he too very much needed someone to help him cram in some of the common knowledge he was missing.

Hearing this, a smile suddenly crept onto Zhang the Butcher's face: "I'm free right now."

Shen Yi: "…"

"Oh no, he's really here to pick a fight." The Niu brothers shook their clever big heads, nearly taken in by that great-bearded fellow.

(End of chapter)