Chapter 385: You Are Chen Mu!?

The silence lasted less than two breaths.

The suffocating silence inside the inn and Liu's pale face were shattered by a loud, booming shout from the other end of the alley, thick with anger.

"Stop!"

With rapid, synchronized footsteps, a squad of about ten warriors, clad in uniform martial attire and wielding standard long blades, sprinted from the alley entrance.

Their qi was sharp and potent, their steps steady—clearly well-trained.

At their head was a man in his early thirties, with a square face and piercing eyes, a silver badge on his waist marking him as a Silver Rank Enforcement Officer.

As he burst into the circle of torchlight, his gaze instantly locked onto the sullen Liu San Young Master, his face showing undisguised revulsion as he barked.

"Liu Mingfeng! It's you again! How many times have I told you—resolve your family's grudges outside the city!"

"Within these city walls, especially after curfew, gathering to brawl, destroying homes, and terrifying civilians—do you want to spend a few days in the Zhenwu Bureau's dungeon?!"

The man was Lin Zicheng, the Zhenwu Bureau's Silver Rank Enforcement Officer responsible for this district.

He had clearly dealt with the Liu family's troubles before.

Normally, with Liu Mingfeng's arrogant nature, he'd have retorted or threatened with the Liu family's influence to intimidate this "ungrateful" Enforcement Officer.

But now, the horrifying image of Ding Laosan and Ding Laosi spitting blood as they flew backward like ragdolls still echoed in his mind, his heart pounding wildly.

The mysterious expert inside the inn was beyond comprehension—no one among his men or the Ding brothers stood a chance against him.

If he stayed here, who knew if he'd be the next one flying out?

"Yes, yes! Lin my lord is right! I was reckless—I disturbed the neighbors and disrupted the city's order!"

Liu Mingfeng instantly switched to a face of sincere apology, bowing repeatedly to Lin Zicheng with abject humility, "I admit my fault—I'll leave immediately and cause you no further trouble."

Without giving Lin Zicheng a chance to speak, he sharply waved his hand and barked at his men.

"What are you waiting for? Didn't you hear Lin my lord? Move! Take the wounded and retreat!"

Whoosh—

Dozens of Liu's men, whether screaming from wounds or half-dead from being smashed by the Ding brothers,

now heard music from heaven, as if granted pardon—ignoring their pain, they dragged and supported each other, retreating with astonishing speed like a receding tide, vanishing into the alley's dark end in an instant, leaving only pools of blood and scattered weapons on the ground.

The two freshly dead, still-warm corpses of Ding Laosan and Ding Laosi lay ignored, solitary and chillingly visible on the cold ground.

Lin Zicheng and his Zhenwu Bureau officers stood frozen.

This… they just ran?

And so abruptly, almost like they were fleeing in panic?

Lin Zicheng knew Liu Mingfeng's character better than anyone.

In the past, hadn't he always dragged out arguments, dragged out his family's name or some patron, paid a token fine, and offered a half-hearted apology?

When had he ever bowed instantly, admitted fault, and fled faster than a rabbit—even abandoning the corpses of his own paid cultivators?

Something strange is afoot!

Lin Zicheng's gaze sharpened instantly—he first scanned the corpses of Ding Laosan and Ding Laosi.

Their chests were caved in, blood oozing from all seven orifices, their deaths gruesome—clearly killed by a single blow; the strength and cruelty of the attacker were extraordinary!

Then his eyes fell upon the open doorway of the dimly lit Cheng Ji Inn.

Whoever could terrify arrogant Liu Mingfeng into abandoning two Fully-Perfected Pre-Nascent Soul cultivators' corpses…

Lin Zicheng's mind raced, yet his face quickly resumed its stern, official composure.

He stepped forward two paces, arriving before the broken entrance, bowed respectfully toward the dim interior, and called out clearly, "I am Lin Zicheng, Silver Rank Enforcement Officer of the Daocheng Zhenwu Bureau. May I ask which elder has graced Daocheng?"

His posture was humble, his tone respectful.

To kill two Fully-Perfected Pre-Nascent Soul cultivators so easily—this strength was at least a Earth Altar Realm's Divine Bridge, possibly higher—he dared not be anything but reverent.

"It's me."

A calm, slightly resonant young male voice echoed from inside the inn.

Footsteps followed.

Under the tense gaze of Lin Zicheng and his officers, a slender, upright man in a plain green robe, strikingly handsome and unnervingly young, stepped slowly from the dim light to the doorway.

Chen Mu's expression was serene; his gaze calmly swept over Lin Zicheng and his men, then the corpses, before he casually pulled something from his waist and flicked it with his finger.

"Shhh—"

A black-gold streak shot through the air, landing precisely in Lin Zicheng's hand as he instinctively raised it.

It felt heavy and cold in his palm.

Lin Zicheng looked down—there, in his hand, was an ancient-looking token, neither metal nor jade, its front engraved with four ancient seal-script characters: "Zhenwu Patrol," its back adorned with intricate cloud patterns and a serial number.

Within the token, a unique, authoritative restriction aura pulsed—exactly matching the registered features of a Patrol Envoy's token in Zhenwu Bureau records!

"This… this is a Patrol Envoy's token!"

Lin Zicheng's pupils shrank sharply; his hand trembled violently, nearly dropping it.

The next instant, he looked up at the unnervingly young face at the doorway—and his mind exploded like thunder.

A Patrol Envoy this young?!

He dared not delay or overthink—he clasped the token with both hands, bowed deeply, and returned it to Chen Mu, then dropped to one knee, voice trembling with awe and fear.

"Your servant Lin Zicheng, pays homage to the Patrol Envoy!"

"Pays homage to the Patrol Envoy!"

Behind him, the dozen Zhenwu Bureau officers, though unaware of which specific Envoy this was,

seeing their superior kneel and the token confirmed, had no choice but to drop to one knee in unison, fists clenched in salute, their voices echoing loudly in the silent alley.

On the other side, the four members of the Seven Yang Sect, who had just moments ago been resigned to death, now stood frozen in stunned silence.

They stared blankly at the young figure who had saved them, driven off the Liu family, and was now being reverently bowed to by the Zhenwu Bureau officers—their minds utterly blank.

Patrol Envoy?!

This young man who looked barely past twenty was actually an Inspector of the Town Martial Bureau?

Recalling the scene from moments ago where he had casually sent two Innate Perfection experts flying...

"You… you…"

The young man kneeling on the ground begging for mercy had the quickest mind, suddenly recalling a name that had risen to fame across the Great Zhou Realm in the past year or two, shaking all sides.

Along with the various rumors about that person's age, cultivation, and position, he could not help but cry out in shock.

"You're Chen Mu! Chen the Proud Son of Heaven!?"