Chapter 21: Scapegoat Hero, Simp Diary, Never Holding a Grudge (Seeking Monthly Votes)

In a dimly lit secret room beneath Juyuan Inn in Tongzhou City, several shadows were cast upon the walls.

A burly man with a full beard, short hair, and a brown short-sleeved shirt slammed the table in anger, "This is preposterous! What kind of thief committed such a bloody crime and pinned it on us! The Jing'an Guard and those commoners who believed the rumors are also fools; who doesn't know that our Xuanhuang Sect never kills the innocent indiscriminately?"

He was the inn's cook.

The inn's accountant, a lean middle-aged man wearing crystal glasses and a long beard on his chin, sighed and said, "But in the eyes of many commoners, Mo Fu is not innocent, and it looks even more like we did it."

In the corner, a young man in his early twenties dressed as a waiter said helplessly, "The Jing'an Guard has already concluded that we did it. We can't exactly catch the culprit and hand them over to the Jing'an Guard to prove our innocence, can we? That would be a double blessing for them."

"We can't just do nothing and let the Jing'an Guard keep searching the city so strictly. Not only is it inconvenient for our people to move about, but it also causes a lot of trouble for the city's residents," another person dressed as a waiter spoke up.

Finally, everyone looked simultaneously at the middle-aged man at the head of the table who had not yet spoken. He was slightly plump, dressed in luxurious clothing, and had a kind face; he was the innkeeper.

He was also the Vice Branch Master of the Tongzhou Branch of the Xuanhuang Sect.

"Naturally, we don't need to prove our innocence to the Jing'an Guard, but we cannot just honestly carry this blame after being framed," the manager said, then pondered for a moment before adding, "Furthermore, the Helmsman said that the Holy Son Kaiyang is about to arrive in Tongzhou. We must let this matter subside before then; otherwise, if the Jing'an Guard keeps the city under martial law and the Holy Son's identity is exposed, we will not be able to bear the consequences."

"Holy Son Kaiyang? Why would he come to our Tongzhou Branch?" The others were all suspicious and uneasy.

Every successive leader of the Xuanhuang Sect has had seven disciples—Tian Shu, Tian Xuan, Tian Ji, Tian Quan, Yu Heng, Kaiyang, and Yao Guang—all of whom are Holy Sons or Holy Priestesses of the sect.

They may not necessarily be very strong, but they represent the Sect Leader, have great influence, and hold high status.

"I don't know either." The manager shook his head and continued, "Starting today, mobilize everyone to secretly investigate the true culprit of the Mo Fu case. Once found, make them pay the price for diverting the disaster onto us, then throw them to the Jing'an Guard to calm the situation."

He did not want to help the Jing'an Guard either, but with the Saint Son arriving, he had to create a safe environment for him.

"Understood!" everyone replied in unison.

……………………………

Pei Shaoqing was reading the Demon Clan Diary in his hand.

At first, it was quite interesting; the owner of the diary recorded their daily cultivation life and anecdotes in detail.

It allowed him to obtain a lot of information between the lines.

For example, more than two thousand years ago, the land of Jiuzhou was truly filled with spiritual energy, demons were everywhere, cultivators ran rampant, the Heavenly Demon Palace was the strongest Demon Clan force, the Jing Kingdom was the strongest human force, and both sides fought many wars, etc...

These gave him the thrill of reading a novel.

But as he read on, his expression turned sour.

"July 6th, Jiuzhou Calendar 529: I fell in love with a girl. She is a cat demon, very moist. Today I couldn't help but stare at her, and she glanced at me too. I think she must like me too. I went back at night and jerked off once, dreaming of her as I fell asleep beautifully."

"July 7th, Jiuzhou Calendar 529: I saw her personally feeding a tiger demon senior brother; she is truly gentle and virtuous. I think that must be her younger brother. It is only natural that I couldn't help myself tonight—twice. Starting tomorrow, I will abstain from lust!"

"July 8th, Jiuzhou Calendar 529: Today is the 3rd day since I fell in love with her. I finally made up my mind to boldly confess my love. She told me to get lost; she must be afraid of delaying my cultivation, which is why she won't accept me. She is truly so considerate of others! I won't abstain today, so I jerked off."

"Fuck!" Pei Shaoqing flipped through several pages and couldn't stand it anymore. How the hell did this turn into a simp diary?

Damn it, he was full of fire and couldn't keep reading.

He flipped directly to the last few entries and discovered that the diary owner was only at the eighth level of Qi Refining when they died. As for the cause of death, the last entry said they were going down the mountain to train the next day; they probably met with danger and died, leading to an unfinished story.

Pei Shaoqing felt refreshed. Let this idiot waste his cultivation with his head full of women and masturbation—good riddance!

"Knock, knock, knock!" At this moment, a knock on the door sounded.

Pei Shaoqing happened to put down the diary, "Come in."

Gongsun Yi pushed the door and entered, "Young Master."

"Find an opportunity to kill Wang Xianling in the next few days, and do it cleanly," Pei Shaoqing said straight to the point.

He did not hold grudges; he took revenge as soon as possible. Wang Xianling colluded with Battalion Commander Zheng to harm him, so he was already asking for death!

Killing this person now would be perfect to push onto the Xuanhuang Sect.

After all, the Xuanhuang Sect had a criminal record of killing county magistrates.

If it weren't for the fact that he still needed Battalion Commander Zheng to take the blame and use his head to claim credit, he would have wanted Gongsun Yi to kill him too.

"Ah!" Gongsun Yi raised his head in astonishment.

A court official asking me to kill a court official?

Pei Shaoqing did not explain, "Go do it."

"Yes!" Gongsun Yi could only agree, but he didn't rush to leave, instead saying, "Young Master, there is one more thing to report. Lan'er has already agreed to stay, but my wife also wants to stay for a while to take care of her."

Yo, didn't expect a double blessing!

Although he didn't have designs on his subordinate's wife, having such a beautiful woman around to look at was fine too.

Plus, with two hostages in hand, he felt more at ease.

Pei Shaoqing said with a half-smile, "Miss Zhao is afraid that I am a lecher, so Madam Gongsun is staying because she is worried, right? Then Sect Leader Gongsun, are you so at ease letting your wife stay by the side of a lecher like me?"

"Young Master is truly joking. What kind of woman can you not get? Why would you take a fancy to my wife's plain appearance?" Gongsun Yi replied without changing his expression.

Pei Shaoqing narrowed his eyes slightly.

He didn't believe Gongsun Yi didn't know how beautiful his wife was, and he believed even less that he couldn't see his own lecherous nature, yet he was still at ease letting his wife stay, and could even remain so calm in the face of his slightly offensive words.

Either he was extremely deep in schemes, or he didn't care that much about his wife and had something he cared about more in his heart.

Interesting.

"If you want to stay, then stay. Madam Gongsun staying is just one more pair of chopsticks at mealtime."

Gongsun Yi immediately said, "Thank you, Young Master."

He took in Pei Shaoqing's reaction and felt that his junior sister was truly overthinking it. How could Young Master Pei have designs on a married woman of her age? Clearly, only a girl in the bloom of youth like Lan'er could attract him.

If Pei Shaoqing really did take a fancy to his junior sister...

Gongsun Yi imagined it... He froze halfway through the thought because he suddenly realized that the moment he truly started imagining such a thing, it meant he didn't mind it that much and didn't feel his junior sister was inviolable.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even have thought about it at all.

How could this be?

His junior sister was clearly the person he cared about most!

For the first time, he felt bewildered and his thoughts were in chaos.

"By the way, tell Wang Xianling for me that it is a pity he won't be able to drink the celebratory wine for my catching the true culprit of the Mo Fu case. Also, I will eradicate the Xuan Sect rebels in Tongzhou to avenge him." Pei Shaoqing frowned as he watched him daze off, his tone involuntarily rising a notch.

Gongsun Yi came back to his senses and replied, "Yes!"

Although he did not know what grievances Pei Shaoqing and Wang Xianling had, he did not want to pry into the inside story.

As a veteran of the pugilistic world.

He knew deeply that the more one knows, the faster one dies.

"Work well for me, I never treat my own people unfairly; on the day you leave, I will prepare a generous gift for you," Pei Shaoqing said earnestly.

Gongsun Yi immediately pledged his loyalty, "Please rest assured, Young Master, as long as you can help me revitalize the Iron Sword Sect, I will not refuse even if it means going through fire and water for you!"

Pei Shaoqing understood that in Gongsun Yi's heart, his beloved wife and beloved disciples all ranked behind his obsession with revitalizing the sect.

Knowing the bottom line, it was easy to manipulate him.

He waved his hand to dismiss him.

After Gongsun Yi left, Pei Shaoqing had no heart to continue reading that simp diary, and prepared to stroll through Tongzhou at night.

He called Xie Qingwu to go along.

(End of this chapter)