Li Mubai? A Spirit Hall Elder? The City Guard Office Chief Panicked!

(P.S. Brothers, I tested positive for COVID. I won't split today's release into chapters; here's one big four-thousand-character chapter. The author's seeing stars and freezing all over right now. I don't know if it's COVID or a cold from not wearing long johns. Don't be like me, everyone. Make sure you wear your long johns!)

"Someone, get a carriage ready!"

Bibi Dong stepped out of the bathroom.

Through a white gauze curtain,

her slender waist, the faint outlines of her majestic peaks, and her long legs were on full display.

"Yes!"

A maid's reply came from outside the room.

A flurry of hurried footsteps followed, gradually fading into the distance.

Creak...

The door opened.

Bibi Dong was now dressed in a white gown threaded with gold.

The gown was not loose.

On the contrary,

it was somewhat form-fitting around the upper body, perfectly showing off Bibi Dong's curvaceous figure.

The skirt was slit from the thigh down.

With every step,

a length of her long, snow-white, shapely leg was revealed.

Finally, she added a pair of crystal high heels.

An air of pure, untainted elegance emerged at once, making her look like a fairy.

This outfit,

paired with Bibi Dong's breathtaking face, was as stunning as a fleeting glimpse of a swan in flight, too beautiful to take in!

"Your Holiness, the carriage is ready."

Footsteps sounded.

The maid bowed and stood respectfully before Bibi Dong, reporting to her.

Though the maid kept her head lowered, a look of amazement still flashed across her face.

Bibi Dong's breathtaking appearance had stunned her!

Even though she was a woman herself, she could still be amazed by a more beautiful woman.

"Mm, let's go."

Bibi Dong nodded, her expression cold.

The two then headed out of the Pope's Hall.

At the thought that her subordinates had even arrested Li Mubai, an elder,

Bibi Dong couldn't help feeling a surge of annoyance.

These people must have eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gall! They even dared arrest one of her people...!

Spirit City.

The City Guard Office.

Li Mubai followed Xiao Li inside.

At the same time,

Ye Lao'er of the Wild Wolf Gang also entered the City Guard Office with them.

In Xiao Li's words, it was euphemistically called "assisting with the investigation."

This official didn't care who was right or wrong, or who had acted first. He simply took them back to the City Guard Office before deciding anything.

Li Mubai could guess his true intentions. He merely wanted to use his privileges to fleece people and skim off some profit.

Couldn't one see Xiao Li's round belly?

All that came from eating!

Someone treated him to a meal here today, someone invited him for tea there tomorrow, and someone else would invite him to watch dancers a few days later.

With such a lavish, corrupt life, it would have been strange if his belly weren't big!

"Follow me!"

As soon as they stepped through the gates of the City Guard Office,

Xiao Li put on a swagger, and his tone grew forceful.

As he spoke, he put on the full airs of an official and began giving Li Mubai orders.

Li Mubai frowned.

He didn't argue, instead quietly doing as Xiao Li said.

He also wanted to see what kind of den of wolves and tigers this City Guard Office was, and what shady dealings went on inside.

Since he had grown a little interested in reforming Spirit Hall,

he naturally needed to understand what things were like at the very lowest level.

After all,

practice was the sole criterion for testing truth!

There was also this:

a towering building rose from level ground.

The strength of its foundation determined how high it could rise.

Li Mubai was not the sort to swallow insults in silence.

The reason he was acting this way

was that someone would deal with these people later.

Naturally, there was no need for him to make a move.

For now, he only had to wait for the person who would deal with them to appear.

And while he waited,

he needed to uncover the problems in these grassroots departments.

Soon,

Li Mubai followed Xiao Li into an interrogation room.

As for Ye Lao of the Wild Wolf Gang,

he was still outside the door.

Bang!

Xiao Li casually shut the door,

leaving Ye Lao'er outside the interrogation room.

However,

there was a small glass window in the door.

One could see what was happening inside the interrogation room from outside.

"Name!"

Holding an interrogation register in one hand and raising his pen with the other, Xiao Li asked with a swagger.

"Li Mubai."

Li Mubai answered calmly, his face as serene as ever, without a trace of fear.

"Li Mubai?"

A look of suspicion appeared on Xiao Li's face.

He kept feeling that the name sounded familiar.

But after thinking carefully for a moment, he still couldn't remember where he had heard it.

So he paid it no further mind.

"Sex!"

"Can't you see?"

"Cut the crap. Answer whatever I ask you, and stop fucking yapping at me."

As he spoke,

flecks of Xiao Li's spit flew everywhere.

Li Mubai could only turn his head aside to dodge the magic damage.

Seeing Li Mubai remain silent,

Xiao Li couldn't help looking pleased.

Here? I'm the boss, I'm the heavens. Even if you're stronger than me, you still have to bow your head and submit!

Xiao Li thoroughly enjoyed the feeling.

As for Li Mubai,

he silently added another label to Xiao Li in his mind: extremely vicious attitude.

When that important person arrived, both old and new scores would be settled together!

In truth, Xiao Li wasn't stupid.

The reason he dared treat Li Mubai this way

was also that

he had discovered there was no powerful person like Li Mubai among the people he remembered he mustn't provoke.

Outsiders entering Spirit City, whether ordinary people or powerful Soul Masters, had to register their names and strength at the city entrance.

So Xiao Li had memorized the names of the powerful people on those registers.

One could say

he knew their names as smoothly as melons rolling off a vine.

It was all to prevent him from accidentally offending one of those powerful people someday.

Xiao Li wasn't stupid.

He also knew... one should pick the soft persimmons to squeeze.

And after comparing the two,

he found that Li Mubai wasn't among them, so he naturally let himself go and began throwing his weight around as an official.

In fact,

what Xiao Li didn't know was that

the circumstances of Li Mubai's arrival in Spirit City had been unusual.

He had entered with a member of the Guard Corps, so he hadn't registered.

With Li Mubai's low-key nature on top of that,

naturally,

Xiao Li knew nothing about him.

He only assumed Li Mubai was a minor character amid the sea of people in Spirit City.

"Cultivation level!"

"Level forty."

Hearing this,

Xiao Li couldn't help secretly rejoicing. Just as I thought!

Given his position, couldn't he handle a level-forty Soul Master however he pleased?

He didn't believe Li Mubai was hiding his abilities.

After all,

in this world where strength reigned supreme,

everyone who committed an offense and ended up in the City Guard Office wished they could claim a higher cultivation level.

Who would be foolish enough to deliberately claim a lower cultivation level?

No one!

Soon,

the questioning was over.

As for the cause of the conflict between the two sides, Xiao Li didn't even bother asking.

Instead, he simply made up an account himself.

However,

he didn't have Li Mubai press his fingerprint on it.

That was because they still had to wait for Ye Lao'er to give his statement, and only after the two were put together could Li Mubai press his fingerprint.

In truth,

there was another procedure Xiao Li hadn't carried out.

That was the strength test.

In his view, Li Mubai's strength was only around level forty.

After all, the Wild Wolf Gang's second-in-command was only at level thirty-something.

Since Li Mubai had been able to knock him unconscious, it was only natural that he was somewhat stronger.

Moreover,

Ye Lao'er hadn't mentioned that Li Mubai had knocked Ye Laoda unconscious with a single slap.

If he made Li Mubai sound too strong...

Xiao Li would have had no way to help him deal with Li Mubai.

And now,

Ye Lao'er stood outside the door, peering into the interrogation room with a hesitant expression.

He was worried that Li Mubai was too strong...

The interrogation was over.

Li Mubai summed up the City Guard Office in a single sentence.

Wasn't it a textbook protective umbrella for a criminal organization?!

Wasn't it a textbook protective umbrella for a criminal organization?!

The reason he came to that conclusion

was that

Li Mubai had discovered that Xiao Li had actually failed to ask the most crucial question.

Namely: what had caused the fight between the two sides!

What would happen if he didn't ask?

Wouldn't Xiao Li be free to fill it in however he pleased?

When the time came, he could pin any seemingly "reasonable" charge on him.

Then he could use a few methods to force him to confess and press his fingerprint onto the statement.

Wouldn't that amount to framing him?

As the saying went:

Give a dog a bad name and hang him!

After asking a few basic questions,

Xiao Li walked out of the interrogation room, casually closing the door behind him and locking it from the outside, effectively placing Li Mubai under house arrest.

"Officer, what cultivation level is he?"

As soon as Xiao Li came out, Ye Lao'er hurriedly asked in a low voice.

"A level-forty Soul Master."

Ye Lao'er had given him gifts before, and as for such a simple question,

Xiao Li answered it casually enough.

But if it had been someone else, Xiao Li would certainly have strung him along for a bit.

In another interrogation room,

Ye Lao'er soon finished giving his statement as well.

But just as with Li Mubai, Xiao Li didn't ask him what had caused the conflict.

"Officer, you haven't asked what caused the conflict yet."

Sitting in the chair, Ye Lao'er reminded him in a humble tone.

Hearing that,

Xiao Li laughed, then said mysteriously:

"That part is very important. It determines how both sides will be dealt with, so we can't be careless about it. As for what ultimately gets written down, that depends on your sincerity."

After saying that, Xiao Li went out the door, leaving Ye Lao'er standing there in a daze.

This time, however,

the interrogation room door

was left open.

Damn it, this place really is a den of bloodsuckers!

That dagger was already worth a fortune, and that bastard still wants more!

He really is a fucking piece of shit!

Ye Lao'er cursed indignantly in his heart.

However,

no matter how unhappy he was,

he didn't have the guts to say those words to Xiao Li's face.

He feared that if he did, Xiao Li would immediately pin some charge on him, detain him there, and lock him up for ten days or half a month.

With no other choice,

Ye Lao'er had to go out and find the boss,

because the boss held the Wild Wolf Gang's purse strings.

If he wanted to punish Li Mubai, he had no choice but to ask the boss for something valuable.

With that thought,

Ye Lao'er got up and left.

But just after he stepped out, he ran into a fat middle-aged man in the hall. The man's head was shiny with oil, without a single hair on it.

"Hello, Director Li."

At the sight of the greasy, bald middle-aged man, Ye Lao'er's face immediately filled with smiles.

"You are..."

Director Li found Ye Lao'er somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember who he was.

"Director Li, this is Ye Lao'er of the Wild Wolf Gang."

Xiao Li respectfully reminded him from the side.

"Ye Lao'er?"

Director Li remained hesitant, unable to remember.

"Yes, yes, yes. Director Li, we even had a meal together a couple of days ago."

Xiao Li laughed it off at the side.

"Oh... so it's you! What brings you to the City Guard Office?"

Director Li still hadn't actually remembered who Ye Lao'er was.

But he did know the Wild Wolf Gang.

That gang paid the smallest tribute each month.

"It's nothing, Director Li, just some personal grievances."

Ye Lao'er was a little delighted.

He thought

Director Li was asking because he intended to help him.

"Personal grievances? Let me have a look."

Director Li took the register straight from Xiao Li's hands and looked through it.

"Li Mubai... why does that name sound so familiar?"

Looking at the names and basic information recorded in the register, Director Li racked his brains.

He had the feeling he had heard that name somewhere before.

Forget it. He's probably another nobody, just like this Ye Lao'er. Who cares... After thinking for a while, Director Li gave up searching his memory.

"Why hasn't the cause of the conflict been written down?"

After reading for a while, Director Li asked the most important question outright.

Of course he knew why it hadn't been written down.

It was simply because Xiao Li wanted to skim the oil for himself.

But

now that he had seen it, he was bound to want a share of the cup.

As the saying went: finders keep a share!

He happened to be going out that evening to admire the courtesan's dancing, her melodious, lilting singing, and the winding path through the woods.

That sort of thing cost money, and quite a lot of it.

And look,

a sucker had just appeared, hadn't he?

When Xiao Li heard that, his eyelid immediately twitched.

If Director Li got involved, then, given what he was like, Xiao Li definitely wouldn't get a penny of the take.

He hurriedly pulled Director Li over to a corner.

"Director, I noticed your office seemed to be missing a fruit knife. As it happens, I have one here. Why don't you see if it'll do?"

Xiao Li promptly took out the dagger Ye Lao'er had given him.

Director Li took one look

and immediately took a liking to it.

"Xiao Ji, I like this fruit knife very much!"

Director Li could hardly bear to put it down.

Then he put the dagger away and put on a solemn expression.

"Right, I have something else to do, so I'll be going. I'll leave this to you; I know it's in good hands!"

Having received the benefit,

Director Li immediately beamed.

The dagger was worth quite a bit. His expenses for tonight were covered!

In high spirits, he then left.

At that moment, however,

Xiao Li stared at Ye Lao'er with a dark expression, his eyes burning with anger.

"Why did you have to open your mouth?"

"This..."

Ye Lao'er hadn't expected things to turn out this way either.

He had only been making conversation.

He hadn't expected Director Li to want a bite of this affair too.

He had truly picked up a sesame seed only to lose a watermelon.

And now look.

He had angered Xiao Li, and if he still wanted to punish Li Mubai, he would probably have to pay an even greater price!

Ye Lao'er was full of regret.

Now, all he could do

was return to the gang and ask the boss how to handle the matter.

Meanwhile,

Director Li, who wanted to dance with the courtesan, learned that she had something to attend to and couldn't receive guests for the time being.

At first, he had wanted to throw his official weight around.

But when he learned that she was serving a powerful expert with level-eighty Soul Power,

Director Li could only return home, feeling somewhat bored.

Apart from the courtesan, none of the others caught his discerning eye.

As soon as he got home,

he saw a portrait lying on the living room table.

He casually picked it up and looked at it.

The portrait depicted a young, handsome man.

"Wife, where did this portrait come from?"

After looking at it, Director Li asked in some puzzlement.

A plump woman came out of the room

and explained:

"Didn't the Spirit Hall recently get a new elder? He's the one in the portrait. His name is Li Mubai. This elder is quite handsome, but he's kept such a low profile that it took us this long to learn his name..."

Li Mubai?

Li Mubai!!

Director Li was struck as if by lightning. His eyes went blank, and he froze on the spot.

He could no longer hear what his wife was saying.

His mind was completely stuffed with the name Li Mubai!