Swift Case Solving, Eliminating Harm for the People

As the strongmen carried the boxes out, their faces beamed with joy. Wang Meng sidled up to Su Fei and lowered his voice.

"Lord Su, with this assignment, the brothers are likely to make a fortune."

Su Fei clapped him on the shoulder and chuckled heartily.

"It's what they deserve. Come, let's head back to the Thousand Households Office to report."

The group escorted the confiscated goods back to the Qingzhou Thousand Households Office.

As the procession neared the gate of the Thousand Households Office, the thunderous sound of gongs and drums filled the air.

Su Fei reined in his horse and looked up, seeing that the open space in front of the office was packed with people.

The thirty-odd men and women at the front held red-silk-wrapped plaques, followed by a dozen children.

These children were the ones Su Fei had rescued.

Their parents had brought them to express their gratitude to Su Fei.

Several men were banging copper gongs, and two old men were playing suonas.

"It's Lord Su, Lord Su is back!"

Someone in the crowd recognized Su Fei and shouted, eliciting cheers.

The man at the forefront, holding a plaque with both hands, quickly walked to Su Fei's horse.

With a "plop," he knelt on the ground. The men, women, and children behind him also knelt in unison, startling Su Fei, who quickly dismounted.

"General Banner Officer Su, you found all the children. You are the reborn parents of our entire families."

A sallow-faced man, choking back tears, held the plaque above his head. The red silk slipped off, revealing the eight characters: "Swift Case Solving, Eliminating Harm for the People."

"If you hadn't saved our children from that fiery pit, we wouldn't have been able to live the rest of our lives."

A small child broke free from an embrace and ran to Su Fei's feet, holding up a maltose candy wrapped in a lotus leaf with a small, upturned face.

"Lord Su, this is sweet, here you go."

Su Fei bent down to take the maltose candy. It was warm to the touch, clearly having been held close by the child.

He patted the child's head, looking at the faces filled with gratitude around him. The parents' eyes were red-rimmed, some with dark circles from sleepless nights, but they all looked at him with smiles of relief after surviving a disaster.

"Please, everyone, rise!"

Su Fei helped the person in front of him up and then addressed the crowd.

"Apprehending criminals, protecting the common people, and safeguarding Qingzhou is the duty of the Imperial Guard. It's nothing worth mentioning!"

"Your duty? But to us, you are a living Bodhisattva."

An old woman with white hair, leaning on her cane, stepped forward and tremblingly placed a cloth bundle into Su Fei's hand.

"This is a Peace Talisman that this old woman embroidered overnight. General Banner Officer Su, please carry it with you, and may you have peace every year and promotion with every step."

Inside the cloth bundle were ten small brocade pouches sewn from red cloth, each containing a Peace Talisman.

Seeing this, the people around them also began to offer the gifts they had prepared.

Hearing the commotion.

The Imperial Guards inside the Thousand Households Office all rushed out. Captain Li stood inside the gate, watching the scene, stroking his beard and smiling.

Thousand Households Commander Feng walked to the porch, looking at Su Fei, who was surrounded by the common people. A hint of admiration flashed in his eyes.

"Everyone, please rise. I accept the plaque and appreciate your sentiments, but I cannot accept these gifts."

Someone in the crowd grew anxious.

"If General Banner Officer Su doesn't accept, it means you look down on us and think we're poor."

The people around them echoed this sentiment, and the children surrounded him, chanting playfully, "Lord Su, please accept!"

Su Fei looked at the crowd before him and had no choice but to say.

"Alright, I accept all your kind intentions, but I must say, the peace of Qingzhou City is not the achievement of just me alone; it is the result of the united efforts of the entire Imperial Guard."

"Excellent!" Thunderous cheers erupted from the crowd. The gongs and drums sounded again, this time with a more joyous rhythm.

Su Fei had the strongmen carry the plaque into the Thousand Households Office, while he himself held the package of Peace Talismans, watching as the crowd gradually dispersed.

He had only solved a case, and he never expected to be thanked by so many people.

Three days later, at a bright and sunny noon.

The area around the execution ground was already packed to the brim.

The common people craned their necks, stretching to see the figure bound in the center of the high platform.

Wan Mengchang, the former glorious leader of the Golden Saber Society, now had disheveled hair, his prisoner's clothes stained with dirt, and his eyes held a hint of unwillingness.

On the ground around the platform, many rotten vegetable leaves remained, indicating that the act of kicking someone when they're down was a favorite pastime of commoners in every world.

The supervising official on the platform, seeing that the time was near, picked up his teacup and took a sip to moisten his throat.

"Time is up."

The executioner stepped forward, carrying the executioner's saber.

He spat into his palm, gripped the saber handle tightly with both hands, and stared at Wan Mengchang.

The supervising execution officer spoke.

"Wan Mengchang, you harmed children, extracted their vital essence for alchemy, and colluded with the major demonic sect, the Blood Sea Cult. You are to be executed today. Do you have any last words?"

Wan Mengchang's throat bobbed, and his dry, cracked lips moved.

"I am not convinced. I only wanted to break through to a higher realm. What did I do wrong?"

The supervising execution officer showed impatience.

"Stubborn and unrepentant, execute!"

Upon hearing the order, the executioner raised the executioner's saber.

The saber flashed.

The next second, blood gushed from Wan Mengchang's neck like a fountain, staining the execution platform red.

When the white-haired head rolled off the high platform and the body fell to the ground, the crowd was first met with a deathly silence, which then erupted into thunderous cheers.

"Good, well killed."

"Thanks to the Imperial Guard's Lord Su for eliminating harm for the people."

Su Fei stood at the back of the crowd. Seeing that Wan Mengchang was dead, he left.

He didn't join the cheers.

From the silver confiscated from Wan Mengchang's home, he, as the leading General Banner Officer, received five to six hundred taels himself.

Having been in the Imperial Guard for only a few days, he had already accumulated nearly a thousand taels of silver.

If this were his previous life, he would have been a millionaire.

If this continued, he would have to start looking for a bigger residence.

When the news of Wan Mengchang's execution spread throughout Qingzhou City, the common people clapped their hands in delight.

As soon as Su Fei returned to the Thousand Households Office, he received a new mission.

To investigate a group of members of the evil path who had been active in Qingzhou Prefecture.

The Four Demons of the Northern Region.

It was said that mountain residents had discovered their tracks in a desolate mountain outside the city.

Captain Ling asked Su Fei to go and investigate to verify the authenticity of the clue.

These Four Demons of the Northern Region were infamous.

Therefore, Su Fei did not bring any subordinates or strongmen with him; he chose to investigate alone.

Upon arriving at the desolate mountain, Su Fei investigated. There were indeed traces of people having lived nearby, but they were gone now.

They must have left.

Su Fei was not annoyed by the empty trip.

In the evening, on his way back, Su Fei passed through a forest when twenty-odd figures suddenly emerged.

They were all dressed in black and masked, each holding a fine steel hand crossbow.

They aimed at Su Fei.

Su Fei observed them.

These were actually the Gale Crossbows, standard issue for the Great Xuan army.

The materials used in their production were controlled.

Ordinary people had never even heard of such a thing, yet these people had twenty-odd of them, clearly indicating an unusual origin.

The black-clothed man at the forefront had no intention of exchanging pleasantries with Su Fei and simply gave a low command.

"Fire!"

The sound of mechanisms rang out.

More than twenty crossbow bolts whizzed out, shooting towards Su Fei's entire body.

Like a torrential downpour, they were about to land on him. In such a situation, ordinary True Qi Realm martial artists would be unable to resist and would be shot full of holes.

Even Xiantian Realm martial artists would be severely injured.

If they were unlucky, they would die on the spot.

Su Fei calmly circulated his True Qi.

A powerful Xiantian True Essence erupted.

He unleashed the Dragon Catching Skill at the Perfection Realm.