Fellow Daoist Fan, Did You Take the True Martial Great Emperor's Sword?

"Fellow Daoist Fan, that water ghost you destroyed last night must have been raised through an evil art!" After hearing Fan Wu's brief account, Yang Yizi drew a deep breath and spoke gravely.

He paused, then continued in a low voice, "The strange incident at the County Yamen last night must have been caused by the one who raised ghosts through evil arts. His purpose... may have been to obtain those shackles!"

"He only scared away the Runners last night and failed to take the shackles. Perhaps it was because he was using an evil art as well. His evil art happened to trigger the Imperial Qi of the Dynasty protecting the County Yamen, and the Imperial Qi stopped him."

"He was willing to risk being suppressed and killed by the Imperial Qi just to take those shackles... which means this item is especially important to him!"

"He must have been too hasty last night and insufficiently prepared, which was why he failed to take the shackles. He may strike again tonight!"

"And his preparations tonight may be far more thorough!"

"He may even ignore the Imperial Qi of the Dynasty!!"

After a brief bout of thought, Yang Yizi voiced his speculation.

Just as he finished speaking, Yang Yizi suddenly came to a realization and cried out, "So that's how it is! Fellow Daoist Fan brought us to the Archive Vault to warn us about this, didn't you? Fellow Daoist Fan must have known all this long ago, right?"

"Alas, this old Daoist was muddleheaded. It took me so long to think of these things—I even needed Fellow Daoist Fan's prompting before I could figure them out."

Oh! So I knew all of this!

Fan Wu's mouth twitched.

"So that bastard will come again, perhaps tonight? Damn it! Does that madman not know that the money-grubbing County Magistrate has invited all the experts of Prison Dragon County?" The Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple snorted coldly. "If he dares step into the County Yamen tonight, this Buddha will make sure he never returns!"

Yang Yizi was somewhat worried. "In this old Daoist's view, if he truly dares come tonight, that means his strength is not weak—perhaps he is even very powerful. We must not let down our guard."

"What is there to fear? Back when this Buddha was a bandit in the mountains, I killed... cough!"

The Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple swiftly stopped himself, pressed his palms together, and assumed a compassionate expression. "Amitabha. With Daoist Master Yang Yizi here, and this humble monk, the Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple, what evil demon or Outer Dao could possibly stand against us?"

"Besides, Daoist Master Fan is here as well. Daoist Master Yang Yizi, you may worry that the two of us are no match for that evil cultivator, but do not forget that Daoist Master Fan is here to hold the fort!"

Hearing this, Yang Yizi's tightly furrowed brow finally eased somewhat, and he even smiled. "True, true."

He looked at Fan Wu and said earnestly, "Fellow Daoist Fan, let the three of us join hands and slay that evil cultivator! We cultivators learned these skills for this very day, did we not?"

Fan Wu said, "...Yes."

Those two had built the atmosphere up to this point, so that was the only word he could squeeze out.

After all, shrinking back in a situation like this would expose him.

Heaven knew how those two had such confidence in Fan Wu. Just how had his swindler master fooled these two enormous suckers so thoroughly back then?

"Yue Qing, Yue Feng!" Yang Yizi immediately said. "You two, assist your master in setting up the altar and casting the rites!"

The two Daoist acolytes hurriedly nodded.

The Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple was unwilling to be outdone as well. He spoke to the two brawny Warrior Monks behind him, "You know what to do when that madman appears, don't you? Break both of that bastard's legs for this Buddha!"

"Yes, Abbot."

At present.

The only two people in the County Yamen who had not spoken were the two wandering swindlers who had slipped in.

The moment those two wandering swindlers saw this scene, their faces turned pale with fright.

They had only come to Prison Dragon County to fool a few gullible fools and scrape together a meal.

They did not want to catch ghosts!

Nor did they want to catch people!

The two of them were completely ordinary people. Even the Daoist robes on their backs were fake, and they did not possess the slightest trace of spiritual power. Having run into something like this, were they not doomed?

The two swindlers' faces were deathly pale.

They exchanged glances, then their legs gave way beneath them in unison. With a thud, they dropped to their knees.

"Masters! Daoist Masters! We were wrong! We're not Daoists, we can't catch ghosts, and we don't want to run into ghosts!"

Their faces were drawn with misery, and even their voices trembled with fear.

"Get out, get out, get out! Don't stand here offending this Buddha's eyes!" The Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple drove them away without the slightest courtesy. But he quickly added, "This Buddha is not telling you to simply leave. What this Buddha means is that you must confess your identities to the Runners outside."

The fat-headed monk narrowed his eyes, his tone brimming with threat. "If I find out you did not do so, your fate... will be even worse than being thrown into prison."

He did not look like an eminent monk who had attained the Dao at all. He looked more like a street thug draped in a kasaya.

What kind of proper eminent monk called himself "this Buddha" every other sentence?

What kind of proper eminent monk threatened others with such words?

The two swindlers turned even paler at the threats and hurriedly scrambled out on hands and feet.

Fan Wu simply ignored these two genuine fellow tradesmen.

Fan Wu knew very well that if he did not want to end up like them, or if he wanted to obtain travel money to slip away from Prison Dragon County by legitimate means... then he had to spend the night at the County Yamen.

Time.

Passed.

The County Yamen was very quiet at night. Last night, a group of Runners had been in the County Yamen. Tonight, there were three Daoists, three monks, and one fake Daoist.

That fake Daoist was naturally Fan Wu.

As for the County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County, the County Assistant, and the others?

They did not dare linger outside at night, much less enter the County Yamen.

A strange incident had occurred in the County Yamen last night!

How could they dare come in to spend the night?

The people inside the County Yamen had already made thorough preparations. Yang Yizi and his two disciples had set up a ritual altar before the Archive Vault.

A yellow cloth hung from the altar, draping down on all four sides.

On each of the four sides—front, back, left, and right—was a Bagua yin-yang diagram.

One ritual implement after another had been placed atop the altar table.

Peachwood swords, Five Emperors coins, Bagua mirrors, and more—it had everything.

Nothing was missing.

Yang Yizi had changed out of his plain Daoist robe and into a dark-yellow ritual robe. The robe did not seem to be made from ordinary cloth; one could tell at a glance that it was anything but simple.

Yang Yizi stood straight behind the altar, holding a peachwood sword in his hands, his eyes closed.

The green smoke rising from the incense burning atop the altar curled around his aged face.

Yang Yizi's two disciples stood at his left and right.

The two young Daoist acolytes had removed their upper garments.

Their exposed skin was covered in talismans drawn with cinnabar ink.

Each held a peachwood sword. It was clear from their expressions that the two Daoist acolytes were extremely nervous.

Dong!

Dong!

Dong!

The sound of the wooden fish being struck was perhaps the only particularly distinct sound within the County Yamen.

The Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple sat cross-legged in meditation, lightly striking the wooden fish with his left hand while holding a string of prayer beads in his right.

His mouth opened and closed, as though he were silently reciting the true scriptures of Buddhism.

The two Warrior Monks were covered from head to toe in dark golden powder.

At a glance, they resembled two bronze statues.

The two of them sat in meditation as well, accompanying the Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple as they silently recited Buddhist sutras.

The slightly pungent scent of incense smoke in the air, along with the rhythmic tapping of the wooden fish...

Seemed to add several degrees of tension to the atmosphere in the County Yamen out of thin air.

Do not be fooled by the Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple's daytime contempt for evil cultivators.

Right now, he looked as though he were facing a formidable enemy.

One could imagine that, in their eyes, the enemy they would face tonight was absolutely a great enemy.

As for Fan Wu...

He had prepared nothing at all.

He was not chanting sutras.

Nor had he set up an altar.

Fan Wu directly hauled out the large chair that the County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County usually sat in during court proceedings.

He now sat boldly in that chair, with the Northern Black Chi Gun Horn Demon-Slaying Valiant Sword planted against the ground.

Fan Wu noticed someone looking at him and followed that gaze.

He discovered that Yang Yizi, who had been resting with his eyes closed, had somehow opened one eye.

And that eye of Yang Yizi's kept occasionally glancing in his direction.

"...Fellow Daoist Fan, I did not notice it earlier, but your sword looks very familiar!" Yang Yizi finally could not hold back any longer and quietly asked, "Did you take the True Martial Demon-Quelling Great Emperor's..."

Before he could finish, a bone-chilling yin wind swept through the entire County Yamen!

The lanterns hanging beneath the County Yamen's eaves...

All went out at that instant!

It had come!