A Second Visit, an Invitation from Prison Dragon County's County Magistrate

The next morning.

The doors of the Daoist temple where Fan Wu stayed were once again pounded hard, the banging rousing him from sleep.

His first thought upon waking was that the things his swindler master had done had been exposed!

The people who had been cheated out of their money had come to settle the score!

Fan Wu instantly sobered up and, almost on instinct, drew the nearly two-meter Demon-Slaying Sword.

Ready to go out and kill until heaven and earth went dark.

Then leave Prison Dragon County.

However... after adding points, his five senses had become exceptionally sharp. From within his bedroom, he heard an anxious voice outside—

"Daoist Master Fan! Daoist Master Fan! Something terrible has happened! Something terrible happened last night!"

"Daoist Master Fan!!!"

It was Constable Liu's voice. He sounded frantic, even somewhat panicked and afraid.

It seemed to have little to do with his swindler master.

Fan Wu realized he had been overthinking it.

As though nothing had happened, he sheathed his sword, changed into a Daoist robe that felt a little ill-fitting, quickly washed his face and rinsed his mouth.

Then he went out with his sword.

The moment the temple gates opened, Fan Wu saw Constable Liu, along with a group of Runners who looked very familiar to him.

They were the group from last night.

Every one of them looked frightened, with dark circles under their eyes.

At a glance, it was obvious that after Fan Wu had returned to the Daoist temple last night, something strange had happened that had scared them into staying awake all night.

"Daoist Master, you finally came out!" The moment Constable Liu saw Fan Wu, he was warmer than if he had seen his own father. He stepped forward and grabbed Fan Wu's Daoist robe, tears and snot streaming down his face.

Perhaps because Constable Liu's profession was rather special, the instant he laid hands on him, Fan Wu had wanted to draw his sword and chop him down.

Fan Wu even imagined Constable Liu pulling out a pair of silver bracelets to put on him.

Fortunately, nothing like that happened.

"Daoist Master Fan, that evil ghost, that evil ghost is far too fierce! You didn't destroy it last night—it's still there!" Constable Liu spoke at a breakneck pace. "Last night, my men and I took that pair of shackles back to the County Yamen, and then the County Yamen became haunted!!"

"What means do we have to deal with ghosts? We could only hurry out of the County Yamen and run to the nearest Land God Temple. We didn't even dare come find you in the middle of the night, Daoist Master, afraid that the evil ghost might block our path."

"We didn't dare close our eyes for a single moment last night. Only when daylight came did we dare leave the Land God Temple and report this matter to the County Magistrate."

Hearing this, Fan Wu did not respond immediately. He was analyzing the information Constable Liu had revealed.

The County Yamen had become haunted last night?

Constable Liu and the others suspected it was that Blue-faced Water Ghost?

Impossible!

That Blue-faced Water Ghost had already been blasted apart by him. Even the Golden Finger's prompt had appeared, and he had received the attribute points.

Fan Wu recalled the strange talismanic inscriptions he had found on the Blue-faced Water Ghost's battered shackles last night.

At the time, he had suspected...

Could the Blue-faced Water Ghost have been more than it seemed?

Now, combined with the strange incident at the County Yamen that Constable Liu had described, Fan Wu was certain his guess had been right.

Damn it!

How could things keep happening one after another in a remote dump like Prison Dragon County?

He had only wanted to stay in Prison Dragon County for one day, then collect the reward the County Magistrate had promised him.

After that, he would use those rewards as travel funds for the road out of Prison Dragon County.

Yet after staying one day, trouble had actually cropped up again.

And it involved demons, monsters, ghosts, and spirits.

When Constable Liu saw that Fan Wu had not spoken, he assumed he had not said enough and hurriedly continued, "After the County Magistrate learned of this, he ordered us to invite every cultivator in Prison Dragon County to destroy the ghost in the County Yamen."

"His Excellency also said that whichever expert can destroy the ghost in the County Yamen will be rewarded with five hundred taels of silver from the County Yamen, as well as twenty mu of fertile land..."

"Though I shouldn't gossip about the County Magistrate, I feel that His Excellency now seems somewhat afraid to return to the County Yamen."

"And the first accomplished expert in Prison Dragon County I thought of... was you, Daoist Master!"

"That is why I came specifically to invite you to descend the mountain once more."

Constable Liu spoke with great caution. Clearly, Fan Wu's fierce conduct last night had left an extremely deep impression on him.

Well, thank you very much indeed!

I was the first person you thought of!

Fan Wu wanted nothing more than to twist Constable Liu's head around a few times.

But in order to maintain his identity as the true disciple of an accomplished master, he had no choice but to put on what he believed was a spring-breeze smile.

And force himself to smile as he said, "I am certain that the Blue-faced Water Ghost from last night had its soul scattered and dissipated. What you encountered in the County Yamen may have been something else."

Constable Liu suddenly understood and did not doubt the truth of Fan Wu's words in the slightest.

He slapped his hand hard and cried, "I knew it! With Daoist Master Fan's abilities, how could you possibly fail to kill that evil ghost!"

"Hiss! But if, as you say, Daoist Master, it was something else... could it also be some wronged soul or ghostly monster? Daoist Master, do you think my luck has been bad lately? Why do I keep running into this kind of thing?"

"Perhaps your luck has simply been poor these past few days." Fan Wu answered vaguely, then thought of something and asked, "Are the shackles you took back to the County Yamen still there?"

Constable Liu froze, then scratched his head in embarrassment and answered somewhat awkwardly, "I... I didn't dare go back and look, so I don't know whether they're still there... After all, I'm only an ordinary man."

"How about it, Daoist Master? Could you grant me a protective talisman? I... I can pay silver for it!"

Constable Liu was truly terrified.

He was not afraid while he stayed beside Fan Wu, because he knew Fan Wu was powerful and truly capable of killing ghosts.

But he could not stay beside Fan Wu for the rest of his life, could he?

He still had to return home and care for his wife and children, didn't he?

Constable Liu feared that one night, while walking home alone, he might encounter something unclean.

That would cost him his life!

Fan Wu glanced sideways.

He caught a key word.

Silver!

That was exactly what he lacked!

"Fine!" Fan Wu did not waste words. Just because he could not draw a truly lethal talisman did not mean he had no way of making something capable of protecting someone.

The materials were simple: a worthless sheet of talisman paper plus a small handful of incense-burner ash.

And it was done.

The talisman paper was useless, but the incense-burner ash had proven useful last night.

With this so-called "protective talisman," Fan Wu successfully obtained his first funds for fleeing—fifteen taels of silver.

Although Constable Liu was a Constable in Prison Dragon County, Prison Dragon County itself was not a wealthy place. This was already two months of Constable Liu's salary!

The remaining Runners could only look on enviously.

They simply had no money to buy protective talismans.

With a protective talisman in hand, Constable Liu finally gained a bit of courage, though that courage was not directed at Fan Wu.

Instead, when speaking to Fan Wu, his tone became even more fawning than before. "This way, Daoist Master. We'll lead you to the County Yamen right away. The County Magistrate may already be getting anxious from waiting."

After hearing this.

Fan Wu, realizing it would be difficult to get away, could only carefully put away the fifteen taels of silver and follow Constable Liu and the others to the County Yamen.

Fan Wu had his own considerations as well.

Constable Liu had just said that the County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County had been so frightened that he had invited every accomplished expert in the county.

Didn't that mean...

That all sorts of people from every walk of life would certainly gather at the County Yamen, among whom there should be genuine experts!

In that case...

He could coast along and muddle through.

Mm!

Perfect!