"I'll cripple you!!!"
With a roar, he ignored the constables' attempts to dissuade him and drew his blade.
Although infighting was forbidden within the County Yamen, with his background as a member of the Li family, one of the three great Lineages of Qiulin County, he could completely smooth things over afterward.
Right now, all he wanted was to cripple Shen Lin.
His opponent was unarmed, while he held a steel saber. The advantage was his!
With that thought in mind, he swung his saber straight at Shen Lin.
But in the next moment, Shen Lin merely shifted lightly to the side and directly evaded the slash.
After that, no matter how Li Bailin swung his saber, Shen Lin easily dodged every attack.
Although Li Bailin came from a wealthy clan, it was obvious that he had not received any more formidable martial arts from his family. He was still using Blood Battle Saber Technique.
And Shen Lin had already mastered Blood Battle Saber Technique so thoroughly that he could use it with his eyes closed.
Even with his eyes shut, he could evade his opponent's attacks.
Not only that, but in Shen Lin's eyes, the Blood Battle Saber Technique in his opponent's hands was riddled with flaws.
The next moment, Li Bailin swung his saber once more.
This time, however, Shen Lin did not continue dodging. Instead, he probed forward with his foot and lunged in, bending his body low.
Barely avoiding the edge of the saber, he drove a fist into his opponent's abdomen.
Bang!
With a muffled thud, Li Bailin's entire body shuddered. His eyes widened, and he instinctively opened his mouth and vomited sour fluid.
Staggering backward several steps, he fell to the ground, his face twisted in pain.
"Overestimating yourself!"
Shen Lin slowly straightened and sneered.
"You..."
Li Bailin tremblingly raised a finger and pointed at Shen Lin. He had just been about to say something when he suddenly seemed to see something, and his eyes slowly widened.
Although Shen Lin had knocked him off to the side, from this angle he finally saw the profile of the woman in the bathing pool.
The instant he looked over, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He froze where he stood.
"Miss Zijing...?"
Hearing his mutter, the many constables who had been watching from the side immediately erupted.
"Miss Zijing? Miss Zijing???"
"Really?"
"Captain Li has pursued her for so many years without the slightest result, but now... Tsk, tsk. Master Shen really knows how to handle things!!!"
Hearing the constables' discussion, Li Bailin's face instantly turned the color of pig's liver, and he went completely berserk.
"I'll kill you!!!!"
His killing intent surged as he charged straight at Shen Lin, looking ready to stake his life.
Just then, an angry roar came from the doorway.
"All of you, stop!!!"
Sun Zhi's face was slightly pale. His injuries had not yet healed, but he had still hurried over.
Li Bailin seemed not to have heard him at all and showed no intention of stopping.
At that moment, his bloodshot eyes held only Shen Lin.
The outcome, however, was obvious.
Shen Lin effortlessly dodged his wild, unstructured slashes and suddenly drove a knee upward.
With a muffled groan, Li Bailin's body went limp.
Even so, he still refused to give up. Growling, "I'll kill you!" he tried to rise again.
But Sun Zhi suddenly appeared behind him and struck him unconscious with a knife-hand blow.
Sun Zhi glanced helplessly at the unconscious Li Bailin, handed him over to the constables, and said in a deep voice, "This was a misunderstanding. I saw that flying thief before. He was a man."
The constables hurriedly nodded, lifted Li Bailin, and carried him outside.
"What happened to Captain Li?"
Seeing Li Bailin sitting on the County Yamen steps with vacant eyes, staring blankly ahead and continually muttering "Miss Zijing," Steward Qian summoned one of his trusted aides and asked.
The aide held back his laughter and whispered, "Captain Li was investigating that flying thief... Though they say he was investigating, I heard he wanted to frame Master Shen. Who would have thought that he would encounter Miss Zijing of the Wonderful Sound Pavilion at Master Shen's home?"
When Steward Qian heard the words "frame," he first felt a surge of anger. Before he could vent it, however, his attention was drawn away by the latter part.
The Wonderful Sound Pavilion was the most famous pleasure house in Qiulin County, home to many female performers who sold their art but not their bodies.
Miss Zijing was one of the best among them.
She was proficient in the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and had earned the title of Qiulin County's foremost talented beauty.
Steward Qian knew that Miss Zijing had countless admirers, the most famous of whom was Li Bailin.
But...
Steward Qian asked in confusion, "After seeing Miss Zijing, shouldn't his nature have him wagging his tail with joy? How did he end up like this..."
"It was said that Master Shen and Miss Zijing were both naked and bathing together at the time..."
Hearing this, Steward Qian could not help clicking his tongue in amazement.
In Qiulin County, who did not know that Miss Zijing's eyes were set high above her head? During her seven years at the Wonderful Sound Pavilion, countless nobles had thrown around huge sums of money, hoping to marry her.
Yet whether they were wealthy young masters like Li Bailin or the heads of great Lineages, none had managed to win her heart.
Because of the enormous power behind the Wonderful Sound Pavilion, those people also dared not force themselves upon a weak woman.
Now it seemed that Qiulin County's foremost talented beauty had already been quietly won over by that fellow Shen Lin.
"Who would have thought that the recently renowned Captain Sun was merely your cover."
Miss Zijing had put on her clothes and was smiling as she watched the scene before her.
That Captain Sun, who was said to have already broken through to the Meridian Opening Realm, was currently bowing and scraping as he served tea and water to Shen Lin.
Shen Lin smiled and said, "I never thought that the Wonderful Sound Pavilion's top courtesan, Qiulin County's foremost talented beauty, Miss Zijing, would actually be a martial artist in the Meridian Opening Realm—and also the flying thief who recently committed so many major crimes."
Sun Zhi had long harbored his suspicions, but upon hearing Shen Lin say it aloud, his arm still trembled, and he nearly dropped the teapot.
Miss Zijing was that flying thief???
Then who was the person who had stolen his Meridian-Opening Pill?
As he pondered this, he suddenly noticed the treasured sword placed beside Shen Lin.
At that very moment, Shen Lin also looked over with a smile in his eyes.
In an instant, Sun Zhi seemed to understand something. Fury surged in his heart, and he nearly splashed the scalding tea in his hand directly into Shen Lin's face.
But then he remembered Shen Lin's cultivation and could only draw a deep breath before lowering his head helplessly.
Zijing covered her mouth and laughed. She had just been about to say something when she suddenly froze and murmured, "If the rumors outside are true, then you should only be twenty years old this year, right?"
"Twenty years old and already in the Meridian Opening Realm..."
"And you have opened at least four meridians..."
The look in her eyes as she gazed at Shen Lin grew increasingly strange.
His talent was rare not only in Qiulin County—even in the provincial capital, it would still be considered exceptional.
Meanwhile, Sun Zhi, who was bent over and holding the teapot at the side, was roaring wildly in his heart.
Four meridians!!!
Shen Lin had truly reached this stage. He had already begun preparing to break through to the Innate Realm.
With four meridians opened, he could completely attempt the breakthrough.
Yet judging from his performance during this period, he seemed completely unsatisfied with that.
For a martial artist, opening three meridians within the body was enough to attempt a breakthrough to the Innate Realm.
But doing so not only reduced the probability of success, it would also affect one's subsequent path of cultivation.
As far as Sun Zhi knew, the extraordinarily talented geniuses in the provincial capital would all open at least five meridians before attempting to break through to the Innate Realm.
The Meridian Opening Realm was the stage in which martial artists laid the foundation for their future path of cultivation.
The more meridians one opened, the stronger one's combat power would be during the Innate Realm, and the higher one's future ceiling would be.
Shen Lin clearly had great ambitions...
"Miss Zijing, is there anything else?"
Shen Lin did not respond to Zijing's doubts. Instead, he issued her a dismissal.
He did not particularly want to get involved with the woman before him.
After all, a martial artist in the Meridian Opening Realm who concealed her identity and hid in the Wonderful Sound Pavilion was certainly not doing so for fun.
Zijing came back to herself. She looked at Shen Lin with a complicated expression and said softly, "Since that is the case, this young woman shall take her leave."
She rose and walked toward the doorway with swaying lotus steps. Just before leaving, she suddenly turned around and looked at Shen Lin with a soft smile.
"We'll meet again in the future."
Shen Lin paid no attention to her words. After she left, he looked at Sun Zhi and said in a deep voice, "When can I receive this reward?"
After confirming his cultivation, Sun Zhi became even more respectful. He hurriedly replied, "The County Yamen has already arranged for someone to deliver it to the provincial capital's Demon Suppression Division. However, I did not dare make a decision on which reward to exchange for without your instructions."
Sun Zhi then explained the relevant basics of exchanging rewards from the Demon Suppression Division.
If constables like them killed demons or monsters and delivered their corpses to the Demon Suppression Division, they could exchange them for Demon Suppression Division contribution points.
Demon Suppression Division contribution points could not only be directly exchanged for money, but could also be used to obtain many rare treasures, cultivation methods, and martial arts from the Demon Suppression Division.
These things were generally not available to outsiders. They could only be exchanged for with Demon Suppression Division contribution points.
Moreover, the cultivation methods and manuals obtained through exchange could not be passed on. Members of the Demon Suppression Division would leave something behind in their bodies. Once they leaked the techniques, their bodies would explode and they would die.
That was also why Shen Lin had not asked Sun Zhi about cultivation manuals before.
Fortunately, because constables like them wore this uniform and were considered members of the imperial court, they could exchange for contribution points.
As for demon hunters and sect disciples from the martial world, they could only exchange their kills for money through the Demon Suppression Division.
Sun Zhi had estimated that the monsters Shen Lin killed should be worth nearly thirteen contribution points.
They should not dismiss that as too little. Over the past two years, Sun Zhi had sacrificed countless colleagues and slain so many demons and monsters, yet he had only accumulated seven contribution points in total.
Sun Zhi then took a small booklet from his robes and handed it to Shen Lin.
"This is the list I obtained from the Demon Suppression Division before. You can take a look."
Shen Lin accepted it. After opening it, the first thing he saw was a picture of a pill.
Meridian-Opening Pill: Provides powerful medicinal energy to help martial artists open their meridians. Exchange cost: five contribution points.
Tsk, tsk. Five contribution points.
Shen Lin could not help clicking his tongue.
Since transmigrating here, he had already slain eight monsters, yet he had never expected that they would only be enough to exchange for two Meridian-Opening Pills.
And just now, that Miss Zijing had directly given him two Meridian-Opening Pills to escape...
She was loaded.
Before you continue