By the time Shen Lin returned to the County Yamen, it was already deep into the night, yet Steward Qian had stayed there the whole time and had not gone home.
It was not just him. County Lieutenant Hu, who had received the news, had also hurried over and was waiting for Shen Lin.
"County Lieutenant Hu! Steward Qian! I didn't run into any demons or monsters this time, but I did discover a Demonic Cultivator..."
After Shen Lin finished recounting everything that had happened, County Lieutenant Hu sighed and said, "Steward Qian, tomorrow, immediately find people to bring back the remains of those brothers and lay them to rest. As for the County Yamen, give their families an additional sum in compensation."
After arranging the aftermath for those constables, County Lieutenant Hu looked at Shen Lin with great satisfaction. "Good, good. You brat, you manage to bring me a few surprises every time. First a demon, and now a living Demonic Cultivator. It's just that..."
He glanced at the Demonic Cultivator, whose mouth had been stuffed with a strip of rag and who was writhing incessantly, then narrowed his eyes. "This fellow appears to be at the Meridian Opening Realm. How did you subdue him?"
Shen Lin had already come up with an explanation. He put on a hesitant expression and pretended to deliberate. "Actually... when I was following Captain Sun to exterminate that den of fox demons, I discovered a Meridian-Opening Pill. Captain Sun was kind enough not only to give it to me, but also to pass on his Meridian Opening Secret Art. With its help, I successfully opened my meridians and broke through to the Meridian Opening Realm."
Don't ask!
If you ask, the answer is that Captain Sun was kind!
Upon hearing this, Steward Qian's eyes widened. He said incredulously, "You've opened your meridians? You've become a martial artist for how long?"
County Lieutenant Hu was not nearly as astonished as Steward Qian.
The path from being a martial artist to reaching the Meridian Opening Realm was certainly difficult, but in truth, the most troublesome parts lay in two areas.
First was how to seek out and set the meridians. If one's aptitude was poor and one could not sense the locations of the meridians through martial arts cultivation, one needed to rely on the Meridian Opening Secret Art to reduce the difficulty.
Shen Lin's aptitude was outstanding to begin with. In addition, Sun Zhi had previously obtained the Meridian Opening Secret Art from the Demon Suppression Division, so seeking out and setting his meridians had not been difficult for him.
The second was breaking through the blocked meridians. One either had to spend a great deal of time slowly battering them open with one's own Blood Qi Power, or rely on the medicinal effects of a Meridian-Opening Pill to force them open.
If what Shen Lin said was true, and he had obtained a Meridian-Opening Pill from that family of fox demons, then this hurdle had also been nothing more than a paper tiger to him.
It was just that...
Sun Zhi really was willing to invest.
The Meridian-Opening Pill was extraordinarily precious to martial artists in the Meridian Opening Realm.
Even Hu Dongxing, as the County Lieutenant of a county and a member of one of the three great lineages, would not have handed one over to someone else so readily.
That fellow had invested so heavily in Shen Lin. He clearly wanted something substantial in return.
After thinking for a while, the solemnity on County Lieutenant Hu's face vanished, and he burst into laughter. "Good, good, good. Anything obtained from exterminating demons is yours to distribute freely, so there's no need to report it to us. Now that we have someone at the Meridian Opening Realm, the strength of our County Yamen is even greater. Very good, very good! If you encounter anything you don't understand in your cultivation from now on, feel free to come find me."
After saying this, he looked toward the Demonic Cultivator and sighed.
"I never would have thought that Xiangyang Taoist Temple, with its thriving incense and endless stream of worshipers every day, would have such a Demonic Cultivator hidden in the graveyard behind it. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Could those long-nosed Taoists at Xiangyang Taoist Temple really have failed to notice anything at all?"
Only then did Steward Qian recover from the shock of Shen Lin becoming a martial artist at the Meridian Opening Realm. He stroked his beard, steadied himself, and looked at County Lieutenant Hu. "County Lieutenant Hu, compared with this matter, we should first determine the identity of that mutilated corpse."
Upon hearing this, the smile on County Lieutenant Hu's face instantly faded. He took a deep breath and walked over.
He looked at the headless corpse, completely disregarding its nauseating stench of decay, and immediately began feeling around its body.
The other party's head had already been gnawed beyond recognition by wild beasts. There was no way to identify him by his appearance alone.
They could only see whether there were any clues on his body.
Before long, County Lieutenant Hu pulled a travel permit from the corpse's chest.
Although it had been soaked through with blood and most of the writing was impossible to make out, some of the characters remained intact.
"Qingzhou... Ping County... It should be Cangping County. Lin De... Tsk..."
County Lieutenant Hu speculated for a while. But when he saw the first two characters of the name, he suddenly drew in a sharp breath.
He swallowed, then looked at Steward Qian. "How were the generational characters in the County Magistrate's family arranged again?"
Steward Qian seemed to have realized something as well. Sweat had already appeared on his forehead, and he stammered, "Virtue carries..."
With a thump, before Steward Qian could finish speaking, he dropped heavily onto the floor.
It was over!
It could be confirmed!
This mutilated corpse really was the County Magistrate's nephew or younger kinsman.
Cangping County was the County Magistrate's ancestral home, and the man's name also matched the generational character used by the County Magistrate's family...
"County Lieutenant Hu... What... What are we going to do?"
Hu Dongxing took a deep breath. He was considerably calmer than Steward Qian. After pondering for a while, he said, "Fortunately, Brother Shen took action this time and captured the culprit alive. Otherwise, we definitely wouldn't be able to give an account... How about this? Wait until dawn tomorrow, then go report the situation to the County Magistrate."
"Me?"
Steward Qian's eyes widened. He could not believe that County Lieutenant Hu had actually dumped this matter on him.
You're a County Lieutenant, yet you won't go report to the County Magistrate yourself. Why are you making things difficult for a mere Criminal Affairs Steward like me...
County Lieutenant Hu seemed to know what he was thinking. He glared at him. "Of course you! I still have to interrogate this Demonic Cultivator through the night and reconstruct the case from beginning to end."
Steward Qian ultimately shouldered everything. At first light, he left the County Yamen looking utterly lost.
The interrogation afterward had nothing to do with Shen Lin either, so he went straight home to rest.
Only County Lieutenant Hu, his eyes webbed with blood vessels, dragged the Demonic Cultivator into the dungeon.
"I advise you to confess honestly in a moment. Otherwise, we have plenty of methods here to make you talk. No matter how badly we torment you, the Demon Suppression Division won't care. Understand?"
"Good! Let's start with the simplest question. What's your name?"
"..."
"Hm? So tough? I'll ask you again. What's your name?"
"..."
"Heh, I haven't seen a hard bone like you in quite some time. Come on, bring out the Tiger Bench!"
After a long while, County Lieutenant Hu stared at the Demonic Cultivator before him, who had endured countless tortures without even letting out a groan, and fell into deep thought.
No, are Demonic Cultivators these days all this fierce?
Such unshakable resolve?
What am I supposed to do now?
Just as he scratched his head in bewilderment, he noticed the Demonic Cultivator, who was at death's door, repeatedly bobbing his head up and down. With his mouth twisted to one side, he looked at County Lieutenant Hu with a face full of provocation.
"Damn you, do you really think I can't do anything to you?"
Furious, County Lieutenant Hu erupted. He rolled up his sleeves and sent seven or eight slaps flying in succession, striking the Demonic Cultivator's face until it turned purple and blue.
At last, he heard the Demonic Cultivator make a sound.
"Ah... I'll... talk! I'll talk, I'll talk!!!"
Before you continue