Wait—We'll Settle This in the Next Life!

["Ahhh!!! Spare me, old hero!!"]

["If you don't tell the truth, I'll carve you into a thousand pieces today and make you taste every agony of torn flesh! Then I'll kill your whole family!"]

["I'll talk! I'll talk! Chen Yi was a misunderstanding. We originally wanted to dump the Fire Prosperity Village case on Shen Qingshan, but Chen Yi stumbled into it!

Later, my father made some more arrangements, and Shen Qingshan finally took the bait!

We kept plotting against him because Shen Qingshan was investigating some cases in the County Yamen!"]

["What cases?"]

["Some... murder cases in the county. Those cases had all been closed... but the killers were all framed. The real culprits were... were... demons!"]

[The constables around them were all shocked.]

["They framed demon murder cases on humans? Why??"]

["No matter how corrupt the County Magistrate is, he's still human. Why would he help demons??"]

["What does the County Magistrate stand to gain?"]

[The constables' questions were also what puzzled you.]

[The Thin County Magistrate looked around, let out a long sigh, and knew that if he did not speak today, he would die anyway.]

[Just as he was about to spill everything.]

[With a bang, the County Yamen gates slammed shut.]

[Everyone turned to look, only to see Feng Yucheng, the Chief Officer of the Monster Slaying Division, arriving in a black official robe patterned with gold.]

[At the sight of Feng Yucheng, the Thin County Magistrate was utterly terrified.]

["I—I told you to go to the Dragon Protectorate for help. Who told you to go to the Monster Slaying Division?!"]

[Before his words had faded.]

[A cold flash flew from Feng Yucheng's sleeve and pierced through the Thin County Magistrate's head.]

["A thing with a loose tongue..."]

[Immediately after, several command flags flew from Feng Yucheng's hand and planted themselves atop the high walls surrounding the County Yamen.]

[The command flags echoed one another, and a formation rose from the ground.]

[Though you did not understand formations, judging from the curtain of light covering the entire County Yamen, he had likely sealed this place off. No one could enter or leave.]

[Feng Yucheng's expression was calm, and not the slightest emotional ripple could be heard in his voice.]

["You learned what you should not have learned. You all have to die today!"]

[The constables trembled in terror.]

[Feng Yucheng was a Soul Tempering Realm Martial Artist. In this tiny White Cloud County, aside from those elusive Dragon Guards of the Dragon Protectorate, no one was a match for him!]

["Chief Officer Feng! Spare us!"]

["I have an eighty-year-old mother above me and a three-year-old child below me. I don't want to die!"]

["Chief Officer Feng, I didn't hear anything! I'm deaf!!"]

[Feng Yucheng remained unmoved by the constables' pleas. He did, however, notice your composed manner and found it somewhat surprising.]

["Chen Yi, at your age, why did you come back? Since you didn't die on the road to exile, you should have found some godforsaken backwater and barely scraped by."]

[Feng Yucheng did not know that you had indeed done exactly that.]

[It was just that you had been somewhat unlucky in this life. First, you had taken too much Pill Toxin, then Old Liu had screwed you over, leaving you with little time to live.]

[To avoid wasting a simulation opportunity, you had returned to White Cloud County to cause a huge uproar in the County Yamen.]

["So you were the Black Hand behind it all. You were the one truly working with the Demon Race. The County Magistrate merely obeyed you, using his position to cover up the incidents of demons harming people in White Cloud County."]

[Feng Yucheng casually adjusted the sleeve of his official robe.]

["If demons wreak havoc in a place for too long, the court holds the local Monster Slaying Division accountable.

But those beasts feel sick all over if they don't eat people.

So I came up with the brilliant idea of cooperating with the County Yamen. Turn cases where demons killed people into cases where people killed people, then pin them on a few unlucky bastards.

That way, the higher-ups would think White Cloud County did not have much of a demon problem.

My cooperation with the Demon Race in this region could then continue indefinitely."]

[You recalled some details.]

[Back in Fire Prosperity Village, when you fell into the trap and the constables came to arrest you, Feng Yucheng had also appeared there.]

[It was precisely because Feng Yucheng had intervened that Shen Qingshan had been unable to keep you there and could only watch as the constables took you away.]

[Thinking back on it now, Feng Yucheng had clearly been there to keep an eye on the trap's progress.]

[Shen Qingshan had discovered something fishy about those murder cases and had been investigating them.]

[Feng Yucheng and the County Magistrate had thus plotted to frame him, preventing the truth from being uncovered.]

[It was just that, in this simulation, you had blundered right into it.]

[Not long after you were exiled, they plotted against Shen Qingshan again, provoking his resistance and leading to the events where Dachun later wandered with Shen Siqin.]

"So that was it. Now I understand everything..."

Outside the simulation, Chen Yi could not help but sigh. This tiny White Cloud County ran far deeper than it appeared.

Corrupt officials, vicious clerks, and demons—the three sides had actually colluded together.

Were they treating the people of White Cloud County like an all-you-can-eat buffet?

"This matter is important. Once the simulation ends, I have to tell Third Brother-in-law and make him stop, so Feng Yucheng doesn't set his sights on him..."

Judging by the timing, there was still time.

The County Magistrate and Feng Yucheng would plot against Shen Qingshan more than a year later.

At this point, Shen Qingshan might not yet have stepped into this muddy water.

["What can you get from helping the Demon Race of White Cloud County like this?"]

[Feng Yucheng raised both hands, his face taking on an expression similar to Old Liu's when he had transformed into a demon.]

["Power! Like you, I only have a Low-Grade Bone Structure, so you understand how difficult it is for people with poor aptitude like us to cultivate Martial Dao!

I cooperate with the Demon Race. They use fresh human blood and demon aura to refine Blood Demon Pills for me, helping me break through the shackles of talent and continuously raise my cultivation!"]

[Now you understood why there was so much demon aura in White Cloud County.]

[Even the Demon Race had an umbrella of protection.]

[Suddenly, the formation covering the County Yamen cast down scarlet beams of light, which gathered upon Feng Yucheng.]

["What's happening?"]

["The formation seems to be giving him power!"]

["He's already in the Soul Tempering Realm, and he still wants more power? Are we definitely going to die today?!"]

[Yes, you were all doomed.]

[You were perfectly calm. You did not have much time left anyway.]

[Rather than dying in a sickbed, it was better to fall in a magnificent battle!]

[Though the result was not magnificent in the slightest.]

[There was already a gap in realm between you and Feng Yucheng. On top of that, in his haste to end the battle quickly, he used the formation to boost his own power, widening the gap even further.]

[He turned into a streak of red light, charging left and right through the crowd. He carried no weapon at all, yet with only his two hands, he pierced through every one of your hearts!]

[Feng Yucheng's expression was icy, as though he were merely slaughtering chickens.]

[Before you closed your eyes, he gave you one last look.]

["Don't blame me. In a world where Martial Dao reigns supreme, if I didn't do this, I'd be fish on someone else's chopping block..."]

[You raised your middle finger at him.]

["Wait for it. We'll fight again in the next life!"]

[You died.]

[Simulation Evaluation:]

[Eidetic Memory aids the general's star; a loyal soul falls, and the realm knows no peace. Bearing the setting sun, he dreams of old days; white-haired fists split open the night's dark dawn.]