Passing Through White Cloud County, Visiting Family!

[With two tufts of red hair atop your head, you arrived at Yuelai Inn.]

[This time, the proprietress was still alive and well.]

[Because this time, no demonic Martial Artist waving the Myriad Souls Banner had slaughtered her family.]

[Clearly, by intercepting Old Liu's Myriad Souls Banner, you had changed many people's fates.]

[Dachun was still working as a waiter at Yuelai Inn.]

[He was delighted to see you.]

[Dachun had always been like this—carefree and unburdened, whether suffering hardship or enjoying prosperity.]

[Seeing that he was still fair and plump, neatly dressed, you knew the proprietress had never mistreated him.]

[You gave the proprietress a sum of money as thanks.]

[The proprietress was so delighted she could not close her mouth, repeatedly saying that Dachun had also helped her greatly over the years.]

[You recalled that in three years, an Empress would rise forcefully in the Southern Border and launch a counteroffensive against the Central Plains.]

[Qingzhou, being a province in the south of the Central Plains, would be engulfed by the flames of war then, so you warned the proprietress.]

["I came from the south. The situation between the Southern Border and the Central Plains is unsettled now, and war may break out. If you hear anything amiss, remember to flee north, lest you be caught up in the war."]

[Afterward, you went to Third Sister's home.]

[To your surprise, strangers were now living in the little courtyard where Third Sister's family had once lived.]

[Seeing the Pure Yang Righteous Qi around you, along with the spear and sword on your person, they could tell at a glance that you were not someone to provoke. Thus, whatever you asked, they answered.]

[From them, you learned that they had bought the courtyard. The former owners had fallen on hard times and sold it, but they did not know where the former owners lived now.]

[You headed straight for the County Yamen.]

[Thirty years ago, you had provided intelligence to Zhang Miao, a Monster Slaying Division Demon-Slaying Captain from the Commandery Monster Slaying Division, exposing the dark truth of collusion between officials and demons in White Cloud County.]

[The imperial court had attached great importance to the matter, killing off some of White Cloud County's officials and replacing the rest.]

[You learned that Feng Yucheng was still on the run, and no one knew whether he was dead or alive.]

[You entered the County Yamen again. This time, you had not come to cause a scene. You merely hoped the County Magistrate could help investigate where Third Sister lived now.]

[You intended to reveal a little of your Soul Tempering Realm strength.]

[In this world, Martial Artists reigned supreme. The stronger you were, the more others respected you, and the easier it was to get things done.]

[But the moment the County Magistrate saw the red hair on your head, he recognized you on the spot.]

["Could you be the Red-Haired Demon Slayer?"]

[Hearing that title from someone else's mouth felt like having someone shout your online handle in the middle of the street.]

["Ahem. That would be me."]

["Oh my! Even here in White Cloud County, I have heard of the Red-Haired Hero's great reputation!

They say you slay three hundred demons a year, more formidable than the Monster Slaying Divisions in every region!

Even the court gazettes mentioned you. Your Majesty once spoke of you before the Monster Slaying Division's high officials!

He said that if common folk could slay demons so efficiently, why did the Monster Slaying Divisions across the land report only a handful of demon-slaying cases each year?"]

[You had not expected that, as a mere Soul Tempering Realm Martial Artist, your name would be known from local government offices all the way to the imperial court.]

[So it turned out that becoming famous in ancient society was quite easy.]

[You returned to the main matter and asked where Third Sister lived.]

["Is that so? Then Madam Chen Yun is your Third Sister?"]

[Madam?]

[Well, Third Sister was three years older than you. She was already fifty.]

[By an ordinary person's average lifespan, that counted as a ripe old age. She was indeed an old madam.]

[The County Magistrate hurriedly ordered the registrar to investigate, and the records were soon found.]

["Five years ago, Chen Yun sold the courtyard she had inherited from Shen Qingshan. She now lives in Fire Prosperity Village in our county with her daughter."]

["Inherited from Shen Qingshan? What happened to Shen Qingshan?"]

[The County Magistrate kicked the registrar aside and personally explained it to you. He appeared eager to make an impression before you.]

["I know about this. It should have been ten years ago. At the time, I had only been posted to White Cloud County for a few months..."]

[According to the County Magistrate.]

[That day, two Martial Artists who could fly appeared in White Cloud County. They landed directly in Shen Qingshan's home.]

[They seemed to speak for a while, but no one could approach within five hundred meters of the house, so nobody knew what they had discussed.]

[Afterward, someone saw Shen Qingshan being taken away by those two Martial Artists, flying into the sky.]

["Where did they fly?"]

["Into the sky."]

["Which direction?"]

["Into the sky."]

["..."]

[After confirming it again and again, you determined that it really was the sky.]

[Shen Qingshan had actually been taken up into the sky!]

Outside the simulation, Chen Yi's mouth fell open.

At this very moment, he was separated from Shen Qingshan by only a single wall. He could even hear Shen Qingshan calling out.

"My Third Brother-in-law... is an immortal?"

Chen Yi did not know what else besides immortals lived in the sky.

Third Brother-in-law's identity was likely anything but ordinary.

Yet there was a very good chance that even he himself had not realized it.

[The County Magistrate led a fifty-man squad of constables, along with a professional troupe of drummers and gong-beaters, escorting you to Fire Prosperity Village amid pounding gongs and beating drums.]

[He thought you had grown weary of slaying demons abroad and were preparing to return home in glory.]

[So he had arranged an enormous show of pomp.]

[You did not say much.]

[It was not that you particularly liked such rustic fanfare, but that you felt you could use the opportunity to lend Third Sister some prestige.]

[You still had to continue roaming this world until the day you died of old age.]

[But Third Sister and her family could only live in little White Cloud County. She needed some protection.]

[When you arrived at Fire Prosperity Village, a band of ruffians was running wild through the village.]

[They were enforcers for an old landlord, violently collecting rent.]

[Whichever household could not pay would be dragged out by these enforcers and brutally beaten in public, killing a chicken to scare the monkeys.]

[Afterward, the ruffians would empty out those families' homes. In some cases, they would even be forced to sell their sons and daughters.]

[Among the villagers being bullied, you saw your Third Sister and a young woman who somewhat resembled Chen Yun in her youth. She should have been your grown-up niece.]

[They too were tenants unable to pay the land rent, and the landlord's enforcers were beating them in public.]

[The County Magistrate read the look on your face. Seeing it darken, he immediately declared.]

["Red-Haired Hero, please remain calm. Leave this to me!"]

[Even when they saw the constables appear, the landlord's enforcers remained overbearing. They knew their master had "connections" with government officials and had never been stingy with his regular payments.]

["Isn't this our upright magistrate? What wind has blown you here?"]

[Without another word, the County Magistrate flicked up the hem of his official robes and gave the order on the spot.]

["Arrest these villains who oppress the villagers! Exile them to military service!"]

[The fifty constables surged forward. Beneath the authority rods, the ruffians finally panicked.]

["Upright Magistrate! We work for Landlord Zhang! If you will not look at the monk's face, at least look at the Buddha's face!"]

[The County Magistrate was utterly unyielding.]

["Today, no matter who comes, it will make no difference!"]

[With that, he went to Chen Yun's side, personally helped her up, and led her over to you.]

["Red-Haired Hero, this should be your Third Sister, correct?"]

[Even after thirty years, Chen Yun recognized you at a single glance.]

["Fourth Brother, these years... have you been well?"]