Golden Lock! Golden Finger! Golden Demon Subduing Pestle!

Behind the statue, it was not as dusty and filthy as Su Mo had imagined.

There were obvious signs that it had been disturbed.

The Imperial Guard had probably already sent people over to inspect the scene.

Hiding away, Su Mo did not feel there was anything wrong with what he was doing.

You did as much work as the money paid for.

Three to seven taels of silver for an entire year, and they expected him to do the constables' and archers' work too?

He watched the battle through the crack with great relish.

Aside from displaying tremendous might at the start and driving back the dried corpses, his uncle—

—only shouted loudly afterward without actually crossing blades with the dried corpses more than a few times. Sure enough, he was crafty as a fox!

In truth, most of the constables and servants were the same, putting in an appearance without putting in any effort.

Deng Tong and Zhong Sanyuan, on the other hand, were truly fighting for their lives!

There was no helping it. The Imperial Guard were watching from the side!

The battle lasted the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

The three Imperial Guards were clearly the legendary Martial Arts Masters.

Their straight sabers flashed like bolts of white silk, leaving the dried corpses across from them mangled and dismembered, arms and legs hacked clean off!

Though the yamen runners had strength in numbers, several still died or were injured. Zhong Sanyuan's arm was also raked by the dried corpses, leaving several bloody wounds.

However, the flame of the Corpse Oil Lamp had dimmed until it barely gave off any light, as though it could go out at any moment.

The dried corpses' combat strength rapidly weakened.

The battle was clearly about to end.

Su Mo pondered finding a chance to dart out.

All of a sudden, the temple shook violently, great swathes of sand and dirt raining down.

The Locust God Statue also swayed incessantly, cracks spreading across it.

The Corpse Oil Lamp turned into a streak of black light and flew into the air out of nowhere!

A cold snort rang out.

The Imperial Guard Centurion had finally revealed herself!

Expressionless, Lin Moyin appeared at the temple entrance, holding an ancient-looking book. Light shimmered from its pages, and the phantom image of the word "Sword" appeared in midair.

She brought two fingers together and pointed. With a gesture of her sword fingers, the phantom "Sword" abruptly transformed into a three-foot longsword gleaming with cold light and shot straight at the Corpse Oil Lamp in the air!

Green light emerged from the oil lamp.

Unfortunately, it was already running on its last drops of oil and could not withstand the might of the sword radiance. The flying sword cleaved through the green light, splitting the lamp in two as it rapidly fell.

Su Mo's eyes went wide!

She could actually unleash a flying sword?

Wasn't that the method of the legendary sword cultivators!??

Could she be an immortal cultivator?

Just as Su Mo stood stunned.

A thunderous boom erupted.

As if by the worst possible coincidence, the Locust God Statue collapsed with a crash at that very moment!

Su Mo, crouching halfway up the stone platform, was exposed to everyone's gaze without the slightest cover, looking as though he were squatting over the latrine...

The Female Captain glanced at Su Mo with a slight furrow in her willow-leaf brows. Then, with a sweep of her long sleeve, she rolled up the Corpse Oil Lamp from the ground and turned to leave.

With that single glance, her favorability had dropped by a full 20 points!

Su Mo cursed under his breath.

That damned statue—of all times to fall, it had to fall now!

This time, it had truly screwed him over!

After all the Imperial Guards left the temple, Zhong Sanyuan finally shot Su Mo a fierce glare and walked silently toward the entrance.

The other yamen runners followed him out.

Su Mo jumped down from the stone platform, considering how to win over the Female Captain and make up for the lost favorability.

Then he saw Chen Ping approaching with a dark expression. "You stay behind. Clean this place up, then burn it all down!"

Before Su Mo could speak, Chen Gan, who had followed over, grew anxious. "Chief Chen..."

Chen Ping snorted. "This was Boss Zhong's order!"

"This brat made the constable lose a great deal of face. There'll be trouble for him from now on!"

As he spoke, he frowned and looked at Chen Gan.

This fellow had performed well just now. Perhaps they would become colleagues in the Fast Squad someday.

Thus, Chen Ping did not press matters too far and softened his tone considerably. "Don't return to the yamen this afternoon. Go home and rest first."

"Once the constable's anger has subsided, we'll find a way to remedy things."

Chen Gan sighed. "That's all we can do."

He had originally wanted Su Mo to come along so that Zhong Sanyuan would remember his face, making it easier for him to become an Assistant Servant later!

Who could have known that dried corpses could rise up and kill people!

Very soon, Su Mo was the only one left in the Locust God Temple.

After hesitating for a moment, Su Mo tore off a strip of cloth and covered his mouth and nose. Fighting down his nausea, he gathered the dried corpses and severed limbs into one pile.

As he dragged a dried corpse past the shattered Locust God Statue, something flashed before his eyes.

One chunk of broken statue clay seemed to have something wrapped inside it?

Su Mo bent down and searched.

To his surprise, he dug out something the size of a finger from the broken clay, resembling a Demon Subduing Pestle.

It was covered in yellow earth and had likely been hidden inside the Locust God Statue all along.

After wiping away the loose dirt from its surface, he saw that it was golden and glittering, with an extremely sharp tip.

Su Mo weighed it in his hand. It was heavy, likely over two taels!

Judging by its density, it was ninety percent likely to be made of gold, worth at least twenty taels of silver.

Staying behind to clean up had actually brought him such an unexpected windfall!

Su Mo was in high spirits as he slipped the Demon Subduing Pestle into his pocket.

He searched through the statue again and even smashed apart several chunks, but unfortunately found nothing else.

Then Su Mo gathered dry firewood and pine branches, took out his tinderbox, and set fire to the collected dried corpse parts, burning them to ashes!

This time, everything was normal. No miserable screams rang out. The corpses had almost no moisture left, so they burned quickly.

After finishing everything.

Su Mo no longer hesitated and headed straight for the mass grave!

Finding the Golden Lock was the real business!

West Mountain Mass Grave had long since become a misnomer.

Changping County had enjoyed favorable weather for many years. Though the common folk could not be said to live in abundance, they could still get by.

The last large-scale deaths had been over a decade ago, when the plague broke out.

Upon reaching the mass grave, he looked around and indeed spotted several persimmon trees.

Perhaps because they had ample nutrients, their branches and leaves were exceptionally lush.

The task prompt mentioned an Old Persimmon Tree.

There was only one tree old enough to deserve that name!

Beneath the tree lay many fallen leaves and broken stones, bearing signs of having been turned over!

Su Mo searched for more than half an hour, turning over the leaves and rocks twice, but found nothing.

"Could someone have beaten me to it?"

"In this godforsaken wilderness, and in a mass grave no less, what lunatic would come wandering around here with nothing better to do?"

Without finding the Golden Lock, he could not complete the task.

If he could not complete the task, he could not win over the Female Captain!

This Golden Finger was truly screwing him over!

Couldn't it just give him a clear map marker?

Su Mo was already depressed enough, yet the old crow in the tree kept cawing without pause, making his mind even more restless.

He picked up a stone and viciously hurled it at the old crow.

The old crow fled in terror.

A moment later, an exquisite, tiny Golden Lock fell from the sky!

Fuck me!

No wonder the task prompt said [by the Old Persimmon Tree] rather than [beneath the Old Persimmon Tree]!

Crows had a peculiar habit!

They liked picking up objects to decorate their nests, especially shiny things!

Luckily, this old crow had an extremely vengeful nature and had carried the Golden Lock over to crush him to death. Otherwise, he could have racked his brains to pieces and never guessed that the Golden Lock was hidden in the crow's nest!

Su Mo looked at the Golden Lock tied with a red cord, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

No matter what, the most crucial step had been completed.

What he needed to do next was—

—figure out how to reasonably return the Golden Lock to the Female Captain's hands.

Today was a lucky day. His gains had exceeded all expectations.

The Golden Lock, the Golden Demon Subduing Pestle, and the Golden Finger.

Three golds in hand!

Su Mo felt as though even his steps had become much lighter.

In less than twenty minutes, he returned to Changping County without even panting. It was truly strange.

He could not return to the yamen, so he could only go home.

Just as he entered an alley in the residential ward, he suddenly heard a sharp cry: "Young Master Zhou, please conduct yourself with dignity! Otherwise, this servant woman will report you to the authorities!"

Su Mo's face darkened slightly.

It was Miss Qin's voice.