Beneath the dark clouds over Shu Prefecture City, the wind began to howl.
Thunder rumbled dully, and a bolt of lightning tore across the sky, illuminating everyone on Zhennan Street.
The atmosphere inexplicably grew several degrees heavier.
The man who had killed Ma Shuhan had not fled. Instead, he stood right beside Surveillance Commissioner Tang Zixin.
On closer inspection.
He wore a crimson gauze court robe trimmed in blue gauze, with a crimson skirt below. He looked middle-aged, his features unremarkable, with two thin whiskers in the shape of the character eight.
He gripped a forearm-length dagger, blood dripping steadily from its fuller.
Clang.
He tossed down the dagger, looked expressionlessly at Tang Zixin, and said in a hoarse voice, "My lord, forgive me."
Tang Zixin glared at him furiously and enunciated each word. "Xu Jitong!"
"You usually hid your claws and concealed your horns. Who would have thought you were a Martial Path expert?"
The incident had happened too suddenly. Tang Zixin had not clearly seen the newcomer's face and had assumed an outsider had barged in.
Only now did he recognize the man's identity—he was Xu Jitong, a Principal Fifth Rank Censor in his Surveillance Commissioner's Office.
"Speak! Why did you kill Ma Shuhan?!"
"Whose orders were you following?!"
The middle-aged man named Xu Jitong silently shook his head. "This subordinate had no choice."
Tang Zixin grew even angrier and stepped forward to kick him.
"No choice?"
"Xu Jitong, do you know what you have done?"
"You killed Ma Shuhan. Your head is already forfeit. Have you considered your wife, children, and parents?"
"Who could possibly be worth throwing your life away like this?!"
Xu Jitong let him kick and strike him at will. His body remained upright and utterly unmoving.
The Yamen Runners from the Surveillance Commissioner's