Kid, Keep Your Mouth Shut Tight!

Fang Mo calculated at lightning speed.

To receive the ruler's pay was to serve the ruler faithfully.

For fifty-seven generations, the Fang family had served diligently and loyally in the Heavenly Prison. That was an honor engraved upon their ancestors' spirit tablets.

How could he turn his coat at the last moment over a few words from this young woman?

Of course, that was all bullshit.

What he truly feared was death.

The Great Gan Dynasty had stood for a thousand years, but the two colossal powers—the Demon Suppression Division and the Heavenly Prison—had existed far longer than the dynasty itself.

They were like two enormous beasts lurking beneath the Divine Capital Underground. Usually, they kept to their own waters, but the claws and fangs they occasionally revealed were enough to tear everything apart.

One was responsible for suppressing the Demons aboveground; the other was responsible for holding the sins of the world.

Anyone could guess, even with their toes, how deep the filth ran between them.

A tiny newcomer like him would likely become the first disposable pawn ground into powder if he got involved.

Then forget avenging Father—his family line, carried through eighteen generations, might truly end in his hands.

"The case file says he died from overwork, his Heart Meridian rupturing."

Li Mingyue's voice interrupted Fang Mo's thoughts. She raised her eyelids, her gaze like two icy scalpels stabbing straight into Fang Mo's heart.

"But my Coroner told me he was drained dry of Essence Blood. He died like a mummified corpse, with two bloody holes in his neck. What do you think?"

Fang Mo's heart jolted, but the honest, guileless smile on his face did not shift in the slightest.

"My lord sees every detail with perfect clarity. This humble one admires you so much that I fall prostrate in awe."

He bent at the waist, wearing the fawning expression of a lowly Marketplace commoner.

"But this humble one is insignificant and weak. Whatever explanation the authorities give, we can only believe it. After all, an arm cannot twist a thigh, and commoners do not fight officials."

That watertight, shameless answer made Li Mingyue's lovely brows crease faintly.

Monkey, standing beside her, was just about to rebuke him when Li Mingyue waved a hand. Monkey immediately swallowed his words and obediently crouched back down.

Just then, a hurried set of footsteps came from outside the hall.

Han Niu, the sallow-faced man, hurried inside, dropped to one knee, and spoke in a muffled voice.

"Report! My lord, Wang Youan, warden of the Heavenly Prison, requests an audience!"

Li Mingyue did not even raise her eyelids.

"Bring him in."

"Yes!"

Han Niu accepted the order and left.

Before even half an incense stick had burned, heavy footsteps approached from afar. A bloated middle-aged fat man with a face full of smiles, looking exactly like a walking Maitreya Buddha, was led inside by Han Niu.

The man was none other than Wang Youan, warden of the Heavenly Prison.

The moment Wang Youan entered, he first cupped his hands toward Li Mingyue at the seat of honor, his face breaking into a broad smile.

"Greetings, Lord Li. Old Wang offers his respects."

After speaking, his tiny eyes, squeezed into slits by fat, swept around the hall before locking precisely onto Fang Mo in the corner.

One moment, his face had been all smiles; the next, dark clouds covered it.

"You little bastard!"

Wang Youan roared and rushed over in two strides. He lifted a foot and kicked Fang Mo squarely in the ass, sending him sprawling face-first into the dirt.

"Your father's first seven days after death have barely passed, and you fucking ran off to fool around at Yihong Pavilion! Can you face your dead Father?"

"Going to a brothel would have been bad enough, but you even alarmed the lords of the Demon Suppression Division! You little Beast who doesn't know the height of heaven or the depth of earth!"

Wang Youan cursed with spittle flying everywhere, while Fang Mo lay on the floor, clear as a mirror inside.

Keep acting. Go on, keep acting.

This Old Fox's heartbeat was steady and powerful, his breathing long and even. He had been cursing for ages without flushing or even panting. How was this anger? He was plainly just going through the motions.

Once he finished cursing, Wang Youan immediately changed into a fawning smile, turned, and cupped his hands toward Li Mingyue.

"My lord, this boy is the descendant of an old friend of mine. He is ignorant and has offended you. Could you perhaps grant Old Wang a little face and let me take him back to the Heavenly Prison first to settle his official appointment papers? After that, whenever you need men, simply summon him. There will be no second word from us!"

Li Mingyue watched the fat man, whose face changed faster than the pages of a book, with an amused look. She lifted her teacup and lightly skimmed away the froth with its lid.

"Very well."

Her voice was mild, giving away neither pleasure nor anger.

Wang Youan was instantly overjoyed. He grabbed Fang Mo by the back of the neck like a chick and turned to leave.

"Many thanks, my lord! Many thanks!"

"Wait."

Clang!

With two crisp sounds, the Demon Suppression captains guarding the door instantly drew their blades and crossed them before the two men. Their icy Blade Edges nearly touched Wang Youan's nose.

Wang Youan halted abruptly. The fat on his face trembled as he forced out a smile uglier than crying.

"My lord... what other orders do you have?"

Li Mingyue somehow produced an entirely emerald-green Jade Toad and slowly turned it over in her palm, not even sparing him a glance.

"Old Wang, I want your nephew to take a bite of the Demon Suppression Division's rice as well."

She spoke unhurriedly.

"What do you think?"

Wang Youan's tightly furrowed brow instantly relaxed, and the smile on his face became ten times more sincere.

He suddenly slapped Fang Mo across the back of the head so hard that stars burst before Fang Mo's eyes.

"What are you looking at? Hurry up and thank Lord Li for giving you food to eat!"

This string of events left Fang Mo completely bewildered, unable to understand what had just happened.