By the time Shen Lin returned to the County Office, it was already late at night. But Chief Qian had stayed there the whole time and hadn't gone home.
He wasn't the only one. Prefect Hu had also hurried over after hearing the news, and had been waiting for Shen Lin.
"Prefect Hu! Chief Qian! I didn't run into any demons on this trip, but I did find a Demon Cultivator..."
After hearing Shen Lin recount the entire incident, Prefect Hu sighed. "Chief Qian, first thing tomorrow, find people to bring back the remains of those constables and give them a proper burial. The County Office will also provide their families with a larger compensation payment."
Once he had arranged for the constables' funeral rites, Prefect Hu looked at Shen Lin with great satisfaction. "Good, good. You've brought me a few surprises every time, kid. First demons, and now a live Demon Cultivator. It's just..."
He glanced at the Demon Cultivator, who had a rag stuffed in his mouth and was writhing nonstop, then narrowed his eyes. "This fellow looks to be at the Opening Meridians Realm. How did you subdue him?"
Shen Lin had already come up with an explanation. A hesitant look appeared on his face as he put on an act. "Actually... when I was following Head Constable Sun to kill that den of fox demons, I found a Meridian Unblocking Pill. Head Constable Sun was a man of great honor. Not only did he give it to me, he also taught me his secret meridian-opening method. With their help, I opened my meridians and broke through to the Opening Meridians Realm."
Don't ask!
If anyone asked, Head Constable Sun was a man of great honor!
Hearing this, Chief Qian's eyes widened in disbelief. "You opened your meridians??? How long have you even been a martial artist???"
Prefect Hu, however, wasn't as surprised as Chief Qian.
The path from martial artist to the Opening Meridians Realm was arduous, but the greatest difficulties lay in two things.
First, one had to locate and identify one's meridians. If one's aptitude was poor and one couldn't sense the meridians through martial arts training, one would need a secret meridian-opening method to make the process easier.
Shen Lin had outstanding aptitude to begin with, and on top of that, Sun Zhi had previously obtained a secret meridian-opening method from the Demon Suppression Bureau. Locating and identifying his meridians hadn't been difficult for him.
Second, one had to break through the blocked meridians. This could be done either by spending a long time using one's own Qi and Blood Force to batter them open, or by relying on the medicinal power of a Meridian Unblocking Pill.
If Shen Lin was telling the truth and had obtained a Meridian Unblocking Pill from that family of fox demons, then this hurdle had been no obstacle to him either.
But...
That fellow Sun Zhi really was willing to part with it.
A Meridian Unblocking Pill was extremely precious to martial artists at the Opening Meridians Realm.
Even he, Hu Dongxing, as a county prefect and a member of one of the three great lineages, wouldn't hand one over to someone else so readily.
Sun Zhi had invested so much in Shen Lin. He must have had quite the ambition.
After thinking for a while, the grave expression on Prefect Hu's face vanished, and he burst out laughing. "Good, good, good! The spoils from slaying demons are yours to divide as you please. You don't need to report it to us. With you at the Opening Meridians Realm, our County Office is even stronger now. Excellent! If you have any questions about cultivation in the future, you can come to me anytime."
After saying this, he looked at the Demon Cultivator and sighed.
"I never imagined that Xiangyang Temple, with its flourishing incense and constant stream of worshippers, would have a Demon Cultivator like this hidden in its rear cemetery. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Did those bull-nosed priests at Xiangyang Temple really not notice a thing?"
Only then did Chief Qian come back to his senses from the shock of Shen Lin becoming a martial artist at the Opening Meridians Realm. He stroked his beard to steady himself, then looked at Prefect Hu. "Prefect Hu, before we deal with this, we'd better identify the headless corpse."
At these words, the smile on Prefect Hu's face instantly faded. He drew a deep breath and walked over.
He looked at the headless corpse. Without the slightest concern for its nauseating stench of decay, he immediately searched its body by hand.
The corpse's head had been chewed beyond recognition by wild animals. There was no way to identify him by his face.
They could only look for clues on his person.
Before long, Prefect Hu pulled a travel permit from the corpse's chest.
It had been soaked in blood, and most of the writing was illegible, but a few characters remained intact.
"Qingzhou... Ping County... It should be Cangping County. Lin De... Tsk..."
Prefect Hu puzzled over it for a moment. But when he saw the first two characters of the name, he suddenly sucked in a breath.
He swallowed and looked at Chief Qian. "How were the generation characters in the County Magistrate's family arranged again?"
Chief Qian seemed to understand as well. Sweat had already appeared on his forehead, and he stammered, "Youde, Zai..."
With a thud, Chief Qian dropped straight onto his backside before he could finish speaking.
It was over!
There could be no doubt!
This headless corpse really was a nephew of the County Magistrate.
Cangping County was the County Magistrate's hometown, and the man's name matched the generation character used by the County Magistrate's family...
"Prefect Hu... W-what do we do?"
Hu Dongxing drew a deep breath. He was far calmer than Chief Qian. After a moment's thought, he said, "Fortunately, Brother Shen took action this time and captured the culprit alive. Otherwise, we'd never be able to answer for this... How about this: wait until daybreak tomorrow, then go report the situation to the County Magistrate."
"Me?"
Chief Qian's eyes widened. He couldn't believe Prefect Hu had dumped this on him.
Why wasn't a county prefect going to report to the County Magistrate? Why make things difficult for a lowly head of the Criminal Affairs Office like him?
Prefect Hu seemed to know what he was thinking. He glared at him. "Of course you are! I still have to interrogate this Demon Cultivator through the night and reconstruct the case from beginning to end."
Chief Qian ultimately bore the whole burden. At daybreak, he left the County Office in a daze.
Shen Lin had nothing to do with the interrogation that followed, so he went straight home to rest.
Only Prefect Hu remained. With bloodshot eyes, he dragged the Demon Cultivator down into the dungeon.
"I advise you to confess honestly. We have plenty of ways to make you talk. The Demon Suppression Bureau won't care what shape we leave you in. Understand?"
"Fine! Let's start with the easiest question. What's your name?"
"..."
"Hm? So tough, are you? I'll ask you again. What's your name?"
"..."
"Heh, it's been a while since I've seen a hard bone like you. Come on, strap him to the tiger bench!"
A long while later, Prefect Hu stared at the Demon Cultivator before him, who had endured countless tortures without so much as a groan, and fell into deep thought.
Wait, were Demon Cultivators these fierce nowadays?
Such iron resolve?
What was he supposed to do?
Just as he was scratching his head in confusion, he noticed the half-dead Demon Cultivator repeatedly bobbing his head up and down. With his mouth crooked, he looked at Prefect Hu provocatively.
"Damn it, you really think I've got no way to deal with you?"
In a fit of rage, Prefect Hu sprang up and swung his arm, delivering seven or eight slaps in a row. The Demon Cultivator's face turned purplish blue.
At last, he heard the Demon Cultivator make a sound.
"I'll... talk! I'll talk, I'll talk!!!"
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