Facing the monk's pleas for mercy.
Shen Yi remained unmoved.
Tao Tao's beautiful eyes flickered as she asked:
"Brother Chen, these people..."
"How should we deal with them?"
Shen Yi said calmly:
"Since the heroine was the one who acted."
"Then naturally, the decision is yours."
Tao Tao stood with her hands behind her back, raising a brow.
"How about reporting them to the authorities?"
The moment the monk heard that, joy lit up his face. They knew the constables of Xiaoqing Town well—those constables had even invited them to take part in their child-seeking schemes.
In short, they were birds of a feather, wallowing in the same mire.
If Tao Tao reported them, it would be like returning home. They would no longer have to fear for their lives.
Then he caught sight of Shen Yi's iceberg-cold gaze and immediately realized something was wrong. With a mournful face, he begged:
"Heroine, please don't report us to the authorities!"
"Longshu Temple is the work of our lifetimes. It cannot be destroyed!"
The corners of Tao Tao's lips curled faintly.
"Brother Chen, what do you think?"
Shen Yi said:
"Letting a tiger return to the mountains."
"Then what do you suggest?"
Tao Tao smoothly tossed the question back to him. That had been her purpose all along—she wanted to test how Shen Yi handled matters.
Shen Yi saw through Tao Tao's intentions as well.
But he did not care. He had no need to deliberately fashion some persona for himself. He was simply himself, doing as his heart pleased.
Clang!
Cold Night left its sheath.
The monk's terrified eyes flashed across the snow-bright blade.
"If you ask me..."
"Execute the chief culprits, burn the temple, and drive away the monks."
Decisive and ruthless. Such a judgment flashed through Tao Tao's mind. She asked again, "What about Longshu Temple's evil deeds?"
"Should they be made public?"
Shen Yi shook his head.
"No interest."
Tao Tao raised a brow. Was Shen Yi truly uninterested?
Once Longshu Temple's filthy affairs were announced, the fact that every woman who had sought children at Longshu Temple had had her chastity violated would be exposed as well.
In such an ancient world.
If ordinary women were defiled, the consequences they would face were likely unimaginable. Shen Yi had no interest in creating tragedies out of thin air.
A compassionate heart?
Tao Tao felt that some warmth still remained in Shen Yi's heart.
Upon hearing Shen Yi's words, the monk immediately kowtowed like pounding garlic, trying to fight for a sliver of survival.
However.
When he lifted his head again, the blade-light had already arrived.
Blood sprayed out.
There was no system notification. Killing ordinary people who had never practiced martial arts yielded not the slightest bit of secluded cultivation time.
But that was fine.
Shen Yi had never killed for secluded cultivation points in the first place.
He only killed those who deserved to die.
With a lift of his hand and a fall of his blade.
Every monk in the secret chamber, mastermind and accomplice alike, had their throats slit by Shen Yi.
Afterward, Shen Yi had Tao Tao bring out the two women from the side chamber, then lit a torch in the underground room.
They followed the hidden passage behind the main hall all the way upward.
Before long, the four of them opened an invisible hidden door behind the main hall's statue and filed out one after another.
They moved to the center of the main hall.
Shen Yi looked up at the golden Buddha statue upon the lotus pedestal and murmured softly, "Within the clay-molded golden body lies a belly full of twisted schemes."
"It is useless to leave it standing."
Then he lightly tossed the torch.
It landed on the wooden altar. The flames crackled as they began to burn and spread.
Shen Yi turned around and said without looking back:
"Let's go."
"Longshu Temple... I'd sleep more peacefully under any random tree in the mountains."
Tao Tao pressed her lips together.
She smiled faintly, but said nothing.
Shen Yi and Tao Tao each supported one woman and sent them back to the monks' quarters. The main hall was already engulfed in flames, thick smoke billowing.
Gradually, monks were alerted.
They called for everyone to put out the fire.
Yet the blaze had already taken hold, coiling around the temple roofs like a clawing, fanged monster and dyeing half the sky red.
No one could save it.
With Shen Yi adding fuel to the flames, every side hall and auxiliary hall except the monks' living quarters inexplicably caught fire.
The raging inferno spread through all of Longshu Temple.
Every surviving monk and every overnight guest retreated outside Longshu Temple, watching the flames devour the entire temple.
Until it was reduced to a field of ruins.
Shen Yi stood among the crowd, watching the sea of fire soar toward the heavens. Everything here was settled. It was time to leave.
Tao Tao spoke up and asked:
"Brother Chen, shall we travel together?"
Shen Yi fell silent for a moment.
"We met by chance, and when the mood is spent, we part. There is no need for us to insist on traveling together."
"Let us meet again someday."
With that, Shen Yi turned and strode away.
Tao Tao watched his receding back in silence for a long while. Then she broke into a smile and murmured to herself:
"Eighty-Eight Kirin?"
"Interesting."
Shen Yi traveled through the darkness, following the mountain road.
Fortunately, the road from Longshu Temple to Xiaoqing Town had been lavishly renovated by the monks. It was paved with bluestone and free of weeds.
Carriages could race along it, making it convenient for the wealthy and noble of the town to visit the temple and pray for blessings. After this, though, it would likely slowly fall into desolation.
Shen Yi walked for a while.
The horizon began to pale with the white of a fish's belly.
Then the morning light glimmered, golden dawn spilling across the ground.
A burst of footsteps and voices came from afar. Shen Yi moved, using Grass Treading Flight to dart as lightly as the wind.
His figure shot into the woods beside the road like lightning.
Only the shrubs and grass blades trembled faintly.
A short while later.
A group of constables in official uniforms, long blades hanging at their waists, came into view. Someone complained:
"The chief constable is really something."
"There's firelight at Longshu Temple. Can't those monks put out a fire themselves? By the time we get there, even the daylilies will have gone cold."
Another person rebuked him:
"Watch your mouth. The chief constable had a son in middle age, and he got him by praying for blessings at Longshu Temple. He is deeply grateful to Longshu Temple and donates incense money every year. How could he possibly not send people to investigate?"
"You'd better be careful what you say."
"Heh, what am I afraid of? I don't even have a wife."
"So I don't need to go to a temple to pray for a son."
The man remained stubborn, though his voice had dropped considerably.
Only after the group had gone past and vanished into the distance.
Did Shen Yi emerge from the bushes beside the road.
Shen Yi hated trouble.
That was why he avoided meeting these constables. Otherwise, seeing him descend alone from the mountain road leading from Longshu Temple.
They would certainly subject him to an interrogation.
Let the constables clean up Longshu Temple's affairs. Shen Yi had no wish to involve himself any further.
After walking for another half hour.
Shen Yi saw Xiaoqing Town.
It was morning now, and the flow of people was gradually increasing.
The town was not as strict as a major city.
Entering and leaving did not require questioning or inspection.
So long as Shen Yi altered his hairstyle slightly and kept a low profile, he would most likely not be recognized as the wanted criminal listed on the Heaven's Mystery Rankings.
He touched his stomach.
He was a little hungry.
He had not eaten anything good during the two days in the mountains.
So Shen Yi found a roadside breakfast stall and ordered two meat pies and a large bowl of rice porridge.
He sat in the shadowed corner and ate with great relish.
Meanwhile, at the teahouse across the street, two raggedly dressed martial wanderers sat drinking tea with legs spread wide.
The thinner one propped his chin up.
Bored out of his mind, he poked at the peanuts on the plate with his chopsticks.
"Big Brother, isn't Shen Yi at Broken Blade Hall?"
"Why don't we just go catch him?"
The heavier man flicked the thin man on the forehead and said in exasperation:
"Idiot."
"Once the Heaven's Mystery Rankings came out, Shen Yi naturally knew his whereabouts had been exposed. Why would he stupidly stay at Broken Blade Hall?"
"Of course we have to block the surrounding villages and towns!"
"This place is only separated from Dong Commandery by one mountain, but it is already across the commandery border. If it were you, where would you run?"
Before you continue