When You're All Dead, It Will Be Best for Everyone

Cui Lang carefully examined the bronze statue. It had a human body, a snake's tail, and ten arms, each hand different from the next.

Some resembled human hands, some hooves, some claws. Several even held swords and sabers. It was exceedingly strange.

He had never seen such a statue before and could not shake the feeling that it was deeply sinister.

After fiddling with it for a long while without finding any mechanism, Cui Lang simply picked it up and headed straight for the Ding residence.

Zheng Fengyun was dead. Ding Xiong and Song He would surely suspect him, perhaps even pin everything on him. Naturally, he had to strike first.

The Ding residence.

Ding Xiong rose to his feet. "Why aren't they back yet? Let's go take a look. I have a bad feeling about this."

This time, Song He did not try to dissuade him. He too felt deeply unsettled.

The moment the two stepped outside, they saw Cui Lang preparing to knock on the door.

What was going on? Why had Cui Lang returned? Where was Zheng Fengyun?

"My lords, hurry and come with me. Magistrate Zheng has been seriously injured and is waiting for you to save him."

"He was seriously injured dealing with two cat demons?" Song He urged, "Lead the way at once."

As Cui Lang walked, he explained, "My lords, after those two cat demons devoured other demons and monsters, their strength surged."

"They were already swift, but now they had become even more ferocious. This subordinate could not help much. Magistrate Zheng exhausted all his strength to kill the two demons, but his wounds are too severe for him to be moved. That is why he ordered this subordinate to seek help from you two."

Once they reached the outskirts of the city, Cui Lang swung himself onto a horse. "My lords, this subordinate is not skilled in movement techniques. Please keep up."

Without waiting for them to agree, Cui Lang spurred the horse into a gallop.

Ding Xiong and Song He were both somewhat angered. Cui Lang could have given them the horse and simply told them where Zheng Fengyun was. Yet he actually expected them to run after him?

This little constable truly had no sense.

Ding Xiong also decided that once they found Zheng Fengyun, he would personally kill Cui Lang.

"Cui Lang, stop! Aren't we there yet?" Song He could no longer endure it. They had already run nearly twenty li, and his true essence had been greatly depleted.

Cui Lang turned around. "Almost there, almost there. We'll arrive any moment now. Please hold on a little longer, my lords."

Ding Xiong stopped Cui Lang. "Just tell me where he is. I'll ride ahead first, and the two of you can follow afterward."

Cui Lang casually pointed ahead. "He's in that village up ahead, the third house on the eastern end."

Ding Xiong gave a grunt. "Cui Lang, the two cat demons caused such a huge disturbance this time. Once the prefectural yamen learns of it, how should we explain ourselves?"

"A few days ago, we had you lead men to patrol the villages, yet you found nothing at all. Did you truly fail to find anything, or did you find them and deliberately conceal it, covering for those demons and monsters?"

Cui Lang looked at Ding Xiong in "shock." "Lord Ding, what do you mean by that? Such a huge matter being pinned on a little constable like me—the prefectural yamen will never believe it."

Ding Xiong looked at Cui Lang with a smile. "Correct. No one would believe it if it were only a little constable. But add Zheng Fengyun, the county commandant, and it becomes far more credible."

"Cui Lang, things would never have come to this. Ever since Old Li took a liking to you, the stable situation we spent years building has been thrown into chaos."

"But this is fine too. Once we deal with you, we can give those above an explanation. We will no longer need to live in fear, and no one will ever know about anything here again."

Ding Xiong had long found Zheng Fengyun an eyesore. When the county magistrate was promoted, it should have been only natural for him, the county vice magistrate, to take over the position. Yet Zheng Fengyun had also set his sights on the county magistrate's seat.

Moreover, Zheng Fengyun had a patron in the prefectural yamen, making him difficult for Ding Xiong to contend against.

But a dead man would no longer compete with him, would he?

Then all he needed to do was raid Zheng Fengyun's home and grease a few palms above. Zheng Fengyun's patron might well become his own patron.

Cui Lang turned to Song He again. "Lord Song, he wants to make a move against Magistrate Zheng, and you won't stop him?"

"Today he can kill Magistrate Zheng. Tomorrow, he can kill you."

Song He snorted coldly. "Don't show off such a petty trick of sowing discord before me."

"Cui Lang, it will be best for everyone if you and Zheng Fengyun die."

Cui Lang raised a brow. "Best for you, perhaps, but not for me."

"Actually, it will only truly be best for everyone once you are all dead."

Ding Xiong burst into laughter. "Cui Lang, have you finished leaving your last words? Then this official will send you on your way."

Ding Xiong slapped a palm toward Cui Lang, convinced that Cui Lang would be unable to evade it.

Yet he saw Cui Lang draw his saber in an instant and slash down at him.

Ding Xiong's expression changed drastically. How was Cui Lang's saber so fast? And true essence was clearly attached to it—Cui Lang had long since reached the True Essence Gathering Realm!

Knowing he could not dodge, Ding Xiong gritted his teeth and struck Cui Lang, trying to force him to evade. At the very least, they could trade injury for injury.

The saber swept through Ding Xiong's body, severing half his shoulder outright. Cui Lang was also sent flying by the palm strike, crashing toward Song He.

Song He was likewise stunned by the sudden turn of events, but when he saw Cui Lang flying at him, he instinctively raised his hand and threw a punch.

Whether or not Cui Lang had been killed by Ding Xiong's palm strike, taking this punch would surely finish him.

But before his eyes, a saber was rapidly growing larger.

Pfft!

Song He clearly felt his punch strike Cui Lang, yet he still failed to evade Cui Lang's slash. His head flew straight into the air.

"You're in the True Essence Gathering Realm, and you follow the body-tempering path as well. Who exactly are you?!" Ding Xiong clutched his right shoulder and demanded hoarsely.

Cui Lang had deliberately ridden a horse earlier and made them run behind him in order to deplete their true essence and lure them to this deserted place to make his move.

"Lord Ding, did injuring your shoulder damage your brain as well? I'm Cui Lang. Didn't you already know that?"

"Now tell me: who else is like you, colluding with demons and monsters? I can spare your family."

Ding Xiong's eyes turned bloodshot. "Cui Lang, calamity should not extend to one's wife and children. How can you do this?"

"Ding Xiong, you could collude with demons and monsters, allow them to slaughter the common people, and even consume Blood Pills. What is there that I cannot do?"

"Constable Li died, and his wife and children fled. Did you spare them?"

Ding Xiong wore a bitter smile. "Cui Lang, you think you are worthy of interrogating me?"

"If we had not expended so much true essence traveling here, if we had known you followed the body-tempering path, if we had known you had also condensed true essence—did you really think you could have killed the two of us?"

"Looks like I'll have to use a few methods on you." Cui Lang flexed his fingers and walked over to Ding Xiong.

Half an hour later, Ding Xiong had also become a corpse.

Ding Xiong had said that County Magistrate Zhou Yafeng, Prefectural Judicial Commissioner Lin Liben, and Silver Plaque Constable Shen Ruyu were all their people.

It was possible that Zhou Yafeng was in league with them, but Shen Ruyu could not be. Ding Xiong had been lying to him even at death's door.

Just as Cui Lang was considering how to dispose of the bodies, a voice suddenly came from behind him. "Cui Lang, it seems everyone underestimated you before."

Cui Lang abruptly turned around...