Wind and Thunder Precious Scroll

As he walked along the streets of Baiyun County, Shen Yi asked the girls one by one where they lived.

He sent the other constables away, mainly because their reputations were so foul that they weren't suitable company.

Even so, pedestrians on the street avoided him as if he were a plague god.

Shen Yi shook his head and knocked on the dilapidated wooden door before him.

The woman who opened it had tear-blurred eyes. When she saw the young man with a saber at his waist, she instinctively tried to shut the door and hide.

Shen Yi stopped her with one hand and stepped aside. A little girl immediately threw herself into the woman's arms, crying so hard she could barely catch her breath. "Mom!"

The woman stood dazed for a long while. Her swollen red eyes blinked again and again, as if she could hardly believe it. Then her nose began to sting, and she hugged the frail little body tight. "My child! Those damned constables!"

Her voice abruptly cut off. She glanced furtively at the tall figure before her and realized she'd said the wrong thing.

But Shen Yi acted as though he hadn't heard. He turned and took two sacks of rice and flour, along with a strip of pork, from Chen Ji, then bent to set them beside the woman's feet.

"The child's been hungry for a long time, and she's been frightened, too. Cook her some meat porridge to help her recover."

Chen Ji, carrying the sacks of rice and flour, looked a little surprised despite his usual solemn expression.

The usually stone-faced Lord Shen had actually clasped his hands in an apologetic salute, a rueful smile on his lips. Then he gently closed the door on the mother and daughter.

It was like seeing a ghost!

The same scene played out six more times.

After returning all the girls to their homes, Shen Yi stepped back onto the street and vigorously rubbed his stiff cheeks. "..."

Watching him, Chen Jinyu couldn't help laughing. She found the sight oddly amusing.

He was clearly no good at dealing with people, and even worse at apologizing. He might look as calm as a drifting cloud, but his whole body was stiff.

"Brother, is he the new superior at your office?"

At that, Chen Ji glanced silently at his younger sister. "No. He's Shen Yi."

At the name, Chen Jinyu instinctively covered her red lips. She had never met the man himself, but only because her brother had always kept her safe. She had heard plenty about his infamous reputation.

"Stay away from him."

Chen Ji warned her softly, but his thoughts grew more troubled.

It wasn't just Shen Yi's change that he couldn't make sense of. There was a more pressing problem to deal with.

Now that they'd returned all the girls, how were they supposed to handle those Old Apes?

When the appointed time came, what would Shen Yi have to show for himself?

"Lord Shen."

Chen Ji slowly approached. Shen Yi came back to himself and glanced at him casually. "The rest is for your sister. Take it all home."

"That's not what I wanted to talk about!"

Chen Ji gritted his teeth in frustration. He couldn't understand why Shen Yi kept changing the subject.

The Dog Demon had been the same earlier. Did these problems cease to exist if you simply refused to talk about them?

Under his gaze, Shen Yi stood with his hands at his sides. After a moment, he said flatly, "I don't know."

The simple answer made Chen Ji's expression change at once. "Are you joking with me?"

Shen Yi looked at him calmly.

He was telling the truth.

Baiyun County was already beset by danger on all sides. It was far beyond the point where a bad man could turn over a new leaf and solve its problems.

The Black-skinned Dog Demon that had suddenly attacked him at Liu Mansion, Huang Laoliu and his wife who had settled in the village, and the Ape Demons whose demands kept growing.

All of them were trampling on the unspoken rules they had once established with the Baiyun County government, as if those rules were dog shit.

That meant either the constables' retreat had emboldened the demons, or the demons had also heard that the Demon Suppression Division was about to arrive. Fearing the government might turn against them, they wanted to vent their fury while they still had time.

Shen Yi was only a minor official. He had no standing to communicate with the Demon Suppression Division, and thus no way to mediate the situation.

He could either deliver every last resident of the county into the demons' hands to be abused as they pleased, or take off his uniform as soon as possible and put his own safety first.

[Remaining lifespan: One year]

He turned his head and glanced at the cold words on the panel.

There was no point in protecting himself. If he wanted to survive, he could only hope that this place had advanced martial arts capable of extending his lifespan.

Whether he relied on the panel to deduce them or joined the Demon Suppression Division to search for them, there was no way around slaying demons.

The only thing Shen Yi could rely on was the long saber in his hand.

"Let's go." He started walking.

"Where?" Chen Ji followed close behind.

"To your house for a meal. I'm hungry."

"..."

Clearly, Chen Ji was deeply reluctant to let Shen Yi step inside his home.

But after what had happened today, though he disliked the idea intensely, he still accepted it.

The siblings lived in a house assigned to them by the government office.

There was only one bedroom, which Chen Jinyu used. Behind it was a small woodshed, tidied up to serve as Chen Ji's room.

"Brother, come inside and sit."

"No need. Go cook."

With his head lowered, Chen Ji led Shen Yi into the woodshed and dragged out two small stools.

"Isn't this a bit much?" Shen Yi raised an eyebrow at the stools, which were barely a foot high. How was that any different from sitting on the ground? "Your sister's room is pretty spacious. I'm not a thief, so why are you guarding against me?"

"Make do." Chen Ji walked to the bed, lifted the straw mat, and took out a yellowed sheet of paper from underneath.

He closed his eyes and hesitated for a long time. In his mind, Shen Yi's arm slung over the Dog Demon's shoulder as he stabbed it to death clashed starkly with the smile on his face when he'd come to return the girls.

"I don't care whether you truly have no way to help or just don't want to explain things to me. There's nothing I can do to help, anyway."

Chen Ji opened his eyes and handed him the paper. "Take this."

"What is it?"

Shen Yi took it and gave it a cursory glance. His expression gradually changed.

Before Chen Ji could answer, the panel had already given him the answer.

[Wind and Thunder Precious Scroll, First Volume (Uninitiated)]

"Back then, a Demon Suppression Division Lieutenant came to see me alone. He said I had a lot of talent. Besides the three martial arts techniques, he wrote down these seventy-eight words of true formula just for me."

"This is a medicinal refining method. It tempers the sinews, bones, skin, and flesh—four major thresholds. Once you've mastered them all, you'll have reached the peak of the Mortal Body."

Chen Ji smiled bitterly, his expression full of self-mockery. "The Lieutenant had a pair of discerning eyes, yet somehow overlooked you. I don't know whether he'd already seen through your character. Unfortunately, in three years, I haven't even broken through the first threshold."

"I'm giving it to you now. It probably won't do much good, but I don't have anything else I can offer. Take your time with it. I'll go help cook."

Hiding his delight at Chen Ji's words, Shen Yi only waved a hand. "Go on, go on."

There was nothing wrong with what Chen Ji said. No matter how advanced a martial art was, cramming at the last minute wouldn't do much good.

But things were entirely different for him.

[Remaining demon lifespan: One hundred and ninety-nine years]

Good thing he'd held back earlier that morning.

Shen Yi steadied his breathing. As usual, he'd start with ten years.

Ten years of demon lifespan instantly flowed into the Wind and Thunder Precious Scroll, and several lines of text quietly appeared.

[Year One: You study the medicinal refining method until you know it by heart, nourishing the great sinews of your body with the essence of heaven and earth.]

[Year Three: With no medicine available, you can only draw minute amounts of essence from food. Your progress is slow.]

[Year Seven: You show faint signs of breaking through the threshold. The great sinews throughout your body are like dragons, but lacking sufficient essence, you can only proceed step by step, building up strength for a sudden breakthrough.]

[Year Ten: You break through the Sinew Threshold. The first volume of the Wind and Thunder Precious Scroll reaches the Initiate stage.]