Meeting the County Magistrate

Dawn had barely broken, but the county yamen was already bustling with voices.

When Wang Ping reached the training ground, he found all the constables gathered there. Quite a few faces were unfamiliar, and they seemed to be holding some kind of ceremony.

"Brother, what's going on?"

Curious, Wang Ping tapped a constable at the edge of the crowd and asked quietly. The man turned around impatiently. "Obviously, it's... it's..."

His expression froze.

The next instant, a terrified scream rang across the training ground. The constable Wang Ping had tapped fell straight to the ground.

"Help! A vengeful ghost's come for us!"

"We didn't kill you! Go after the one who wronged you..."

The commotion naturally interrupted the ceremony. Constables turned to look, then stared in astonishment.

"What's going on?"

The crowd parted as an older constable stepped out, looking annoyed. "Don't you know we're honoring our colleague who died last night? Our col..."

Liu Ye's eyes widened.

"Hey, Old Liu." Wang Ping gave him a friendly wave. He had worked out what was happening, and his expression turned odd. "You thought I was dead?"

Liu Ye was speechless.

What else were they supposed to think?

After a brief silence, Liu Ye took a deep breath and steadied himself. "Brother, how did you survive?"

Then the veteran constable seemed to think of something. He studied Wang Ping, who stood with his head tilted and an innocent look on his face.

"You're alive, but Lord Chen is dead!"

"Huh?"

Wang Ping blinked, as though Liu Ye's words had not registered. Several seconds later, realization seemed to strike, draining the color from his ruddy face.

"Something happened to Lord Chen? Who did it?"

"We don't know. All we know is that the killer was vicious. The body was blown to pieces, leaving only the head. After that heavy rain, we can't even examine the remains."

Liu Ye kept his voice low and steady. "We searched the scene. Every trace of the fight had been erased, and anywhere that might have held a clue was badly damaged. We don't even know what weapon the killer used, much less what martial art."

"To think such a thing happened..."

Wang Ping's eyes widened as though he could not accept Chen Haoyan's death. At last, he clenched his teeth, looking bitterly aggrieved.

"Then I've lost out terribly!"

"I put my life on the line and survived only by sheer luck. I was waiting for Lord Chen to promote me, and now this happened..."

Liu Ye rubbed his chin.

This kid had a bright future. He sounded so convincing that even a veteran constable like Liu Ye began to doubt his own judgment.

With that in mind, Liu Ye pulled Wang Ping aside before continuing. "In fact, we already have some guesses about the killer's identity."

"Really?" Wang Ping's expression shifted.

"Of course." Liu Ye nodded. "The killer deliberately destroyed every trace of the fight. It looked cautious, but it was too clever by half."

"Because that tells everyone his weapon and martial art are highly distinctive. So distinctive that, if he'd left any marks, the county yamen's constables would have recognized them. That alone narrows the suspects to a dozen or so wealthy households in town."

"It could even have been someone inside the yamen."

As he spoke, Liu Ye fixed his gaze on Wang Ping. Someone inside the yamen? He plainly meant that the person who had killed Chen Haoyan might also be a constable.

After all, Yama's Three Demon Blades was widely known too.

"Huh?"

Under Liu Ye's stare, Wang Ping's expression did not waver. If anything, he looked more bewildered. "How could that be? Who could have killed Lord Chen?"

His confusion was not an act. It was genuine.

He had spotted a problem: after killing Chen Haoyan last night, he had simply walked away. He had not deliberately destroyed the traces of the fight. Someone else had done that.

Nor had he needed to clear them away. Chen Haoyan had done all the attacking. Wang Ping had merely charged through the attacks, cut off his arm, then blown him apart in midair with an arrow. Every piece of evidence had vanished with the shattered body.

Even if anything had remained, the rain would have washed it away before it could lead back to him.

There was a third person.

A chill ran through Wang Ping. After he had killed Chen Haoyan and left, someone else had arrived and wrecked the scene—only to make a blunder that helped the investigation.

...No. He did it on purpose!

He destroyed the traces on purpose to narrow the yamen's search. Shouchong! It had to be that old bastard. Did he figure out it was me?

That should not have been possible. If his identity had been exposed, Shouchong would have come for him last night.

Nervousness surfaced in Wang Ping's face, but he quickly wove it into his words and manner.

"Wait, Constable Liu... you don't suspect me, do you?"

Liu Ye's gaze grew stranger. As far as he knew, few martial arts in the county could blow an Inner Force Martial Master's body to pieces.

Yet, as luck would have it, the yamen had just such an art. And someone who had been at the scene last night, whose movements afterward were unknown, had learned it.

Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow.

"...Good."

Liu Ye patted Wang Ping on the shoulder. "Keep that expression. Say exactly that when the county magistrate summons you."

"Huh? What expression...?"

Either this kid truly had no idea, or he was a genius at playing dumb.

Liu Ye clicked his tongue in wonder, then smiled. "Don't worry. With your paltry skills, you think you could kill Lord Chen? No one would believe it."

Wang Ping was not surprised.

That was his greatest cover. How could a martial artist who had not even reached External Arts Perfection kill Chen Haoyan, an Inner Force Martial Master?

Liu Ye did not think it likely either.

"But you're still alive."

"And that's the biggest question. Even if no one thinks you killed Lord Chen, they'll certainly suspect you had something to do with his death."

Liu Ye sighed sincerely.

"To be honest, you shouldn't have come back. If you'd stayed 'dead' after last night, that would've been the end of it. Now that you're back, you may face more trouble than if you'd died."

Just then, a yamen runner hurried onto the training ground and called out, "The county magistrate summons you! Everyone, assemble in the inner yamen!"

On the way to the inner yamen, constables kept sneaking glances at Wang Ping. He looked apprehensive, as though Liu Ye's words had genuinely frightened him.

I had to come back.

As Liu Ye had said, if survival were all Wang Ping wanted, he should not have returned last night. Fleeing far away under cover of darkness would have been the safest choice.

But he had not done so.

The reason was simple. He could have survived by leaving, but without the yamen's resources, his martial arts would stagnate for a long time.

I only have Yama's Three Demon Blades and Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow. Plain Moon Lotus Blade trains the blood too, so it overlaps with Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow and is useless to me now. But to reach External Arts Perfection, I still have three barriers to break through: skin, flesh, and marrow.

He needed more martial arts.

With pills to help him, once he obtained the right arts, he was confident he could achieve more than External Arts Perfection. He could condense Inner Force in a remarkably short time.

That's worth taking a little risk for.

If I break through before I die and become an Inner Force Martial Master, then resurrecting in the Immortal Sect's world should give me a better starting point.

After all, resurrection had a cooldown.

A seven-day cooldown meant he would be extremely vulnerable for the first seven days after his return. One careless mistake could kill him.

The stronger he was when he resurrected, the better.

Following the crowd, Wang Ping soon reached the deepest part of the county yamen. Liu Ye and several other veteran constables led them to the entrance of a courtyard, where they stopped.

A man stepped out of the courtyard.

He wore official robes embroidered with a strange bird. It had feathers of five colors, a crested head, and tail feathers shaped like a ship's rudder. It was called the Xixili, also known as the Purple Mandarin Duck.

Only one person in or around the county could wear such robes.

"Greetings, County Magistrate!"

Every constable spoke at once, their voices shaking the clouds. The shout drew the attention of quite a few people in and beyond the county toward the yamen.

"At ease."

The county magistrate waved a hand. He was a middle-aged man with a long beard and scholarly features. At first glance, he looked like a man of letters who knew nothing of martial arts.

But Wang Ping knew that was far from the truth.

County Magistrate Xu Bingzheng. A student of the Imperial Academy in the capital, a disciple of the Neo-Confucian scholar Cheng Bochun, and ranked three hundred and forty-second on the Great Shun Court's Weapon Ranking...

Wang Ping silently reviewed what he knew of the magistrate.

Of all that information, the Weapon Ranking concerned him most. It represented not just reputation, but strength.

The Great Shun Court's Weapon Ranking is recognized throughout the land and confers prestige of the highest order. A Martial Master whose name appears on it receives an Imperial Title. From then on, he can gather the world's renown and Destiny, break through the limits of Inner Force, and set his sights on higher realms of the Martial Dao.

Thus, anyone on the Weapon Ranking was, at the very least, a Named Treasure.

Those whose renown had grown beyond even the Weapon Ranking's influence were the Martial Grandmasters known to all.

External Arts martial artist. Inner Force Martial Master. Titled Martial Master. Martial Grandmaster.

With such martial prowess, the magistrate could have gone to the capital and made a name for himself. Instead, he remained in a place like Longxing County. It seemed a waste of his talents.

Just then—

"You..."

Xu Bingzheng's eyes flashed. He picked Wang Ping out at once, though Wang Ping stood toward the back of the crowd. His voice remained gentle, without a trace of overbearing authority.

"You're Wang Ping?"

"Yes, my lord. I am."

Wang Ping bowed.

Goosebumps had already risen across his skin. The magistrate's gaze felt like a sharp sword peeling his body open.

Xu Bingzheng's next words shook him to the core. "Yama's Three Demon Blades mastered to perfection, Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow at minor mastery, True Dragon Sinew, Mountain Lord Bone, and Supreme Yang Blood. Not only are you exceptionally perceptive, you possess three extraordinary gifts. Even in the prefecture, a prodigy like you would appear only once in a century."

"A young hero indeed!"

As his words rang out, Wang Ping clearly sensed the constables' surprise, shock, and even envy. He could scarcely believe it himself.

He saw through me just like that!

Of course. A martial artist can't hide the progress of his body through the External Arts. Calm down. If anyone asks, I'm a once-in-ten-thousand martial arts prodigy...

Even so, Wang Ping did not dare relax.

He had encountered a problem he had never faced before.

...I can't sense anything.

Wang Ping lowered his eyes. His Spirit Sense, which had never failed him before, could not detect a single emotion in the magistrate's heart.

Why?

Is it because he's a Titled Martial Master? Can martial arts at that level block Spirit Sense? I knew the waters ran deep in this damned place. It was never going to be simple...

"Oh, right."

Xu Bingzheng spoke again. "If I recall correctly, Chen Haoyan assigned you to escort the Lotus Blade. Where is it now?"

"My lord, I failed in my duty. The White Lotus Bandits took everything."

Wang Ping hurried to explain.

He could clearly sense Xu Bingzheng's scrutiny intensify to an alarming degree as he spoke.

Fortunately, he had his Spirit Sense. He immediately controlled his pulse and heartbeat, keeping every outward sign of emotion within the bounds of someone who was "a little nervous, but had a clear conscience." Only when that piercing gaze, which seemed ready to cut him open, gradually faded did he breathe a silent sigh of relief.

He's formidable.

Wang Ping's instincts told him that if his body had shown the slightest unnatural reaction just then, the magistrate would have struck at once.

"I see. The fault was not yours. Very well."

Xu Bingzheng withdrew his gaze. He seemed to have lost interest in Wang Ping.

"You may step back."

At those words, Wang Ping felt as though he had been granted a reprieve. He retreated into the crowd, knowing he had passed this test for now and would not die on the spot.

Then he heard the magistrate continue.

"I've called you here to announce something."

"Chen Haoyan is dead, but the yamen cannot be without a chief constable. I intend to choose one of you to take his place as Longxing County's chief constable."

His words sent ripples through the crowd like a stone striking water.

The once-quiet constables erupted into chatter. Several veterans who had not been prepared for the news nearly burst out laughing.

They quickly caught themselves. Their broad grins sagged, and after twisting their faces a few times, they even managed to squeeze out a hint of a sob.

"Lord Chen has only just died in the line of duty. How could we—"

"He's dead. What are you crying for?"

The magistrate waved a hand impatiently.

The sobbing stopped at once.

Every constable looked at Xu Bingzheng with burning eyes. No one knew better than they did how many advantages came with the chief constable's post.

The chief constable could study the many martial arts kept by the yamen and draw directly from the armory, choosing weapons suited to his training. Food and other supplements were supplied without limit at the highest standard. Once someone secured that post, breaking through to Inner Force was practically assured.

Xu Bingzheng continued.

"In one month, I will hold a competition at the yamen. Any of you may enter. Whoever is left standing at the end will be the new chief constable."

"Do your best."

With that, Xu Bingzheng turned and went back into the inner courtyard. The constables he left behind launched into heated, excited discussion.

Even Wang Ping began thinking it over. Isn't this exactly what I need? If I win the chief constable's post, getting martial arts won't be a problem anymore.

As for the competition, the strongest of these constables had only reached External Arts Perfection, and they were getting old. Youth had the advantage in a fight. If he used everything at his disposal, his chances were good.

Besides, he still had so many pills.

A month would be enough to absorb them all. Even without the corresponding martial arts, he could push his body to its limits by then...

...Hm?

Wang Ping's thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

Wait. Something wasn't right.

Chen Haoyan had forced his way into the Spirit Wandering Temple for that batch of pills, yet he hadn't kept them all for himself. Clearly, he was acting on someone else's orders. There was another hand pulling the strings.

County Magistrate Xu Bingzheng.

He had announced a contest at the county office to select a new head constable, yet given everyone a month to prepare—exactly the time needed to absorb that batch of pills.

Alarm shot through Wang Ping:

Was this a trap? Worse... was I the one he was trying to catch!?

At the thought, Wang Ping felt as though he had plunged into an icy cavern. His earlier excitement cooled at once, and he turned almost instinctively toward the inner courtyard.

There, he seemed to see County Magistrate Xu Bingzheng, his face hidden in shadow, watching everyone with an utterly placid gaze.