A Moonless, Windswept Night

It was a moonless, windswept night.

At some point, dark clouds had spread over Longxing County. Cold winds swept through, and the night grew ever deeper—a sign that heavy rain was coming.

Wang Ping all but held his breath.

The magistrate before him—his breathing, his heartbeat, the circulation of his blood, every outward sign of life—had already passed beyond the bounds of ordinary mortals.

For an instant, Wang Ping even hallucinated. It was as though the figure standing in the darkness was not a man, but a golden-winged roc with blazing eyes, spreading wings that blotted out the sky, ready to pounce and kill him at any moment. Facing him was like a rabbit meeting a tiger that had yet to feed.

This was a gulf between levels of existence.

Every cell in his body wailed at that moment. His animal instincts urged him to turn around and flee, to get as far away as possible!

"...Hah!"

The next second, Wang Ping abandoned his martial senses and activated his Spirit Sense. Only then did he finally pierce that inexplicable illusion and see the man clearly again.

"Hmm?"

Almost simultaneously, Xu Bingzheng, the magistrate of Longxing, seemed to realize something as well. Surprise crossed his face. "Interesting. Is this another of the White Lotus Sect's sinister arts?"

"A Lesser Celestial Circuit Body, a Martial Master with minor attainment in Inner Force—you fall short even of Chen Haoyan when he was alive, yet you can break through the suppression of my Divine Intent. It seems the White Lotus Sect does have a few tricks, to have swept through so many counties and made such a name for itself in Changle Commandery." Xu Bingzheng sounded quite calm.

"Speak."

His gaze settled on Wang Ping. "About the White Lotus Sect and the pills you stole that night. You have at least three sentences to say."

After a brief silence, Wang Ping raised his head. "...How did you find me?"

"Not that sentence."

The words had barely fallen when a sharp pain shot through Wang Ping's body. By the time he recovered his senses, a wound had appeared across his chest.

Blood gushed out at once.

Wang Ping immediately retreated a step and circulated his Inner Force to stem the bleeding. The color drained from his face, leaving him deathly pale.

Is this a Titled Martial Master?

It's still Inner Force. Perhaps he has more than I do, and it's more refined and stronger...but that's all. There doesn't seem to be any qualitative improvement.

The pain did not drown out Wang Ping's thoughts. Ever since killing Chen Haoyan and risking a return to the county office, he had been prepared to be exposed someday. He had not expected it to happen so quickly, but that was no matter. With [Otherworldly Celestial Demon], it only meant starting over again.

So, compared with his injuries, another matter concerned him more.

What exactly was the next step in the Martial Dao, this so-called "Titled Martial Master"? What conditions would he have to meet to reach it himself?

With that thought, he spoke again:

"How did you find me?"

The same answer, the same attitude. This time, Xu Bingzheng did not cut off Wang Ping's other arm, but frowned in puzzlement.

"You don't fear death?"

Xu Bingzheng believed he had read countless people and could not mistake someone's expression or state of mind. He could tell that the young constable before him truly did not fear death.

"I'm certain you won't kill me."

Wang Ping said evenly, "You want those pills. But almost none of them are any use to you, except for one whose purpose I don't know."

"Where is it?" Xu Bingzheng's tone sharpened.

Wang Ping did not answer. Instead, he continued, "How did you find me?"

A brief silence fell between them. Rain drifted from the sky, pattering against the ground, its chill lending the air a sharper edge of menace.

"...It wasn't difficult."

At last, Xu Bingzheng spoke first. "I planted [Wraith Dragon Force] in all the veteran constables at the county office. They are my eyes and ears."

"Anyone who could intercept and kill Chen Haoyan on his way back to town must know the county town intimately. So I was certain the killer was a martial artist living here. And after taking so many pills, the killer would surely need to enter seclusion to absorb them. Anyone who shut himself away and refused visitors was a possible culprit."

At those words, Wang Ping immediately understood:

"That's why you arranged the county office tournament and had the constables mobilize their connections...it was only a cover. Your real purpose was to have them investigate for you!"

Nearly every constable at the county office came from one of the county's prominent clans.

The seasoned veterans in particular were local powerhouses. Mobilizing their connections was essentially another way of conducting a town-wide dragnet!

And with [Wraith Dragon Force] planted in them, everything they saw, heard, and learned would become known to Xu Bingzheng, whether they concealed it or not.

So the problem was not that he had practiced the [Sky Roc Dragon-Seizing Physique Diagram]. Even if he had never practiced it, appearing in any constable's field of vision meant exposing himself to Xu Bingzheng's eyes. His progress in martial arts plainly could not escape this magistrate's notice.

"Precisely."

Xu Bingzheng nodded. "I am Longxing County's magistrate. As constables of the county office serving the imperial court, they ought to be extensions of my hands."

"But I never imagined that a young constable who had only recently joined would be the mastermind behind it all. Your martial skills were so weak that you nearly slipped through the net." Xu Bingzheng's voice grew darker. "A surprise indeed. How did you kill Chen Haoyan?"

"Perhaps I'm exceptionally gifted."

Wang Ping gave a casual, perfunctory answer. After all, such things were hard to explain to someone without a cheat. Besides, he had a more pressing problem than answering questions.

Boom!

Thunder rolled across the vault of heaven.

In an instant, heaven and earth lit up, the world flashing white. At that same moment, Wang Ping's Spirit Sense precisely caught a vast, transparent net of densely woven threads spreading open.

It reminded him of Xu Bingzheng's title.

[Weapon Ranking], number three hundred and forty-two: [Immortal Rope] Xu Bingzheng.

That title praised his exceptional lightness skill on one hand, and described his weapon on the other—a great net woven from Western Region heavenly silkworm silk.

Clang! Clang!

The saber sang, the King of Hell demanding a life. An eerie, demonic flash of steel slashed straight at the falling net, bursting into a shower of scorching sparks beneath the night sky.

But it was useless.

The saber's edge could neither cut through the net nor stop its descent. Wang Ping, whose mind was linked to his weapon, suddenly felt an indescribable stabbing pain.

Not good!

Wang Ping retreated a step, his expression shifting. A chip the size of a grain of rice had appeared in his usually immaculate Ox-Tail Saber.

It's clearly just a thin, light net, yet it's unbelievably heavy. More importantly, it makes no sound whatsoever. Without my Spirit Sense, if I relied on martial senses alone, I'd already be trussed up in it and captured alive without putting up the slightest resistance!

Wang Ping's thoughts raced, and he reached a conclusion:

A [Fine Weapon]...no, a [Renowned Treasure]!

A weapon listed on the [Weapon Ranking], known throughout the world and enriched by vast amounts of renown and destiny, had clearly surpassed ordinary weapons.

It possessed supernatural powers!

Even as he thought, Wang Ping never stopped moving. He immediately put away his saber and drew the Black Chi Bow instead, nocking an arrow and pouring all his Inner Force into its tip.

Roar—!!!

The bow shuddered violently. The two Hornless Dragons coiled around it seemed to come alive, and the arrow left the string with a sound like a dragon's roar.

The instant he fired, Wang Ping stamped hard and surged forward, following the arrow. As it struck the invisible net, he drew his saber again and slashed with all his strength. Only then did he finally lift the seemingly weightless net into an arc, creating a gap that lasted barely an instant.

Whoosh!

Wang Ping's figure flashed past, slipping from beneath the invisible net amid a spray of blood. Half his body bore cuts left by its threads.

Those wounds were plainly unusual. White smoke kept rising from them as they spread madly, trying to corrode his muscles, bones, and even the meridians throughout his body.

"Hah!"

Wang Ping did not panic. He immediately activated [Qi Suppression], and the surging true qi produced by the spell poured into his flesh, quickly suppressing the corrosion.

"You do have secrets." Xu Bingzheng flicked his hand and gathered up the net, studying Wang Ping with increasing surprise. "You haven't developed Divine Intent, yet you can see my [Immortal Rope]. You only have minor attainment in Inner Force, yet you can suppress my [Heavenly Roc Force] and keep it from eating through your entire body."

"A true talent."

With that, rather than pressing his advantage, he grew solemn. "If you haven't taken the Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill yet, hand it over."

"You are indeed exceptionally gifted."

"Give me the pill, and from now on you will be the county office's chief constable. Chen Haoyan is dead. I can also transfer his position in the Capital Divine Constables' Bureau to you."

"You can take the credit for his recent achievements in surveying farmland and checking household registers as well. As for the portion skimmed from the autumn taxes, I'll give you five percent."

"What do you say?"

Even Wang Ping was surprised by this offer.

He wants to recruit me?

In all fairness, the terms were excellent: the post of chief constable, credit for administrative achievements, a great deal of money, and even his future prospects were included.

He also happened to want to explore the next step in the Martial Dao. If he could take official channels and pursue further training at the Capital Divine Constables' Bureau, that step would be secure. A foreseeable, bright future awaited him. Compared with all of that, the price he had to pay was almost unbelievably low.

"But I refuse!"

Wang Ping raised his head and gave Xu Bingzheng a kindly smile. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he delivered his answer one word at a time.

"...Why?" Xu Bingzheng could not understand.

"Compared with what I'm giving you, all you have to surrender is a single pill."

Wang Ping shook his head. "It's more than a pill."

Beyond that, he would have to replace Chen Haoyan and become another sun hanging over Longxing County, continuing to cling to the common people's backs and drink their blood.

The former was merely a pill.

The latter was his conscience.

"Unfortunately, my conscience weighs a little more than yours." Wang Ping stood with saber in hand.

Xu Bingzheng clearly failed to understand. He only urged him more earnestly, "The White Lotus Sect is a pack of bandits. What future can a talent like you have by following them?"

"Joining the imperial court is the proper path."

"My teacher is a great Confucian scholar of the court. With my recommendation, you are certain to be entrusted with important duties. Wouldn't such talent be wasted if you didn't use it to benefit the people?"

"...Benefit the people?"

Wang Ping arched a brow. "Which people?"

Xu Bingzheng paused, then answered without hesitation, "All the people under heaven, naturally. We study martial arts and the classics precisely to uphold great righteousness throughout the world."

"...Ha!"

Wang Ping laughed. "Disaster victims fill the land outside town. The common people are either starving to death or being starved to death. You have no right to speak of 'all the people under heaven.'"

"Disaster victims? Impossible!"

Xu Bingzheng looked even more surprised, his frown deepening. He could not help arguing, "What disaster victims are there outside town? There's only a bunch of grain-producing Blackheads..."

Only then did he finally realize it. His mouth fell slightly open, and then immense fury swept over his face. "Bastard! You actually consider those Blackheads people?"

"Blackheads count as people?"

"They're nothing but remnants of the previous dynasty, weeds that must be cleared out every season. Treating them as people is an insult to humanity."

Xu Bingzheng spoke with utter certainty, as though this were not something cold and merciless, but the manifest law of heaven. Clearly, his convictions did not waver in the slightest.

"The White Lotus Sect in particular spread these ideas everywhere when it swept through the commanderies and counties. It bewitched countless ignorant students and scholars, and incited those Blackheads to rebel, ruining a once peaceful and stable world. Who knows how many law-abiding citizens died because of it? Its crimes truly cannot be pardoned..."

Xu Bingzheng's voice was steeped in hatred.

Then he looked at Wang Ping again, his expression now wary and grim. "I thought you had only recently joined the White Lotus Sect..."

"Now it seems you've already been deeply poisoned by it."

"In that case, I can only capture you first and slowly search for the pill afterward. But that would cause too much commotion. I couldn't hide it from everyone."

Xu Bingzheng sighed. "So I must first control you and have you kill Liu Ye, then Madam Su, then slaughter the entire Su Household. Finally, I'll condemn you as the criminal and make you take the blame. The outcome will be the same, only more people will die, and a law-abiding household in town will be wiped out."

"You have forced me to do all of this."

"The White Lotus Bandits truly leave a deep poison behind!"

At this, sorrow appeared on Xu Bingzheng's face. "Through a moment's negligence, I allowed a bandit to bring chaos upon the county town. Afterward, I must petition the commandery for punishment..."

Before he had finished speaking, Wang Ping moved.

For his Spirit Sense had detected that, even as Xu Bingzheng sighed, the invisible net had spread open once more and was falling toward him!

This corrupt bastard...

Wang Ping moved like lightning. With the Black Chi Bow in hand, he fired three arrows in the blink of an eye, then retreated at speed. Yet the sense of danger in his heart never diminished.

"It seems your knowledge is limited. You've never encountered a Titled Martial Master."

Xu Bingzheng's voice followed him like a shadow, drifting eerily toward him. At the same time, the invisible net in the air changed direction and pursued Wang Ping with unerring precision.

The net did not move fast.

Yet somehow, no matter how Wang Ping dodged, it could cut off his escape route precisely, always hanging less than three feet above him.

And as time passed, that distance kept shrinking.

How is he doing this?

Is this a Titled Martial Master's [Divine Intent]? Can it predict the future? Without my Spirit Sense, I'd probably have died a hundred times already!