Peace Scripture

At that moment, Wang Ping felt certain he was going to die.

At the same time, he cursed eighteen generations of his handler's ancestors in his heart. Was this how the bastard did his job? What happened to absolute secrecy?

"Have they made me a disposable pawn?"

Just as Wang Ping sank into despair, Shouchong did something utterly unexpected. Rather than beheading him with a single stroke, he stepped back.

Then he casually tossed something over.

Wang Ping instinctively reached out. The [Lotus Blade] that had once blasted the rockery apart landed lightly in his hand, carrying a bone-piercing chill.

"This works out nicely. In that case, you can have it."

Speaking words Wang Ping could not make sense of, Shouchong grabbed Xie Shi beside him. His figure flashed like lightning, smashing through the roof and streaking into the distance.

Almost simultaneously, Wang Ping felt his scalp explode with alarm.

This feeling... someone's locked onto me!

Understanding dawned in Wang Ping's heart without warning. Then another voice rang out from beyond the Daoist temple. "The one holding the Lotus Blade is the White Lotus Bandits' leader!"

"...Huh?"

At those words, Wang Ping felt as though he were gripping a red-hot iron. He violently flung away the Lotus Blade Xie Shi had just handed him.

"It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!"

Wang Ping shouted, "I'm an undercover agent for the county office! I've rendered meritorious service! I want to see the chief constable! Someone at the county office can prove my innocence..."

An arrow's whistle answered him.

At that moment, Wang Ping felt strangely hollow inside. Looking down, he discovered a bowl-sized hole in his chest.

It was the mark left by an arrow passing straight through him.

His second life had ended just like that, without any warning... He really should never have dreamed of rising above his station. He should have simply farmed and kept his head down.

But this death was far too unjust.

In the end, why had the county constables suddenly appeared here? And since they had come, why hadn't the man responsible for contacting him come with them?

He should have been able to survive...

As Wang Ping thought this, hovering on the brink of death, he suddenly saw a pair of tall black leather boots. Their owner seemed to be issuing orders.

"Arrest them! Don't let them get away!"

"Take everyone confined in the main hall into custody... There aren't enough. Go arrest more in Former Village. We finally mobilized for once. We can't return empty-handed."

—That was his handler's voice.

Just then, another voice spoke. "Chief Constable, one of the rebels just claimed he was an undercover agent for the county office..."

Yes, yes! That's me!

The chance to clear his name and survive was right before him. Wang Ping's will to live surged, but the man's next words plunged him into an icebound abyss.

"What undercover agent? The county office has never planted any agents in the White Lotus Sect. That was merely a rebel spouting nonsense to save his own skin."

At that moment, Wang Ping's fury passed all bounds.

By his moral standards, he had thought denying his service as an undercover agent and withholding his reward was the lowest the authorities would sink. Yet he had still been far too naive.

They were tearing down the bridge after crossing the river!

At that thought, all the fear, bewilderment, humiliation, and resentment in Wang Ping's heart finally turned into an indescribable, sky-swallowing rage.

What drove him to despair, however, was that he could do nothing.

He could only lie on the ground, raging helplessly.

The next instant, Wang Ping's vision sank into bottomless darkness. Dimly, he seemed to hear the rustle of turning pages beside his ears.

Former Village.

Once, this had been a peaceful village nestled in the countryside. Now flames soared into the sky, and cries of slaughter rang out everywhere.

"Officer! Have mercy, officer!"

"Help!"

"Run! Run!"

The flames reflected the color of blood, illuminating Chen Haoyan's face. Though surrounded by a sea of fire, the constables around this constable captain felt only icy cold.

He stood in the Daoist temple's inner courtyard, quietly examining the shrine inside the residence before him. The chilling stench of blood drifted in from the outer courtyard, but he remained utterly unmoved. Even though the dead were not White Lotus Sect followers, merely village children, he paid them no mind whatsoever.

Just then, a travel-worn constable approached.

Had Wang Ping been here, he would certainly have recognized this man: the street-clearing tiger called Master Liu, who had collected protection money all over Grass Market outside the city.

"Chief Constable, we've swept the whole area."

"Although this place is the White Lotus Sect's lair, not many villagers actually joined them. Around a dozen. They're all in custody now."

"Sir, should we take them back for individual questioning?"

Chen Haoyan turned, his gaze calm.

"Questioning? Liu Ye, it seems you've spent too long in Grass Market. Those who harbor rebels share their guilt. Must I teach you something so simple?"

At those words, Liu Ye froze.

"You mean, sir..."

"Kill them all."

Those three casually spoken words weighed on the constable like a mountain. Almost instinctively, he glanced around the Daoist temple.

Corpses littered the ground, severed limbs lay scattered, and blood flowed in rivers. Yet not one of the dead held a weapon. Judging by the marks on their hands and feet, they had learned only minor tricks for strengthening their bodies. Not a single one had truly mastered martial arts, or this encirclement would never have gone so smoothly.

Even a fool could tell they could not possibly be rebels.

Yet they had died all the same.

At that thought, emotion made Liu Ye open his mouth, but reason forced him to swallow everything he wanted to say. In the end, he could only squeeze out:

"Understood, sir..."

"Wait!"

Just then, a young constable suddenly stepped forward, his face full of indignation. "Forgive me, sir, but I cannot agree with this course of action!"

Liu Ye turned at his words. The speaker was Lin Sheng, whose family had served in the government office for three generations. Having mastered fine martial skills at a young age, he had joined the county office as a constable at twenty. As he stepped forward now, youthful spirit shone between his brows.

"Sir, we were ordered to suppress bandits. Bandits, not ordinary people!"

The young constable declared loudly:

"These people were merely deceived by the White Lotus Sect. They knew nothing of its inner workings and aren't true rebels. If we slaughter people at every turn, how will the court ever win their trust?"

"...People?"

After hearing Lin Sheng's words, Chen Haoyan's expression did not change at all. Only the corner of his mouth lifted, as though he had heard a rather absurd joke.

Bang!

The next instant, Lin Sheng, who had stepped forward of his own accord, felt as though a sledgehammer had struck his chest. His entire body shuddered, and he threw back his head, spraying a mouthful of hot blood.

Then Chen Haoyan's voice sounded beside his ears.

"You offended your superior. Consider this a small punishment to teach you a greater lesson."

"As for your question... no matter. Since you've joined my county office, you're one of us now. A brother. I'll give you a reasonable explanation."

At this point, Chen Haoyan seemed genuinely to muster a little patience. He chuckled. "Those of us working in government offices certainly have many rules to follow, but ultimately, it comes down to public duty and private interest. Whatever we do, we must account for both. Only then can we stand securely."

"Take this matter, for example."

"What is the public duty here, and what is the private interest?"

When Chen Haoyan finished, Lin Sheng was stunned instead. But he soon rallied and answered, "Public duty is suppressing bandits and rebels. Private interest is the silver reward..."

The county office received rewards for exterminating rebels, too.

In particular, the White Lotus Sect's leader, that old fellow named Shouchong, carried a bounty of five hundred taels of silver. Even for a constable captain, that was an enormous sum.

Chen Haoyan nodded at his answer. "Then you should understand."

"If we brothers come out here without killing a single White Lotus Sect rebel, this whole trip will have been wasted. We'll have nowhere to collect our reward."

Lin Sheng faltered. "But... but we really haven't found any White Lotus rebels..."

"Who says?"

Chen Haoyan pointed toward Former Village nearby. "Aren't they all right there? The White Lotus Sect intended to gather a mob and revolt, but we discovered their plot. That's a major achievement!"

"Would you rather I report to the county magistrate that we failed to suppress the rebels and let them all escape, or that we thwarted their uprising? The former means failure at the final hurdle, and everyone might even face severe punishment. The latter will certainly please the magistrate, and we brothers can all collect the bounty together."

With that, Chen Haoyan took out a silvery-white throwing blade.

"This is the White Lotus leader's [Lotus Blade]. We've confiscated it, so it makes perfect evidence. We'll say he fled in disgrace after we gravely wounded him."

"With witnesses and material evidence both present, everyone's happy."

"No... that's wrong!"

Lin Sheng shook his head fiercely, his teeth clenched. "That's private interest! You clearly haven't solved the problem, yet you pretend you have. Where is the public duty in conduct like that?"

"A good question."

Chen Haoyan nodded. "Why do you think we went to all this trouble, spread the word everywhere, and marched out with such fanfare to suppress bandits and rebels?"

The question was so simple that Lin Sheng answered almost without thinking. "The White Lotus rebels are scourging the countryside. Naturally, we're doing this to protect the land and keep the people safe."

"You're wrong. Completely wrong!"

Chen Haoyan sneered. "We have a White Lotus Sect here, and the neighboring county has a Luosheng Sect. In times like these, you can never kill all the rebels."

"Then..."

Lin Sheng was bewildered. If suppressing bandits and rebels was not about protecting the land and keeping the people safe, what was it for?

The next instant, Chen Haoyan gave his answer. "It's to make the powerful clans, the scholars, and everyone in the county town believe we're protecting the land and keeping the people safe."

"Then they'll give us money to support our work."

"Only when they pay does the county magistrate have money. Only when the magistrate has money do we get rewards and comfortable lives, instead of living on the northwest wind."

"If they believe us, the county town stays secure."

"If the county town stays secure, the world won't fall into chaos."

"That is public duty."

"So what we're doing here leaves our greater principles intact, both publicly and privately. As for the rest, as the saying goes, don't get caught up in trifles. Little matters needn't weigh on your mind."

"This... is a little matter?"

Hearing this, Lin Sheng felt an overwhelming sense of absurdity fill his heart. He looked around, only to find all the other constables silent.

"Killing innocents to claim merit, slaughtering villagers outside the town... human lives are a matter of paramount importance. Is that a little matter, too?"

"You seem to have misunderstood something."

Chen Haoyan's voice drifted over, carrying a cold indifference that frightened Lin Sheng.

"When we say human lives are of paramount importance, we mean the people living in the county town. The powerful clans. The scholars. As for those Blackheads outside the town... do they even count as people?"

With that, Chen Haoyan swept his sleeve and left.

Before leaving, he did not forget to glance at the corpses strewn across the ground. His gaze lingered briefly on one of them, and he inwardly shook his head. A pity about this one.

This operation against the White Lotus Sect had actually been hastily arranged.

The reason was simple. After meeting Wang Ping, he had gone back to gather men for an ambush at River Village—only to discover, unexpectedly, that word had leaked.

Unfortunately, he had already assembled everyone. If he did nothing and abandoned the original plan, the result would merely be an exposed and murdered agent, with the White Lotus Sect making fools of the county office. Once word spread, he, as chief constable, would have to bear full responsibility. The county magistrate would very likely consider him incompetent afterward, too.

Mother of mercy, that would really hurt my career.

Thus, in the end, Chen Haoyan had come up with a solution that was hardly a solution at all. He might lack the ability to wipe out the White Lotus Sect, but he certainly had the ability to kill innocents and claim credit.

And plenty of it.

As for that undercover agent... a mere Blackhead born in the backwoods, his life was worth less than dust. If he died, he died. There was no need to give him another thought.

It was not as though he could come back to life and seek revenge.

Wang Ping opened his eyes again.

"...Huh?"

The drastic change in what he saw left him unable to take it in for a while. His brain could not process the shifting images his eyes fed it quickly enough.

This time, he saw boundless darkness and a raised platform standing within it. A closed book rested on the platform, so vast it resembled a towering building. Wang Ping, who had thought himself doomed, was completely dumbstruck and failed to recover for a long time.

"Where am I?" Wang Ping looked around in bewilderment.

Just then, the towering book directly ahead suddenly opened. The rustle of turning pages echoed endlessly around him before finally stopping on one page.

[Peace Scripture]

[Volume one: otherworldly celestial demon]

[An existence from beyond the heavens, wandering outside the netherworld realm yet possessing no soul-body. The sole anomaly between heaven and earth, beyond everyone's expectations.]

[Can revive once after death. Revival has a seven-day cooldown. Upon revival, you may randomly enter a new world or enter a world you have visited before. In certain worlds, you may also expend Destiny after rebirth to acquire a new identity. The more Destiny expended, the higher the status of the new identity.]

"...So that's how it is."

Twenty years had passed since his transmigration, and only now, when the whole edifice had collapsed, had this appeared.

He slapped himself hard. Feeling the pain and confirming this was no hallucination, Wang Ping looked at the towering book before him. He had only one thing to say:

"Dad, what took you so long?"