Killing

Li Yunxin entered the prefectural yamen for the first time. Fortunately, it did indeed look like a prefectural yamen, and nothing else happened to astonish him.

He stepped over the high threshold into the front courtyard. The ground was paved with polished stone bricks, without a speck of dust. Looking up, he could see the main hall with its doors thrown open—and with his sharp eyesight, he could already make out Prefect Li seated behind the bench.

Inside the main hall, two rows of yamen runners stood with their water-and-fire staves, casting sidelong glances outside.

Liu Laodao... had already arrived.

Perhaps because he had panicked and tried to run when they had sent men to "invite" him, his outer robe had been torn. One hand covered the rip, making him resemble "a beauty clutching her heart." Except his face was miserable and terrified, and he kept his head lowered while secretly glancing toward the two men beside Prefect Li.

Beside Prefect Li stood two Daoists.

One looked to be over forty—meaning he was probably around sixty. Cultivators naturally looked younger than ordinary people. He wore a Daoist robe of moon-white silk and held a fly-whisk in his hand.

The other appeared to be just over twenty. He wore only a coarse-cloth Daoist robe, his hands empty. That robe... Li Yunxin found it familiar. It was the kind worn by Red Pine Master, Kang Cangzi, and Huainanzi—this man was a swordsman from the Voidsoar Sword Sect.

Then the one holding the fly-whisk had to be a Daoist of the Pure High Alchemy Sect.

Prefect Li... had been scared out of his wits. Li Yunxin had heard Aze mention these two. The Pure High Alchemy Sect Daoist was called Congyunzi. The Voidsoar Sword Sect man was called Punanzi. The two protected Li Yaosi for two hours every day, charging—one hundred taels.

A net profit of a hundred thousand yuan per hour.

After sweeping his gaze over these more important people, he looked toward the plaintiffs opposite Liu Laodao—oh, they were called the aggrieved party here. The elder and younger Qiao women stood by the door, and Qiao Jiaming stood there too. The three huddled together, whispering about something. When Li Yunxin entered, Qiao Jiaming shot him a venomous glance, made a show of pointing at him, then dragged one finger across his own throat.

Psycho.

Only after he had taken everything in did Yin Pingzhi step forward and murmur beside him, "Once you enter the yamen, getting out won't be easy. Looking at this lineup, think carefully about what you'll say later. Don't do anything stupid."

Then he strode through the crowd to the hall entrance, bowed to Prefect Li, and announced in a ringing voice, "Reporting to you, sir, the suspects have been brought."

Li Yaosi frowned slightly and carefully looked over the people at the door. He sighed almost imperceptibly. "Bring them in. Open the court. Guards outside, keep the door watched—people may listen and watch, but no shouting. One tael of silver fine for each offender."

Li Yunxin was slightly taken aback. He turned to look outside the main gate—just like in television dramas, a crowd of curious commoners had gathered at some point. His sharp eyes spotted Miss Yin among them, though he could not make out her expression.

At the prefect's command, everyone fell quiet.

He did not understand the rules, but he knew to follow along—the three members of the Qiao Household crossed the threshold with relaxed expressions, so he walked over to Liu Laodao, tugged his sleeve, and gestured for him to go in.

Only then did the old Daoist realize Li Yunxin had arrived. He hurriedly lowered his voice, tears in his words. "Brother Xin, what do we do? Look at—"

He glanced at the two cultivators beside Prefect Li.

Li Yunxin knew what he wanted to say.

With two Mystic Sect cultivators present... who would dare kill someone? The old Daoist only knew that Li Yunxin had been "preparing" these past days. He truly had no idea just how well this unfathomably profound "expert" had prepared.

As far as he himself could imagine, considering every bizarre possibility...

Brother Xin probably had no way out this time either.

They should have fled earlier.

Li Yunxin only smiled at him.

Prefect Li saw them whispering but did not interfere. Under normal circumstances, even if it were merely an "in-court questioning,"

he would have slapped the sounding block and ordered them to quiet down.

But today... nothing interested him.

Yes, nothing interested him. Yet this lack of interest was not the kind that came from seeing all things with detachment. It was... the restless, irritable kind of boredom.

Everything annoyed him. Everything made him feel... as though his heart were pounding and his flesh trembling.

When he saw the sunlight on the polished stone ground outside the hall, he found it glaring. The ground shone blindingly bright, making him dizzy. He quickly shifted his gaze.

When he shifted his gaze, darkness filled his sight—the hall was cool and shadowed. Yet the moment he saw the dark corners inside, his heart suddenly clenched. An inexplicable fear rose in him—he truly did not know what he was afraid of.

Even the silk cloth beneath the official seal annoyed him. He still did not know why.

Something always felt wrong... something always seemed amiss. He desperately wanted to find what was wrong and deal with it... but he could never grasp it.

He could not seize any single point, any single thread.

He had thought this recent case was what had been vexing him, but now that everyone had been brought in... he was even more agitated. The old man and the young one were whispering; he should have rebuked them.

But looking at that young man, he somehow felt irritated. The way he walked was irritating. The way his mouth opened and closed was irritating. Every movement he made was like...

Damn it, why did he look like Aze?

These past few days, Aze had annoyed him most of all!

Yet whenever he thought of Aze, he felt... as though he had forgotten something. In the past few days, he had forgotten something very important.

Hey! This is driving me mad!

Li Yaosi snatched up the sounding block and smashed it viciously onto the desk. The force was so great that even his fingers hurt. "Silence! Silence!"

He did not even notice that his backside had left the chair—he was standing.

Congyunzi and Punanzi frowned slightly and exchanged a glance—Li Yaosi was not quite right today. What was going on? Congyunzi flicked his fly-whisk, formed a hand seal, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.

There was nothing unusual.

The Yin Spirit Grand Formation the two had set might not be able to trap someone with great divine powers, but it certainly should not fail to sense them. Yet within this prefectural yamen, apart from the two of them, no one was using spiritual power.

Then... there was no need to care. Whatever other troubles Li Yaosi had were beyond the scope of their duties.

Thus, the two merely swept their gazes across those below the hall. Their eyes lingered briefly on Liu Laodao before they closed them again.

At the prefect's shout, almost everyone jumped in fright.

After shouting, Li Yaosi only felt his heart pounding with exhilarating force. The pent-up gloom in his chest seemed to have finally been vented a little. Taking advantage of the momentum, he continued, "The two below—what are your names? Hm? The younger one, you speak first!"

He stretched out his hand and pointed stiffly at Li Yunxin like a drunken man. "You! What... was your name again?"

Seeing the prefect's imposing manner, Qiao Jiaming smiled viciously. Lord Prefect was furious. No wonder—old Meng E had endured for days without yielding, insisting on leaving Lord Li frazzled and at his wits' end. Now all that anger was being vented on this brat's head.

He stood close to Li Yunxin. Sneering, he muttered, "You'll suffer soon enough."

Li Yunxin did not look at him. He cupped his hands. "In reply to the court, this commoner is Li Yunxin."

His voice was pleasant and clear. Yet his tone was a little strange. He drew out the yun in his name slightly, like an operatic line, with a touch of lazy languor.

The moment Prefect Li heard his name, his face twitched as though he had swallowed a fly. The three members of the Qiao Household felt even more delighted—he loathed him to the marrow.

What happened next confirmed their guess. Li Yaosi furrowed his brows, grabbed the tally cylinder filled with lot sticks on the desk, and hurled it at Li Yunxin's head. "I'll show you, Li Yunxin!"

Unfortunately, his aim was poor and the throw went wide. The lot sticks scattered across the floor. The tally cylinder struck the main hall's doorframe, rolled once, and came to rest at Qiao Jiaming's feet.

It was the first time they had seen Prefect Li fly into such a rage, so lacking in decorum. Even Yin Pingzhi sensed that something was wrong and hastily said, "Please calm your anger, sir! Please calm your anger!"

Yet he did not know how else to comfort him.

By now, Liu Laodao was trembling all over, his knees weak. He thought there was no surviving this hurdle today. The people watching outside also let out low exclamations— they had seen Prefect Li judge cases before. But when had that plump, round-faced man ever shown such rage?

At most, he would slap the desk and say, "Twenty strokes of the rod," or, "Thirty slaps to the mouth." He had always spilled others' blood without losing a drop of his own.

But now, something was wrong.

Only Qiao Jiaming was delighted. He tilted his eyes at Li Yunxin again and taunted him in a voice only the two could hear. "Heh heh, brat..."

Li Yunxin turned his face toward him. "Idiot, are you done being annoying?"

Qiao Jiaming froze. "Huh?"

Then he sneered. "Oh? You've got a temper? Didn't you see Lord Li—"

"What about Lord Li?" Li Yunxin looked at him. Seeing that expression on his face, a smile suddenly appeared on his own. "You think the lord on the bench is the support for trash like you? Just how obnoxious are you that you have to keep buzzing in my ear?"

Qiao Jiaming realized that he had never been able to gain the upper hand in a battle of sharp tongues. But he knew there would come a time when he could vent his rage completely—once Lord Li was furious enough to throw these two into prison, he could torment them however he wished.

So he sneered. "Just wait. Lord Li, he—"

But he was interrupted again.

"I'll kill him right now. Do you believe me?" Li Yunxin stared into his eyes. He seemed impatient, almost nauseated. "This was supposed to be a rare opportunity. I wanted to observe a little longer. Why did you have to stand beside me? You've ruined all my interest."

Qiao Jiaming felt as if he had heard wrong. After standing stunned for a moment and thinking over what Li Yunxin had just said, he laughed in fury. "Are you fucking scared stupid? Kill?"

He viciously lowered his voice. "Kill him for me to see, then. Hm? You little bastard."

He spoke that last sentence a little too loudly. The two women behind him heard it as well. The elder and younger Qiao women were merely women of the household. It was their first time in such a courtroom, and the atmosphere had already frightened them into silence. Then Prefect Li had flown into a rage. Even as the aggrieved party, they felt uneasy and dared not speak.

But now, hearing the two men bicker and trade threats, they did not hesitate to cast Li Yunxin mocking, pitying looks.

Li Yunxin sighed. As though he had grown tired of being pestered by a child begging for candy.

Meanwhile, while the two spoke in low voices, Prefect Li was still angrily and impatiently questioning Liu Laodao about his name and past.

Li Yunxin closed his eyes, then opened them. Grinning, he said in a gentle voice, almost a whisper, "Fine. I'll kill him for you to see."

Before Qiao Jiaming could speak again, Li Yunxin had already lifted his robe hem.

Beneath it was an inner garment of bluish gray, faintly gleaming, patterned like fish scales. As he lifted his hem, he called out loudly, "Sir, this commoner has been wronged!"

Then he stepped forward, cupped his hands, and knelt on one knee.

Li Yaosi's irritable interrogation was interrupted by that cry. He frowned at Li Yunxin. But when he saw Li Yunxin kneeling on one knee, he seemed to freeze. His expression congealed on his face. His mouth hung slightly open, his eyelids fluttered rapidly, and he could not speak.

The two cultivators nearest him noticed his abnormality again. This time, Punanzi frowned slightly and formed a hand seal. Yet he still found nothing.

Then it was still this man's... own problem. Punanzi shook his head inwardly—what a fool. A dignified fifth-rank official, reduced to this state by a single case. But as long as it was not some heretical sorcery, it was fine. With the two of them guarding this place, how could a healthy man in his prime possibly come to harm?

He had overthought it again.

Thus, he closed his eyes once more.

Then he heard Li Yunxin continue—

"...That night, my master and I stayed overnight with the escort agency men. We got along extremely well. This commoner still remembers Escort Chief Qiao roasting a flatbread by the fire and asking Miss Qiao..."

"Was the taste to your satisfaction?"

Then Punanzi heard a suppressed, agonized groan.

It was Li Yaosi's groan.

He snapped his eyes open and saw Li Yaosi collapse back onto his official chair. Then he stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, as though he had seen something so terrifying it could shatter one's liver and gallbladder. His throat rattled. His face suddenly flushed crimson. Both hands stretched rigidly before him, flailing wildly—as though he were trying to drive something away!

Light burst from both cultivators' eyes—the demon had come?!

With low shouts, they immediately formed hand seals together.

Yet... there was nothing.

There was still nothing!

When the two looked back at Li Yaosi in shock and confusion—the latter was already sitting dead in his chair, eyes wide open!

After a breath of deathly silence, panicked cries suddenly erupted through the hall. Yin Pingzhi drew his saber in a backhand motion and stood before Li Yaosi's corpse, staring fearfully at the ceiling. Among the yamen runners on both sides, the quick-witted ones were already shouting as they rushed over to move Lord Li and check his breathing. The slower ones held their water-and-fire staves with both hands and looked around wildly, having no idea what had happened—

What had happened?!

Lord Li, a dignified fifth-rank official, right here in this brightly lit room, surrounded by people, with two cultivators guarding the place...

Had died suddenly and violently!!

The three members of the Qiao Household wore equally blank expressions. But their next reaction...

Was to look at Li Yunxin. They looked at Li Yunxin as though they had seen a ghost.

Thus they saw the youth calmly rise from the floor, turn toward them, and smile, revealing a mouthful of snow-white, even teeth. "I killed him for you to see."

Then he raised his hand, pointed at the three of them one by one from afar, and said cheerfully, "The three of you won't get away either."

Against such a terrifying atmosphere, seeing the smile on his face—somehow, all three found it so cruel and eerie—Qiao Liushi finally could not hold back a shrill scream. She staggered back several steps, pointed at Li Yunxin, and shrieked, "Ah! It was him! He used demon magic! He killed the prefect!!"

The piercing woman's scream made ears ache, and showed no sign of stopping. Punanzi of the Sword Sect grew irritated. He glanced at the youth she was pointing at, then violently swept out one hand. Qiao Liushi's body flew like a rag doll and smashed hard against the wall, leaving a streak of blood. She did not move again.

How could he not be vexed?! How could he not be enraged?!

Cultivators of the illustrious Dao Tradition and Sword Sect!

Two of them!

Guarding the prefectural yamen!

Having set up the Yin Spirit Grand Formation!

Yet that demon had killed someone right beneath their noses!

They had known nothing, been utterly helpless! And now they had to listen to that stupid woman point at a mortal and claim that he had killed someone!

What immense humiliation! In that foolish woman's mind, cultivators like them, cultivators who had painstakingly trained in the Heavenly Heart Orthodox Law, .anh. could not even see through a child's "demon magic"? Hm?!

Cultivators knew that no one could use magic within this formation without being detected—just as mortals knew that heaven could not become earth, nor earth become heaven. But Yin Pingzhi had heard Qiao Liushi's words as well.

Those words struck his heart like a thunderbolt.

He stared at Li Yunxin in disbelief, remembering what that youth had told him beneath the willow tree half an hour ago—

"Perhaps I can solve it."

He sucked in a cold breath and stared fixedly at Li Yunxin's face.

The youth had already helped Liu Laodao up and, like many panicked people in the hall, stood against the wall. The youth... was looking at him too.

A malicious, mocking smile played across his face as he looked at Yin Pingzhi, then spread his hands slightly.

As though he were saying...

"What can you do about it?"

Yin Pingzhi laboriously shifted his gaze away. He looked again at Qiao Jiaming and Qiao Wangshi, who were so terrified they dared not make a sound, curled into balls on the floor, and then at... Qiao Liushi's corpse, from which more and more blood seeped...

As though shocked by lightning, he jerked his gaze back. He forced himself to turn away and no longer dared look in Li Yunxin's direction.

Cannot... speak...

If I want to live... I cannot... speak...

Even those two so-called "experts"... had noticed nothing... Look at what happened to Qiao Liushi!!

Only then did Liu Laodao clutch Li Yunxin's arm tightly and ask with trembling lips, "Brother Xin... wh-what exactly... happened?"