Killing

Li Yunxin entered the prefectural yamen for the first time. Fortunately, it did indeed look like a prefectural yamen, and no further surprises appeared to astonish him.

Stepping over the tall threshold brought him 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 wide open—and with his sharp eyesight, he had already spotted Prefect Li seated behind the bench.

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

Liu Laodao... had already arrived.

Perhaps because he had panicked and tried to flee when they had sent people to "invite" him, his outer robe had been torn. Now he covered the rip with one hand, looking rather like "Xi Shi clutching her heart." Except his face was miserable and terrified as he lowered his head and secretly glanced at the two men beside Prefect Li.

Beside Prefect Li stood two Daoists.

One appeared to be over forty—meaning his actual age might have been around sixty, since cultivators naturally looked younger than ordinary people. He wore a Daoist robe of moon-white satin and held a whisk.

The other seemed to be in his early twenties. He wore only a coarse cloth Daoist robe, with empty hands. That robe... looked familiar to Li Yunxin. It was the sort of robe Red Pine Master, Kang Cangzi, and Huainanzi wore—this man was a swordsman of the Voidsoar Sword Sect.

Then the one holding the whisk was a Daoist from the Pure High Alchemy Sect.

Prefect Li... had been scared out of his wits. Li Yunxin had heard Aze mention these two before. 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 each day, charging—one hundred taels.

A net profit of a hundred thousand yuan an hour.

After sweeping his eyes over these more important people, he looked at the plaintiffs opposite Liu Laodao—oh, they were called the aggrieved parties here. The two Qiao women stood by the door, and Qiao Jiaming stood there as well. The three were huddled together in whispers, though he did not know what they were discussing. When Qiao Jiaming saw Li Yunxin enter, he shot him a venomous look, pointed at him with great show, then drew one index finger across his own throat.

Psychopath.

After he had taken everything in, Yin Pingzhi stepped forward and said quietly beside him, "Once you enter the yamen, getting out will be difficult. 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 loudly, "Reporting to Your Excellency, the suspects have been brought."

Li Yaosi frowned slightly and carefully examined the people at the entrance. He sighed so faintly it was nearly imperceptible. "Bring them in. Open the court. Guard the doors outside—people may listen and watch, but no shouting or disturbances. Anyone who does so will be fined one tael of silver."

Li Yunxin was slightly startled and turned to look outside the main gate. Just like in television dramas, a crowd of curious commoners had somehow gathered there. With his sharp eyes, he spotted Miss Yin among them, though he could not make out her expression.

Once the prefect gave the order, everyone fell silent.

He did not understand the rules, but he knew to follow along. The three members of the Qiao Household stepped over the threshold with relaxed expressions, so he went to Liu Laodao's side, tugged his sleeve, and signaled for him to follow.

Only then did the old Daoist realize Li Yunxin had arrived. He hurriedly lowered his voice, his words carrying a sobbing tone. "Brother Xin, what are we supposed to do? Look over there—"

He glanced toward the two cultivators beside Prefect Li.

Li Yunxin knew what he wanted to say.

With two Mystic Sect cultivators present... who would dare kill anyone? The old Daoist only knew that he had been "preparing" these past few days. Yet he truly had no idea how well this unfathomable "expert" in his heart had prepared.

As far as he himself could imagine, among all the bizarre possibilities...

Brother Xin probably had no solution this time.

They should have fled earlier.

Li Yunxin only smiled at him.

Prefect Li saw them whispering to each other but did not intervene. Normally, even if it was merely a hearing,

he would slam the court block and tell them to be quiet.

But today... everything felt utterly meaningless.

Yes, meaningless. But not the sort of meaninglessness that came from seeing through everything. Rather... a restless, agitated meaninglessness.

Everything irritated him. Everything made him feel... as though his heart pounded and his gallbladder trembled.

When he looked at the sunlight on the polished stone outside the hall, it felt blinding. The ground gleamed so brightly that it made him dizzy, and he quickly shifted his gaze away.

When he shifted his gaze, darkness filled his eyes—the hall was cool and shadowy. But when he saw the dark corners within the hall, his heart suddenly palpitated. Fear rose in him for no reason at all—he truly did not know what he was afraid of.

Even the silk beneath the official seal irritated him. He still did not know what he was irritated by.

He always felt something was wrong... always felt there was a problem somewhere. He desperately wanted to find what was wrong and solve it... but he could never grasp it.

He could not grasp a single point, or a single thread.

He had thought the recent case was bothering him, but now that everyone had been brought here... he felt even more agitated. That old man and young man were whispering, and he should have reprimanded them.

But looking at that young man, he did not know why he found him irritating. The way he walked irritated him; the way his mouth opened and closed irritated him; every gesture he made seemed like...

What the hell, why did he resemble Aze?

Aze had been irritating him the most these past few days!

But when he thought of Aze, he felt... as though he had forgotten something. In these past few days, he had forgotten something very important.

Damn it! This was infuriating!

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

He had not even noticed that his buttocks 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 happening? Congyunzi flicked his whisk, formed a hand seal, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.

Nothing abnormal.

The Yin Spirit Grand Formation the two had set up might not be able to trap someone with great supernatural powers, but it certainly would 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 concern themselves with it. Whatever other worries Li Yaosi had were not within the scope of their duties.

So the two merely swept their gazes over those below the hall. Their eyes paused briefly on Liu Laodao before closing again.

At the prefect's shout, nearly everyone flinched.

After shouting, Li Yaosi only felt his heart thumping freely. The pent-up gloom in his chest seemed to have finally been released a little. Taking advantage of the momentum, he continued, "Those two below the hall—what are your names? Hm? You, the young one, speak first!"

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

Seeing the prefect's manner, Qiao Jiaming grinned viciously. Prefect Li was furious. No wonder—Meng E, that old man, had held out for days and refused to loosen his lips, leaving Lord Li utterly frazzled. Now he was venting all his anger on this brat.

Standing close to Li Yunxin, he sneered and whispered, "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 slightly strange; he lingered a little over the word "Yun," like an operatic cadence, with an added hint of lazy indolence.

Upon hearing his name, Prefect Li's face twitched as though he had swallowed a fly. The three members of the Qiao Household found this even more gratifying—he hated him to the extreme.

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

Unfortunately, his aim was poor, and he missed. The tally sticks scattered across the floor, while the container struck the main hall's doorframe, rolled once, and came to a stop at Qiao Jiaming's feet.

It was the first time anyone had seen Prefect Li lose his temper so badly, so completely without dignity. Even Yin Pingzhi felt something was amiss and quickly said, "Please calm your anger, Your Excellency! Please calm your anger!"

Yet he did not know how to comfort him.

By now Liu Laodao was trembling all over, his knees weak. He only felt that they would never get through this ordeal today. The spectators outside also let out low exclamations—these people had seen Prefect Li hear cases before. But when had that plump, round man ever displayed such fury?

At most, he would slap the table and declare, "Twenty strokes of the rod," or "Thirty slaps across the mouth." He had always shed others' blood while never losing a drop of his own.

But now, something was wrong.

Only Qiao Jiaming was delighted. He once again looked at Li Yunxin from the corner of his eyes and provoked him in a voice only the two could hear. "Hehehe, brat..."

Li Yunxin turned his head to look at him. "Idiot, are you done being annoying?"

Qiao Jiaming froze. "Huh?"

Then he sneered. "Oh? You've got a temper now? 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 sitting above is the support of trash like you? Just how obnoxious are you that you have to keep buzzing in my ear?"

Qiao Jiaming realized that when it came to sharp tongues, he seemed never to gain the upper hand. But he knew there would come a time when he could vent his anger completely—once Lord Li was enraged enough to throw these two into prison, he could torment them however he pleased.

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

But he was interrupted once more.

"I'll kill him right now. Do you believe me?" Li Yunxin stared into his eyes, seemingly impatient, as though something had spoiled his appetite. "This was originally a rare opportunity. I wanted to observe a little more. Why did you have to stand beside me? You've ruined all my interest now."

Qiao Jiaming felt as though he had misheard. After pausing for a moment and considering Li Yunxin's words, he laughed angrily. "Did you get scared stupid? Kill?"

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

He said that last sentence slightly too loudly. The two women behind him heard it as well. The two Qiao women were ordinary wives and mothers; this was their first time in such a court, and the atmosphere had already frightened them into silence. Then they saw Prefect Li fly into a rage, and though they were the aggrieved parties, they still felt uneasy and did not dare speak.

But upon hearing this now, they knew the two were exchanging insults and making threats—so it did not stop them from casting Li Yunxin mocking yet pitying glances.

Li Yunxin sighed.

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

Meanwhile, Prefect Li was still angrily and impatiently interrogating Liu Laodao about his name and past.

Li Yunxin closed his eyes, then opened them. He grinned and said in a soft voice, almost a whisper, "Fine. I'll kill him for you to see."

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

He revealed the blue-gray inner garment beneath, faintly gleaming and patterned like fish scales. As he lifted his hem, he called out loudly, "Your Excellency, this commoner has been wronged!"

Then he stepped forward, cupped his fists, and dropped to one knee.

Li Yaosi's furious interrogation was interrupted by that shout, and he frowned at Li Yunxin. But the moment he saw Li Yunxin kneeling on one knee, he seemed to freeze. His expression stiffened on his face, his mouth hanging slightly open. His eyelids fluttered rapidly, but he could not speak.

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

Then it was still this man's... own problem. Punanzi shook his head faintly to himself—this fool. A dignified fifth-rank official, reduced to this state by a single case. But so long as it was not the work of some crooked, sinister art, it was fine. With the two of them seated here, how could a healthy grown man possibly come to any harm?

He had been overthinking it again.

Thus, he closed his eyes once more.

Then he heard Li Yunxin continue—

"...That night, this commoner and my master stayed the night with the people from the escort agency. We got along exceptionally well. This commoner still remembers Escort Chief Qiao roasting a flatbread beside 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 abruptly opened his eyes 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 horrifying it could split one's liver and shatter one's gallbladder. His throat rattled, his face suddenly flushed crimson, and both hands stretched out before him, flailing wildly—as though he were trying to drive something away!

Brilliant light shot from both cultivators' eyes—the demon had come?!

With a low shout, they immediately formed hand seals together.

Yet... there was nothing.

Still nothing!

When the two looked again at Li Yaosi in astonishment and confusion—the man was already sitting dead in his chair, eyes wide open!

After a breath of deathly silence, panicked cries suddenly erupted throughout the hall. Yin Pingzhi drew his saber in a backhand motion and stood before Li Yaosi's corpse, staring at the ceiling in terror. Among the yamen runners on both sides, the quick-witted ones shouted as they rushed to move Lord Li and check his breath. The slower ones held their water-and-fire staves in both hands and looked around wildly, not knowing what had happened—

What had happened?!

Lord Li, a dignified fifth-rank high official, right here in this bright room, surrounded by people, with two cultivators stationed within...

had died a sudden death!!

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.

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

Then he stretched out his hand and pointed at the three of them in turn from afar. Cheerfully, he added, "None of you three will get away either."

Against such a terrified atmosphere, seeing the smile on his face—no one knew why, but the three thought it looked so cruel and uncanny—Qiao Liushi finally could not hold back a piercing scream. She staggered back several steps, pointed at Li Yunxin, and cried, "Ah! It was him! He used demon arts! He killed the prefect!!"

The shrill female voice made everyone's ears ache, and it showed no sign of stopping. Punanzi of the Sword Sect grew irritated. He glanced at the youth she was pointing at, then abruptly waved a hand. Qiao Liushi's body flew like a rag doll and smashed viciously into the wall, leaving a streak of blood before she moved no more.

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

Dignified cultivators of the Dao Tradition and Sword Sect!

Two of them!

Stationed at the prefectural yamen!

They had set up the Yin Spirit Grand Formation!

Yet that demon had killed someone right beneath their eyes!

And they had known nothing, been helpless and at a loss! Then they had to hear that foolish woman point at an ordinary person and say that he had killed someone!

What an enormous humiliation! In that fool's heart, cultivators like them, cultivators who had painstakingly trained in the Heavenly Heart Orthodox Law, could not even see through a child's "demon art"? Hm?!

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

Those words crashed down on his heart like a thunderbolt.

He stared at Li Yunxin in disbelief and recalled what the youth had told him beneath the willow tree half an hour earlier—

"Perhaps it can be resolved."

He drew in a sharp breath and stared fixedly at Li Yunxin's face.

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

His face bore an ill-intentioned, mocking smile as he looked at Yin Pingzhi and spread his hands slightly.

As though he were saying...

"What can you do about it?"

Yin Pingzhi painfully shifted his gaze away. Then he looked at Qiao Jiaming and Qiao Wangshi, who had been frightened silent and curled into balls on the ground, as well as... Qiao Liushi's corpse, from which more and more blood seeped out...

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

He could not... speak...

If he wanted to stay alive... he could not... speak...

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

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