Reversing the Course, Reckoning at Hand

The prisons of the Imperial Demon Hunters Office in Ci Prefecture were now crammed full of their former masters.

From Shi Chibao downward, every Hundred-Household Officer had been stripped naked and thrown in here. The key personnel from elsewhere were also here now, enjoying every variety of punishment.

Several cleanly dressed palace eunuchs hurried back and forth, supervising the Censorate's men as they carried out the torture.

The screams never ceased, and Li Yizhen, with one empty sleeve hanging at his side, wore a satisfied expression.

The wheel of fortune had turned.

After retreating in defeat to Jiankang, Li Yizhen had awaited nothing but savage bites as swift as a gale and sudden as thunder.

He bore the primary responsibility for the failure in Ci Prefecture. Not only had he squandered the prefecture's only troops, but while he had temporarily been in charge of Ci Prefecture, nearly the entire prefecture had fallen.

The black pot had been shoved almost completely onto his back.

The court swiftly reached a decision. Li Yizhen, the southern cultivator whom even Yuwen Rui had failed to kill, would be settled as the chief culprit who had brought about everything.

Those forces that had once sworn solemnly as they egged him on had now vanished together, rushing to sever all ties with him, looking terrified that he might not die.

Without any unforeseen turn of events, Li Yizhen's life would be declared over in a few months. He was held under heavy guard in the Censorate's prison, watched with the utmost strictness.

The matter of Ci Prefecture required an explanation, and those forces that had urged him on also needed to complete their severance from him as quickly as possible.

Before Old Su returned, before Little Su came after them.

It was a dead end.

Because