An easy victory

The instant they saw their own expert sent flying by a palm strike, the others were horrified that their hall master could not withstand even a single blow.

When they heard the words "Xiantian True Qi," those already charging forward were scared out of their wits. All thought of resistance vanished, and almost simultaneously, they forcibly halted their momentum and leaped away in different directions.

"Split up and run!"

Someone shouted this, then spared no more thought for the others. The man who had exchanged palm strikes with Yi Shuyuan and been sent flying had already used that force to propel himself farther away, jabbing several points on his own body to stop the bleeding while still airborne.

In an instant, all five men who had been there were using every trick in their arsenals to flee with their lightness arts. They did not hope that everyone could escape alive-only that one of them could get away and carry the news out!

Other martial artists' inner cultivation was fundamentally based on Internal Energy, which could be termed inner power. Only when a martial artist's mastery reached the realm of perfection, allowing the Internal Energy within their body to Reverse the Acquired and Return to the Innate, could it transform into Xiantian True Qi and attain the supreme innate realm of inner cultivation. Such a person was no mere renowned martial elder whose reputation spread by word of mouth, but a true legend of the martial world.

Yi Shuyuan had only just recovered from that palm strike. Through it, his own breathing and energy had finally settled, and then he noticed what was happening before him.

So this lot was nothing more than this? My martial arts really were this powerful?

But then Yi Shuyuan frowned. Since these men were trying to flee, he could not let them escape. The next moment, he moved, drawing close to one of them with a single stride as though the earth itself had shrunk beneath his feet.

The man felt a fierce wind rush up behind him. He turned and nearly lost his soul in terror. Unable even to make out his pursuer's figure, he could only instinctively swing his saber at him. Yet to Yi Shuyuan, the saber's trajectory was clear and slow.

With a clang, Yi Shuyuan actually struck the flat of the saber aside with the back of his hand. His arm continued forward, planting a palm strike on the martial artist's Shanzhong acupoint in the center of his chest.

Thump!

The martial artist could not even grunt. His chest caved inward amid a series of cracking sounds, and his body flew away like a withered tree.

Yi Shuyuan merely glanced at him before shifting his footwork to pursue the next man, silently assessing the strength of his blows. Clearly, that strike had still been too heavy. The others' martial skills were plainly nowhere near the level of the fellow who had first exchanged palms with him.

In the time it took for that thought to pass, Yi Shuyuan had already closed in on the next man, who had naturally noticed the previous man's gruesome fate.

"Aaaah! Spare my life!"

The words had barely left his mouth before Yi Shuyuan's finger struck him squarely in the chest. Then Yi Shuyuan pursued the next man.

Four men in succession were subdued with a single move each. In the end, the man who had first exchanged palm strikes with Yi Shuyuan had actually fled the farthest.

By the time Yi Shuyuan reached the riverbank, that man had already leaped into the river. Standing on the bank and watching the water, Yi Shuyuan could only make out blood rising in the faint starlight, but never saw the man surface for air.

After quite a while, Yi Shuyuan frowned at the waves. There was still no sign of the man, and the river water had cut off his presence as well.

He got away? A shame I don't know Water Control!

This man clearly had the best martial skills of the five. He had taken a palm strike from Yi Shuyuan at the outset and still managed to escape. That could not be put down to mere luck-it was ability.

"Hmph!"

Yi Shuyuan gave a cold snort. He could only blame his inadequate immortal arts and lack of methods. Had his cultivation been more advanced, how could a grievously wounded martial artist possibly have slipped through his fingers?

Only then did the Night Patrol Spirit arrive at the scene, to find Yi Shuyuan already carrying the martial artists over and dumping them beside the shattered ritual altar.

"Mr. Yi, this is where that sorcerer was performing his ritual earlier!"

Yi Shuyuan's gaze swept toward the dying man in black behind the ritual altar. Presumably, this was the wandering sorcerer the Night Patrol Spirit had mentioned. He walked over, turning his head to question the Netherworld Official who had now reached his side.

"What do you mean by sorcerers? Aren't they a kind of immortal cultivator?"

The Night Patrol Spirit had thought Yi Shuyuan had some important instructions for him. Instead, this question left him momentarily stunned.

"Mr. Yi, you... you don't know?"

Yi Shuyuan looked utterly baffled.

"If I knew, why would I ask you?"

The Night Patrol Spirit could not quite wrap his mind around this. It took him a while to answer.

"Sorcerers are mortals in the living world who understand a few paltry magical methods. A fair number claim to cultivate as well, but they covet wealth, glory, and power, and cannot even reach the foundations of an immortal lineage. They are merely rootless duckweed, wearing themselves away. How could they be Immortal Cultivators? A small minority can practice some methods of preserving their health, but even they rarely dare call themselves Immortal Cultivators."

"That is why they are called sorcerers. The arts they perform are likewise rootless duckweed, difficult to sustain or perpetuate and constrained at every turn. Even so, genuine sorcerers are rare. Most so-called ritual masters are swindlers and frauds. A method like the one we just saw should count as exceptionally outstanding-as rare among sorcerers as phoenix feathers and qilin horns."

Having said this, the Night Patrol Spirit saw Yi Shuyuan's expression telling him to continue, so he added more.

"I remember seeing the souls of two sorcerers at the Underworld Office once. The judge said that such people's five senses are shrouded and their six faculties clouded. They struggle to draw upon the primal energy of heaven and earth. They can neither command the five elements nor cross between yin and yang, much less seek immortality, yet they often accumulate many harmful practices and become entangled in debts of sin!"

Yi Shuyuan nodded. He and the Night Patrol Spirit had already come to stand beside the man in black.

The man in black was actually still clinging to his last breath. His soul had begun to dissipate, and in this final moment, it was like the last brilliant flare of a soul's lamp, allowing him to dimly see things he had never been able to see before.

Although Yi Shuyuan had revealed himself upon arriving, his obscuring effect had not entirely faded. Now, in the man in black's eyes, wisps of mist seemed to curl around his tall, indistinct figure, exactly like an immortal descending to the mortal world as he had imagined it. Beside him, someone resembling an officer, wreathed in yin energy, followed respectfully. The character for "patrol" was written on his hat.

"Ugh... Immor... Immortal... Venerable..."

His trembling hand never managed to rise. Unable to utter even half a sentence, the man in black breathed his last. His soul spilled out in slender streams of light and dissipated before Yi Shuyuan's eyes.

"A paltry practitioner of petty arts, presuming to challenge an accomplished Immortal Cultivator. Death was less than he deserved!"

The man in black could no longer hear the Netherworld Official's words, but Yi Shuyuan said nothing. Though the man at his feet had failed to finish a single sentence, Yi Shuyuan had still sensed the yearning in his eyes at the very end. He might have deserved death, but the sight was still somewhat poignant.

"Mmph... mmph..."

The bound child lay terrified on the cold ground. He had felt only the wind and heard only screams and shouts, without knowing what had happened. Yi Shuyuan sighed and walked over, lightly touching a point on his body to send him into a deep sleep.

Then Yi Shuyuan crouched down, lifted the child onto his knees, and untied his ropes.

A single glance told Yi Shuyuan that this child was Jia Yuntong's own son. He looked only six or seven years old, about the same age as Yi Shuyuan's grandnephew in West River Village.

"Jia Yuntong, oh, Jia Yuntong. Harm others, and you end up harming yourself-and bringing disaster upon your descendants. Why put yourself through this?"

"Mr. Yi, what do you intend to do with these four men and the child?"

Though the Night Patrol Spirit was a ghostly deity, following Yi Shuyuan had stirred his curiosity. Since this accomplished master of the Immortal Dao was also easygoing, he simply asked outright.

"What else? Drop them off at the Yuanjiang County Office. These fellows can't stir up any waves now, and they'll provide a few more witnesses. As for the child... yes, we'll hand him over to the County Office too."

The Yuanjiang County Office was, after all, the local authority responsible for caring for the people. Handing him over to them would save trouble.

As this thought passed through his mind, Yi Shuyuan suddenly sensed something. Turning around, he discovered another "person" beside the Night Patrol Spirit, bound by a thin chain.

"Uh, Mr. Yi, one of them died."

Hearing the Night Patrol Spirit's words, Yi Shuyuan looked at the man among the four who had taken his palm strike to the Shanzhong acupoint. His chest had collapsed. There was indeed no way he could survive.

Yi Shuyuan had considered that someone might someday die by his hand, but had not expected it to happen so soon. Beyond a slight exhilaration, his heart was not as agitated or uncertain as he had once imagined it would be. Perhaps surviving the heavenly tribulation had greatly strengthened his ability to bear such things. He even rather felt that what he saw was the man's karmic retribution.

Birth, aging, sickness, and death-or sudden death for wrongdoing-all ended in death.

Tonight was destined to be a busy night for the Yuanjiang County Office.

Jia Yuntong had apparently suffered an evil possession in prison and nearly met with disaster, alarming everyone in the County Office, including Lin Xiu. At that moment, Lin Xiu and his men were anxiously waiting outside the underground cell while a physician examined Jia Yuntong inside.

The old physician busied himself taking his pulse and lifting his eyelids to examine his eyes. In truth, he could find no serious problem, so he could only turn and bow to Lin Xiu and the others.

"Magistrate, this man appears to be in no serious physical danger. The injuries on his body are only superficial scratches. The main issue seems to be a fright that unsettled his spirit. I will prescribe some calming medicine. He need only take it regularly each day."

"Very well. You may go."

"Yes!"

As though granted a pardon, the old physician left with a bailiff to write out his prescription. Had the magistrate not sent someone to summon him, he would never have wanted to enter a place like this prison.

The depths of the prison fell briefly silent again.

"Why would Jia Yuntong suddenly suffer an evil possession?"

Sitting on a stool outside, Lin Xiu seemed to think of something and instinctively peered cautiously into the cell. He rather suspected that He Xin had run out of patience.

"My lord... please do not suspect me. Though I hate Jia Yuntong to the marrow of my bones, I still know what matters and what does not."

A somewhat innocent and helpless voice drifted eerily through the prison. Not only Lin Xiu, but every other officer and bailiff heard it and looked toward Jia Yuntong's cell, feeling chills down their backs and their scalps prickling. Had this ghost truly been here all along?

He Xin did not know why either, but now, if she wished, she could speak so that others heard her directly. She even suspected she could reveal herself at will, though she had never tried. After all, she understood that humans and ghosts walked different paths, and that she would frighten people.

Whether it was He Xin or not, Lin Xiu could only hasten to reassure her now.

"Miss He is a reasonable person. I should not have suspected you."

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