The Unreliable Yamen

Plans can't keep up with changes!

Before leaving for Longmen Village to catch the ghost, Zhang Xuezhou made a special trip to visit the Daoist priest.

This led Zhang Xuezhou to obtain a ghost-catching jar of unknown purpose, as well as a Technique Method for searching for ghostly objects.

But he didn't expect that there were no ghosts in Longmen Village at all.

This rendered his preparations utterly useless, like a dragon-slaying technique.

When arresting Wang Baoli, he could only rely on his two legs.

In Longmen Village, as Wang Baoli frantically ran away, the scene had already turned into a large-scale chase in just over ten seconds.

"It's a pity those stray dogs don't bite the villagers, otherwise catching the water ghost would be much easier!"

Rong Tianding grumbled in dissatisfaction and then ran off with the scroll of the immortal painting in his arms.

As the organizer of the rituals, he was the indicator of the direction of the arrests; whenever Rong Tianding continued his exorcisms, the villagers would follow closely behind.

Behind him, Zhang Xuezhou ran close behind, even with ease.

"Cousin, once we catch that kid, our business is done, right?"

Rong Tianding asked a question, panting, which made Zhang Xuezhou nod.

"Once Auntie catches the water ghost, we'll go back to Hibiscus City!"

With so many things finally settled, Zhang Xuezhou felt a surge of joy at the prospect of being able to pester Jia Zhiyuan for tutoring.

When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. He was staying at Rong Li's house and couldn't do whatever he wanted.

Only when he does many things well can he fit in perfectly.

Otherwise, Zhang Xuezhou would have no choice but to follow along to slaughter pigs every day.

At first, Zhang Xuezhou found slaughtering pigs interesting, but he couldn't stand it anymore after doing it every day.

This is much more difficult than studying every day.

The thought of himself, expressionless and swift with the knife, made Zhang Xuezhou realize he couldn't let himself be consumed by the work of butchering pigs.

"Grab him!"

Zhang Xuezhou yelled and kicked his legs repeatedly.

The robust physique brought by the Qi and Blood Pill allowed him to run ahead and continuously overtake the few leaders.

He patted Rong Tianding on the shoulder, then dashed off and followed closely behind Rong Li.

"You can't escape!" Zhang Xuezhou shouted. "The authorities already know about your crime of harming Wang Fu'an. Your only way out is to go back to the authorities and confess!"

"I'm not water... I harmed Wang Fu'an?"

While the water ghost claim could be refuted with reason, the latter claim left Wang Baoli with little recourse.

Nearly half of the vegetables his family had for the winter were eaten by Wang Fu'an's sheep. The other party refused to compensate him, and the village chief only made a token attempt to mediate. Wang Baoli couldn't help but feel resentful. Taking advantage of the darkness, he followed Wang Fu'an while he was looking for his sheep and pushed him. Unexpectedly, Wang Fu'an was startled, lost his footing, and fell into the river, where he drowned.

He didn't kill Wang Fu'an directly, but Wang Fu'an's death was largely due to the push he made.

This is a crime of negligence.

Returning to Longmen Village for a public trial would result in being burned to death; going to the yamen for trial would result in being imprisoned, and then most likely beheaded in the autumn.

When the incidents involving the water ghost and Wang Fu'an's death piled up, Wang Baoli felt he had no way out.

"We must escape to another place!"

Now that things have come to this, Wang Baoli has no choice but to flee for his life, eventually fleeing to another place to live under an assumed name.

As for other matters, Wang Baoli has neither the ability nor the capacity to manage them.

He glanced back at the butcher woman following closely behind, realizing it would be difficult to shake her off.

Rong Li's physical abilities are exceptional, far surpassing those of the average man.

If the chase continued, Wang Baoli felt like he was lying on the ground panting, while the other person could still jog around him in circles.

Moreover, the other side doesn't just run away.

Seeing the butcher knife in Rong Li's hand, Wang Baoli steeled his heart, turned his legs, and ran towards a forest.

It was a place that everyone feared; as long as one harbored a fear of ghosts and spirits, it was difficult for anyone to venture into that dense forest.

In Longmen Village, that grove of trees is known as the "Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts".

Even after the Daoist priest came and performed his magic, many people were still terrified of that dense forest and dared not go there.

Wang Baoli was betting on the power of such places to intimidate people.

He was at his wit's end, but many people were not as desperate as he was.

As long as he takes this path, the number of pursuers behind him will inevitably decrease.

"The water ghosts are heading back to their lair!"

A faint sound came from behind. Wang Baoli glanced to the side and saw that everything was as he had expected; the number of villagers in Longmen Village had decreased significantly.

Behind him, Rong Li, wielding a butcher knife, chased after him relentlessly, cursing as she went.

This made Wang Baoli feel bitter.

He was already so out of breath that he could barely speak, but Rong Li was still able to shout and yell as she chased after him.

"I've entered the forest where a hundred demons roam at night. If you chase after me, be careful you don't get dragged away by the ghosts!"

Wang Baoli suppressed his anger and shouted behind him. Just as he was about to be slashed by Rong Li's knife, he charged forward with all his might.

"A parade of a hundred demons? Didn't Officer Li already deny that?"

Behind Rong Li, Zhang Xuezhou listened for a moment and then forgot about it.

There was no "hundred ghosts parading at night"; this has been officially confirmed by the authorities.

Wang Baoli's scare tactics were ineffective.

Neither he nor Rong Li and the others would believe it.

Following behind, Rong Li and Zhang Xuezhou did not hesitate at all, chasing after the criminal who was only a few meters away.

Rong Li did it to prepare for Rong Tianding's funeral, while Zhang Xuezhou did it for a happy academic life tomorrow.

"Damn it, you guys..."

After rushing into the dense forest for a hundred meters, Wang Baoli saw the two men still hot on his heels. As he stepped through the muddy ground, he couldn't help but curse.

But in an instant, his mind went dark.

A red light shot out from the muddy silt, and Wang Baoli's body fell heavily into the silt.

In just a few seconds, Wang Baoli had vanished without a trace.

"Disappeared?"

Rong Li, who was following behind, rubbed her eyes vigorously.

She looked around, holding a butcher's knife.

But there was no sign of Wang Baoli anywhere.

A grown person was running ahead, and within seconds they fell into a mud pit and disappeared!

Rong Li carefully avoided the muddy area where Wang Baoli had disappeared.

She even used a butcher's knife to cut a tree branch, wanting to test the depth of the silt where Wang Baoli disappeared.

"How?"

Zhang Xuezhou followed, panting, and when he saw Rong Li stop, he couldn't help but ask her questions.

Although his speed in pursuit was second only to Rong Li's, Zhang Xuezhou was more than ten meters away from Wang Baoli. This distance was enough for Zhang Xuezhou to overlook many things and could only make a judgment based on Wang Baoli's exasperated voice.

With Wang Baoli nowhere to be seen or heard from, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but ask Rong Li for information.

"He just kept running in front of me, then he tripped and fell into the mud and disappeared!" Rong Li said.

"Are there really such deep, muddy pits in these mountains?" Zhang Xuezhou asked in surprise.

"Wang Baoli said this is the dense forest where a hundred ghosts roam at night. Is there really a ghost here?" Rong Li asked doubtfully.

She has recently had many ghostly encounters, such as being unable to open the door to Zhang Xuezhou's room for a long time outside the side room, seeing the wooden Daoist almost burned to death, and the hundred ghosts parade in Longmen Village and water ghosts.

Although some of these events were true and some were false, as one thing after another piled up, Rong Li began to have more thoughts than before.

"How could there be a ghost?" Zhang Xuezhou said. "If there really was a ghost, I'd smash that ghost's jar!"

Zhang Xuezhou brandished the treasure he had obtained from the Wooden Daoist.

After several days of commotion, it turned out there were no ghosts in Longmen Village at all, leaving Zhang Xuezhou with no opportunity to use his heroic skills.

He reached out and tossed the wooden Daoist's jar, and seeing Rong Li timidly poking at the mud with a branch more than two meters long, he immediately reached out and broke off a branch as well.

"Something's not right! This mud pit is shallow; there's no one hiding in it!"

Before Zhang Xuezhou could even break off a branch to verify, the branch Rong Li had brought to probe the bottom had already touched the ground.

The two-meter-long branch only penetrated a little before touching solid ground; this mud pit couldn't possibly swallow a person.

"Could it be that there really are ghosts in this place where a hundred ghosts roam at night?"

A living person vanished right before their eyes, and it wasn't someone stuck in the mud. Rong Li and Zhang Xuezhou exchanged a glance, their hearts skipping a beat.

"Let me check!"

Zhang Xuezhou channeled his Law Power, using Law Power Yin Object Tracking Technique to draw upon the flow of energy through thirteen acupoints and thirty-two sub-acupoints.

A black shadow appeared at the front of Zhang Xuezhou's hand.

Just as he was about to use his Law Power to carefully sense the direction of the search, a golden light flashed before his eyes.

"They actually managed to ambush in a place like this, catching cultivators from Realm Entry!"

A surprised voice rang out, but Zhang Xuezhou felt a sharp pain in his body and was immediately bound, unable to move.

In just a short time, the world before his eyes rapidly expanded and grew larger.