“We’re here.”
Li Xiuyuan’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
The Law Enforcement Hall’s dungeon was built beneath the Yunze Market, very dark inside, with only a few lamps on the walls emitting dim yellow light.
Li Xiuyuan led the way, turning through several narrow corridors before finally stopping in front of a cell.
“Please rest here for the night. Tomorrow morning, the Elder will personally hear this case.”
The iron door closed with a clatter of chains, leaving only the master and disciple inside the cell.
Su Wan’er stood by the door, head bowed, shoulders trembling slightly. Lai Li’an thought she was afraid and was about to say something to comfort her, but the girl spoke first.
“Master,” she said in a muffled voice, “it’s all my fault. I was incompetent and didn’t catch up to Hong Wu, and I even dragged you into being locked up in a place like this.”
Lai Li’an was stunned. This girl—she was blaming herself again.
“It has nothing to do with you.”
He sat down on the stone bed and patted the spot beside him.
“Come sit.”
Su Wan’er hesitated, then obediently came over and sat down. She was very tense, her hands neatly placed on her knees.
“There’s one more thing I don’t understand.”
She bit her lip.
“Master clearly had the power to take down all those people, so why… why did you surrender without a fight?”
Lai Li’an glanced at her. This girl really thought too highly of him. But then again, the Sword Intent he had released at the Hundred Flavors Studio earlier really did look impressive.
But the problem was that he only had that one talisman left—his last trump card for survival.
It would be easy to use it to kill everyone in the Law Enforcement Hall, but what then? He and Su Wan’er would become wanted criminals across the entire Cangwu Realm. Forget about the Alchemy Grand Assembly; even surviving long enough to walk out of Yunze Market would be difficult.
“Wan’er,” Lai Li’an said slowly, “I ask you—why did Hong Wu go to report us to the authorities?”
Su Wan’er was taken aback and thought seriously:
“Because… because his men were subdued by Master, and he couldn’t swallow his anger, so…”
“No.”
Lai Li’an shook his head.
“If he couldn’t swallow his anger, he should have gone back to get reinforcements from the Hundred Herbs Hall, not report to the Law Enforcement Hall.”
Su Wan’er’s eyes widened slightly.
“He himself is the one who occupied the spirit field. Occupying someone else’s spirit field is itself a violation of the market rules. Reporting to the authorities would be walking right into a trap, wouldn’t it?”
“Master means… Hong Wu is making a false accusation?”
“Maybe not.”
Lai Li’an’s gaze turned deep.
“Hong Wu, a bandit who occupied a spirit field, why would he boldly go to the Law Enforcement Hall to report? Wasn’t he afraid the Law Enforcement Hall would uncover the truth?”
Su Wan’er fell silent. She had never considered this question. In her understanding, a guilty conscience was only natural. Who would commit a crime and then voluntarily report it?
Unless… there was one possibility: the people in the Law Enforcement Hall were already his accomplices.
Su Wan’er gasped. She remembered that Qian Fu had said that group had bribed the Law Enforcement Team.
At the time, she hadn’t taken it seriously, thinking Qian Fu was just talking nonsense. But now, with her master’s reminder, she realized things were far more complicated than she had imagined.
“Master, I understand!”
She suddenly looked up.
“Then tomorrow we…”
‘This girl—what was she thinking now? He hadn’t said anything yet. Well, it saved him the trouble of explaining.’
“We’ll talk about tomorrow when it comes.”
Lai Li’an closed his eyes and leaned against the stone wall.
“Venerable Self has his own plans.”
Su Wan’er watched her master as he rested with his eyes closed, and somehow her anxiety gradually subsided. If Master said he had his own plans, then he did. She didn’t need to worry; she just needed to trust him.
She quietly scooted a little closer to her master, closed her eyes, and began to circulate her cultivation technique.
Night deepened.
Lai Li’an didn’t sleep. His eyes were closed, but his mind never stopped.
He had considered the possibility that if Hong Wu really was in collusion with the Law Enforcement Hall, then tomorrow’s hearing would be a Hongmen Banquet. That Elder would most likely not handle the case impartially. Even if he talked until his lips were dry, he couldn’t win against that.
But there was another possibility: Qian Fu was a big liar! He had been used as a pawn!
‘Damn it! That must be it. What thief would report himself? If the officials and thieves really were in cahoots, this Law Enforcement Hall would have been overturned long ago. Damn, damn, damn.’
The more Lai Li’an thought about it, the angrier he got. He wished he could tear Qian Fu limb from limb. But he couldn’t admit he had misjudged; otherwise, how could he face Su Wan’er in the future? Tomorrow, he had to talk black into white.
***
When the iron door opened again, it was already the next morning.
It was still Li Xiuyuan who came to fetch them. He stood outside the cell, and when his eyes swept over Lai Li’an, there was clearly a hint of wariness hidden in them.
“The Elder is already waiting in the Public Trial Hall. This way, please.”
Lai Li’an got up from the stone bed, his movements unhurried.
Leaving the dungeon and passing through two corridors, the view suddenly opened up.
The Public Trial Hall was much larger than Lai Li’an had imagined. A huge spirit lamp hung from a ceiling three zhang high, illuminating the entire hall as bright as day.
Directly ahead was a long table made of rosewood, behind which sat a white-haired old man in a moon-white robe, the emblem of the Law Enforcement Hall embroidered on his lapel.
Standing beside the old man was the very person who had fled yesterday—Hong Wu.
On both sides of the hall stood several Law Enforcement Hall disciples. Lai Li’an’s eyes met Hong Wu’s, and Hong Wu curled his lips into a cold smile.
“Who are those below?”
the white-haired old man spoke, his voice aged but vigorous.
Li Xiuyuan stepped forward, cupped his fists, and bowed:
“Reporting to Elder Sun, the two suspects apprehended last night on orders have been brought. This one is…”
He paused, realizing he had never even known their names.
“A Rogue Cultivator, surname Lai.”
Lai Li’an took the initiative to take over the conversation and cupped his hands toward the hall.
“This is my disciple, Su Wan’er.”
Elder Sun nodded slightly, his gaze falling on a stack of files spread out on the table.
“Fellow Daoist Lai, yesterday Hong Wu, a disciple of the Hundred Herbs Hall, filed a report naming you two. He accuses you of forcibly occupying the spirit field at Sunset Slope, plundering spirit herbs, and injuring disciples of the Hundred Herbs Hall.”
“I have already ordered a verification of the land deed for the spirit field at Sunset Slope. That spirit field indeed belongs to the Hundred Herbs Hall. Hong Wu and the other three are also registered External Affairs Disciples of the Hundred Herbs Hall. With both human testimony and physical evidence, do you have anything to say?”
Su Wan’er whipped her head around to look at Lai Li’an, her eyes full of anxiety. She wanted to speak in defense, but Lai Li’an stopped her with a look.
Lai Li’an stood with his hands behind his back, his face expressionless, but inside he had already calculated the situation. He spoke slowly:
“Elder Sun, the reason I and my disciple went to Sunset Slope yesterday was at the behest of an old man named Qian Fu. He claimed his spirit field had been occupied by thugs and that he was suffering from the Bone-Erosion Curse. He offered sixty Spirit Stones as a reward for us to reclaim his spirit field. If the land deed indeed belongs to the Hundred Herbs Hall, then Qian Fu deceived us.”
Upon hearing this, Elder Sun’s brow twitched slightly.
He raised his hand and summoned a nearby Law Enforcement Hall disciple, whispering a few instructions.
The disciple received the order and left, soon returning with a middle-aged cultivator in a deep blue robe.
“Reporting to Elder Sun,” the middle-aged cultivator bowed to the hall, “I am Zhou Ping, Steward of the West Market. Just now, when you sent word inquiring about the man Qian Fu, I happened to know his background.”
“Speak.”
“Qian Fu is well known to many shops in Yunze Market. He is not a spirit farmer, but a habitual swindler who frequents the West Market. His favorite trick is to find a spirit field with an owner, and when the owner is away, he falsely claims the field as his own.”
“He then fabricates a story about being bullied by thugs, winning the sympathy of wandering cultivators, and luring them with Spirit Stones to ‘reclaim’ the spirit field. When conflict breaks out, he takes advantage of the chaos to spirit away the spirit herbs and disappear. Just from what I know, no fewer than five groups of wandering cultivators have fallen for this same trick in the past three years.”
He paused and continued:
“As for the so-called Bone-Erosion Curse on his arm, according to several regular vendors in the West Market, it’s a fake tattoo he had someone apply, and he changes the pattern every three months.”
Su Wan’er’s mind went blank.
The Bone-Erosion Curse was fake? His story of being bullied was all fake? From start to finish, it was all a lie?
She remembered Qian Fu’s hurried back as he left yesterday. She had chased after him to ask about the curse, and he had shaken off her hand, impatience flashing across his face beneath the bamboo hat.
At the time, she thought he just didn’t want to involve her. Now that she looked back, that wasn’t being touched at all.
And what had she done? She had helped a liar.