“We’ve arrived.” Li Xiuyuan’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

The Law Enforcement Hall’s dungeon was built beneath Yunze Market. It was very dark inside, with only a few lamps on the walls casting a dim yellow glow.

Li Xiuyuan led the way, turning down several narrow corridors before finally stopping in front of a cell.

“Please rest here for the time being. Tomorrow morning, the Council of Elders will personally hear this case.”

The iron door slammed shut and the chains clattered, leaving only the master and disciple alone in the cell.

Su Wan’er stood by the door, her head bowed and her shoulders trembling slightly. Lai Li’an assumed she was scared and was about to say something to comfort her, but the young girl spoke first.

“Honored Master,” she said in a muffled voice. “It is all this disciple’s fault. I was incompetent and failed to catch Hong Wu, even implicating Honored Master and getting you locked up in a place like this.”

Lai Li’an paused for a moment. This girl was blaming herself again.

“It has nothing to do with you.” He sat down on the stone bed and patted the space next to him. “Come sit.”

Su Wan’er hesitated briefly before obediently walking over to sit down. She sat very stiffly, her hands placed dutifully on her knees.

“This disciple still has one thing she doesn’t understand.” She bit her lip. “Honored Master clearly had the ability to take all those people down, so why… why did you surrender without a fight?”

Lai Li’an glanced at her. This girl really thought highly of him. But then again, the sword intent he had released earlier at the Hundred Flavors Pavilion did look quite convincing.

The problem was that he only had that one talisman on him right now; it was his ultimate, life-saving trump card.

Using it to slaughter the people from the Law Enforcement Hall would be easy, but what would they do afterward? He and Su Wan’er would become wanted criminals throughout the entire Cangwu Realm. Forget about attending the Alchemy Conference, they’d be hard-pressed just to make it out of Yunze Market alive.

“Wan’er,” Lai Li’an said slowly. “This Venerable asks you: why did Hong Wu report us to the authorities?”

Su Wan’er froze for a moment, then began to think seriously. “Because… because his subordinates were subdued by Honored Master. He couldn’t swallow his anger, so…”

“Incorrect.” Lai Li’an shook his head. “If he couldn’t swallow his anger, he should have gone back to fetch reinforcements from the Hundred Herbs Hall, not to the Law Enforcement Hall to report us.”

Su Wan’er’s eyes widened slightly.

“He himself is the one who seized the Spiritual Field, and seizing another’s Spiritual Field is already a violation of the Market’s rules. Wouldn’t reporting to the authorities be walking right into a trap?”

“Does Honored Master mean… Hong Wu is making a false accusation?”

“Perhaps not.” Lai Li’an’s gaze grew profound. “As a bandit who forcibly occupied a Spiritual Field, why would Hong Wu dare to righteously report to the Law Enforcement Hall? Is he not afraid the Law Enforcement Hall will uncover the truth?”

Su Wan’er fell silent. She had never considered this question. In her understanding, a guilty conscience was a matter of course for a wrongdoer; no one who had done bad deeds would dare to voluntarily report to the authorities.

Unless… there was a possibility that the people in the Law Enforcement Hall were his accomplices to begin with.

Su Wan’er gasped. She remembered Qian Fu saying that those people had bribed the Law Enforcement Team.

She hadn’t paid much attention to those words at the time, assuming Qian Fu was just talking nonsense. Now, having been reminded by her Honored Master, she realized the situation was far more complicated than she had imagined.

“Honored Master, I understand!” She suddenly raised her head. “Then tomorrow we…”

What was this girl imagining now? He hadn’t even said anything yet. Forget it, this would save him from having to explain.

“We’ll deal with tomorrow’s affairs tomorrow,” Lai Li’an said, closing his eyes and leaning back against the stone wall. “This Venerable knows what to do.”

Looking at her Honored Master resting his mind with his eyes closed, the anxiety in Su Wan’er’s heart gradually subsided for some unknown reason. Since her Honored Master said he knew what to do, then he definitely had a plan. She didn’t need to worry; she just needed to trust her Honored Master.

She quietly scooted closer to her Honored Master, closed her eyes, and began to circulate her Cultivation Technique to cultivate.

The night deepened.

Lai Li’an didn’t sleep. He kept his eyes closed, but his mind didn’t rest for a single moment.

He had actually considered that if Hong Wu really was colluding with the Law Enforcement Hall, then tomorrow’s trial would be a complete trap. That whatever Elder would most likely not handle the matter impartially, and when the time came, even if he talked until his lips bled, he wouldn’t be able to sway them.

However, there was another possibility: Qian Fu was a massive swindler! He had been used as someone else’s tool!

Fuck! That must be it. What kind of thief goes and reports to the authorities? If officials and thieves were truly colluding, this Law Enforcement Hall would have been overthrown long ago. Damn, damn, damn.

The more Lai Li’an thought about it, the angrier he became, wishing he could hack Qian Fu into eight pieces. But he couldn’t admit that he had made an error in judgment, otherwise how could he retain his dignity in front of Su Wan’er in the future? Tomorrow, he absolutely had to argue that black was white.

When the iron door opened again, it was already early the next morning.

The person who came to fetch them was still Li Xiuyuan. As he stood outside the cell door and his gaze swept over Lai Li’an, a trace of wariness was clearly hidden in the depths of his eyes.

“The Elder is already waiting in the Public Hearing Hall. You two, please.”

Lai Li’an got up from the stone bed, his movements neither hurried nor slow.

After exiting the dungeon and passing through two corridors, the view before them suddenly opened up.

The Public Hearing Hall was much larger than Lai Li’an had imagined. A massive spirit lamp hung from the thirty-foot-high domed ceiling, illuminating the entire hall as brightly as daylight.

Directly in front was a long red sandalwood desk. Seated upright behind it was a white-haired elder wearing a moon-white robe, the hem embroidered with the crest of the Law Enforcement Hall.

Standing beside the elder was none other than Hong Wu, who had fled yesterday.

Multiple Law Enforcement Hall disciples stood on both sides of the hall. Lai Li’an’s gaze met Hong Wu’s, and a cold sneer curled the corners of Hong Wu’s mouth.

“Who stands below?” the white-haired elder spoke, his voice aged yet full of vitality.

Li Xiuyuan took a step forward, cupping his fists and bowing: “Reporting to Elder Sun, the two suspects this subordinate was ordered to apprehend last night have been brought here. This is…” He paused, only then realizing that he had never learned their names from start to finish.

“A Rogue Cultivator, surnamed Lai,” Lai Li’an took the initiative to pick up the conversation, cupping his hands toward the head of the hall. “And this is my disciple, Su Wan’er.”

Elder Sun nodded slightly, his gaze falling on a stack of dossiers spread out on the desk: “Fellow Daoist Lai, yesterday Hong Wu, a disciple of the Hundred Herbs Hall, reported a case under his real name, accusing the two of you of forcibly occupying the Sunset Slope Spiritual Field, looting Spirit Herbs, and injuring Hundred Herbs Hall disciples.1 I have already ordered someone to verify the title deed of the Sunset Slope Spiritual Field. That Spiritual Field indeed belongs to the Hundred Herbs Hall, and Hong Wu and the other three are also registered External Affairs Disciples of the Hundred Herbs Hall. Both human testimony and material evidence are present; what do you have to say for yourself?”

Su Wan’er suddenly turned her head to look at Lai Li’an, her eyes full of anxiety. She wanted to speak up and argue, but was stopped by a look from Lai Li’an.

Lai Li’an stood with his hands behind his back, his face devoid of any expression, but in his heart, he had already calculated the situation. He spoke slowly: “Elder Sun, the reason the two of us went to Sunset Slope yesterday was that we were entrusted by an old man named Qian Fu. That person claimed his Spiritual Field was forcibly occupied by tyrants and that he was afflicted with the Bone-Corroding Curse. He offered us 60 Spirit Stones as a reward to help him get his Spiritual Field back. If the title deed indeed belongs to the Hundred Herbs Hall, then Qian Fu deceived the two of us.”

Hearing this, Elder Sun’s brow twitched slightly.

He raised his hand and beckoned a Law Enforcement Hall disciple beside him, giving a few instructions in a low voice.

That disciple received the order and left. After a short while, he led in a middle-aged cultivator wearing a dark cyan robe.

“Reporting to Elder Sun,” the middle-aged cultivator bowed towards the hall, “This subordinate is West Market manager Zhou Ping. Just now, the Elder sent a message inquiring about this person Qian Fu, and this subordinate happens to know his background.”

“Speak.”

“Many shops in Yunze Market recognize this Qian Fu. He is no Spirit Planter, but a habitual swindler who has frequented the West Market for years. His go-to trick is to find an occupied Spiritual Field and, when the owner is absent, falsely claim it as his own property. He spins a tale of being bullied by tyrants to gain the sympathy of foreign Rogue Cultivators, using Spirit Stones as bait to lure them into ‘reclaiming the Spiritual Field’ for him. Once the two sides clash, he takes advantage of the chaos to sweep up the Spirit Herbs and vanish without a trace. Just from what this subordinate knows, no fewer than five groups of foreign Rogue Cultivators have been scammed by him with this exact method in the past three years.”

He paused, then added, “As for the so-called Bone-Corroding Curse on his arm, according to several stall owners in the West Market who deal with him year-round, it is a fake he paid someone to tattoo on. He changes the design every three months.”

Su Wan’er’s mind buzzed.

The Bone-Corroding Curse was fake, and the story of being bullied was fake? From start to finish, it was all fake?

She remembered Qian Fu’s hurried back as he left yesterday. She had chased after him to ask what to do about the Bone-Corroding Curse, but he had shaken off her hand, a trace of impatience flashing across his face beneath his bamboo hat.

At the time, she thought he simply didn’t want to burden others. Looking back now, he hadn’t been moved in the slightest.

And what had she done? Helped a swindler?