“What’s your name?”

“Yizhang Hong.”

“Be honest, tell me your real name!”

“Zhang Xiaohong.”

In the interrogation room, the dim oil lamp flickered, making the room appear cold and dark. Fang Qingyun, with a cold smile, had just captured the suspect while Wei Buto stared into Yizhang Hong’s eyes, throwing one question after another. The young constable sat at another table, quickly recording the interrogation.

“Gender?”

“Male.”

“Cultivation level?”

“Late Foundation Establishment, peak.”

Wei Butou coldly snorted, “Write it down, Foundation Establishment, ignore the rest. Zhang Xiaohong, now tell me, if you think that our handling of this case will affect a fair trial, you can apply for recusal, which means someone else will handle it. Do you want to apply for recusal?”

“I apply…”

Wei Butou nodded, his voice drawn out with a rising tone at the end.

Zhang Xiaohong quickly said, “No, no, I don’t want to apply for recusal.”

“Tell us, why did you end up here?”

“I didn’t pay for the grilled skewers.”

Fang Qingyun impatiently said, “Stop questioning, execute him on the spot. Say that he resisted arrest violently and refused to surrender, and died from taking poison.”

This was definitely something Fang Qingyun would do. Yizhang Hong, still wearing his chains, quickly said, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk. About ten days ago, I woke up at the foot of a mountain. I must have slipped down while passing by the mountain to the west of Yanjiang County. When I woke up, I found a cave, which should have been the residence of a cultivator. The cave had not been visited for a long time. I carefully went inside and found nothing valuable except for a book.”

“That book was taken by you during the search.”

“It records some relatively obscure talismans and matching formations, such as the Reverse Life Element Talisman and the Reverse Life Element Formation. According to the book, the Reverse Life Element Talisman can convert lifespan into cultivation, and I happened to be at a bottleneck period, so I thought I could break through to the Golden Elixir stage and live freely. This breakthrough method can also increase lifespan, which is very tempting.”

Fang Qingyun angrily said, “I consulted with the county magistrate. According to the scale you set up, not to mention breaking through from Foundation Establishment to Golden Elixir, even breaking through from Golden Elixir to Elemental Infant is more than enough!”

Yizhang Hong thought to himself that he also knew this was a waste, but he didn’t know any other methods.

Of course, he couldn’t say such things. Yizhang Hong pretended not to hear Fang Qingyun’s scolding and continued, “I am a talisman cultivator myself and quickly learned the Reverse Life Element Talisman. It’s not difficult to set up the Reverse Life Element Formation, just arrange the talismans into the formation.”

“Cultivators won’t notice the effect of the Reverse Life Element Talisman, and it only causes drowsiness in mortals, making it easy to overlook. Moreover, after the formation is set up, even the drowsiness effect is gone.”

“However, the Reverse Life Element Formation requires too many talismans to be posted, and one person can’t complete it in a short time. I happened to meet two companions, the other two people you caught.”

“Strangely enough, those two were not from Yanjiang County and didn’t remember why they came here.”

“We agreed to break through to Foundation Establishment together.””We are rigorous and leave no trace. While you were searching for the Reverse Longevity Yuan Symbol, we didn’t take any action. We felt that this place was becoming increasingly unsafe and wanted to leave Yanjiang County. Before we left, we heard that there was a famous barbecue restaurant here and wanted to try it. But before we could even finish grilling our skewers, you guys showed up.”

Yizhang Hong looked puzzled, unable to figure out where the mistake was made. The constable, of course, wouldn’t say that it was the enthusiastic restaurant owner who reported them.

After the interrogation, the constable asked him to sign and affix his seal: “Write your name at the bottom of each page and on the last page, write that the above record has been read and is consistent with what I said.”

“Press your handprint on all the places where you signed.”

…

The next day, the constable sent a banner as usual.

He was considering setting up an office in the barbecue restaurant and staying here. The efficiency of catching people was no worse than patrolling all day long.

With this pace, he would soon become the chief constable.

“Owner Lu, your barbecue restaurant has good feng shui, and the people here are talented.”

Lu Yang smiled apologetically, “Talent is secondary to good feng shui.”

“The government office is too busy lately. When it’s less busy, I’ll apply to give your shop a plaque for being an excellent store.”

“That’s great. Here’s some freshly boiled water. Are you still busy even after catching the criminal?”

“Well, we caught the person and found the place he confessed to. It’s an abandoned cave where a wanted criminal from the demonic path hid. After tearing off the Reverse Longevity Yuan Symbol according to their confession, the case is now closed.”

“The problem is that the Spring Harvest Festival is coming up, and it looks like there will be at least a 20% increase in visitors compared to last year. I want to take a break, but the chief constable won’t approve it and wants me to patrol more during the festival.”

“If you get tired of patrolling, you can come here and rest. Our shop will be open as usual during the Spring Harvest Festival.”

After the constable left, Meng Jingzhou breathed a sigh of relief, “Finally, it’s over. We’ve been searching for the Reverse Longevity Yuan Symbol for the past few days, and it’s been nerve-wracking. It’s possible that Yizhang Hong saw us working too hard and came here to trap us.”

Man Gu hesitated, feeling that Yizhang Hong probably didn’t think that way.

Lu Yang noticed that Lanting was constantly gesturing something and curiously asked, “What are you doing?”

Lanting replied without looking up, “I’m trying to develop an automatic skewering array. The bamboo skewers will automatically string the meat.”

Lu Yang picked up a bamboo skewer, pinched it with two fingers, and pulled it. He seemed to be pondering.

Suddenly, he threw a few pieces of meat, used his fingers to throw the skewer, but unfortunately, it missed the meat and didn’t string it.

Man Gu didn’t understand what Lu Yang was doing and thought that Brother Lu was playing a new game. Meng Jingzhou’s eyes lit up as he realized, “You want to use bamboo skewers to string meat and practice using hidden weapons?”

Lu Yang smiled but didn’t say anything, indicating his approval.

Soon, Meng Jingzhou also joined in the practice, studying how to accurately use force to string the moving pieces of meat in the air.

Man Gu hesitated, “This… isn’t this against the right way?”Lu Yang said seriously, “This is not correct. Haven’t you heard of ‘Biting onto the green mountain and not letting go, roots firmly planted in the broken rocks. A thousand sharpenings only make it stronger, facing the winds from all directions’?”

“Bamboo is tough and elegant, reserved and humble. It is the weapon of a gentleman. How could it be a hidden weapon?”

“This is a weapon only used by gentlemen.”

Man Gu suddenly realized, feeling as if a toilet had been opened: “So that’s how it is. Then I’ll try it too.”

Lan Ting focused on studying formations. Several bamboo sticks floated in the air. With a whooshing sound, the bamboo sticks were firmly inserted into the wall, with their tails still trembling.

If the target was a person, they would have been dead long ago.

“The power is a bit too strong.” Lan Ting scratched her head in distress, trying to reduce the power as much as possible.

“If we’re not using an automatic piercing formation, we might as well set the power to the maximum.”

The two evil spirits trembled as they watched the chaotic scene of demons dancing around.

(End of this chapter)