Head-to-Head

"Is this wanted criminal a friend or an ally of your Sect Master Lu?"

Shi Qijiang's words immediately equated Zhaoye Zong with a wanted criminal.

Rumors stop with the wise, but the wise are often in the minority, so the crowd below began to discuss them, and their discussions became increasingly outrageous.

Lai Gebao stood in front of the table, the guarantee letter in his arms had been taken away, water was dripping from the edge of the hood, and his thighs were shaking uncontrollably.

The stick tapped against the stone slab, making a clattering sound.

The toad wanted to stop its legs from shaking, but the thing wouldn't listen.

Shi Qijiang didn't rush to ask any more questions. He raised his hand, and the yamen runner next to him immediately brought over a chair.

The chair was placed behind the desk.

Shi Qijiang lifted his scarlet robe and sat down. Looking around, he felt he had everything under control. All the sins of the people on the mountain were just a piece of paper on his desk.

After settling down, he gently placed the guarantee on the table.

"ask."

The civil official beside him immediately understood, stepped forward half a step, and spoke in a serious tone:

"Little demon, what is the full name of the person who protected you?"

The toad blinked: "I don't know."

The civil official frowned: "You don't know?"

"I really don't know."

Lai Gebao shrank his neck, but then felt that was too cowardly, so he quickly straightened his back a little. "He just said that his surname is Shen. I'm not related to him. I can't just hug his leg and ask about his ancestors for eighteen generations, can I?"

The civil official's face darkened, and he continued, "Where is your place of origin?"

"I don't know."

"What is his official rank?"

"I don't know."

"What rank is your cultivation?"

This time, Lai Gebao hesitated for a moment.

It glanced furtively at the disciple holding the registrant's certificate at the East Gate beside it, but the latter kept his head down and didn't look at it at all.

Lai Gebao had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Let's go see the dust."

"Bar?"

The civil official sneered, "Your cultivation level is also acceptable, isn't it?"

"Then you asked me? I can only say that." The toad blurted out, then regretted it as soon as it was spoken and quickly tried to make amends, "My lord, please don't make things difficult for this little demon. I don't know how to test cultivation levels. If I did, why would I be here to become an apprentice? I would just be setting up a stall to make money."

Shi Qijiang sat in the chair, his fingertip pressing down on a corner of Baoxin, his expression somewhat displeased.

The civil official quickly asked again, "Then you must know where that person is now, right?"

Toad shut his mouth.

It didn't respond immediately.

The wind in front of the mountain gate passed between the two rows of guards, blowing the corners of the wanted poster and causing the gray-clad portrait on the paper to sway.

The toad saw it.

It also spotted the gray-clad figure at the edge of the crowd.

Senior Shen remained in the same spot, without moving an inch. He stood there quietly, like a passerby simply passing by the mountain gate.

The toad's throat bobbed.

I'm afraid, I'm really afraid.

He feared that if the prefect waved his hand, he would never be able to obtain the Good Demon Certificate in his lifetime; he feared that the Zhaoye Sect would not want it; and he feared that it would be dragged away by the prefect's soldiers.

It fears even more that the wanted poster is real, a gray-clad thug who killed an official and destroyed his seal.

When the civil official saw that it did not answer, his tone softened.

"You toad, you are a wild and unregistered demon. According to the law, you should not be at the mountain gate, much less take the exam."

The toad muttered to itself, "I didn't pass the exam either."

"Do we still have to take advantage of your words?" the civil official shouted.

Lai Ge Bao immediately shut up, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

The civil official slowed his voice: "I'll give you a way out. If you just tell me where your guarantor is, admit that you were unaware of the situation and were simply being used, the Prefect might consider that you haven't been in the mortal realm long enough to warrant a lighter sentence."

Toad raised its eyes.

The civil official continued, "Zhōno Mō is also here today. If you cooperate with the investigation, you may not necessarily lose your way. The matter of the good demon certificate can also be discussed again."

A certificate of a good demon.

These three words were like a bowl of plain noodles, hitting Lai Gebao in the heart.

It tightened a corner of the fabric.

The test just showed that his aptitude wasn't good enough. Lai Ge Bao said he'd come back in three years, but he knew in his heart that three years was too far away.

But what if the Prefect speaks up, and if it can still be recorded, even if there's only a tiny chance?

The toad's eyes moved.

The civil official, seeing this, spoke even softer: "You're just a minor demon, why should you take the blame for a villain? If you implicate him, you'll be doing a good deed."

The toad slowly turned its head.

It looked at the wanted poster.

Then he looked towards the edge of the crowd.

Shen Gui still didn't give it a look, neither nodding nor shaking its head, and didn't even move its hand.

Lai Gebao suddenly remembered the rain outside the city gate.

It fell into the mud, and the crowd walked around it, their boots stepping over its head. A young swordsman even laughed at it for being short and ugly.

Only the man in gray didn't step on him.

Lai Ge Bao's throat tightened a little, but he still managed to say, "I...I don't know where he is."

The civil official stared at it: "You clearly looked at the crowd just now."

Lai Gebao quickly raised his head, his expression fierce but concealing his true intentions: "What's wrong with me looking at the crowd? There are so many people, can't I take a look? I'm looking at you too, are you a thug or something?"

"Outrageous!" The civil official slammed his hand on the table.

The toad shrank its neck in fright, but its mouth was still moving, though its voice was much lower.

"All I know is that when I fell to the ground, so many people walked around me, but he was the only one who didn't step on me, and he was the only one who didn't think I was a demon, so Master Guan... you must have mistaken me for someone else."

That statement went unheard.

But it was too quiet in front of the mountain gate.

It was so quiet that many people could hear it.

Hu Zhaoying stood at a distance, its tail motionless.

Hu Yanshan glanced at the gray-clad figure at the edge of the crowd, then looked away, choosing to remain silent and observe from the sidelines.

Shi Qijiang rubbed the armrest of the chair, then chuckled softly, "He's quite loyal and righteous."

The civil official immediately turned cold: "Spreading falsehoods and refusing to cooperate, according to the law, you may be punished with caning first."

The toad's eyes widened instantly: "Quack? No! Why are you suddenly asking me this? Is this how you humans ask questions? Say a few more words, what if I know something?"

Two guards have already stepped forward.

One held the knife down, while the other reached for the tattered cloth on Toad's shoulder.

"Don't be ridiculous, you really have to pay for it, this dress of mine..."

Toad took a half step back, the tree branch under its leg tilted, and it almost fell over.

The guard grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, finally silencing the toad's incessant chatter.

In the crowd, a man in gray raised an eyebrow and looked at the little demon on the stage for the first time.

His eyes were calm.

The index finger inside the cuff twitched slightly.

There is no wind.

But at that moment, Shi Qijiang's heart tightened suddenly on the stage!

A great terror welled up in my heart.

He felt as if a hand had been placed on the top of his head, the five fingers slowly closing in, and if just a little more force was applied, he would be wiped off the face of the earth.

The gentle smile on Shi Qijiang's face finally faded.

next interest.

Shen Gui began to press his fingers down, but stopped the movement the moment he pressed them out.

Suddenly, someone in the audience shouted, "Sect Leader Lu has come down!"

Lu Guang walked down the stone steps of the grandstand step by step.

His hair was gray, but his back was very straight. He had taken off his sect leader's robe at some point and was only wearing a blue cloth robe.

When the disciples of the Zhaoye sect saw him, they immediately found their pillar of support.

"metropolitan."

"metropolitan."

The sound came from both sides of the mountain gate.

Lu Guang walked to the table and first glanced at the toad, whose hand was still gripping the little demon by the back of its neck.

"Let go," Lu Guang said.

The yamen runners didn't move; instead, they looked at Shi Qijiang.

Shi Qijiang had already stood up and was scanning the crowd with his eyes.

The initial shock had subsided, but he still felt a lingering fear. Having been in the Wangyue Realm for fourteen years, Shi Qijiang didn't understand why he suddenly felt terrified.

He had never felt this way, not even when facing his own teacher, the prime minister who held sway over half of Yan Kingdom.

Therefore, Shi Qijiang did not understand.

However, the situation on the scene didn't allow him to think too much.

Lu Guang continued, "Shi Qijiang, if you want to force my Zhaoye Sect, there's no need to make things difficult for a nobody!"

The sound carried a certain vitality, so it was very loud and expansive.

Shi Qijiang had no choice but to suppress his doubts for the time being.

He turned his gaze back to the present, then placed the guarantee letter on the table: "Sect Leader Lu, I do not understand your words. Today's investigation was of the demon register, the questioning of the guarantor, and the collection of clues about the murderer. Which statement is forcing the investigation of the Ye Sect?"

"You've not come here today to investigate a case."

Lu Guang said frankly, "What you really want to investigate is how many demons Zhaoye Sect has taken in over the years, and how many guarantees they've given. You don't want Zhaoye Sect to stand under the nose of the prefectural city."

Shi Qijiang's smile faded slightly.

Lu Guang took a step forward.

"I admit that there are corrupt managers, incompetent disciples, and incomplete roster members in the sect. These are the faults of Zhaoye Sect. They should be investigated and punished. I will not shirk my responsibility. But if you make Zhaoye Sect move out, I will only have one attitude: fight to the death."

Lu Guangang nodded: "I might go to jail, but you won't have an easy time either."

After these words were spoken, the atmosphere in front of the mountain gate became extremely tense.

No matter how ugly things were before, everyone still wore the veneer of propriety.

Now Lu Guang has laid bare his true intentions and is talking openly and frankly.

The encirclement of the soldiers tightened again. The captains looked at each other and began to move their feet to form a battle formation.

The disciples of Zhaoye Mountain pushed their swords out a few inches, and this time no one stopped them.

The smile on Shi Qijiang's face disappeared; Lu Guang's attitude was even tougher than expected.

"Sect Leader Lu, the imperial court has conferred the title of Zhaoye Sect upon you to educate the demon race, not to allow you to establish your own mini-court."

Lu Guang's gaze sharpened: "I did not establish a mini-court."

"Then let the government investigate."

"You can check."

"Guards, take away all the perpetrators, especially this little toad demon."

"No!"

Two words were uttered.

Short, hard, and there's absolutely no room for negotiation.

Shi Qijiang's eyes turned completely cold.

"Lu Guang, are you going to cover for him?"

"Shi Qijiang, are you trying to frame me?"