I became a martial arts saint while playing games.

Gu Yanqing had cleared out the demons; the gambling den was already empty. The three of them entered the room, with Li Shun in charge, and immediately began ransacking the place, searching for evidence.

Shen Qinghan noticed that Gu Yan seemed quite enthusiastic when he first came to the gambling den. But now that the demon scourge had been eliminated and they were beginning to search for evidence at the county government office, he seemed rather uninterested.

It was as if he had come specifically for this family of demons, and the others were just passing by.

It seems that this person's claim of hating demons since childhood and wishing to personally slay all the demons in the world is not unfounded.

After searching for a while, Li Shun found quite a few items in the lynx's room, the innkeeper's room.

Hidden within the cabinet in the innkeeper's room was a secret compartment. Once opened, layers of secret books were revealed. Upon closer inspection, they contained evidence ranging from the county magistrate's corruption and bribery, and his dealings with evil spirits in the neighborhood, to evidence of the head constable's abuse of power, corruption, and harm to the people.

After reviewing the evidence, Shen Qinghan was struck by a thought. He realized that the evidence was so comprehensive, with every corrupt affair and private transaction of the officials in Qingxi County meticulously recorded. It seemed as if these demons had deliberately preserved this evidence to control the very lifeline of the county's officials.

No wonder it is said that the magistrate is in close contact with demons. It seems that Magistrate Liu is so deeply involved that he cannot extricate himself from the situation.

In a remote place like Qingxi, it was already rare to find a demon's nest in the mountains, but now there is even a demon gambling den hidden in the city.

Shen Qinghan was puzzled, wondering what merit Qingxi County had that allowed so many demons to roam in such a small border county.

Li Shun was still searching in the shopkeeper's room when Gu Yan came out first, bringing out a letter and saying, "Please take a look, sir."

Shen Qinghan took it and quickly read it.

She had only read halfway through when her expression changed drastically.

To the Shopkeeper and His Wife:

Rumors have recently spread that an inspector has arrived from the capital and will soon reach Qingxi. Although this man is not here for us, it is said that he was born in a government office in the capital, and if he sees the current state of Qingxi, he will certainly show no mercy.

"My brother and wife are incredibly powerful; I humbly request your assistance in secretly dealing with this scoundrel. I, Liu, have also found twenty plump infants, each brimming with vitality and with tender flesh, specifically for you two and the men of your clan to enjoy."

The inscription was signed by Magistrate Liu, and was further stamped with Magistrate Liu's seal as proof.

A wave of emotion surged within Shen Qinghan.

The inspectors from the capital... could they be referring to me?

But she was clearly a member of the Demon Suppression Division, not from some government office in the capital... Hmm, that's it. The magistrate must have been afraid that if the name of the Demon Suppression Division was mentioned, the demons would hesitate to act, so he pretended that she was from a government office in the capital.

If she were truly just an ordinary constable, disappearing somewhere in this remote, desolate place would generally have been left unresolved.

Moreover, the county magistrate even stated in the letter that he would send twenty infants of this demon as gifts; such an official's behavior was truly despicable. Just reading the words in the letter, Shen Qinghan felt a chill run down her spine.

So the reason why I was poisoned and ambushed by demons beforehand was actually because of the county magistrate's instigation?

Upon thinking of this, Shen Qinghan felt a surge of anger and decided to take the letter back to Magistrate Liu to demand an explanation.

Gu Yan said, "When Magistrate Liu saw the two of us at the county office earlier, he didn't seem to know you, sir."

Shen Qinghan thought about it and realized it wasn't a bad idea. Magistrate Liu should have assumed that Shen Qinghan had been killed by a demon, but his reaction when he first saw Shen Qinghan at the yamen didn't seem like the surprise one would expect when seeing a dead person.

And how could this lowly county magistrate have known that he would come to Qingxi County?

"Perhaps he's good at disguising himself and hiding his emotions," Shen Qinghan said.

"It's hard to say," Gu Yan said. "But if Magistrate Liu knew that Your Excellency was a member of the Demon Suppression Division, and still ordered demons to ambush and kill you, wouldn't he be afraid that the Demon Suppression Division would later carry out a large-scale purge against him as well?"

"That's true, he did a stupid thing," Shen Qinghan said.

Since the magistrate knew to avoid mentioning the name of the Demon Suppression Division in the letter to prevent demons from being afraid, did he not know to fear the Demon Suppression Division's retaliation?

The Demon Suppression Division has been fighting on the front lines against demons for many years and is extremely protective of its own. If a colleague in the division is killed, a large force will surely come to the rescue.

Shen Qinghan's mind raced, and he suddenly said, "The demons here are manipulating the Qingxi County government, even playing the magistrate like a puppet. Perhaps the magistrate wants to take this opportunity to trick these demons into killing me, angering the Demon Suppression Division. That way, when the Demon Suppression Division comes to investigate, they will naturally wipe out the demons, and he can then take the opportunity to break free from their control..."

"Your Excellency is wise," Gu Yan said with a smile. "But if the Demon Suppression Division comes to Qingxi and sees the current state of Qingxi County, after eradicating the demons, how can they not settle scores with the Qingxi County government?"

If Magistrate Liu was truly determined to destroy everything, willing to sacrifice his official position to avenge the demons, why didn't he simply petition the court directly, reporting the severe demonic calamity in Qingxi and requesting assistance from the Demon Suppression Division? Why go through all this trouble?

Shen Qinghan stared intently in thought, then shook his head and said, "Then I don't know."

She looked up at Gu Yan and asked, "What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know either," Gu Yan said. "Let's take this letter and ask the magistrate first."

Shen Qinghan nodded: "Mm."

She suddenly had a strange illusion.

It was as if... as if Gu Yan already had a plan in mind, and was simply guiding him to think.

Shen Qinghan has been in the Demon Suppression Division for a year, during which he has mostly focused on cultivation within the division. Apart from a few missions, he has always been guided by senior members to slay minor demons, and he has always simply followed orders without ever making decisions on his own.

This time, she was here for personal reasons. It was her first time traveling alone, and she had little experience in the ways of the world. Although she was nominally her senior and superior, she instinctively sought Gu Yan's advice when faced with a problem.

Gu Yan said, "By the way, sir, I feel that I have almost mastered the Demon-Suppressing and Yuan-Nourishing Technique. The growth of my internal energy has now slowed down. If I continue to work hard, I'm afraid my realm will hardly advance any further."

Shen Qinghan: "..."

Today's cultivation is almost complete, but the growth of internal energy has slowed down... Listen to yourself, is that even human language?

Who can make rapid progress in their cultivation just by mastering the basics? Do you think everyone who cultivates is a monster like you, whose internal energy increases like crazy every day?

Gu Yan said, "I feel like I'm not too far from the Qi Control Realm. So, sir, what do you think about the technique for breaking through to the Qi Control Realm...?"

He earned quite a few potential points during this trip to the gambling den, so now he should look for cultivation techniques that consume potential points.

Shen Qinghan shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm unwilling to teach you, it's just that it's against the rules. I haven't even perfected the Qi Control Technique myself, so I'm not qualified to teach it to you."

According to the rules of the Demon Suppression Division, the transfer of skills depends on the merit of slaying demons. Shen Qinghan had personally witnessed Gu Yan kill so many demons that few of the newly recruited trainee constables in the division could match his merit. Therefore, the merit requirement was not a problem for Gu Yan.

The main rule is something else entirely.

Within the Demon Suppression Division, those who wish to pass on their skills to younger generations must have already perfected their own cultivation techniques to be qualified.

If the senior himself is only a half-baked expert with a superficial understanding of the technique, and his understanding of the technique is not thorough, or he may even have made mistakes, wouldn't it be a case of misleading the younger generation if he passed on the technique to the younger generation with these mistakes?

The management of internal energy cultivation methods is particularly strict. If the practitioner does not understand the method properly, a misstep in internal energy flow could lead to qi deviation or even death.

Although Shen Qinghan thought that Gu Yan had immediately mastered the "Demon-Suppressing and Yuan-Nourishing Technique" after she had just memorized its incantation, and that Gu Yan was naturally gifted with martial arts skills and only needed mental techniques and manuals to learn martial arts, rules are rules after all.

The Demon Suppression Division takes this rule extremely seriously. Her own Qi Control Realm cultivation method wasn't even fully perfected yet; if she secretly taught it to Gu Yan, both of them would face severe punishment upon their return.

Gu Yan only asked the question, and was not surprised by Shen Qinghan's answer. He already knew that the other party was not qualified to teach the Qi Control Realm technique. According to the original game guide, players would not be able to obtain the technique here.

But it doesn't matter, he already has a method for controlling Qi.

Having reached this stage of the strategy, there are already plans for subsequent mental cultivation techniques.

Shen Qinghan sighed.

She actually wanted to pass on the new cultivation method to Gu Yan as soon as possible, and she also wanted to see just how fast this genius with "heaven-sent martial arts bones" could grow.

Suddenly, another ridiculous thought popped into her head—one that seemed absurd at first glance, but upon further reflection, actually appeared quite plausible.

—Could this boy really surpass me, this so-called "genius," in just a few days?

Having found everything they needed in the gambling den, the three left.

It was nearly dawn. The commotion at the gambling den had alerted many people, and many were watching from a distance. When they saw the three men emerge from the door, they were confused and no one dared to approach them to ask what was going on.

The three left the gambling den and headed straight for the county government office. But as soon as they got nearby, they saw that the area in front of the county government office was already crowded with people, making it impossible to move.

Li Shun strode forward and found a commoner on the outskirts, asking, "What's all this commotion about?"

The man turned around, saw that he was a constable, and said, "Haven't you heard, sir? The magistrate... he's dead!"