I became a martial arts saint while playing games.

Li Shun quickly realized that it was no longer his business.

He watched numbly as Gu Yan wielded the longsword before him, swinging it casually. The ghosts howled and wailed, fleeing in terror, but ultimately, not one could escape the sword's blade...

Gu Yan sheathed his sword, looked back at Li Shun, and said, "Not bad. You've been hiding your strength all this time?"

Li Shun smiled wryly: "It's just a smattering of skill. I didn't expect the adults to see through it so easily; it's truly laughable."

He did indeed hide it.

He considered himself the most secretive person in the Qingxi County government. Although he had excellent martial arts talent and could easily defeat his colleagues, he kept a low profile, waiting for the right opportunity to make a surprise attack and make everyone misjudge his strength.

However, compared to Gu Yan's strength, his behavior was like a second-grade student who had clearly learned multiplication but pretended to only know addition and subtraction within 100, pretending to be a first-grader trying to play dumb to fool the enemy...

To adults, it would probably just seem ridiculous and laughable.

Li Shun quickly realized that this official had probably seen through his so-called "hidden strength" long ago; otherwise, he wouldn't have asked him to restrain the ghosts. After all, an ordinary constable would have been dead on the spot by now.

Judging from this, this person seemed to have everything under control, as if he had calculated how long Li Shun could draw the demon's fire and how long it would take him to kill the demon dog.

By using Li Shun to distract the smaller monsters, you can kill the monsters yourself, and then focus on clearing the field. This method is stable and efficient.

Gu Yan checked the potential panel and tallied his gains.

Potential Point: 5321

I have over 5,000 potential points in total, which is not bad. That should be enough for the next side quest.

...

...

The villagers on the outskirts of Qingxi County had seen a young man with a sword and a constable heading in the direction of the haunted building earlier, but no one paid much attention to it.

Previously, Old Man Wang died suddenly at the hands of a ghost, and the county government had already ruled it a suicide, saying there was no ghost involved.

What can they possibly expect from such a county government?

A mischievous child was chasing and playing at the village entrance when he suddenly saw something coming from the mountains in the distance.

Curious, he stopped playing, took a closer look, and was immediately stunned.

The child ran towards the village, shouting urgently, "Father! Mother! Come quick! Dog Head... a huge dog head is coming!"

Many villagers, upon hearing this, dismissed it as childish nonsense. One villager, walking away, muttered, "Kids just don't know any better, what kind of nonsense is this... Good heavens! Dog's head!"

He nearly fainted from fright halfway through his sentence. It really was a dog's head, with an incredibly ferocious appearance. The villagers had never seen such a huge dog's head before; how could they not be terrified?

But as the dog's head drew closer, it turned out to be the sword-wielding youth who had gone to search for the Ghost Tower earlier.

He had a long sword at his waist and a dog's head in his hand. He casually tossed the dog's head, which was still staring at the ground.

Behind him followed the yamen runners who had accompanied him, carrying the huge headless corpse of the demon dog and placing it on the open ground.

Upon hearing the news, the villagers all came out of their houses. They had never seen such a strange and terrifying scene before. They all stood there dumbfounded, and although there were many people around, no one dared to breathe loudly, as if they were afraid of startling the headless dog corpse awake again.

Li Shun said loudly, "Fellow villagers, do not be afraid. The ghost tower in the suburbs has been leveled and the demon has been killed, all thanks to the efforts of this Lord of the Demon Suppression Division. This demon's body contains vital essence, which is very nourishing."

Knowing that you are all living in hardship, the lord has specially ordered that this demon corpse be distributed among you, to be cooked and eaten separately, as a form of nourishment.

The villagers were still in a daze, lost in thought. No one dared to step forward, no one dared to speak, and it seemed that no one even dared to believe it.

It seems that in their view, demons eating people is commonplace.

Could it be that humans... could one day also be able to eat demons?

Gu Yan put down the demon corpse and had already left.

All the project team looked up and saw the young man dressed in coarse cloth, a sword hanging at his waist. The clear, upright sunlight shone on the open field, making his figure appear clear and dignified as he walked further and further away.

A man, a sword, his shadow stretches long on the ground.

Only then did some people in the village finally come to their senses.

An old farmer lay prostrate on the ground, weeping bitterly. His cries were hoarse, as if he had finally gotten the chance to cry out all the grievances and bitterness of his life.

Other villagers knelt down in front of the young man's back, kowtowed to the ground, and cried out in sobs.

It was as if this was the first time in their lives that someone was willing to listen to their cries.

...

...

The mountains and forests outside the village.

A shadowy figure flashed through the woods and disappeared into a cave.

A voice from inside the cave asked, "What's going on?"

The eerie figure said, "It's the Ghost Tower. Someone attacked the Ghost Tower, and the entire family was slaughtered; not a single ghost was left alive."

"What?" the voice in the cave exclaimed in surprise. "That ghost tower is a rare yin place, most suitable for nurturing evil spirits and gathering yin souls for the king to use in cultivating demonic arts."

The King has gone to pay his respects to the brothel owner and will be returning soon. When he hears of the trouble at the Ghost Tower, both of us will be in deep trouble.

The shadowy figure said, "What could I possibly do? I'm not bragging, but if I had gone in to stop them back then, I would be a dead demon by now."

The voice from inside the cave said, "You saw someone enter the haunted building, didn't you know to leave that dog demon there to guard it?"

"I released it," the eerie figure said helplessly. "Otherwise, where do you think those villagers at the village entrance are dividing up the dog meat from?"

The people in the cave were astonished: "Is it that powerful?"

He was somewhat confused. In the small Qingxi County, over the years, anyone who could reach the Solidifying Yuan Realm was considered a top-tier expert. With this dog demon's combat power, it should have been able to slaughter its way through the entire county. Where did such a master come from?

The ghostly figure said, "The only thing we can do now is to speed up the process and release more ghosts to nourish the Yin energy. Hopefully, this will be enough for the King when he returns to perform his daily rituals, so as not to punish us."

The person in the cave sighed, "I only hope that person has eliminated all the demons and ghosts in the building, thinking that this place has been cleansed, and will not come back to investigate."

The eerie figure said, "I hope so."

A cold wind swept through the forest, and then all was quiet in the mountains.

...

...

On the way back to the city.

Several times during the journey, Li Shun couldn't help but steal glances at Gu Yan, as if trying to detect even the slightest emotional fluctuation on the other's face.

Unfortunately not.

He slew an entire building of ghosts and a powerful demon dog, and was thanked so profusely by the villagers who were moved to tears, yet he remained completely unmoved, as if he had simply taken a casual stroll in the countryside.

Li Shun had served in Qingxi County for many years, and wherever he went, he was only met with fear and avoidance when he wore this official uniform. He had never seen the people so eagerly grateful.

Although I know that these are all earned by adults through their own efforts, I still can't help but feel a little envious.

This cleanup of the haunted building took quite a bit of time. Upon entering the county town, Gu Yan said to Li Shun, "I'm going back to my room to rest. You've been running around non-stop these past two days, and just went through a fierce battle; you must be exhausted. Go back and rest too."

Li Shun also felt exhausted and weak, so he took his leave.

Gu Yan passed by a tavern, went in, called the waiter, and ordered a roast chicken and a pot of fine wine. After walking around for a while, he saw the beggar from the other day still lying on the ground, looking languid.

He left the roast chicken and the wine. The beggar, who was lying on the ground, looked up at him again but didn't say anything. He sat up and tore off a chicken leg and started eating it.

Gu Yan smiled slightly at him and was about to return to the inn when he suddenly heard a familiar melody and stopped in his tracks.

That was his phone ringing.

Gu Yan took a deep breath, temporarily exited the game, and returned to reality. He took out his phone and glanced at the caller ID; it was the class monitor of his current humanities class.

Gu Yan answered the phone: "Squad leader, what's going on?"

"Hurry to the teaching building!" the class monitor said urgently. "The dean of the Weaponry Academy is here and specifically asked to see you!"