Go and capture those thirty-six fierce villains.

At noon, the sky was cloudless.

At a time when the sun should be blazing and dazzling, the entire grassland was shrouded in an eerie earthy yellow.

The wind was blowing from the west, carrying the rough scent unique to the grasslands. In less than half an incense stick's time, the world was in chaos, and even the figures three zhang away were blurred into blocks of color.

The coarse sand, carried by the gale, hurtled towards Physician Yang like countless tiny pebbles, but suddenly stopped three feet in front of him, as if it had struck an invisible glass wall.

The sand bounced and spun wildly on the wall, making a piercing "shh" sound, but there wasn't a breath of wind inside. Physician Yang's dark green robe hung straight down without a single fold.

His expression was calm. Although the horse beneath him could not feel the raging sandstorm, fear still lingered in its brown eyes. Its hooves kept pawing at the sand, refusing to move forward an inch.

"Father, the weather is terrible. Why don't we find a small tribe to stay in for a day and then continue our journey back to Daxia tomorrow?"

Li Siqin made the suggestion, his round figure landing on the horse, looking from a distance like a load of cargo.

"They were already trying to drive us away. If we stay another day, it probably won't be this sandstorm that arrives."

Physician Yang glanced at the pile of yellow sand that had accumulated in just a short time, and said it casually.

Upon hearing this, Li Siqin stared in astonishment at the towering yellow sand.

"Father, do you mean this celestial phenomenon was man-made?"

"Hmm..." Physician Yang nodded, about to say something, when suddenly his expression changed, and as he opened his mouth, a dark green worm crawled out and landed in his open palm.

The insect's antennae twitched, and it seemed to be baring its teeth and claws at Physician Yang, as if it were trying to express something.

After a moment, the insect quieted down. Physician Yang casually pinched it and tossed it into the raging sandstorm three feet away, a strange smile appearing on his face.

"Father, has something happened in Meishan again?"

The dark green worm was a unique technique of her adoptive father, which was said to have been obtained overseas in his early years. It allowed the two to communicate even when they were thousands of miles apart, something Li Siqin knew.

A few days ago, during negotiations at the Little Royal Court on the grassland, this dark green worm appeared. At that time, my godfather said that Xu Meishan had run into the leader of the Mohist school and almost died.

That's why Li Siqin asked this question.

Physician Yang shook his head: "It's that little fellow surnamed Qin. He caused some trouble in Bei'an City on his first day in office. Tsk, it seems he's not a peaceful person."

Li Siqin remained silent. He knew that Xu Meishan's early return to Daxia was partly due to Qin Ning.

But he still didn't understand why his godfather would go to so much trouble for a mere doctor.

"Let's go back soon, lest the owner of this sandstorm really gets angry."

Physician Yang had no intention of explaining. He flicked his finger, and the dark green smoke entered the horse beneath him.

In an instant, the horses, which had been somewhat frightened, seemed to be injected with adrenaline and galloped wildly into the sandstorm.

Seeing this, Li Siqin laboriously bent down and whispered in the horse's ear, "The weather here is normal; you should be able to travel a thousand miles a day!"

The pure air coalesced into characters, drifting in through the horse's ears, and his figure quickly disappeared into the vast expanse of yellow sand.

......

The chill of early autumn morning was intense.

Anhe Street.

The steam rising from the steamed bun stall, combined with the dimly lit paper lanterns, made Qin Ning feel somewhat dazed for a moment.

Five days have passed since he caused a scene at the tax office.

Si Chenwei was very efficient, and with all the evidence readily available, Ambassador Liu, along with many officials from the Tax Bureau, had already been imprisoned.

Moreover, due to the intervention of the Prince Su's mansion, coupled with some minor assistance from Qin Ning.

Like pulling up a radish and bringing out mud, Governor Zhang's men were systematically removed from various government offices, including the Patrol and Security Bureau, the Tax Bureau, and the Household Registration Bureau. The grassroots bureaucracy of Beian City underwent a thorough purge.

However, this put the old ghost, who originally just wanted to vent his anger on Qin Ning, in a very passive position.

They were all working for His Majesty. Although he wasn't afraid of Governor Zhang, he didn't want to make an irreconcilable enemy of him.

"Judging by the dates, today should be the day those officials are to be executed?"

Qin Ning walked towards the steamed bun stall shrouded in mist, muttering to himself.

Thanks to the efforts of the Prince Su's mansion, which handled the matter on a special case basis, this group of people received the "special treatment" of being executed ahead of schedule.

After taking the last Gold-Melting Qi-Condensing Pill tonight, I should be able to advance to the eighth rank... So, today is a double celebration.

A smile played on his lips as he walked to the stall, ordered a whole basket of steamed buns as usual, and handed over the loose change he had prepared beforehand.

As a result, the boss refused to accept it, and instead said, trembling:

"Sir...Sir, this steamed bun is on my behalf."

Qin Ning looked up upon hearing this, a helpless, bitter smile flashing across her face.

He looked at the baozi stall owner with a stiff expression and thought to himself that his "bad reputation" had finally reached the other party's ears.

The disturbance at the tax office and the arrest of the Liu family father and son, which restored a clean business environment to Bei'an, should have been a good thing for all the merchants.

Qin Ning felt that even if they weren't grateful to her, they could at least say thank you for their hard work when they met her, or even just give her a smile when she bought something.

But the truth is quite the opposite.

Although he punished the evildoers, Si Chenwei's identity was also exposed.

This organization, notorious even in the imperial court, is also the subject of many strange rumors among the common people.

To say that it can stop a child from crying at night is an understatement.

There are countless bizarre rumors circulating about the creatures inside, such as people eating people without spitting out bones, each with seven arms and eight heads, killing someone regularly, and going crazy after drinking a small red beverage.

The very next day, rumors were circulating that Qin Ning had taken a fancy to a woman from the Liu family, which was why such a big incident had occurred.

Of course, after being slapped 50 times, the person who spread the rumor admitted to Qin Ning that he was wrong.

Qin Ning also generously let go of the other party who would only be able to drink porridge from now on.

Although he could control the rumors surrounding the incident, he couldn't control the deep-seated impression of Si Chenwei's bad reputation in people's minds.

As time went on, Qin Ning encountered more and more fearful looks when walking down the street.

This was the first time he'd ever seen someone do a good deed and become as famous as a street-cleaning tiger... Qin Ning didn't explain anything; he knew in his heart that such things couldn't be explained with words alone. He placed the loose silver on the stall, picked up the meat buns wrapped in cooked lotus leaves, and turned to leave.

His figure quickly disappeared at the street corner.

The steamed bun stall owner stood frozen for a moment, glancing down at the condensed silver coins beside his stall. He mumbled, "This Lord Qin doesn't seem as terrifying as the rumors say..."

I don't know who it was, but they were so scared they almost fell to the ground.

......

The Sichen Guard's garrison.

In the open space of the courtyard, Qin Ning finished a set of external martial arts techniques and stood still. He was slightly out of breath, his forehead covered with fine beads of sweat, which slid down his angular face and dripped onto the bluestone slabs, spreading out small wet patches.

He picked up the bucket that had been prepared beforehand and poured it over his head.

Water droplets rolled down his increasingly muscular upper body, carrying away the slight heat generated from his training.

"Whew, that feels great!"

He gave a soft shout and looked at the little black cat crouching under the corridor, tilting its head to look at him.

The other party quickly ran away, clearly anticipating what bad things Qin Ning was planning.

Smiling and shaking his head, Qin Ning grabbed a towel from the shelf next to him and went into the room.

A short while later, he came out wearing a dark blue uniform.

In just a few days, Qin Ning transformed the central courtyard into a small training ground, and also selected an empty room as a place to rest.

However, the work at the Sichen Guard's post was indeed quite tedious.

Every day, besides coming in the early morning to clock in and practicing martial arts in the morning, he would finish his shift and return to the clinic at noon.

Qin Ning's original plan was to spend the morning at the "company" handling her own affairs and return to the clinic in the afternoon to deal with the overwhelming number of customers.

Unfortunately, plans can't keep up with changes. Ever since Si Chenwei's identity was exposed, all his marketing tactics have failed, and the clinic that opened two days ago is now empty.

Only Lao Gui and the Zhao family sent gifts for the opening ceremony.

The rest of the people avoided his acupuncture clinic like the plague, and dared not go there to see a doctor just to save a few coins on consultation fees.

Even the number of customers on Anhe Street has decreased significantly due to Qin Ning's presence, and some merchants are already considering whether to reopen in a different location.

"With no business at the clinic, not only have I lost my income, but my skills development has also fallen behind. I need to quickly think of a way to improve public relations..."

Qin Ning frowned. He really didn't have much experience in this area and was at a loss for what to do for the time being.

He looked up at the sky; the sun was nearing its zenith, and noon was approaching.

"Alright, time to go watch the executions."