Old Refining Spirit

When Li Xuangeng treated patients, he never took their pulse or asked them any questions.

He only needs to sit in his armchair and scan the patient's body with his Qi Observation Technique to see the imbalance of Yin and Yang and the stagnation of pathogenic Qi. Then, by injecting a wisp of Creation Qi into clean water and adding the most common herbs, the illness can be cured instantly.

For three consecutive days, long queues formed in front of the Zaohua Temple. Li Xuangeng's reputation as a "living immortal" spread like wildfire among the common people of the capital.

Meanwhile, the imperial court remained surprisingly silent. No army came to besiege them, nor did any imperial edicts issue punishments. It was as if the emperor of Dayuan and the mysterious imperial advisor had reached some strange tacit understanding, secretly observing this unpredictable blind man.

Day four, dusk.

The crowd of people seeking medical treatment gradually dispersed, and Xiaoman was cleaning the yard.

"Get out of the way! All of you, get out of my way!"

Accompanied by a burst of arrogant shouts and curses, several burly men dressed in silk and servants roughly pushed aside the elderly, weak, women and children who were still in line, and escorted a young man in brocade robes with an arrogant face into the Temple of Creation.

"Ouch!" An old woman with a cane was pushed to the ground, and the medicine bowl in her hand shattered.

"You blind old hag, how dare you block my young master's way!" A servant raised his foot to kick the old woman.

"stop!"

Just then, an extremely angry and righteous shout came from outside the door.

A slender and upright young civil official, dressed in the lowest-ranking seventh-grade blue official robes of the Great Yuan Dynasty, strode into the temple. Without a word, he forcefully shoved the servant aside and carefully helped the old woman on the ground to her feet.

"In broad daylight, right under the noses of the imperial city, how dare you bully the weak!" The civil official in blue glared at the young man in brocade, trembling with rage. "Are you Zhao Cheng, the third son of the Vice Minister of Rites? You're an insult to scholarship!"

The young master Zhao Cheng, dressed in brocade, glanced sideways at the official in blue and sneered, "Who do we have here? It's that poor, penniless judge from the Dali Temple who can't even pay his salary and has to beg for food everywhere, Lord Gu Qingfeng? What, you've figured out those child abduction cases you've been investigating for half a month? And you still have the leisure to meddle in my business?"

Gu Qingfeng, stung by the attack, paled but remained firmly in front of the old woman: "I will investigate the case myself, but as long as I am here today, I will not tolerate your insolence!"

"Who do you think you are!" Zhao Cheng's face darkened. "Beat them! Just make sure no one dies!"

Several fierce-looking servants immediately raised their fists, ready to smash into Gu Qingfeng's frail body. Although Gu Qingfeng was a weak scholar, he did not retreat an inch and tightly closed his eyes.

However, the expected excruciating pain did not come.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Accompanied by several dull thuds and pig-like screams, the servants were somehow suddenly sent flying backward, crashing onto the bluestone slabs outside the door, writhing in pain on the ground.

Gu Qingfeng opened his eyes in surprise and saw a white-robed Taoist priest with eyes covered by white silk and an ethereal air standing beside him.

"The son of the Vice Minister of Rites?" Li Xuangeng ignored the servants on the ground. He turned his head slightly and pointed the white silk at Zhao Cheng, who was so frightened that his legs went weak.

Under Li Xuangeng's [Qi Observation Technique], this Zhao Cheng was not a human at all, but a mutated dung beetle wearing human skin and stuffed with foul-smelling excrement and rotting flesh! He was clearly here on the orders of higher-ups to test the true nature of the Creation Temple.

"I thought it was a dish, but it turns out to be an indescribable pile of garbage." Li Xuangeng frowned in disgust, his voice chillingly cold. "Get out. If you dare to step into this street again, I'll skin you alive and hang you on the city gate to dry in the wind."

"You...you dare offend my father! You just wait!" Zhao Cheng was so frightened that he ran away from the Temple of Creation in a panic.

The courtyard returned to silence.

Gu Qingfeng looked at the blind Taoist priest before him. Although he was shocked by the priest's methods, he still adhered to the etiquette of a scholar and bowed deeply: "I am Gu Qingfeng, a judge of the Court of Judicial Review. Thank you for your help, Taoist priest. However, you have offended the Vice Minister of Rites. I'm afraid you will have great trouble in the future. It would be best to make plans as soon as possible."

Li Xuangeng did not answer his question about the trouble.

His attention was completely drawn to the minor official in front of him named Gu Qingfeng.

[Human Emperor's Aura Observation Technique] Fully Activated!

In this filthy capital city, where every official is a demon, a pure and dazzling white column of energy actually rose from beneath Gu Qingfeng's faded blue official robe, which was even patched in several places!

That column of air was unyielding and shot straight into the sky. Although it was thin and weak, it was like a sharp sword piercing the darkness amidst the black mushroom clouds of karma that filled the sky!

"Righteous spirit? No, it's not just righteous spirit; it also contains the purest will of the people, and a trace... of the embryonic form of a human emperor?!"

Li Xuangeng's Adam's apple bobbed slightly beneath his white silk robe. This was the only unpolluted haven he had seen since entering the capital, a pure land where even mortals stood against the entire demon court!

"No wonder the Dali Temple wanted to suppress him and make him investigate a missing person case that had no clue whatsoever. It's because those monsters wanted to slowly torture the last bit of humanity to death." Li Xuangeng instantly understood.

"Lord Gu," Li Xuangeng's smile softened with genuine warmth, "I observe that your forehead is dark, your eyes are sunken, and you have a deficiency of liver fire. Have you been unable to sleep these past few days because of those dozens of missing children cases in the west of the city?"

Gu Qingfeng was shocked, looking at Li Xuangeng in disbelief: "Daoist Master... how did you know?"

The case of the missing children in the west of the city had long been closed by the Dali Temple official as "banditry." However, he discovered many suspicious points: a strange sticky liquid remained on the walls of the missing children's homes. Ignoring his superior's reprimands, he secretly investigated alone, having not slept for half a month, yet he encountered obstacles everywhere.

"Not only do I know, but I also know where those children went." Li Xuangeng turned around and slowly walked back to sit down next to the grand master's chair.

"Please enlighten me, Daoist Master! If those innocent children can be saved, I, Gu, will gladly sacrifice myself!" Gu Qingfeng's eyes reddened with emotion, and with a thud, this upright scholar knelt down before a Daoist.

This kneeling was not for the powerful and wealthy, but for the common people.

As Li Xuangeng watched this scene, the last piece of the puzzle in his heart finally fell into place.

"Okay, very good."

Li Xuangeng picked up the hot tea on the table and took a small sip.

"A man's knees are worth their weight in gold. If Lord Gu can bend his knees for the people, then there is still hope for the Great Yuan Dynasty."

Li Xuangeng flicked his fingers, and a gentle surge of true energy lifted Gu Qingfeng up.

"Those children were not abducted by the bandits. Right at the foot of the imperial city, they were kept in an underground water dungeon in the north of the city by several 'adults' of the court, who treated them as 'food' to prolong their lives."

Gu Qingfeng was struck dumb, his face turning deathly pale. His worldview had suffered a devastating blow: "My lord? Blood offerings? How is this possible... The laws of Dayuan are strict. Under the clear sky, how could there be an official who eats people?!"

"The laws of the Great Abyss govern people, not beasts in human skin." Li Xuangeng spoke as calmly as if he were discussing what to eat for dinner. "If Lord Gu does not believe me, bring your sword and come to the Creation Temple tonight at midnight to find me."

Li Xuangeng tilted his head slightly, facing the direction of the palace. His gentle smile revealed a terrifying and murderous aura that made heaven and earth tremble.

"Tonight, I'll take you to see... the real hell. And while I'm at it, I'll teach you, an official of the Dali Temple, how to judge cases involving demons."