Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

The man holding the rank of captain stepped across the threshold of the room and looked around inside.

A broken and remaining table

碎窗

A broken sword, half of it, was still stuck in the wall.

His face darkened.

"Does someone like you, a man who carries dung, even deserve to wield that spirit sword on the wall?"

"That sword fell from the sky and almost chopped the little guy's head off!"

Li Ping swallowed.

"I went to the backyard to empty the chamber pot just now, and I heard a loud bang from inside the house."

"So scared that I didn't dare to move an inch."

The captain drew his broken sword.

A wisp of spiritual energy still lingered on the sword.

Although he wasn't a cultivator, he could tell that this thing wasn't ordinary iron.

"take away!"

Two armored soldiers stepped forward and chained Li Ping's wrists.

Li Ping did not resist.

The iron chain is engraved with spirit-suppressing patterns; it might be sufficient to lock down someone in the early stages of Qi Refining.

However, for someone at the third level of Qi Refining, this wasn't a significant problem at all.

But if he broke the chains at this moment, it would be tantamount to telling everyone that he had a problem.

As he was being led out of the house, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the other side of the alley.

Above the rooftop, the figure wielding the sword had completely vanished.

Only a broken tile lay beneath the moonlight.

The captain escorted Li Ping to the entrance of the alley.

A horse-drawn carriage with a black canopy was parked there.

There was no Shangguan clan flag in front of the carriage.

The person in charge of driving the carriage was an old man wearing a gray cloth blouse, and his back was slightly hunched.

He gripped the reins tightly in his hand, looking just like an ordinary coachman.

The captain walked to the front of the carriage and bowed.

"Sir, the suspect has been brought to this location."

The carriage curtain was not lifted by anyone.

An old, hoarse voice came from inside.

"Are Shangguan Zhao's men only fit to drag those traitors out of the cesspool at this point?"

The captain's forehead was sweating.

"It's my duty; I'm genuinely afraid of overlooking any remnants of the Si family."

Is there anything suspicious about this?

The person in the car chuckled softly.

"Looking at your head, I think it looks more like that of an accomplice of the Si family."

After this sentence fell

The token that the captain wore at his waist suddenly shattered.

A crisp cracking sound rang out.

Broken in two

The captain's expression changed drastically, and he immediately knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"Your Excellency, Prefect!"

The armored soldiers standing around also knelt down at the same time, forming a kneeling mass.

At this moment, Li Ping raised his head.

The carriage curtain was lifted by a thin, dry hand.

Inside the carriage sat an elderly man.

The old man wore a dark blue official robe and had gray hair.

Deep lines on his face

His eyes were completely clear, and when they fell...

Like two lamps suppressing the wind and snow

Li Ping's heart skipped a beat for a split second.

He had seen this face with his own eyes before.

Jiangning County

Rainwater was constantly leaking from the dilapidated temple.

An old man in a greasy, tattered coat squatted by the stove.

Holding a half-bowl of thin porridge, she complained that his handwriting looked like a dog's scrawle.

It was the same old man who was there when Li Ping was about to be arrested by Hu Guan and framed for a crime.

He threw a book of Qi-inducing techniques in front of him.

"Your handwriting looks like a dog's scribbles, but you're really tough as nails."

"If you die on the way, don't say you're my student."

At this stage, that bowl of thin porridge from back then has transformed into the carriage that the prefect rides in.

That tattered coat turned into a dark blue official robe.

However, the look in the old man's eyes when observing others remained completely unchanged.

This person is Chen Boyong

Jiangbei Prefect

And this person is also his teacher.

"Student Li Ping greets his teacher."

At this moment, Li Ping clasped his hands together.

At this moment, Chen Boyong glanced at the iron chains binding his hands.

"You've reached the third level of Qi Refining, and you're still willing to be chained up by a few lousy iron chains?"

"You're quite composed."

"If you compare yourself to your senior brothers who only know how to throw their lives away, you'll seem much smarter."

Chen Boyong gently raised his hand.

The hunchbacked driver walked to the front without making a sound and lightly brushed the chain with his fingertips.

This caused the spirit-suppressing patterns on it to shatter inch by inch.

Li Ping moved his numb wrist.

The captain was kneeling on the ground, his body trembling violently.

At this moment, Chen Boyong didn't even glance in his direction.

"Go back and tell Shangguan Zhao to take his dog paws back."

"It's not yet the time for the Shangguan family to wield power and make decisions in this Jiangning city!"

"If this happens again, I will send this person back to his hometown to live out his retirement."

The captain led his men in a hasty retreat.

In the blink of an eye, the alleyway was completely deserted.

Chen Boyong's gaze returned to Li Ping.

"Get on this vehicle now."

"There's no need for you to go any further towards that house located on the west side of the city."

Li Ping didn't move.

"Teacher, are you even closely monitoring No. 7 Willow Lane?"

"How many things in this city, every blade of grass and every tree, can escape my notice?"

Chen Boyong leaned back against the interior wall of the carriage.

"Did Ren Jun ask you to get your hands on that formation-breaking nail?"

"That's exactly what my senior brother instructed."

"If you go to that place, you'll lose your life there."

Li Ping's eyes narrowed.

Ren Jun began by saying that the Si family had not yet noticed the location at No. 7 Willow Lane.

The teacher, however, declared that it was absolutely forbidden to go to that place.

Who was wrong?

Or perhaps that house was originally a trap set up specifically for that purpose?

Chen Boyong patted the empty space beside him.

"Your senior brother has kept a lot of things from you."

"Tonight, I will show you the inside story of Jiangning City."

Li Ping looked at the carriage

Beside the carriage, the hunchbacked coachman kept his head down the entire time.

But there was no shadow at his feet.

The moonlight shone on the bluestone slabs, stretching everyone's shadows to an extremely long length.

Meanwhile, just beneath the old man's feet

It appears clean and tidy.

This is actually the Foundation Establishment stage!

Even higher

Beside the prefect, any person responsible for driving the carriage...

They are all cultivators with such cultivation levels.

The water in Jiangning City was indeed so deep that the bottom could not be seen.

Li Ping bent down and then crawled into the carriage.

The carriage curtains were lowered.

The carriage moved slowly.

The carriage wheels rolled over the bluestone road and began to move in the direction of the prefectural governor's mansion.

Chen Boyong did not speak immediately.

He took a teacup from the table and poured half a cup of tea into it.

And he handed the teacup to Li Ping.

A faint, ethereal mist was rising from the tea.

Just like that bowl of thin porridge in the dilapidated temple back then, it contained spiritual energy.

"You should drink this tea."

"Back in that dilapidated temple, you certainly didn't hold back in criticizing my rice gruel."

Li Ping reached out and took the teacup, but he did not drink from it.

"Teacher, what kind of secret is hidden at No. 7 Willow Lane?"

Chen Boyong looked at him

It was a human corpse.

"Who is it?"

"A person who should have turned to ashes ten years ago."

Suddenly, a rapid sound of horses' hooves rang out outside the carriage.

The hunchbacked coachman pulled on the reins.

A knight clad in black armor blocked the street, holding a crimson document in his hands.

"Your Excellency, Prefect!"

"Something happened in Willow Lane in the West City; the dead man belonged to the Inspector's Office!"

The entire carriage fell silent for a fleeting moment.

Chen Boyong looked up and gazed at Li Ping.

"The dead body I mentioned earlier has been delivered."

Chen Boyong accepted the red official document and remained silent for a moment.

"Change course and head to Listening to Rain Garden."

He returned the document to the other party.

"Order the city patrol to seal off the scene there; tonight's banquet is a trap."

"I must be present in person."