Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

"They locked the door?" Li Ping tightened his belt and glanced sideways at Qian Duo.

"Not only were the doors locked, but even the windows were nailed shut with wooden strips!"

Qian Duo ran so fast he was panting heavily.

"All of the dozen or so clerks in the county government office were driven out."

"Is the Registrar personally leading men to guard it?"

"Yes, that old fox Zhao Heng is sitting in his big chair, ordering his men to move boxes and trunks. Anyone who tries to question him gets glared at."

"Let's go take a look."

Li Ping dusted off his clothes and started walking.

The usually quiet document room in the back hall of the county government office was now bustling with activity.

Several agile constables were carrying sealed boxes out; the wooden boxes hit the ground with a heavy thud.

The registrar, Zhao Heng, sat in a large, armchair, holding a cup of hot tea in his hands. He squinted and slowly blew on the tea froth.

This man was around fifty years old, thin and bony, with deep-set triangular eyes and a wisp of mustache, making him appear very shrewd.

"My lord, you are in high spirits."

Li Ping strode into the courtyard, smiling and bowing.

Zhao Heng opened his eyes, put down his teacup with a forced smile.

"Zizhi, your house was burgled last night. Why aren't you resting at home? What are you doing running to the county office?"

Before his departure, Inspector Ren entrusted his junior with a task.

Li Ping stopped and slowly pulled out a vermilion-stamped official document from his pocket.

"Hu Guan has been colluding with bandits, and the documents and files he left behind are of great importance. They need to be sorted out by the younger generation and submitted to the prefectural city for verification."

Upon hearing this, the constables who were moving boxes all stopped.

Zhao Heng's eye twitched, and the teacup in his hand tilted, almost spilling the water.

Although the inspector had already set off, his imposing manner remained, not to mention the presence of the prefectural governor's office behind Li Ping.

If we were to get into a fight with Li Ping now and it escalated to the county seat, it would benefit no one.

"The Inspector is truly meticulous."

Zhao Heng chuckled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"However, there are many trivial records in the county government office, and it would be tiring for Zizhi to sort them all by himself."

"I'm young and healthy, and I'm not afraid of getting tired."

Li Ping bypassed Zhao Heng and stepped into the room.

The room was a mess, and the bottom volumes on the bookshelf were scattered and broken.

Li Ping stood before the wooden table, looking at the pile of wooden plaques and parchment in his hands, his mind clear as day.

He knew full well that although the benefits left behind by Hu Guan were great, with his current meager strength after just opening his meridians, forcibly trying to seize them would only be courting death.

The items left behind by the Hu family can be roughly divided into three categories.

The first category consists of tangible objects that are readily available.

The Hu family's large mansion with multiple courtyards, the several large granaries hidden in the suburbs, and the tax registers displayed on the table in the government office.

The second type is the covert method.

The city patrolmen bribed by Hu Guan, the secret spies of the mountain bandits outside the city, and the black market caravans that secretly traveled to and from the mountains.

The third category is resources for seeking immortality and enlightenment.

The search of Hu Guan's room yielded the original copy of the "Small Heavenly Cycle Qi Induction Technique," scattered low-grade spiritual sand, discarded talisman paper, and several incomplete prescriptions for pills whose purpose was unclear.

Li Ping picked up a wooden plaque recording the location of the granary, then casually tossed it aside.

Whoever takes the grain and houses that are openly owned will die.

As he stepped into the county government office, he noticed a wooden window slightly ajar in the distant pavilion.

A figure could be vaguely seen standing by the window, hands clasped behind his back, dressed in a blue official robe, with a cold expression. It was none other than Chen Rang, the magistrate of Xiyun County.

Besides Chen Rang, the registrar Zhao Heng, the powerful Wu family in the city, and even Hu Lie who had fled to the mountains, all stared at the grain like hungry wolves.

The soldiers and black market caravans operating in the shadows are currently beyond my control.

Only the third type of cultivation item, and the secret scroll that contains the key.

It is not a commodity; in the hands of the ignorant, it is just waste paper; in the hands of the knowledgeable, it becomes a deadly weapon.

Just then, a series of light footsteps came from outside the door.

Registrar Zhao Heng stepped in, his old face filled with concern.

"Zizhi, have you found any important files?"

Zhao Heng's gaze swept across the table seemingly unintentionally, finally landing on a stack of yellowed parchment paper beside Li Ping's hand.

"These are all old cases, very trivial."

Li Ping smiled, flicked his sleeve, and pulled the stack of parchment paper to his side.

Zhao Heng stepped forward and reached out to take it.

"Since it's an old case, why not let me keep it safe, so as not to delay the Inspector's important business?"

"That won't do."

Li Ping turned to the side, using his shoulder to block Zhao Heng's hand.

Before leaving, the inspector instructed that County Magistrate Hu was colluding with bandits, and that every item on the register might contain clues about his accomplices.

"If I were to lose even one card, I fear I would have no way to explain myself once I reach the county seat."

Zhao Heng's hand froze in mid-air.

"Does Zizhi not trust me?" Zhao Heng asked with a forced smile, his mustache twitching slightly.

"How dare I?"

Li Ping smiled apologetically.

"This junior is simply afraid of death."

"You've seen my senior brother's temper; he could cripple Hu Guan with a single finger."

"If I, a junior, were to ruin his job, I would be in serious trouble."

Zhao Heng's lips twitched, staring at Li Ping, but ultimately he didn't dare to use force.

"In that case, Zizhi, please be careful in organizing it, and make sure there are no mistakes."

Zhao Heng uttered a cold remark, then turned and left the document room.

Li Ping watched his retreating figure until he was far away in the courtyard, then quickly reached out and stuffed the bottommost thick book, bound with string and with a stained cover, into his pocket.

He had concealed the booklet with his sleeve, so Zhao Heng hadn't noticed.

Night had fallen

Inside the small courtyard, the flame of the oil lamp flickered gently.

There was no sound coming from the eldest brother and sister-in-law's room.

Li Ping sat at the table, took out the thick book from his arms, and laid it flat under the oil lamp.

The booklet was written on rough paper with a musty smell, and the handwriting was crooked and messy, clearly a record made by Hu Guan himself.

He turned to the first page

In the twelfth year of the Qianyuan era, three stones of spiritual sand were delivered to the Wu family, for which a thousand taels of silver were received.

"In the thirteenth year of the Qianyuan era, Zhao Heng, the registrar in charge of distributing grain, received 500 shi of rice, and was involved in the case of smuggled salt in Pingxi and Yunxian counties."

Li Ping raised an eyebrow and continued flipping through the pages.

The more he flipped through the pages, the more composed his expression became, yet his eyes shone with an astonishing light.

Hu Guan, this bandit by origin, actually kept a detailed record of every single shady deal.

In the latter half of the booklet, lines of small, vermilion characters stood out prominently.

In the fifteenth year of the Qianyuan era, Magistrate Chen Rang took away a blood-red Ganoderma lucidum from the mountains, promising to exempt Hujiazhuang from taxes for three years.

"In the same month, he colluded with Black Wind, a bandit leader in the mountains, and obtained a fragment of a magic seal that had been looted from merchants. He then presented it to Magistrate Chen."

Li Ping leaned back in his chair, stroking the moldy paper book.

The sky in Xiyun County was darker than he had expected.

The aloof and indifferent magistrate Chen Rang, the principled and law-abiding registrar Zhao Heng, and the prominent Wu family of the city were all listed in this tattered book.

This was clearly a death warrant, but also his protective charm.

With this item, he finally managed to grab a piece of the pie in the game of Xiyun County.

Li Ping was pondering who to give a warning to first tomorrow when a very faint meow came from outside the courtyard wall, followed by the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.