After the Skyfall

Chapter 545 The Man in the Painting

When Li Yi arrived at the gate of the government office in Xinzhou City, he couldn't help but stop.

He looked up and saw that this government office was shrouded in the faith of the people. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered here, as if it had turned into a divine light to protect the entire city. Moreover, the power of these beliefs, accumulated over time, was not only huge in number, but also almost psychic, as if it had turned into a huge white crane crawling on it.

Li Yi's arrival immediately attracted the attention of the spiritual white crane. While looking at him with its eyes, it also made bursts of cries, as if warning him not to mess around in this government land.

He's not used to it either.

The energy of dragon and tiger emanated, and the next moment, a silver tiger soared into the sky, as huge as a mountain. Just by appearing, it pinned the huge white crane with one claw. No matter how it struggled, it was of no avail. In the end, it could only let out a few mournful cries and dared not resist.

The power of incense, faith and spiritualism can only scare off some ordinary monsters and demons, but it is not enough to face the dragon and tiger spirit of Li Yi, a cultivator.

As the white crane was suppressed, the entire government office began to tremble slightly. At the same time, the bright plaque hanging high in the lobby suddenly fell down, and even the heavy red-painted door somehow got cracks.

It seemed that he had sensed these unusual changes in the yamen residence.

soon.

A middle-aged man wearing a black robe and carrying a knife on his waist, who looked like a constable, had a solemn expression on his face. He led a team of yamen runners and rushed out of the yamen. The middle-aged man's eyes were green and he seemed a little mysterious. When he saw Li Yi standing at the gate of the yamen, he suddenly moved quickly and came to him in a few steps.

"I am Zhou Jin, the chief constable of Xinzhou City Government. Nice to meet you, Taoist priest." He bowed respectfully.

Although the team of yamen runners who came behind him didn't understand what was going on, they still had the ability to read people's expressions, so they hurriedly treated him respectfully, not daring to show the slightest disrespect.

Li Yi glanced at him and said nothing more, "Do you know the art of creating animals?"

Zhou Jin was also a smart man. He looked at the shepherd and the two crying women and had a guess in his mind. He said respectfully, "I have heard of this magic. It can turn women and children into cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs, and sell them all over the place. It is called selling livestock, but it is actually selling people."

"Since you know, why don't you care?" Li Yi asked.

"There are humans and animals mixed together. I don't have the ability to tell the difference at a glance like the Taoist priest. I hope the Taoist priest will forgive me." Zhou Jin said hurriedly, "I'm sorry to trouble the Taoist priest to make this trip in person. Please hand the criminal over to me and I will take care of it."

"If someone sells, there will be someone to buy. Can you make the decision?" Li Yi asked.

Zhou Jin's expression changed slightly. He looked at the dozen or so sheep again and knew in his heart that this matter must be of great importance. Not many people in Xinzhou City could afford to buy such a large number, and most of them bought more than one batch. If he followed the clues and investigated further, who knew who he would be led to.

But he glanced slightly upwards.

However, the white crane transformed from the incense of the yamen was held down by a colorful tiger as big as a mountain. The tiger's mouth was slightly open and the sound was like thunder. If this matter was not handled properly, I am afraid that the yamen would be overturned by this Taoist today, and when the city god was attracted, there might be another big battle.

"I will ask for an explanation from the Taoist priest when I go down," Zhou Jin said immediately.

Li Yi said: "I'll give you a quarter of an hour. I'll wait here."

Zhou Jin bowed respectfully and then slowly retreated. He then shouted to his men, "Serve this Taoist priest well. Don't be careless, or you will lose your heads."

The yamen runners nodded hurriedly in agreement.

After Zhou Jin left.

This group of yamen runners were very dedicated and responsible. Some brought a chair for Li Yi to sit down and rest, some brought tea and snacks, and some waited on the side, ready to receive orders at any time. Although they didn't know why Zhou Jin was so polite to the Taoist priest, they must have a reason.

Since you can't see through it, just follow my instructions and do what I say.

Li Yi was not polite either. He sat down and waited patiently, pointing at the shepherd and saying, "Change the others back to their original form. It's time for you to atone for your sins."

"Master, this, this." The shepherd was sweating coldly at this moment. If he turned the person back and the charges were proven, he would be skinned alive.

But if he didn't do as he was told, he would be struck by lightning and killed in the next moment.

It seems to be a death sentence on both sides.

Li Yi looked at the yamen runners beside him and said, "Are you willing to listen to my orders?"

"Master, just speak up. I will never refuse anything I can do." The bailiff next to him said hurriedly.

"Go and break the shepherd's legs, then take off the water bag around his waist and feed the water inside to all the sheep." Li Yi said.

The bailiff's eyes turned when he heard the words, and he immediately received the order. He walked over with a thick stick in his hand, and was really ruthless. He broke the shepherd's leg in two hits. The shepherd screamed hoarsely in pain, but the bailiff would not tolerate it. He pressed him to the ground, subdued him, took the water bag from his waist, and left.

Then he poured out the water in the water bag and fed it to the sheep one by one.

In just a moment, these sheep turned into women in front of the yamen runners.

These women were all quite pretty, the oldest was nearly thirty years old and the youngest was just over ten years old. After they turned back to normal, they looked terrified, but felt relieved when they saw themselves at the gate of the yamen. However, when they thought of their experiences and situations, they couldn't help crying.

"What a wicked man! He actually uses evil methods to harm people." Now the yamen runners finally understood what was going on and were immediately furious.
Two yamen runners couldn't help but pick up the sticks in their hands and stabbed the shepherd twice.

It didn't seem serious, but when it hit his body, it broke bones and scattered flesh. The shepherd wailed in pain. "He's dead, and all the people in the yamen will be buried with him." Li Yi said this calmly.

The others were confused by what they heard and didn't understand why the Taoist wanted to protect the shepherd's life.

But people with discerning eyes could hear the hidden meaning.

This is because they were afraid that someone would take this opportunity to silence the witness by beating the shepherd to death with a stick, leaving no evidence and preventing the matter from being investigated further and implicating other people. If this was the case, the case must have involved someone from the government.

"Master Taoist, I was just angry and wanted to teach him a lesson. I have absolutely no intention of harming his life." A yamen runner hurriedly put down his stick and said respectfully.

Li Yi glanced at them and said, "No, it's best not to. I just said it casually, just in case. You have nothing to hide, so don't worry about it."

The bailiff didn't know why at this moment, his heart was pounding with fear, cold sweat broke out, and he felt an inexplicable fear, as if the Taoist in front of him was not a human being at all, but rather a god who had descended to earth. Although he did not show any signs of being watertight, he could still feel the power of thunder occasionally.

now.

The head constable Zhou Jin hurried to a study room inside the yamen and asked to see the prefect of Xinzhou City.

The prefect's name was Chen Nian, a middle-aged man in his thirties, who was currently working on official business with several of his colleagues.

"The tiger hunting order should still be issued. That tiger has become quite powerful. The last time the City God went to capture it, he not only failed, but also suffered heavy casualties. This is unacceptable. If that tiger enters Xinzhou one day, I am afraid I will not dare to go out."

"The recent autumn tax will be collected soon. This time, the court has reduced the land tax by 30%. The tax should be calculated slowly. The autumn tax should be collected in full first to fill the deficit in the treasury. Next year, we can reduce it by 10% as appropriate. Don't rush it."

An old voice was heard in the house.

Then he caught a glimpse of Zhou Jin at the door and asked, "Zhou Jin, there was a commotion in the government office just now. Have you figured out what happened?"

"My lord, a Taoist priest has captured a criminal and is now surrendering himself to the authorities," Zhou Jin briefly recounted what had just happened.

"The art of creating animals, I have heard of it before, it is indeed a vicious magic." Chen Nian frowned, "Since this happened in Xinzhou City, there must be someone who has been engaged in this business for a long time. If we really dig deep into the ground to investigate, who knows how many people will be involved."

"Catch the leader of the crime, arrest a few people who are involved and punish them, then send the rescued woman back to her hometown, and let this matter end here."

"Sir, that Taoist is a little unusual." Zhou Jin said after a moment of hesitation.

Chen Nian said, "No matter how unusual he is, he is just a Taoist priest. Catching bandits and thieves is not something that these people should be responsible for. These Taoist priests do things based on their own preferences. They teach people a lesson and kill people. They call it chivalry, but in fact they are just disturbing the peace of the area. If everyone is like this, what is the use of the court?"

"Go."

Then he waved his hand and asked Zhou to go in and get busy.

"and many more."

Suddenly, a figure appeared out of nowhere in the study, and there was a painting hanging on the wall beside it. It showed a young man in a robe. At this moment, as the painting scroll shook, an illusory figure walked out with the smell of incense floating around him.

"Brother Chu." Chen Nian bowed with some surprise.

This man's name is Chu Pingzhi, and he is the night governor.

Chen Nian predicts human affairs during the day, while Chu Pingzhi predicts secret affairs at night.

"That Taoist is indeed extraordinary. I just saw that he was surrounded by the aura of dragon and tiger. Moreover, one of the auras transformed into a silver spotted tiger, crawling above our heads, suppressing the sad cry of the white crane in the yamen." Chu Pingzhi said.

"The spirit of a dragon and a tiger?" Chen Nian's expression changed: "A Taoist priest from the mountains also has the spirit of an emperor? You are serious."

"How can we joke about such things? At night, the City God will surely be restless and all the gods from all four directions will come together to spy on us," said Chu Pingzhi.

Chen Nian frowned and said, "Now that the throne has just been decided, a wild Taoist who has the aura of an emperor has appeared today. This is a disaster rather than a blessing. In my opinion, it is better to get rid of him as soon as possible to avoid trouble. If he is allowed to go, he will attract wild monsters to follow him, and he will definitely cause chaos in the future."

As the prefect, he naturally had to protect the imperial court. When he saw such an alien, the first thing he thought of was to kill him.

Chu Pingzhi said: "This matter can be big or small, let me give it a try and see where this person comes from."

"Okay." Chen Nian nodded and said, "But this matter should be reported to the higher authorities and should not be concealed, lest it be investigated in the future, neither you nor I will be able to bear the consequences."

"Of course." Chu Pingzhi nodded.

Afterwards, Chen Nian asked Zhou Jin to take the portrait and show it to the Taoist outside the door.

Not long after.

Zhou Jin held the scroll, strode away, and soon left the yamen.

He saw a chair placed next to the gate of the yamen, and sitting on the chair was a young Taoist priest wearing a red feather Taoist robe and with long hair draped over his shoulders.

(End of this chapter)