If I, a death row inmate, am not to become a demon, am I to become a member of the Imperial Guard?

The night was as thick as ink, and the weeds in the mass grave grew wildly in the wind, like countless ghostly hands reaching out from hell.

The dilapidated doors and windows of the local earth god temple were wide open, letting in the dim, flickering candlelight that cast several long, distorted shadows. Outside, in the open space, dozens of thugs were spread out in a fan shape, carrying boning knives, iron rulers, and even hoes and wooden sticks. Most of them were ragged, reeking of cheap liquor, their eyes bloodshot, staring intently at the temple entrance.

"Charge in! That's where the Heavenly Principle Sect hides its gold!"

Suddenly, someone roared in the darkness, like pouring cold water into boiling oil, and the crowd instantly erupted in chaos.

A burly man with a fierce face led the way, brandishing a rusty machete, and kicked open the dilapidated temple door. "May the God of Wealth bless us! We'll be rich!"

boom!

The door, unable to withstand the heavy blow, collapsed with a crash, stirring up a cloud of accumulated dust.

The scene inside the temple was instantly revealed to everyone. There were no chests of gold and silver as expected, only a few people dressed in gray robes sitting around a prayer mat. In the very center was a withered old man, holding a string of black prayer beads in his hand, without even lifting his eyelids.

The thugs froze, their charge halting.

"Just these few people?" the burly man cursed. "Chop them all up, and dig three feet into the ground to find the gold!"

Just then, a series of hurried and orderly footsteps suddenly came from outside the temple.

The clanging sound of the armor plates colliding was particularly jarring in the silent night, like the death knell of the Grim Reaper.

The thugs who had been shouting about killing suddenly turned around and saw that the various exits of the mass grave were brightly lit with torches, and squads of soldiers dressed in flying fish robes and carrying embroidered spring knives surrounded them like an iron wall. The firelight turned half the sky red, and a chilling atmosphere permeated the air.

Patrol Captain Zhao Tieqi, on horseback, held a blood-stained list in his hand, which he had just pulled from a "corpse" in the chaos. He squinted, his gaze sweeping like a hawk over the thugs in front of the temple gate, finally settling on the gray-robed men inside the temple.

The names on the list correspond one-to-one with the faces in the temple.

"Those fiends of the Heavenly Principle Cult dare to set up an altar and gather followers in Anyang County!" Zhao Tie roared, his voice booming like thunder. "Brothers, the time to prove yourselves has come! Don't let a single one of them escape!"

He swung his long sword, pointing it directly at the local temple.

"Release the arrows!"

Boom boom boom!

The muffled thuds of the bowstrings vibrating blended together.

Dozens of arrows tore through the air with a sharp whistling sound, swarming towards the crowd like locusts.

Screams erupted one after another in an instant.

The thug at the front was the first to be hit. Before the burly man could react, an arrow pierced his chest. The huge impact sent him flying backward, crashing heavily onto the threshold. Blood gushed from his mouth, and he was clearly going to die.

"The government is killing people! Run!"

The crowd erupted in chaos.

The once menacing thugs were now lambs to the slaughter, with powerful bows and crossbows in front of them and an unknown local temple behind them. Some tried to rush out, but were forced back by the dense rain of arrows; others tried to sneak into the temple, but were slashed in the throat by the Heavenly Principle Cult members who rushed out from inside.

Complete chaos.

The mass grave had turned into a battlefield.

The gray-robed man from the Heavenly Principle Sect also moved at this moment. The withered old man suddenly stood up, and the prayer beads in his hand instantly broke, with each bead shooting out like an iron bullet.

"That damned, corrupt official!"

The old man let out a sharp shout, his figure flashing like a ghost as he rushed out of the temple gate. His palms flew, striking the two nearest archers. The force of his palm strikes was fierce, carrying a putrid, fishy stench.

boom!boom!

Before the two archers could even scream, their chests caved in, and they were sent flying several feet, crashing into a cluster of torches.

"There's a master!" Zhao Tie's face darkened, but he showed no fear. "Shield bearers, push forward! Spearmen, thrust!"

Although he was a patrol captain responsible for maintaining order within the city, Anyang County had been in turmoil in recent years, and his men were no pushovers. Moreover, the achievement before him was immense.

As long as he captures this stronghold of the Heavenly Principle Sect, even just a few heads would be enough for him to be promoted three ranks, and he might even be able to get that bounty that makes countless people envious.

Thinking of this, Zhao Tie's eyes flashed with ferocity. He spurred his horse's belly with both legs, and the warhorse neighed as it charged into the battle.

"kill!"

The government's sword finally came down.

Although the members of the Heavenly Principle Sect were somewhat skilled, they were few in number and mostly relied on insidious tricks that operated in the shadows. They had never seen such a frontal assault before.

They initially thought it was just a group of greedy thugs causing trouble, which they could easily resolve, but they never expected to become sitting ducks in an instant.

"It's a trap set by the government! They're using someone else to do their dirty work!" a man who looked like a protector roared, slashing the throat of a thug with a short dagger, splattering blood all over his face.

The thug clutched his neck, a hissing sound coming from his trachea, and his body slumped down, still clutching the half-jade pendant he had torn from the corpse next to him.

Greed comes at a price.

Zhou Yang stood on a distant earthen slope, his figure hidden in the shadow of an old locust tree.

The night wind rustled his clothes, carrying with it a strong, distant smell of blood. He stared expressionlessly at the firelight below the mountain, at the once arrogant thugs writhing and howling in the mud, and at the secretive members of the Heavenly Principle Cult being pinned to the ground by spears amidst the chaos of battle.

There are no winners in this round.

Apart from the strategist.

Qin Shuang stood beside him, the cool moonlight shining on her profile, casting a frosty chill. She looked at the carnage before her, her brows furrowing slightly as if she felt a pang of pity, but she quickly regained her usual indifference.

"That was a clean and efficient method," Qin Shuang said calmly, her voice revealing neither joy nor anger. "By using the power of local thugs, they disrupted the moral order of the Heavenly Principles Sect, and finally lured the government into the scheme, wiping them all out in one fell swoop."

Zhou Yang took out a clean white cloth from his pocket and slowly wiped the dust off his fingers, as if the killing just now had nothing to do with him.

"This is called a win-win situation." Zhou Yang's lips curled up slightly, revealing a mocking smile. "The thugs wanted money, the government wanted merit, and the Heavenly Principle Sect wanted lives. Now, the money is gone, the merit is earned, and the lives are gone too. How wonderful."

"That captain who led the group must be laughing in his sleep." Qin Shuang glanced down below.

At that moment, Zhao Tie was decapitating a protector with a single stroke of his blade, blood gushing out and staining his flying fish robe crimson. He roared excitedly, directing his men to surround the few remaining members of the Heavenly Principle Cult. The corpses on the ground lay scattered about, mostly thugs who had tried to take advantage of the chaos, the rest being cult members who had fought back to the death.

A few clever local ruffians, seeing the situation was turning against them, had already dropped their weapons, covered their heads, and cowered in corners pretending to be dead. Or, taking advantage of the lull in the government's raid on the temple, they grabbed a few taels of silver and scrambled away into the darkness of the night.

They took away meager wealth, but left behind countless lives.

"Let's go." Zhou Yang casually tossed the white cloth he had used to wipe his hands on the ground and clapped his hands. "If we stay any longer, the commotion here will attract people from other places. Even though we haven't done anything, it would be troublesome if we got involved."

Qin Shuang nodded, turned to leave, but suddenly stopped and looked back at the earth god temple that was teetering on the brink of collapse in the firelight.

"That list..." she hesitated for a moment, "Is it really okay?"

Zhou Yang chuckled softly and strode into the depths of darkness, his back view appearing exceptionally relaxed.

"The list is real, and the names are real too. However, one name is missing, and several names of deceased people that shouldn't be there are added. No matter how much the authorities investigate, they'll only think it's internal strife within the Heavenly Principle Sect, or that the list itself is bait. Who would suspect two 'kind-hearted' passersby?"

He paused, his voice drifting on the night breeze.

"Moreover, Commander Chen should have received the news as well. If he still can't smell the fire after it's gotten this big, he might as well give up his position as commander."

A knowing glint flashed in Qin Shuang's eyes, and she quickly followed Zhou Yang's pace.

The two walked one after the other, gradually blending into the night, as if they had never appeared on this bloody night.

Down the mountain, the fire at the local temple gradually grew larger.

That was set by Zhao Tie. In order to cover up the traces of the battle and destroy the evidence, he wanted to turn this massacre into a "bandit suppression" achievement.

Flames shot into the sky, illuminating half the sky and Zhao Tie's ecstatic face.

"Sir! We've found it!" A subordinate dragged a heavy wooden box out of the cellar behind the temple. The lid had been pried open, revealing neatly arranged silver ingots and several yellowed account books inside.

Zhao Tie dismounted, rushed to the box, grabbed a silver ingot, and took a bite.

creak.

The tooth sank into the silver, leaving two clear tooth marks.

"Real money!" Zhao Tie's eyes narrowed into slits with a grin. "We're rich! We're really rich this time!"

He slammed the box shut, glared at the greedy soldiers around him, and roared, "Pass down the order: anyone who dares to divulge a single word about tonight's events will have their head chopped off! Everyone gets a share of this silver when we get back!"

"Thank you for the reward, sir!"

The soldiers shouted in unison, their morale soaring, and they gripped their swords even tighter.

As for the dead thugs on the ground and the Heavenly Principle Cult members whose faces had been burned beyond recognition, they were merely footnotes in this long night, soon to be devoured by the wild dogs of the mass grave, and no one would know of them.

Zhou Yang and Qin Shuang walked slowly, but each step was steady.

Only after leaving the mass grave and rejoining the official road back to the city did Zhou Yang finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He raised his head and glanced at the fading moonlight on the horizon.

"This debt is settled," he muttered to himself, "but the waters of Anyang County are probably only just beginning to turn muddy."

Qin Shuang didn't reply, but walked silently beside him, her hand on the hilt of the knife at her waist, warily scanning the surroundings.

In the roadside grass, several unidentified insects were still chirping tirelessly, as if providing accompaniment for this crazy night.

Zhou Yang touched the empty silver pouch in his arms, his fingertips brushing against the few copper coins that were still warm from his body.

He suddenly remembered the news that he had "sold" to Commander Chen, the scapegoat who had been pushed to the forefront, and the earth god temple that had collapsed in the flames.

In this world, some people risk their lives, while others sell their conscience.

He only sells for money.

And it costs extra.

"Where to next?" Qin Shuang's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Zhou Yang withdrew his gaze and looked at the majestic city wall of Anyang County in the distance, which looked like a sleeping giant beast in the night.

"Go home and get some sleep." He yawned, sounding like an ordinary craftsman finishing overtime, his tone lazy and casual. "I have to get up early tomorrow to congratulate Commander Chen."

Qin Shuang glanced at him, her lips twitching slightly as if she wanted to laugh but held it back.

Are you sure he can still hear you?

"Why can't I hear him?" Zhou Yang chuckled, his steps light. "He's the big winner."

The two figures gradually disappeared at the end of the official road, leaving only the still-burning flames behind them, crackling in the night wind, devouring all the evidence of crime and greed.

The mass grave returned to its deathly silence, with only the ruins of the earth god temple still emitting wisps of smoke, as if telling a story that would never end.

In the story, some people lost their lives for a few taels of silver, some were granted titles for a few pieces of paper, and some counted their money in the dark, laughing as they watched the show.

night, deeper.