From Martial Arts Dungeon to Master of Martial Arts

Mu Sheng's heart sank immediately. He clasped his hands and said, "I hope the constable can give me a clear answer. I know I am not cut out for investigating cases. Now that the investigation has made no progress, I can only resign from this job and end it here."

"Hmph." Zhao Hu snorted coldly and said, "It's not that easy. Once you're in my city lord's office, even if you're just a figurehead, you're still one of my people. Even if I take your life, you deserve it."

He then changed the subject, saying, "However, I'm not an unreasonable person. I'll fine you a year's salary, and from now on, you'll patrol with the team three times a day without fail. If you miss a single day, I'll treat you as a deserter!! You'll be executed!!"

Mu Sheng's heart tightened. This completely cut off his time to practice martial arts, although it didn't have much of an impact on him.

However, it somewhat tarnished his image of being diligent and hardworking.

Moreover, a year's salary is essentially making him work for free for a year.

But this is all we can do now.

"Do you accept the punishment?" Zhao Hu asked coldly.

"Your subordinate acknowledges," Mu Sheng said, clasping his hands in a fist salute. He currently lacked the strength to resist.

"Alright, get back to the team." Zhao Hu waved his hand and said, looking around at everyone. "Don't blame me for being ruthless. You can't even handle such a small matter. It's too lenient to just fine you by deducting your salaries."

"Chan Pak-Sheng!"

"Here!!" Chen Baisheng immediately stepped forward.

Zhao Hu coldly said to Chen Baisheng, "You take Mu Sheng to familiarize herself with the rules. After all, you're only on temporary assignment. If he disappears without a trace, I'll hold you responsible!!"

"Yes!!" Chen Baisheng hurriedly replied.

"Alright, go on patrol," Zhao Hu said in a deep voice.

The group then formed a patrol team and went off to patrol.

Zhao Hu stood there with his hands behind his back. A constable wearing an eye patch stepped forward and asked, "Are you just going to let that kid off so easily? How can you explain this to the Shangguan family?"

"Then what do you want to do?" Zhao Hu looked at him coldly: "The inner sect of Zhenyuan Temple lost many people in the battle against the demons. The selection of inner disciples for the outer sect of Zhenyuan Temple is imminent. If we kill this kid directly, we will offend Zhenyuan Temple."

"Borrowing a year's salary to keep him from getting paid, plus having to patrol every day so he has no time to practice martial arts, will ultimately ruin him."

"Once this is all over, whether that kid lives or dies is entirely up to me."

He wasn't angry that Mu Sheng hadn't accomplished the task, but that the kid had simply abandoned the job. Did he really think everyone else was stupid and didn't know anything?

He's making an example of someone to scare others.

As for the Shangguan family...

"The Shangguan family is in a hurry now; they don't have time to deal with anything else," Zhao Hu said in a deep voice. "For some reason, the demons are targeting the forces under the Shangguan family, and so far, no one outside the Shangguan family's forces has died."

The Little Knife Gang is a prime example; it's a force cultivated by the Shangguan family.

Other shops, brokerage firms, and various Shangguan family territories were also devastated.

Even many members of the Shangguan family died.

Moreover, he knew that the Shangguan family had paid a considerable price to get the Zhenyuan Temple to help.

After all, when it comes to dealing with demons, Zhenyuan Temple has stronger methods.

He didn't know if the demon had been captured, but the number of deaths among the Shangguan family members had decreased.

"If that were all, the Shangguan family wouldn't necessarily be in such a hurry, would they?" the one-eyed constable asked, somewhat puzzled.

When one group dies, another group of people will come. As for the deaths of members of the Shangguan family, only members of the collateral branches died; the main branch was unaffected.

"Of course." Zhao Hu narrowed his eyes and said, "It's people from the capital, most likely they've come specifically for the Shangguan family."

As for why, he didn't find out the reason.

Only the three major martial arts sects, the three major families, and the city lord know the real reason.

Moreover, the things the Shangguan family did may not have been unrelated to them. They all lived in Changshu and were quite interconnected.

...

"We only need to patrol the inner city. If we see someone committing a crime, and if we can confirm that they are from the outer city, we can kill them on the spot. If they are from the inner city, we need to detain them." This was said in the patrol team.

Chen Baisheng was explaining their rules to Mu Sheng.

"Why treat people from the outer city differently from those from the inner city?" Mu Sheng asked without changing his expression.

"Because people from the inner city might have powerful backers, while people from the outer city are no one's concern if they die," Chen Baisheng said nonchalantly. "However, it's a different story if you have money. Although you were fined a year's salary, we have plenty of ways to make money."

Mu Sheng's eyes flickered subtly.

Chen Baisheng sighed, looked around, and saw that the others had already moved to the front. He lowered his voice and said, "As for money, the City Lord's Mansion actually gives each person ten taels of silver for the official post, but the other ten taels were all swallowed up by others, so only ten taels are left for you and me to split."

"Since I don't receive a salary for this kind of thing now, Brother Chen, wouldn't you be able to get ten taels of silver directly?"

"It's not that easy." Chen Baisheng said with a look of hatred, "I'm lucky if I can get five taels of silver a month after all these deductions. This Zhao Hu is really a scoundrel."

Mu Sheng looked at the patrolling crowd ahead.

"Is there really no one who can control them?"

"If I were a true disciple of the Hundred Martial Sect and you were an inner disciple of the True Essence Sect, even Zhao Hu wouldn't dare to act so recklessly," Chen Baisheng said indignantly.

Unfortunately, he and Mu Sheng were nothing more than outcasts of the sect.

"So, only by becoming an inner disciple can I unlock everything?" Mu Sheng murmured.

"What did you say?" Chen Baisheng didn't hear what Mu Sheng said.

"It's nothing." Mu Sheng patted the long sword at her waist: "Let's go, let's patrol first."

...

night.

Mu Sheng walked out of the government office looking exhausted.

These days, it's not easy to leave directly; you have to report back at night before you can leave.

They went straight back to their room at Zhenyuan Temple.

The windows of the surrounding houses were all dark, and the windows of the house he was in were also dark.

He paused slightly, frowned as he placed his hand on the door, but still silently opened the door and went inside.

A figure was huddled in a corner in the darkness.

Mu Sheng stepped forward to light the candle.

"Don't turn on the lights!" the man suddenly said.

"Yang Xing!?" Mu Sheng's heart skipped a beat; the other party had actually appeared in her room.

"Brother Mu," Yang Xing's calm voice rang out, "I'll rest here for a moment and then leave."

Mu Sheng smelled a bloody odor, but the odor also carried a hint of sweetness.

This is not the normal smell of blood.

He paused for a moment and then said, "With you here like this, it's difficult for me to make arrangements."

Yang Xing's calm voice rang out: "I know you are cautious, and no one knows I am here. I noticed you returned too late, so I only disturbed you for a moment. Since you are not welcome, then I will leave."

In a daze, the room seemed to grow even darker.

By the time he came to his senses, Yang Xing's figure had vanished into the darkness.

He lit the candle, and the light illuminated the corner.

A purplish-red liquid was flowing in the corner.

"Who exactly are you, Yang Xing?"