The moment Yun Xi pushed open the door, she extended her divine sense outward and immediately detected the presence of a concealment formation. Only then did she relax. At least it meant the two of them were safe.
Liu Haotian stopped cultivating as soon as Yun Xi's storage pouch came near. Once he confirmed who was outside the array, he stepped out slowly from the concealment formation and, in front of Boss Shen, performed what looked like a miraculous transformation trick.
Boss Shen was so frightened he fell to the ground and was just about to scream when Xia You flicked her sleeve and knocked him unconscious.
Yun Xi smiled and asked, "Liu Daoyou, are you alright?"
Liu Haotian cupped his hands in greeting."I'm fine, thanks to Wei Daoyou's red string. Without it, Junior Sister Yu and I would've likely gotten separated."
As he spoke, he returned the red string to Yun Xi.
Yun Xi also handed his storage pouch back in return and asked, "Where's Sister Yu?"
"She forced herself to open her storage pouch. Her injuries are more severe than mine, so she's still recovering. Since we couldn't move, we hid inside the concealment formation."
"Liu Daoyou, Xia You and I are staying at the Jinshan Inn, just one street over. Once you've recovered, you can find us there."
Liu Haotian nodded. "Alright. Junior Sister Yu's condition has stabilized. She should be able to move in a day or two. We'll come look for you then."
After this brief exchange, they parted ways.
Liu Haotian remained hidden within the concealment formation inside the Yang Yu Pavilion, while Yun Xi and the others returned to their inn.
When Boss Shen eventually woke up, he found the room just as empty as before. But this time, he didn't feel like it was truly empty. Terrified, he scrambled out of the room, and that very night he fell ill. Even the Qixia Pavilion didn't open for business the next day.
Naturally, this stirred up new rumors among the gossip-hungry locals.
Yun Xi quietly spread out her divine sense to listen in on the mundane world's chatter. She didn't overlook the county magistrate's residence either.
At that moment, Magistrate Zhou was wearing a miserable expression, clutching his wife's hand as he lamented, "My dear wife, I fear my days as magistrate are coming to an end."
Madam Zhou, refined and poised, remained calm as she asked, "What is it this time? Weren't you just saying the problem was resolved a few days ago?"
Magistrate Zhou sighed. "It was resolved, or so I thought. The owner of Qixia Pavilion came to see me privately. He said he'd prepared two beauties for me, newly trained, and I figured if they truly were exceptional, I'd pay the price and buy them. Then I could send them to that inspector, Di Kangnian.
But just this afternoon, the manager of Qixia Pavilion sent word that the two beauties had disappeared. The owner himself has fallen ill, and the shop hasn't opened since. It's like he's afraid I'll come demanding answers."
As he spoke, he started tugging at his short beard.
Madam Zhou said coldly, "Enough. Stop pulling. You barely have any hair left, and now it's almost all gone."
"My dear, that Di Kangnian is no kind man. He has a taste for beauty, regardless of gender. If I don't serve him well, he'll write a report against me once he returns. Then I'll lose my position for sure."
"Hmph. I say your time as magistrate was already up. That gang in Luozi Ridge, you've tried to wipe them out every year, and every year you fail. I'm starting to think you're doing it on purpose."
Magistrate Zhou's hand trembled as he yanked out another hair. He gave a strained explanation, "I was just trying to give the soldiers some training, keep them from growing too complacent."
"More like you're taking bribes and feeding a tiger that will eventually bite."
Magistrate Zhou responded stiffly, "We're talking about Inspector Di Kangnian here. Why are you bringing up the mountain bandits?"
"You figure it out. I'm not the magistrate."
With that, Madam Zhou pulled her hand free and walked away.
"My dear, where are you going?"
Without even turning back, she replied, "I'm making arrangements to send the children back to my parents. If you lose your job, at least they won't be implicated."
"My dear…"
But Madam Zhou had already walked out the door, leaving him muttering to himself.
Overhearing all this, Yun Xi became intrigued by this Inspector Di Kangnian. She was curious what sort of man such an official might be in this world.
The next day, Yun Xi instructed the bandits to turn themselves in. Then she and Xia You followed behind them to watch how things would play out. She wanted to see how Magistrate Zhou would handle the situation.
When Magistrate Zhou saw the strategist he'd been secretly corresponding with, he was visibly shocked. Upon learning these men had come to surrender, he pulled out yet another beard hair.
He privately interrogated the strategist, and finally learned that immortal cultivators had wiped out the mountain stronghold. He'd expected the operation to take time, but things had apparently wrapped up with surprising ease. It all felt a bit unreal.
"You're telling the truth?"
"Of course. If not for the two immortals, our leader would never have been subdued so easily."
"In fact, he'd already begun to suspect me and had me watched constantly. I didn't dare send word down the mountain. Just as I was preparing for a desperate move, five fools dragged the two immortals up with them…"
Watching nearby, Yun Xi and Xia You exchanged a glance. So the strategist was actually Magistrate Zhou's undercover agent. Fortunately, they hadn't gone too hard on him.
It seemed Magistrate Zhou's repeated failures to suppress the bandits had driven him to desperation, forcing him to devise such a risky plan to wipe them out in one stroke.
But Yun Xi was sure his plan would've failed regardless. That mountain bandit leader was an evil cultivator. Mortal forces alone could never match him. At worst, they'd have just delivered more lives straight to his hands.
What Yun Xi didn't know was that in the original timeline, the strategist had risked his life to send out intel. But Magistrate Zhou still failed in the raid, which gave Di Kangnian the leverage he needed. Even after Zhou offered up beauties as bribes, he couldn't avoid being dismissed.
Meanwhile, the bandit leader had already formed a secret alliance with Di Kangnian. Obsessed with longevity, Di Kangnian also began cultivating evil techniques. Backed by the Di family, the bandit expanded his forces and became a malignant force in the region.
Under Di Kangnian's influence, the court descended into chaos. Many beauties were sent to his estate every year, only to vanish without a trace into his rear courtyard.
The evil cultivation methods began to spread throughout the mortal realm. By the time cultivators from the cultivation world caught wind of it, it was already too late.
Returning to the present, Yun Xi decided to meet Magistrate Zhou in person. She found him interesting. At the very least, his household was clean. He had only one wife, and aside from failing to deal with the bandits, he hadn't committed any obvious wrongs.
Relying on the information gathered by his strategist, Magistrate Zhou passed judgment on the bandits one by one. Those who had taken lives were sentenced to immediate execution. Those who hadn't were sentenced to hard labor in the mines, the harshest and most dangerous of all duties. The people of Jinshan County clapped and cheered for the decision.
After witnessing the executions, Yun Xi and Xia You were finally joined by Yu Qingcheng and Liu Haotian.
The two groups shared what had happened since they'd separated, and soon their focus shifted to the mountain bandit leader who had been cultivating evil techniques.
"Wei Daoyou, did you find any clues about the evil cultivator?" Liu Haotian asked.
"No. If I had, I wouldn't have needed to end him so decisively," Yun Xi replied.
"Where did he get that cultivation method?"
"He claimed he discovered it in the mountains where he went into hiding. Wanting to grow stronger, he began cultivating it. Within a year, he'd taken over as the bandit leader. Fearing someone might surpass him, he never shared the technique. After memorizing it, he destroyed the original."
Liu Haotian frowned. "This technique must've accidentally ended up in the mortal realm."
Yun Xi shook her head. "I don't think it's just coincidence. It's possible the evil cultivators are casting a wide net. This is the mortal realm. Unless mortals bring disaster upon themselves, we cultivators are forbidden from interfering. That leaves a perfect opportunity for evil cultivators to exploit."