Looking around, Wei Chen realized he had been transported into an arena-like space, and the man standing before him was clearly the perpetrator.
"Are you Lie Ren?" Wei Chen asked. That was the only name that came to mind.
"You know who I am?" Lie Ren was surprised. He didn't expect his prey to know about him. Could someone from the bounty office have leaked his identity? It didn't matter. His prey would die anyway.
"Since you know who I am, you must also know that I've never failed a bounty. I'll let you decide whether you want to commit suicide now or let me collect my bounty myself. I assure you, the latter will be far more painful." Lie Ren grinned sadistically.
Seeing that smile, Wei Chen got goosebumps.
Is this guy's preference normal? Am I in danger in more ways than one? he thought, a chill running down his spine.
"Bro, can you let me out? You see, I'm kind of in a hurry," Wei Chen asked, trying his luck.
Hearing that, Lie Ren burst into laughter. "Hahahaha! I finally got you where I want you! You think I'll let you out that easily!? Besides, there's no way to leave! This treasure is the Eight Trigram Blood Mirror! Two may enter, but only one can leave!"
"Sigh~ must it always be the hard way?" Wei Chen muttered tiredly. This mirror seemed to be some kind of death arena where only one survivor could escape.
Wei Chen didn't want to kill anyone. It wasn't because he was afraid to kill or something, he simply had a bad feeling about it. After all, he worked for an overworked Lord of Death who was trying to reduce the death rate. Increasing his boss's workload went directly against his job's objective.
And that wouldn't be good for his career.
Seeing his prey sigh, Lie Ren sneered. This was his favorite part of the hunt, killing experts. Those with high cultivation were always so arrogant, so confident in their strength.
But his artifact, the Eight Trigram Blood Mirror, could suppress anyone's cultivation to match the lower of the two. All those proud experts he'd killed before had the same look of disbelief and terror when they realized it. Some even broke down and begged for their lives, their pride shattered.
This was where the real fun began. Unfortunately, this time his prey was a man. If it had been a woman, he would have been even more excited.
Eyes gleaming, Lie Ren shouted loudly, "Ha! Of course it'll be the hard way! Don't act all mighty! Inside this mirror, the cultivation of both fighters will be restricted to match the lower one! Now, your precious Soul Transformation Realm cultivation will be… huh?"
Lie Ren froze. His heart nearly stopped. His cultivation had dropped…. it's dropped to the middle stage of the Core Formation Realm.
"What!? Why? Don't tell me you—" He stared at Wei Chen in disbelief.
"Yes, I'm only at the Core Formation Realm," Wei Chen confirmed before his body vanished.
The next moment, Lie Ren's world spun. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his own headless body fall to the ground.
Impossible… if he's really at the Core Formation Realm, then how could he…?
That was Lie Ren's final thought before everything went black.
With a flash of light, Wei Chen reappeared in the middle of the street, shocking everyone nearby.
He looked down and saw two things on teh ground, the headless corpse of the bounty hunter Lie Ren, and the shattered remains of the Eight Trigram Blood Mirror scattered into hundreds of pieces.
The mortals screamed and ran for help, while the cultivators looked on in curiosity. This city was known for its high level of safety, its law enforcement came directly from the Sky-Severing Demon Valley, and no one wanted to offend them.
Within moments, enforcers in black robes arrived. They looked at Wei Chen as if they were staring at a corpse, but then one of them recognized him.
"Huh? Aren't you Lady Mo's betrothed? What happened?" the enforcer asked in confusion.
"This guy was a bounty hunter. He tried to kill me, so I had no choice but to defend myself," Wei Chen explained.
The enforcer turned to his colleague, whispered something, then nodded.
"Understood. We'll collect the evidence. Please follow us to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion and cooperate with our investigation," the enforcer said professionally.
Wei Chen nodded and complied. This reminded him of the police from his previous life. He had expected this world to follow the law of the jungle, the might makes right feel! but the enforcers' professionalism genuinely surprised him.
Wei Chen followed the enforcers back to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion hall and gave his full testimony, along with the evidence, the shattered remains of the Eight Trigram Blood Mirror and Lie Ren's headless corpse.
After spending some time verifying Wei Chen's account, the enforcers confirmed through their information guild that the dead man was indeed Lie Ren, the bounty hunter known for never failing a job.
Unfortunately for him, the first time he failed, he paid for it with his life.
Once everything was settled, the black-robed enforcer nodded and cupped his fist toward Wei Chen.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Wei. Everything is in order. You may take this bounty hunter's storage ring as your spoils of war. We've already unlocked it for you," the enforcer said politely, neither humble nor arrogant.
Wei Chen nodded and accepted the storage ring. After all, who would refuse a freebie, especially when he still owed Mo Xingyao thirty million spirit stones?
Wei Chen left the enforcers' building in the Thousand Treasure Pavilion and headed toward the guest house. He wanted to check if his suspicion was correct, he had a bad feeling after killing that bounty hunter.
As if on cue, Wei Chen felt the broadcasting orb within his soul begin to tremble, as though the Lord of Death was trying to contact him. He quickly rushed to his private room in the guest house and locked the door.
After making sure no one was nearby and that no one could eavesdrop, he took out the shaking, blinking broadcasting orb.
The moment the orb was out, a screen appeared before him, revealing the bony face of the Lord of Death.
"Hello, Wei Chen… did you just directly kill someone?" the Lord of Death asked, skipping any greeting. He didn't sound angry; his tone was more like that of a supervisor asking whether a team member had missed a step in a work procedure.
Wei Chen smiled wryly. "Yeah… your honor, it was self-defense," he admitted. There was no point in denying it.
"Oh? Care to elaborate?" the Lord of Death asked calmly.
"It's like this, your honor…" Wei Chen began to explain everything that had happened, from the encounter to the reason he had to kill the bounty hunter.
The Lord of Death nodded, then looked at a paper in his skeletal hand. The camera shifted, showing the front of his desk, where Lie Ren, the bounty hunter, was kneeling and trembling on the ground.
"Why did you lie to him, Lie Ren? Don't you see the consequences of lying?" the Lord of Death asked coldly.
"Huh? Why is that guy there?" Wei Chen was startled. This guy wouldn't pour oil on the fire and smear his name, would he? If the Lord of Death believed that bastard's nonsense, wouldn't he be doomed?
Hearing the question, the Lord of Death shifted the camera back to himself and explained,
"It's because you are working as my agent in the mortal realm, Wei Chen. When you kill someone, it means that my agent has judged the person as deserving of death and immediate judgment in the underworld. Even if that person's life has not yet naturally ended, once an agent kills, it affects the cycle of Samsara, and their lifespan is forcefully ended as if dictated by destiny. This ensures swift judgment of the sinner's soul, leaving no chance for them to cheat death or escape."
"Your honor, you mean…" Wei Chen tried to make sense of it all. "When I kill someone, it's like giving them a direct ticket straight from the mortal world to your office in the underworld, right?"
"In simple terms, yes… that is exactly the case," the Lord of Death confirmed with a nod.
"But…" the Lord of Death began, then continued.
"Usually, in this case an agent only kills souls that violate the law of Samsara, those who cheated death or who escaped underworld punishment. Even if the person is the most hideous criminal in the mortal world, personally killing them just adds to my workload. It is not a severe rule violation, but it annoys me, if you understand what I mean." The Lord of Death said with a glare.
Wei Chen smiled wryly; he understood. It was like a street cleaner who had just cleaned the place up nicely, only for some bastard to throw their shit there for him to clean. If it were him, he would have rearranged that bastard's face with a blunt trauma!