Li Mi's ancestral home is Great Xia, Ling State.
He once entered Qingmu Academy and after graduating, he joined the night watchmen. He's now Fourth Grade.
As an Eighth Layer Void Refinement Realm practitioner bolstered by the national fortune of the Emperor Xia dynasty, he is capable of fighting against those at the first layer of the Divinity Transformation.
His arrival quashed Xu Qian's desire to play the good Samaritan, for the bald little novice monk lying on the Flying Boat was the main culprit.
As soon as Xu Qian got his hands on the Transformation Fruit, he sent a message to Li Mi via the Communication Jade Scroll.
Mr. Li, upon learning that the Transformation Fruit was secured, promptly rushed towards Qian Deng Town.
With the speed of a Void Refinement Realm expert, getting here would only take a moment.
The reason for his late arrival was this little novice monk.
"Mr. Li, you're saying he's the murderer?"
As the Flying Boat descended, Xu Qian incredulously looked at the little monk, who seemed to be only about fifteen or sixteen years old.
Li Mi spoke gravely, "It is him. On the way here, I've already interrogated him using the Confucian 'Truth-Telling Skill'."
Hearing that his superior had already used the 'Truth-Telling Skill' to question the subject, Xu Qian stopped doubting.
The 'Truth-Telling Skill' was famously renowned in the entire Cultivation World.
It was one of the iconic magical techniques of the Confucian school, derived from the concept of 'faithfulness' within the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness.
The practitioner must be at least an entire realm higher than the subject.
It is said that once affected by this technique, for the duration of an incense stick's burning, the subject will truthfully answer whatever the practitioner asks.
Legend has it that a thousand years ago,
Qingmu Academy used this technique to extract numerous gossips about fairies from the Cultivation World and secrets of powerful beings, then sold the information to Tingfeng Building, the largest intelligence organization in the Nine Provinces Realm, earning a hefty profit.
At the time, Emperor Xia and the Three Great Immortal Sects were so infuriated they almost joined forces to strike at them.
In the end, it was the Kunlun Immortal Palace that intervened, establishing a rule that forbade Qingmu Academy's Void Refinement Realm cultivators from using this technique, and demanded compensation of one million High-Grade Spirit Stones to the major powers. Otherwise, they would join in attacking the academy's gates.
Seeing that it had enraged the masses, Qingmu Academy had no choice but to grudgingly accept after some negotiation.
They announced the prohibition within the academy and compensated the major powers with three hundred thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones.
Since then, there have occasionally been rumors from the Nine Provinces Realm of Confucian practitioners using the 'Truth-Telling Skill' to reveal shocking secrets.
Qingmu Academy would always immediately jump out to declare that it was an individual's conduct and should not be escalated to the academy.
While most Confucian practitioners indeed come from Qingmu Academy, it's inevitable that some minor schools and Loose Cultivators also follow this path.
Moreover, since these are just isolated incidents, they haven't blown up into major issues.
Although he knew the outcome, Xu Qian was still curious about the process and thus asked.
"Mr. Li, could you please satisfy my curiosity as to what exactly this little monk has done?"
Li Mi didn't continue on that topic but instead asked him, "Where is the Transformation Fruit?"
"Right here."
Xu Qian hurriedly handed over the Transformation Fruit, clutching it in his palm the whole time for fear of any accidents.
Giving it to Mr. Li now meant he could finally let go of this heavy burden in his heart.
After taking the Transformation Fruit, Li Mi examined it carefully and then stored it in his own magic storage artifact.
"Good, I'll return to my station. Make sure everything here is settled, then hurry back to report."
Li Mi applauded him with a compliment.
Then he waved the hand holding the scroll, a streak of green Spiritual Power entered the Flying Boat, and the magic artifact slowly ascended, heading in the direction of Gusu City.
"Mr. Li, at least tell me what happened!" Xu Qian yelled at the Flying Artifact that was soaring higher into the sky.
"There'll be time to talk when you return," a distant voice came back, and the Flying Boat had become a small dot in the sky.
"Pretentious," Xu Qian muttered, and then ordered the head of the constables to take the corpses out of town to be buried and clean up the place.
Only after watching the constables paste the seal on the door of Yuhua Temple,
did Xu Qian leave, reassured.
Before he left, he did not forget to promote Jin Xu,
"Remember to reassure the townsfolk. If the town residents want to go to a Taoist temple to offer incense, tell them to go to Little Platform Mountain, five miles out of Da An Village, and just say it's recommended by Xu Qian, the Seventh-Grade night watchman of Great Xia."
The head constable nodded in agreement.
Xu Qian cheerfully mounted his own Flying Artifact and set out for Gusu City, feeling the position of Sixth-Grade night watchman beckoning to him.
Meanwhile, the small Taoist Jin Xu, who was in the midst of cultivation, had no idea that he was about to become famous!
...
During the hour of Yin, in Gusu City.
In an alleyway.
Several cultivators clad in gray robes were lying in ambush at this place.
"Gentlemen, thank you for waiting."
A cultivator dressed in a white robe with a Shura mask covering his face appeared from the darkness.
"Divine Envoy, Sir!"
"Boss, you've arrived."
"Envoy, Sir!"
The group of gray-robed cultivators saluted one after another, their eyes fervent and their titles varied.
The newcomer was the white-robed disciple who had been plotting to report his Hall Master Zhou.
When out and about, he liked to claim to be a Divine Envoy to appear prestigious.
In fact, there were over twenty such "Divine Envoys" in Gusu City alone, and even the Shura mask on his face was something he had bought for two silver coins to add an air of mystery.
However, these gray-robed cultivators did not know that.
In the eyes of these low-level cultivators, who were either practicing Qi or barely at Foundation Establishment, this "Divine Envoy" was an exalted figure.
"Is this the final place where the mark disappeared?"
The white-robed disciple thoroughly enjoyed the respect from this group, despite their individual low cultivation levels. They were connected to various segments within the city, and any small happening in Gusu City would reach him almost instantly.
"Yes, right here! Divine Envoy, just say the word, and I will lead my brothers in seizing the Divine Fruit back!"
A towering gray-robed cultivator said zealously.
Hisss, maybe I have been brainwashing them a bit too much. Why are they so fanatical whenever it's something related to the Divine Sect?
I'll have to be careful in the future, so as not to involve myself with anyone too impulsive.
The white-robed disciple thought to himself.
...
He had not been out of the basement long this evening when he received a message from his subordinates.
They reported that someone had taken the "bait" they had laid out a few days ago.
He checked, and it was the bait at Qian Deng Town that had been touched, prompting him to hurry there.
But halfway there, he found the scent of the "bait" had shifted back to Gusu City.
Fearing the loss of the lead, he notified several gray-robed brethren in the city to keep watch over it.
He himself rushed back to Gusu City.
Having just come up through the secret passage into the city, he received another message from his subordinates stating that the trace of the mark had disappeared.
The white-robed disciple suspected that someone might have realized this was a trap and was intentionally toying with him.
Still, for the sake of his own life, as well as the plans of the Divine Sect, he had called a few subordinates to lie in wait at the place where the mark had vanished.
He had to check it out; he couldn't reconcile the thought of wasting a whole night's effort.
"Zhu Laosi, hold your horses. After all, we're within the city, and the Divine Sect's influence is not yet strong enough for us to make too much of a commotion. Let me, the Envoy, take a look to see what exactly this place is."
The white-robed disciple put on an affectation as he appeased his subordinate. His philosophy of managing his underlings was different from that of his Hall Master; he believed in "respecting the wise and defiant," convinced that as long as he was courteous to his underlings, they would gladly lay down their lives for him.
As for the philosophy of managing underlings by his Hall Master,
Well, it might be "spare the rod and spoil the child."
After speaking, he peered out to survey the building in front of him.
Since he was only at Golden Core, he couldn't extend his Divine Sense, and he had to rely solely on his eyes.
The streets were deserted during the hour of the Yin.
The white-robed disciple stared at the imposing building not far away, the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed.
"Divine Envoy, just let me take my brothers to retrieve the Divine Fruit!" cried the gray-robed cultivator known as Zhu Laosi, his eyes blazing with even greater fervor.
"Slap!"
The white-robed disciple slapped Zhu Laosi across the face, knocking several of his teeth out.
At this moment, he couldn't care less about his philosophy of "respecting the wise and defiant."
It seemed the Hall Master's "spare the rod and spoil the child" was the more effective approach.
"If you want to die, don't drag me down with you."
He had realized it as Zhu Laosi was speaking.
This damned place was the constables' station! No wonder it looked familiar; he had scouted the location several times before when he intended to report his own Hall Master!
...
Meanwhile, inside the constables' station...