Chương 94: The Truth Behind the Posters

Fang Cheng strode forward, kicked open the Yamen's front gate, and roared, "Where's the magistrate of Jishui City? Get out here!" No one answered. He walked straight in and found the Yamen even emptier than the streets outside. Not a single person in sight. Fang Cheng grew more confused. Strange. Everything about Jishui City reeked of weirdness. What was going on here? He opened his Heavenly Eye and scanned the area.

In the back study of the Yamen, he spotted an official pacing back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back. This official was the magistrate of Jishui City, named Li Minghai. He had a round, pudgy face, a thin mustache, and looked rather friendly. At the moment, his brows were furrowed, and he kept sighing. Hearing the door open, he looked up and saw Fang Cheng entering. The face was unfamiliar, so he waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't bother. I've told you, I'm not going. I'm a court-appointed official. I can't just abandon my post and run off to some village with you people."

"Not going where? What are you talking about?" Fang Cheng scratched his head in confusion. Li Minghai frowned at him.

"You're not from the village handing out gold bars?"

"Then who are you?"

"Why did you break into the Yamen and barge into my study?" Three questions in a row left Fang Cheng even more baffled. Village handing out gold bars? Was he talking about Zhujia Village? Before Fang Cheng could respond, the magistrate seemed to misunderstand something. His face went pale, and he started begging.

"Spare me, good sir! I'm just a minor ninth-rank official. My salary is pitiful, my family's wealth even more so. I truly have nothing to offer you..."

"Hold on..." Fang Cheng felt his head spinning into a mess. He couldn't help but step forward and slap the magistrate across the face to shut him up.

"Cut the nonsense. I ask, you answer. Got it?" Li Minghai held his reddened cheek and nodded frantically.

"Yes, yes. Please, ask away." Fang Cheng asked his first question: "The Great Sheng court has already withdrawn my wanted status. Why is Jishui City still treating me like a criminal?"

"Wanted... withdrawn?" Li Minghai paused, then asked, "Good sir... which wanted criminal are you?" Fang Cheng realized his appearance was still disguised. Li Minghai hadn't recognized him at all. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. He channeled his Divine Energy, restored his original face, and asked, "Take a good look. Who am I?"

"Oh heavens!" Li Minghai stumbled backward and fell on his rear, his face filled with terror. He pointed at Fang Cheng with a trembling hand, unable to speak for a long moment.

"You... you're... the West River Black Judge! Please, have mercy, my lord! I have an eighty-year-old mother to support! It's not that I don't want to die; I just can't! Yes, I was wrong! I shouldn't have used your portrait without permission. But I had no choice! I was desperate! It was a crow accidentally landing in a magpie's nest!"

"Enough with the nonsense!" Fang Cheng grabbed Li Minghai by the collar and gave him a few more hard slaps across the face.

"You court officials are all the same. Nothing but empty words. No useful information at all. Now answer me: why is my portrait plastered all over the city?" Under the assault of slaps, Li Minghai finally calmed down enough to stammer out the whole story. Ever since Jishui City's City God, Sikong Shang, had died suddenly, his subordinate cultivators had scattered like monkeys when the tree fell. With no cultivators to maintain order, bandits had run rampant. Fortunately, the Yamen's constables weren't useless.

Under Li Minghai's brilliant command, public order had gradually stabilized, and no major incidents had occurred. But recently, a gang of bandits had shown up, claiming to rob the rich to feed the poor. They pillaged the city, and the people suffered terribly. Li Minghai led his constables to arrest them, only to find that many of the bandits were cultivators. The constables were no match for them.

With no other option, he went to the Prefect of Xijiang Prefecture and begged him to petition the court to send the Underworld Bureau to deal with these brazen cultivators. But the Prefect said he'd already submitted the petition. It wasn't just Jishui City; many cities in Xijiang Prefecture had been ransacked. The court hadn't responded, and the Underworld Bureau hadn't acted either. What could he do?

Just as he was racking his brains, the Prefect quietly told him that if he pasted the Black Judge's portrait on his door, those cultivators would avoid his home like the plague, not even daring to come near. So...

"My lord, this isn't a wanted poster! We're using you as a door god! Without your protection, Jishui City would have been plundered clean by those thieves! And when we call you the West River Black Judge, it's not slander! It's genuine admiration! To be honest, you're the most righteous cultivator I've ever seen. A model among cultivators. A living Guan Yu, a door god incarnate!" Listening to Li Minghai's groveling, Fang Cheng felt like he was back in White Flower City facing Li Sanshui.

Come to think of it, they were both named Li. Were they relatives? As the thought crossed his mind, he instinctively kicked Li Minghai to the ground. He couldn't help it. His foot was itchy.

"Forget it. I'll count this as a good deed. No, this is exactly what a good deed is." Fang Cheng laughed. If he hadn't dispensed justice in Xijiang Prefecture, who would have scared off those lawless cultivators? Not bad, not bad. Demon Sword, did you hear that? We're truly good people.

"I won't pursue the portrait issue. You can keep putting them on your doors. But make sure you draw me as kind and benevolent. At the very least, make me look like a righteous hero. Understand?"

"Yes, yes. Understood." Li Minghai clasped his hands.

"I'll inform the remaining citizens to revise your portrait to look as kind and compassionate as the Everlasting Emperor's statue in the temple."

"Haha, good." Fang Cheng nodded in satisfaction. This magistrate was quite perceptive. Good. He kicked him again out of habit, then asked his second question.

"What's this about handing out gold bars in the village?" Li Minghai explained, "Lately, many unfamiliar faces have appeared in the city. They hand out one gold bar to every person they meet, saying that if you follow them to Zhujia Village, you can get ten more. I knew there was something fishy about it, and I advised the people not to fall for it. But no one listened. Those gold bars are real, after all. Shiny, yellow, heavy in the hand, dangling right in front of your eyes. Who wouldn't be tempted?

So the people all went to Zhujia Village. Even the constables and Yamen runners followed. I'm the only one left."

"Zhujia Village it is!" Fang Cheng smiled. He didn't need to think hard to figure out what was going on. The Self-Help Association cultivators had disguised themselves as bandits, plundered a fortune from Xijiang Prefecture, and were now using gold bars to lure people to Zhujia Village, where they'd be fed to the Demonic Spirit Gathering Array.

"Good. It's time to go to Zhujia Village and deliver some justice."