Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 91: Xu, Gone

Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Xu, Gone

As Bai Yucheng pulled out his own heart and threw it at Zhang San’s feet, the great battle that began with a conspiracy finally ended with the conspirator’s downfall.

Zhao Siyang breathed a sigh of relief; he had almost taken a life but thankfully, Zhang San delivered that final strike.

Although the Blade Intent was not his own, the power of that strike was genuinely formidable.

"Zhao Siyang, do you have any more healing pills?"

Upon hearing Zhang San’s words, Zhao Siyang couldn’t help but smirk, "Didn’t you swindle all the previous ones from me?"

"That’s a way to put it. I didn’t use them on myself; I used them all to heal others. In a way, this is also helping you do good deeds!"

With no choice, Zhao Siyang took out another bottle of pills, and Zhang San took it and swallowed one.

Initially curious if Zhang San was truly injured, Zhao Siyang moved closer and saw numerous fine cracks all over Zhang San’s body, caused by channeling Blade Intent.

The previous strike, although not reaching the peak hit of the Late Period of Spiritual Platform Realm, was close enough.

Delivering that strike with a cultivation and Qi at the early stage of the True Core Realm was bound to have side effects.

So, Zhao Siyang took out another jar capable of restoring Qi and tossed it to Zhang San.

"This restores Qi; taking it will speed up your recovery from injuries."

"Stop hoarding! Why are you always so stingy with yourself? If you don’t take this, your body will fall apart."

After delivering that strike, Zhang San felt pain throughout his body and it was only after hearing Zhao Siyang’s words that he noticed his skin looked like cracked porcelain. It seemed he really needed to heal properly or he might die there.

Life was most important.

Thus, Zhang San swallowed two pills at once and immediately sat down cross-legged to recuperate.

Third Miss Gan also started checking the bodies of the Martial Artists around.

Unfortunately, aside from Shadow who was knocked unconscious and Kong Yuting who stood in the distance with a vacant expression having been severely shocked, the rest had all died in battle.

The Town Martial Office had always had the fewest losses of Martial Artists along Chuan-Yu Road.

But this time, the casualties were indeed severe.

A moment later, Zhang San felt the pain in his body subside and the Qi coursing through his meridians nourishing his nearly shattered body.

"Third Miss Gan, what are your plans after this?"

Zhang San stood up and approached Third Miss Gan, who was collecting all the tokens from the bodies of the Town Martial Office personnel.

"What can I do? Naturally, I will take you all back to the Town Martial Office and report everything exactly as it happened here!"

Zhang San was startled and stared wide-eyed at Third Miss Gan, who had collected all the tokens.

"You... could it be that you..."

"I really am the Chief’s undercover agent. The Chief had sensed something amiss with Chuan-Yu Road long ago, thus he had me connect with Bai Yucheng to secretly investigate."

Zhang San’s eyes widened; he had originally thought Third Miss Gan was fooling Bai Yucheng, but it turned out to be true.

"In the Ghost Domain, the dead cannot leave, so we can’t take any bodies back with us. Take these tokens and the few injured ones, and let’s go back."

Just then, a ghost approached from afar.

The second one. The third one.

Visibly, a large group of ghosts was rushing towards this location.

Third Miss Gan furrowed her brow, and Zhao Siyang grinned helplessly.

"When will this ever end!"

Zhang San immediately stepped forward, blocking the two, and said, "They’re our own... oh no... our own ghosts."

Zhang San saw a snow-white Little Fox being adored like a celebrity among a group of ghosts and knew these ghosts were not here to cause trouble.

Especially since every ghost was carrying some item of gold or silver, which looked very much like they were bringing fortunes.

Upon seeing that Zhang San was unharmed, Little Fox happily bounded over and jumped into his arms, then shyly stepped back a couple of steps and handed over the Gluttonous Bag to Zhang San.

Zhang San took the bag and opened it to look inside, his eyes immediately lighting up with a blue glow.

Although it was only a small bag slightly larger than a water pouch, it was akin to a warehouse inside, with a small pile of gold and silver, a small pile of unidentified stones, and a heap of pills and medicinal ingredients.

"Is this... for me?"

Little Fox nodded joyfully, her expression filled with pride.

"Then thank you so much. Are these ghosts your friends?"

Little Fox continued nodding, with a joyful and proud expression.

"Could you ask them to help? We have a few people here who need to be carried out, but we’re short on hands."

The surrounding ghosts, upon hearing that they were to help this human out, eagerly came to assist.

Even Zhang San didn’t need to walk, as seven or eight small ghosts lifted him and carried him towards the exit of the Ghost Domain.

Little Fox hopped onto Zhang San, smiled, but said nothing.

It wasn’t that Little Fox didn’t want to talk, she was just too embarrassed and nervous around Zhang San and didn’t know what to say.

So much so, that until now, Zhang San had thought Little Fox was mute.

It wasn’t until they were near the exit of the Ghost Domain and the little ghosts escorted them there that Little Fox and the little ghosts bid Zhang San farewell.

Zhang San turned and waved at Little Fox, who suddenly ran over, tore a small strip of cloth from Zhang San’s clothing, and used her fur to create a thread with which she embroidered the character "Fragrance" on the strip, then tied it to Zhang San’s Gluttonous Bag at his waist.

Zhang San looked at the crooked characters made by Little Fox.

True to the one who could fancy someone like him, her writing was as ugly as his.

"Thank you. If fate wills it, we’ll meet again."

Following that, Third Miss Gan led Zhang San and the others out of the Ghost Domain.

As they were leaving, Third Miss Gan pulled Zhang San aside and whispered in his ear, "You’d better not speak of the matter concerning Blade Intent."

Zhang San was puzzled, "Although Bai Yucheng eventually took his own life, didn’t I severely wound a criminal, too? This merit..."

"Merit? Killing a superior officer is one of the unpardonable sins of disloyalty! Do you think you could survive if you uttered that sentence?"

In that moment, Zhang San was somewhat bewildered.

"He was trying to kill me, and I was merely defending myself. Isn’t that justifiable defense?"

Third Miss Gan looked at the naïve Zhang San and scoffed coldly, "When you have time, take a look at the Kaihuang Law. Fighting and killing with a weapon is still a capital offense!" [Note 39]

"So I... I... then... Third Miss Gan, what about you?"

Since Zhang San had no solution, he naturally followed what others did and immediately asked her.

Third Miss Gan took out her Town Martial Office Martial Artist’s token and flashed it.

"I’m a Hidden Martial of the Chief, he will protect me."

Zhang San, feeling silent, sensed that he really might need to prepare to run away.

He was originally in danger because his predecessor belonged to the Heavenly Punishment Sect.

Now, having killed his superior, he was in greater danger due to one of the ten heinous crimes.

At this moment, as they stepped out of the Ghost Domain, they soon encountered Martial Artists from the Town Martial Office who had come to meet them.

Ling was nowhere to be seen, but Wei was the first to run over.

"Zhang San, did you send the wounded back first?"

Zhang San gave a wry smile and shook his head, unwilling to speak, but still gritted his teeth and told the truth.

"Senior Wei, those who survived are all here."

Wei scoffed coldly, pursed his lips and continued to wait, not believing a word from Zhang San’s mouth.

Wei had gotten hold of a jar of fine wine nearby yesterday, planning to show off to Xu when he returned.

"Belonging to the Town Martial Office, follow me outside the Ghost Domain to build ceremonial tombs for the fallen Martial Artists."

Third Miss Gan, unable to bear seeing Wei wait foolishly, called out and threw Xu’s token to Wei.

Wei caught the thrown token and wiped the blood off it, staring at the character "Xu" under the Military Chief Order, and was somewhat stunned.

"This... this... how is this possible..."

"Xu is gone."

...

In the Ghost Domain, there was no trace of life.

The body of Xu, nailed to the ground, faced upward, seemingly trying to discern whether this world was right or wrong, clear or murky.

Suddenly, one didn’t know when shattered Wronged Souls began to seep into Xu’s mouth.

Suddenly, Xu’s body shivered.

In his originally lackluster eyes, there seemed to be a glimmer of murky light.

Suddenly, Xu’s forehead burst open with a third eye!

========

[Note 39]Legal Trivia

Fighting and using a weapon is not a crime listed in the Kaihuang Law, because although I have a copy of "Tang’s Legal Discussions" at home, I do not have the Kaihuang Law, nor could I find any information about it concerning this matter online. Therefore, I used the second volume of "Tang’s Legal Discussions," Chapter five on lawsuits: Fighting and killing using a weapon.

If someone forces you with a weapon, even if you use a weapon in turn and it leads to them getting injured or killed, it will be handled according to the law regarding fights (which is to treat it as premeditated murder, punishable by death!).