Starting with the drowned ghost, he synthesized the Myobo no Shinjun.

024 The New County Magistrate

"Your name is Yun Mengling? You're from Jing'an Prefecture?"

Ning Kui led the large black horse, with Yun Mengling sitting on its back.

"Yes, I moved here with my father."

"And what about your dad?"

Yun Mengling lowered her head, her eyes reddening: "We encountered thieves on the road and were separated from each other."

The bandits kidnapped me and then took me to the bottom of the lake by boat.

The Ding family even engages in robbery and plunder? Their business is that extensive...?

That's true; the issue of human and animal offspring shouldn't only affect the locals.

He sighed, "Your father is confused. He was doing just fine in the prefectural city, why did he come to Yugu County?"

This place is about to descend into complete chaos.

"My father... my father is the newly appointed magistrate of Yugu County. He came with the newly promulgated laws of Prime Minister Wang to bring a better life to the people of Yugu County!"

Ning Kui stopped abruptly, turning his head in disbelief to look at Yun Mengling on horseback.

"What did you say?! Your father is the newly appointed county magistrate?"

------

Inside the Zhennisi government office, Li Qijue's eyes revealed a murderous intent.

He slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Those three powerful families of Yugu County! How dare they intercept and kill an official appointed by the imperial court!"

A thin, middle-aged man sat below the main seat, his temples slightly gray, wearing a faded scholar's robe, his face full of sorrow: "Li Ping acted recklessly, so please don't dwell on the fact that I was assassinated."

The crucial thing is my daughter; we must find her quickly!

Li Qijue sat back down in the main seat, feeling dejected. He was outnumbered and outmatched in Yugu County, and the incident had only happened yesterday, almost a day and a night had passed.

Where can we find Magistrate Yun's daughter? Besides, since she was kidnapped by thieves, even if we found her...

Perhaps it would be better not to find it at all.

"Magistrate Yun, since ancient times, there has never been a reform without sacrifice. We must all be prepared to sacrifice for great things, including your daughter."

That being said, it is not something that can be easily dismissed with a single sentence when it comes to a father giving up on his daughter's life.

Magistrate Yun's face darkened, and he coldly snorted, "No need for Li Ping to go to such trouble. As the head of a county, I can still command some constables and yamen runners!"

One was a civil official, the other a military one; these two generals, who should have worked together to promote reform, had an unpleasant encounter as soon as they met.

Li Qijue sighed deeply, watching Magistrate Yun's departing figure with a sigh of worry in his heart.

If the three families were to take Miss Yun hostage, would Magistrate Yun still be on their side...?

The sky quickly darkened, a waning moon hung in the corner of the branch, and crows and cicadas cried out hoarsely.

The lanterns in front of the county government office were crimson, emitting a sticky, blood-like glow.

Magistrate Yun, accompanied by his servants, rushed back to the county office. The old servant was the first to step forward and knock on the door: "Open the door! The new county magistrate is taking office; hurry and open the door to welcome him!"

The banging on the door could be heard far away, but no one answered.

After a long while, the gate opened a crack, revealing a pair of dark eyes: "The county magistrate has ordered that the county government office is closed at night. Let's go, come back tomorrow."

"Are you blind?! This is the newly appointed county magistrate. Who is superior to whom, you idiot..."

"Bang!"

The old servant stopped abruptly, staring at the tightly closed door, his body trembling with rage.

Has there ever been a precedent in the world where a county magistrate was imprisoned outside the county government office?!

"master......."

The old servant turned to look at Magistrate Yun, unsure of what to do.

Magistrate Yun clenched his fists. "County Assistant, Lin Wenlong, well done! Very well indeed!"

"Let's go find a place to stay first. We will repay this humiliation tenfold when the Japanese officials arrive!"

His transfer order had been issued long ago; no one would believe that Lin Wenlong wasn't deliberately trying to intimidate him.

------

The streets of Uotani Prefecture were deserted under curfew, and the sound of the black horse's hooves clattering on the bluestone slabs was particularly crisp.

"Da," "Da," "Da"...

It sounded like countless men in black stepping on roof tiles.

Ning Kui raised an eyebrow, holding the large black horse by the reins with his left hand and gripping the Dragon Scale Halberd tightly with his right.

As night fell, the Ding, Zhu, and Lin families held sway over Yugu County.

"Whoosh!"

Finally, someone couldn't hold back any longer and shot a cold arrow from the shadows.

The arrow grazed Ning Kui's ear, which he caught steadily.

He broke off the arrowhead with two fingers, turned around, and shot it in the direction from which the arrow had flown.

With a "thud," the dull thud of an arrow piercing flesh was heard, followed by a corpse rolling "roll" off the roof.

"Come out, all of you! If you have the guts to assassinate high-ranking officials with sneak attacks, why not step forward and fight them one-on-one?"

Ning Kui stopped in his tracks, raised his dragon-scale halberd, and shouted into the darkness, "I'm right here! Anyone who's not afraid of death, come at me!"

"Slap!" "Slap!" "Slap!"

Lazy applause soon rose from the end of the street.

Three figures of varying heights, dressed in black, emerged from the darkness, while simultaneously, a dense array of archers appeared from the rooftops on both sides.

One of the men in black, who looked quite young, swaggered forward with a pigeon-toed gait: "Ning Kui, right? I know your information."

A genius who has only practiced martial arts for a few days and has already reached the minor completion of the Skin Refining Realm?

Hehe, I love torturing geniuses the most!

He turned to his two companions and said, "Neither of you make a move, I'll torment him to death!"

Then, he knelt down facing Ning Kui, ready to strike: "You're unlucky. You weren't our original target, but fate brought us together."

die!!!"

As his roar subsided, he propelled himself towards Ning Kui with incredible speed, relying solely on the force of his toes touching the ground.

This is one of the wonders of the Flesh Refining Realm: the muscles throughout the body are condensed into one, while each muscle group can individually unleash tremendous power.

They can often strike unexpectedly with a thunderous blow, killing their victims before they can even react.

In the blink of an eye, the man in black had already reached Ning Kui's side, his right fist raised high, poised to strike.

He was at the Lesser Completion stage of the Flesh Refining Realm, possessing a strength of ten thousand jin.

"Hehe, I love seeing brains splattering the most."

However, the next second, he saw dense golden dragon scales appear on Ning Kui's body, and the cold and majestic metallic luster showed his invincible power.

In his utter shock, Ning Kui also threw a punch at him.

That punch was faster and heavier than his!

"You've probably never even heard of the Great Perfection of the Skin Refining Realm. Dying under my fist would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

"puff!!!"

The muffled sound of flesh exploding reached the ears of every man in black, but the scene in the middle of the street froze the smiles on their faces.

The leader, a martial artist at the Flesh Refining Realm, was completely gone from the neck up. His lower body still retained the muscle memory from his previous life. He took two steps forward before collapsing with a "thud".

"Loose the arrows!" "Loose the arrows!"

The voices of the other two men in black, both at the Refining Body Realm, changed, and they ordered their men to fire arrows in terror.

"Whoosh whoosh!!!"

A barrage of arrows rained down, only to be completely blocked by a rapidly expanding curtain of water.

The water curtain expanded to its maximum size: ten zhang, twenty zhang, thirty zhang!

Until all the men in black were swallowed up.

A chilling aura permeated the air with the water vapor, numbing all the creatures within the water curtain.

Ning Kui's devilish whispers spread into everyone's ears in the darkness.

"You're just unlucky to have met me."