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Chapter 60: Punishment

“Our law clearly states that any deity who dares to forge a golden statue and steal the power of wishes without the court’s approval would be condemned as a false deity. Their temples would be dismantled, their icons would be destroyed, and their three souls would be wiped out without mercy. Any and all accomplices would be imprisoned, exiled, or exterminated to the nine generations depending on the severity of their crimes.”

“I see!” Ye Qing nodded in realization. Now he understood why Yan Yufei was so furious.

Suddenly, a muscle twitched in Ye Qing’s forehead, and he shouted, “Move!” while pulling Yang Guan all the way to the entrance. At the same time, the General of Punishment abruptly opened his eyes and shone like a golden sun; bright and hot. If there was any doubt that the General of Punishment was a Stranger, there wasn’t now.

“Who dares to disturb a god’s slumber?”

An awe-inspiring, imposing voice boomed throughout the main hall.

"And who are you to call yourself a god, filthy heretic and insignificant Stranger?”

An equally potent and awe-inspiring aura gushed furiously out of Yan Yufei, billowing his sleeves and pushing back against the deity’s. It felt like a pair of mini hurricanes were taking place in the main hall as the building shook ominously.

.

“You dare to insult me, mere mortal? You deserve death!”

The General of Punishment roared angrily as the head with a kind expression abruptly spun toward Yan Yufei and wore a vicious snarl. Then, he shot hot golden fire out of his eyes and swung all six of his weapons at Yan Yufei like a punisher intending to enact divine judgment on behalf of the heavens!

“Hmph! The winds of Man rage against the sycophant; forceful, unyielding, and all-encompassing!”

Unafraid, Yan Yufei chanted what sounded like a mantra and summoned a storm of wind out of seemingly nowhere. It was so powerful that it actually kept both the sea of flames and the General of Punishment himself from reaching him. The next moment, a furious downpour crashed down from the ceiling and extinguished the golden flames in no time!

“Ah, he’s using his authority to borrow strength from the land and the people to bring forth the power of nature itself! He’s probably stronger than a warrior equivalent!” Ye Qing commented with bright eyes.

Yan Yufei was undeniably powerful, and the fact that he could summon a storm powerful enough to extinguish the flames of a deity with just a simple mantra was impressive to say the least. However, it ultimately wasn’t his own strength. Logically, a true General of Punishment—one who was officially acknowledged by the imperial court of Chu—would be more than a match for Yan Yufei. However, the General of Punishment in front of them wasn’t a conferred deity. He was at best a Stranger who sneakily became a false deity behind Chu’s back. He might look imposing and all-powerful, but his strength was only equal to that of a late-stage Qi Invoker. It was why the battle was completely one-sided in favor of Yan Yufei.

“Can Lord Yan win, Joyless?” Yang Guan asked worriedly while watching the ensuing battle.

“Of course. That General of Punishment is just a Red-class Stranger and not much better than even the likes of you. There is no way he can threaten the magistrate!” Ye Qing replied leisurely.

“I see!” Yang Guan responded but immediately rolled his eyes at Ye Qing. ‘Not much better than the likes of you’? I’m plenty strong for a bailiff, okay!

“GRAH!”

The General of Punishment roared again and swung all six of his weapons at the storm keeping him away from Yan Yufei. The living statue was huge, and the weapons he wielded were just as big. As a result, the attack actually managed to cut through the furious storm billowing inside the main hall.

“The law of Chu states: no false deity shall receive the power of wishes!” Yan Yufei declared powerfully while a square seal floated above his head. It was none other than the magistrate seal of Anyang.

The seal was shaped like a square block because its owner governs all four directions of a territory. The owner was also responsible for all the people within the territory, which was why pictures of farmers and livestocks tilling the land were engraved to the horizontal sides of the seal. The seal was called the Seal of the Land or Seal of the People to signify that its owner bore the heavy responsibility of enriching the people and the land, and wielded absolute authority (within the post they were bestowed, of course) within their territory.

When Yan Yufei was finished speaking, the magistrate seal abruptly shone a brilliant golden light. It was an august, majestic light that was nothing like the superficial, impure amalgamation that the General of Punishment tried to intimidate them with earlier. It was as tall as the heavens, as thick as the earth, and as vast as the people themselves!

Like snow under a blazing hot sun, the General of Punishment started leaking black, smelly smoke when it was touched by the light. The warm, golden light that surrounded him also disappeared as if some unseen force was stripping it away bit by bit. Cracks began to appear all over its golden body as well.

“ARGH!”

The moment the General of Punishment was stripped of the power of wishes he stole, the strength of his aura began plummeting at a visible rate. His swings also became so weak that they failed to put even a dent on the golden light of the seal.

“The law of Chu states: a false deity who steals the power of wishes shall be crushed and exterminated!”

When Yan Yufei lowered his hand, the golden light morphed into countless chains and wrapped around the General of Punishment, immobilizing him. Then, a long sword abruptly appeared in the air. The sword had a blocky body and did not look like it was capable of cutting through anything at all, but the righteous power it gave off was a different story.

A gentleman was square [1], which was why the sword with a square blade was named the Gentleman’s Sword. It was a sword the Son of Heavens bestowed to each and every official before they assumed a post. It was his wish that his servants would be a virtuous gentleman as square as the Gentleman’s Sword!

“My lord, wait!”

Yan Yufei was about to behead the false deity when suddenly, Ye Qing shouted without warning. When he instinctively slowed down, Ye Qing seized the opportunity to leap over to the Stranger’s head.

“Allow me!”

He landed a palm strike on the top of the Stranger’s head and unleashed his power, shattering the General of Punishment into smithereens. Golden debris flew everywhere, and a thick dust cloud filled the main hall.

“Cough! Cough! Cough…”

For a time, everyone was covering their mouths and coughing violently. As a result, they did not notice Ye Qing swiping a dim golden heart from the floor and storing it in his Nature’s Shell.

A long time later, when the golden dust cloud finally subsided, the main hall was in shambles, and everyone was covered in a sheen of literal gold. It was a golden day.

“Joyless, what were you…?”

Yan Yufei hadn’t suffered as much as his subordinates thanks to his seal, but he was definitely confused by Ye Qing’s final action.

Ye Qing wore an awkward smile as he scratched his head. “Sorry, sorry. This is the first time I met a General of Punishment, and I suddenly wanted to know how it feels to kill a deity—even if it’s a fake. I guess I used a bit too much strength at the end though.”

He wants to know how it feels to kill a deity? The fuck?

Almost everyone was wearing question marks on their faces, but Yang Guan was staring at Ye Qing with a half-smirk on his face. “You’ve been hiding this strength all this time, Joyless?”

Ye Qing replied humbly, “It’s nothing. I’m just a lot stronger than you!”

Yang Guan: “...” Let’s keep this civil, shall we?

Ye Qing ignored Yang Guan’s reaction and turned to Yan Yufei. “Anyway, this isn’t a simple murder case anymore, Lord Yan. Someone must be responsible for bringing the General of Punishment to life. You should investigate this thoroughly!”

Yan Yufei nodded. Honestly, Ye Qing’s warning was unnecessary. There was no way a Stranger could hide within the Shing Wong statue and steal the people’s power of wishes right under Anyang’s nose without help. According to the law of Chu, cases like this must be investigated until every stone was turned, every culprit was apprehended or killed, and every loose end was tied. So, he ordered immediately, “Men! Round up everyone in the Shing Wong temple and other relevant people and bring them to the county hall for an interrogation immediately. Do not let anyone slip through your grasp!”

“At once!” Yan Feng and Yang Guan responded immediately.

It was at this moment a bailiff suddenly barged into the main hall and cried out in a panicked voice, “M-My lord! We have an incident!”

“What happened?” Yan Yufei asked.

“Chen Ling, Wei Gang, Yuanlang and the others! They… they’re all dead!”

“What?! Lead the way!”

The bailiff quickly led the group to one part of the temple grounds. Everyone gasped in horror when they rounded a corner and saw the bodies on the ground.

No one here was unfamiliar with the dead, but dead people whose faces were perfectly blank like unfinished dolls? That was a different story entirely.

Yan Feng sucked in a deep breath before walking over to inspect the bodies and removing their identity tags. After a thorough inspection, he looked behind him and reported, “My lord, there are six victims in total. They are Bailiff Chen Ling, Wei Gang, and Ma Yuanlang; Common Bailiff Zhuang An, Yang Zhen and Tang Yang.”

“I cannot find any wounds on their bodies whatsoever. The only thing they’re missing… is their face. The cause of death is unknown!”

Yan Yufei accepted the identity tags from Yan Feng before staring at the other bailiffs with an ice cold expression. “What the hell happened here? Who killed them?”

No one seemed to have a clue. They were all exchanging helpless looks with each other.

“Besides the victims, was there anyone else at this part of the temple grounds?” Ye Qing asked after staring at the corpses.

“Y-Yes! The incense acolyte of Shing Wong temple was here!” A bailiff answered.

“The incense acolyte?” Yan Yufei repeated with stormy eyes. “Since the temple acolyte’s body isn’t here, it can only mean two things. Either he was kidnapped by the murderer… or he was the one who killed them.”

Ye Qing’s eyes flashed as he explained slowly, “Lord Yan, the mastermind behind the General of Punishment must be an abbot or a senior monk of the Shing Wong temple at the very least. Not only that, they must be able to take charge of the maintenance of the Shing Wong statue, or there is no way they could’ve hidden a statue within a statue. In this Shing Wong temple, the incense acolyte is the only one who fits the criteria, not to mention he went missing without a word and left six bodies in his wake. He has to be a prime suspect!”

“You are absolutely right!” Yan Yufei echoed in agreement. “Yan Feng, take some men with you and spread posters of the incense acolyte immediately. Let the people know that anyone who can provide a lead regarding his whereabouts will be rewarded handsomely!”

“At once!”

“Zhu Nan, you and everyone else will carry our deceased brothers back to the county hall. Be sure to give them a proper burial!”

“At once!”

Yan Yufei had just finished giving his orders and left the Shing Wong temple when a group of men approached him. They were clearly no ordinary people.

“What happened, Lord Yan?” A rugged-looking and muscular military officer in armor walked up to Yan Yufei and asked.

“Perfect timing, Vice Magistrate You. I want you to rally your men and remove this Shing Wong temple immediately!”

Yan Yufei explained seriously, “Someone in Anyang has the gall to forge a golden statue of the General of Punishment and hide it inside the Shing Wong’s statue. Not only has the statue received enough power of wishes to become a false deity, it had already claimed more than a few innocent lives. It would’ve been a disaster if I hadn\'t chased a lead all the way to this place and found it!”

1. I understand a square person means old-fashioned and conventional in English, but in this case you should read it as honest and genuine.