"Open the door!" Zheng Shouhe tightly gripped a dagger against Wen Xiangyu's back.
Wen Xiangyu had no choice but to open the door.
When the door swung open, a handsome face appeared—it was Lu Yang.
Wen Xiangyu desperately signaled to Lu Yang to run, but Lu Yang seemed not to see her, wearing a professional fake smile: "Here’s your skewers."
Zheng Shouhe also put on a fake smile. He could tell Lu Yang was an honest guy, making it easy to trick him: "Come in, brother. I’ll get you your money."
Believing him, Lu Yang stepped inside, noticing the dark room. He chuckled, "Not even turning on the lights? Going to bed this early?"
Seeing Lu Yang foolishly walk in, Wen Xiangyu felt a surge of panic. She decided to push Lu Yang back outside.
Zheng Shouhe quickly noticed Wen Xiangyu’s strange behavior. It was too late; he sneered and threw Wen Xiangyu aside, lunging at Lu Yang with the dagger in the darkness.
Zheng Shouhe had been in the dark for so long that his eyes had adjusted. He knew Lu Yang would need time to adapt to the darkness after coming in from the street—this was his chance!
It seemed tonight would be a bloody night!
But Lu Yang kicked Zheng Shouhe back four or five meters.
What did it matter to a cultivator about science?
Zheng Shouhe didn’t expect that kick. It was so heavy, like a giant rock smashing into his chest. He saw stars and felt several ribs break, coughing up blood!
Realizing he was in deep trouble, Zheng Shouhe knew he had to use the hostage to survive!
He forced himself to suppress the pain in his chest and turned to grab Wen Xiangyu's wrist.
"If you move again, I’ll kill her!" Zheng Shouhe threatened fiercely.
The person in Zheng Shouhe’s grasp laughed coldly: "Who are you going to kill?"
Zheng Shouhe looked down in horror, realizing he wasn’t holding Wen Xiangyu but Lu Yang!
With one hand, Lu Yang pushed up Zheng Shouhe's chin and with the other, snatched the dagger away, quickly disarming him.
"What luck! Even delivering food leads to so much trouble."
Lu Yang sighed, lit a candle, and the room was dimly illuminated.
Wen Xiangyu couldn’t believe how quickly everything had changed. The delivery guy seemed like a hero, and the fierce criminal was subdued in an instant.
"Are you okay?" Lu Yang helped Wen Xiangyu, who was sitting on the floor in shock.
"I-I’m fine."
"Good, then let’s settle the payment for the skewers," Lu Yang said politely.
"Huh? Oh... okay." Wen Xiangyu finally remembered Lu Yang had come to deliver food and had saved her in the process.
After handing Lu Yang the money, she felt a wave of fear and tried to say something to ease her anxiety: "Are you a cultivator?"
"Yes."
"Do cultivators also run shops?"
"Just trying to make a living."
On the ground, Zheng Shouhe groaned in regret. What bad luck! He ran into a cultivator just stepping out, and now cultivators were reduced to delivering food to survive?
Seeing Wen Xiangyu looking like she had just escaped a disaster, Lu Yang chuckled and shook his head: "Let’s go report this."
"Thank you." Wen Xiangyu remembered the thief upstairs. "Oh, there’s someone upstairs too; he should be his accomplice."
When Wen Xiangyu woke up, she saw Zheng Shouhe and Lu Zhi and thought they were working together, only having a falling out because of her beauty.
Lu Yang went upstairs and saw Lu Zhi tightly bound. He assumed he was Zheng Shouhe’s partner: "Looks like it’s a group crime."
Lu Zhi protested: "Don’t say that! I’m not with that guy. He’s a kidnapper; I’m just a thief. Our sentences are different!"
Lu Yang laughed: "You really know your laws."
"We always check the laws before we commit a crime, to see how many years we might get," Lu Zhi said, clearly knowledgeable about his trade.
"Then let’s go see how many years you’ll get."
Hearing "go to the magistrate," Lu Zhi quickly begged: "No, no, let’s talk this over! We’re all in the same line of work; why push so hard? How about this—I’ll give you something good, and you let me go?"
Lu Yang sized up Lu Zhi, seeing he was just a regular guy: "What good thing?"
"A yellow paper that can make people sleep. With this paper, you can make anyone sleep, and do whatever you want with them!"
Lu Yang thought about the recent strange happenings and frowned, realizing the issue was serious. He coldly asked, "Where is it?"
Lu Zhi wasn’t foolish; he wouldn’t just tell: "You have to promise to let me go first!"
Lu Yang solemnly swore: "I, Chi Xulong, swear to heaven that if I don’t let you go, I’ll be struck by lightning!"
Lu Zhi was overjoyed: "The yellow paper is in the corner outside on the first floor."
Clearly, Lu Zhi wasn’t very bright either.
Lu Yang jumped down from the second floor, walked around the first floor, and indeed found a piece of yellow paper.
The paper had symbols Lu Yang couldn’t understand, like some kind of talisman.
He tucked the talisman away and returned to the second floor: "Where did you get this?"
"Under the Great Stone Bridge. I was escaping by boat once and happened to look up to see a piece of yellow paper stuck under the bridge."
Lu Yang nodded, went downstairs to handle Zheng Shouhe's legs, and took both of them to the magistrate, with Wen Xiangyu following closely behind.
"Hey, hey, hey! You can’t go back on your word!" Lu Zhi shouted.
Lu Yang sneered; it was Chi Xulong who would be struck by lightning, not him.
Just then, it happened to be Captain Wei’s shift. When he saw Lu Yang bringing in two criminals, he felt a sense of déjà vu.
After hearing the criminals’ stories, Captain Wei stopped joking around and became serious. Zheng Shouhe had a murder charge against him and was a serious criminal, while Lu Yang had done a great service.
"This is the yellow paper Lu Zhi mentioned," Lu Yang handed the paper to Captain Wei, having already memorized the symbols on it.
Captain Wei took the yellow paper and realized there was a problem.
He had heard that some people were drowsy during the day, but he hadn’t felt anything himself, thinking it was no big deal. Now it seemed someone was deliberately causing trouble!
How many of these yellow papers were hidden in Yanjiang County?
But Captain Wei didn’t know what the symbols on the paper meant. He planned to ask the chief when he came in the morning.
"Thanks a lot! I’ll send you a banner tomorrow," Captain Wei said after taking statements from Lu Yang and Wen Xiangyu, waving goodbye.
Before leaving, Lu Yang stopped by the prison to find Chi Xulong: "I have a brother named Zheng Shouhe coming in for a while. Please take care of him."
Chi Xulong sneered; now you need my help? Care for him? My stone-spitting skill is already perfected; let’s see how I deal with him!
After taking Wen Xiangyu back to the tofu shop, Lu Yang firmly refused the tofu she offered.
After all the commotion, the barbecue shop had closed. When Lu Yang returned, two ghostly figures were washing dishes.
Lu Yang showed the symbols from the yellow paper to Lan Ting: "Can you tell me if this symbol makes someone fall asleep?"
After examining it closely, Lan Ting looked surprised: "Where did you find this? This is the Reverse Lifespan Talisman. It absorbs a person’s lifespan, making them appear lethargic and sleepy."
"This kind of talisman only works on mortals and has no effect on cultivators."
(End of Chapter)