He Lingchuan did not stand on ceremony either. Borrowing the tiger's intimidating aura, he pointed at Wang Mazi. "There is something suspicious about this man. Do not execute him for now; we need to interrogate him further."
The bailiff uttered a startled "Ah!" and said, "This sentence was handed down by the county magistrate..." Both the fierce tiger and the giant sheep glared over at once, scaring him into quickly changing his tune, "...but I suppose the magistrate wouldn't object. In that case, please come sit in the yamen, esteemed guests, while this humble officer escorts the prisoner back."
The townsfolk nearby, who had gathered hoping for a spectacle, were displeased. But with a fierce tiger commanding the platform, glaring like a predator over the entire square, none dared cause a stir. They could only grumble as they dispersed.
Wang Mazi had never expected salvation to drop from the heavens. The moment he was untied, he dropped to his knees with a thud before He Lingchuan. "Save me, my lord! I've truly been wronged!"
Jiao Yu walked past him. "If a single word is false, you're a dead man."
He Lingchuan had been watching the crows circling overhead all along. Now, stepping beside the execution pillar, he took out a pouch of dried meat and addressed them: "I'd like to ask you all something. Consider this pouch of dried meat your compensation."
The crows were full of resentment and offered no response.
How could a pouch of dried meat compare to the fresh, sweet flesh and blood of a living man?
"Otherwise—" He Lingchuan snapped his fingers. At once, the goshawk perched on the sheep's horn let out a sharp cry and poised to strike.
Startled, the flock of crows cawed in panic. He Lingchuan let out a satisfied breath.
Soon, a massive old crow descended and landed before He Lingchuan. "What do you want to ask?"
"Over half a month ago, did you happen to see an eastern imperial eagle near here, coming down from the north?"
Crows loved to flock wherever there was commotion, making them true local busybodies. Inquiring with them was the right move.
The old crow replied, "No."
"Think carefully again." The old creature's attitude was far too perfunctory.
"An eastern imperial eagle is a fierce raptor. If it were circling around here, do you think we'd miss it?" The old crow was resolute. "No!"
He Lingchuan could not help feeling a touch of disappointment.
Just then, another crow fluttered down and cawed a few times to the elder.
The old crow immediately said, "However, piles of white bones occasionally appear in the mountains around here. And Little Seven of our flock... also went missing."
"When?"
"Two months or so ago?" It pondered carefully. "Not many days after the Emperor's Flowing Dew appeared."
He Lingchuan pointed at the goshawk. "Was it taken by a natural predator?"
"We rarely have birds of prey around here."
He Lingchuan handed over the pouch of dried meat. "I'll come find you later."
With that, the bailiff escorted Wang Mazi back to the yamen some two hundred paces away, and He Lingchuan ambled along as well.
He led his rock sheep mount, a goshawk perched on its back, while a fierce tiger walked beside him...
Of the four members in the entourage, he was the sole human. Such a bizarre combination turned countless heads.
Not to mention that the wind-boring beasts were tagging along as well.
Old Master Ling could do as he pleased locally without anyone daring to utter a word of criticism.
Though called a yamen, the place was quite small—just a courtyard with four rooms, equivalent to a township administrative office. The cells were directly opposite, capable of holding seven or eight prisoners.
The bailiff invited He Lingchuan to the seat of honor and served tea.
Demons mostly disliked tea, saving that step.
He Lingchuan waved a hand. "This matter concerns confidential affairs. Just give us a room. No outsiders allowed."
He carried Wang Mazi inside himself and set the tiger demon to stand guard at the doorway. Let alone outsiders, not even the bailiffs were permitted entry.
Old Master Ling, however, stiffened his neck, insisting on joining in the fun.
Considering it was also a victim, He Lingchuan let it in after all.
Yet the wind-boring beast was too tall to fit through the doorway. It butted its head, shattering the window frame.
Then, thoroughly pleased with itself, it poked its head through the window.
The yamen staff all heard the racket, but not a soul came out to say a peep.
"Tell everything you know," He Lingchuan warned Wang Mazi. "Your life hangs by a thread. Do not dare to lie."
Wang Mazi kowtowed twice to him and held nothing back.
As it turned out, he and a few close local friends had gone to steal goods from traveling merchants in Wudou Town. The merchants were strangers traveling this trade route for the first time; unfamiliar with the place and the people, they were easily robbed.
The dozen or so men had stolen both horses and cargo, but on their way back, they somehow wandered into the government herb fields.
It so happened that zhima had ripened in the official fields, glowing with a treasure-like radiance in the night. One of the peasants couldn't resist and snatched two of them up in his arms.
That snatch brought disaster upon them.
The official herb fields had been guarded by the wind-boring beast clan for generations. They were no wild mountain monsters. How could they tolerate a dozen men stealing medicine? They immediately gave chase!
Wang Mazi and the others fled in panic, heading wherever their feet took them. Visibility was terrible on that rainy night, and they actually blundered into Mount Niutou.
And then, they saw two lanterns halfway up the mountain...
After being abandoned by his companions, Wang Mazi had not waited around to die. Instead, he threw himself into the roadside bushes with all his might.
Fortunately, the sky was dark enough, and the rain, mud, and grass masked his scent. The wind-boring beasts bounded right past him without noticing him.
They went after his companions instead.
Wang Mazi lay in the pouring rain for a long time, not daring to twitch a muscle.
His companions never returned, and neither did the wind-boring beasts.
Later, mustering his courage, he climbed up to look. The valley was pitch-black; where were any lanterns?
With an injured foot, he couldn't walk, so he had to remain on Mount Niutou for two days until herb gatherers entered the mountain and carried him out on a donkey.
The rest of the story He Lingchuan had already heard from the bailiffs on the way:
The official herb fields were pillaged, and the guarding wind-boring beasts vanished. The official investigation pointed straight at Wang Mazi because the stolen cargo was discovered near the herb fields, and the entrance to Mount Niutou where Wang Mazi sprained his foot was only about three li away.
With clear facts and conclusive evidence, he was sentenced to death.
Hearing up to this point, He Lingchuan sensed something was amiss. "Just a bunch of local peasants could kill the wind-boring beasts guarding the herb fields?"
Wind-boring beasts possessed formidable combat strength and foul tempers; commoners gave them a wide berth whenever they saw them.
He Lingchuan's entire family operated in officialdom, so he knew immediately that Wang Mazi was an unfortunate scapegoat. No wonder Old Master Ling had been so furious.
He asked Wang Mazi, "If I take you back to Mount Niutou, can you point out where those two lanterns were?"
"Yes, yes!"
He Lingchuan then sent the tiger to negotiate with the bailiffs.
Meanwhile, He Lingchuan examined the injury on Wang Mazi's foot, finding it was only a strained ligament, which had already healed about sixty or seventy percent over the past several days.
Wang Mazi smiled bitterly. "A lowly life is tough as leather. Master He, please save my life!"
Who knew how Jiao Yu negotiated with the bailiffs, but roughly a quarter of an hour later, He Lingchuan procured a carriage to transport Wang Mazi toward Mount Niutou.
The wind-boring beasts still followed.
General Ling acted like an old acquaintance right away. After sizing up the rock sheep with a couple of glances, he leaned in and asked He Lingchuan, "Why did the Crown Prince send a kid like you as his special envoy?"
"Like attracts like, I suppose." This goat had probably offended plenty of people, hadn't he? He Lingchuan asked, "May I ask General Ling's honorable age?"
"One hundred and nineteen!" General Ling bobbed his head. "Next year is my grand birthday celebration!"
"General Ling is hale, hearty, and robust, far surpassing mortal humans." How decrepit would a human nearly one hundred and twenty years old be? Let alone going to the front lines to fight, walking briskly a few laps on their own would be quite a feat.
General Ling let out a hearty laugh. "Don't compare your human kind to me!"
He Lingchuan noticed the beard under its chin was plaited into braids and wrapped in gold thread, with two golden rings piercing its left ear. General Ling evidently paid great attention to personal grooming and lived quite an exquisite life.
As everyone knew, sheep had no hands and couldn't braid their own beards.
That could only mean General Ling kept servants or handmaidens at home to groom him.
He Lingchuan had long heard that the great demons of Beijia possessed their own fiefs, territories, servants, and subordinates, enjoying high privileges locally and sometimes even legal immunity.
However, great demons were few in number; today he had finally met one.
Jiao Yu had already told him that this fellow was also Chiyan Kingdom's Feitian Vanguard General, holding a high official rank rather than some miscellaneous generalship. His core unit, the Feitian Army, was composed almost entirely of wind-boring beasts. Though few in number, it was a specialized force.
No wonder General Ling didn't take the local authorities seriously at all.
Logically, however, General Ling should have been on his way to the eastern front lines rather than dawdling in his hometown.
Earlier, when Jiao Yu asked about it once more, General Ling grew impatient, stating that his army was already on the move and he would soon catch up.
"The Crown Prince is not even forty himself—a green brat—yet he sent someone even younger to handle a case! Absolute madness!" General Ling said right to He Lingchuan's face. "What great deed did you pull off to make him look upon you with special favor?"
"Nothing much," He Lingchuan said blandly. "I merely helped him kill Fu Shanji." Fu Shanyue looked like a fierce, headstrong youth, yet he was nearly forty?
General Ling's eyes went wide as saucers, and he blurted out, "What?!"
Although he was convalescing in his hometown, such monumental news as the Second Prince's demise could hardly be kept from him. Hearing He Lingchuan's words, his first instinct was disbelief, but turning back, he saw that Jiao Yu didn't even twitch an ear—the claim was clearly true.
"How did you pull that off?"
He Lingchuan had already inquired with Jiao Yu earlier and learned that General Ling took a neutral stance in the royal court with a slight leaning toward the Eldest Young Master, which was why he felt safe sharing his achievement.
Most demons were forthright by nature; being overly subtle with them was like casting glances at the blind, entirely pointless.
Only if your strength was exceptional would they take you seriously. Otherwise, General Ling looked like a born troublemaker—why would he cooperate willingly?
Instead of answering, He Lingchuan countered, "Those missing juniors of yours—how was their cultivation?"
"Not weak," General Ling said gravely. "They were backbones of the Feitian Army, having fought across several battlefields with me. By all rights, they shouldn't have vanished without a sound."
He paused, then continued, "Without them, the Feitian Army only has seventy-some members left. Our combat capability is severely crippled."
He Lingchuan nodded. No wonder he was so agitated.
Before long, they passed by the official herb fields guarded by the wind-boring beasts.
These were expansive fields nestled within the mountains, the soil richer and more fertile than common farmland. Over a dozen varieties of herbs were currently cultivated here, some covered in dark cloth so their species couldn't be discerned.
A good number of humans were also toiling in the fields.
The wind-boring beasts merely took on the contract and guard duty; meticulous work like tending herb fields still required human hands.
"The location of these herb fields is so conspicuous. How could you have wandered in by mistake?"
Chapter 445