"Headman Tu, we’ve got a job for you."

They entered the city at dawn and went to the county yamen’s prison, where they threw the bandit minions, trussed up tightly, in front of Tu Wuyan.

Tu Wuyan was already drinking, though it was early in the morning. At their arrival, he set down his wine cup, ambled over to the two bandits with a chuckle, and gave them a couple of kicks. "And who might these two young heroes be?"

"Bandits from the mountains. Headman Tu, feel free to use every trick in your book. By all means, don’t pull any punches."

Zhao Lin added nonchalantly, "But don’t get so caught up in the torture that you forget to get some information out of them."

Tu Wuyan roared with laughter. "That’s the easy part. What is it that Constable Zhao wants to know?"

Zhao Lin was prepared. He said, "Everything you can get on the bandits’ inner workings. For instance, how many hideouts they have, the locations of their traps and secret passages, who their core members are... The more, the better."

Tu Wuyan pulled paper and a brush from a drawer and jotted it all down. Then, looking at the two bandits with a sneer, he said, "Don’t you worry, Constable Zhao. I’ll be sure to pry their mouths open."

After leaving the prison, Zhao Lin and Liang Song returned to the constables’ quarters to rest.

After being up all night, both of them were exhausted. It wasn’t proper to sleep during the day, so they just leaned back in their chairs to doze off.

Zhao Lin had only been dozing for a short while when a yamen runner entered. "Constable Zhao, someone’s outside looking for you."

"Who is it?" Zhao Lin asked, forcing his eyes open.

"He said his surname is Yuan, and that he’s your senior brother," the runner replied.

"Senior Yuan?"

Zhao Lin was instantly wide awake. ’For Yuan Cheng to come looking for me in broad daylight, it must be something important.’

"I understand. I’ll go see him now."

Liang Song was still asleep, so Zhao Lin left without disturbing him and walked straight out of the yamen.

"I’ve been searching all over East City for you. Turns out you were at the yamen this whole time. I would’ve come straight here if I’d known," Yuan Cheng said the moment he saw him.

Zhao Lin looked at him steadily. "Senior Brother, what’s happened?"

"Sigh, it’s about Chu Liu, of course."

Yuan Cheng sighed and produced a letter. "Take a look at this first."

Zhao Lin took it and saw the character for "County" stamped on the top left, and Magistrate Liu’s seal on the bottom right. He was slightly taken aback.

It was a directive from the county yamen, a semi-formal document typically used for minor cases. It was essentially the written form of a verbal order.

The directive was already unsealed. Zhao Lin took out the letter inside and scanned it quickly.

Apparently, Chu Liu had spent the previous night at the Yan Chun Building, a brothel. He had gotten into a dispute over a "pure courtesan"—a virgin entertainer—and had beaten the other man.

The man he beat was no random person either; he was a disciple of the Lingshan Sect and was reportedly badly injured.

Normally, the county yamen wouldn’t interfere in a conflict between martial sects, leaving them to resolve it internally.

This incident, however, had caused a huge scene. Not only had Chu Liu beaten the man, but he’d also wrecked the brothel and injured several of the madams and male staff.

The West City Constable Captain, Guo Sheng, had responded to the report, arrived on the scene, and arrested Chu Liu on the spot, throwing him in jail.

After finishing the letter, Zhao Lin stuffed it back in the envelope and asked, "Is what it says true?"

Yuan Cheng gave a silent nod.

"This is going to be a problem," Zhao Lin said, his brow furrowed.

In the Great Yue Dynasty, martial artists enjoyed a high status, but they were not at liberty to wield their power wantonly.

The reasoning was simple, based on the principle that "the strong use might to defy the law." If martial artists could freely beat and kill commoners, wouldn’t the world fall into chaos?

’Then again,’ he thought, ’I’m a disciple of the Liuhe Sect. Even if they had to make an arrest, they should have notified me as a courtesy.’

"The West City Captain is... Guo Sheng."

Zhao Lin murmured the name, and the reason for what happened immediately clicked into place.

’Guo Sheng is a Lingshan Sect disciple, so of course he’d favor his own people. And since Chu Liu was clearly in the wrong, he just went ahead and arrested him.’

’I didn’t make the morning roll call today, so I had no idea this happened. I missed my chance to step in.’

’Still, judging by the directive, the County Magistrate gave me and the Liuhe Sect some face. He only had Chu Liu detained and didn’t hand down any other punishments.’

Yuan Cheng continued, "We’re clearly in the wrong here. Master has already gone to the Lingshan Sect to negotiate. The First and Second Senior Brothers are with Chu Liu’s family at the brothel to apologize and pay for the damages. As for things here at the yamen... we’ll have to trouble you, Junior Brother Zhao."

Zhao Lin nodded. "Don’t worry, Senior Brother. As long as Master can come to an understanding with the Lingshan Sect and the brothel doesn’t press charges, getting the yamen to release him won’t be an issue."

"By the way, why was Senior Brother Chu at a brothel in the first place?"

He’d been with the sect for almost a year, and for reasons unknown, Chu Liu had always looked down on him. They had never even spoken a complete sentence to each other, so Zhao Lin rarely pried into his business.

Yuan Cheng’s face immediately chilled. "You’re focused on your training, so you wouldn’t know about his ways. He’s only in his early twenties, but he’s already taken five concubines and spends all his time drinking and carousing."

"Of course, that’s his personal life, so it’s not our place to say anything. But this isn’t the first time he’s caused a scene at a brothel."

"Tell me, is that any way for a martial artist to behave?"

Hearing his senior brother’s words, Zhao Lin was at a loss for words.

’While martial arts training doesn’t strictly require one to preserve their Primordial Yang, overindulgence certainly takes a toll on the body. More importantly, it saps one’s will and scatters their spirit.’

’No wonder Zhu Huaishan is always so critical of Chu Liu. Without these vices, he probably would have been recommended to the Xingyun Sect long ago.’

Zhao Lin took it as a solemn warning to himself. ’Wine is a poison that burns the guts, and lust is a blade that scrapes the bones.’ He vowed not to make the same mistake.

After seeing Yuan Cheng off, Zhao Lin went back to the yamen and asked around for Guo Sheng, but no one knew where he was.

’Guo Sheng probably wants to avoid me for now,’ Zhao Lin figured. ’After all, he just made the arrest. It would be improper to release Chu Liu immediately. Besides, we haven’t heard back from the Lingshan Sect yet.’

After some thought, Zhao Lin decided against looking for the County Magistrate. Instead, he went to the detention block, exchanged a word with the guard, and walked into the cell where Chu Liu was held.

Detention cells and prison cells were often spoken of in the same breath, but there was a significant difference between the two.

Prisons were for convicted criminals, while detention cells were for temporary holding—similar to detainment. The conditions in the latter were far superior.

"Fifth Senior Brother, how are you? Would you like some water or something to eat?"

Chu Liu was in a private cell and, by the looks of it, hadn’t been mistreated. As Zhao Lin drew near, he caught the stench of alcohol and frowned.

Chu Liu looked up at him and said coldly, "I don’t need anything. When am I getting out?"

Hearing his entitled tone, Zhao Lin’s expression darkened. "I’m afraid you’ll be inconvenienced for a little while, Fifth Senior Brother."

Chu Liu replied nonchalantly, "Fine, but make it quick. The longer I’m stuck in here, the more our Liuhe Sect loses face, right?"

Zhao Lin was so exasperated he almost laughed. Not wanting to waste another breath on the man, he turned and left the detention cell.

The detention block wasn’t far from the prison, so Zhao Lin headed over to the interrogation room.

Unexpectedly, Liang Song was there too, a brush in his hand as he wrote on a sheet of paper.

The two bandits had been stripped completely naked and were strung up on an iron rack like butchered hogs. Tu Wuyan was flogging them with a water-soaked whip, their agonized screams echoing one after another.

Zhao Lin took in the scene with a glance and asked, "Well? Did they talk?"

Tu Wuyan boomed with laughter. "They did. Spilled their guts."

"If they’ve already talked, why are you still hitting them?"

"Just killing time. Care to have a go, Constable Zhao? Get a little thrill?"

"No, thank you."

’If Tu Wuyan didn’t have this job,’ Zhao Lin thought, ’he’d just be another sadist.’

Seeing Zhao Lin come in, Liang Song held out two sheets of paper. "Here’s the confession," he said with a smile.