Chương 12: A Sixth Sense for Evil

Before long, Fang Cheng had finished both bowls of egg noodles and all the beef on the table. He patted his satisfied stomach, stood up, thanked the noodle shop owner, and walked out. He spotted Underworld Officer Han Bingxuan and Magistrate Li Sanshui approaching. He quickly went over and told them his theory about a high-ranking official at the Hall of Eternal Life forcing Zhang Ruilin to commit suicide. Li Sanshui clutched his stomach, claiming he felt unwell, and scurried away.

Han Bingxuan was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"I know who you're referring to. But with his personality, he wouldn't want Zhang Ruilin dead. He'd want Zhang Ruilin to stay a minor City God in White Flower City forever, never promoted, never receiving a response from the Everlasting Emperor, suffering in misery. That would please him most. If he'd forced Zhang Ruilin to commit suicide, the Underworld Bureau would have traced it back to him immediately. The cost would outweigh the benefit."

"This guy sounds like a real piece of work. My sword inside me is already... hehe..." Fang Cheng chuckled low, then suddenly realized he didn't sound like a good person and quickly shut his mouth. Han Bingxuan was used to Fang Cheng's antics by now and didn't take it seriously. He sighed and continued.

"Your theory could still be true. Things are different now. The Underworld Bureau hasn't received instructions from the Jade Emperor in a long time. Last month, all the reception halls in the mortal realm lost contact with their respective Emperors. High-level cultivators are in chaos, and many major cultivators are scheming behind the scenes. For example, in the Great Zheng Dynasty, a Ninth Realm great cultivator refined an entire city of over a million people to attain immortality.

Blood flowed like rivers, and corpses littered the fields. When news spread, the Underworld Bureau immediately sent people to arrest him, and cultivators from various halls volunteered. But even now, they haven't caught him. Instead, many cultivators have begun imitating his methods. Demonic cultivators are springing up all across the dynasties. The Underworld Bureau is stretched thin. That high-ranking official chose this moment to act. The Underworld Bureau has no spare hands to investigate.

I came to White Flower City to look into the bribery case; many demonic cultivators are involved, and countless innocent people have died."

"Excellent. That's wonderful." Fang Cheng couldn't help clapping. More demons meant more opportunities to dispense justice.

"Fang, what are you..." Han Bingxuan stared at him in bewilderment. Shouldn't a righteous person mourn such suffering? What was with the clapping?

"Oh, I mean..." Fang Cheng scratched his head, thinking for a moment before explaining.

"I also lost contact with my immortal superior last month. I thought I'd been abandoned. I spent every day crying my eyes out; it was pathetic. Hearing that everyone's in the same boat, that it's not just me but a problem with the immortal realm itself, made me feel much better. But after that relief came anger. Those despicable bastards; they become demons, butchering innocent lives just to ascend. It's a disgrace to our entire cultivator world. They must die!"

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Han Bingxuan listened and let out a heavy sigh.

"Fang, I feel differently. I feel mostly sorrow. Look at the people of White Flower City; they want better lives, they want their children to grow up healthy, so they pray to the immortals above, hoping for blessings. How are we any different? We want to break through our realms, to attain immortality, and we rely on the immortals to grant us enough Divine Energy. The most common saying in the cultivator world is: cultivation isn't about fighting; it's about social connections.

Whose ancestors are immortals in heaven? Who has the connections to reach the Emperors? Who can gather enough resources in the mortal realm? Those families will have cultivators ascending to the immortal realm endlessly. Fang, for a small cultivator like you with no connections, no matter how hard you try, in ten or twenty years, you'll still be where you are now. So I can understand those who fall to demonic cultivation.

Now that the mortal realm has lost contact with the immortal realm, they've lost their last support. Desperate, they turn to devouring living beings. It's a last resort, even if it's wrong."

"Han Bingxuan, that thinking is dangerous." Fang Cheng pointed at him.

"A cultivator is never truly desperate. Even a Land God of a few hundred villagers lives better than most mortals. He can sleep until noon, hunt game in the mountains when hungry, go fishing; no worries about survival. So if you want to do evil, don't pretend you had no choice. Just admit it. Demonic cultivation won't lead to immortality anyway; it'll just turn you into a puppet of slaughter." Finished, Fang Cheng felt he'd spoken perfectly, exactly like a proper righteous cultivator.

Next time he ran into demonic cultivators, he'd say the same thing, then eat them with righteous conviction. Delicious. His demon sword had been hungry for a long time. Han Bingxuan was stunned.

"Fang, your thinking doesn't seem like a cultivator's. A cultivator should want to attain immortality, not spend his days fishing and comparing himself to mortals..." Han Bingxuan didn't know what to make of Fang Cheng. Something about him just didn't feel right. He felt that there was a strange one among the cultivators.

"No, no, Xiao Han, you don't get it." Fang Cheng wagged his finger.

"Simple question: there are millions of cultivators in the mortal realm. How many actually ascend?"

"Very few. Less than one in a thousand." Han Bingxuan replied. Fang Cheng said, "So the rest, knowing they'll never ascend, why kill themselves trying? As a small cultivator, I figured it out long ago. No matter how hard I work, how many immortal assessments I complete, I'll never ascend. So why not find some joy? Go fishing. And you know what? Fishing is really something. When a fish bites, especially a big one, it struggles. You let it. Don't pull the line up right away; you'll lose it.

Let it fight until it's tired, let it think it's free, never knowing the hook's only sunk deeper. Then you reel it in. Guaranteed catch. Haha, sometimes I feel like we're the fish in the pond. If we do ascend outside the pond, we might just end up as someone else's meal." Han Bingxuan was silent for a long moment. Finally, he said softly, "Fang, you're right. I was being narrow-minded." He'd been born into a great family. Following their arrangements, step by step, he would ascend.

He'd rarely met a cultivator with such a relaxed mindset. Yes, those who knew they couldn't ascend yet still threw themselves into demonic cultivation; even if they somehow reached the immortal realm, the heavenly enforcement squad would kill them. Fang Cheng continued, "I always thought those who take the demonic path to ascend are idiots. Take the proper path, and no one can touch you. Become a demon, and haha, finally there's a legitimate reason to devour you.

You're a villain; you can't exactly call the immortal realm's enforcement squad for help. I've heard ascended great cultivators are full of treasures; blood for pills, bones for artifacts, even organs for soup." The more he talked, the more excited he became, his eyes gleaming, almost drooling. Han Bingxuan laughed helplessly.

"Fang, you sound just like a demon. If I didn't know you were a kind-hearted good person, I'd drag you back to the Underworld Bureau for questioning."

"Haha, don't take it seriously. I was joking." Fang Cheng scratched his head and pinched his thigh, silently reminding himself to watch his tongue. The man across from him was an Underworld Officer.

"Han, do you believe in a good cultivator's sixth sense?" he changed the subject.

"What do you mean, Fang?" Han Bingxuan sensed there was more. Fang Cheng leaned in close and lowered his voice.

"My sixth sense tells me there's a demon hiding somewhere in White Flower City."