Chương 50: The Delicious Crayfish

Fang Cheng had watched the battle between father and son. He had been wrestling with a question: if Li Shuyan was a demon, then Li Jinghong, who attacked him, was he a good person or a bad person? Fortunately, he no longer had to worry about that. Because anyone who stole his delicious prey was surely a great demon beyond redemption. That was my delicacy. How dare you interfere? Did I give you permission, you damned demon! Li Jinghong heard the voice and turned sharply.

Only then did he notice there was another person in the room, a vague figure in the darkness. He could not make out who it was. He put down his unfilial son and walked toward the house. Under the dim lamplight, he finally saw the face clearly. A familiar one.

"Fang Cheng?" Li Jinghong chuckled.

"I was just looking for you."

"Looking for me? Why? I am not your son. My father died long ago. I buried him with my mother. And my beloved Xiao Ming. They are all dead." Fang Cheng's lips curled slightly. He stuck out his tongue and licked the tea in his cup. Sweet. It tasted good. Li Jinghong frowned at Fang Cheng's strange behavior. He extended his divine sense to probe Fang Cheng's body. He found nothing unusual.

In fact, before Li Jinghong had even landed, the demon sword had retracted its edge, behaving like an obedient child hiding in Fang Cheng's Dao Field. Not a trace of its aura leaked out. Hunters always concealed themselves when stalking prey.

"Do not think you are safe just because Pei Tang is backing you." Li Jinghong chuckled.

"I have looked into your records. I have sent people to Xijiang Prefecture to ask around. Brother Fang, you have killed a lot of people. So many that even I am impressed. Tsk, tsk."

"So many?" Fang Cheng tilted his head and thought for a moment, then flashed a row of white teeth.

"You do not need to thank me. Dispelling evil and protecting the people is the duty of a righteous cultivator like me."

"A righteous cultivator? Hahaha." Li Jinghong laughed heartily, a hint of appreciation in his eyes as he looked at Fang Cheng. Beside him, Li Shuyan's face was full of jealousy. His father had not looked at him with such approval in a long time.

"Brother Fang, whether you are a good person or a bad person does not matter to me. I only want to know one thing. What is your relationship with Zhu Youchang?"

"Zhu Youchang? He used to be my colleague. Then he did bad things, and I stabbed him to death." Fang Cheng scratched his head, suppressing the urge to strike. He felt Li Jinghong knew something he did not. He asked, "Why do you bring up Zhu Youchang? Do you know his accomplices? Or are you one of them?"

"That is what I should be asking you." Li Jinghong's smile faded. His face grew cold. He stared at Fang Cheng and demanded, "Do you have the Demonic Spirit Gathering Array?" Stolen novel; please report.

"Uh..." Fang Cheng was about to shake his head, then realized something was off.

"Are you interrogating me? Who do you think you are? What right do you have to interrogate me? You damned demon. How dare you interrogate me!" Li Jinghong snorted and roared, "Do not try to deny it, Fang Cheng. Hand over the Demonic Spirit Gathering Array, and I will spare your life. Otherwise, no one can protect you. Pei Tang is far away in the capital's Hall of Eternal Life. He cannot make it in time." With that, he pulled a red token from his sleeve. The character on it, "Dark," revealed his identity.

"I am the Dark Night Grand Commander. Fang Cheng, kneel and confess your crimes!"

"Dark Night? Let me think. Where have I heard that before?" Fang Cheng racked his brain. He was busy suppressing the demon sword, so his brain power was limited. Oh! He remembered! In the Everlasting Mountains, the yellow weasel king whose head he had chopped off was a Dark Night elder. So Li Jinghong was indeed no good. Fang Cheng's lips curled to his ears, revealing a row of sharp white teeth. His dark eyes gleamed with bloodlust. The demon inside him was ready to burst forth at any moment. Wait, demon sword.

We need more criminals and more evil.

"Prefect Li, do you have any drinking buddies you could introduce me to? I want a taste." Li Jinghong scoffed.

"You are stubborn. Good. I love stubbornness in you bottom-feeding trash. And I will exterminate every one of you demonic cultivators who possess the Spirit Gathering Array!"

"Wait, wait. Let me make one thing clear. I am a good person, not a demonic cultivator. And I do not have the array. Do not wrong me. Even if you are a villain of the worst kind, you should not wrong a good person. That is not right." Li Jinghong laughed coldly.

"Heh. Whether you have the array or not does matter. You have associated with Zhu Youchang. That makes you a demonic cultivator. You must die!"

"No, no, no. Ahong, that is not how you investigate crimes." Fang Cheng wagged his finger. As a master of logical deduction, he had to correct him. Otherwise, it would bother him. He said solemnly, "First, any living being could be a suspect. Even a sow by the roadside could potentially be a criminal. You did well on that point. But second, you need a reasonable piece of evidence. It must be reasonable, even if it is fabricated. Because the third step is to convict the criminal.

Some people think their crimes are flawless. Haha. I destroyed all the evidence. What can you do to me? But sorry. The net of heaven is vast, but nothing escapes it. I smelled the sin in your heart, then produced a piece of evidence and proved its reasonableness to everyone. When everyone believes the evidence is true, then it becomes true. Haha. You are the killer. No one can escape my nose and my meticulous reasoning."

"Pointless." Li Jinghong sneered.

"I do not need evidence or convictions. I only need to suspect you, and you must die! Hahaha. Fang Cheng, do you really think I am investigating? Dark Night never investigates. Dark Night kills! Kills! Kills! On Great Sheng's territory, Dark Night is the true law. That is the purpose the Chief set for Dark Night. Some cultivators think they have grasped the truth and forged their own Dao. But if their Dao is not aligned with the Hall of Eternal Life, they are demonic cultivators.

And the Demonic Spirit Gathering Array. Everyone who has seen it must die! Once you have seen it, you are no longer an orthodox cultivator recognized by the Hall. You are a demonic cultivator. If every low-level cultivator in Great Sheng has seen the array, then they all must be killed!"

"Wow. Such brutal logic. I kind of like it. Ahong, my darling. Come on. Keep explaining your brutality. Release all the demons in your heart!" Fang Cheng could not help clapping in approval. He could already smell Li Jinghong's heart. It was a crayfish in a ditch, happily eating mud-dwelling worms. It raised its massive claws to the sky, commanding all the little fish, shrimp, worms, ants, and dung beetles in the ditch to grovel at its feet. It said, "I am the master of this ditch.

My fate is in my own hands, not the ditch's!" Fang Cheng said, "A crayfish from a ditch, washed clean and put in a pot, is even more delicious. It has absorbed the essence of all things, the purest nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It has endured the torment of hunger, suffered the contempt of its kind, fought battles against the crabs and shrimp in the ditch, overcome countless setbacks, and transformed into the invincible King of the Ditch!"