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"What are you... talking about?"

Master Yang looked at the other party, a face full of puzzlement, as if the latter recognized him?

But what kind of title was Mister Five Poison?

Some teachers who became famous would earn titles, like Mister Shuijing, Mister Wuliu, Mister Mingdao, and so on. Who had ever heard of a Mister Five Poison? It didn’t sound like a normal honorific at all.

"What? You don’t recognize me anymore?" Ali strolled over leisurely but remained sufficiently vigilant, keeping a distance of five meters from the other person at all times.

"Could this lady have mistaken me for someone else?" Master Yang inquired with confusion.

"Feigning amnesia?" Ali said with a smile, "Why put on such an act? My body is poisoned by you; you’re the only one who can control me. What can I do to you?"

"Poison?" Master Yang stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly fixed his gaze on the other’s abdomen, muttering to himself, "Jiufang, Celestial Serpent Saliva, Black Scale Fruit, Golden Crow Blood..."

"Oh, you still recognize it..." Ali touched her own belly, her smile not fading, but her eyes carried a chill, "Someone... used this thing and poisoned who to death?"

Master Yang fell silent. He couldn’t remember, but he had this feeling that he had committed a deadly sin!

"Why did you betray us?"

"I didn’t..." Master Yang shook his head violently: "I didn’t... didn’t!"

The more he spoke, the more terrified his expression became, and a faint black aura began emanating from his body.

Seeing this, Ali frowned slightly and stepped back, knowing from the intelligence that the King of Qin was dead, leaving no trace whatsoever.

Mister Tianji searched all of reincarnation and couldn’t find him; many people speculated that the King of Qin.

.. had been erased from the cycle of rebirth, while Mister Five Poison possessed the medicine capable of killing them!

She wanted to know the truth, but dared not approach carelessly...

The most frightening aspect of Mister Five Poison wasn’t just his skill in making poison but also in administering it.

Few in the world could escape his drugging techniques.

He was indeed one of the most terrifying individuals.

If there really was a medicine that could erase someone from the cycle of reincarnation, hardly anyone would dare get close. ..

But for Ali, leaving without answers was unacceptable!

From the start of their new cycle of rebirth, her group had been searching for the King of Qin’s whereabouts. Mister Tianji almost found all the reincarnated individuals using the Heavenly Plate, yet was unable to locate the King of Qin or the Mister Five Poison who had harmed him.

Now that she had encountered him, how could she not ask clearly?

"I..." Master Yang opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but as soon as he did, black fog emerged from his mouth. And within that fog... a pitch-black and terrifying eye stared intently at Ali from Master Yang’s throat.

Ali took a step back with a clatter, her body breaking out in goosebumps.

What was that?

In the next instant, Master Yang’s eyes lost their luster and he collapsed to the ground, limp.

Ali furrowed her brows and observed for a long time. She approached tentatively but dared not do anything rash, fearing a trap. Yet considering she had already been poisoned by him, why be so cautious?

With a firm resolve, she was about to move closer when a ghostly voice suddenly sounded from behind, "What are you doing?"

Ali was startled and turned to look, only to find it was Chen Qing clad in white.

"Why are you here?"

At that, Chen Qing rolled his eyes, "I should be asking you, right? Broad daylight and you’re troubling an old teacher? The man’s advanced in years and can’t withstand your torment. If you’re truly bored, why not find some young fellow? Look, the city’s full of young widowers."

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Ali frowned, this person was becoming increasingly unrestrained.

"Eh?" Chen Qing suddenly stopped, looking puzzled, "Ali, isn’t your child growing a bit too fast?"

Ali was taken aback and instinctively touched her belly, her shock evident when she found it had become so large. It already resembled that of an eight-month pregnancy. Could this be Mister Five Poison’s handiwork?

Before she had the chance to think further, she abruptly looked up because she remembered something - the person before her... had just called her Ali?

That name... Chen Qing shouldn’t know it. Only those who were of the reincarnation knew her name, not reincarnated individuals who, no matter how many times she told them, would forget, including Cui Yan, to whom she was betrothed.

The name Ali... was not something mortals could remember!

But when she looked up, where was Chen Qing’s figure?

On closer inspection, even Master Yang, who had just collapsed on the ground, had vanished.

Ali paused, her brows deeply furrowed as she realized.

That person just now... was not Chen Qing!!

----------------------------------------

"The court is in session!"

"Majestic..."

Chen Qing sat solemnly in the main hall, feeling a wave of emotions, as the scene resembled that of a television drama he had watched in his previous life.

In those period dramas, the county magistrates and prefectural governors seem to have no other serious business aside from presiding over court sessions.

Lacking history knowledge, he often wondered just how many civil and criminal disputes could arise in a single county or provincial government office each day.

In modern times, judges in courts are so overworked that they go bald, and cases pile up like mountains; how could ancient county officials casually preside over court matters and resolve them all?

"The defendant, Lyu Yiqi, although you’ve been stripped of your official seal, your name and potential charges are still pending, there’s no need for you to kneel before your crime is confirmed," Chen Qing said as he looked at Lyu Yiqi, who lay slumped on the ground, seemingly scared out of his wits, feeling speechless inside.

Back in the days when Cui Yan and I would study arduously at the Confucian Temple, Lyu Yiqi approached us on his own initiative. Although he was sometimes pompous, he indeed brought goodwill, providing us with many annotated books and much experience with articles and the imperial examination.

Of course, at that time, he primarily intended to attract the exceptionally talented Cui Yan; I was just an afterthought. Nonetheless, he had been kind to me, and apart from being a bit cunning and overly concerned with saving face, it seemed he had no major flaws.

How did it happen that he, after all the mingling, turned into a murder suspect?

"Chen Qing... no... Prefectural Governor!" Lyu Yiqi had obviously panicked, kowtowing and crying woefully, "I had no intention to kill, I truly didn’t, how could I do such a thing? It was demons, that’s right! Demons possessed me, many people saw it!"

The onlooking crowd nodded and murmured among themselves because many had indeed seen two evil ghosts-like creatures suddenly emerge around Lyu Yiqi.

Chen Qing nodded and turned to Gu Beiquan who stood by: "Gu Beiquan, now that your official seal has been temporarily confiscated, I shall not address you as ’Lord Gu’. You accuse Lyu Yiqi of plotting to harm Master Yang and others, do you have evidence?"

"There’s only witness testimony," explained Gu Beiquan with a bow.

"After returning from Luling County, we’ve been harboring dissatisfaction, but Lyu Yiqi was overly radical.

His words along the way were horrifying.

I, the student... oh no, I may hold a grudge against you, Governor, but I would never descend to the downright inhuman level of Lyu Yiqi and commit such atrocious acts! "

"It’s not just me, the former officials from Luling County who also had their official seals confiscated can testify; Lyu Yiqi sought to poison the academy’s teachers, framing you, Governor, so he could take advantage of the current chaos in Lyuzhou to seize temporary political power using public sentiment! "

"Oh?" Chen Qing looked at him curiously, "The Imperial Scholar Gu is quite honest..."

He even candidly admitted to harboring resentment against me.

Gu Beiquan straightened up and with pride in his eyes, said, "What’s true is true, there’s no need to lie."

"You certainly have the integrity befitting of a former top graduate..." Chen Qing said with a smile and a shake of his head, then turned to Lyu Yiqi, "You’ve heard the Imperial Scholar Gu’s testimony, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I didn’t!" Lyu Yiqi’s gaze darted around, avoiding eye contact!

"It’s not something you can dismiss with a mere denial, Imperial Scholar Lyu," said Chen Qing with a cold smile, pointing to a cup of wine brought in earlier, "In front of nearly a hundred people, you were seen acting to harm the teacher, and this wine.

.. has been inspected and indeed found poisonous; with both witness and physical evidence against you, how can you deny it? "

"No... it’s not like that, Chen Qing!" Lyu Yiqi became even more frantic, waving his hands, "I didn’t, I never intended to do those things. There were monsters, they whispered in my ear, incessantly, confusing my mind, it was them, not me!"

"You all saw it, right? You saw it, didn’t you? There really was something following me!"

The crowd outside the hall looked at one another, many showing an uncertainty. Indeed, his words were true; back then... monsters visibly followed this scholar surnamed Lyu. If he was possessed by a demon, it seemed... one couldn’t really blame him.

So, people began to voice out, "Governor, we indeed saw it; there were terrifying monsters following this scholar..."

"Yes, I saw as well, those two disfigured evil ghosts, they were much like the zombies that attacked us the other day!"

"Exactly, they looked frightful, even more so than the zombies. Who knows if such creatures are still around!"

Instantly, the crowd burst into murmurs, many browsing their surroundings nervously, afraid of being followed by something as terrifying as Lyu Yiqi had been.

Lyu Yiqi hung his head, his face a mask of panic and avoidance, but deep within his eyes... there was a hint of vicious triumph...

Yet, Chen Qing, seated high upon the dais, with penetrative gaze, saw clearly that slyness and self-satisfaction!

The human heart... is truly inscrutable...

Chen Qing couldn’t help but wonder, who could have expected that the once generous elder brother willing to entertain poor students like them, turned out to be such a vicious and petty figure?

Resentful spirits indeed could guide the human heart to a certain extent, but if one’s heart harbors no evil thoughts, not even a beginner resentful spirit, let alone top-tier Cursed Grudges, could force a good person to commit evil acts.

Resentful spirits couldn’t master such intricate schemes, to leverage the recently emerged meat worms, and as the public held some doubts about this food, decisively poison a group of highly regarded teachers, creating panic and even leading Chen Qing to suspect that he might poison large areas, to throw Lyuzhou into complete chaos.

To take advantage of the panicked public sentiment to depose him.

To say it was instigated by an Evil Spirit?

Evil Spirits don’t possess that kind of ability...

Yet, Chen Qing was content to let the other party use that as an excuse because the purpose of this public court session was to expose the existence of Evil Spirits to the public!

"Silence!"

With a fierce slam of the gavel, Chen Qing instantly quieted the noisy crowd.

"Regarding the matter of the daytime demons, I am already aware. Before this trial began, the City God of Lyuzhou had already explained the situation to me. What you all saw, those two entities following Lyu Yiqi, were not demons, but... the downtrodden citizens of Luling County!"

"Citizens?" The crowd was stunned, those frightening beings were citizens?

And what was the City God? Do we have such an official in Lyuzhou?

Seeing that everyone’s attention was focused on this topic, Chen Qing nodded in satisfaction and then slammed the gavel once more: "Summon the Lyuzhou Day Roaming God to testify in court!"