303: Chapter 297 Mission Completed, Video Editing Finished

Town Government Prison.

A fairly spacious cell with three walls of piled stone and one side of wooden bars. The floor was messily covered with dry straw. No candles were lit around; only a few square windows the size of a bowl's mouth cast in moonlight.

Luo Xiling squatted in the corner, resting her chin on her hands, her face full of dullness.

Ye Ming leaned against the same wall he had leaned against last time, glanced at her, and felt that the scene before him was somewhat familiar.

The four people locked in the next cell felt the same: "Brother Ye, why do I always feel like this scene has happened before?"

It wasn't Ye Ming who answered, but Luo Xiling.

She stood up abruptly and slapped the wall: "Nonsense! We were just locked up yesterday, and we're locked up again today. How could we forget?!

And that idiot County Magistrate—if we were Prodigys, would we have given up resisting?!

Damn it!"

She was clearly furious, even disregarding her lady-like composure to curse aloud.

Although angry, fortunately, her reason was not completely lost.

After cursing, she asked indignantly, "Brother Ye, what do we do now?

The Head Constable doesn't seem to believe us anymore either."

Ye Ming raised his hand and pressed down a few times, signaling her to calm down, and then began to sort out his thoughts.

Did the County Magistrate actually have a problem?

If so, it was completely redundant for him to wait until the second day to lead men to arrest them; he could have made his move while they were eating at the restaurant.

But if not... how was he so sure they weren't imperial officials?

Immortal Xu had said that the mortal world had no "Cultivators," and the methods of communication were the same as the feudal dynasties of Blue Star, relying on horse-drawn mail or carrier pigeons.

As such, even if the County Magistrate sent someone to verify with his superiors the moment he learned imperial officials had arrived in Jinshui Town, two days was definitely not enough for a round trip.

Without evidence, yet boldly acting against superiors—was he really that reckless?

He must know that if there was a misunderstanding and he arrested the wrong people, it would be a capital offense.

After pondering for a while without results, Ye Ming sighed. "The trial is indeed not simple. I shouldn't have looked down on the local natives and used a random excuse about a secret department to brush them off."

"You can't blame Brother Ye." Luo Xiling squatted in the corner with her chin in her hands. "It's just that the County Magistrate is too stupid.

A more clever person would never have arrested us so rashly, but would have first confirmed that we were imposters."

As she spoke, she couldn't help but curse again: "That dog magistrate is not only stupid but also lustful!

When visiting the victims' homes yesterday, I heard many people complaining that the magistrate keeps a mistress outside!"

"Senior Sister, here it's not called keeping a mistress, it's called..."

"Shut up!"

"Oh."

While the speaker was casual, the listener was attentive. Ye Ming frowned, recalling that several families he had questioned yesterday had similar complaints.

At the time, he didn't care.

After all, in a feudal era where information transmission was extremely slow, corrupt officials who relied on being far from the emperor to prey on the local people were not few.

Thinking carefully now, there was indeed a sense of strangeness.

Yesterday at the restaurant, while Ye Ming was heading to the restroom, he met the madam and chatted with her briefly about the County Magistrate.

In the madam's mouth, the magistrate was a fairly honest and clean official—he paid every time he went to the restaurant.

Furthermore, the magistrate actually rarely went to the restaurant.

She recalled that the last time he came was over half a year ago.

If not for hosting Ye Ming and the others, this period would probably have been even longer.

Would a greedy and lustful person go nearly a year without visiting the most prosperous place in town with the most beautiful girls?

And if he were truly upright, would he keep a mistress outside?

Ye Ming's right fist clenched and loosened. No, it was very discordant; something key was missing.

After thinking hard for a moment, he still felt something was missing, so he asked Luo Xiling, "Do you know who the magistrate's mistress is?"

"Um..." She tapped her chin with her index finger. "Someone did tell me... Oh, I remember now, it's the proprietress of the jewelry shop."

Ye Ming froze and subconsciously asked, "Who did you say?"

"The proprietress of the jewelry shop! You've seen her; she even helped us tie our hair."

He straightened up excitedly and asked with excitement, "Are you sure!"

"Uh, well, that person told me so anyway. He was walking at night a year ago and accidentally glimpsed the magistrate sneakily entering the jewelry shop."

A flash of lightning crossed Ye Ming's mind: "So that's how it is. No wonder, no wonder! Then it's not strange at all!"

Luo Xiling looked at him in confusion: "What are you muttering about?"

"Our information was leaked to the magistrate by that proprietress."

Hearing him say this, all five were somewhat surprised.

"That's impossible, right? Although we chatted about the trial that day, it was only in fragments. We didn't reveal any important intelligence, and we were far from her, deliberately lowering our voices. At most, she could have heard that we came to Jinshui Town for a mission,

but there's no way she'd know the rest."

"What if she isn't human?"

"Ah?"

Ye Ming started laughing: "It's not strange for a Prodigy to have sensitive hearing, is it?"

"The proprietress is a Prodigy?!" Luo Xiling jumped up immediately. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go take her out!"

What restricted their actions was not this cell, but the fact that the Prodigy's identity was unknown.

If they acted rashly and found the wrong person, it would expose that the five of them could summon longswords from a distance, which would alert the enemy. The Prodigy might flee or, knowing escape was hopeless, go on a killing spree.

This was something everyone was unwilling to see.

Now that it was clear who the Prodigy was, Luo Xiling naturally hoped to finish the fight and wrap things up quickly.

Ye Ming waved his hand: "No rush, they will come looking for us."

"They?" The four next door keenly noticed the key word.

"Yes. There should be a total of four Prodigys in Jinshui Town."

"Four?!!!"

The five were dumbfounded on the spot, marveling that Jinshui Town had become a Prodigy's nest.

"Don't worry. The number is indeed a bit high, but it won't be difficult for you to deal with them."

Hearing this, Luo Xiling hurriedly asked, "What's the plan? Same as last time, starting the fight at the execution ground in front of the townspeople?"

"Hehe... we won't be going to the execution ground. Let's... go to sleep."

"Ah?"

While the five were still in a daze, Ye Ming had already squatted down and gathered some straw to use as a pillow. "Conserve your strength. Stop talking and hurry up."

Upon hearing this, although they still had many doubts, they obediently found a comfortable place in the cell to lie down.

...

At the Hour of the Ox, the moon was bright and stars were few.

Moonlight passed through the window of one side of the cell and fell onto the corridor. Three figures walking side by side stepped into the moonlight and then vanished into the darkness.

"Big Brother, you really have many ideas." Deep in the eerie and sinister prison, the proprietress showed none of a woman's tension or fear; instead, she seemed as relaxed and natural as if she were returning home.

"Of course. Otherwise, how could Big Brother be the Big Brother?" The majesty and integrity on the Head Constable's face were also gone, replaced by fawning and flattery.

The Head Constable's humble performance was unavoidable. The proprietress served diligently on a daily basis, and no matter how cold the County Magistrate's nature was, he would always remember her kindness.

Uh, it wasn't that the Head Constable's service was perfunctory—on the contrary, the magistrate found it very useful. But later, he felt the time was right and offered himself as a bedwarmer, only to be kicked out of the room by the magistrate.

"That's enough. You both put in quite a bit of effort to catch five Mountain Gate disciples at once this time. Especially Third Sister, you did very well to test that they cannot harm mortals.

Rest assured, your share will not be missing."

"Thank you for your care, Big Brother." The two couldn't help but show smiles.

They continued forward and soon arrived at the cell where Ye Ming was held.

Seeing the six of them sleeping soundly, the County Magistrate's face turned cold. "Hmph. They say people of the Mountain Gate are the heavens while we are dust, and that we must flee upon meeting them or lose our lives if we are even a bit slow.

Looking at them now, they are nothing more than a group of pedantic and stupid fools, having a reputation without the substance."

"Big Brother is right."

The magistrate enjoyed their flattery and shouted to Ye Ming through the wooden bars, "Get up."

"Hmm?" Ye Ming rubbed his eyes and sat up. Seeing the three people standing in the corridor, he smiled and said, "So everyone is here."

Even though he was already in a dead end with his life in danger, he had a composed appearance.

The County Magistrate did not think he had any trump cards left.

Based on the Second Brother's contact with the party, the immortal swords had to be very close to them to be used. Thus, the magistrate only felt that Ye Ming was putting up a front: "Heh, death is at hand, yet you are still putting on an act.

The face of the Mountain Gate has been completely disgraced by you."

"Oh?" Ye Ming propped himself up with one hand while resting the other on his knee. "From the way you talk, have you fought with people from the Mountain Gate before?"

Fought with people from the Mountain Gate?

Forget fighting; he hadn't even seen one.

In the past, as soon as he heard of Mountain Gate activity nearby, he would immediately flee for thousands of miles.

This time, if Third Sister hadn't happened to learn that the six of them couldn't see through their disguises, he probably wouldn't even have had time to pack his belongings before fleeing for his life.

He wanted to show off his prowess but didn't expect to be called out. The magistrate's old face turned red, but fortunately, the surrounding light was dim, and his two sworn siblings were behind him, so they wouldn't notice his embarrassment.

"Hmph, why should I say more to a dying person?" The magistrate didn't dare to boast about having fought the Mountain Gate, fearing it would anger high-level Cultivators who would then hunt him down at any cost.

Ye Ming didn't care about his thoughts either. He scanned the Head Constable and the proprietress who were a step behind. "I was wondering why a Head Constable Prodigy would be so bold as to sway in front of us; so you are a Prodigy too.

It was you who told them that we couldn't see through the illusion, right?"

"Hehehe..." The proprietress covered her mouth and chuckled. "When you came to my door that night, you really scared me.

I thought big shots had arrived this time, unexpectedly blocking my door without me noticing at all. If that girl hadn't been so polite, I really would have been bluffed."

Luo Xiling, who was pretending to sleep, couldn't help but curse in her heart.

Just how overbearing were the Mountain Gate elders usually when they were out? She had just been a bit polite, and the opponent immediately decided she was a newcomer.

On Ye Ming's side, he was thinking: were those small footsteps that night the sound of her preparing to run away?

He had thought she was just afraid.

Shaking his head inwardly, he reminded himself to pay more attention to details in the future. He then asked, "You hid so well and remained unexposed because you don't kill people?"

The County Magistrate clearly didn't know the truth that villains die from talking too much. He snorted coldly before saying, "Do you think it was out of the kindness of my heart that I let that stupid Tiger snatch people in Jinshui Town?"

"So that's how it is."

Ye Ming suddenly understood.

No wonder the Tiger was also a Prodigy but didn't know them at all, and didn't even know there were three Prodigys hidden in Jinshui Town.

The three of them allowed the few remaining townspeople to be abducted by the Tiger all to cover for themselves.

"Alright, my doubts are mostly resolved." Ye Ming stood up and stepped back. "Let's finish this quickly."

The five jumped up at the same time, their hands forming sword seals.

The Head Constable smiled eerily. "I can't guess the maximum distance of your connection with the immortal swords, but I only need to use a formation to isolate the swords' perception.

Can you summon them right now?"

In theory, his plan was feasible.

The Mental Energy of the four was stronger than ordinary people, but only limitedly so. As long as the perception was cut off, they wouldn't be able to summon their swords.

The problem was that there was Luo Xiling, the personal disciple of Immortal Xu.

She had taken a diluted potion to strengthen her body, plus the moon bright sword's Mental Energy Core far exceeded that of ordinary longswords. A typical formation simply couldn't break the connection between the two.

And naturally, three Prodigys hiding in the remote Jinshui Town wouldn't have any sophisticated or profound formations.

Luo Xiling's face was full of disdain: "With that trash formation of yours?"

As she spoke, her sword seal was formed.

A certain place in Jinshui Town shrouded in darkness lit up, and then the moon bright sword shot into the air, trailing rosy light as it sped towards the prison. A few seconds later, four longswords wrapped in white light followed close behind.

The three Prodigys watched the moon bright sword pierce through the ceiling and instinctively turned to flee.

However, the situation was already settled. The five of them, with their complete inheritance, had an overwhelming advantage.

About five minutes later, the Prodigys were executed.

The moment the three corpses revealed their true forms, the wooden tokens the six had received flickered with a faint light. Senior Brother Zhou's voice rang in their minds simultaneously: "Mission complete. Please proceed immediately to an open area."

Senior Brother Zhou used the word "immediately," so they didn't dare to delay and hurriedly rushed out of the prison.

Upon reaching the street, the wooden boat they had arrived in slowly descended from the night sky until it hovered motionless half a person's height from the ground.

Luo Xiling looked back reluctantly, seemingly heartbroken that no one was there to admire the moment she showed off her great power; it was truly tragic and lamentable.

"Let's go." Ye Ming climbed up the wooden ladder on the side of the boat. Turning his head to see her acting all sentimental, he urged her helplessly.

"Coming."

After gathering her emotions, the five boarded the boat in sequence, and the wooden boat then soared into the sky.

...

NH Coast, Mountain Base.

The Director was sitting at his computer desk, scratching his head.

Although he had been firm when answering the Old Chief two days ago, he didn't have any confidence in his heart.

Moreover, more and more netizens were leaving comments in the comment section of the Special Investigation Bureau's official website to urge for updates, and each one seemed impatient, claiming they were about to go crazy from waiting.

But it's only been two days, damn it!

If he couldn't produce anything when the time came, they might just charge into the Special Investigation Bureau headquarters to demand the sequel.

Therefore, even though Ye Ming and the others had only been gone for two days, he was anxious about when they would return.

This morning, he was truly anxious and ran to the seaside to call for Immortal Xu, wanting to ask for news of the six.

Only for some reason, Immortal Xu, who usually responded as soon as he was called, had no intention of paying attention to him today.

After shouting for half an hour until his throat was smoking and he couldn't make a sound, the Director returned to his bedroom in frustration.

After returning, he felt the chair was too hard when sitting, complained the bed was too firm when lying down, and felt irritable when pacing back and forth in the room; he was the epitome of restlessness.

The Director felt that if this continued, he might go crazy before the netizens, so he turned on the computer to watch something random to relieve the stress.

Unfortunately, the effect was poor.

With things on his mind, he couldn't focus on anything.

Knock knock—

The door was suddenly knocked heavily. Just as the Director turned his head, Yue Ruo and Lin Miao had already pushed the door and entered.

The two knew the Director's recent situation was difficult, so they hurried to report the good news they had just received: "Director, Immortal Xu has sent over the video that Ye Ming edited!"