Throughout the journey from the mountain cave, Yue Shan earnestly advised Chen Yuan, stressing that if he wished to progress further on the path of martial arts, he shouldn't confine himself to a small county town.

Only through trials of life and death could he ascend to higher realms.

The Sky Survey Division was the best outlet for martial artists like them without any background.

Chen Yuan responded to Yue Shan's advice with nods, neither refusing nor agreeing, merely stating that he would carefully consider it.

And he genuinely intended to give it some serious thought.

Perhaps joining the Sky Survey Division wouldn't be a bad choice.

For one thing, the fact that Ping'an County no longer seemed to harbor anyone with Qi Luck was a major issue, after all, Ping'an County was indeed very small.

When Chen Yuan and the others returned to the Ci'en Temple, the conflict had largely subsided. A dozen or so monks from the Ci'en Temple were firmly guarded by constables and yamen runners, some trembling all over, others chanting Buddhist scriptures with hands clasped, unafraid of the sharp blades.

Chen Yuan scanned these monks one by one, trying to find the figure of the previous green-robed monk, but he was not among the crowd, nor was he among the previously brainwashed martial monks.

Stepping forward, Chen Yuan called the little monk closest to him:

"Why isn't the master who oversees the Scripture Depository here?"

The little monk was taken aback:

"Are you referring to Uncle-Master Xu Yan?"

"Hmm..."

In his memory, that was the Dharma name of the green-robed monk.

"Uncle-Master Xu Yan disappeared the day before yesterday," the little monk quickly replied.

"Disappeared?"

Chen Yuan frowned. Could it be because he told him about the back mountain?

That shouldn't be the case. Chen Yuan hadn't revealed anything about that monk to anyone, and the Ci'en Temple had been very calm these past few days, without any precautions, clearly unaware that their tracks had been exposed.

"Yes, before he disappeared, Uncle-Master Xu Yan had a drunken spree and was reprimanded by Grand Uncle-Master Jie Nan. After that, he disappeared. The temple searched for him, but couldn't find him."

After listening, Chen Yuan instinctively looked towards the Blood Pool in the back mountain.

Could it be that Xu Yan had been killed by the people of the Unborn Church within these few days?

If that were the case, it would indeed be unfortunate.

He silently mourned for him for a moment. However, even if he had died, he could rest in peace, because Chen Yuan had indirectly avenged him.

Although that monk was greedy, it was undeniable that he had helped Chen Yuan in some ways.

Reaching out and patting the little monk's shoulder, Chen Yuan said to the constable guarding nearby:

"This little monk only needs to be questioned. He has nothing to do with the demonic people of the Unborn Church."

"Yes, this humble one obeys."

The constable replied quickly.

"Th...thank you... This... this lord."

The little monk spoke with some stammering excitement, his eyes filled with gratitude. He originally thought he wouldn't be able to escape this time.

Chen Yuan nodded and turned to leave.

As for the other monks, Chen Yuan had no interest in bothering with them. Even if they weren't bandits of the Unborn Church, the fact that they had been plundering the people and believers was true.

They deserved some punishment.

On the way back.

Li Mingqi rode on his horse, his face somewhat pale. Chen Yuan, Wang Ping, and the others followed beside him, reporting to him about the events in the back mountain.

"So, those bandits of the Unborn Church weren't completely wiped out?"

Li Mingqi frowned.

This time, the county yamen suffered heavy losses, with a quarter of the staff injured or killed. The compensation alone would be a large sum of money. It would have been fine if they had eradicated those bandits of the Unborn Church.

But... after putting in so much effort, there were still some that slipped through the net.

It wouldn't be easy to report to the superiors.

"My Lord, this subordinate suspects that the Unborn Church probably has more than just one branch within our Ping'an County..."

Subsequently, Chen Yuan also shared his previous conjecture about the children.

"Chen Detective, you're exaggerating. The Unborn Church has also suffered heavy losses this time. Even if there are any who slipped through the net, they wouldn't dare to cause trouble in the short term."

Li Mingqi glanced at Chen Yuan, his tone subtly hinting that Chen Yuan shouldn't provoke those guys too much.

Now that Lord Zhang had left, who in the Ping'an County Yamen could withstand those demonic people?

His injuries weren't light.

The demonic people of the Unborn Church were lawless. There had been precedents of them attacking and capturing county yamens, killing everyone inside. Li Mingqi didn't want to court disaster.

Chen Yuan: "What Your Lordship says also makes sense."

After the demonic people of the Unborn Church within the Ci'en Temple were wiped out, the county yamen circulated a notice throughout the county, in which County Magistrate Wu Qingfeng passionately denounced the demonic people of the Unborn Church as the source of all chaos.

As for Zhang Xuan, he took those four black-robed people back to the prefecture city on the same day, without stopping in Ping'an County.

This also showed that the Sky Survey Division was indeed busy.

Before leaving, Yue Shan approached Chen Yuan, telling him to find him in the prefecture city for a drink when he had time. As for the matter of joining the Sky Survey Division, he should also give it some serious thought.

But try not to delay too long.

After seeing off the group from the Sky Survey Division, Chen Yuan returned to the detective bureau to begin handling matters regarding compensation and rewards. Fortunately, the silver seized from the Ci'en Temple was not a small amount.

Calculated, the county yamen wouldn't have to spend too much money.

In addition to the compensation, Chen Yuan also learned of Zhao Shuping's arrest. After severe torture, Zhao Shuping confessed to his crimes. Since several years ago, he had been controlled by the Unborn Church using a special poison.

He had been secretly removing many missing people from the household registration records for the Unborn Church. If someone didn't specifically investigate, they wouldn't be able to discover the deception at all.

And Zhao Shuping had also issued strict orders, forbidding anyone from casually investigating the household registration records within Ping'an County.

The only people in the entire Ping'an County who could ignore the obstruction and investigate were Li Mingqi and Wu Qingfeng.

And they...

Seemed to have deliberately ignored this aspect.

Every time they reported, Ping'an County was always peaceful and uneventful.

To be honest, Chen Yuan didn't believe this claim at all.

Li Mingqi and Wu Qingfeng definitely knew something long ago, but they chose to ignore it. As long as the matter wasn't exposed during their term of office, it wouldn't be their fault.

North of Ping'an City.

Inside a restaurant.

At this moment, the sky had already grown somewhat dim, and most of the people on the road were hurrying home.

This was the first time Chen Yuan hadn't left work on time. After returning today, he had been handling the compensation affairs for the yamen runners, and it wasn't finished even now.

But he still needed to eat.

Looking at the black tattoo on his left wrist, Chen Yuan's eyes flickered.

Although it was very quiet within his body now, Chen Yuan had witnessed the evil of this thing today.

It was full of baleful energy and exceptionally bloodthirsty. It seemed that every time he activated it, he had to feed it, otherwise he would suffer backlash. This was the conjecture he had obtained based on today's experiment.

"Brother Yuan, what did you order? Why is this so disgusting..."

Wang Ping picked up a chopstick full of black stuff, put it in his mouth and chewed, frowning slightly.

"Disgusting?" Chen Yuan raised his head and glanced at Wang Ping.

"Disgusting!"

Wang Ping nodded heavily.

Chen Yuan pointed to the scene below the restaurant where two out-of-control rams were butting heads:

"It can ram sheep."