Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll

The county office received an average of ten to twenty wanted notices per year. Over fifty years, they had accumulated nearly a thousand of them.

The constables’ room was occupied, so Zhao Lin found an empty utility room to put the documents down.

"Constable Zhao, how are we supposed to search through so many wanted posters?"

He Qingquan found a feather duster and brushed the dust off the documents.

"How to search?"

Seeing so many wanted posters for vicious criminals, Tao Erleng’s fierce hatred for evil flared up, and he ground his teeth in anger.

"Filter by keyword..."

Zhao Lin paused mid-sentence when he saw their blank looks. He explained, "Look for words like ’rape-murder’ or ’rape’ in the documents. Then check the date the notice was issued and the killer’s age. If they match up, pull them out."

"We’re assuming the killer is between fifty and sixty years old right now. Understand?"

"Understood," He Qingquan and Tao Erleng nodded simultaneously.

The three of them sat down—two searching and one verifying. After a full four hours, they had sorted out over forty relevant documents.

Zhao Lin arranged these documents on the table in chronological order and went through them one by one, cross-referencing the culprits’ methods and characteristics. He did this part alone.

After the second pass, the pool of suspects narrowed further, leaving only nine documents.

These documents originated from Yan Province, Tai Province, Wu Province, and Ying Province, where Qinghe County was located.

The oldest document was from Yan Province, thousands of miles away. The case occurred in the 23rd year of the Hongxi era, over thirty years ago.

Zhao Lin picked it up and read it carefully. In addition to the official government wanted notice, there was also a bounty notice from the Xingyun Sect.

The Xingyun Sect was a major sect with several thousand members. Although it was far away in Yan Province, Zhao Lin had heard of it.

In the world of martial arts, when a sect’s power grew to a certain level, it could participate in and influence government affairs.

The details of the case were as follows: The Xingyun Sect had a disciple named Wen Gensheng. He had once been punished by the sect for a mistake and had held a grudge ever since.

On the day of a sect celebration, he took advantage of the chaos to lure out the Law Enforcement Elder’s nine-year-old granddaughter, whom he raped and murdered before fleeing.

Because she was discovered rather late, by the time the Xingyun Sect sent people to hunt him down, Wen Gensheng had long since vanished.

The wanted notice included Wen Gensheng’s portrait, age, cultivation level, and physical description.

"Wen Gensheng, twenty years old, Second Layer of the Qi Realm, date of crime is the 23rd year of the Hongxi era..."

Zhao Lin murmured aloud.

"That was thirty-two years ago now," He Qingquan added from the side.

Zhao Lin nodded. By that calculation, Wen Gensheng would be fifty-two this year. The age matched.

It seemed that capturing him would be difficult, but not exceedingly so.

Given that Wen Gensheng was a trained martial artist with a questionable background, it was impossible for any sect to take him in as a disciple. At most, he could serve as an Honored Guest Elder or an instructor at a martial arts hall.

Without a sufficient supply of resources, it would be very difficult for him to advance in his martial path.

Zhao Lin estimated that Wen Gensheng’s cultivation was likely still in the Qi Realm.

The cases in the other eight documents mostly occurred in Wu Province and Tai Province. It wasn’t until this year that a similar case had appeared in Ying Province.

From these documents, Zhao Lin could roughly piece together Wen Gensheng’s movements.

After fleeing Yan Province, Wen Gensheng went to Wu Province, changed his name to Yan Tiesheng, and worked as an instructor at a place called Tiantong Martial Arts Hall, where he laid low for five years.

But a leopard can’t change its spots. In the 31st year of the Hongxi era, Wen Gensheng struck again.

The victim was a young female disciple from the Tiantong Martial Arts Hall.

Wen Gensheng not only brutalized the female disciple but also took her undergarments. His methods were already quite similar to today’s case.

The Wu Province authorities and the Tiantong Martial Arts Hall jointly issued a wanted notice and a bounty for "Yan Tiesheng".

This was the second, and last, time Wen Gensheng left behind a description of his appearance after committing a crime.

Over the next decade or so, Wen Gensheng committed a crime every few years. His methods grew more practiced, the intervals between attacks shortened, and his crimes gradually evolved into a series of rape-murders.

But for some unknown reason, Wen Gensheng suddenly went quiet for the last ten years, with no similar cases reported, only to start again this year.

Despite this, he had harmed no fewer than fifty women over the years.

To capture him, various provincial governments offered rewards ranging from one hundred to one thousand taels. But the largest bounty of all was from the Xingyun Sect.

To apprehend Wen Gensheng, the Xingyun Sect offered a reward of one Moisturizing Pill plus one hundred taels of Gold.

"A Moisturizing Pill?"

Zhao Lin’s heart skipped a beat. Though he didn’t know how valuable a Moisturizing Pill was, the fact that the Xingyun Sect would formally list it in a bounty meant it was certainly no ordinary pill.

One Moisturizing Pill plus one hundred taels of Gold... It seemed the Gold was just a bonus, and the pill was the real prize.

Zhao Lin gathered the nine documents and said to He Qingquan, "Elder He, please take the trouble to return the other documents. Remember, this matter must be kept strictly confidential!"

"Don’t worry, Constable Zhao. My lips are sealed."

He Qingquan agreed readily.

Although he couldn’t fully grasp Zhao Lin’s investigative methods, he could tell from the documents that they were related to the current case and was secretly amazed.

It was already past noon. Zhao Lin made an excuse about getting a meal and left the county office, heading straight for the Liuhe Sect.

At this point in the investigation, they could have already moved to arrest the suspect.

However, the method of capture was closely tied to this Moisturizing Pill. He had to understand its significance first.

As a constable, most of the credit for solving cases went to his superiors—namely, the County Magistrate and the head constable.

The rewards on the wanted posters would also be confiscated by the government, and he would only receive a very small portion.

But the Xingyun Sect’s bounty was different. It was more like a public underworld contract—whoever caught the man would get the Moisturizing Pill and the hundred taels of Gold!

If the Moisturizing Pill was truly precious and greatly beneficial to one’s martial path, then he had to ensure he was the one to capture this man personally.

"A Moisturizing Pill?"

In the rear courtyard of the Liuhe Sect, Zhu Huaishan sized Zhao Lin up and asked, "Where did you hear about that?"

Zhao Lin laid the nine documents out in a row in front of Zhu Huaishan.

"Wen Gensheng!"

When Zhu Huaishan saw the first document, his eyes reddened, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Master, what’s wrong?"

Zhao Lin had never seen his master so agitated and was stunned. Then his heart tightened. ’Could Master have some connection to this Wen Gensheng?’

He studied Zhu Huaishan closely and found that the more he looked, the more his master resembled the portrait of Wen Gensheng.

’They couldn’t be relatives, or even father and son, could they?’

Zhu Huaishan noticed Zhao Lin’s gaze and guessed what he was thinking. His face darkened. "What nonsense are you thinking? I wish I could kill him with my own hands! Where is he?"

Zhao Lin knew his master had no reason to deceive him—his strength was plain to see. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "He’s hiding in a secret passage in the Yunlai Inn."

"Let’s go get him now!" Zhu Huaishan said, standing up.

"Master, wait."

Zhao Lin hadn’t expected his master to be even more eager than he was. He explained, "We aren’t familiar with the layout. We might be at a disadvantage if we rush in. Besides, what if the secret passage has multiple exits and he gets away?"

Zhu Huaishan sighed, sat back down, and said slowly, "To tell you the truth, I am also from the Xingyun Sect. Wen Gensheng... was my disciple."

Zhao Lin’s mouth fell open, but he didn’t know what to say.

Zhu Huaishan continued, "When disciples of the Xingyun Sect reach the Blood Realm, if they cannot advance further, they generally have two choices."

"They can either remain in the sect to hold a position and manage its assets, or they can leave to establish new branches, discover talented young people, and send them back to the sect."

"I chose the former. I stayed in the sect as a deacon and took on several new disciples, Wen Gensheng among them."

"The boy had good aptitude and was diligent in his training, but he had an extreme temperament and often did outrageous things. I thought he was still young and would gradually correct his ways as he grew older, so I only gave him minor punishments. I never expected..."

"I felt ashamed and unworthy of the sect, unable to face them. That’s why I came here to Qinghe County, hoping to train a few talented disciples to atone for my past mistake."

A silence fell between them.

Zhao Lin comforted him, "Master, you can’t blame yourself for this. Some people are just born bad. They’re antisocial—no, that’s not right. I think it’s called a callous personality. They’re born like stones; you can never warm them up."