The next day.

Having completed a night of cultivation, Chen Yuan awoke from his seated meditation, his eyes gleaming with a sharp light as he exhaled a breath of stale air.

After refining all the Blood Accumulation Pills and eight Tiger Bone Pills, Chen Yuan spent another night completing his sixth blood refinement. The strength of his body had increased again, but the amplification was not as powerful as before.

Even the top-tier body refinement techniques have their limits. It is impossible for each blood refinement to bring about a surge in power. In fact, as the number of blood refinements increases, the effect will gradually decrease.

The golden hue of his inner blood, however, grew deeper.

Even with the reduced effect, it was still many times stronger than ordinary techniques that only allowed for three blood refinements.

Chen Yuan stood up and slightly twisted his neck, producing a series of cracking sounds.

He had already completed most of the nine blood refinements. He estimated that the Tiger Bone Pills he had on hand would be enough to support him for one more refinement.

He had found ten Tiger Bone Pills and several Blood Accumulation Pills on Han Feihu alone, while the rest of the bandits combined had only ten pills.

All of these things ended up in Chen Yuan's possession.

The yamen runners pretended not to see anything, as Chen Yuan had already been generous enough to them.

As for where the merchants' cultivation resources had gone?

Of course, they had all been used by the bandits!

Chen Yuan put on his head constable uniform hanging on the wall, feeling refreshed. A night of cultivation was more comfortable than sleeping.

"Creak..."

Wang Ping pushed open the door and entered Chen Yuan's small courtyard.

"Brother Yuan..."

"What's wrong?"

Chen Yuan put on his clothes, walked out of the room, and glanced at Wang Ping.

"Shall we go to the county yamen together?"

Chen Yuan nodded, scooped up some cold water from the water tank, and splashed it on his face.

"Let's go."

"Oh, right, Brother Yuan, the Wang family father and son are still locked up in jail. What should we do with them?" Wang Ping asked casually, hurrying to catch up with Chen Yuan.

"I promised them I would spare their lives."

"I understand..." Wang Ping nodded.

"What do you understand? *I* promised them, not you." Chen Yuan glanced at Wang Ping.

Wang Ping's expression froze for a moment, then he laughed.

"Understood."

After buying some breakfast from Zhou's Bun Shop, Chen Yuan and Wang Ping walked and ate. Before long, they arrived at the county yamen, where the yamen runners greeted them one after another.

Their eyes were filled with awe towards Chen Yuan.

"Sir..."

Zhao Ning hurried to Chen Yuan's side, his eyes somewhat dark.

"How's the interrogation going?"

Chen Yuan asked.

He had left one bandit alive yesterday because he wanted to find out their origins. He already had a feeling that these bandits were disguised.

But he still lacked evidence.

"We've already gotten it out of him. Most of them are deserters from Liangzhou. The leader's name isn't Han Feihu; it's Song Ming. He was a centurion because..."

Zhao Ning told Chen Yuan everything he had learned from the interrogation, not daring to hide anything.

Chen Yuan's eyes flickered, and he nodded. It was indeed as he had expected.

"You've worked hard tonight. Have someone take the bandits' heads to parade them through the streets, then take two days off at home."

"Thank you, sir."

"Oh, right, don't reveal the true identities of these bandits."

"Yes, sir."

......

"I didn't expect these guys to be deserters from Liangzhou..." Li Mingqi lightly tapped his fingers on the table after hearing Chen Yuan's words, his eyes moving as he sized up Chen Yuan.

"Sir, should we report the news?"

"Of course. Apprehending these deserters isn't the county yamen's responsibility. Even if the higher-ups don't give us awards, they should give you credit." Li Mingqi nodded.

"It's all thanks to you, sir. I was just following your orders."

"I heard that all the cultivation resources from the recovered goods are gone?"

"They were all refined by the bandits." Chen Yuan smiled.

"Yes, the bandits are indeed detestable." Li Mingqi and Chen Yuan exchanged a smile, understanding each other perfectly.

Chen Yuan hadn't embezzled the 150 taels of silver, so he naturally had to make up for it in other ways. Li Mingqi wouldn't be unreasonable. In fact, Chen Yuan had done a good job.

If it had been just one day later, those bandits would have secretly left Ping An County. Not only would Chen Yuan be punished, but his own face would also be affected.

With such an efficient subordinate, Li Mingqi wouldn't dwell on small issues.

To err is human.

"Sir, I have something else to report." Chen Yuan said in a low voice.

"What is it?"

"From the bandits' mouths, I learned that Liu Shuanghe had sent people to find them and have them ambush and kill me."

As he spoke, Chen Yuan kept his eyes fixed on Li Mingqi.

"Is that so?"

Li Mingqi frowned.

"Do you have any evidence?"

Chen Yuan shook his head slightly.

"Not really."

"I understand. Don't worry; with me here, Liu Shuanghe can't do anything to you..."

Chen Yuan glanced at the ground and smiled.

"That's right. With you here, sir, Liu Shuanghe can only play petty tricks."

In his heart, however, he was thinking that anyone who believed Li Mingqi would really be asking for death.

He couldn't put all his hopes on the yamen. There's no such thing as a thief for a thousand days, but there's no way to guard against a thief for a thousand days.

Leaving the county yamen, Chen Yuan sat alone in his study for an hour.

"Brother Yuan, you were looking for me?"

Wang Ping pushed open the door, sized him up, and sat down opposite Chen Yuan.

"I need you to go to the Liu family in Cao County for me."

Chen Yuan didn't stand on ceremony and went straight to the point.

Seeing Chen Yuan's solemn expression, Wang Ping didn't ask why, but simply nodded and said:

"Okay."

Chen Yuan took out a letter from behind him and gave it to Wang Ping, instructing him to also take a keepsake from both Liu Ruoqing and Liu Changzhi and send them together to Liu Shuanghe's mansion.

Wang Ping didn't dare to delay, took the letter, turned around, and left the room.

Chen Yuan's eyes flickered with a hint of killing intent. He would never let go of the fact that Liu Shuanghe had sent someone to kill him, but right now, he didn't have enough strength.

Coupled with the matter of Ci'en Temple, Chen Yuan couldn't free up his hands to take revenge. He could only temporarily feign compliance and stabilize him for the time being.

In the letter, Chen Yuan vaguely mentioned Han Feihu's death, also warning Liu Shuanghe that if there were any similar incidents, Liu Changzhi would die, and Liu Ruoqing would be thrown into the death row prison to be at their mercy.

After the warning, he also told Liu Shuanghe indirectly that he didn't want to be enemies with the Liu family. Capturing Liu Ruoqing was all an order from his superior, and he was just executing it.

He also directly stated that as long as he was safe, Liu Ruoqing and Liu Changzhi would be perfectly safe, hoping that Liu Shuanghe wouldn't do anything unwise.

They had no grievances to begin with, so there was no need to fight to the death. The Liu family's real enemy wasn't him!

Chen Yuan didn't know if this letter would be useful, but it could at least buy him some time.