Chapter 266 – Justice Executed

“Boom, boom, boom…”

Hooves thundered, shaking the earth.

Mu Lin’s Beiwei Army had been dispatched.

As the City God, though newly appointed, Mu Lin had taken notice when incidents of Demonic Cultivators harming people occurred in Ping’an Ancient County.

Unfortunately, ordinary people were utterly powerless against Qi Refiners. Even if he became aware, Mu Lin couldn’t save everyone.

Just like the courtyard where the Demonic Cultivator had performed the ritual refinement of the Five Ghost Infants—by the time Mu Lin’s Yin Soldiers and Ghost Messengers arrived, there were no survivors left in the house. Only traces of blood remained, bearing witness to the tragedy that had unfolded.

This scene darkened Mu Lin’s expression within the Netherworld Law Domain.

Outside, not far from the Netherworld Soldiers, light laughter and murmurs arose.

“Such Resentment… Could it be that a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost has been ‘nurtured’ here? How enviable.”

“Not just Resentful Souls, but Ghost Infants too. Damn it, such excellent potential. If only I had discovered this household first…”

Some envied, others grew jealous, while a few turned their attention to Mu Lin’s Yin Soldiers and Ghost Messengers, frowning slightly.

“These are also nether spirits? No, they lack the Resentment of ordinary soul spirits. How strange.”

“Indeed strange. And have you noticed? These Wraiths are quite powerful… You’re right—the Demon Suppression Commander who came this time is not someone to be trifled with.”

“Hmph, so what if he’s not to be trifled with? We haven’t committed any crimes. What can he do to us?”

“Exactly. We’re just here to watch the spectacle.”

“Spectacle? Hah, you’re here to mock, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Hehe…”

Feeling untouchable, a group of Demonic Sect Rogue Cultivators stood brazenly nearby, pointing and commenting on Mu Lin’s Yin Soldiers and Ghost Messengers.

They believed that without evidence of wrongdoing, the Demon Suppression Division could do nothing to them.

Among them, an old Daoist missing a tooth grinned with particular malice.

He was the Demonic Cultivator who had killed the infants and performed the ritual refinement of the Five Ghost Infants.

Whether out of boldness, a desire to show off, or to vent his frustration at being relentlessly pursued by the Demon Suppression Division, after committing the murders, he hadn’t fled. Instead, he had returned to witness the Demon Suppression Division’s helpless rage.

‘We haven’t committed any crimes—what can the Demon Suppression Division do to us?’ were his words as well.

However, just as they reveled in their arrogance and mocked the Demon Suppression Division to their heart’s content, the arriving Netherworld Soldiers, upon finding the empty house deserted, immediately turned their gaze toward them.

Simultaneously, an icy command was issued by Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers.

“Come with us.”

“???”

This order left the onlooking Demonic Cultivators stunned. Then, someone snorted coldly and retorted, “On what grounds?”

“Exactly! We didn’t kill the people here. Why should we go with you?”

“Heh, this Daoist just arrived…”

Some refused with cold laughter, others argued with reason.

But to all these words, Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers paid no heed. They simply stated firmly, “Guilt is not for you to decide—it is for our Demon Suppression Division to determine.”

“Now, we suspect you are guilty. You must come with us.”

“If you dare resist, it proves your malicious intent. Killing you would be nothing less than deserved retribution!”

With those words, the leader of the Beiwei Army waved his hand, and immediately, Ghost Messengers brought out Soul-Binding Chains, binding the surrounding Demonic Cultivators.

Naturally, some resisted this scene.

Seeing this, Mu Lin, controlling the squad leader of the Beiwei Army, spoke in a cold, eerie voice: “Think carefully. If you come with us now, you’ll only be investigated. If you’re truly innocent, you’ll be released soon. But if you dare resist, that will confirm your guilt. The few people in that room will be deemed killed by all of you gathering here, and every one of you will be held accountable.”

These words infuriated the Demonic Cultivators.

“Bastard! You’re just framing us! There were only four or five dead in that room, but there are over ten of us Demonic Cultivators here. How could such an absurd reason—that we gathered to kill them all—even make sense?”

“Exactly! Even if there were only three of us, there wouldn’t be enough people in that room for us to share!”

“Arresting people without evidence—do you even have any regard for the law?”

“Heh…”

Their rebuttals made Mu Lin laugh.

“Right now, what I say is the law. Of course, you can refuse to accept it. You can hold resentment. You can feel discontent. I welcome you to file a complaint at the Demon Suppression Division. When you do, I’ll listen carefully.”

“You…”

Mu Lin’s words left the surrounding Demonic Cultivators, especially the gap-toothed old Daoist, seething with rage.

They never expected that Mu Lin, a cultivator from the Demon Suppression Division, would be just as unreasonable as they were.

Even without evidence, he insisted on arresting them all for interrogation.

Such a tyrannical attitude filled the Demonic Cultivators gathered there with boundless grievance.

“Bastard! You’re from the Demon Suppression Division! How can you act like this?”

“Being so brazen—what difference is there between you and us Demonic Cultivators…”

“Of course there’s a difference. When you Demonic Cultivators kill, it’s a heinous crime. When I kill, it’s delivering justice.”

“Rumble!”

As he spoke, another group of Beiwei Army soldiers was summoned by Mu Lin.

This contingent numbered a full three hundred.

Such a number was nothing extraordinary.

But what made the Demonic Cultivators’ scalps tingle was that every one of these soldiers wearing Malevolent Ghost masks exuded astonishing Baleful Qi and an imposing, solemn aura.

Moreover, each of them possessed a Cultivation Level at the Spirit Pool or even Spirit Sea Realm.

Their energies were interconnected, forming a unified whole. As they advanced, they resembled an immovable mountain.

Such a grand and overwhelming presence instantly drained the Demonic Cultivators of any will to fight.

“Let’s go!”

“Five Ghosts Transport!”

“Whoosh!”

With their fighting spirit gone, the Demonic Cultivators’ first instinct was to flee.

They had no choice but to run.

Most Demonic Cultivators had unclean backgrounds.

Even if they hadn’t killed in Ping’an Ancient Town, they had likely done so elsewhere. Thus, they dared not face the judgment of the Demon Suppression Division.

Unfortunately, escaping wasn’t as simple as they wished.

Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers were not to be trifled with.

Especially the Beiwei Army—with the power of legends behind them, they could hold their own even in one-on-one fights against Demonic Cultivators.

Now, with hundreds of them forming a battle array, they were practically invincible.

What made the Demonic Cultivators despair even more was that their abilities mostly involved controlling Malevolent Ghosts, Specters, Zombies… and such Ghostly Beings were precisely countered by Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers.

“Snap!”

“Wail!!”

No matter how dense the resentment, a single strike from the Ghost Messengers’ Soul-Binding Chains would destabilize the soul.

If bound by the chains, those evil ghosts and wandering souls would instantly become as feeble as tigers stripped of their claws and fangs.

Relying on the Ghost Messengers’ suppression of evil ghosts and the formidable strength of the Beiwei Army, Mu Lin quickly killed or captured all the demonic cultivators.

To be honest, death would have been a mercy for them.

Although Mu Lin’s Netherworld Law Domain currently only had prison cells and lacked the tortures of the Eighteen Levels of Hell, the Manjusaka flower sea could serve as a substitute.

Simply placing the captured demonic cultivators in the flower sea would cause them to be bewitched by the illusion ability of the Manjusaka within a few dozen breaths, plunging them into an illusion realm.

Using this illusion ability, Mu Lin could easily probe the memories of these demonic cultivators to see how many evil deeds they had committed.

After investigating, if their crimes were minor or if they targeted only aristocratic families or other Qi Refiners rather than commoners, Mu Lin would either impose light punishments or simply release them, depending on the situation.

Unfortunately, such individuals were exceedingly rare; so far, Mu Lin had not encountered a single one.

As for the rest, their fates were far more miserable.

After uncovering their crimes, Mu Lin would not kill them outright—that would be too merciful.

Instead, using the illusion art of the Manjusaka, he would weave illusion realms for those demonic cultivators guilty of heinous crimes.

In these illusions, they might live lives of toil and misery as beasts, only to be slaughtered in the end.

Or he would craft illusions where they suffered betrayal, infidelity, or abuse from their parents.

In short, he made their experiences as tragic as possible.

Moreover, their lives in these illusions were filled only with tragedy and suffering, with no possibility of reversal.

Take the gap-toothed old Daoist who had performed ritual refinement on the Five Ghost Infants—he endured all manner of pain and tragedy in the illusion.

In the end, tormented beyond endurance, he even wept and begged Mu Lin to kill him.

“Kill me, I beg you, kill me…”

“I was wrong, I’ll do anything if you just kill me!”

“Wah… please, kill me!”

…

Through this illusion art, those demonic cultivators would cycle through endless suffering.

This was Mu Lin’s punishment for them.

What surprised Mu Lin was that during this punishment, the endless negative emotions emitted by the demonic cultivators—such as the agony of torment, the sorrow and hatred of betrayal, the rage of losing loved ones, and so on—could also serve as energy to aid the growth and propagation of the Manjusaka.

“What’s going on?”

“Is this an inherent ability of the Manjusaka, or a newly emerged ability after merging with divinity?”

After some thought, Mu Lin leaned toward the latter.

After all, this world lacked the Hell Underworld and the River of Forgetfulness.

Without such an environment, the might of the Manjusaka was not as formidable as in his previous life.

This was evident from the Chu Family’s assessment that the Manjusaka was merely an Earth Grade Supreme flower.

This rating was not weak, but neither was it overwhelmingly powerful.

However, after merging with the Joy and Desire Divinity, the Manjusaka had transformed into a Divine Flower, and its abilities had evolved accordingly.

“Now, the Manjusaka is undoubtedly Heavenly Grade!”

Being able to absorb negative emotions to propagate itself greatly lifted the growth restrictions on the Manjusaka.

After all, while the Manjusaka could previously propagate without roots, it could only absorb souls and flesh, making it quite difficult to cultivate.

Now, with the ability to absorb divine souls, flesh, and negative emotions all at once, the propagation of Manjusaka can be described as rapid.

“Originally, Manjusaka only grew near Yin Veins, but if this continues, I feel like my Netherworld Law Domain will be filled with these flowers.”

Hmm… The reason for the swift growth of Mu Lin’s Manjusaka, aside from the fusion of divinity, is primarily the abundance of demonic cultivators.

Souls, flesh, mana, emotions… These, continuously captured and brought into the Netherworld Law Domain, serve as the best fertilizer for the growth of Manjusaka.

“Wait, if this goes on, could it be that the Manjusaka will first advance to Gang Sha Unity and then progress to the Mortal Shedding Stage?”

After careful consideration, Mu Lin realized this was possible, but not certain.

After all, aside from the Manjusaka, Mu Lin’s City God was also growing at an astonishingly fast pace.

Especially after judging a group of demonic cultivators, Mu Lin’s City God seemed to have rocketed forward, accumulating a vast amount of divine power and merit.

(End of Chapter)