Chapter 55: Chapter 55 - The Righteous Checkpoint and the Whistleblower Trap

Su Bai stood by the ruined well.

He had successfully located the local Corpse-Blight Pearl.

After the aggressive vacuuming, the artifact crumbled into dust, and the oppressive Demonic Miasma covering the settlement finally vanished. The starry night sky revealed itself for the first time in weeks.

Before returning to the carriage, Su Bai took a moment to check his system interface.

The system had automatically signed him in over the past day, logging the location simply as [Mortal Village]. When he manually triggered it just now, it registered the same generic location.

The rewards were identical. He now had two small, gray pouches sitting in his inventory.

[Withered Weeds Ash]

[Description: If absorbed, it coats the meridians and causes the Spirit Root to temporarily lose all ability to absorb ambient Qi.]

Su Bai stared at the description. His corporate brain was immediately looking for the exploit.

Soon, he shook his head. He decided to return to the carriage first.

The Wood Qi bubble was still holding strong, and Yan’er and the other children were still sleeping peacefully. Whatever demonic sedative they had been fed was potent, but Su Bai’s Spiritual Sense confirmed there was no permanent damage. They would wake up naturally by morning.

Su Bai pulled the carriage out of the thicket and walked openly into the purified village.

When the surviving villagers saw a pale man pulling a carriage out of the darkness, they tentatively peeked out of their dilapidated huts. The oppressive weight in their lungs was gone. They could finally breathe.

"Is there a village chief?" Su Bai called out. His voice was calm but it carried across the silent village.

An elderly man, leaning heavily on a wooden cane, stepped forward. He was trembling and his skin was sallow from weeks of toxic exposure.

Su Bai didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He walked up to the old man and discreetly activated the Devouring Maw. He vacuumed the residual miasma directly out of the old man’s system.

The chief gasped. Color returned to his face, and his trembling stopped instantly. He looked at Su Bai as if an immortal god had just descended from the heavens. His knees buckled as he prepared to kowtow.

Su Bai caught him by the arm. "No need for that. I have a job for you."

Su Bai gestured to the carriage. "There are six orphaned children inside. They are safe, but they need shelter."

The chief nodded vigorously. "Yes! Of course, Immortal Lord! We will protect them with our lives!"

"Good," Su Bai said. He felt a twinge of guilt that he couldn’t provide immediate relief. The only food in his storage ring was a single piece of moldy bread. It wasn’t exactly a premium severance package.

"I have business to conclude," Su Bai promised. "If I return and find these children safe and well-cared for, I will reward this village. Do we have a deal?"

"We swear it on our ancestors, Lord!"

With his liabilities safely secured and a local workforce hired, Su Bai finally turned his gaze toward the north.

It was time to escalate his audit.

...

He flew through the night on his flying sword. The cold wind whipped at his Moon-Shadow Cloak.

Su Bai wasn’t an arrogant, hot-blooded cultivator. He knew his limits. He was at the 2nd Stage of Foundation Establishment. Storming a heavily fortified Demonic Sect regional headquarters completely alone, with no intel on their upper management, was a terrible risk assessment.

His Master had mentioned that orthodox sects maintained a presence in the mortal realm to prevent exactly this kind of demonic incursions. In Blackwater City, there was a checkpoint: the Righteous Inspection Bureau.

’I’ll report the coordinates to the local authorities, let the high-level executives handle the heavy lifting, and I’ll swoop in during the raid.’

By the time the sun began to rise, the massive stone walls of Blackwater City loomed on the horizon.

Su Bai landed a mile away and walked the rest of the distance to maintain a low profile. He successfully passed through the mortal gates, but as soon as he stepped into the city, his eyebrows knitted together.

The atmosphere was strange.

There was Demonic Miasma in the air. It wasn’t the thick, suffocating fog that choked the villages, but a thin, almost heavily diluted mist. The mortals walking the streets looked malnourished and tired, but they weren’t dropping dead.

’The miasma here doesn’t look like an invasion.’

He pushed the grim thought aside and navigated toward the center of the city.

Soon, he saw it. Rising above was a massive, pristine white pagoda. It radiated a faint, warm orthodox Qi that actively repelled the miasma. Yet, the mortals on the street seemed terrified of it, actively crossing the muddy road just to avoid walking in its pristine shadow.

Su Bai walked up the white marble steps. Two guards in immaculate white robes stood at the entrance. They were in the late stages of Qi Refining, and they held their chins high with overwhelming arrogance.

"Halt," one guard sneered, then crossed his spear to block Su Bai. "State your business, mortal."

Su Bai pulled back his hood. "I need to speak with your leader immediately. I have found traces of Demonic Cultivators operating in the southern villages."

At the word "Demonic," both guards flinched. They paled visibly, then exchanged a rapid, panicked look.

"Wait here," the first guard barked. His arrogance momentarily vanished as he practically sprinted inside the pagoda.

The remaining guard gripped his spear tightly. He stared at Su Bai. Because of the Moon-Shadow Cloak, he leaked absolutely zero aura. To the guard, he genuinely felt like a sickly mortal.

Sensing no threat, the guard’s panic faded, replaced by his previous haughty sneer. He looked Su Bai up and down with a strange, calculating gaze.

Su Bai’s heart hardened. His HR radar was screaming. That wasn’t the look of a righteous defender assessing a witness. That was the look of a corrupt middle-manager sizing up a convenient scapegoat.

Moments later, the first guard returned, followed by a middle-aged man in luxurious, silver-threaded robes. The man radiated the steady, powerful aura of a 9th Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"Greetings, young friend," the middle-aged man smiled warmly. "I am Inspector Zhao. My men tell me you’ve stumbled upon some troubling news?"

Su Bai recognized that smile instantly. It was the exact same, dead-eyed, perfectly practiced corporate smile his old department head used right before denying someone’s annual bonus.

"Yes, Senior," Su Bai bowed respectfully. His mind raced. He instantly decided to scrub his resume. "I am but a rogue cultivator in the 4th Stage of Qi Refining. I was scavenging for herbs in the south when I saw two terrifying figures fighting. One was clearly demonic. They ended up killing each other... but I found a ledger on one of their bodies."

Inspector Zhao’s eyes flashed with a hidden, sharp intensity. "Is that so? A tragic event, but a fortunate discovery. You did the right thing coming to the Bureau, young man. The Righteous Sects reward such bravery."

Zhao gestured toward the grand doors. "Please, follow me inside. It is not safe to discuss such matters in the open."

The guard nodded subtly to Zhao. Su Bai pretended not to notice. He stepped into the beautiful, incense-filled pagoda. The aesthetics were grand and peaceful.

Zhao led Su Bai up a flight of stairs and into a lavish, windowless VIP chamber.

"Please, sit," Zhao said. "I must go fetch the official reporting crystals and brew us some premium spiritual tea to calm your nerves. Wait right here."

Su Bai nodded obediently. "Thank you, Senior."

The heavy, iron-reinforced mahogany door shut behind the Inspector.

Click. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Su Bai heard the distinct, mechanical sound of an array lock sliding into place from the outside.

He didn’t panic. He just sat in the plush chair, letting out a long, heavy sigh. ’Reporting the corruption to HR is always a mistake. HR works for the company, not the employee.’

Suddenly, the vents near the ceiling hissed.

A pungent, sickly-sweet smell of dark fog began pouring rapidly into the room. It was a highly concentrated toxic fog laced with a powerful, soul-numbing sedative.

Inside a Righteous Inspection Bureau.

Su Bai looked up at the vents, and his eyes widened in perfectly acted disbelief.

As the dark fog filled the room, the toxic Yin Qi violently rushed into Su Bai’s lungs. His Reversal Body instantly activated, happily gobbling up the premium, high-grade sedative and converting it into a warm, incredibly comfortable rush of pure EXP.

It felt like stepping into a hot sauna.

"Oh no," Su Bai said aloud. He injected a perfectly calibrated tone of weak, mortal terror into his voice. "I’ve been... betrayed..."

He dramatically clutched his chest, swayed on his feet, and gracefully face-planted onto the expensive rug, then closed his eyes.