Chapter 1710: Kill? Or deceive?

A large seal about the size of an adult fist silently sat on top of the administer table, constantly giving off a faint golden glow.

The County Magistrate was sitting behind the counter, silently gazing outside the window.

This was what Gu Qing Shan saw as he entered the room.

Officer Liu reported: “Sir, Officer Gu has arrived”

“Greetings, sir” Gu Qing Shan also clasped his fist and said.

The County Magistrate didn’t turn around and asked: “Officer Gu, what is your most well-versed skill?”

“Archery, sir” Gu Qing Shan answered.

The County Magistrate seemed interested: “I still haven’t gotten the chance to observe your archery skills, come and fire a few shots for me”

He reached his hand forward and pointed at a certain point outside the window.

There was a large tree in that direction with several chirping sparrows.

Officer Liu took a look and explained: “The Magistrate likes to eat wild game——— whether or not there’s a platter of sparrow for lunch will depend on you, brother”

Understanding what he implied, Gu Qing Shan stepped forward and carefully examined his targets.

The sparrows were happily frolicking up and down the trees, moving about randomly.

At this point, he had already remembered quite a few things, so he naturally remembered his archery skills as well, casually nocking an arrow on the bow, he pulled the bowstring.

The County Magistrate and Officer Liu were both observing him with bated breaths.

He easily pulled the bow to a full draw and let loose an arrow that streaked through the air like a blurred image.

Bam!

Almost immediately, a resounding and continuous sound of impact was not only heard but also felt, the entire tree shook so intensely that some of them thought it might be blown away.

Under the sunlight, leaves of various colors fluttered to the ground.

The sparrows were already startled into taking flight and fled.

Officer Liu clicked his tongue in admiration.

If such an arrow was used to shoot people...

Gu Qing Shan lowered his bow and grinned: “My archery was trained to hunt large wild beasts, it can also be used to kill people, but I’m not very confident with small animals”

Officer Liu regained his senses and praised: “With such archery skills, no wonder you were able to kill nine bandits”

At this point, a weak cry would be heard from the tree.

The County Magistrate didn’t say anything and turned around, also taking a bow off the wall and nocked an arrow onto it.

Shu—-

The arrow flew among the leaves.

The cry disappeared.

Officer Liu instantly started praising: “What excellent archery! That bird nest was hidden so deep that not even brother Gu managed to discover, but sir Magistrate found it in just one shot”

The County Magistrate shook his head: “If all of you have the same level of skill as Officer Gu, this Magistrate wouldn’t need to worry about the safety of the county”

Officer Liu felt a bit embarrassed and just laughed to gloss it over without saying anything else.

The County Magistrate returned to his table and pointed at the seal: “Old Liu, today I want you to introduce him to the others, then head out of the city and proceed with this——— that matter had already continued for over half a month, seize your time and complete it”

“Understood, sir” Officer Liu said.

“Sir, then I’ll excuse myself” Gu Qing Shan bowed.

“Hm, you’re dismissed, do your job well”

The County Magistrate said.

After the two of them left for a while, someone else came to report to him.

“How was it?” the County Magistrate asked.

His subordinate replied: “Sir, I’ve investigated his background. He is indeed the Village Guard for that most secluded and barren village, having taken up this post for several years. But there was something strange”

“What was strange?” the County Magistrate cautiously asked.

“He didn’t interact or communicate with the other villagers too frequently, living by himself on the mountain and would only check up on the village every once in a while” the subordinate answered.

Hearing that, the County Magistrate instead became relaxed and said: “Hmph, that is nothing. If it was me, I wouldn’t be willing to intermingle with those peasants either”

“If that’s the case, everything makes sense... he had always been making preparations to move to the city for work...”

...

Gu Qing Shan was riding a horse to leave the city with Officer Liu.

“Ahaha, how was it, brother Gu?” Officer Liu asked.

“Everyone’s been too kind, this humble Gu doesn’t really know how to react” Gu Qing Shan replied.

They had just met all of their colleagues just earlier.

One of them had grandly declared that they would treat everyone to a drinking party tonight, someone else said they would take care of the feast tomorrow, one said they’d call a few ladies over that’ll guarantee to satisfy him, some of his colleagues even expressed their will to become sworn brothers with him.

Everyone had agreed to meet up one hour ahead of time to gamble for a little bit.

There were as many of them as trees in the forest, although it felt a bit chaotic, Gu Qing Shan could clearly feel their sincerity.

——-perhaps news of that arrow had spread, as all of his colleagues were very welcoming to him.

“Brother Liu, do we Officers get paid a lot?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Why do you ask that?” Officer Liu asked in return.

“The restaurant everyone agreed to meet at was in the middle of the city, when I walked by it earlier, I saw that the price was quite high——- so I wondered if this would trouble everyone” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“Ahaha, it’s no issue. In this entire county, what restaurant would actually have the courage to ask us to pay?” Officer Liu replied casually.

Gu Qing Shan nodded, then continued: “Then gambling—– your brother here had only just arrived in the county, I don’t have much money with me, so I think I wouldn’t be able to do anything except watch”

Officer Liu once again told him that it was no issue: “There’ll be people who come bringing money at that time, you just need to enjoy yourself”

Gu Qing Shan was surprised: “Someone will come bringing money?”

“Yes, we can just call upon some large merchants and they’ll prepare the money ahead of time, no need for you to worry about” Officer Liu explained.

“Why is this the case?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

Officer Liu patted his chest: “The peace of this entire region is in our hands, so what does it matter that they occasionally give up some wealth?”

Gu Qing Shan replied: “That’s true, then I won’t need to worry about gambling and food, but one of our colleagues called Li said that he’d call some ladies——”

“Ahahaha, don’t worry about that, he’ll only be calling on good families. One word—— safety!” Officer Liu told him.

“Good families?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Brother Gu, this entire county is under our sir County Magistrate’s protection, and we’re the ones protecting it under his orders——- whether those peasants need to spend their money or effort, they need to do everything to keep us happy so we possess the strength to protect them, wouldn’t you say?” Officer Liu said.

“What if they refuse to?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“If they want to live, they’ll follow the rules” Officer Liu indifferently answered.

Gu Qing Shan smiled: “So that’s how it was, I understand”

The two of them galloped on their horses to quickly leave the city and arrived at a dock outside the city.

This place wasn’t too far away from the county city, only a couple dozen miles away, with several small boats ready to take people to the other side.

The two of them disembarked their horses and headed towards the riverbanks.

“All you need to do is throw that seal into the water and that’s our job done” Officer Liu told him.

“Is it that simple?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Perhaps some aquatic monsters will be disturbed, if something does happen, it’ll be up to your abilities” Officer Liu said.

He handed the seal to Gu Qing Shan, then retreated a certain distance backwards.

Gu Qing Shan accepted the seal, only to see two small words engraved on it:

[Jiu Ping]

Jiu Ping——

Sounds like the name of a nearby village.

Gu Qing Shan turned to Officer Liu and appeared confused.

Officer Liu shouted from afar: “What’s the matter?”

Gu Qing Shan shouted back: “There are two words on this!”

Officer Liu shouted again: “What does it say?”

Gu Qing Shan was about to say something when he suddenly thought of something.

Officer Liu had been keeping this seal for the entire journey, and the words were pointed directly at him when he took it out earlier, so how could he not see them?

Or perhaps——

Gu Qing Shan slowly ran back and showed the seal to Officer Liu: “Look, there are two words here”

Officer Liu narrowed his eyes and said: “They are two words, but my eyes aren’t that good, what does it say?”

Gu Qing Shan noticed that detail and instantly answered: “I won’t lie to brother, I grew up in the village, so I haven’t learnt how to read”

Officer Liu seemed to sigh in relief and said in return: “It’s ok, I don’t know too many words either”

——–a moment of awkward silence.

After staying still for a bit, the two of them exchanged glances and suddenly laughed out loud.

Officer Liu appeared a bit more intimate with him.

Gu Qing Shan also appeared a lot more friendly.

However——

An Officer doesn’t only represent the might of the county administration office, they also need to resolve various other matters, and yet he said he doesn’t know how to read.

Various thoughts crossed Gu Qing Shan’s mind before he continued: “I’ve seen others say this first word before, I think it’s ‘Jiu’, but I don’t recognize the second word”

Officer Liu slapped his thigh and said in surprise: “Then I know, if the first word is ‘Jiu’, then the second word must be ‘Ping'”

“Why ‘Ping’?”

“Because in our county, there’s only one village called Jiu Ping, none of the other villages have the word ‘Jiu’ in it”

He then urged Gu Qing Shan: “Alright, do your work first, I’ll explain it to you later”

Having no other choice, Gu Qing Shan could only take the seal back to the riverbanks, occasionally sneaking a glance at Officer Liu.

——from how it looks, he’s already prepared to flee at any moment.

Gu Qing Shan muttered to himself, then tossed the seal into the river.

Plop!

The seal sank into the water and quickly disappeared.

The river began to bubble like it was boiling.

A six-eyed black fish emerged from the river and charged straight towards Gu Qing Shan.

A loud bang was heard as an arrow was let loose.

In an instant, the arrow had already struck the black fish and sent it flying.

Gu Qing Shan turned his bow and shot dozens of arrows in a row, his right hand moving like an afterimage.

The arrows drew clear arcs across the air as they all accurately struck the black fish’s six eyes, followed by its entire body.

Puu—–

The black fish fell back into the river and sank down, then slowly floated belly up, no longer moving.

The fish corpse slowly drifted away following the water current.

Gu Qing Shan stood motionlessly by the riverbanks, gradually regaining his senses.

He had recalled quite a few more things by killing this fish.

This time, I seem to recall things faster than before.

——then, aside from deceiving people, I was also a killer?

He thought for a while before turning around and heading back towards Officer Liu.

“Brother Liu, what was up with that seal earlier?” he asked.

Officer Liu looked at his calm demeanor, then glanced at the quiver on his back.

——-his quiver was empty.

In a single breath’s worth of time, he had shot all 42 arrows from the quiver.

Officer Liu said with admiration: “Brother, your skills are quite considerable—— that seal was something sent by the royal capital, distributed to each county periodically. Its main use is to anchor the Five Elements of each location”

“Since that seal had ‘Jiu Ping’ engraved on it, does that mean it was supposed to be given to Jiu Ping village?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“That’s exactly the case. If a village has a seal, there would be a much smaller chance of them being attacked by monsters” Officer Liu said.

“Then why did you tell me to throw the seal into the water?”

“Because Jiu Ping village no longer exists”

“...But why?”

Officer Liu sighed and explained: “During the night before the last, that village was already attacked by monsters, only nearly half of the people survived”

“Then why do we have to throw this seal into the river?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.

“Although the village no longer exists, this seal’s function to anchor the Five Elements remains. It would be able to become the anchor downstream of this river and ensure the safety of the county city” Officer Liu answered.

“If there were survivors, why didn’t we give the seal to them for safety?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Of course it’s because the county city is more important, brother” Officer Liu answered like it was obvious.

Gu Qing Shan nodded and didn’t say anything else.

The two of them quickly returned to the city.

Officer Liu first reported the entire matter, then Gu Qing Shan was once again summoned.

“Officer Gu, what did you learn during this trip?” the County Magistrate asked with a smile.

“This matter is very simple. Next time, I think I can do it alone without any issues” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“Well said!” the County Magistrate praised, then said: “Officer Gu, from now on, every five days, you will head out to various locations outside the city to release the seals—— after this entire matter is complete, the county city will be safe, and you will be rewarded handsomely”

“Understood, sir” Gu Qing Shan replied.

...

Gu Qing Shan returned to the courtyard house he was provided.

He brewed himself a pot of tea and sat below the shade of the tree, gradually thinking about various matters while enjoying his tea.

At this time, most of his memories had returned, except one last portion that he couldn’t remember no matter what.

What did I go through after defeating the Soul Shrieker?

Gu Qing Shan tried wracking his brain in thought.

One hour passed.

The tea was already cold, but he still couldn’t remember what that matter was.

It couldn’t be helped.

——it seems I’ll need to do more things that I was familiar with in order to return my memories.

But should I kill a bunch of people, or deceive them?

That’s a serious question.

Gu Qing Shan suddenly recalled what Officer Liu had said and couldn’t help but sigh.

He took out the black orchid.

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