Li Mei Solves the Case

Wangjiatun.

On the notice board at the village entrance, a notice was posted. Black characters on white paper, stamped with the red seal of the Tianyan Sect.

"The Tianyan Sect guards Cangwu. Within Cangwu County, any monster beasts, bandit plagues, or disputes can be reported to us!"

The notice had been up for three days, but no one believed it.

Wangjiatun was located in the northwest of Cangwu County, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing water on the fourth.

A nest of bandits lived on the mountain, about a hundred of them, all burly and strong. Their leader was a rogue cultivator at the third level of Qi Condensation, wielding a ghost-head broadsword, chopping people down as easily as slicing melons.

Every ten days or half a month, the bandits would come down the mountain to "collect grain," robbing whatever they saw.

The villagers of Wangjiatun farmed all year round, but most of their harvest was snatched away by the bandits, leaving just enough to keep them alive.

Someone had reported it to the authorities, but the officials said there were too many bandits and they could not manage it.

Someone had hired rogue cultivators, but they said the bandit leader's cultivation was too high to defeat.

The people of Wangjiatun had resigned themselves to their fate.

Until today.

At the village entrance, a young man wearing a short gray shirt walked down from the mountain path.

An iron sword hung at his waist, and the character "Yan" was embroidered on his chest.

The villagers of Wangjiatun hid in their houses, peeking out through the cracks in their doors.

Someone whispered, "Is that a disciple of the Tianyan Sect? Why did he go alone? There are over a hundred bandits on that mountain."

No one answered.

Half an hour later, miserable screams echoed from the mountain.

Another half hour passed, and the young man in the short gray shirt walked down the mountain, carrying a human head in his hand. It was none other than the leader at the third level of Qi Condensation.

He hung the head on the notice board at the village entrance and clapped his hands.

"The bandits have been wiped out. Go back to your farming and your market days. If anything happens in the future, go to Qingyun Mountain and find the Tianyan Sect!"

The villagers of Wangjiatun were stunned for a long time, and then they dropped to their knees, thudding against the ground one after another.

"The Tianyan Sect... The Tianyan Sect is here! We are saved!"

...

Shiqiao Village.

There was a river in Shiqiao Village, and a stone bridge spanned across it. The bridge was built with money pooled by the villagers and had been walked upon for hundreds of years.

But last month, an Iron-backed Crocodile arrived in the river. Its skin was thick and rough, invulnerable to swords and spears.

The people of Shiqiao Village did not dare to cross the bridge, and outside peddlers did not dare to enter the village.

If the villagers wanted to go to the town for the market, they had to detour thirty miles through mountain roads and cross two peaks.

On this day, two registered disciples from the Tianyan Sect arrived. The two stood by the river for an entire night.

Early the next morning, the corpse of the Iron-backed Crocodile was floating on the river, with two bloody holes in its belly.

The two dragged the crocodile ashore, skinned it, distributed the meat to the villagers, and took the skin back to the sect to complete their mission.

The villagers of Shiqiao Village held the crocodile meat, crying their eyes out.

"The Tianyan Sect... The Tianyan Sect is our savior!"

...

Lijia Village...

Zhangjia Stronghold...

Wujia Fort...

Zhoujia Bay...

Such stories were playing out simultaneously in every corner of Cangwu County.

Some were slaying monsters, some were wiping out bandits, and some were eliminating evil.

Ding! Unidentified situation detected. The attitude of the Wangjiatun villagers toward the Tianyan Sect has turned to gratitude. Sect Points +20.

Ding! Unidentified situation detected. The attitude of the Shiqiao Village villagers toward the Tianyan Sect has turned to gratitude. Sect Points +20.

Ding! Detected...

...

Xinglong Town, the market.

Every third, sixth, and ninth day of the month, there was a market in town.

Villagers from miles around would carry loads on their shoulders or drive horse carts into town to sell grain, vegetables, and poultry.

With the crowds came the thieves.

People lost money, goods, and livestock at every market.

When reported to the authorities, the officials would say there were too many people to investigate, leaving the commoners to just accept their bad luck.

Today was the ninth, and the market was packed with a sea of people.

An old man selling pigs squatted by the roadside. In front of him were two cages of piglets, furry and grunting.

He had been selling for half a day but only managed to sell one piglet. He clutched a few dozen copper coins and stuffed them into the pouch kept close to his body.

In the time it took to turn around, his pouch was empty.

"A thief! Catch the thief! Nobody leave! No one is allowed to leave!"

The old man grabbed the people around him, refusing to let anyone go.

A few dozen coins were enough to feed his entire family for a month.

"My money... give me back my money..."

A crowd gathered, murmuring in discussion. Some gloated, some expressed sympathy, but no one stepped forward to help.

If you lost something at the market, you just had to accept your bad luck!

Right at that moment, a crisp voice rang out from outside the crowd.

"Make way, make way."

Li Mei squeezed into the crowd.

She wore a light cyan dress, with a jade token hanging at her waist. The token was engraved with the characters "Tianyan," and on the back was the character "Patrol."

Behind her followed two registered disciples, one on the left and one on the right, iron swords hanging at their waists.

Li Mei squatted down and looked at the old man.

"Old man, don't cry. How much money did you lose? When did you lose it?"

The old man raised his head, saw the token at Li Mei's waist, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"The... The Tianyan Sect! Miss, are you an immortal from the Tianyan Sect?"

Li Mei nodded.

The old man dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Lord Immortal, you must seek justice for this old man! I sold piglets all morning and only got sixty-three copper coins. I had just tucked them into my pouch, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone!"

"The thief must be right here among them!"

Li Mei helped the old man up, her gaze sweeping over the onlookers.

The crowd immediately erupted in uproar.

"Why aren't we allowed to leave? We still have shopping to do!"

"Exactly! If you lost money, go report it to the authorities! Even the officials don't care, so how could a little girl like you handle it?"

"Don't delay our business! If you don't get out of the way, we'll force our way through!"

Someone cursed and was about to leave, but Li Mei did not get angry. She simply raised her hand and gently pressed it down.

"Everyone, please calm down."

Her voice was not loud, but it carried an inexplicable soothing power. The originally noisy crowd actually began to quiet down slowly.

"I know it's not easy for everyone to come to the market. This won't delay you for long."

She looked at the old man's hunched back, her voice softening a bit. "This old man is advanced in years. He sold piglets all morning just to earn these sixty-three coins. Having lost this money, his whole family will go hungry this month."

"Everyone, I have a presumptuous request. This old man is truly pitiful, and I would like to ask everyone to help him."

"If everyone donates one copper coin, we can gather sixty-three coins to make up for the old man's loss."

Li Mei turned her head and said to the disciple behind her, "Go, bring a bowl of clear water."

The disciple complied and left, quickly returning with a bowl of clear well water, which he placed on the ground.

Then, Li Mei took a copper coin from her robes and gently dropped it into the bowl. With a sharp "ding," the coin sank to the bottom.

"I will donate one coin first! If everyone pities the old man, please also donate a coin."

The crowd fell silent again.

One copper coin was not a lot, but it wasn't a small amount either!

The crowd looked at the solitary coin in the bowl, then looked at the old man crying tears of sorrow, and their hearts softened.

"What a sin... what a sin..."

An auntie selling vegetables sighed, stepped forward, and tossed a copper coin into the bowl.

"Forget it, forget it. I'll just consider it accumulating good karma."

With someone taking the lead, the people behind followed suit.

Clink, clank. The sound of copper coins falling into the bowl echoed one after another.

"Since the immortal official of the Tianyan Sect has spoken, I will donate a coin too."

"I'll donate too!"

Soon, the bowl was nearly half full of copper coins.

At this moment, a scrawny middle-aged man wearing a short gray cloth shirt, with his head down and his neck hunched, dawdled over to the edge of the bowl.

He swiftly pulled a copper coin from his robes. With a quick flick of his wrist, he tossed it into the bowl and immediately turned to leave.

"Hold it!"

Li Mei suddenly cried out, her hand shooting forward to seize the man tightly by the wrist.

"It was you! You're the one who stole the old man's money!"