After parting ways with the scholar, the three of them arrived at Banner State City, a city located in the southernmost region of the Plum Glaze Nation. The highest-ranking officer in this city wasn't the prefectural overseer, but instead the official responsible for the canal transport of the region. Meanwhile, the chief military official was a high-ranking official one rank below the canal transport official.0

Chen Ping'an and the others stayed in this city for ten days, and they discovered that the concentration of spiritual energy here was far superior to that of ordinary regional cities. This was a boon for Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye's cultivation, so Chen Ping'an decided to choose a large inn near the river so that the two of them could cultivate in peace. In the meantime, he wandered around the city and heard many things.0

For example, the chief military official had a single son who was mediocre at scholarly studies and had no chance of becoming a champion scholar. He didn't want to study either, and he often whiled away his time in the brothels, leaving him with a terrible reputation. However, he didn't act tyrannically toward other people, and his only quirk was that he liked to instruct his subordinates to wantonly capture cats, dogs, foxes, and other similar animals. He liked to break their legs, twist them backward at strange angles, and watch them suffer.3

It wasn't long before a shocking piece of news traveled out from the chief military officer's office, saying that the arms and legs of the chief military officer's son had been snapped. He suffered a miserable fate not too dissimilar to his animal victims, and he was tossed onto his bed with a rag stuffed inside his mouth. The young man was already low on vitality thanks to his indulgence in wine and women, yet he somehow didn't die even though he had suffered such severe wounds. 0

The chief military officer was enraged, and after confirming that this was the doing of spirits...0