“Something’s happened!” Old Henry saw David Reed, but didn’t stop running. Lucas Ethan followed behind him, not really knowing why—at first, he just felt a bit confused and simply ran after the others.

But after a few steps, he clearly felt a sense of fear rising from deep within. This terrifying feeling devoured his heart, making him run faster and faster, his expression growing more and more panicked. So, when he encountered David Reed, he didn’t stop either.

Instead, he ran for his life straight ahead. David Reed was furious and reached out to grab Old Henry, but Old Henry was moving too fast. He missed, and instead, the force of Old Henry’s dash pulled him off balance, causing him to crash right into Lucas Ethan.

David Reed was a strong, burly man, while Lucas Ethan was just a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth, still a bit thin and weak. He was running fast, and caught off guard, when David Reed collided with him, he was knocked aside at an angle. After stumbling two steps, his foot caught on a protruding stone on the ground, and he pitched forward. The ground here sloped downward, and after being bumped and tripped, Lucas Ethan completely lost his balance, fell to the ground, and rolled down the slope for about twenty-odd zhang, crashing headfirst into an old locust tree. His head slammed hard against the trunk with a bang, and he lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, not only had David Reed failed to catch Old Henry, he’d also knocked into Lucas Ethan. Seeing him crash headfirst into the old locust tree, David Reed’s heart tightened. Iron Gall was his master; ever since he’d joined the yamen, he’d followed Iron Gall around. If anything really happened to Lucas Ethan, he wouldn’t be able to explain himself to Iron Gall. Seeing how hard Lucas Ethan had hit just now, he couldn’t care about that scream and was about to go check on Lucas Ethan to see if he was truly hurt. But before he could take a step, a mass of black cloud flew over from the depths of the mass grave.

“Gahahaha! I was wondering who had the guts to come looking for trouble with me—turns out it’s just you useless lot!”

A strange laugh came from within the black cloud, and in an instant, it transformed into a black-robed Daoist who landed in front of David Reed and the other two constables.

“Who are you?” David Reed, though confident, felt his heart skip a beat at the other’s dramatic entrance, inwardly cursing, “This is bad.”

It really was bad—a mass of black cloud flying over was completely beyond the level that county constables like them could handle. No one had expected that what was supposed to be a routine errand would end up running into the real deal. Facing this man, clearly a cultivator with real skill and definitely not an ordinary person—at the very least, the ability to fly was something they could never achieve.

Either this Daoist had reached the Xiantian secret realm, or he possessed a powerful magical artifact. Either way, neither possibility was something they could withstand.

“You don’t need to know who I am,” the Daoist snarled. “All you need to know is that you’ve disturbed my cultivation, and that’s a grave offense!” With a vicious shout, he flicked his sleeve, and two masses of black energy flew toward them.

Before the black mist even reached them, the three already smelled an unbearably foul stench, nearly knocking them out.

“Not good, run! This black mist is poisonous!” David Reed was no ordinary constable—sensing something was wrong, he immediately circulated his true qi to resist the stench, grabbed one of the constables, and retreated.

“Mere constables—do you think you can escape my grasp?” The Daoist cackled, and with a wave, a large black banner flew out. As it soared, it expanded in the wind to three zhang wide, black mist churning atop it, the thick stench of blood impossible to hide. Poor David Reed felt the stench rush straight to his head, and as he tried to flee, his body lurched forward and he collapsed to the ground.

“Useless fools!” Seeing this, the Daoist lost interest. At first, he’d thought the Six Doors had come to investigate, but it turned out to be just a bunch of ordinary constables. “Damn pests! Since you’ve disturbed my peace, go die!”

The black banner in the sky whooshed down toward David Reed and the others.

If they were really covered by that black banner, even ten lives wouldn’t be enough for David Reed and the rest.

At this critical moment, a stern shout rang out from afar: “Demonic Daoist, cease your arrogance!!”

A streak of white light shot over from the distance, flashing by and striking the descending black banner.

Puff!!!

The sharp white light pierced straight through the black banner.

“A flying sword!”

The black-robed Daoist was struck hard, his face turning ashen. With a gesture, the pierced black banner turned into a cloud of black mist that enveloped him, and he sped away into the distance.

“Hmph, cowardly scum!”

As the person arrived, the white light in the sky flashed and transformed into a longsword, which landed in the newcomer’s backpack.