Biochemical Martial Arts: Supreme Heavenly Venerate

Lin Rui entered the main hall and immediately saw a muscular, beardless eunuch in his thirties sitting above.

He was only dressed in thin garments and was flushed with anger, berating those below him in a fierce voice.

Lin Rui thought this must be Eunuch Wang Zhenli from the Maritime Bureau of Jingang City, whom the County Magistrate had specifically mentioned before his assignment.

This person, despite holding a minor rank of the sixth grade, was a source of great headache for the Zhuang Mingyue family.

Standing beside him were sixteen fully armed guards, all glaring with fierce and malevolent expressions.

Beneath the platform were a group of county soldiers ordered to search the Maritime Bureau of Jingang City; several squads were present along with Qu Zhang.

Though they seemed to be confronting the guards, they all bowed their heads, reprimanded like grandsons by the eunuch.

To the side were over a dozen officials and clerks, likely all clerks working under the Maritime Bureau. They were either sitting or standing with varied expressions—some anxious, some curiously peeking, and others whispering in hushed tones.

Beside the eunuch was a clean-faced civil official in a sixth-grade official robe, who looked curiously at Lin Rui as he entered.

This person must be Li Dan, the supervisor of the Maritime Bureau, whom the County Magistrate had also specifically mentioned.

An ally!

Theoretically, the supervisor of the Maritime Bureau was supposed to be the chief official of Jingang City.

However, since 2000 years ago, the Emperor of Great Song had been deploying a large number of palace eunuchs to major tax ports and maritime bureaus to oversee these key fiscal locations.

With the Emperor's and the inner court's support, these eunuchs gradually invaded the official powers of the original chiefs and had become the de facto heads of these agencies, with the Maritime Bureau supervisors essentially becoming their deputies.

Eunuch Wang Zhenli also saw Lin Rui, his narrow and sinister eyes glaring fiercely: "So you're Lin twelve, the newly appointed Defense Commissioner of Wang City? Was it you who ordered the seal on the Maritime Bureau?"

His anger was indeed flaring. Just last night, he had gone to sleep in the government office when a group of heavily armed county soldiers burst in, claiming that the merchant Yuan Ji had colluded with the Heavenly Demon to assassinate the newly appointed Defense Commissioner of Wang City.

Acting on the new commissioner's orders, they came to search the Maritime Bureau for any clues related to Yuan Ji and the foreign Heavenly Demon.

Initially, Wang Zhenli was somewhat panicked, given his deep connections with Yuan Ji and many of their shady dealings.

Luckily, he soon received a message from Yuan Ji.

Yuan Ji did hire people from the Blood Blade Society to assassinate the new commissioner, but the evidence Lin Twelve captured was limited—all indirect. As for the accusation of colluding with the Heavenly Demon, it was completely baseless.

As long as he could stand firm under pressure tonight, there wouldn't be much problem.

Wang Zhenli pounded his fist onto the desk in front of him with a force that resounded like a thunderclap: "I think you've grown too bold! Who gave you the authority? Who gave you the audacity? So, you say it's for demon inspection. Do you have solid evidence? You extend Heavenly Demon searches to our Maritime Bureau.

Don't you know that in a month it's our tax day at the Maritime Bureau? If public duties are delayed, can you, a mere military officer, bear the responsibility?"

As he rebuked, he walked down from the platform, pointing at Lin Rui's nose: "Now either explain yourself and provide solid evidence, or kneel down here and apologize. Otherwise, I swear you won't get away with it!"

Lin Rui couldn't be bothered to argue with the man and simply threw the syringe wrapped in the handkerchief onto the ground.

The soldiers and guards in the hall didn't recognize the item, but the officials and clerks of the Maritime Bureau were well-informed.

They were all startled, quickly got to their feet, and stared at the syringe.

This object had become somewhat common in the Great Song territory; even those who hadn't seen it had heard about it.

"This was found in Yuan Ji's warehouse; his collusion with the Heavenly Demon has been conclusively proven."

Lin Rui gave Wang Zhenli a cold, wolf-like stare: "I've heard that you are on good terms with Master Yuan Ji; not only are you close brothers, sworn to fraternal bonds, but lately, you've even been seen sharing seats and frequenting restaurants and brothels together, wining and dining every day, haven't you?"

Wang Zhenli glanced at the syringe on the ground, his face instantly turning pale.

His mind went blank, wondering how Yuan Ji could have left such an incriminating item in the warehouse.

If it were just the foreign Heavenly Demon's injections, it might be forgivable as many powerful officials in the Great Song openly used them.

But Yuan Ji had erred gravely in using the Heavenly Demon's methods to assassinate Lin Twelve, essentially hammering nails into his own coffin lid as if he were worried it wasn't shut tightly enough.

Wang Zhenli's fierce demeanor instantly evaporated; he swallowed nervously and stepped back a few paces.

"Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding! My relationship with Yuan Ji is purely superficial—mere acquaintances through food and drink. All that talk of close brotherhood and sworn fraternities, none of that is true! He just wanted my help, trying to ingratiate himself with me. I didn't know he was in league with the Heavenly Demon."

As he spoke, he continued to retreat, trying to find a sense of security among the guards behind him.

"—Defence Commissioner Lin, it's Yuan Ji who has colluded with the Heavenly Demon, what has our Maritime Bureau got to do with it? You have no right to seal off the Maritime Bureau, do you have any evidence that our Maritime Bureau is involved with the Heavenly Demon?"

The guards, previously intimidating, now turned pale, their hands shaking as they gripped their weapons.

If Wang Zhenli was truly implicated in collusion with evil forces, they would also come to no good end.

"I am now concerned with more than just sealing the Maritime Bureau."

Lin Rui sneered dismissively: "By the laws of our dynasty, all cases involving demons are to be handled with the utmost severity. Guilt is assumed where there's doubt! Better to wrongly kill than to let go, since you are closely associated with Yuan Ji, you cannot absolve yourself from suspicion. Seize him! And should he resist, he shall be dealt with as a demon conniver!"

With the knife in his right hand, he began to gather momentum: "As for whether there's collusion with the Heavenly Demon, let the Imperial City Division judge and investigate," he declared.

When Lin Rui uttered the words "take down," the inspecting eunuch Wang Zhenli's face twitched, and his expression grew uglier.

This Lin Rui clearly intended to put him in a deadly situation!

With such ruthless and fierce tactics at this young man's disposal, how could he possibly survive once inside the Imperial City Division?

The surrounding county soldiers, however, hesitated, not from reluctance to obey, but due to concerns over Wang Zhenli's guards.

This supervising eunuch had splurged on his personal attendants, with twelve of the sixteen being at the third realm and four at the fourth realm, their combined combat power far surpassing that of the county soldiers.

Though the color drained from the guards' faces, their hands gripping the swords bulged with veins, steadying their weapons.

At that moment, Ji Xueying, guarding behind Lin Rui, suddenly flashed red in her eyes, and a fierce and overwhelming blade intent swept across the area, dealing a huge blow to the minds of all the guards.

Some of the third-realm guards lost consciousness directly under the oppression of Ji Xueying's ferocious blade intent, collapsing on the spot, and several fourth-realm Martial Cultivators also had their minds stiffened, with painful throbs in their heads.

Barely enduring the oppression of the blade intent, they saw a red figure suddenly dash in front of them.

Clang!

With this piercing sound of drawing a blade, a brilliant crimson thunder burst and covered a few meters around in the hall.

Most of the guards were sent flying, hitting the walls around like cannonballs, causing a resounding rumble, and dust fluttered down within the hall.

Ji Xueying, having received a hint from Lin Rui, had still shown mercy by using the back of her blade.

Yet, even these fourth-realm Martial Cultivators couldn't withstand her strike; they couldn't mount an effective defense and were left in dire straits with broken bones, bleeding from mouths and noses, some with their chests caved in, nearly on the brink of death.

Upon seeing this, the supervising eunuch Wang Zhenli cried out in horror, "Lin Rui, how dare you! You are outrageously bold, I am a dignified sixth-grade internal supervising eunuch, under only the inner court's jurisdiction, you have no authority over me!"

Seeing the blood-jade-like eyes of Ji Xueying turn his way, he felt utterly terrified and instinctively leapt into the air, fleeing towards the back hall.

"You scoundrel, framing and slandering, spouting lies! I'm going to the provincial city now, to plead with the chief supervising eunuch, I will definitely make you regret this—"

He thought he absolutely must not fall into Lin Rui's hands, or he would surely die! Even the chief supervising eunuch or Prince Han might not be able to save him!

At this moment, a hint of sheen appeared in Lin Rui's eyes.

He's fleeing?

Great! This clearly indicates an attempt to escape out of guilt!

If this eunuch were not guilty and apprehensive, why would he flee?

At that instant, the numerous Flash Thunder Talismans scattered around Lin Rui exploded simultaneously,

"Dare to flee out of guilt and resist stubbornly?"

Clang!

Lin Rui's long blade was unsheathed, transforming into an almost invisible purple blade light that pierced through twenty meters of void.

However, this Thunderclap Absolute Slash somehow didn't manage to kill the supervising eunuch Wang Zhenli outright.

The man wore an extremely strong defensive armor; Lin Rui had to strike four consecutive times, barely breaking through the armor's outer layer of defense and severing the eunuch Wang Zhenli's feet.

Wang Zhenli fell from the sky to the ground, emitting an agonizing wail, and cursing loudly, "Lin Rui, you bastard, you beast! How dare you lay hands on me, you're courting death—"

He had only cursed halfway when a group of county soldiers pounced on him, pinning him to the ground, leaving him unable to speak further.

At this moment, a county soldier and officer subtly reacted, rummaged inside Wang Zhenli's bosom, and then pulled out two items, turning his head with a strange expression: "Defense officer, sir, this man also had possessions of the Heavenly Demon on him!"

Lin Rui looked at the items in his hand, and couldn't help but be momentarily stunned.

Those were two unopened special enhancement injection syringes, apparently manufactured by 'Zhengguang Pharmaceutical Group,' type 3 enhancement syringes.

Lin Rui pondered whether this could be considered an accidental strike on the mark?

He had not anticipated beforehand that Wang Zhenli would carry such items on him—

At this time, supervising eunuch Wang Zhenli's face turned ashen, he had chosen to flee because of the two syringes related to the Heavenly Demon on him.

He had worried earlier about being discovered by the county soldiers, so he had kept the syringes directly on his person. Wang Zhenli never expected Lin Rui not only to find evidence of his colluding with Yuan Ji, but also daring enough to lay hands on him personally, turning these two syringes into deadly evidence.

Lin Rui lowered his head to carefully inspect the two syringes, then burst into laughter: "Indeed, in cahoots with extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons!"

A sharp gleam shot through his eyes: "Search! Dig three feet into the ground, search for evidence of collusion with demons in the Market and Maritime Bureau!"

At this time, most officials from the Market and Maritime Bureau inside the hall looked shocked and pale, except for the composed custodian of the bureau, Li Dan, whose eyes sparkled with surprise as he watched Lin Rui intently.

Is this the person recommended by Miss Zhuang? Truly formidable! Incisive!