This Villain Ch.200

Chapter 200: Big Brother: Not good!

The people of Yangjia Village quickly gathered, many of them startled by the commotion moments before. They had quietly come out to watch and had seen Yu Guang exorcise the malicious spirit, and now they looked at him with fear.

Once the evil spirit was gone, Yang Fu reverted to his old, domineering manner, strutting with his belly out and loudly ordering the fearful villagers to hurry. Then he turned to Yu Guang with a smile.

In this world where laws were not well established, the village chief was both authority and law in remote villages.

The village chief handled the distribution of resources, assigned work, and mediated disputes. Even leaving the village to go elsewhere required a guarantee letter from the chief.

The Yang family was not only a prominent family in Yangjia Village but also wealthy, with relatives who worked as minor officials in Zhuzhou City.

Because of this, Lady Song and her daughter had been oppressed to the point that only death seemed to offer them any escape.

Even now, Yang Fu did not feel that he had done anything seriously wrong, nor did he believe he would be punished for it.

In the area he ruled, who could possibly punish him?

Those cultivators were lofty beings and would not trouble themselves with such trivial matters.

But Yang Fu was mistaken.

A cold sensation hit his neck, and pain shot through his arm. Before he could react, Yu Guang forced him to his knees.

“You oppressed Lady Song and her daughter, which led them to become vengeful spirits. Do you admit this?”

He then looked at the gathered villagers. “Does anyone have anything to add?”

Some looked on in surprise, others averted their gaze, and a few glared at Yang Fu with resentment.

But no one spoke.

Yang Fu suddenly let out a pig-like scream, crying and wailing in pain, “They turned into evil spirits because they were bad people themselves! Otherwise, why would they have become evil spirits and killed so many?”

“Immortal! I’m a victim too; my eldest son was also killed by those two evil spirits. Why are you arresting me?” Yang Fu didn’t understand why the cultivator who had destroyed the evil spirits was now targeting him. Wasn’t the problem already solved?

The spirits were dead; at most, he would give some money as thanks, and life would go on as usual.

“Ha! Serves you right, you black-hearted man!” a woman in mourning clothes shouted angrily. “It was you and your son who caused Lady Song and her daughter’s deaths, and now you’re crying for justice?”

After her outburst, others began to speak up in frustration: “Yes, you made my Xiaochun lure the spirits, and that’s why she died.”

“And my Shitou—he died too. You promised to compensate us, but then you just disappeared!”

The crowd grew louder as more people joined in.

“What’s going on? What are you all doing?”

Another ox cart arrived from outside the village, carrying Yang Fu’s family—his wife, his two remaining sons, as well as his daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and others.

They had been following the cultivator’s carriage, and only now did they arrive, shocked to see the scene unfolding before them.

Moments later, Yang Fu and his three sons were all forced to kneel.

Amid the Yang family’s cries for mercy and curses, Yu Guang addressed everyone: “The direct harm and oppression inflicted upon Lady Song and her daughter by these four men has been proven. But what about the rest of you?”

“What did you do?”

The crowd broke into a commotion again.

“We didn’t harm Lady Song or her daughter!”

“Their deaths have nothing to do with us; at most, I only said a couple of things.”

One woman sobbed, “Is gossiping behind someone’s back really a big crime? Everyone in this village has said something about them. Does that mean my husband’s life should be taken too?”

“My Liangzi is dead too—who am I supposed to ask to pay with their life?”

In the midst of her wailing, Yu Guang asked calmly, “Do you regret it?”

The woman’s sobs stopped. As the silence deepened around them, Yu Guang asked again, “Do you all regret it?”

How could they not? The village had lost dozens of people—men and women, the old and the young—all of them their own kin.

“Then remember this regret well,” Yu Guang said solemnly, his gaze sweeping over everyone. “The pain and injustice you feel now were felt a hundredfold by those who became vengeful spirits. That’s why they became what they did.”

Turning to Yang Fu and his sons, Yu Guang continued:

“I want a prison built in the house where Lady Song died, and Yang Fu and his sons will be locked inside.”

“Based on their actions, Yang Fu will be imprisoned for thirty years, and the other three for twenty years. They must not be released under any circumstances, and the villagers will oversee this.”

Yang Fu’s family was stunned, and they began to protest.

Yang Fu’s third and youngest sons, not fully understanding what was happening, writhed on the ground, shouting, “No, you can’t lock us up! What right do you have?”

“Father! Say something, save us!”

Sweat rolled down Yang Fu’s face in large drops. Thirty years—he would be imprisoned until death.

“I didn’t kill anyone; they took their own lives! You can’t imprison me for that! I know officials in Zhuzhou City—they’ll come and save me!”

He boasted about his connections, shouting that he would find a relative to uphold justice and looked desperately to the three cultivators for help.

But Liu Fang and the other two had already heard of Yang Fu’s abuse of the mother and daughter, as well as his greed that led others to their deaths. They felt nothing but contempt and ignored his pleas.

The youngest, Liu Yue, glared at Yang Fu and grumbled to Yu Guang, “Why not just kill someone like him? It’d save all the trouble of locking him up.”

Yu Guang said, “They need enough time to truly understand their mistakes.”

From now on, they would be confined in the old cell where their victims had died, enduring hunger and the disdain of others, constantly reminded of their deeds. This, he believed, was a punishment more fitting than a simple death.

The villagers of Yangjia would also spend the coming decades taking turns guarding the imprisoned Yang Fu and his sons, watching them and reminding themselves of the consequences of cruelty.

Seeing that Yu Guang was unmoved by their pleas, Yang Fu’s wife, daughters-in-law, and children threw themselves before him, begging and crying for mercy.

Without their husbands, how would they survive the days ahead? The comfortable, envied life they had once enjoyed was now out of reach.

Yu Guang looked down at them and asked, “Did you play a role in the emergence of the vengeful spirits?”

It was as if, should they confess, they too would join their husbands in confinement. Terrified, the women stopped crying, fear gripping them. They couldn’t help feeling guilty, knowing well that they had, in fact, scorned Lady Song and her daughter, accusing them of luring their husbands. Deep down, they knew the truth.

Yu Guang looked at the youngest, tearful Yang granddaughter, gently patting her head. “You are free to find someone to rescue your husbands, but I have decreed how long they will remain imprisoned, and that will not change. No one can alter that.”

No one doubted Yu Guang’s words; his calm yet resolute gaze weighed on them like a mountain, leaving them breathless.

“I will return in some time,” he said. “I hope you will fulfill my request.”

Yang Fu and his sons were dragged away. Yang Fu, his third son, and his youngest son continued to struggle and curse, while only his second son, Yang Yunlu, stared blankly, as if in a daze.

Not long ago, Yang Yunlu had been parasitized by Yu Yin’s spider silk, and Yu Guang had broken the silk with a single kick, leaving him momentarily in a state of confusion and stupor.

But compared to slowly losing his mind under the control of the spider silk, drifting into a hazy death, the prospect of spending decades fully conscious in a dark prison cell was likely even harder for him to accept.

Yu Yin, wrapped in Yu Guang’s coat, watched him with empty eyes. He had thought him soft-hearted, unable to refuse the pleas of the weak, but now he realized he had probably misjudged him. He was unexpectedly ruthless.

…

With the matter in Yangjia Village settled and the day growing late, Yu Guang, along with Yu Yin, left the village in the horse-drawn carriage offered by Liu Fanglin and his companions.

Yang Can looked back at the village, musing, “In the past, we would simply exorcise the spirits and leave, rarely interacting with ordinary people. It’s my first time seeing a resolution like this.”

“Don’t you find it troublesome?” he added. “Our task is only to exorcise spirits. How people are dealt with is something not even the city lord in Zhuzhou would bother with; it’s not our concern. Why take it on?”

Sitting by the side of the cart, Yu Guang was watching Liu Fanglin drive and learning the techniques of handling the reins. He replied, “Precisely because no one else is willing to care, I feel I should.”

“Hahaha!” Yang Can laughed, “With that sense of justice, you’re destined to join the Exorcism Bureau. If you become a cultivator and join us, handling matters like this would be right and proper.”

“Yeah, you’d really fit in with us!” Liu Yue also quickly added in persuasion.

Since witnessing that divine sword technique earlier, Liu Yue had grown to admire this young man about his own age and couldn’t wait to bring him back to show off to the others.

Even Liu Fanglin, who was driving the carriage, joined in the fun, saying, “That’s right, think it over. If you want, we can act as your referees.”

“Thank you all. I do have some plans,” Yu Guang said with a smile.

He had indeed thought about joining the Exorcism Bureau, though he hadn’t planned to take action so soon.

…

Near Green Creek Village, Yu Guang parted ways with the three and slowly led Yu Yin up the mountain.

In front of Liu Fanglin and the others, Yu Yin had almost no presence and hadn’t even shown his face the entire time.

The Exorcism Bureau had once been his number one enemy. The team that had almost threatened him belonged to them.

However, this particular team likely hadn’t yet joined the bureau.

When he was “Silk Nest,” Yu Yin did have some collaborators within the bureau, but overall, he still didn’t like them.

“Not good!” Yu Guang suddenly stopped in his tracks and said.

Yu Yin immediately wondered if the silken threads he left on Yang Fu and the others had been discovered.

But Yu Guang only said in frustration, “There’s barely any food left at home. I was supposed to go to the city to earn money and buy food today, but it slipped my mind.”

Yu Yin: “…”

Yu Guang suddenly lifted him up. “It’s not far from here to the Zhuangshui River dock. I remember there are a lot of reeds over there. Let’s go, Youngest, I’ll take you to see if we can find any wild duck eggs!”

Carrying his frail younger brother, Yu Guang ran like the wind.

Yu Yin was forced to press against him, feeling the evening breeze rush into his clothes, his expression heavy from the bumpy ride.

The steadiness and reliability he had sensed from Yu Guang earlier had completely vanished.

The dilapidated wooden boat that the original owner had left behind in the reeds by the dock was still there, with a small, tattered net hanging on it that no one had bothered to take.

Yu Guang dragged the boat out, placed Yu Yin onto it, and asked, “Do you want to eat fish?”

The original owner had often gone without food. When he was extremely hungry, he would use the net to catch small fish, and Yu Guang also knew how to catch fish.

But he was better at fishing, and whenever he had free time, he would go fishing with his fourth brother, Yu Shi.

At first, Yu Guang stood on the boat, using a pole to push it deeper into the reeds. Later, he found it troublesome and jumped into the water, pulling the boat directly.

The sound of water splashed as the boat cut through the wild grasses and reeds, the leaves rustling against the boat’s canopy.

Yu Yin sat on the shaky little boat, unable to see anything except for the golden hue on Yu Guang’s body in front of him.

Yu Guang found a wild duck egg in the tall grass, and when he turned around to see Yu Yin’s vacant gaze, he grabbed the egg and placed it in his hand.

Yu Yin was stunned as a round object was suddenly shoved into his palm.

Not long ago, he had just slain the evil spirit and terrified the wicked people, and now his voice was full of simple joy: “I really found wild duck eggs! Youngest, take them first.”

One after another, Yu Guang placed every wild duck egg he found into Yu Yin’s arms.

Before long, he dived back into the water, and after a short while, he tossed a lively, squirming fish onto the boat.

The fish, cold and smelling of the sea, slapped its tail sharply against Yu Yin’s legs.

Yu Yin, feeling the eggs in his arms, immediately kicked the fish back into the water.

Yu Guang didn’t have time to stop him: “Ah!”

<< _ >>