Chapter 232: Chapter 231: This Power Is the Legacy of the Paper Makers, and Also Their Supreme Arcanum

While the wealthy district was in chaos, filled with the frantic sounds of firefighting and shouting.

Gao Liceng was walking slowly along a street outside the district, under the dim, yellow glow of the streetlights.

Only the soft rustle of Gao Liceng’s footsteps echoed on the empty, silent street.

Suddenly, Gao Liceng stopped.

A man and a woman had appeared directly in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere.

The man exuded an indescribable, elusive aura that Gao Liceng found impossible to fathom.

He was standing right there, yet she couldn’t sense his presence in the slightest.

The other, a young woman, was so beautiful she seemed to belong to another realm, not the Mortal World.

She possessed a natural, alluring charm.

Even Gao Liceng, herself a woman, couldn’t help but take a second look.

At that moment, a sense of danger more intense than anything she had ever felt before washed over Gao Liceng.

Her intuition screamed at her, especially about the young man.

If he chose to act, he could erase her in the blink of an eye.

"Care to chat?" The young man was Chu He.

"Who are you?" Gao Liceng asked.

"My name is Chu He," he replied.

"Chu He." A flicker of shock flashed in her eyes.

"You’re not wrong. It’s *the* Chu He you’ve heard of," Yumizakura chimed in with a smile.

"What do you want with me?" The surprise in her eyes vanished as quickly as it came, and she regained her composure.

Chu He couldn’t help but smile. He had noticed her small movements—her hands were behind her back, twisting the hem of her clothes. Clearly, she wasn’t as calm as she appeared.

"We were outside watching the whole time you were killing Huang Haibo and his family. You’re quite skilled."

Chu He said.

Just then, Qi Chaoyu came running up, panting heavily.

Back in the wealthy district, Chu He and Yumizakura had left so quickly...

...that Qi Chaoyu, with his level of strength, simply couldn’t keep up.

He had sprinted the entire way and was now drenched in sweat.

Even though Qi Chaoyu was a Martial Artist, sprinting such a distance at top speed...

...had still taken a considerable toll on him.

"And who are you?" Gao Liceng asked.

"I’m a member of the Defense Headquarters from the Great Xia Empire’s Royal City. I’ve come to Huamen City to investigate the Paperman incidents."

Qi Chaoyu said, gasping for breath but still answering truthfully.

"So you’re here to settle scores with me."

Gao Liceng’s expression turned glacial, and she sneered at Chu He, Yumizakura, and Qi Chaoyu.

"No, no, no! From my perspective, you’ve done nothing wrong."

Qi Chaoyu, realizing she had misunderstood, quickly waved his hands and said.

But after he said it, his expression grew awkward.

After all, according to the laws of the Great Xia Empire, what Gao Liceng did was indeed wrong.

But from a moral and just standpoint, she was in the right.

As a member of the Great Xia Empire’s Defense Headquarters, Qi Chaoyu had to abide by the Empire’s laws, not act on personal feelings.

"You’re lying."

Gao Liceng caught the change in his expression and said at once.

She took a few steps back as a waxy yellow color spread rapidly across her skin.

It covered her entire body, and in moments, Gao Liceng completed her transformation from a living person into a Paperman.

"Your transformation has slowed. You must have used up a lot of energy back at the villa."

"Even at full strength, you’re no match for me. Why insist on a fight? I bear you no ill will."

"Qi Chaoyu is with the Defense Headquarters. He has to do his duty; he has no choice but to follow orders."

"But I am not part of the Defense Headquarters. And I believe I have the authority in the Great Xia Empire to be the one who judges whether you are in the wrong."

Chu He said calmly.

He was only taking the time to explain because he was genuinely intrigued by her.

After meeting Xu Ping’an and now Gao Liceng, Chu He couldn’t help but recall his first days in the Great Xia Empire.

He remembered the leader plan Lu Yinxing had arranged for him. For the sake of this so-called plan...

...Chu He hadn’t hesitated to kill someone with a powerful background in the Great Xia Empire,

...which had triggered a whole chain of subsequent events.

Now, an idea was forming in his mind.

He had originally dismissed the leader plan as insignificant, since no one at the time had been worthy of his notice. But now, things were different.

"The Defense Headquarters? So what? You think I’m afraid?"

"They’re just a bunch of useless freeloaders, collecting a salary for doing nothing."

Her voice dripped with disdain, contempt, and a hint of hostility for the very name "Defense Headquarters."

Chu He shook his head.

Right now, she was like a cornered hedgehog, all quills and defense, unwilling to trust a word anyone said.

So, Chu He pointed a finger. Gao Liceng didn’t even notice the unfathomable shift in the surrounding Heaven and Earth Energy.

Under its influence, she involuntarily reverted from her Paperman form, changing back into a living person.

Her waxy yellow skin became soft and fair once more.

A storm raged within Gao Liceng. This was the first time she had ever experienced anything like it.

With a mere flick of his finger, he had rendered her powerless. It was absolute suppression.

"See? If I wanted to kill you, it would be effortless," Chu He said, his expression impassive.

"Truly worthy of being the strongest on Blue Star."

Gao Liceng said. It was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or genuinely impressed.

But Chu He didn’t care. "I will give you a just resolution for what happened in Huamen City. That is my promise to you."

"However, I’m very curious—how did you obtain the power you possess?"

"Don’t tell me it’s the power of an Evil Spirit. You should know who I am."

"This power is the legacy of the Paper Makers. It is their supreme art."

Gao Liceng fell silent for a couple of seconds. She pursed her lips, and after a brief internal struggle, answered truthfully.

"Paper Makers? You mean the artisans who craft paper offerings? The ones who make things like paper effigies of boys and girls, spirit houses, and paper horses to be burned for the dead?"

As a citizen of the Great Xia Empire, Qi Chaoyu was naturally familiar with the profession.

Whenever someone passed away, or during the annual Tomb-Sweeping Day,

people would go to a Paper Maker’s shop to buy paper replicas of things the deceased had cherished in life.

They would burn these items in the hope that the deceased could use them in the afterlife.

The art of paper crafting was an ancient trade with a long history in the Great Xia Empire.

From emperors and generals down to the common folk, no funeral was complete without them.

"Since you’re here to investigate, you must know about the poor old man whose farmland was stolen."

"He was slandered and framed, and it led to his death."

"He was the last inheritor of the Paper Makers’ supreme art in all of the Great Xia Empire."

"If he had wanted to, he could have easily slaughtered all those who bullied him."

"But the old man was too kind—kind to the point of foolishness. He refused to lift a finger, right up to his death."

"On his deathbed, the old man passed all the Secret Techniques of the Paper Makers on to me."

Gao Liceng said.