My brother is so cunning

Chapter 1037 In-depth Investigation
With his keen senses, Yun Zhongzi noticed the intense gazes cast upon him by the women. His brows furrowed almost imperceptibly as he quietly performed a physical transformation technique.

This spell is not an illusion, but rather a technique used by cultivators at the Golden Immortal level to manipulate cells and change the shape of their bodies through extremely strong control over their physical bodies.

His skin quickly lost its healthy luster, his hair and beard lost their shine and became dry and brittle, his cheeks sunken, his eyes became lifeless, and his abdomen developed excess fat.

In an instant, he went from a suave, sophisticated middle-aged man to a sleazy old man on the street.

"Am I seeing things? Or is it just an optical illusion caused by the lighting and shadows?"

"He looked so cool and roguish at first glance, but now that I look closely, he's so ugly. It's disgusting! What's wrong with me? Is there something wrong with my eyes, or has it been too long since I've had a boyfriend?"

The girls who had been secretly watching him muttered in disappointment.

"I actually think it tastes even better now..."

A beautiful demon girl, her face flushed, bit her lip and said, "The demon race and the human race are too superficial, only looking at appearances. We demons are different. His yang energy is so strong, I really want to absorb it."

Yun Zhongzi then realized that he had made a mistake. He had only changed his appearance and forgotten to conceal his primordial yang energy. He quickly cast a spell in secret, which blinded the eager demon girl who wanted to approach him. He then spun around and disappeared into the crowd.

After changing his clothes, manipulating his physical body to alter his appearance, and suppressing his yang energy, Yun Zhongzi blended into the crowd and became almost indistinguishable from ordinary people in the Demon Alliance.

The wary, repulsive gazes he had previously sensed no longer fell upon him.

Of course, what replaced them were looks of annoyance, indifference, and contempt.

His disguise was very effective; the new image not only lacked his divine aura but also became somewhat repulsive.

Having been in this demon alliance city for a full month, Yun Zhongzi has finally succeeded in infiltrating the mortal masses and is no longer the eye-catching Taoist priest.

Logically speaking, with his cultivation level, he could use any spell to transform into anything.

However, the Demon Alliance city strictly controls the art of transformation. The Skynet system monitors it at all times. If someone uses illusions or tricks to change their clothes or appearance, police officers will soon receive a notification from the Skynet and come to arrest them.

This is because during the period when the security situation deteriorated due to the cultivators, many cultivators used transformation techniques to commit fraud, turning banknotes and other people's appearances to enter high-end membership venues, truly treating the Demon Alliance city as a playground for superpowered individuals.

In the most heinous case, a disciple from a certain immortal sect assassinated a wealthy man from the Demon Alliance, then transformed into his appearance, intending to take his place and swindle the wealthy man out of his entire fortune.

The Demon Alliance then launched a severe crackdown on transformation techniques, strictly prohibiting their use within its territory and requiring both citizens and outsiders to show their true faces.

The Demon Alliance's Skynet system has extremely strong discernment capabilities. It can even detect the transformation spells of Yun Zhongzi, who was at the peak of the Golden Immortal realm. He once had wicked thoughts and conjured up clothes and changed his appearance.

As a result, he was arrested by the police less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn after using the transformation technique. It was the young City God who bailed him out.

Yun Zhongzi wasn't incapable of defeating the police officers from the Demon Alliance who could subdue celestial beings; he simply didn't want to alert them and provoke Wen Rui to personally descend to the mortal realm. It wasn't that he lacked the ability to make a fortune quickly, but the methods for doing so were all written in the Demon Alliance's criminal code.

Yun Zhongzi is a principled immortal. In all his years of wandering the mortal world, he has never relied on his immortal powers to bully or deceive mortals. He has never committed any offenses against ordinary people, and he would never do anything illegal or disorderly.

That's why it took so long. He managed to earn enough to buy clothes by setting up a fortune-telling stall that was less popular than a coin-operated computer fortune-telling machine.

The change in appearance is not a magical technique, but purely a matter of physical control. In essence, it is similar to making a face, and is not an illusion or trickery.

In this way, they finally escaped the surveillance of the ubiquitous Skynet cameras, without triggering the automatic alarm mechanism of the transformation technique, which attracted the attention of patrolling police officers nearby.

Previously, his activities in the city as a Taoist priest were extremely restricted. Not to mention certain government agencies, archives, and laboratories of the Demon Alliance that might be hiding secrets, even small shops on the roadside would occasionally have signs that read "Taoists and dogs are not allowed."

Now, even though I have an ugly face, I can move around freely without attracting attention.

However, even with the expanded scope of his activities and greater freedom of action, Yun Zhongzi felt somewhat lost, unsure where to begin his investigation amidst a multitude of questions.

He spent a month in the city hall, and from what he observed, the Demon Alliance government was probably not the most honest and efficient government since the beginning of time. The true nature of the Demon Alliance officials still needs further investigation, but in terms of their attitude towards the people, they were completely incomparable to the officials of the Yin Shang and Zhou dynasties.

In terms of knowledge, the officials of the Demon Alliance government are all extremely knowledgeable, with a wide range of knowledge from astronomy to geography. If they were placed in the Great Zhou court, they would be capable of becoming generals and prime ministers, not just ordinary prime ministers and generals, but renowned generals and ministers throughout the ages.

It is said that officials who can be promoted to the position of mayor in the Demon Alliance civil service examination must have at least a doctoral degree. Back then, the prime minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty was just an ordinary college student who had studied in Free City. The prime ministers of the vassal states were even high school or junior high school students who did not pass the college entrance examination. They could not make it in the Demon Alliance and returned to their hometowns in frustration.

How could there not be a big difference in the quality of officials?

Yun Zhongzi believed that if the officials in this city hall were sent to the Heavenly Court and granted the positions of the Eight Righteous Gods, they could govern the Three Realms into a truly harmonious world.

These accounts cannot substantiate Wen Rui's crimes; on the contrary, they should be awarded and a monument erected in his honor.

Having stayed for so long, Yun Zhongzi already knew that the city he had randomly chosen, which belonged to the Demon Alliance, was only a third-tier city among the many cities ruled by the Demon Alliance, with a mediocre population and urban development.

This is just a third-tier city, yet its level of development is beyond imagination. To put it bluntly, its governance and the quality of its officials have completely surpassed those of the highest heavens.

How far have the Demon Alliance's first-tier cities, and even its capital city, New Free City, developed?

If Yun Zhongzi had looked at the fortunes of the Shang Dynasty back then and seen the Shang court as a harmonious and efficient government hall in a third-tier city, he would have been more than willing to volunteer to exorcise demons and eliminate the tyrannical ruler and demon queen to save the people from suffering.

I'm afraid that even if the Goddess Nuwa wanted to deliberately destroy this peaceful world for her own selfish desires, he would still stand up against the sage without hesitation.

But times have changed. Yun Zhongzi still hasn't given up on the investigation. He still insists that there must be some unknown darkness hidden beneath the surface of prosperity. As long as he persists in his investigation, he will surely be able to uncover Wen Rui's secret.

(End of this chapter)