Lu Qingling opened her mouth as if she wanted to ask something, but before she could speak, the young man smiled and shook his head. “That Vice Prefect is not some corrupt official or some vile bureaucrat. In fact, from above, he might even be considered an efficient administrator. What he did is not good for you, but for the common people it is actually not much of a problem. As for whether that Lord Warden Commander is willing to interfere, it’s hard to say, but just knowing about it is enough. That man still wants to stay in officialdom for a few more years; he doesn’t want to be killed on a whim by such an unreasonable military official.”
As he said this, the young man himself could not help but find it a little amusing. In the foreign lands, the young Lord Warden Commander’s reputation was mostly that of a demon king. But in Great Liang’s officialdom, quite a number of court officials likely still regarded this young martial commander as utterly unreasonable.
Scholars were not afraid of arguing with others. What they feared most was having a belly full of sage-like reasoning, only for the other side to refuse to listen at all and instead throw a punch the moment you opened your mouth, leaving you with nothing more to say.
This was also why, when the academy dean first learned that his final disciple Xie Nandu was a rare cultivation genius, he had been so delighted.
If your cultivation is higher than theirs, you can force them. Whether they like your reasoning or not,they could only listen anyway.
Lu Qingling asked curiously, “Aren’t you afraid that Vice Prefect might be deceiving you?”
The young man shook his head and said softly, “You have your sharp eye for people, and I have my own methods. In this world, there are very few people who can lie in front of me without me noticing.”
Lu Qingling said nothing further, but her curiosity about the young man’s identity only grew.
Everything that had happened already pointed to one thing: this young man was definitely not simple.
The young man leaned against the window, glanced outside, narrowed his eyes, and said nothing.
......
......
Early the next morning, it was barely dawn.
The members of the caravan gathered in front of the inn, ready to leave Dragon Horn Commandery and return to the Divine Capital.
Old Zhao looked at the young man in the crowd several times, as if wanting to say something but hesitating.
The young man stood at the inn entrance. Noticing Old Zhao’s expression, he walked over, patted the burly man on the shoulder, and smiled. “What is it, Elder Brother Zhao? Can’t bear to part with me? After thinking it over, you’ve decided to marry off your daughter to me after all? "Let me say this first, though you keep describing her like she’s some peerless beauty, to be honest, I don’t really believe it. Besides, I already have someone I like, and she’s definitely more beautiful than your daughter."
Old Zhao frowned, then chuckled. “It’s not that. As for my daughter, we’ll talk about that after you’re fully recovered. It’s just that I still haven’t finished learning that fist technique manual from you. And you’re not coming with us? That’s not very righteous of you. Besides, what’s the point of staying alone? You might as well come with Elder Brother to the Divine Capital. At least there’ll be some company along the way.”
Though he mentioned the fist technique manual, anyone could tell that Old Zhao was really just worried about the young man, afraid that he might die somewhere no one knew about.
Though they had not known each other for long, their bond was already quite strong.
The young man smiled. “As for the fist manual, the last form was already taught last time, so what are you still worried about? I’ve already given you the most valuable part. As for going to the Divine Capital together, I really won’t be going. I do have some matters to attend to.”
Old Zhao frowned. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end let it go. However, just as he turned away, he suddenly turned back again and asked seriously, “That fist technique manual wasn’t written by you, was it?”
The young man showed no emotional fluctuation, only looking at Old Zhao with some suspicion. “Elder Brother, when did you start thinking I’m actually some hidden master?”
Old Zhao sized him up carefully a few more times before cursing, “If you were some kind of master, then Your Father would be blind as hell!”
The young man pretended to be hurt, even theatrically wiping away nonexistent tears.
Old Zhao took out a money pouch from his chest and tossed it to the young man. “Don’t think it’s too little. I know you’re probably from some noble household. This amount is probably nothing to you, but it’s enough for Your Father to live on for a month. Your Father doesn’t care what your identity is, Your Father don’t know it anyway. But right now, Your Father treats you like a brother, then you’re my brother. Whether you acknowledge it or not, Your Father doesn’t care!”
The young man, who had originally not intended to take the pouch, weighed it in his hand after hearing this and finally smiled. “Alright. Enough for a good drink.”
Old Zhao said nothing more and mounted his horse.
At this moment, Lu Qingling walked out from the inn. She glanced at the fully prepared group, then after thinking for a moment, came to the young man’s side and said, “No matter what, you helped me once. If you ever run into trouble later, remember to come find me. I, Lu Qingling, don’t have much ability, but I’ll help if I can.”
The young man smiled. “Alright. Though I suspect if that day ever comes, I’ll probably be asking Miss Lu for money instead. Don’t be stingy then.”
Lu Qingling simply smiled it off.
Then the Lu Family side lineage woman mounted her horse and turned to look at the young man once more.
He waved at them.
Only then did she lightly press her horse forward, and the caravan slowly set off.
Meanwhile, that young man turned and strolled forward. He stopped at a stall selling sugar figurines, opened the money pouch, took out a Great Liang coin, and bought a sugar figurine.
While slowly eating it, he wandered the streets at an unhurried pace. His steps seemed aimless, yet each one was faintly profound.
From one end of the street to the other, as he finished the last bite of the sugar figurine, he snapped the bamboo stick and, without warning, drove it into the throat of a plump woman selling cloth shoes beside him.
The plump woman looked at him in disbelief, instinctively clutching her throat, but blood quickly gushed through her fingers.
She collapsed just like that, dying with an expression of utter shock.
Even stranger was that after the young man casually killed an innocent shopkeeper with a bamboo stick, the surrounding vendors and passersby did not react with alarm at all.
They simply turned to look at him, looking at the young man in front of them.
Yet all of them carried a strange emotion in their eyes.
An emotion the young man was very familiar with.
A long time ago, when he was still the warden in Tianqing County, he would regularly enter the nearby mountains to kill demons. At first, the demons in the mountains showed great interest in his arrival. But after he came out again and again, what remained in those demons’ eyes was only fear.
Just like now.
Fear, a fear rising from the deepest part of the soul.
The young man smiled faintly. Looking at a nearby vendor, he reached out and placed his hand on the man’s head. This seemingly ordinary action was, in reality, anything but simple.
The shopkeeper had in fact already retreated the moment the young man made his move. But the result was that he could not escape this young man's grasp at all. He was pinned in place, unable to struggle, as the young man seized his head.
With a hard squeeze, the man’s skull exploded like a watermelon baked too long under a merciless sun.
“If you’re scared, why come at all? You really think you’ll get lucky and not die?”
The young man finally spoke. He withdrew his hand and casually grabbed a piece of cloth from a nearby stall to wipe it clean.
He looked at everyone on the street and said with a faint sigh to himself, “Too many enemies, and your auras are all mixed together. I really can’t tell which faction you’re from.”
Not knowing which faction they belonged to meant he would not be able to go back later and clean up the forces behind them. That realization made the young man feel a faint sense of regret.
“Chen Chao, you devil! Today is the day you die!”
A thunderous roar suddenly exploded across the street. A streak of light appeared at the far end of the road, then shot forward like a silver python, crazily lunging toward the sickly-looking young man.
That sickly young man... no, the Great Liang Dynasty's Lord Warden Commander, Chen Chao, simply raised his hand, caught the streak of light, and yanked hard. The light snapped in two. A figure appeared in the distance, staggering backward uncontrollably.
After leaving Yellow Dragon Prefecture, the young martial artist had arrived here. In principle, no one should have known his whereabouts. But there were never any true secrets in this world. When Yun Jianyue had escorted him south, nothing happened because Yun Jianyue was a genuine great sword immortal, and no one dared to provoke him. Now that Chen Chao was alone, all those who bore him enmity naturally came out.
They had received confirmed information: after his battle with the Demon Emperor, the is Lord Warden Commander had been gravely injured and had not recovered. He was no longer the terrifying peerless martial artist that everyone feared.
When someone like Chen Chao was strong, even those who hated him would not dare act. But once he became weak, all those who hated him would inevitably crawl out.
They were assassins hiding in the shadows, waiting for the moment their powerful prey became vulnerable.
Moreover, over the years Chen Chao had done many things, killed many people, and destroyed many sects. Who could say those sects were truly wiped out completely? Who could guarantee not a single survivor had escaped?
And who could say those survivors had not secretly built up their strength, waiting for a day to take revenge?
So when those lucky survivors learned that Chen Chao might be killed, they all jumped out.
This was the situation today.
The present situation.
Chen Chao did not particularly care. When he left the Sword Sect, he had already expected something like this.
He simply hadn’t expected it to happen in Yellow Dragon Prefecture; he had thought it would only occur after he had left it.
In any case, before he returned to the Divine Capital, such an ambush was inevitable.
He glanced to the side and saw a butcher stall. The stall owner had already left and was standing in the street. Chen Chao walked over and picked up a slaughtering knife.
He casually spun it once in his hand and raised an eyebrow. “You all think this official easy to kill right now? Come then. What are you waiting for?”
The young martial artist's voice was not loud, but it carried clearly across the entire street.
“Don’t be scared of him! He’s bluffing! He just fought the Demon Emperor, there’s no way he’s fine. If we all attack together today, we’ll kill him here!”
A cultivator could no longer hold back and leapt out from the crowd, charging straight toward Chen Chao.
But very quickly, everyone saw a flash of saber light. That cultivator was directly split in half by a single strike from the young martial artist.
However, this did not frighten the others. Instead, they shouted and surged forward. In an instant, the long street was filled with multicolored lights and flashes of blade qi.
People kept falling, but just as many rushed in to replace them.
Chen Chao swung the butcher’s knife, cutting down every cultivator who approached. But after several moments, a trace of blood still leaked from the corner of his mouth.
“Look, he’s reaching his limit! Let's kill him!”
Someone spotted it and shouted excitedly.
That single shout made the rest even more fervent, as if they had been given a signal, attacking with even greater desperation.
Chen Chao remained expressionless, continuing to swing his blade. With each strike, it was as though he had returned to the mountain forests outside Tianqing County.
Back then, facing those frenzied demonic beasts, the Lord Warden Commander who was still a teenager had wielded his broken saber in exactly the same way.
That day, the howls of beasts echoed endlessly through the forest.
And this time, it was broken bodies littering the ground.
Everywhere pieces of limbs and corpses.
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