With the Blade

Chapter 293: Chapter 244: The Strength of the Yu People

"Are you referring to the matter of the Yu clans?"

The aged Qian Yu, seated at the blood-stained wine table, stared at the unfamiliar Jianghu swordsman before him, speechless for a long while.

In just a brief moment, Zhao Jinfan, who had established a vast enterprise in Dengzhou City, was killed on the spot, and the guards who were supposed to protect Zhao Jinfan also lay dead in pools of blood—such a terrifying scene felt strangely familiar to Qian Yu, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Indeed, he had seen it before; this indifference to human life, along with that inhumane aura... everything was exactly like Du Chengfeng.

It truly was a mirror image, even the weapons looked similar. Like Du Chengfeng, this Jianghu swordsman also carried a blade and a sword.

And this formidable individual, who was almost indistinguishable from Du Chengfeng, after killing Zhao Jinfan who presided over Dengzhou, actually wanted to inquire about the Yu clans of the past?

"This... I don’t know how to say it,"

After a moment of silence, Qian Yu chose cooperation.

Or rather, cooperation was inconsequential to him, as he was already old and had little hope for life. If someone was willing to listen to him ramble a bit now, perhaps it was a good thing?

"It mainly depends on what you want to know, in which areas. Just the matter of the Yu clans already involves many places, I wouldn’t know where to start."

"Start from when the Yu clans replaced the Chu clans."

Yin Ren Wu Zhao sat down and even began to eat the blood-stained dishes on the table.

"I want to hear your version of the Yu clans’ story."

"Ah, this."

Qian Yu instantly relaxed; this was something he knew.

Or rather, all scholars knew of that era, given that it was the zenith of scholars. Even under the suppression of the Chu clans, unable to truly wield those evil qi weapons, they relied on the classics passed down by saints and their firm and tenacious will to defeat the brutal and corrupt Chu clans, ending the bloody era of Da Chu.

"Wait?"

Just as Qian Yu was about to continue, Yin Ren Wu Zhao furrowed his brow.

"Are you saying those scholars gained power through reciting classics? What about you? Why didn’t you?"

"The righteous aura from poetry and books... sigh."

Upon this subject, Qian Yu sighed.

Though anyone could read the books of saints, just like anyone could understand great truths, few could truly apply them. Comprehending the righteous aura from the books was not something just anyone could do. Anyone who could achieve this would mostly become a renowned figure of the time, like Ruan Shantao, who was previously ostracized by Prime Minister Jia Wen to Yi Zhou, was one of the outstanding ones.

However, this wasn’t necessarily a good thing, as the saying goes, gentlemen are easy to deceive with principles. If one is too focused on reasoning, it’s often tough to get things done. This is why Ruan Shantao, owning the righteous aura, ended up far in Yan Zhou, while Prime Minister Jia Wen, who didn’t comprehend it, presided over the court.

Once, Qian Yu yearned for that unwavering power, but it was obvious that its limitations were too great. On the contrary, the straightforward approach of Prime Minister Jia Wen, targeting the hearts of others, was more direct and effective.

Of course, now Qian Yu also realized that Prime Minister Jia Wen’s way also had its limitations.

Just like now, if the opponent truly doesn’t care about psychological tactics and ruthlessly resorts to murder... then no matter how scheming they might be, it becomes impossible to exert influence.

Not even Ruan Shantao and his kind, at least if Ruan Shantao was present, who would win now, couldn’t be said for sure.

"I see."

Yin Ren Wu Zhao nodded slightly.

It seemed to have understood the power of these Yu clans.

Indeed, it seemed somewhat similar to the former Yin clan priests’ methods, but these Yu clans divided it into two factions, one inclined towards a traditional priestly path—taming the ghost within to gain unfathomable power, the other focused on psyching out the opponent, aiming to unleash the ghost within the opponent for the upper hand.

And clearly, these two factions were incompatible, at least there was no manifestation of inner ghostly power in this old man.

Otherwise, the old man and the young man who just died should have shown some resistance.

Instead of watching it turn these people into corpses.

"Oh, by the way."

With this thought, Yin Ren Wu Zhao pointed to the corpses on the ground.

"These people are interesting; I’ve killed their commander, yet none attempted to flee. How did you achieve this?"

"They... are Zhao Jinfan’s dead soldiers."

Looking at those corpses on the ground, Qian Yu’s eyelids twitched.

Due to the lack of martial prowess among the Yu clans, they often sought out individuals with martial power to serve as protectors—like the former Prime Minister Jia Wen, who maintained a group of Jianghu experts with external evil qi, partly to protect himself and partly to perform tasks requiring martial prowess.

As for why those Jianghu experts heeded Jia Wen’s every command, partly it was because Jia Wen offered them generous rewards, and partly because Jia Wen’s insight into human nature allowed him to solve difficulties unthinkable for them.

Similarly, these dead soldiers on the ground were in a similar situation.

They were recruited by Zhao Jinfan, but Zhao Jinfan offered more than just generous pay. Besides compensation, the insightful Zhao Jinfan easily grasped the needs of these armored soldiers—thus they all regarded Zhao Jinfan as their intimate ally, their best friend, and now with Zhao Jinfan dead, they naturally fought to the death without retreat.

After which these warriors truly died, merely due to Zhao Jinfan’s misjudgment.

"Indeed, it was a pity."

After hearing Qian Yu’s explanation, Yin Ren Wu Zhao sighed too, even pouring a cup of wine onto the ground.

In Yin Ren’s sight, there was no place for the weak, but there was for warriors, and these armored soldiers willing to stake their lives for a friend were undoubtedly true warriors.

Even if this bravery was initially built upon the deception of those scholars.

"I... seem to know now."

Downing the cup of wine, Yin Ren Wu Zhao exhaled a breath laden with alcohol.

It really did know; at this moment it understood everything.

Not just about these Yu clans.

But also the reason behind the downfall of the former Yin clans.