With the Blade

Chapter 312: Chapter 263: Doing Big Things

In the distant Dengzhou City, the rebellion was still in full swing.

Although Zhao Jinfan, who initially managed things here, died rather quickly, the legacy he left behind still existed. Every aspect of Dengzhou City had already been thoroughly infiltrated by these scholars. The most wonderful thing was that this place was still officially under the jurisdiction of Southern Chen, far away from the emperor — which directly meant that if any other Yu people wanted to raise the flag of rebellion, they would find it hard to pass up on Dengzhou, this piece of juicy meat.

"So, how exactly did the previous manager die?"

In the governor’s residence of Dengzhou City, the new manager Bai Wujiu fanned himself with a folding fan while scrutinizing the subordinates in front of him.

"Don’t tell me some Immortal descended and struck him dead. If you lead a pig here, even it wouldn’t believe such nonsense... Who exactly killed him? Who dared to touch one of ours?"

"Well..."

The subordinates glanced at each other, uncertain of what to say for a moment.

After thinking it over, they could only take Bai Wujiu to the crime scene to inspect those uncollected corpses and the large crater blasted into the ground.

"The previous manager is in the pit, though he’s a bit shattered."

"Hmm..."

Bai Wujiu looked down at the bottom of the pit and saw only a smear of red.

Now it was his turn to be speechless.

"So... it was a master."

After a long silence, Bai Wujiu squeezed a few words out from between his teeth.

A master, an existence that elicits both love and hate. If a master is on your side, he is the most reassuring supporter. All the enemies that wisdom cannot resolve can be dealt with by the master with weapons, and that Evil Qi is practically invincible. However, this also means that if the master is not on your side, it is the most disgusting situation — a being that eats little, drinks little, is hard to capture, and possesses destructive power like an invincible monkey. Anyone faced with such a scenario would find it a real headache.

Of course, a master is not unmanageable. Even a master who radiates Evil Qi can slip up, but dealing with a master requires a high price, possibly a very costly one.

Just like Bai Wujiu now, looking at the corpses littering the ground, he could already judge that dealing with this master would incur costs so high that no one could accept them.

"So what on earth happened? How did you manage to provoke such a person?"

Bai Wujiu thought for a moment and decided it was best to understand the whole story first.

And the subordinates finally found someone to whom they could pour out their concerns.

They truly couldn’t be blamed for the cause of the events. One must understand that their original plan had been to rise in rebellion. Any unexpected incident at this time could cause upheaval. Everyone was stockpiling troops and grain, preparing for action. Who would want to cause trouble at such a critical moment?

Yet it was precisely at this time that an unfamiliar caravan started purchasing supplies within the Dengzhou territory.

From essentials like firewood, rice, oil, and salt, to various iron tools, and even books and clothing fabrics, those caravans seemingly bought everything — if it were any other time, such procurement might not have been frequently seen, but it would not be alarming. Yet in this situation... what exactly were they preparing for?

I’m stockpiling supplies, and you’re stockpiling too. I’m planning a rebellion, are you also preparing one?

Perceiving something amiss, the former manager sent soldiers to the city to detain all the caravans. However, after interrogations, they extracted no useful information — these people, even when imprisoned, wouldn’t speak a word of truth, only claiming to be from Forget Sorrow Village, conducting normal purchasing activities.

However, when soldiers continued to press them about the location of Forget Sorrow Village, they simply fell silent.

Even when faced with torture instruments, these people showed no fear, their resilience was astonishingly strong.

"Since you keep talking about Forget Sorrow Village, then let your people bring ransom money to redeem you!"

The former manager, after mulling over it for a day, ultimately chose not to use torture. After all, these seemingly rustic folks were so confident, even unafraid of torture devices. It’s possible that there was an undisclosed rebel army standing behind them — so asking for ransom was the best strategy.

It was a means of communication, a warning of sorts. Asking for ransom subtly conveyed to the other party that they too were not rigid rule followers, and warned them not to overstep; Dengzhou was already claimed.

Moreover, to ensure safety, the previous manager arranged five hundred crossbowmen hidden behind a screen on the day of ransom payment. If the opponent indeed sent a master over for a decapitation strike, at least he could initiate an attack and shoot him dead with a barrage of arrows.

"Then the only thing he didn’t expect was that the master who came was overly powerful?"

After listening to these subordinates’ narration, Bai Wujiu had already guessed the outcome.

Five hundred crossbowmen would be enough to kill mortals, more than sufficient for those with Evil Qi within their bodies, but against Evil Qi radiating outward, arrows could only cause some inconvenience — clearly, the previous manager had sadly provoked a martial madman with radiating Evil Qi, directly leading to his untimely demise, having served less than half a year.

"Hmm..."

Thinking of this, Bai Wujiu cast his gaze around at the subordinates before him.

"I don’t know how the former manager got along with you all, but I want to say, for the sake of our great cause, I don’t intend to avenge him for now. Can you understand?"