Chaos Erupts Everywhere

Yang Jing had no idea what Liu Maolin was thinking. After hearing Old Master Liu's words, he stepped closer and carefully examined the map.

The route on the map was clearly marked, along with several villages where they could stop and rest.

He nodded. "All right, we'll follow this route."

The three of them went into the inner room and talked for a while longer. Before long, the sound of carriages and horses came from the courtyard outside the storeroom. The guards had presumably finished loading the medicinal herbs onto the carts.

Yang Jing drained the tea from his cup, straightened his collar, and rose. "That should be about it. I'll set off now and try to get back before night falls."

Old Master Liu and Liu Maolin both nodded.

Liu Maolin and Yang Jing came out of the inner room and entered the courtyard. The convoy was fully prepared and ready to depart at any moment.

At the very front of the convoy stood three broad, powerfully built guards. All three were Bright Strength experts at the captain level among the Liu family guards, showing just how valuable this shipment of medicinal herbs was.

Two of them looked weary. They had only recently completed the previous escort mission with Liu Maolin, and now they had to hurry without pause to Jinhe County.

Liu Maolin instructed the three Bright Strength guard captains, "Gentlemen, this mission is of great importance. On the road, you are to follow Guest Official Yang's orders and must not act on your own."

The three men all nodded in acknowledgment.

Though Yang Jing was young—far younger than any of the three—he was a Hidden Strength expert. It was not as though they had never sparred before; even if all three of them were tied together, they would still be no match for him, and he could crush them with ease. Liu Maolin did not need to specifically remind them. They would naturally defer to Yang Jing.

Yang Jing stepped forward and mounted a sturdy black horse. He swept his gaze over the convoy, ready to depart, while his fingers unconsciously rubbed the saber at his waist. In a deep voice, he said, "Move out!"

At Yang Jing's command, the Liu Family Medical Hall convoy of several dozen people slowly rolled out through the medical hall's gates.

Yang Jing led the Liu Family Medical Hall convoy carrying important medicinal herbs out of Yuhe County and headed north.

Yuhe County lay roughly in the south-central portion of Jintai Prefecture. Both Jinhe County, their destination this time, and the Prefectural City of Jintai Prefecture lay north of Yuhe County.

Once they left Yuhe County, refugees covered the land as far as the eye could see.

The miserable scenes before him sent an icy chill creeping down even Yang Jing's back.

During this period, Yang Jing had almost entirely buried himself in martial training. On one hand, he had only recently broken through to Hidden Strength and was brimming with drive; on the other, he was preparing for the upcoming Parade Ground Trial.

Liu Maolin also knew that Yang Jing had been training like mad lately, so he had not assigned him any ordinary escort jobs.

Thus, Yang Jing had only heard about the situation outside the city from others.

But seeing it with his own eyes now, his heart still tightened uncontrollably.

"Isn't this a living, breathing age of chaos?"

Yang Jing furrowed his brow. He decided he still had to bring his family into the city; otherwise, he truly could not rest easy.

He would have to start handling that immediately after the Parade Ground Trial.

As for his grandfather, if the old man truly refused to come, then Yang Jing would have no choice but to use force. Even if he had to tie them up, he would bring them into the city.

The merchant convoy continued north.

Yang Jing noticed that as the carts traveled farther north, there were still many refugees on the roads, but far fewer than within Yuhe County.

Perhaps war had broken out in Caozhou, leaving countless Caozhou civilians displaced and fleeing eastward. Jintai Prefecture was one of the prefectures in Jizhou closest to Caozhou, while Yuhe County lay in the south-central part of Jintai Prefecture and was relatively close to Caozhou as well.

By comparison, conditions in northern Jintai Prefecture were much better.

The journey was not entirely smooth sailing.

In these times, refugees were everywhere and bandits ran rampant.

Halfway there, Yang Jing and the others encountered two groups of road-blocking bandits in succession, but both were nothing more than a rabble.

Yang Jing did not even use his full strength. He merely crushed the bandit leaders with ease, after which the three Bright Strength experts and the other guards worked together and scattered the bandits without difficulty. The convoy suffered no losses whatsoever, and the medicinal herbs naturally remained completely intact.

By the time they safely delivered the herbs to Jinhe County and completed the handover, the sun was already setting.

Yang Jing did not dare delay. He immediately led the group back, finally entering Yuhe County's county seat just as darkness fully fell.

Only when the convoy entered Yuhe County's county seat did Yang Jing finally let out a complete sigh of relief.

Along the way, they had encountered two groups of bandits, but neither had been particularly formidable.

What Yang Jing was most worried about was the Flying Horse Bandits.

The Flying Horse Bandits moved with great agility. The imperial troops had mobilized against them several times, only for the bandits to shake them off each time. They had even killed seven or eight soldiers.

By now, the Flying Horse Bandits' fearsome name had spread throughout all of Yuhe County.

If they encountered the Flying Horse Bandits, Yang Jing was not confident either. He had considered it to himself: if they really ran into them, he would do all he could. If it came down to it, he could only run. With Surging Wave Leg, if he threw himself into the mountains and forests or plunged into the reed marshes, the Flying Horse Bandits might not necessarily be able to catch him.

Though losing the medicinal herbs would leave him somewhat sorry toward his senior brother Liu Maolin and Old Master Liu, Yang Jing would never throw away his own life over a mere shipment of herbs and a little guilt.

In such a chaotic age, if he died, what would become of his grandfather, grandmother, and mother? And who would search for his father and eldest uncle?

Fortunately, however, he had followed the route Old Master Liu laid out before departure and indeed had not encountered the Flying Horse Bandits.

Still, Yang Jing felt this was not a long-term solution. The Flying Horse Bandits came and went like the wind and possessed great mobility. They could avoid them three or five times, but as long as the Liu Family Medical Hall continued transporting medicinal herbs to Jinhe County and the Prefectural City, they would have to face the Flying Horse Bandits sooner or later.

For now, though, they could only keep dragging things out this way.

It was said that the Flying Horse Bandits had more than one Hidden Strength expert among them, and their strength was formidable. Yet it was not as though the imperial court had never exterminated bandit forces stronger than the Flying Horse Bandits before.

Yang Jing figured that once the imperial court freed up its hands and truly made up its mind, wiping out the Flying Horse Bandits should not be difficult.

When the merchant convoy reached the Liu Family Medical Hall, the medical hall's old steward was already waiting at the entrance.

After the handover was complete, the old steward handed Yang Jing a heavy money pouch. "Young Hero Yang, you've worked hard. This is your reward—ten taels of silver. Please accept it; everything has been handled according to the rules."

Yang Jing smiled as he accepted the pouch, weighed it in his hand, and nodded. "Thank you."

With the task handover complete, Yang Jing did not linger. He bade the medical clinic's old steward farewell, carried the money pouch out of the clinic, and headed for his own small courtyard in Tongyi Ward.

As he walked back, Yang Jing pondered what he had seen and heard during the day, as well as the insights he had gained while fighting those two bands of bandits.

In the night, Yang Jing returned to his small courtyard in Tongyi Ward, steeped in blue bricks and gray tiles. The August evening breeze carried the lingering heat of late summer, rustling the leaves in the corner of the yard.

Yang Jing took a cold bath, then entered the kitchen bare-chested.

He set a clay pot over a small earthen stove, cut the bear meat into large chunks, and stewed it with ginger slices and angelica. The bubbling gurgle of the broth sounded especially clear in the silent courtyard.

Once it was done, he carried a large coarse porcelain bowl to a stone bench in the courtyard and began eating in great mouthfuls.

Though it did not taste as good as the work of Fu Man Lou's chefs, Yang Jing was still fairly satisfied. At least it had been stewed until tender, the meat melting in his mouth. Warm meat juices slid down his throat, and a familiar warmth soon rose within his Dantian.

This was the nourishing effect of Fierce Beast Meat.

After two jin of meat went into his stomach, Yang Jing patted his slightly bloated belly. When he rose, his joints gave a faint crackle—the sign that his sinews and bones were being nourished.

The troubled times, the bandits, the Parade Ground Trial—these things were like a whip cracking across Yang Jing's back, leaving him no dare to rest. Every moment, he thought of practicing martial arts and making himself stronger.

Fortunately, he had the System Panel. He could clearly see the results of every training session and instantly grasp his daily improvement, giving him even more motivation to train.

Yang Jing drew a deep breath, stepped into the center of the yard, and rooted himself in a firm horse stance. The force of Mountain Collapse Fist swept over the ground, stirring up dust.

The first form, Split Stone, shot out, its fist edge screeching sharply against the air.

By the time the seventh form, Cloud Collapse, came crashing down, the stone mill in the corner of the yard actually trembled slightly.

An hour later, beads of sweat from Yang Jing's brow struck the ground, spreading into small dark patches.

After resting for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Yang Jing switched to practicing Surging Wave Leg.

As his body shifted and darted, afterimages of his feet wove thickly through the air. The dull thuds of his kicks striking the tree trunk startled the night birds from the branches.

He deliberately poured Internal Energy into the tips of his feet, every kick carrying the rhythm of "surging waves battering the shore."

Only when the moon hung at its zenith did Yang Jing finally finish his training.

Well water washed over his body, its chill driving away the sticky sweat.

Lying on his hard plank bed, Yang Jing slowly closed his eyes. Before him, the scenes of the Parade Ground Trial seemed to emerge once more.

Three days later, early in the morning.

Morning light had only just spilled over the archway of Tongyi Ward when Yang Jing let out a satisfied burp, left his courtyard, and hurried toward the martial arts hall in Chengping Ward.

The medicinal brew made from sliced ginseng and astragalus still left warmth in his throat. Together with the more than one jin of tender bear meat, it transformed into a warm current that spread through his limbs, making his steps noticeably lighter.

Yet the sights along the street carried an air of gloom.

Beneath walls and beside eaves huddled many refugees, each sallow and emaciated, their ragged clothing unable to conceal their protruding bones.

One had to know that this was already an area near the heart of Yuhe County's county seat. Further inward lay the Inner City.

Even Tongyi Ward and Chengping Ward were flooded with so many refugees. In the other wards and markets farther out, there were far, far more refugees than here.

The August sun was vicious, and the refugees shifted into the shade, leaning weakly against one another with hollow eyes.

When the cold comes, that's when it'll truly become hard to survive.

Yang Jing sighed inwardly and gently shook his head.

For now, they could at least cling to life beneath the warm sun. Once the cold winds of late autumn began to blow, quite a few more corpses would probably appear on these streets every day.

As he walked, a burst of noisy conversation reached him, carrying traces of a foreign accent.

Jintai Prefecture and Caozhou were fairly close to each other, and their accents bore some resemblance, but the differences were still easy to hear.

Yang Jing's steps paused slightly as he followed the voices with his gaze.

Under a locust tree at the street corner, more than a dozen ragged refugees had gathered, chattering all at once about something. Their accents clearly came from the Caozhou region.

Subconsciously, he slowed his pace and took two steps diagonally backward, hiding behind an old elm tree.

Compared with ordinary people, Entering Strength martial artists were far keener of eye and ear. Yang Jing had now advanced to Hidden Strength, and his hearing far surpassed that of normal people. Even from several zhang away, those words slipped clearly into his ears.

"The Song Kingdom's soldiers were like madmen. They broke through Qinghe County, and on the day the city fell, the fires burned for half the night."

"Our village belonged to Qinghe County. The moment we heard the commotion, we ran east. The few of us were among the fast ones. Those who were one step slower... they're all gone."

"The Caozhou Army did stop them at Yunmeng Mountain, but the casualties were too terrible. They say the soldiers' corpses on the front lines have piled up into mountains."

"My cousin serves in the Caozhou Army. Last time, he sent word through someone that their provisions are nearly cut off. What are they supposed to use to hold them back?"

Those words were filled with terror and despair, like a blunt knife repeatedly sawing at Yang Jing's heart.

His father and eldest uncle had gone with the imperial army to escort provisions to the Caozhou front. Qinghe County and Yunmeng Mountain were names Yang Jing had learned about during his investigations over this period; they belonged to the most fiercely contested hellscape of the Caozhou war.

I hope Father and Eldest Uncle aren't at Qinghe County or Yunmeng Mountain... Yang Jing clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

He stood behind the tree, staring at the hunched backs of those Caozhou refugees for a long while without moving. His heart was heavy and anxious.

Only after a moment did he draw a deep breath, loosen his fists, and prepare to head for the martial arts hall.

Just as Yang Jing's gaze shifted away from the Caozhou refugees gathered in conversation, the corner of his eye caught sight of several men gathered in the shadows at the street corner.

They wore short, fitted clothes, their waists bulging with something concealed. Their eyes roved restlessly, occasionally flicking toward passersby. That slickness and ferocity born of prowling the streets was a temperament unique to gang members.

Over the past few months, Yang Jing had been forced to deal with gangs on more than a few occasions, and had gained a fairly deep understanding of the various gangs, large and small, in Yuhe County. He saw through the bottom-rung thugs at a glance.

Yang Jing noticed that those fellows seemed to have made some decision. He immediately halted, pressed himself closer to the base of the wall, and prepared to watch what happened.

One of them, a man in a satin short shirt who looked like their leader, strode straight toward a jewelry shop by the street.

As he lifted the door curtain and entered, Yang Jing vaguely caught sight of a richly dressed woman inside the shop, holding two jeweled hairpins up beside her temples for comparison.

Before long, a crisp slap suddenly rang out from within the shop, followed by a man's furious roar. "Didn't you understand when I said you couldn't buy them? Do you think the money at home gets blown in on the wind?"

His voice was far from quiet, and pedestrians on the street all turned to look.

Yang Jing raised his brows in surprise. Then he saw the man in the satin short shirt emerge from the shop, clutching the two jeweled hairpins, anger still written across his face. The hairpins shimmered with flowing light, clearly worth a great deal.

Inside the shop, the gorgeously dressed woman clutched her cheek, which had begun to redden and swell. She stood frozen for a moment, unable to react to the sudden turn of events.

But she quickly looked down at her empty hands, and the shop immediately rang with her cries. "Robbery! Someone stole my things!"

Next came the flustered voices of the shop assistants and maidservants. "Madam, wasn't that your husband? How could—"

"Who says he's my husband? Pah, he's not my husband! I don't know him!" The woman's voice was both frantic and furious.

At once, a chaotic uproar like chickens taking flight and dogs jumping about erupted from the shop. Several assistants rushed out carrying clubs, but the man in the satin short shirt had already vanished without a trace.