Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom

"Do you want revenge?" Su Changqing turned around, leaned on his saber, and watched him.

His expression was calm, his eyes deep and profound, like a secluded moon in the vast cold sky.

"No, no. Since I have joined Commander Su's command, I belong to you," Ye Ronghuo hurriedly said.

The Ye Family depended entirely on him and Ye Tian. Ye Tian was dead; if he were hated and deliberately targeted by Su Changqing, his immediate superior, as well...

It would be all too easy for him to die an unnatural death in the future.

He hated Su Changqing, but all he could do was pray that Su Changqing would not kill him...

Su Changqing watched him for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Cold sweat poured from Ye Ronghuo's forehead. Beneath the blazing sun, his entire body was nearly soaked through.

Name: Ye Ronghuo

Realm: True Qi Third Layer

Favorability: -45

...

"Fine. We'll settle it another day. Demote him to an ordinary Imperial Guard," Su Changqing said, his brow relaxing as he waved a hand.

He was certainly going to die, but Su Changqing would not make a move himself. The Ye brothers, Ye Tian and Ye Ronghuo, were both the sort to repay every slight.

They had provoked more than one Imperial Guard. Someone would deal with Ye Ronghuo.

At Cloud Dragon Lake today, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance that someone would play dirty.

"Ye Tian seemed to care deeply for his elder brother and was willing to stand up for him, yet Ye Ronghuo had little affection for Ye Tian."

The world contained every sort of person, each with their own calculations.

Back at the mission hall, someone had already spoken up against Ye Ronghuo.

Su Changqing slowly shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. His own heart was just as indifferent.

If he were to fall one day, no one would help him either.

A fated great villain was bound to offend both villains and the righteous alike.

The road ahead was long and arduous; I would search high and low.

After Ye Ronghuo was demoted, quite a few people looked at him coldly, killing intent flowing through their eyes. Even Zhou Chu wore an unfriendly expression.

As a Hundred Household, he could kill Ye Ronghuo with ease.

Su Changqing had no interest in such trivial matters. His gaze swept over Tai Long, Jin Yichuan, and Zuo Qianhu, and his heart stirred.

Name: Tai Long

Realm: Fifth Level of Xiantian

Fate: Innate Divine Strength (Green), Tiger Crouching Dragon Coiled (Green)

Wuxia Script: "Number One Under Heaven" — Mid-level Villain

Favorability: -95

Recent Turning Point: Participates in the suppression of bandits at Cloud Dragon Lake. In a thousand-year old clam at the deepest part of Cloud Dragon Lake, obtains a Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom (a supreme healing medicine that can revive the dead and regenerate flesh and bone, preserve one's life, and with three Heavenly Fragrance Cardamoms, restore youth and bring the dead back to life).

He keeps it hidden for several years, then presents it to Iron Guts God-Marquis and rises to become the Suppression Commissioner of the Suppression Bureau, achieving great success. Later, he is killed by Guihai Yidao's Dominating the World.

...

Name: Jin Yichuan

Realm: Seventh Level of Xiantian

Fate: Exquisite Saber Technique (Green), Born Lacking Money (Green)

Wuxia Script: "Spring Embroidered Saber" — Born Lacking Money, loyal and devoted. He is wounded by Zhang Yan, a woman from Youyun Workshop, and falls into a web of love. He does not let go until his death; when he dies, he resolves the knot in his heart and has no regrets.

Senior Brother needs more money, and avenges him...

Name: Zuo Qianhu

Realm: Ninth Level of Xiantian

Fate: Peerless Saber Technique (Purple), Proficient in Hidden Weapons (Green)

Wuxia Script: "A Chinese Ghost Story" — Not yet activated...

All three sets of information entered his sight. Su Changqing watched in silence and took a deep breath.

Sure enough, there truly was an A Chinese Ghost Story instance. The fragment of the A Chinese Ghosts Illustrated Record he had obtained also had a problem.

It had simply not begun yet. This world seemed far deeper than it appeared.

Su Changqing roughly scanned the scripts of the three Thousand Households present. Only Tai Long had something worth taking.

Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom.

"I don't know how many Heavenly Fragrance Cardamoms there are, but there definitely aren't many. Otherwise, the God-Marquis would have been beating drums and gongs to marry a wife long ago."

Invincible Brat had once fought Iron Guts God-Marquis over a woman named Suxin.

The two dueled atop Mount Tian, and Suxin rushed in and took half a palm strike from each of them.

Su Changqing's eyes flickered. Even the Imperial Guard had failed to find any news of Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom, proving just how rare it was.

Its value far surpassed the Nine Revolutions Great Returning Pill Su Changqing had once obtained. That thing could only heal internal injuries and greatly increase one's cultivation.

Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom, on the other hand, could unreasonably bring the dead back to life.

Gu Santong and Iron Guts God-Marquis had fought across the martial world and drained the strength of all under heaven, accumulating immense power over more than a century.

Forget killing someone with a single palm strike—even the shockwave from their true qi could kill someone in the True Qi Realm.

"Even if I obtain the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom, I cannot expose it. If I remain in the Suppression Bureau and keep climbing upward, could I use it as capital for promotion at a critical moment?"

Su Changqing considered it silently, then dismissed the thought.

Tai Long had clearly done exactly that. Unfortunately, he had been played by Iron Egg and was ultimately cut down by Guihai Yidao.

Guihai Yidao also cultivated the Tyrant Saber. He even wielded Dominating the World and the Three Blades of Abyssal Dao. Once he fell into madness, he could not distinguish friend from foe.

This was Iron Egg's scheme. He was an old fox who had deceived the whole world and aspired to set foot in the Great Shang Dynasty's imperial palace. Naturally, Tai Long died horribly.

Su Changqing remained silent. He was not confident that he could make Iron Egg regard him differently.

That man could ruthlessly kill even subordinates he had cultivated for years. Such was the nature of a tyrant.

"But I do not have to remain in the Imperial Guard forever..."

When people move, they thrive; when trees move, they die. Once the great chaos truly arrived, he simply would not stay here.

For now, the Imperial Guard's Twelve Divisions still held many opportunities waiting for Su Changqing to seize.

At this stage, there was no better backer than the Great Shang Dynasty.

How could he not seize the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom?

Seize it!

The large force advanced swiftly toward Cloud Dragon Mountain.

Cloud Dragon Mountain and Cloud Dragon Lake were tightly connected. The mountain was not tall, only a little over two hundred meters, but it was covered in dense forest and lush greenery, filled with ancient trees more than a hundred years old.

It truly lived up to the name Cloud Dragon. Seven peaks wound around one another in an unbroken chain.

At the mountain's foot, the vast lake rippled with blue waves, flowing without cease. The lake surface shimmered beneath the scorching sunlight, dreamlike and unreal.

"Today, everyone above the rank of Deputy Thousand Household will focus on killing the seven Xiantian experts. Everyone else will wipe out Cloud Dragon Village!" Zuo Qianhu said calmly as he wiped the Steel Saber in his hand.

"Zuo Qianhu, why has the court suddenly decided to destroy Cloud Dragon Village?" Jin Yichuan asked in confusion.

"His Majesty's birthday is in two months. The Empress said she wanted to see the scenery of Cloud Dragon Lake..." Zuo Qianhu fell silent for a moment before answering softly.

Everyone around them froze in place. Even Su Changqing could not help clicking his tongue.

It sounded rather absurd, but a single Suppression Bureau force was enough to annihilate Cloud Dragon Village.

As dusk gradually fell, the blazing sun faded away.

Zuo Qianhu looked toward the seven peaks and said coldly, "Conceal yourselves. Every person you kill is worth ten merit points!"

More than three hundred Imperial Guards behind Su Changqing moved at once, their black flying-fish uniforms giving off a chilling aura.

Su Changqing looked at them and said, "Our target is the seventh peak. At its summit is the seventh man of Cloud Dragon Village, Ji Chufeng. He excels at hidden weapons and is at the Fourth Level of Xiantian!"

Hearing this, everyone nodded. The Imperial Guard excelled at intelligence gathering and had long since learned every detail about the people on all seven peaks.

"Besides us, another Deputy Thousand Household will lead three hundred Imperial Guards up the mountain from the left. We will climb from the right."

Each of the seven peaks had a village chief, and every one of them was above the Xiantian Realm. It could be said that they were all stronger than Jiang Tianfeng.