Eating Out an Heirless Household, Raising a Private Army

The snow had stopped, but the weather had grown even colder.

On the streets of Black Stone County, the snow had been trampled into filthy black slush. The Black Tiger Gang members, once so arrogant and overbearing, vanished overnight, replaced by constables with sharp blades at their waists and murderous looks on their faces.

Black Tiger Gang headquarters, Hall of Brotherhood.

Ji Ye sat in the grand chair draped in white tiger hide. The chair was somewhat too large, but he sat in it steadily.

Thick bandages wrapped his body, and over them he wore a black sable coat found in Zhao Hei Hu's wardrobe. He held a bowl of freshly brewed medicine. The decoction was black as ink and gave off a nauseatingly fishy stench, yet he drank it mouthful by mouthful without expression, as if it were plain water.

Two rows of people knelt below the hall.

On the left were the remaining minor leaders of the Black Tiger Gang, each bruised and battered, trembling like leaves; on the right were several senior clerks and squad leaders from the county yamen, all with their heads lowered, not daring to even breathe loudly.

"Zhao Hei Hu is dead, but this debt has not yet been settled."

Ji Ye set down the empty bowl. The porcelain struck the tabletop with a crisp clink.

The Black Tiger Gang accountant kneeling at the front shuddered, pressing his forehead to the floor. "Constable... Constable Ji, the account books are all here. The gang still has three thousand taels in cash, along with land deeds and house deeds... they are all here."

Three thousand taels.

That was equivalent to Black Stone County's taxes for three years.

And that was only the cash. Zhao Hei Hu had monopolized medicinal herbs, contraband salt, and human trafficking for years. His fortune was so vast that it could drive anyone mad.

"Three thousand taels?"

Ji Ye let out a cold laugh. Rather than inspect the account book, he took the still-dripping boning knife from his clothes and gently stabbed it into the tabletop.

"I do not understand accounting, but I understand killing."

He pointed at the accountant. "I will give you one more chance. Think carefully before you speak."

Cold sweat instantly poured down the accountant's face. He stole a glance at Ji Ye's utterly emotionless eyes, and his mental defenses collapsed at once.

"There... there is more!" the accountant cried, his voice choked with tears. "In a hidden compartment in the dry well of the rear courtyard! There are another five thousand taels of gold! The gang leader was planning... planning to send it north as toll money!"

Five thousand taels of gold.

The entire hall erupted. Even the senior clerks nearby raised their heads in shock, their eyes filled with greed and disbelief.

One tael of gold was worth ten taels of silver. That meant fifty thousand taels of silver!

With this money, let alone supporting a few constables, they could even raise a private army of a thousand men.

"Very good."

Ji Ye pulled out the boning knife and pointed it at the accountant. "You survived."

Then, the tip of his blade turned toward the others.

"As for the rest of you..."

"Constable Ji! Wait!"

At that moment, a shrill voice came from the doorway.

A middle-aged man with a goatee and a long silk robe hurried inside. He was the County Magistrate's advisor, surnamed Qian, known as "Qian Ba Pi," and he was ten times greedier than the previous Zhao Ba Pi.

Advisor Qian looked at the chests scattered across the floor and the kneeling crowd. The greed in his eyes was nearly overflowing, but he still put on airs and cupped his hands toward Ji Ye.

"Constable Ji, you have worked hard. His Honor was greatly pleased to hear that the Black Tiger Gang had been wiped out. He specially ordered me to come seal up their illicit assets. This dirty silver and these criminals must all be escorted back to the county yamen prison for trial."

Seal them up?

It sounded nice, but he had simply come to pick the peaches.

The old Ji Ye might have humored him for a while.

But now...

"Advisor Qian."

Ji Ye did not rise. He did not even lift his eyelids. "You came at just the right time. I have several letters here that I would like to ask you to examine."

He pulled several bloodstained sheets from his clothes and casually tossed them onto the floor, where they drifted to Advisor Qian's feet.

Advisor Qian froze for a moment, then bent down and picked them up.

After only one glance, his expression changed. From ruddy to pale, from pale to livid, and finally into the face of a dead man.

They were letters exchanged between Zhao Hei Hu and Barbarian tribes. They contained not only lists of arms deals, but also Black Stone County's defense map, and even... the County Magistrate's personally written approval!

Although they were forged, Advisor Qian might as well have believed them genuine. At a time like this, they were death warrants.

"This... this is slander! These are forgeries!" Advisor Qian's hands shook, and his voice rose so sharply that it changed pitch.

"Whether they are forged or not, the Judicial Commissioner in the prefectural city will know at a glance."

Ji Ye spoke blandly. "Colluding with the enemy and betraying the nation means execution of nine generations of kin. Advisor Qian, if these letters are submitted, do you think His Honor can keep his official hat? Can you keep your head?"

"You..."

Advisor Qian stared at Ji Ye as though meeting this young constable for the first time.

Too ruthless.

What kind of constable was this? He was clearly a desperado. He was using leverage to openly threaten the ruler of an entire county!

"Constable... Constable Ji, what do you want?" Advisor Qian drew a deep breath, and his tone softened.

"The gold is all mine."

Ji Ye held out one hand, spreading all five fingers. "The three thousand taels of silver will be sent to the county yamen's rear residence to calm His Honor's nerves. As for these Black Tiger Gang remnants, apart from that accountant, send them all to prison. Consider it a political achievement for His Honor."

"This..." Advisor Qian's face twitched in pain. Fifty thousand taels of silver! Was it just going to be swallowed like that?

But he looked into Ji Ye's icy eyes, then at the letters on the ground, and finally gritted his teeth.

"Fine! We will do as Constable Ji says!"

Advisor Qian carefully gathered up the letters from the floor. "Then these letters..."

"The brazier is over there." Ji Ye pointed toward the corner.

As if granted a pardon, Advisor Qian hurried over and tossed the letters into the brazier. Only after watching them turn to ash did he finally let out a long breath.

The deal was struck.

Ji Ye had exchanged three thousand taels of silver and several letters for fifty thousand taels in military funds and the County Magistrate's silence.

In this world on the verge of collapse, rules were dead while people were alive. So long as the profits were large enough, even the hatred of a father's murder could be set aside, much less an uneven division of spoils.

After seeing Advisor Qian off, Ji Ye rose to his feet. His wounds throbbed faintly from the excessive movement, but he paid them no mind.

"Pockmarked."

"Here!" Pockmarked, already promoted to squad leader, ran in from outside, his back ramrod straight.

"Exchange all five thousand taels of gold for food, refined iron, and cotton clothes."

Ji Ye walked to the entrance of the hall and looked at the gray sky outside. "Also, post notices. The county yamen is recruiting Local Militia. Any young and strong man of clean background and physical strength may apply. Meals and meat will be provided, along with two taels of silver every month."

"Two taels?!"

Pockmarked's eyes widened. That was the pay of regular border troops! In these chaotic times, people would sell their lives for a mouthful of food. Two taels of silver was paying people to go die!

"Boss, what are we doing? Rebelling?" Pockmarked lowered his voice, excitement and fear seeping through it.

"Rebelling?"

Ji Ye smiled, and there was something bleak in that smile. "No. This is so we will not be killed."

He turned around and looked at the empty tiger-hide chair.

"Tell the brothers that the good days are over. Starting tomorrow, everyone trains. Those who do not train to death get meat; those who train to death get compensation for their families."

"Within three months, I want to forge a pack of dogs that can bite through wolf bones."

That night.

Ji Ye did not return to the county yamen. Instead, he stayed at the Black Tiger Gang headquarters.

He opened the underground chamber where the gold had been hidden.

Golden light reflected off his bruised purple face, making him look particularly eerie.

But he did not look at the gold. Instead, he walked toward a shelf in the corner of the chamber.

It held rare, isolated copies of martial manuals collected by Zhao Hei Hu, along with several strange and unusual medicines.

Ji Ye picked up a yellowed booklet—Tiger Demon Bone Forging Fist.

This was Zhao Hei Hu's primary cultivation technique, the foundation that had allowed him to reach the Peak Skin Tempering Realm and even touch the threshold of the Bone Forging Realm.

Compared with the common military-issued Mountain Splitting Saber Technique, this fist technique was more profound. It emphasized "transforming tendons and forging bones," stretching the sinews and shaking the marrow by imitating a fierce tiger's postures.

"Good stuff."

Ji Ye leafed through the manual, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.

He now possessed nothing but brute strength and a defense of dead flesh, while his bones remained at an ordinary human level, unable to withstand high-intensity impacts. This fist technique could perfectly make up for his weakness.

And besides...

Ji Ye's gaze settled on a jade bottle on the topmost shelf.

A seal was attached to the bottle: [Dragon Tiger Great Pill (Incomplete)].

This was likely Zhao Hei Hu's most treasured possession, something he had intended to use to preserve his life when breaking through to the Bone Forging Realm.

Ji Ye picked up the jade bottle and pulled out the stopper.

An intense, almost pungent smell of blood rushed into his face. Inside was only one dark-red pill, its surface uneven and pitted. Its quality was clearly poor; it was even a defective, failed product.

But in Ji Ye's eyes, this was life itself.

"Money, food, cultivation methods, medicine."

Ji Ye clenched the jade bottle.

"Three months."

"If I cannot forge this body into a true killing machine..."

"Then I will die on the training ground."

He swallowed the pill in one gulp, sat cross-legged on the spot, and assumed the opening stance of the Tiger Demon Bone Forging Fist—Tiger Lying on Desolate Hill.

The Triple Brute Force within his body surged again. Together with the pill's violent medicinal power, it began another round of destruction and reforging upon his fragile bones.

In this life, he would not merely survive. He would live harder than anyone else.

Hard enough that even fate's blade would curl when it struck him.