Noon Three Quarters

Indeed!

Liang Qu's gaze flickered.

The Northern Court and Southern Border had yet to see any large-scale battles, so no great number of prisoners had been brought to the capital. Besides, if something truly happened, anyone who had cultivated to Grandmaster level and could live three hundred years—who would willingly submit to capture? Once they committed a crime, they all fought to the death. Very few were escorted to the execution ground for "beheading" like ordinary criminals.

Judging by the timing, the Jian Family's Old Ancestor was exactly the right candidate.

He had been exposed last August and was to be executed at this year's summer solstice. Less than a year—fast, considering the procedures alone.

Special matters were handled specially.

"What was the charge?"

"You're from Pingyang, you don't..." Meng Qiang stopped halfway, suspicion rising in his eyes. "Could there be some hidden story behind this?"

"What do you know?"

"What do you know?"

"I'm involved. If I really told you, you might hear something you shouldn't."

Meng Qiang opened his mouth, left speechless.

"Tell me already," Liang Qu urged.

"Jian Zhongyi committed treason and heinous rebellion. Great Grandmaster Jian Tianyuan, the Old Ancestor, took his place and redeemed his life with death. The Jian Family donated one million eight hundred thousand taels of silver to avoid imprisonment. Jian Zhongyi is confined to Qingzhou for fifty years, no pardon even in an amnesty. Whether there was any other compensation involved, I don't know."

"Then it's more or less what I thought."

"Ahem, is there really some inside story?" Meng Qiang leaned closer. "Can I hear it?"

"No."

"Fine, then."

Meng Qiang did not press the matter.

There were countless secrets in the world. Take the man before him—who knew what damned merit he had accomplished to shoot up to county