The magistrate of Tongyang County was named Fang Yujie, and he had been stationed in Tongyang County for five years.
According to Young Master Hundred Flowers, although he had not imposed exorbitant taxes or wreaked havoc throughout the region, he had certainly committed his share of embezzlement, bribery, bullying men, and oppressing women. He was a thoroughly corrupt official.
Thus, Zheng Qian felt no psychological burden whatsoever as he tortured him.
A few minutes later, faint screams echoed from the depths of the County Yamen.
But the screams lasted only a very short while before vanishing without a trace.
There was nothing he could do about it. Fang Yujie's bones were simply too soft. Zheng Qian had only slashed his leg once, and Fang Yujie could no longer stop himself from telling him everything he knew.
According to him:
Zheng Zhoushan—the cheap father of Zheng Qian's predecessor—had once been one of the ten richest merchants in Tongyang County.
His Zheng's Trading Company had even expanded from Tongyang County across the surrounding four counties, with operations reaching as far as the prefectural city of Ziyang City. His fortune was worth an astronomical sum, and he had connections with many high-ranking officials and nobles.
In other words, as long as the Zheng family did not bring disaster upon themselves, they could have continued prospering for another several decades or even a century.
But all of that had vanished because of an ordinary transaction a year ago.
A year ago, Zheng's Pawnshop in Ziyang City had somehow received a piece of Ancient Green Jade from someone.
The material of the Ancient Green Jade was merely a piece of reasonably pure Lapis Lazuli Jade, worth only around a hundred or so taels of silver.
Zheng's Pawnshop had offered seventy taels for it, with a three-month term. Once the term expired, it would require eighty taels to redeem.
But until the term ended, that person never came to redeem the pawn. Naturally, the Ancient Green Jade then became the property of Zheng's Pawnshop.
Pawnshops dealt in ready cash, so they naturally would not keep a piece of Lapis Lazuli Jade whose value had long been made clear.
As it happened, there was a small auction being held at the time. The pawnshop manager sent some pawns of uncertain value from the shop, including that piece of Lapis Lazuli Jade, to be auctioned off.
It would have been fine if he had not sent it. As it turned out, that Ancient Green Jade was not Lapis Lazuli Jade at all, but Azure Nether Jade, which looked extremely similar.
Although the two looked alike, their values differed enormously—by more than a thousand times.
In other words, the Lapis Lazuli Jade that should have been worth only around a hundred taels of silver had instantly transformed into Azure Nether Jade worth no less than one hundred thousand taels of silver.
One had to understand that the entire Zheng's Trading Company was not worth that much money, let alone capable of protecting such a fortune.
But Zheng Zhoushan had no idea of his own limits and actually dreamed of obtaining that enormous sum.
And so he brought disaster upon himself, ending up framed and having his family destroyed.
As for the people who had framed Zheng Zhoushan, Fang Yujie only knew that the Li family, one of the Four Great Families in the prefectural city, was involved, as well as his father-in-law, the prefectural governor Mu Tingzhou. He did not know who else was involved.
Of course, as the local magistrate, he had naturally taken a share of the spoils as well.
"Treasure stirs the heart... Who would have thought that a merchant ranked among the wealthiest in an entire county would end up with his family confiscated and exterminated over a piece of jade?"
After listening to Fang Yujie's account, Zheng Qian muttered in a somewhat emotional tone.
The reason Azure Nether Jade was so valuable, apart from being extremely rare, was also its powerful effect.
Azure Nether Jade could actually help Half-step Grandmaster Realm experts break through to the Grandmaster Realm more quickly!
In this world, a Grandmaster expert could already become the foundation of an entire nation. It was fundamentally incomparable to a mere hundred thousand taels of silver.
The royal family of the Xingyang Dynasty, for example, had secured its throne by relying on two Grandmaster experts.
However, Azure Nether Jade could only accelerate a Half-step Grandmaster's breakthrough to the Grandmaster Realm. It did not mean that obtaining Azure Nether Jade guaranteed a breakthrough.
If obtaining Azure Nether Jade truly guaranteed a breakthrough to the Grandmaster Realm, then let alone a hundred thousand taels of silver—even a hundred thousand taels of gold would have countless people scrambling to acquire it.
In the courtyard at the very back of the County Yamen, after obtaining all the information he wanted, Zheng Qian casually crushed Fang Yujie and his wife, Mu Ruxin, to death.
Since they had participated in the extermination of the Zheng family, their deaths were deserved.
As for Fang Yujie's daughter, she was not in the County Yamen. He had sent her to the prefectural city, to her maternal grandfather—namely, the prefectural governor Mu Tingzhou.
It was not that Fang Yujie had known in advance that Zheng Qian would come for revenge and made preparations. Rather, she had been frightened away by Young Master Hundred Flowers, that flower thief.
Naturally, there were more than just Fang Yujie and his wife in the courtyard. There were also four maids serving them.
However, Zheng Qian was not bloodthirsty, nor did he like implicating the innocent.
Therefore, he merely knocked all the maids unconscious beforehand instead of killing them.
Afterward, Zheng Qian began searching the courtyard for anything valuable while muttering softly:
"Azure Nether Jade? I wonder how this thing helps a Half-step Grandmaster break through to the Grandmaster Realm..."
He was a Half-step Grandmaster himself, so that piece of Azure Nether Jade would be perfect for him.
Of course, that was assuming the Azure Nether Jade was still there. Nearly a year had passed, after all. Who knew whether someone had already used it?
Unfortunately, Fang Yujie was merely an ordinary person with no martial cultivation. He only knew that Azure Nether Jade was extremely valuable. As for how it was actually used, he understood absolutely nothing.
Besides that, he also had no idea who had ultimately obtained the Azure Nether Jade.
"Forget it. I'll go to the prefectural city and take a look first..."
Around half an hour later, after putting all the valuable items in the courtyard into his Storage Space, Zheng Qian muttered to himself before swiftly vanishing into the vast night.
Since he had taken over this body, he naturally had to avenge it within the limits of what he could do.
And only by going to the prefectural city could he truly uncover the entire course of events and determine who his enemies were.
Of course, he also wanted to see whether he could obtain a Grandmaster-level cultivation technique while he was there.
Things were different now. With Zheng Qian's current formidable Half-step Grandmaster Realm strength, he could run rampant throughout this tiny Tongyang County.
However, he had no interest in wasting time with the city's guards and constables.
In less than fifteen minutes, he appeared like a ghost beside the northern city wall.
Then, with a light leap, he sprang more than two zhang into the air. After borrowing a little force from the city wall, he easily vaulted over it and left the city.
There were naturally city guards stationed atop the wall.
However, Tongyang County had enjoyed peace for far too long. These poorly trained city guards had long since slumped over and fallen asleep, completely failing to notice that someone had just crossed the city wall.
Of course, even if they had noticed, it would have been useless. They did not possess the strength to stop Zheng Qian.
Tongyang County was roughly eighty li from the prefectural city. At Zheng Qian's speed, he could arrive in at most half an hour if he went all out.
However, he was not in a hurry. It was still early, and even if he arrived, he would not be able to enter.
The prefectural city was nothing like a county town. Not only were its walls taller, but there were also more powerful experts within the city.
Until he figured all that out, it was still safer to honestly enter through the city gates.
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