This World is More Cruel Than Imagined!

That Li Zongming would take such a huge risk to seize the "Secret Key" from Yi Zheng—he was far too curious about it.

But catching a glimpse of Li Zongming's icy gaze, it was as if a basin of ice water had been poured over his head in the dead of winter, and all that curiosity vanished.

Before long, Iron Dragon Stockade came into view.

The terrain was treacherous, hidden among dense forests.

The stockade's passes and gates, along with its defensive fortifications, were very thoroughly constructed. On both sides of the gate were arrow towers, and at the entrance there were spiked trenches and wooden barricades.

The most perilous part was that entering Iron Dragon Stockade could only be done via the Iron Chain Bridge. The bridge hung suspended over a hundred-meter cliff, swaying so much that without holding on, it was hard to stand steady, and it could hold at most three people walking side by side.

To attack Iron Dragon Stockade, one had to cross the Iron Chain Bridge, and the stockade only needed to block the entrance to achieve the effect of one man holding the pass against ten thousand.

There was an even crueler option: directly destroying the Iron Chain Bridge.

No way in.

No way out.

The enemy naturally couldn't attack.

But unless absolutely necessary, Iron Dragon Stockade wouldn't destroy the Iron Chain Bridge.

After all, it was also their only way out, and rebuilding it would be costly and very troublesome.

Smack!!

From the Assembly Hall of the stockade came a roar:

"You're all useless!! So many days and you still haven't found any trace of the Second Boss—what the hell are you doing?!"

Yi Zheng's few subordinates trembled in fear, not daring to breathe.

This wasn't the first time Yi Zheng had lost his temper since Long Ying went missing.

Everyone knew that Yi Zheng was so angry not only because Long Ying was his trusted man, but also his cousin.

"Great Boss, anger harms the body. Calm down."

A delicate little concubine draped in light gauze twisted her snake-like body in his arms, her small hand stroking his chest as she softly soothed him.

"Tang Gui, tell me—what do you think happened to Long Ying?"

Yi Zheng looked at Li Jing.

"I dare not say." Tang Gui lowered his head.

"Speak! I won't blame you!"

Tang Gui took a deep breath: "According to what the brothers in the stockade say, the Second Boss left the stockade with two trusted men. When he left, he didn't inform either of the bosses. Regardless of what he went out to do, it was definitely personal business."

"It's been over ten days now. Whether or not the Second Boss finished that personal business, given his style, he would have sent someone back to report his safety. But now, not only is there no report of safety, there's not even a single scrap of news about the Second Boss and his two men. The most likely possibility is..."

He paused:

"They've already been killed..."

Yi Zheng's face darkened.

Li Jing was about to say something when suddenly he heard a commotion outside, and then a bandit ran in with a panicked face:

"Bad news, bad news! A large army is attacking!"

"What?!"

Everyone in the Assembly Hall shot to their feet, shocked and furious, turning to look at Yi Zheng.

Sure enough, the wooden table was directly smashed to pieces by Yi Zheng. He laughed in fury, the flesh on his face twitching:

"Is it the government? They're pushing me too far! Didn't I make an agreement with Third Foot Zhou to keep out of each other's way? And now he goes back on his word!"

Yi Zheng was furious.

They had already shaken hands and made peace, and yet Third Foot Zhou sent men to attack his doorstep.

Did he think Yi Zheng was easy to bully?

Great Sheng was on its last legs—what was a mere county magistrate? If he got pushed too far, he'd charge straight into the county office and kill him!

"Have you found out which army it is?"

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Tang Gui, however, asked calmly.

"N-no... I don't know, but there are a lot of them, densely packed, at least tens of thousands, all wearing white clothes..."

"Tens of thousands? Wearing white clothes?"

Hearing this news, Yi Zheng felt as if a basin of ice water had been poured over his head. His hands and feet went cold, and he sucked in a sharp breath:

"The Taiping Sect?"

As far as he knew, the Taiping Sect's followers spread like locusts across half of Great Sheng. The common folk who believed in the Taiping Sect were as numerous as oxen hair, and within the sect, there were countless experts.

His own strength was nothing in the face of the Taiping Sect.

"No, I haven't offended the Taiping Sect. Why would they send tens of thousands to attack my Iron Dragon Stockade?"

Yi Zheng immediately thought of one issue, then realized: "It's Li Zongming... he wanted something I wouldn't give him... What the hell is that treasure? Worth Li Zongming valuing it so much, worth him mobilizing a great army to attack me—isn't he afraid of alarming the court? He's just a Helm Master, how does he have the authority to move tens of thousands of people?"

Within the Taiping Sect, an Incense Master was in charge of one county, a Sub-Helm Master of several counties, with several Sub-Helm Masters per commandery, a Helm Master in charge of one commandery, and a Hall Master responsible for the Taiping Sect's Affairs in an entire province.

Mobilizing tens of thousands—that was about right for a Helm Master.

Yi Zheng had no idea what that thing Li Zongming wanted actually was. That treasure had come into his hands back when he killed an official and pretended to be a good citizen.

There was one household that had once been extremely wealthy, but their fortunes had declined until they became petty landlords.

Originally, Li Zongming only wanted to plunder them, not wipe them out, but that household refused to hand over the treasure no matter what. Fury rose in his heart, and he directly slaughtered all dozen-plus members of the family.

But after getting his hands on it and studying it for years without figuring out what it was, Yi Zheng stopped caring much.

Later, Li Zongming proposed buying it first. Yi Zheng was still considering it when Li Zongming raised the price, and he realized Li Zongming valued the treasure highly, so he jacked up the price.

Even Yi Zheng himself felt uneasy about that price, but who knew Li Zongming would agree outright?

At that point, though, Yi Zheng no longer wanted to trade.

Because from Li Zongming's attitude, he knew the treasure was extremely valuable.

After that, Li Zongming never contacted him again. Yi Zheng thought he'd given up, but it turned out he'd been brewing something big.

"I'll just see how this Li Zongming plans to destroy my Iron Dragon Stockade. What you want, I'm not giving you!"

A cold glint flashed in Yi Zheng's eyes, and he strode toward the stockade gate.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~

Flames shot into the sky. The village was littered with charred corpses, and crackling sounds rang out without end.

Lu Yuan stood outside the village, staring woodenly at the village engulfed in fire.

"All dead... hundreds of people... all dead..."

Lu Yuan's heart ran cold.

Witnessing an entire village's people being slaughtered—the shock was indescribable.

He thought he'd already seen and experienced enough cruelty, but this era was far more brutal than he'd imagined.

Hundreds of people, wiped out just like that.

And most likely, no one would avenge them.

Dead, just dead.

Human life was like grass.

He didn't know anyone in that village. Even if they had colluded with the bandits, and some of them might have been guilty, that didn't mean the entire village of hundreds deserved to die.

"The Taiping Sect... is even more deserving of death than Iron Dragon Stockade!!"

Murderous intent surged in Lu Yuan's chest, but he didn't lose his reason. His gaze swept around, spotted the corpse of a Taiping Sect follower, stripped off the white robe and put it on, covering his face with a mask.

After all, the Taiping Sect had all sorts of motley characters; he wasn't the only one wearing a mask.

Once disguised, Lu Yuan hurried toward the Iron Dragon Stockade up the mountain.

By now, the two sides outside the stockade had already erupted into battle.

Large swaths of Taiping Sect followers surged onto the Iron Chain Bridge in a wave, attacking the stockade.

Compared to these rabble of the Taiping Sect, the bandits of Iron Dragon Stockade were far more disciplined, forming military formations to block the bridge's entrance.

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