April 7th, four days after the state banquet, outside the execution ground of the Three Departments' yamen beyond the Meridian Gate of Imperial Emperor City on Xuanyuan Hill...
Wearing handcuffs and shackles, Fang Keyan had just been escorted out of a black prison wagon by several runners from the Office of the Chief Justice. The sunlight outside stung his eyes, and he reflexively shut them, raising a hand to shield his forehead.
Yet at the very instant he closed his eyes, Fang Keyan heard a wave of roaring from all around him, like a tsunami.
"Beat him to death..."
"Beat him to death..."
"Beat that Heaven-Piercing Sect lackey to death..."
"Beat that bastard to death!"
Amid those tsunami-like roars, Fang Keyan felt a sharp pain on his forehead. A rotten egg struck him squarely between the brows. The shattered shell and the spoiled yolk and white splattered across his face in an instant, foul and reeking, leaving him utterly bedraggled.
Fang Keyan turned his head and saw that the one who had thrown it was a child of seven or eight. The child glared at him furiously without the slightest fear. Seeing Fang Keyan turn around, the child immediately hurled the second rotten egg in his hand at him.
"Smash this dog bastard to death..."
"Beat him to death!"
The commoners gathered around the execution ground all looked at him with fury, contempt, and hatred in their eyes.
During the Full Moon Day Upheaval on Xuanyuan Hill, Han Zhengfang's faction and its accomplices had put up a desperate struggle on Xuanyuan Hill. To create chaos and escape from Xuanyuan Hill, the Heaven-Piercing Sect's followers had murdered and set fires everywhere, inflicting grievous harm upon its people. For that reason, the people of Xuanyuan Hill hated the Heaven-Piercing Sect to the