By the time this pack of wastrel youths woke up, the smell of blood had already reached the pleasure house. The distant tremor of advancing troops, the blaze of fire, and the cries of battle frightened them out of their wits, leaving none of their earlier smug bravado as they discoursed loftily and pointed at the realm.
Some sharp-eyed wastrel youths even vaguely saw that the direction from which the firelight came was where their own family estates stood.
"You two old fossils, we meet again!"
On the street, two old men were escorted before Lin Yi.
They were none other than Wang Qi and Zhu Xian, great scholars renowned throughout the Southern Wasteland and several nearby prefectures.
Some time ago, Lin Yi had received military orders to recruit talented people within the city.
After making inquiries, he learned of these two men and brought lavish gifts to call upon them. Who could have known that the two old men would put on such airs? Had Zhao Cheng not given a strict order that no one was to be coerced and the people were not to be disturbed, Lin Yi would have killed them on the spot, given his temper.
But Lin Yi feared no one now—except Zhao Cheng. No matter how furious he was, he did not dare defy Zhao Cheng in the slightest and could only force himself to swallow it.
And Zhao Cheng had not disappointed him. It had not been long before the reckoning arrived.
At this moment, the two old men were bound hand and foot. Judging by their robes, they had clearly been dragged straight out of their beds.
It was still spring, and the weather remained somewhat cold. With it being the middle of the night, one gust of chilly wind was enough