Wang Jie's eyes darkened. "Hmph."
Nearly a hundred Demon Extermination Captains had been summoned to the Mission Hall of the Demon Extermination Hall.
A middle-aged man looked at them all and spoke.
"This year's conscription mission will assign each of you to one to three locations."
"There may be Blood Demon Sect cultivators there, or soldiers sent from who knows where."
"Go there at once and capture them all."
"If anyone resists, kill them on the spot."
"At the same time, the Garrison soldiers have all rebelled. If they appear and try to stop you, kill them on the spot as well."
"If they surrender, you may accept them."
"Once the mission is complete, each of you will receive one Class-A Merit."
Hearing the details of the conscription mission, more than thirty cultivators from the Demon Extermination Hall were stunned.
They were Dao Lineage cultivators. This was the first time they had ever been assigned a conscription mission to suppress a rebellion.
They could vaguely sense a storm brewing. Heaven in Jade City was probably about to come crashing down.
The middle-aged man looked at the Demon Extermination Captains. "Does anyone here refuse?"
The crowd glanced at one another, but no one refused.
After all, this was Class-A merit. Ten merit points was no small amount.
The middle-aged man nodded. "Good. We'll begin assigning the missions."
Wen Taiquan hid among the crowd, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He could feel that he was in deep trouble.
This is bad. How did I get exposed?
As a deep-cover agent within the Demon Extermination Hall, he knew all too well what would happen to him if the mission failed.
No, I have to get word to them immediately.
Just then, the middle-aged man's gaze fell on Wen Taiquan.
"Wen Taiquan, you don't need to go. I have a special mission for you."
At those words, Wen Taiquan's face turned deathly pale. He knew he might have been exposed.
Without the slightest hesitation, he spun around and dashed for the exit of the Mission Hall, his whole body erupting in a burst of blood-red light.
It was one of the Blood Demon Sect's arts—the Blood Burning Escape Technique.
Once activated, it turned the user into a streak of blood-red light, carrying them a hundred meters in an instant.
But the moment he transformed into that streak of blood-red light, a mirror hanging above the Mission Hall's plaque cast down a beam of azure light.
The light landed on him in an instant, and Wen Taiquan let out a scream.
"Ah!"
The blood-red light around him went out under the azure glow. The beam sealed away all his vital essence, leaving him unable to move.
The middle-aged man flashed to his side and pressed a talisman to his brow.
A wash of yellow light spread out, forming a radiant chain that bound him.
"Wen Taiquan, I knew something was wrong with you."
"You actually dared to join the Blood Demon Sect. I wonder what they offered you."
"What? Wen Taiquan joined the Blood Demon Sect?"
The Mission Hall erupted in an uproar.
The remaining Demon Extermination Captains stared at the scene in disbelief.
Wen Taiquan's face was deathly pale, and a bleak smile appeared on his lips.
"Why? Because your Dao Lineages monopolize the resources, that's why. You claim we can exchange merit for resources."
"I earned a hundred merit points, all so I could trade them for a single Rebirth Pill."
"But you rejected me, saying I was too old and my Root Bone too poor."
"You never intended to trade the real resources to people like us."
"You only wanted to use us—to use Rogue Cultivators like us, with no sect or school behind us."
At Wen Taiquan's words, the middle-aged man's gaze turned cold.
The Demon Extermination Hall did allow cultivators to exchange merit for resources, but there was an unwritten rule.
People with no potential and poor Root Bones would never be allowed to exchange for especially precious resources.
They could only exchange for ordinary resources.
"Heh. Resources are precious beyond measure."
"You have no Root Bone, you're old, and you have no potential left. Giving you such a rare resource would be a complete waste."
"For thousands of years, what dynasty hasn't done the same? What Dao Lineage hasn't?"
"Your merit can at least buy you the resources to keep cultivating. But for something truly precious, you have to be worth the cost."
"How many cultivators in the Demon Extermination Hall have better aptitude than you?"
"How precious is a Rebirth Pill? The supply is limited. If you take one, someone else goes without."
"Better to save it for someone who can put it to better use than waste it on the likes of you."
"If you want to blame someone, blame your poor aptitude and your age. Your path to immortality was cut off long ago."
"Bah! What a load of crap."
Wen Taiquan glared at him. "Those are nothing but excuses."
"That Rebirth Pill, in the end, didn't it..."
Before he could finish, the middle-aged man punched him in the head, knocking him unconscious.
"That's enough. Go complete your missions."
"I'll take him away."
With that, he lifted Wen Taiquan and carried him deeper into the Mission Hall, where they disappeared from sight.
The Demon Extermination Captains exchanged glances, then took their mission plaques and left.
The Demon Extermination Hall was already the best place they could find.
Even with all its unwritten rules, it was still far better than being a Rogue Cultivator outside.
They had seen what happened to Wen Taiquan. Like a rabbit mourning a fallen fox, they naturally understood how he felt.
But understanding didn't mean they would fight back. In this world, they had no chance to resist.
Fang Qingyu arrived at the Yellow Flower Pavilion in a sedan chair.
The constable Fei Yangming came with her, along with his four guard bailiffs.
In a private room on the second floor, Fang Qingyu and Fei Yangming's group took seats by the window and began to wait in silence.
The Yellow Flower Pavilion was not only a restaurant, but also an inn.
There was another private room beside theirs.
It, too, was full of people, but everyone sat holding their breath, waiting silently. Their breathing was barely audible.
The Garrison troops were stationed in a satellite city a hundred meters outside Jade City. The daily lives of all six thousand soldiers unfolded there.
At that moment, the gates of the Garrison's small city slowly opened, and six thousand troops poured out.
There were a thousand cavalrymen and five thousand infantrymen. Wang Jie wore iron armor, and a wave of Military Baleful Intent surged over the land.
When the troops reached the city gate, the guards had already quietly opened it.
At the entrance, a bailiff who had been watching from the shadows saw the scene and went pale with shock.
"This is bad! Wang Jie is bringing troops into the city. He's rebelling!"
The city guards had always been under Wang Jie's control. That was why Fang Qingyu had sent a bailiff to spy on them. He never expected to witness this.
He turned and ran, weaving through the alleys and side streets as he hurried toward the Yellow Flower Pavilion.
Wang Jie said nothing. Leading a thousand cavalrymen, he charged straight toward the Yellow Flower Pavilion.
The five thousand infantrymen swiftly took control of every defensive position in the city. The Four Gates Array sealed all four gates in an instant. The whole of Jade City became a trap with its prey caught inside: no one could enter or leave.
There had still been a few pedestrians on the streets. Seeing what was happening, they hurriedly ducked into nearby houses, terrified.
Rumble.
A thunderous clatter of hooves sounded in the distance. Up in the Yellow Flower Pavilion, everyone felt the ground shake.
The prefect, Fang Qingyu, paled and rose to look out the window.
In another room, Commander Huang Tairen did the same.
When they saw the cavalry sweeping down the street outside, their expressions turned grim.
"What nerve!"