The Monster Draws His Sword

Demon, Behold My Sword

"Very good."

Lin Wen nodded in satisfaction.

"And how did the matter I arranged yesterday go?"

Huang Mingxiao turned it over in his mind and immediately remembered. "I arranged it as soon as you left yesterday. Civil Affairs Officer Ji Fuxiao was put in charge. She found Issue 81 of the Imperial Daily, made a thousand copies as you requested, then took eighteen people out to distribute them and read them aloud without even stopping for dinner."

Lin Wen was delighted. Director Huang truly was dependable. "Oh? What's the situation now?"

Huang Mingxiao scratched his head, a rare look of confusion appearing on his face. "I don't know. I have too much on my plate. She never came back after leaving, nor did she report her work to the temporary command headquarters."

Lin Wen did not think much of it. "It's fine. I'll go find her."

"Uh... I don't know where she is."

"Then give her a call..."

Lin Wen choked off halfway through. This was not his original world. No one had mobile phones; the only mobile telephones were brick-sized, and there were very few of them.

"Then what do we do?"

Lin Wen's eyes widened as he suddenly realized that there was no way he could find her quickly. The temporary settlement was enormous. Finding one person among three hundred thousand was no easy task.

"How about..." Huang Mingxiao said cautiously, "I send someone to look for her. You wait here for news, and we'll report back once she's found."

"No!" Lin Wen refused decisively. "How can such precious time be wasted like this? Don't you have any other way to find her immediately?"

"This..." Huang Mingxiao looked troubled.

Though reason told him that waiting was the only option, Lin Wen still found it hard to believe. "Once someone goes out, you can't find them anymore? What did you do before? What if you had something urgent to discuss with her? What if she had something urgent to report?"

Huang Mingxiao was somewhat baffled. Wasn't the answer simply to wait? Wasn't that perfectly normal? She was not some high official or noble; being able to contact her anytime, anywhere would be the abnormal thing, wouldn't it?

Just as Director Huang did not know how to explain, a staff member suddenly burst through the door, shouting.

"Bad news! Bad news! Director Huang, unrest has broken out at Settlement Site Eleven! The refugees have stormed our sentry post and tied up more than a dozen people!"

"What did you say?!"

Huang Mingxiao rushed over and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"What exactly happened?"

The man cried, "They said the food distributed at Settlement Site Eleven is too little, there aren't enough tents, and the supplies have all been embezzled—that corrupt officials are skimming off the top. They also... also said..."

The veins on Huang Mingxiao's forehead bulged. "What else did they say? Speak!"

The man burst into tears. "They also said the patrolling guards don't treat them like people, saying they won't hand out food unless they let them have their way."

A tremendous wave of dizziness swept over Huang Mingxiao, and he nearly could not remain standing.

But the messenger was not finished. "This time, they supposedly forcibly dragged someone into the sentry post, leaving that refugee's three children with no one to care for them. All three have gone missing!"

"They've ignited public fury! The enraged refugees have gone mad! They say that if they aren't allowed to live, then everyone can die together!"

"Director! Director! What do we do? There are already more than ten thousand of them! Even more people are joining them!"

Before his words had faded, several more people rushed in.

"Director Huang! The refugees are in revolt!"

"Director Huang! The uprising in the east is spreading!"

"Director Huang..."

"Director Huang..."

"Shut up!"

The noisy courtyard fell silent in an instant, but it was not Huang Mingxiao who had spoken. It was Lin Wen.

"Huang Mingxiao, hold down the rear."

Lin Wen's voice was icy and devoid of emotion as he pointed at the people who had come to deliver reports.

"You. Lead the way."

With that, he strode out through the gate first. After taking two steps, he realized no one had followed.

Turning back, he saw that they all stood frozen like statues.

"Lead the way!"

The terrifying roar was like muffled thunder, shaking dust from the walls and roof tiles in a steady shower.

[Toll of the Sunken Bell]

A green Qi Refinement-stage spell. Consumes 10% of the Primordial Spirit, causing one's voice to boom and echo, with an awakening and intimidating effect. By this world's measure of time, it lasts 16 hours.

It was a spell he had once thought useless, yet the moment he heard that the refugees had revolted, this was the first spell that surfaced in his mind.

He used it without hesitation.

Sixteen hours would be enough.

Only then did everyone snap awake and hurriedly follow.

"Director Huang, hold down the rear. I'll go quell the riot."

Lin Wen spoke to Huang Mingxiao in an extremely low voice, yet it was still remarkably loud.

"Move!"

The eleventh resettlement site was not far away—just over two small hills—but after only a short stretch, several people had already fled.

By the time they crossed the first hill, only seven or eight people remained with them.

Lin Wen did not care. He could faintly hear the uproar now, while every one of the accompanying personnel had trembling legs and could scarcely bring themselves to move forward.

Someone urged, "Commandery Governor! The disaster victims are highly agitated. They can't listen to anything right now. Why don't we go back first?"

"Yes, yes. It'll be fine once they calm down."

"Someone must be stirring this up. Once they realize it's all a misunderstanding, things will naturally settle down."

"That's right, Commandery Governor. Going over rashly will only enrage them further."

Lin Wen gave a cold laugh and said nothing. He merely activated [Aura Reading] and glanced at them before walking ahead on his own.

He could hear the sounds; he no longer needed them to lead the way.

Among those accompanying him, several did not move. A few hesitated before following after him, but Lin Wen walked so quickly that they had to run to keep up.

Before long, the clamor suddenly swelled. A huge crowd surged out from the small hill opposite, a dark mass rushing toward them.

The noise also became clear.

"Beat the dog official to death!"

"Kill these dog-bred scum!"

Ahead of them, several inconspicuous figures were fleeing for their lives. Looking closely, they were men covered in mud, their clothes torn to rags, clearly having taken quite a beating.

Though bedraggled beyond recognition, the remnants of their uniforms still revealed them to be security guards under the Civil Affairs Department.

They ran desperately, each of them panic-stricken. The moment they saw Lin Wen and his group ahead, they immediately shouted.

"Come save us!"

"Go tell the Director to send reinforcements!"

"These lowly rabble are rebelling!"

Lin Wen drew in a deep breath. It was like a whale drawing in the Yangtze, a dragon drawing in the endless clouds—bottomless and unceasing—only to halt explosively halfway through.

"I am Lin Wen, Commandery Governor of Long Mountain Commandery! Guardian of Long Mountain Commandery's great dike!"

It rolled out like thunder, exploded like lightning. The tremendous roar shook a thousand miles; the mountains resonated, the soil resonated, the rocks resonated, the earth resonated—even the earth's core resonated, as though it might at any moment send that vast power crashing back to the surface, bringing mountains down and splitting the earth, blotting out sun and moon.

The accompanying personnel standing nearby were nearly stunned unconscious by the shock.

After that jolt, the fleeing security guards were overjoyed, shouting.

"It's the Commandery Governor!"

"The Commandery Governor of Long Mountain Commandery is here!"

"Haha, we're saved!"

"The Imperial troops must be right behind him!"

"His guards will be here any moment to kill all these lowly rabble!"

They shouted as they ran toward Lin Wen. Behind him, however, the few accompanying personnel knew there would be no reinforcements—that the Commandery Governor had come alone. They were already scared out of their wits. Several turned and fled, while several others collapsed onto the ground.

The refugees' momentum faltered slightly, but their fierce hatred and unwillingness sustained them as they continued flooding down the mountain.

Yet the scene that followed made them almost unable to believe their eyes.

Lin Wen drew an iron rod from behind his waist and thrust it through the throat of the foremost security guard. With a backhanded wrench, he drove the iron rod downward into the ground, pinning the guard dead in place.

His bruised face was frozen with wide-eyed shock, but not a word could leave his mouth. Bloody foam spilled from the corners of his lips and dripped onto the ground.

Until his death, he never understood why the Commandery Governor had suddenly struck to kill.

Lin Wen pulled out the iron rod and flung the corpse onto the ground. Within his eyes, empowered by immortal arts, the security guard's pitch-black aura slowly scattered away until it vanished without a trace.

Looking up, he saw three more security guards standing frozen in terror. The auras above their heads were likewise pure black, like demons.

"Fiends!"

Lin Wen stepped forward and roared.

"Give me your lives!"

His hand shot out like lightning, and the second security guard's heart was pierced in an instant.

The black aura dispersed.

With death, debts were wiped clean.

With a flick of his wrist, the second corpse fell into the dust.

Only then did the remaining two security guards react. They screamed and turned to flee.

But how could they outrun Lin Wen under the blessing of [Spirit Cat's Swiftness]? He seemed to leap and charge with effortless gentleness, yet in the blink of an eye he had closed the distance. One thrust of the iron rod pierced the man's back, and he crashed to the ground, foul blood flowing everywhere.

The last security guard had already run more than twenty paces away, but Lin Wen showed no intention of pursuing him. He raised his hand and hurled the iron rod.

"Behold the sword!"

Lin Wen used a deft force. The iron rod started slow, then accelerated; it first rose, then descended, its tip tracing a thirty-degree arc through the air. Like a precision-guided missile, it struck the fleeing security guard squarely in the back of the head, destroying his brainstem.

He died on the spot.