Lightly Mocking Fang Xun

At the sight of the frail youth appearing, Jiang Chongguang felt as though he had escaped death itself. Overjoyed, he exclaimed, "Sushu? How could it be you?"

The youth named Han Sushu smiled helplessly. "Who else would come to save you?"

With that, he raised his right hand and gave a light clap. A stream of lustrous yellow light shot from his fingertips. Like an invisible secret key, it dissolved every layer of rune-forged shackles suppressing Jiang Chongguang in the blink of an eye.

"If it hadn't been for you, I really would have met with disaster this time!"

"I never thought Fang Xun would be so crafty!" Regaining his freedom, Jiang Chongguang stretched his limbs and gritted his teeth in hatred.

Han Sushu let out a faint sigh. "It wasn't that he was crafty. You were simply too foolish. You still fell for such an obvious trap."

Jiang Chongguang scratched his head awkwardly and forced out a defense. "Actually, I had guessed it might be Fang Xun's scheme. But I still wanted to give it a try. What if it worked? Then I could avenge my uncle!"

Han Sushu's gaze flickered slightly. In the end, he merely shook his head and said nothing more.

"What should we do next?" Having found his pillar of support, Jiang Chongguang asked repeatedly.

Han Sushu looked toward Cold Mountain County, shrouded in water mist in the distance, and said gravely, "We can't remain here for now. We leave at once for East Mountain!"

"East Mountain? What are we going there for? I still want to avenge my uncle." Though unwilling, Jiang Chongguang had no intention of opposing Han Sushu.

A cold glint flashed through Han Sushu's eyes. "Though you were born with a physique unparalleled beneath heaven, your cultivation is still too weak. We're going to East Mountain to dig up Emperor Gan's tomb! There is a supreme treasure there that can help you shed your mortal frame and exchange your bones."

Jiang Chongguang was instantly thrilled. "Excellent! We brothers are meant to do the great deeds that no one under heaven would even dare dream of!"

Just as the two youths were about to depart, Han Sushu suddenly raised a hand. "Wait. Give me a moment."

He held two fingers together like a sword, and wisps of yellow energy drifted from his fingertips.

Using his fingers in place of a brush, he freely wrote a seven-character poem upon Great Qian's official road.

Jiang Chongguang leaned over and silently read it once. He immediately felt exhilarated to the fullest, unable to stop himself from throwing back his head and laughing. "Wonderful! That was truly satisfying! Let's go!"

With a sweep of his wide sleeve, Han Sushu tossed out two flimsy sheets of yellow paper.

The yellow talismans swelled in the wind, transforming in midair into two lifelike white cranes overflowing with spiritual energy. The two youths mounted the cranes' backs, then rode the wind straight into the clouds amid wild, unrestrained laughter, drifting toward East Mountain.

Meanwhile, at the Cold Mountain County yamen.

Fang Xun's overheated mind, crazed with excitement, finally cooled somewhat.

Seated upright in his grandmaster's chair, scenes from yesterday's capture and escort replayed through his mind like galloping horses viewing flowers, every tiny detail flashing past. Suddenly, he sprang to his feet. The color drained from his face at once, and his expression changed drastically as he cried out, "Not good!"

At this moment, he no longer cared about a county magistrate's dignity or decorum.

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, he followed the trail of the "Black-Robed Envoy" and flew away.

Fang Xun raced onward like wind and lightning, his heart burning with anxiety.

He suddenly spotted something on the ground and abruptly halted.

When he descended and clearly saw the wildly dancing calligraphy on Great Qian's official road, his vision went black, and he could not help crying out.

"How dare that thief humiliate me!"

A surge of rebellious blood rushed straight to his Spirit Terrace. The pent-up fury in his heart crashed left and right with no outlet, and Fang Xun spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

A poem was written conspicuously upon the official road.

"A single sheet lightly cut knocks upon a heavy gate; clad in black, I toy with the county lord. Laughable, laughable, foolish Fang Xun—bowing to a paper soul, he pays homage to his prisoner!"

"Ahhh! How dare that thief humiliate me!" Fang Xun howled again as though he had gone mad.

Boom! Boom!

Amid several thunderous blasts, that stretch of smooth Great Qian official road, poem and all, was blasted into ruins by Fang Xun's towering rage.

"Why haven't we seen the magistrate these past few days?"

Within the Cold Mountain County yamen, Li Shun, having just finished caring for the Cold Mountain Lord, curiously asked around.

"Perhaps he rendered great merit and is about to be promoted, so he is busy dealing with all sorts of affairs."

The yamen runners all made such envious guesses.

Yet no one could have imagined that Fang Xun had locked himself deep within his bedroom, his eyes bloodshot and his hair disheveled.

He no longer possessed his usual calm composure. Even his body trembled faintly beneath uncontrollable, extreme terror.

Even Huan'er's cries from the side room not far away sounded incomparably piercing to him.

"It's over. It's all over."

"More than half of Cold Mountain's people are dead or injured. If this matter is exposed, not only will my beautiful dream of promotion and entering the capital vanish like a bubble, I will certainly be punished."

"If I had the merit of capturing a Xiang Kingdom remnant, this would be nothing. But that brat tricked me!"

Fang Xun was furious and remorseful, alarmed and terrified. He wished he could slap himself several times on the spot.

"How could I have been so bewitched at the time?"

"The first stick of Divine-Communing Incense failed to ignite. Something was already wrong then. Master's tone of voice was strange as well."

"And when that Black-Robed Envoy came to escort him, there were many flaws too."

"But I... I had been completely immersed in the wild joy of rising straight to the blue clouds. I turned a blind eye to every one of those doubts..."

"My glorious future, my spotless reputation that I had painstakingly built over half a lifetime..."

As if completely shrouded by endless clouds of despair, Fang Xun felt the darkness seeping in from every pore around him, swallowing and tearing at him bit by bit. Driven by utter terror, he even briefly entertained thoughts of ending his life.

"No! I, Fang, have lain low for half my life. I absolutely cannot stretch out my neck and await the blade like this!"

"There must still be a way!"

Fang Xun forced himself to calm down, his thoughts spinning rapidly.

"The first priority is to stabilize the people of Cold Mountain."

"They absolutely must not learn that the rebel was not handed over to the court, but rescued instead."

"There is only one word for it: delay!"

"As long as I delay until spring next year, I can calmly withdraw under the pretext of going to the capital to assume office."

"Before leaving office, I need only harden my heart and cut off every remaining loose end in Cold Mountain County... leaving no one alive to testify and not the slightest flaw behind!"

A chilling madness silently flashed through Fang Xun's bloodshot eyes.

"Fortunately, Cold Mountain is remote, and the power to communicate with the court rests in my hands alone. Otherwise, everything that has happened recently would have been exposed long ago." At this moment, Fang Xun actually felt a trace of relief.

The next day, County Magistrate Fang Xun once again appeared before everyone, impeccably dressed.

"The Xiang Kingdom rebel has already been safely escorted to the Sacred Capital. However, this time the rewards for merit will not come as swiftly as last time. After all, we claimed this merit for ourselves, making quite a few factions at court green with envy. We must inevitably negotiate and make certain arrangements on many sides."

"But rest assured, everyone. Capturing the rebel was the achievement of all of us together. Not a single cent of the court's bestowed rewards will be lacking! No one will be allowed to embezzle the future that Cold Mountain's men purchased with their lives."

"Otherwise..."

"Even if I must take this matter before the left and right prime ministers, I, Fang, will certainly seek justice for all of you!"

Fang Xun spoke with righteous solemnity.

The people of Cold Mountain repeatedly praised Fang Xun's noble righteousness, while also unable to stop themselves from dreaming of the court's generous future rewards.

In the days that followed, Fang Xun seemed to have become an entirely different person.

He personally handled every matter, rising early and retiring late as he oversaw the reconstruction of Cold Mountain County after the disaster.

He even lowered himself to go door to door, offering comfort and condolences to those who had lost loved ones in the flood. More than that, he overrode all objections and ordered the county treasury's granaries thrown open to provide relief for the disaster victims, ensuring the city's people could survive the hardship.

For a time, everyone in the city was deeply grateful, praising Master Fang's benevolence.

Yet Li Shun, who watched all this unfold, faintly felt that something was not right.

"When did that old bastard change his ways?"

"Could it be that, because he is about to receive an honored promotion, he truly wants to do some good for Cold Mountain before leaving?"