Rainstorm

Deep in the secluded mountains, every blade of grass and tree was newly verdant.

Zhao Zhi rode a fine horse along the road to the Profound Nether Platform.

The Profound Nether Platform was a special institution within the Great Yin Dynasty, akin to the Six Doors and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Its authority surpassed that of ordinary government offices, wielding immense power and holding the dynasty's secrets.

Because the dynasty's territory was vast, the Profound Nether Platform could not possibly be located only in the capital.

Thus, every prefecture had a Profound Nether Platform.

The Great Yin Dynasty's territory was immense, divided into thirteen prefectures and two regions.

Jing Prefecture was one of the thirteen prefectures. Its prefectural capital was directly named after the prefecture itself, known as Jing Prefecture City.

Jing Prefecture's Profound Nether Platform was located within Jing Prefecture City.

Qingfeng County was a county under Baishui Commandery of Jing Prefecture. It was not particularly renowned within the vast Jing Prefecture. Traveling from Qingfeng County to Jing Prefecture City would take some time; it could not be reached in a single day.

After learning the news from Fan Zhenyu of the Fan Family, Zhao Zhi decided to head alone for Jing Prefecture's Profound Nether Platform first.

As for Qingfeng County, the Fan Family was there.

Zhao Zhi had killed County Magistrate Lu Guangyi, dealt with Su Changlin and Su Qingyou of the Su Family, Tao Jiuyi and Tao Ran of the Tao Family, and Lei Juechen, the Evergreen Gang's leader. Nearly all of Qingfeng County's top experts had died at his hands.

Among Qingfeng County's remaining many factions, the Fan Family stood head and shoulders above the rest.

With Fan Zhenyu's return, the Fan Family's position became even more unshakable.

After Zhao Zhi revealed to the Fan Family the news of the deaths of the Su Family, Tao Family, and Evergreen Gang experts, and tacitly permitted some of the Fan Family's actions, the Fan Family swept through most of the Su Family's, Tao Family's, and Evergreen Gang's assets with lightning speed, stuffing them all into its own pocket.

For a time,

the Fan Family's power and wealth reigned supreme in Qingfeng County. Not a single faction could contend with it.

The Fan Family knew full well who had granted them such a position.

Thus, before Zhao Zhi departed, Fan Youquan and Fan Zhenqi came together to his door, carrying thorn branches on their backs to plead guilty, and presented Zhao Zhi with one hundred thousand taels of silver. At the same time, they promised Zhao Zhi that they would set up porridge stalls for three days every month to aid the impoverished commoners.

Zhao Zhi did not say much.

With the county magistrate, the upper echelons of the Su Family and Tao Family, and the Evergreen Gang's leader all dead, turmoil among the various factions was inevitable, which would in turn affect all of Qingfeng County.

It was not bad to have the Fan Family step forward.

Besides, Zhao Zhi's intimidation still lingered. For the time being, the Fan Family would not dare put on an obedient face while defying him in secret.

Boom.

The blackened heavens filled with gathering storm clouds. A heaven-shaking clap of thunder rang out, and countless arcs of lightning leaped through the clouds in jubilant dance.

A torrential downpour was imminent.

Zhao Zhi gathered his thoughts and looked ahead.

Given the current situation, entering the next city before the storm broke would likely be difficult. He took out a map from his chest and examined it, discovering a village not far away where he could shelter from the rain.

Zhao Zhi put away the map and cracked his whip. The fine horse let out a shrill neigh, its hooves kicked up, and the instant they struck the ground, it burst forward.

Amid flying dust, the horse had already raced twenty or thirty meters away.

Boom.

A silver dragon streaked across the sky. Countless silver-white threads flashed in every direction, sketching out a magnificent, dazzling tableau.

Tap, tap.

From the vault of heaven,

bean-sized drops of rain began to fall. A peculiar, stifling scent mixed with decay spread through the air, surging one after another into his nostrils as if seeking a place to settle before the downpour arrived.

Clop.

The horse's hooves struck the tamped earth. Passing a stone stele inscribed with the three large characters "Liang Family Village," it entered the village.

Through the gloomy, oppressive air, Zhao Zhi looked around and surveyed Liang Family Village.

Silent.

Apart from the increasingly howling wind and the ever more rampant rain, no other movement could be heard.

Or rather, no sounds made by people could be heard.

Liang Family Village seemed utterly deserted.

The rain poured down in sheets. Dense rain mist stretched from heaven to earth, turning the world into a realm of rain, as though a great hole had split open in the sky and the endless waters of the heavenly river came crashing down, intending to drown this vast land entirely.

Zhao Zhi had no time to think further and swiftly approached a house.

He dismounted and knocked on the somewhat dilapidated front door, which bore not a trace of paint.

No one responded.

Zhao Zhi peered through a broken window at the side. The furnishings within were simple, yet there was no one inside.

The instant he withdrew his gaze, he noticed several mottled marks on the window lattice, as though they had been left by some sharp weapon scraping across it.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

The rain grew even heavier.

Bean-sized droplets linked into straight lines, hanging down from the ninth heavens in a dense curtain, as if they would turn the entire world into a watery realm.

Zhao Zhi stopped thinking about it. He tied the fine horse at the entrance and pushed open the door to walk inside.

The house was not large. Its layout and furnishings were those commonly found in Jing Prefecture farmhouses, plain and simple.

Built primarily from earth and wood, it gave off a faint natural scent. As the rain poured down, moisture surged in the moment the door opened, quickly making the air damp.

Zhao Zhi briefly checked both inside and outside the house. Sure enough, there was not a single person.

But

the house was neither old nor filthy. Even dust was scarce, as though someone cleaned it often.

Could the owner of the house have likewise been trapped by this sudden rainstorm, unable to return to Liang Family Village?

Zhao Zhi stood at the doorway and looked out at the torrential rain, as though the heavenly river were pouring down. Great quantities of rainwater, driven by the fierce wind, continuously splashed into the house.

At the entrance, the fine horse kept whinnying beneath the rain, yet it remained obediently still and did not run about wildly.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Zhi closed the door.

He was borrowing someone else's house to shelter from the rain. It would not do to let the rain soak the things inside.

He returned to the room and casually pulled over a stool when a stream of information abruptly flashed before him.

[Influenced by you, the Fan Family of Qingfeng County has set up porridge stalls to aid the common people. Merit +33.]

The corner of Zhao Zhi's mouth lifted into a faint curve.

After he had slain Lu Guangyi and the others, intimidating the Fan Family, not one of Qingfeng County's local gentry factions dared trouble him again.

Even some hooligans and street thugs had become much more restrained.

Under such circumstances, his chances of punishing others to gain Merit had become exceedingly slim.

Fortunately, Merit did not come solely from Zhao Zhi personally killing and punishing people. It also included certain charitable acts performed by people and factions influenced by him. Such acts could bring him some Merit. It was not much, but it flowed without end.

It should be enough for one thousand now, right?

With a thought from Zhao Zhi, the Merit Panel appeared.

[Merit: 1001]

Good.

The Merit he had spent had finally risen back to one thousand. He could now fuse martial arts techniques.

Back in Qingfeng County, while cultivating the Incomplete Little Spring Technique, he had noticed an abnormality in the internal energy within his body. Once he cultivated another internal energy technique, the various strands of internal energy that were temporarily stable within him might fall into chaos and seriously injure him.

He had thought of using the Merit Panel to fuse those strands of internal energy, forming a new strand of internal energy, or perhaps creating a Xiantian martial art capable of containing all internal energies.

The Merit Panel could do it.

But the feedback he received from the Merit Panel was that this would require one thousand Merit.

Previously, Zhao Zhi had spent eighteen hundred Merit to raise the Incomplete Little Spring Technique to the perfected realm, so he had not possessed enough Merit. Only today had he finally accumulated one thousand.

Come.

Just as Zhao Zhi was about to use Merit to fuse his internal energy and create a martial art, a sound came from outside the door.

"Excuse me, is anyone there?"