Defeat

World-Aiding Hall was somewhat deserted.

None of the guards who usually patrolled various areas had come today.

The assembly-line-like production line in the rear courtyard was still running, but its rhythm had fallen into disarray. Two fewer people were slicing herbs, three fewer were grinding them, and half the bamboo trays in the herb-drying yard stood empty.

The laborers who normally loved discussing such matters were each more dispirited than the last. No one spoke, and even eye contact was scarce.

The entire World-Aiding Hall seemed shrouded in an indelible gloom, like burnt medicinal dregs in a pharmacy—the bitterness hung heavy in the air, impossible to disperse.

Into this dim tableau stepped Li Zhaoning.

Whenever Li Zhaoning came in the past, everyone could not help but watch her.

When she crossed the front hall, the clerks filling prescriptions would unconsciously slow their hands; when she passed through the corridors, the laborers sweeping the floor would look up at her retreating figure.

But today, everyone kept their heads lowered, each lower than the last. The closer Li Zhaoning's footsteps came, the lower their heads sank.

Her footsteps rang clear and even over the flagstones, one step, then another, as though striking against every heart.

Everyone was afraid—afraid of being selected for some task. Life was harder now, but at least they were still alive.

Being alive was better than anything.

Li Zhaoning hurried past and went straight into Chen Chong's room.

She waved a hand, signaling for her guards to wait outside. Then she stepped inside.

Chen Chong greeted her. Li Zhaoning rather unceremoniously sat in the chair at his desk, leaning back against it with both hands resting on the armrests.

"You'll serve as World-Aiding Hall's chief manager for now," she said. Her tone was calm, but there was an extra trace of hoarseness in it. "Li Zhiyi was injured in this operation."

Chen Chong nodded. He had heard. Li Zhiyi had survived, but his injuries were severe.

They said that when he had been carried back from the north of the city, he had been covered in blood and barely conscious.

"Demonization... was it real?" Chen Chong asked.

Li Zhaoning's expression darkened. She nodded, pressing both hands to her forehead as exhaustion showed on her face.

She sat there quietly, her fingers continuously pressing at her temples, kneading them in slow circles.

The air suddenly fell silent.

Seeing Li Zhaoning's exhausted expression, Chen Chong said nothing more.

The tea on the table had gone cold. He poured her a hot cup and set it by her hand.

Li Zhaoning did not move. After quite some time, as though she had finally recovered somewhat, she said, "The imperial army has been defeated."

Chen Chong froze. Defeated? So quickly? They had gathered so many people, yet suffered such a hasty defeat?

Li Zhaoning continued in a low, steady voice. "First, chaos has broken out everywhere, and the army's logistics cannot be guaranteed. Provisions cannot be transported to the front, the soldiers cannot eat their fill, and they cannot even hold their blades steady. Second—"

She did not continue. But Chen Chong understood.

Great clans now stood everywhere. Even a tiny place like Dingshan County had several great clans, which had carved up the entire county seat between themselves.

Rather than a county seat belonging to the government, it was more like a county seat belonging to several great clans.

None of the great clans were willing to take the lead. In the present situation, if anyone showed even the faintest sign of weakness, those around them would descend like hungry wolves, tear them apart, and divide up their property, territory, everything.

When the court called for troops, it summoned the great clans' private forces; when the great clans sent men, they sent collateral branches, Attendants, and hired thugs they kept on hand.

Not one of them was willing to deploy their true core strength. How could an army like that fight?

Li Zhaoning's gaze shifted slightly before she finally said, "You should remain at World-Aiding Hall. This rebel uprising has caused bandits to spring up everywhere outside, but the county seat is still, in the end, the great clans' county seat."

After saying that, she rose, smoothed her lapels, and left. Outside the door, her guards' footsteps followed after her, gradually fading away.

Chen Chong sat before the desk, staring at the untouched cup of tea for a long time in silence.

The saying that demons belonged to yin while humans belonged to yang, that yang waned as yin waxed, that it was the natural order of heaven and earth, in accordance with the Yin-Yang Theory and all such notions, had yet to fade away.

But Chen Chong felt that what was more terrifying than demons was the human heart.

A few days later, news of the imperial army's defeat had spread throughout the entire city.

This news sent the whole city into a restless turmoil.

Several more households in the courtyards around Chen Chong's had moved away. At night, he could hear carriage wheels rolling over the stone pavement, creaking and groaning as they traveled from near to far, vanishing toward the city gates.

It was said that leaving now required a considerable sum. Carriage services had tripled their prices, bribes had to be paid at the city gates and along the road, and people were fleeing this cage even at the cost of nearly losing everything they owned.

Yet even more people could not bear to abandon their family holdings, could not afford to leave, or simply did not wish to leave. They remained in the city.

Though it had grown somewhat emptier, the city seemed to have boiled over, becoming even livelier.

Large numbers of refugees began taking to the streets, continuously expanding their territory from the north of the city.

First came several alleys in the north, then the central vegetable market, and then the shopping streets in the east.

They neither robbed nor caused trouble. They simply squatted, sat, and lay there, packed densely together like a tide spilling over its banks, silently filling every inch of open ground.

That night, Chen Chong entered the Dark Market once more. It was even more crowded than before.

The crowd pushed him forward, while the luminous jade stones in the vaulted ceiling illuminated every detail with perfect clarity.

At the familiar stall, the middle-aged man was still there.

"I asked around for you," the middle-aged man said as soon as he saw him, before Chen Chong could speak. "Leaving recently won't be easy. The roads are unsafe. There are several bands of bandits on the official road south—they rob anyone they see and hijack every carriage. Wait a while."

Chen Chong nodded to show that he understood.

Although Li Zhaoning had suggested that he remain at World-Aiding Hall, he had plans of his own.

Li Zhaoning thought he was still at the Flesh-Nourishing Stage, which was why she had advised him to stay at World-Aiding Hall.

An alchemist at the Flesh-Nourishing Stage would only be walking to his death if he went outside, so he might as well remain in the city. But now, looking at the experience value of Bone Tempering Realm (30271/100000) on his panel, Chen Chong decided that he should still leave when he had the chance. He was too close to the chaos.

This time, he took out a porcelain bottle and placed it on the counter.

"Will you take this?"

The middle-aged man pulled out the stopper. Six Jade Marrow Essence-Coalescing Pills lay within.

The dark-gold pills gleamed with a warm luster beneath the lamplight, their patterns of light slowly flowing as if alive.

The middle-aged man took one out, bringing it close to the lamp to inspect it again and again, then sniffing it repeatedly. His face was grave. Then he gritted his teeth.

"I'll take them!"

At once, he began pulling out money. First came two thousand-tael banknotes. Then he gathered more than two thousand taels in banknotes of smaller denominations. He dug silver ingots out from beneath the counter, adding up to over a thousand taels. He even produced loose silver and added a little more.

He counted and recounted, calculating over and over, before finally pushing everything toward Chen Chong.

"Altogether, it's roughly five thousand eight hundred taels."

Seeing him stake his entire fortune like this, Chen Chong could not help but sigh.

In troubled times, everything became outrageously expensive.

Those six pills would previously have fetched at most a little over two thousand taels.

Now their price had more than doubled. Grain, medicinal ingredients, weapons, cultivation manuals—anything that could preserve one's life was soaring madly in price.

He gathered up the banknotes and silver ingots and tucked them into his robes.

The middle-aged man was still counting the pills, examining them one by one and placing them one by one into the bottle, as if cradling some rare treasure.

Chen Chong turned and left.

The lights of the Dark Market gradually receded behind him, and the clamor in the underground passage was swallowed by the earthen walls, growing fainter and fainter.

He emerged from the tunnel entrance and returned to the surface.

The moon was obscured by clouds. The sky was pitch-black, with only the lanterns atop the distant city walls swaying in the wind like a sleepy eye.

Chen Chong walked down the empty street, pressing a hand against the banknotes in his chest.

He quickened his pace toward his small courtyard. Behind him, Dingshan County's night was like a net drawing ever tighter.