Shouts of battle still shook the yamen amid the slanting wind and fine rain, with casualties on both sides.
Yet no one dared approach the area where Ning Que stood.
It was quiet there, too.
It was as though an invisible wall had partitioned this place from the rest.
Both sides remained silent.
Ning Que, Yin Jiuyou, and Qi Shanhe merely watched Huang Tong with calm eyes.
Huang Tong, however, looked ashen, his eyes blank.
Although Huang Tong commanded local troops, he had been demoted from a higher position.
Unlike other local commanders, he still had some connections in the Capital City.
A prisoner had been snatched from an execution personally overseen by Wang Yong, the Minister of Personnel.
He knew about that.
He had even seen the wanted man's portrait distributed by the higher authorities.
It was the very man before him.
Looking at this familiar young man, Huang Tong knew he had lost this encirclement campaign.
"Must there be more pointless casualties?"
Ning Que spoke softly.
Huang Tong's body trembled slightly, and defiance welled up in his eyes.
But as he looked at all the experts beside Ning Que, that defiance quickly subsided.
He raised both hands high, dropping his battle-axe to the ground.
A group immediately rushed forward and restrained him.
Seeing Huang Tong, their backbone, captured, the local troops instantly fell into disarray.
"Cease fighting!"
Huang Tong let out a roar.
The local troops immediately dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground.
The battle had seemed drawn out, but in truth, it had lasted only half an incense stick's time.
Huang Tong looked at Ning Que. "Can you tell me who you are?"
Ning Que fell silent for a moment, then calmly uttered a name.
"Flowing Sand."
Flowing Sand...
The moment that name was spoken, it seared itself into Huang Tong's mind, becoming an indelible brand.
His entire body shook violently, his face full of disbelief.
As the commander of local troops, he had naturally heard of Flowing Sand.
One of Great Li's greatest thorns in the heart!
He should have thought of it sooner.
Any force capable of wiping out every bandit in the Black Kui Stronghold could not be ordinary!
Yin Jiuyou paused, then added another sentence.
"He is the former Juzi's son, and our next Juzi."
Boom...
At those words, Huang Tong's mind erupted once more. It was as though lightning had struck him, sending violent tremors through his heart.
He felt scorched on the outside and raw within!
What?
The former Juzi's son?
Flowing Sand's former Juzi, Ning Yuanzhou?
To think the rumors were true!
Why had Great Li considered Flowing Sand one of its greatest threats after seizing power, yet refrained from exterminating it in recent years?
Because the former Juzi, Ning Yuanzhou, had disappeared.
Without Ning Yuanzhou, Flowing Sand could amount to little!
But he had also heard that when Ning Yuanzhou disappeared, he and his wife had left behind a child.
Rumors were only rumors, after all. In recent years, there had been no news of anyone suspected of being Ning Yuanzhou's son.
There had, however, been plenty of impostors.
Of course, those impostors had either been arrested by the authorities or secretly silenced by Flowing Sand.
Yet he had never imagined it was true...
Ning Yuanzhou's son was standing right before him...
No wonder Flowing Sand had raided the execution ground.
Ning Que did not order his men to slaughter the surrendered local troops. Instead, he casually picked up an official saber from the ground.
He glanced around, searching for something.
When he spotted Qian Taizhong hiding beneath the platform in the county yamen, Ning Que walked over to him with the saber.
Qian Taizhong's pupils contracted in terror on the spot, his soul seemingly fleeing his body.
"I killed both your sons. Now it's your turn."
With that, Ning Que raised the saber and brought it down.
Squelch!
Blood splashed onto the yamen's plaque, staining its four great characters red: The Bright Mirror Hangs High!
Yin Jiuyou stood beside the captive Huang Tong, watching the scene with him.
He smiled and asked, "Commander Huang, do you believe in heaven's fortune?"
"No!"
Huang Tong shook his head.
"I do."
Yin Jiuyou grinned. "When a dynasty's heavenly fortune is plundered, it means its destruction... is not far away!"
At the same time, the system's notification rang out in Ning Que's mind.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host on winning the battle! The Quick Sand Qingzhou Branch killed 86 Qingzhou local troops and 20 county yamen constables and constable chiefs. Karma points earned: 960] [Ding! Congratulations to the host on slaying the county magistrate of Lotus Town. Karma points earned: 200] [Total karma points earned: 1,160] [Current karma points: 1,386]
Ning Que glanced at the system panel.
His karma points had already accumulated to 1,386.
He marveled inwardly at how quickly they came in with more people working together...
He could already perform another round of Background Editing.
But Ning Que was in no hurry to edit his background.
Having more backgrounds was good, but how to make use of them was the most important thing.
Karma points could be used not only to edit the system, but also to upgrade it.
At present, Background Editing offered only one option, and it was random.
If the randomly edited background turned out poorly, those karma points would have gone to waste.
The safer approach was to upgrade the system first and gain a few more options.
Ning Que had realized that although the system seemed simple, requiring only that he earn karma points and edit his background, that was not all there was to it.
In truth, there were many ways to use it.
He did not necessarily have to rely solely on Background Editing to grow stronger.
Prize draws, the shop, and system upgrades could accomplish the same thing.
Of course, every one of them required karma points.
This was a "universal currency."
"Little Juzi, we found fifteen thousand taels of fine silver and three chests of jewels in Qian Taizhong's home!"
After taking over the county yamen, the Qingzhou Branch's people discovered a secret passage beneath it leading straight to Qian Taizhong's home.
They had found all that silver inside.
The sheer quantity shocked even Huang Tong.
Ning Que smiled. "If a mere county magistrate can rake in this much wealth, there's no need to mention the officials higher up."
The speaker meant little by it, but the listener took it to heart.
Hearing those words, Huang Tong could not help feeling towering waves surge through his heart.
"What do you mean by that?"
Was he saying that the Great Li Dynasty's officials were corrupt?
Ning Que glanced at him without answering that question.
He merely looked at him and said, "A dynasty's downfall is always accompanied by false prosperity. From top to bottom, even the fact that the throne is currently occupied by an Empress is part of the problem."
"It looks prosperous, but turbulent undercurrents have long been surging beneath it."
"Do you know why I was going to be beheaded?"
Huang Tong shook his head without speaking.
"Because my betrothed wife was forced into a marriage alliance."
Ning Que's calm words made Huang Tong's pupils contract sharply.
He could sense the earth-shattering fury hidden beneath that tranquil voice.
As he spoke, Ning Que could not help turning his gaze toward Lizhou City.
It was hard to imagine that he would transmigrate into someone like this.
Wasn't this forcing me to rebel?
Ning Que shook his head with a helpless smile.
Looking back at all those rebels in the history of his previous world-Liu Bang, Zhu Yuanzhang, Huang Chao, and the rest...
Some had been commoners; some had been roadside beggars whose entire fortune consisted of a single bowl; others had failed the imperial examinations.
Yet in the end, one general's triumph was built upon ten thousand withered bones.
They had ultimately established great legacies for the ages!
At the thought, lofty ambition rose in Ning Que's heart as well.
"The position of ruler over all beneath heaven... I'd like to try it myself!"
"I just wonder whether, when that time comes, anyone will still force my wife into a marriage alliance."
"Or whether anyone will dare take my wife by force?"
After a night of slaughter, dawn broke.
Overnight, news of the county magistrate's death spread throughout Lotus Town.
People were shocked and full of sighs, but above all, they feared the unknown.
They sighed that the heavens were about to change.
"One bowl of congee."
A young man smiled and placed two copper coins on the little congee stall at the end of the street.
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