A Felon Wanted by a Hundred Dynasties!

Ning Yuanzhou?

At that name, every prisoner there tensed, apprehension filling their eyes.

Ning Que studied their expressions. They clearly knew him.

"Never heard of him!"

The man branded all over with the character for "kill" grinned, his gaze utterly cold. "Newcomer, I don't care how mighty you were outside. Now that you're here, don't even dream of getting out."

"Follow me and do as I say, and I can keep you alive in this desert. Otherwise, you'll be dead out there within three days!"

The other criminals around him also stared at Ning Que with sinister, savage eyes.

Both the presence and the eyes of these prisoners differed from those of any prisoners Ning Que had seen before.

These were men who truly treated human lives like worthless weeds!

But Ning Que still smiled. "Brother, isn't that a little unreasonable? I asked you a question in good faith. If you didn't know, fine. But knowing and refusing to tell me—that says something about your character..."

The burly man branded all over with "kill" grinned, a trace of mockery in his smile.

He stood, and an enormous shadow loomed over Ning Que, bringing an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Even the ground gave a low rumble.

Ning Que tilted his head up and looked at him in surprise.

The man was actually two and a half meters tall!

He was like a small hill.

That height would have been unprecedented even in Ning Que's previous life, let alone in such a chaotic age.

In an era rife with war, ordinary people could barely fill their stomachs, while officials squeezed them dry. Growing tall was difficult.

A man standing one meter sixty was already considered tall.

For women, it was one meter fifty.

Yet this man stood two and a half meters tall, his entire body covered in savage "kill" brands.

Simply standing there, he exuded enough murderous intent to cow everyone present.

"Looks like you refuse to bow to me. I'll have to teach you a lesson..."

The man narrowed his eyes and looked down at him from above.

The prisoners behind him shook their heads. They had seen countless arrogant prisoners here.

But before this man, every last one had eventually become as docile as a dog.

Ning Que would not be the first, nor would he be the last.

Ning Que said nothing, merely watching him quietly.

He knew his father's identity was a sensitive matter, but he did not mind using a severed head to pry these men's mouths open.

"Master Qin! Please calm down, Master Qin... He's new here and doesn't know any better!"

"I spent all day finding this meat. Please accept it as a token of my respect..."

Just then, another timid voice rang out.

A man wearing the same prison uniform, but with a far weaker presence, came to Ning Que's side and pulled him away.

At the same time, he offered up a bag filled with meat.

Meat and water were scarce in the desert.

A fight breaking out over a tiny piece of meat, costing several lives, was commonplace.

Only then did Master Qin, the burly man covered in "kill" brands, smile. He took the bag, turned, and left.

The man finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Ning Que. "Brother, why were you so rash? How could you dare offend Qin Qisha?"

"Qin Qisha?"

"That man just now."

Ning Que nodded and asked, "What's so special about him?"

Though his intervention had been unnecessary, the man had, after all, saved him, and Ning Que felt some goodwill toward him.

The man pointed at the "kill" brands covering Qin Mu's body. "See those brands on him? Each one was seared into his flesh with red-hot iron."

"And the brands have different shapes, because they came from different dynasties."

"Normally, just one 'kill' brand means someone is a major criminal wanted by a dynasty."

"He has nearly a hundred on him, at the very least. That means he's a felon wanted jointly by at least a hundred dynasties..."

Hearing this, Ning Que nodded. "So that's how it is..."

No wonder everyone feared him...

He certainly wasn't afraid of a "criminal" like Ning Que, whose hands were stained with thirty-six lives!

The man was far more ruthless than he was.

A felon wanted jointly by more than a hundred dynasties...

And he was hiding here?

With something like a sigh, the man continued, "Many dynasties are searching for Qin Qisha, but they've never found any trace of him. In fact, he's been hiding in the Skeleton Desert all along."

"To most people, the Skeleton Desert is a deathtrap. But for a felon like Qin Qisha, it's the perfect paradise!"

"The strong survive and the weak perish. Anyone who encounters him willingly becomes his subordinate..."

Ning Que nodded without speaking.

This was probably what people in my previous life called someone born with the 'aura of a conquering king,' wasn't it?

It could also be understood as "personal charisma"...

You had to be strong enough, or look fierce enough, for people to dread and fear you, and thus follow you.

But loyalty like that was unstable.

Others were born with a natural warmth that could draw people together.

His "father by default," Ning Yuanzhou, for instance...

He did not believe Ning Yuanzhou had founded Flowing Sand and brought it this far through strength alone.

Strength mattered, but personal charisma mattered far more.

"By the way, what brought you here?"

Ning Que looked at him and asked.

Though the man wore the same prison uniform, he showed no murderous intent at all and seemed quite weak.

A bitter smile rose on the man's face, though resentment outweighed it. "My name is Yi Tao. Wang Tianque framed me and had me sent here!"

"He destroyed my family, then sent me here on fabricated charges!"

Yi Tao's eyes reddened, filled with boundless anger, yet he could do nothing.

Wang Tianque was the son of Wang Yong, the Minister of Personnel. How could an ordinary person bring him down?

As he looked at Ning Que, he seemed to have a thousand things to say, yet did not know where to begin.

"I understand."

Ning Que cut him off. "Thank you for what you did today..."

Yi Tao froze for a moment, but ultimately said nothing.

What he did not know was just how much weight Ning Que's "thank you" carried that day.

It would not only help him leave the Skeleton Desert, but also allow him to rise again.

Of course, that was a story for later.

The desert nights were bitterly cold, especially when strong winds whipped up yellow sand, making it impossible even to open one's eyes.

Ning Que and Yi Tao found a hollow in the sand that sheltered them from the wind, crawled inside, and lit a wood fire.

Gazing at the bright moon hanging in the sky not far away, Yi Tao could not help saying wistfully, "Actually, one night half a month ago, I saw a convoy traveling from our Great Li across the border into the Mara Dynasty...

"There was a woman with them, too. They seemed to have captured her and were taking her back. For several nights in the desert, she kept trying to escape, but they caught her every time. She cried so miserably that her sobs drowned out the wind and sand..."

"..."

At those words, Ning Que's expression changed drastically. "Was that woman still wearing a festive wedding dress?"