Mid-July, west of Sacred Capital City.
The rising sun shone on the long street in the west of the city, carrying a touch of midsummer warmth. Yet the townsfolk who rose early and the merchants traveling along it felt only wave after wave of cold.
Here, in broad daylight, beneath a clear and open sky, a fierce battle had just taken place.
It all began several hours earlier, when a soldier of the Sacred Capital's Imperial Guard, returning late from a night of drunken revelry, was ambushed by masked assailants and killed on the spot.
Ever since martial men had seized power, the Imperial Guard had lorded over the city. When had they ever suffered such an indignity? They immediately joined forces with the Ministry of War's various offices, the city defense troops, and the officers under the Nine Gates Commander and the prefect of the Sacred Capital to launch a sweeping manhunt. After turning everything upside down, they cornered the culprits on a street in this district at sunrise.
The Great Qian army had no shortage of experts. In particular, many of those who had recently taken military posts came from Martial Dao sects, each possessing profound cultivation and formidable skills.
They also had weapons such as Divine Mechanism Crossbows and Three-Eyed Cannons, crafted by combining Puppet Dao mechanisms with Artifact Dao methods, and the various military units enjoyed overwhelming numerical strength.
Naturally, the outcome was never in doubt. The confrontation ended with the culprits being killed on the spot.
Now that the fighting was over, officers had forcibly rounded up a group of people to wash the street. Thus the public was greeted by the gruesome sight of great pools of bloody water spreading across the pavement, with organs and scraps of flesh scattered everywhere.
"Too horrible. It's