Qing Province Disaster Relief Funds

The emperor's decree arrived swiftly.

"An imperial decree has arrived—"

Li Chen Zhou, still plotting his next move, was caught completely off guard by the sudden proclamation. The eunuch delivering the decree wore a face full of smiles. "Captain Li, these are your official robes and seal for your promotion to Thousand-Household Commander." The Brocade Guard commander's uniform, badge, and all accompanying items had been rushed out overnight. Even more surprisingly, the court ministers had pooled their money to prepare a Crimson Flame Steed worth a thousand gold for him.

"Eunuch, may I bring some men with me?"

"His Majesty has only ordered you to take up your post at once." The eunuch smiled meaningfully. "As for all other matters, Lord Li may use his own discretion."

Li Chen Zhou immediately summoned Earthly Fiends Four, Black Dog, White Cat, Bookworm, and the others.

"I am leaving for Jiangnan to take up my post. Are you willing to come with me?"

Black Dog and White Cat hesitated, but Bookworm immediately dropped to one knee. "This subordinate is willing to follow you unto death, my lord!" Earthly Fiends Four also spoke as one: "We came for you in the first place, my lord. We shall follow you through life and death!"

Seeing Black Dog and White Cat struggling to speak, Li Chen Zhou waved a hand. "You two stay behind." He then turned to the eunuch. "Allow me to return home and bid farewell to my parents."

"Lord Li need only leave the capital before nightfall."

Li Chen Zhou quietly instructed Bookworm, "Go to Nangong Manor and deliver a message. Tell her I will wait for her at Wuli Slope, five li outside the city, at dusk."

Duke Zhen's Estate had already received the news. When Li Chen Zhou returned, everyone in the estate was waiting in the main hall. His concubine mother, Nie Wushuang, came forward with reddened eyes and pressed a safety talisman into his hand. "Zhou'er, this journey to Jiangnan..." Before she could finish, she choked up and could not speak.

Li Wanqing tugged on her brother's sleeve. "Brother, you must come back safely."

"Don't worry. I still have to drink at your wedding feast." Li Chen Zhou rubbed the top of his sister's head.

Li Qing Shan stepped forward last and took out a yellowed secret manual. "Three Abyssal Slashes carries too much baleful energy. This is the Nie Family's supreme art, 'Frost Heaven Six Annihilations.'" Father and son looked at each other for a moment. The old general heavily patted his son's shoulder. "A fledgling eagle must eventually soar high."

After leaving Duke Zhen's Estate, Li Chen Zhou headed straight for Pingxuan Hall in the imperial palace. The guards retreated one after another when they saw him. Princess Pingyuan was playing the zither when the newcomer suddenly wrapped her tightly in his arms from behind.

"Chen Zhou?" Princess Xuan Yi was both startled and delighted, but the instant she heard the four words, "I'm leaving," her entire body stiffened.

"I'll go beg Father Emperor!" She struggled to rise, only to be held firmly in place by arms like iron hoops.

"Don't go." Li Chen Zhou buried his face in her fragrant hair. "Let me hold you a little longer."

The final kiss that fell upon her hair was so light, as though he feared breaking some precious treasure.

Dusk shrouded Wuli Slope. The setting sun was like blood, stretching Nangong Yue's cold figure long against the ground. She had been waiting there for a long time already, her plain white robes fluttering softly in the evening breeze.

"Why did you call me here?" Seeing Li Chen Zhou arrive through the dust atop the Crimson Flame Steed, Nangong Yue's voice remained cold as frost.

Li Chen Zhou pulled the reins tight. The Blood Demon Blade glinted coldly in the twilight. "Qing Province's disaster relief funds." Those few brief words made Nangong Yue's pupils contract sharply.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She forced herself to remain calm, but her fingers unconsciously dug into her palm.

"The Skinner, Zheng Ren, said so." Li Chen Zhou's voice carried not a trace of warmth.

Nangong Yue's heart shook violently. More than anyone, she knew how hard Zheng Ren's bones were. What methods had this man before her used?

"I have plenty of ways to make him talk." The Blood Demon Blade suddenly hummed, and frigid killing intent surged over Nangong Yue like a tide. "Give me an explanation. Otherwise, I don't mind killing one more person before leaving the capital."

Faced with this naked threat, Nangong Yue instead lifted her chin. "I don't believe you would kill me, and I believe even less that you can." She knew Li Chen Zhou too well. That youth who had once been madly infatuated with her—though they now faced each other blade to blade, old feelings still lay hidden in the depths of his eyes.

"If you truly intend to rob these disaster relief funds..." Li Chen Zhou's hand slowly tightened around the hilt, and the cold gleam in his eyes flared. "For the hundreds of thousands of disaster victims in Qing Province, I don't mind trying."

The air seemed to freeze at that moment. After a long while, Nangong Yue finally cast aside that proud bearing, a mocking curl touching her lips. "Would mighty Nangong Manor lack a mere eight hundred thousand taels?"

"Then why lay hands on this kind of money?" Li Chen Zhou pressed forward step by step.

"Heh..." Nangong Yue suddenly gave a cold laugh. "In your eyes, am I really so despicable?"

"The infamous Skinner is one of your men."

"Everyone Zheng Ren killed deserved to die!" Nangong Yue's voice abruptly rose. "After Gu Wen placed third in the imperial examination, he attached himself to the powerful. To marry a wealthy merchant's daughter, he actually hired killers to murder his wife. Should he have died or not? A woman of the Zhao family colluded with her lover to murder her husband. Should she have died or not?" She rattled off more than a dozen names in succession, each accompanied by bloody evidence of their crimes.

Li Chen Zhou was speechless for a moment. Nangong Yue pressed her advantage. "You think Zheng Ren is a pervert? Do you know that he was once a good physician who healed the world from a suspended pot, only to be pushed off a cliff by his wife and her adulterer? He was merely carrying out heaven's justice!"

"And the disaster relief funds?" Li Chen Zhou demanded in a low voice.

Nangong Yue's sneer deepened. "Shouldn't Lord Li know the answer to that question best?" Seeing him frown, she mocked, "Great Qian's accumulated ills have endured for too long. Of these eight hundred thousand taels, how much do you think will truly reach the disaster victims?" She suddenly leaned closer, her red lips nearly brushing Li Chen Zhou's ear. "Not a single tael."

The evening wind suddenly rose, scattering her final words, yet branding a heaven-shaking secret deep into Li Chen Zhou's heart.

Li Chen Zhou's knuckles turned white from clenching them. The Blood Demon Blade let out a shrill cry within its sheath. Killing intent spread through the twilight as though tangible, pressing the surrounding grass and trees low.

"Are you angry?" Nangong Yue instead stepped forward into the killing intent. "When I saw corpses of the starved stretching for a thousand li in Xuzhou, I was angrier than you." Her voice suddenly choked. "But what use is anger? Those who deserve to die still feast and revel, while the people who deserve to live still fall in swathes!"

Li Chen Zhou's killing intent suddenly stalled. He saw tears rolling from Nangong Yue's eyes, reflecting a blood-colored light beneath the setting sun. They were grief that had settled for far too long.

"Does Lord Li think killing a few corrupt officials," she said, her trembling finger stabbing at her own heart, "and making the living cry out 'Blue Sky' a few times can console four hundred thousand wronged souls?" Tears smeared her exquisite makeup. "They only wanted to live... Why should the lives of the common people be traded for the lives of those scum!"

When the ever-proud Nangong Yue suddenly broke down, Li Chen Zhou's body reacted before his reason did. He drew the sobbing woman into his embrace and felt her slender body trembling violently. The always-cold fragrance of orchids mingled with tears, and it stabbed at his heart more painfully than the scent of blood.

When the evening breeze brushed past them, Nangong Yue suddenly came to her senses. As she hurriedly broke free, her flying hair swept across Li Chen Zhou's lips. The rosy clouds painted her still tear-stained face with the color of rouge, and even the tips of her ears had turned translucent red.

"So..." Li Chen Zhou forced himself to look away, his Adam's apple moving as he suppressed the strange flutter in his chest. "What exactly do you intend to do?"

Nangong Yue took a deep breath. "I will seize the official silver and exchange it for grain through Heavenly Desire Palace's trade routes." Tears still lingered in her eyes, but her tone had regained its sharpness. "Not a single grain of rice will enter a corrupt official's granary."

The system light screen suddenly unfolded in the void:

Ding—Task completed

Reward: Hundred-Hit Heart-Piercing Dragon Claw

Fusion progress... 100%

Li Chen Zhou swung himself onto his horse. The Crimson Flame Steed's snorting breath turned to white mist in the twilight. "Today, I believe you." He tightened the reins and gave Nangong Yue a deep look. "But if the people of Qing Province do not receive life-saving grain..." The Blood Demon Blade suddenly slid halfway from its sheath, cold light reflecting his sharply defined profile. "Even across a thousand mountains and ten thousand waters, I will take your head from your shoulders."

As the thunderous hoofbeats faded into the distance, Nangong Yue watched that figure gradually melt into the night and suddenly let out a soft laugh. She raised a hand to wipe away the tears at the corners of her eyes, yet her fingertips involuntarily brushed the shoulder he had just touched. The warmth of that embrace still lingered there, so scorching it nearly burned through her disguise.

"What a fool..." she murmured to the empty official road, so softly that only the evening wind could hear. "Those I, Nangong Yue, wish to kill have always been those who deserve to die."