Chapter 1372: Gossip

"This new Supervisor of ours has been the National Teacher in Beijia for 150 or 160 years. Speaking of the experience of being an official, I'm afraid all of us here combined can't catch up with her." "The ability to make money is also fierce, set after set."

The oldest of them was no more than forty-five, and had been an official for no more than twenty-five years.

They were all so-called "official merchants," doing official business. The Supervisor intervened in their business, and they had many complaints. He Lingchuan looked at Fan Shuang, who was full of smiles and occasionally inserted a few words.

So He Lingchuan understood that this topic could be discussed.

But he didn't interrupt, just being a qualified listener.

He knew that as long as the Yao people talked about Qingyang, this topic would always circle back to him.

Sure enough, everyone chattered and complained for a long time, and Yuwen Xu gave He Lingchuan a thumbs up: "Brother He truly has demeanor."

They were all denouncing Qingyang, but He Lingchuan didn't kick them while they were down.

He Lingchuan smiled slightly: "Listening to everyone talk, I couldn't help but be fascinated. As expected of Qingyang, whether as National Teacher or Supervisor, she is imposing."

Fan Shuang immediately took the conversation: "Brother He investigated the Elixir of Immortality case in Lingxu City back then, and was under great pressure from National Teacher Qingyang!"

He Lingchuan corrected: "Strictly speaking, the Elixir of Immortality case was supervised by Commander Bai Ziqi in Lingxu City; I was just a bystander at that time."

"Steady, truly steady!" Gu Xuan also praised He Lingchuan: "Brother He doesn't claim credit or be proud."

"The facts are as such; I dare not deceive everyone."

Yuwen Xu was curious: "Has Brother He ever faced National Teacher Qingyang directly? Did she exert pressure on Brother He?"

The Elixir of Immortality case back then was heard by the upper-class nobles of the Yao Nation; but it wasn't until Qingyang came to the Yao Nation and took office as Supervisor that they began to examine the details of the Elixir of Immortality case.

"Yes." He Lingchuan also told the truth. "When I and the Crown Prince of Chiyan visited the Tianling Ke family, I met National Teacher Qingyang in the Ke family's garden and had a simple conversation. National Teacher Qingyang has an extraordinary bearing; she looked at me at the time, and it made me feel particularly insignificant."

Everyone looked at each other.

Isn't it? When they saw Supervisor Qingyang, they also had this feeling.

This woman is full of the majesty of a superior. When she and the Yao King stand in the same temple, the aura of both sides is simply...

Everyone thought of this and sighed.

"National Teacher Qingyang said to me that my luck was really good to be able to survive the Elixir of Immortality case."

Everyone went 'wow', feeling the same.

Deep chill.

Gu Xuan couldn't help but say: "I remember, Brother He seemed to have been attacked before?"

"Hmm, the post house where I and the Crown Prince of Chiyan stayed was suddenly blown to the ground." He Lingchuan drank a glass of wine to suppress his shock. "But if I had returned ten seconds earlier, I wouldn't be able to sit here and drink with everyone right now."

"Brother He not only has courage but also really good luck." Everyone toasted him. "Come, come, this is called 'when the time comes, heaven and earth work together'."

The Yao Nation court was suppressed by Qingyang, so they particularly liked to hear stories of Qingyang eating shriveled in the Elixir of Immortality case.

He Lingchuan accurately grasped their psychology and intentionally or unintentionally leaked a few details of the Elixir of Immortality case. Those were secrets that ordinary nobles in Lingxu City couldn't hear, and those present naturally hadn't heard them, so their gossip souls burned, fearing they would miss a word.

Gossip, gossip, these are all brand new gossip after returning home! He Lingchuan finished seven or eight details in one breath and drank wine to moisten his throat. The field was quiet for a moment before Yuwen Xu clapped his hands: "Addictive, truly addictive! If we were in Lingxu City at that time, we could have personally experienced this great whirlpool!"

He Lingchuan thought, there were so many nobles in Lingxu City at that time, and not many really understood the mystery of the case.

The Soul-Absorbing Mirror in his arms laughed: "Saying it easily! These few Yao people don't know how deep the water is!"

It was the one who experienced it from beginning to end.

It knew that this whole thing was a stormy sea! Everyone toasted He Lingchuan again, and Yuwen Xu smiled: "At my King's birthday celebration, Brother He must come! You don't know how many people in the Yao Nation are queuing up to get to know you."

He Lingchuan could only say: "I will strive, I will try my best." And then he used other things to deal with it, and this topic was considered to be over.

Gu Xuan said: "A team of people appeared in the west recently, wearing black armor and masks, always killing people at night. I heard there have been three times, and even the famous cannibal Zhao Guangzhi was killed."

This topic immediately aroused the interest of others: "More than that? I've heard there have been five times."

"Wrong, six times. By the way, what's so great about killing Zhao Guangzhi? He eats people, he leads troops, but the surrounding forces don't dare to move him, isn't it because he is a Luodian person?"

Gu Xuan immediately said: "The black-armored soldiers only had dozens of cavalry, and they beat the Zhao army until they fled in panic, and even captured Zhao Guangzhi alive. They fought all the way from Shizhou Head back to Liuping, boiled Zhao Guangzhi, and distributed him to the commoners to eat."

"It really looks like something those barbaric tribesmen can do!"

"I heard it was nine times." Yuwen Xu made the final decision. "My family's second steward just came back from Liu County and said that the black-armored soldiers killed the villa master of Greenery Shanzhuang, and his second son was killed together. Two heads were hung side by side on the gate of the villa."

Other Yao people thought for a long time: "Greenery Shanzhuang? Seems to have a bit of an impression."

Gu Xuan was surprised: "What kind of harmful things did this Greenery Shanzhuang do, for the black-armored soldiers to go find it?"

Another noble son, Jing Yuanxun, often tripped him up, and didn't let go of the opportunity this time: "How do you know it did harmful things?"

"You don't go out the door recently, but you should have heard the gossip. The deeds of this black-armored soldier have been spreading wildly in the west recently, and even in our country, people have begun to discuss it. Its leader is called the Nine Nether Great Emperor by the commoners, saying that he specializes in punishing evil people, not only skinning, beheading, and extracting souls, but also taking evil people back to the Nine Nethers to continue to be punished."

Jing Yuanxun laughed loudly: "Those ignorant villagers, seeing a broken statue on the side of the road can kneel and worship for half a day; there were people who worshipped the Xuanlu Ghost King before. Nine Nether Great Emperor? Pfft, hahaha, Brother Gu, you wouldn't believe it to be true, right?"

He Lingchuan said sternly: "Nine Nether Great Emperor, isn't it just a person? A person who acts upright and straight, why hide his head and show his tail?"

He Lingchuan said sternly: "I hate those who hide their heads and show their tails and hide

He said righteously: "In my life, I hate those petty people who hide their heads and show their tails, harboring secret motives!"

Jing Yuanxun applauded He Lingchuan: "Exactly, these words touch my heart. That is just a person! That is just a group of people playing at gods and ghosts. And the Great Emperor of Nine Netherworlds, it really makes me die of laughter!"

Someone disagreed: "Hey, what is there not on the Glittering Gold Plain? There are temples everywhere here; where there are gods, there are ghosts. First there was the Profound Lu Ghost King, and later the Great Emperor of Nine Netherworlds; I don't find it strange at all. Oh, I also heard that commoners have seen the true face of the black-armored men, and they really are like evil ghosts."

"Whether they are people or ghosts, why are they so fond of meddling in other people's business?" Yuwen Xu pondered. "You say, they have already taken Liuping, why don't they want it themselves, but instead hand it over to others?"

On the Glittering Gold Plain, you fight and I snatch, and after so many years of turmoil, aren't they fighting for territory, population, and resources? How can there be a reason to take territory and then not want it?

"They look down on it, that's why." Jing Yuanxun picked up a pickled plum, using the sweet and sour to offset the fishy smell of the seafood. "What kind of good place is Liuping? Zhao Guangzhi occupied it for more than two months, robbing wealth and eating people; what could be left there? How is it any different from an empty city?"

"If this group of people had taken Chigu, if they had taken the Weiyin production area of your family, Brother Gu, or taken the Cibao managed by your family, Brother Yuwen—" He even paused, thoughtfully explaining to He Lingchuan, the outsider, "That vast expanse of fertile land west of Cibao is the great granary of the southern part of our country—do you think this group of men in black would also not want it?"

"How could they not?" Gu Xuan liked to argue with him. "To hold onto these places, do you know how much military force is needed? A mere few dozen people, how long would it take just to ride a horse from the east side of Cibao to the west side?"

"He only brought out a few dozen people, how do you know he doesn't have a 'Nine Netherworlds' army under his command? The number might be thousands or tens of thousands?"

Seeing that they were about to enter a zone of mindless arguing, Fan Shuang hurriedly came out to smooth things over: "Regarding the origin of this black-armored army, what are everyone's views?"

"They were able to defeat Zhao Guangzhi's army; no matter what method they used, winning against thousands with a few dozen is enough to show that their individual combat power is extraordinary and their single-soldier quality is very high. But the corresponding management and logistics requirements are also very high," Yuwen Xu pondered. "None of us here have joined the ranks, so we don't know the difficulty of it. I asked my brother, and such elite soldiers are not easy to train; they are one in a hundred in the army, so these few dozen people were at least carefully selected from thousands of troops."

He took a sip of wine to moisten his throat, then continued: "The army he speaks of is not the able-bodied men casually pulled from the countryside or cannon fodder for charging into battle, but a real army that has won battles and killed people, licking blood from the edge of a knife. To give an example, it's like picking one in a hundred from the army of General Heavy Martial."

Fan Shuang said to He Lingchuan: "His brother, Yuwen Yong, is a very famous military general in our country who has won many battles."

He Lingchuan nodded. If even the military generals of the Yao Nation knew, then the upper echelons of the Yao Nation certainly knew about the existence of the Black-Armored Army and had also evaluated it.

He was playing one game on the surface here and another behind the scenes; on the surface, he was the amiable and wealthy Island Master of Yangshan, and behind the scenes, he was the black-armored leader who killed without blinking and punished the wicked. And these two identities had already officially stepped onto the stage of the Glittering Gold Plain, throwing themselves into the chaotic situation.

He no longer had a way back.

Everyone was a bit surprised: "That is to say, behind the 'Great Emperor of Nine Netherworlds' there are at least thousands of troops, all well-trained?"

"It is very likely so. Without a base number, it is difficult to select elite soldiers," Yuwen Xu added. "My brother said, don't look at the fish and dragons mixed together in the central and western parts of the Glittering Gold Plain; the forces that can pull out such a team are actually few and far between."

Fan Shuang laughed: "Few? Then count them for us."

(End of chapter)