Chapter 170: This Boy's Technique Is Far Too Practiced—One Wonders Where He Learned It

The middle-aged scribe who had come to deliver the invitation was stunned by Zhao Xing's reply, and it took him a long while to recover.

Once he realized what Zhao Xing had said, a flash of annoyance crossed his eyes: "If that is so, I shall return and report the reason, and deliver Sir Zhao's words exactly as spoken!"

With that, he made to leave in a sweep of his sleeves.

Zhao Xing raised a hand, and a gust of gang wind instantly pinned the middle-aged scribe in place: "Did I say you could leave?"

The middle-aged scribe stared in disbelief: "I am Magistrate Shao's man! What do you think you are doing?"

"You—a dog-headed private secretary with neither office nor title—dare bluster before me?" Zhao Xing stared at him. "You really think you're an official? Kneel!"

Thud—

The middle-aged scribe was immediately forced down by a tremendous pressure, dropping straight to his knees.

Crack—

In that single moment, both his legs were ruined; his kneecaps were completely shattered.

He held no official rank at all, but having followed Shao Wanjie around throwing his weight about, even eighth-rank officials had to treat him as an honored guest.

Meeting Zhao Xing today, he finally learned what true official authority was, and reality crashed down on him in an instant.

"My lord, spare me! Hiss— I, I was wrong, I was wrong!" The middle-aged scribe's bones were broken, his face deathly pale, and he immediately begged for mercy.

The man before him simply did not play by any normal rules. What does a strategist fear most? A hotheaded fool—a madman!

Because there is simply no way to guess what such a person is thinking.

"Relax, I won't kill you." Zhao Xing smiled faintly. "Come, write out Shao Wanjie's crimes in full. You must know quite a lot."

The middle-aged scribe opened his mouth, intending at once to bite his own tongue and end his life.

How could Zhao Xing let him have his way? He immediately sent a gust of gang wind to strike the man's lower jaw, dislocating his jawbone on the spot.

"Whether you write or not is actually of no consequence. Shao Wanjie's crimes are too numerous to record, and gathering evidence against him will be very easy. With the imperial court purging the border army this time, Shao Wanjie is doomed beyond doubt."

"I've heard you have a wife and children here, presumably held as leverage by him. If they are not deeply implicated, make your statement, and I can guarantee they will live—I can have them rescued within two hours."

"Of course, if you don't believe me and insist on sinking together with Shao Wanjie's ship, go ahead and move your neck three inches forward. My gang wind can grant your foolish loyalty."

The middle-aged scribe's heart trembled; he had never imagined that delivering an invitation could lead to all this.

But everything before his eyes made it abundantly clear that Zhao Xing meant every word.

He was merely a Dushui Ling, with no grudge against him whatsoever—why would he want him dead?

Wasn't it simply that he was determined to bring down Shao Wanjie?

A rank-7 lower daring to move against a rank-7 upper—either Zhao Xing's background was terrifyingly vast, or else, just as he said, the imperial court truly intended a purge. Otherwise, nothing about this made sense.

Once the initial impulse had passed and his brain started working again, he no longer wished to die.

Though he could not speak, his hands could still write. He immediately began tracing characters on the ground with his finger: Let them live.

Zhao Xing nodded, and Long Xiao then carried the middle-aged scribe off to a side hall to write out his testimony.

He took up the completed document and walked toward another side hall of the Dushui Jian.

Because the specifications were high enough, a row of divine statues was enshrined within the Dushui Jian itself.

However, these statues were all very small, resembling fireplaces.

Among the gear Zhao Xing had brought from Fucheng were spirit-summoning incense and a stack of specially made spirit-money paper.

He lit three sticks and burned them at once before the statue of Shenxingdai Sect.

These were the medium for summoning a deity; the price, meanwhile, was the spirit-summoning incense and the spirit-money paper.

Whoosh—

The incense burner before the Shenxingdai Sect statue instantly flared alight, and the statue of Dai Zong opened its eyes.

"Zhao Xing, Dushui Ling of Yuncheng, what matter do you have to summon this deity?"

"One urgent document, to be sent to the Dushui Jian at Fucheng."

"An urgent dispatch requires a designated first recipient."

"Dantai Ming, my lord of the Dushui Jian at Fucheng."

"Granted."

Zhao Xing burned the document into the flame.

Fizz, fizz, fizz— the three sticks of incense and one sheet of spirit-money paper were swiftly consumed.

At the same time, at the Dushui Jian of Fucheng—

In Dantai Ming's office, three rows of statue-fireplaces continuously spat out documents. Once these documents flew out, they folded themselves automatically and quickly piled into a small mountain.

Rustle—

Dantai Ming sat at his desk. Before him, over a hundred documents lay spread open, and a sparrow-feather tally token skimmed rapidly across them.

Constantly opening, closing, and flying back into the fireplace.

In the span of a single breath, he had finished reviewing over a hundred documents, yet even so, quite a stack of documents awaiting his signature still piled up before him.

Because the entire Nine Heavens Response Origin Prefecture had far too many matters to handle, and under wartime preparations, it was even busier.

Snap—

Just then, seven documents fell directly into Dantai Ming's lap.

Urgent documents could jump the queue, but that was not the main reason—after all, there were plenty of urgent documents these days.

The reason they could be prioritized was mainly that Dantai Ming had preset this mechanism in advance.

Which region's documents should be read first was all set up ahead of time.

Dantai Ming read urgent documents a little more slowly, but seven documents were also replied to very quickly—in just one minute.

Although Dantai Ming was only a rank-4 lower, with the aid of his Three-Flower Golden Crown set with jewels, his brain's processing speed rivaled that of a small Earth Mirror.

Zhao Xing had originally intended to leave, because Dantai Ming could not possibly see it immediately. The vast Nine Heavens Response Origin Prefecture received who knew how many messages for him every day, and reading them all took time.

But before he could even step out the door, the Shenxingdai Sect statue opened its eyes once more, the fire flared up again, and a document flew out, heading straight into Zhao Xing's arms.

"Hm? That fast?"

Zhao Xing was stunned. He hadn't even crossed the threshold yet, and Dantai Ming had already replied?

He opened it to look.

The official's批复 contained only eight simple words: Watch and wait; arrest if you can, but do not interrogate.

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and realized Dantai Ming had given him two choices.

One was to do nothing, just wait for the higher-ups to go through the process and send someone.

The other was to arrest Shao Wanjie first, but not interrogate him.

Both choices made sense. Zhao Xing was the Du Shui Ling; he had no obligation to arrest anyone, and he only needed to wait for the handling result.

But Zhao Xing was no ordinary Du Shui Ling—he was also a Military Si Nong, currently carrying out a Bing Jie mission. As a combat-capable Military Si Nong, he could, based on the higher-ups' directive, prevent this Shao Wanjie from fleeing.

The Military Si Nong had this obligation—after all, Military Si Nong could fight. Just like Old Chen had been the main force when dealing with the Xuantian Sect in Gucheng.

Interrogation, however, was not Zhao Xing's business.

Dantai Ming deliberately wrote the two words "do not interrogate"—both to remind Zhao Xing and to protect him.

"Shao Wanjie is tied to a fifth-rank Vice Prefect Liu Junliang, and even more people. Knowing too much won't do me any good, so he told me not to interrogate."

"If I don't interrogate, and just assist in the arrest according to Dantai Ming's directive, there won't be any trouble."

"Also, Dantai Ming might be hinting to me that the higher-ups only plan to take out Shao Wanjie, not to further escalate the situation. At the very least, they can't possibly bring down Liu Junliang through my single report. Even if it were to be done, it shouldn't be done by me."

Zhao Xing thought for a moment, then walked out of the great hall with the document: "Under normal circumstances, I'd just report and wait. But now I need to buy time. The sooner Shao Wanjie is dealt with, the better. Dawdling for ten days or half a month would be quite detrimental to my subsequent development."

"Also, if I arrest Shao Wanjie and lock him up, I can protect Yuncheng's assets."

Once Shao Wanjie falls, he'll be the biggest official there. Wouldn't Yuncheng's assets be equivalent to Master Zhao's money?

To develop, how can one do without money?

"Arrest! Arrest him hard! Fighting crime—this Zhao is duty-bound!"

Zhao Xing immediately went to find Long Xiao.

At this time, he had also just finished interrogating that advisor.

"Get ready, we're going to a banquet."

"Huh?" Long Xiao was stunned. "We just detained his man, and now we're going to a banquet?"

"He doesn't know." Zhao Xing said, "This time I'm not just going to the banquet, I'm also going to arrest Shao Wanjie."

"Just like what Old Chen did in Gucheng last time?"

"Exactly." Zhao Xing said: "Can you fight? That bastard Shao Wanjie is both civil and martial. He's a rank-7 proper, possessing both a martial artist's Wu Ji and the ability to use a Ritual Cultivator's methods."

"Is he a sword cultivator?" Long Xiao asked.

"No."

"Then does he have a hundred rank-7 protectors?"

"You're that fierce?" Zhao Xing asked in surprise. "You can take on a hundred?"

"Are you insulting me?" Long Xiao scoffed: "You say it as if you're the only genius in the world. When you fought those non-Four-Academy same-realm Military Si Nong in the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven, how many could you take?"

Zhao Xing pondered: "A hundred seems to be no problem."

Long Xiao slapped his sword and said proudly: "Then isn't it settled? Among the eighty-seven thousand-plus in the Divine Might Army, aside from the Hou Jue, there are only five sword cultivators, and I'm one of them. You ask me if I can fight? Isn't that an insult?"

"Forgive me, it was this lowly official who was short-sighted. Please pardon me, brave Captain."

"That's more like it." Long Xiao hitched up his belt, "But do you think I can make a move? I'm your Dao Protector; this trial is yours, not mine. You want to speed up the internal cleanup of Yuncheng—don't you have to do it yourself? If I make a move, it won't lower your evaluation, will it?"

Zhao Xing considered: "No. The third ring mission is mainly about managing the flood. I didn't ask you to help with the flood management. If we volunteer to help the higher-ups arrest someone, would that lower my evaluation? Even if it affects it, the impact won't be big. Weighing the pros and cons, getting rid of this tumor quickly and getting back on track as soon as possible is what's most important to me."

"Fine, you're the boss."

Shao Wanjie's residence was built extremely lavishly, comparable in size to ten market districts of Yuncheng.

He also didn't allow commoners to live nearby, bestoning all the land to his trusted followers.

When Zhao Xing walked into the area around Shao's residence, he couldn't help but sigh that this Shao Wanjie truly had a path to his own death.

Due to also holding the position of County Captain, Shao Wanjie had dispatched two squads of guards to patrol around Shao's residence, using government soldiers to stand sentry at his own private mansion.

When Zhao Xing and Long Xiao arrived at Shao's residence gate by Purple Horn carriage, they actually saw two squads of barbarian soldiers!

"One squad of Lion-Heads, one squad of Bull-Heads? A mere minor Zi Jue like him actually dares to keep barbarian soldiers?" Long Xiao's eyes widened.

Barbarian soldiers weren't forbidden to keep—assimilated barbarian soldiers weren't rare in the Nine Heavens Yingyuan Prefecture—but the regulations stated that only the private guards of a Hou Jue could recruit barbarian soldiers for their own use.

Apart from that, one could only command barbarian soldiers by serving as a martial officer within the barbarian military structure, but those were official troops, not private armies.

Shao Wanjie using Lion-Heads and Bull-Heads as doormen—this was a major taboo.

"This man is simply lawless—residence exceeding regulations, keeping barbarian soldiers, deceiving superiors and hiding things from them, embezzlement and corruption, arbitrarily transferring officials from the Four Divisions to serve as his retainers…" Long Xiao looked at those two squads of barbarian soldiers, his hand unconsciously gripping his sword.

"Acting as a local Emperor for too long makes one easily think oneself a real Emperor." Zhao Xing shook his head. "Kill those barbarian soldiers directly later, show no mercy, but leave the bodies intact."

"I understand."

Clip-clop~ Before the Purple Horn carriage had gone two li inside the gate, it was stopped by a checkpoint of barbarian soldiers.

"Yuncheng Du Shui Ling Zhao Xing, here at the invitation of Lord Shao, to attend the banquet."

Zhao Xing, dressed in official robes, lifted the carriage curtain and displayed his official seal.

"So it's an official of the Celestial Dynasty." The Bull-Head soldier blocking the way had two bull horns on his head and a bull nose; in other respects, he still looked human.

Upon seeing Zhao Xing, his attitude immediately became respectful.

"Let them through, quickly let them through!"

Barbarian soldiers were fierce, but assimilated barbarian soldiers, upon seeing an official of the Great Zhou imperial court, became as obedient as dogs.

Because in their eyes, the Great Zhou was the Celestial Dynasty, the great nation, the sovereign of Shenzhou, an unmatched symbol!

Great Zhou officials could cultivate to extremely high realms and still maintain human form, but they could not. In every aspect, they worshipped the Great Zhou.

Assimilated barbarian soldiers were all willing to serve as dogs for the Great Zhou.

Before officials of the Great Zhou, they were deeply自卑.

In return, they utterly despised the various southern barbarian tribes.

Being able to serve as a dog of the Great Zhou was, in their eyes, an honor.

Ordinary barbarians wanted to serve but couldn't even get the chance!

The fiercest killers of the southern barbarian outlanders were precisely these acculturated barbarian soldiers.

"My lord, let me lead your horse for you." The Minotaur soldier bowed and scraped as he walked ahead; once he took hold of the reins, he immediately puffed up with importance, striding along and shouting: "Make way, make way, don't startle my lord!"

Inside the residence, at a hot spring.

Shao Wanjie was lying in the arms of a pair of cat-eared twin girls; his chest and back were bared as he ate grapes and drank wine, while his hand slipped inside the girls' collars, drawing shy, giggling laughter from them.

Gazing at the twins, Shao Wanjie's beastly nature flared; just as he was about to go further, he heard a servant come to report.

"My lord, the newly appointed Commissioner of Waters of the Directorate of Agriculture, Zhao Xing, has arrived outside the mansion gate."

"Oh?" Shao Wanjie lifted his head from the girls' embrace. He had a flat nose, slit eyes, and a bald patch on his forehead. "He's early. Where's Fang Wen?"

"Secretary Fang has not yet returned."

"Hmph, that fellow grows more and more clueless by the day — after delivering the calling card he didn't even come back to report, off god knows where chasing women again." Shao Wanjie cursed and grumbled, never once considering that his private secretary had already defected to the enemy.

"Escort that Zhao Xing to the side hall to receive him, send over a few chests of treasures for him, first observe his reaction, then come back to report in a quarter of an hour. Remember — a quarter of an hour."

Having finished speaking, Shao Wanjie's face leered with lust once more as he pounced toward the twin girls: "Beauties, here I come."

At the Shao residence, in an exquisite side hall, Long Xiao watched the servants carry in several chests of treasures, his gaze unfriendly, while Zhao Xing sat with eyes closed, resting.

"Lord Zhao, these are gifts my master sends to you in welcome, to congratulate Lord Zhao on your new appointment."

Zhao Xing opened his eyes, but did not look at the speaking steward — with a flick of his finger, a flame burned the man to ash.

"Found him, but the fellow is still busy with his affairs. Should we wait until he's exhausted before going over?" Zhao Xing had closed his eyes moments ago to merge his Life Soul with the Heaven and Earth Souls, sensing Shao Wanjie's presence as well as all the experts in the residence.

Combined with the cloud layers above and the wind in the air, he pinpointed Shao Wanjie's location in an instant.

"This place is a fetid mess — I can't wait even a moment. Grab him quickly and be done with it."

"Fine." Zhao Xing grabbed Long Xiao, sank into the ground, passed beneath rockeries and covered walkways, and in a flash arrived beneath a hot spring.

"Beauties~" Shao Wanjie was still at his business, utterly unaware of anything amiss.

"Whoosh~" Zhao Xing and Long Xiao surfaced, and flicked their fingers at the back of Shao Wanjie's head — an invisible worm instantly flew into Shao Wanjie's body.

"Ugh…" As if years of accumulated sleepiness had crashed over him, Shao Wanjie dropped his head and fell fast asleep at once.

The two cat-eared twins were bewildered, but before they could even raise their heads, Zhao Xing struck again, knocking them both out cold.

"Looks like I don't need to lift a finger at all." Long Xiao sneered. "That fellow has rotted away in his boudoir of silk and softness for ten years — he's completely broken… What do we do next?"

"Open the chests," Zhao Xing said. "In the bamboo chest are the materials for an Illusory Shape Straw Figure."

"Oh." Long Xiao immediately set down the chest.

"Rise!" Zhao Xing pointed, and an Illusory Shape Straw Figure appeared, transforming into Shao Wanjie's likeness.

"Stay here with the straw figure and improvise, keep the others steady," Zhao Xing said. "I'll send the real one to the temple to be locked up."

"How about I take him to the temple? I'm not great at acting." Long Xiao felt the operation was difficult — killing people he was good at, but playing other roles was a challenge. "Besides, you control the Illusory Shape Straw Figure with ease; at a distance it's easy for flaws to show."

Zhao Xing thought it made sense, so he took out his own seal and tossed it to Long Xiao: "Go quickly and return quickly. Remember — you must hand the man over to Shen Mingyu, the priest of the Yuncheng temple, and personally watch him confess before the Judicial Yin God before locking him up. Only then may you return."

"Got it, I'll be right back." A seventh-rank Fiend Refiner, Long Xiao could already ride the fiend for short flights; he immediately wrapped up Shao Wanjie and flew out.

Zhao Xing looked at the slumbering outlander twin girls, summoned a gust of yin wind that blew into their minds — this would leave them disoriented for a short while, forgetting what had just happened.

He then ordered the Illusory Shape Straw Figure to lie down on a chair beside the hot spring, and scooped the outlander girls up to place them on either side of the figure.

He himself quietly sank underground once more, returned to the guest hall, and raised another Illusory Shape Straw Figure to take on the appearance of the steward.

"All done." Zhao Xing clapped his hands, and together with the 'steward,' walked toward the direction of 'Shao Wanjie.'

In the Soldier Realm, beneath a stretch of sun-drenched land, stood tower after tower hundreds of meters tall.

Each tower rotated along its own peculiar trajectory.

Inside one of the towers, carved on its exterior with ten suns, countless mechanisms and formations filled the space; every level bustled with mechanism-masters at work. On the highest level's interior space, three towering five-meter-tall phantoms stood gazing at an Earth Mirror.

The Earth Mirror was divided into many panels, displaying overhead views of various locations in Yuncheng.

In the central panel, a close-up view was shown — it was precisely the Shao Wanjie residence.

"He took out Shao Wanjie with just one straw-figure technique. According to the progress of the Creation Board's deduction, he'll fare much more smoothly than the others from here on." One of the phantoms spoke, his voice like a flood: "Was the third-ring mission we set for Zhao Xing too easy? He hasn't made a single mistake so far."

"Replacing the peach with a plum, swapping heaven and earth — easy to say, hard to do." Purple light flickered on another phantom. "It's not that the mission we set lacked difficulty; he's clever and capable. The political trials have already been enough — no need to pile on more pressure in that area."

"I just feel this boy's methods are too practiced, as if it's second nature. The Ten Sun Grotto didn't teach this — I truly don't know where he picked it up."