Chapter 40: Group Mockery

Shen Qing casually threw the copper hammer to one side, turned to look at the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the courtyard; the guards immediately understood, and Fang Ming together with several junior banner officers quickly walked over to look at Shen Qing.

"Have you recorded everyone on the Register of Impermanence? Within two hours, I want these people detained in the prison."

"Yes!"

But soon several junior banner officers showed difficulty on their faces—not because these people were particularly strong or hard to catch.

The main issue is that there are too many people, scattered all over Luoshui City, and we lack sufficient manpower.

Shen Qing glanced around at the people nearby.

"Not enough men, right? Go release that bunch of useless lackeys of Ma Kui from the prison."

Ding Yi, standing nearby, twitched his ear—as if he had heard the echo of strong fortune!

"Commander Shen! My two brothers and I should be able to contribute!"

"Fine, you will act as a junior banner officer, leading ten men under Fang Ming's command."

Ding Yi imitated the Embroidered Uniform Guard's salute: "Yes!"

After arranging everything, Shen Qing lifted his foot and walked toward the outside of the Huang Mansion.

Fang Ming shouted: "Sir, where are you going?"

Shen Qing did not turn back.

"White Cherry Mountain Villa."

At noon.

White Cherry Mountain Villa.

At the villa's side gate, two men were smoking pipes, slacking off.

One man exhaled a smoke ring, his voice sounding very relaxed.

"Gongben, this truly is a fertile land—when do you think this place could become our territory?"

The other replied: "As long as our plan succeeds, we will eventually gnaw away at this dynasty bit by bit."

"That day will surely come."

After he finished speaking, Gongben remained silent for a long time; he turned his head to look at Gongben, but the clear sight made his pupils shrink sharply.

Gongben had already collapsed on the ground, turned into a headless corpse, while his head was grasped in the hand of a man wearing a Feiyu uniform.

Shen Qing tossed Gongben's head aside, then with extreme speed clamped his hand around the man's neck; applying slight pressure, the man's neck emitted a cracking sound.

"That day will never come."

"Tell me, where is your leader?"

The man struggled wildly in Shen Qing's grasp, his face frenzied, with no intention to speak.

Shen Qing also saw no point in wasting words; domineering true qi surged from his hand, and the man's head exploded into fragments.

Looking up at White Cherry Mountain Villa, although it is called a villa, its scale is comparable to a village of about two thousand people.

Within the villa, one could see vast stretches of fertile farmland planted with various crops.

Shen Qing guessed they were likely crops similar to that batch of soybeans.

The Wu dynasty had been far too lax toward the martial sects, allowing too much darkness to fester—so much that even raising a ghost for years went unnoticed.

Shen Qing leapt onto the treetops, his gaze continually scanning the villa; it quickly locked onto a red-roofed building, the highest there, where a few wokou were gathered at the door discussing something.

One of them, dressed splendidly, appeared to be the leader.

Shen Qing raised an eyebrow, his silhouette vanishing among the treetops.

Outside the Red Pavilion, the four people there halted their actions, eyes wide with fear, as Shen Qing clad in silver Feiyu uniform slowly approached them.

One of the wokou might have been a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, or simply inexperienced, not recognizing the badge of a centurion officer, and actually drew his sword and stepped forward boldly.

"Hey! Where did this thief come from? Dare to come to White Cherry Mountain Villa?"

Shen Qing teleported instantly, punching him on the crown of the head, driving his entire skull into his chest.

Blood spattered; his 'headless' body staggered a few steps, weakly waving the blade a few times before finally collapsing to the ground.

"Are you the wokou leader?"

Shen Qing looked at the richly dressed man with contempt.

The richly dressed man's face turned ashen.

"A centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard? How did you find this place?"

Shen Qing kicked out, slamming the man directly into the wall, where he instantly merged with the surface, blood continuously flowing from his mouth and nose.

"Do you even have the right to question me? Now I'm the one asking—you only answer my questions, or I'll make you wish you were dead."

Without even turning his head, Shen Qing drew the Azure River Blade from his waist; a green light flashed, and the heads of the three wokou beside him shot skyward, their blood painting a beautiful scene on the ground.

The richly dressed man on the wall smiled.

"Embroidered Uniform Guard? What difference does killing me make? Our great nation will surely set foot on this fertile land."

"... and you will ultimately become our slaves, living under our oppression..."

"Huh? What are you doing?"

"I'll talk! I'll talk! You better stop..."

Only then did Shen Qing seize one of the man's thumbs, applying slight force, pulling out the entire thumb bone; the piercing pain compelled the man to follow his true heart's decision.

Shen Qing's gaze was cold.

"Are you the leader of these wokou? Where is the original seed of the soybean shipment sent to Luoshui City? Have you also sent soybeans to other places?"

Songxia Zhu could no longer concern himself with his own ideals—Shen Qing's methods were too ruthless.

"I am Songxia Zhu, the third chief of White Cherry Mountain Villa; our second chief is Shanben Jinyi, and the chief is Zhuxia Jian, who went down the mountain and should return today. The original soybean seeds are in a red wooden box in the east warehouse; we should have sent soybeans to several places, but I don't know exactly where..."

Shen Qing showed no expression, merely gripping his finger once more.

Songxia Zhu's face was filled with fear.

"What are you doing? I've already confessed!"

He exerted a little force, a sound of flesh tearing rang out, and he pulled out another finger bone.

"You don't know the place, right? Then I'll make you know it well."

Without a moment's pause, Shen Qing exerted force suddenly and pulled out the third finger bone.

Then the fourth, then the fifth.

"I remember, in the boss's room, he has the habit of writing a diary, possibly the information is written inside."

"Where is the room?"

"It's on the third floor; the third floor only has one room, which is the boss's."

Shen Qing turned his head to look at the third floor.

"I've confessed... can you spare me a life..."

Matsushita Josuke's pleas for mercy stopped abruptly, and Shen Qing's palm turned into a blade, directly slicing off half of his head.

Shen Qing arrived at the third floor; the decor was extremely Japanese, and there was also a pair of wooden clogs.

Shen Qing was a bit displeased, and with one kick he sent the wooden clogs flying out the window.

Fortunately, the house's structure is simple, so he easily found that diary.

After flipping through a few pages, the text recorded was all that of the Japanese pirates; fortunately, the Japanese pirates' script is a derivative of the Wu dynasty's characters, so some meaning can still be understood.

Shen Qing quickly found on a page the words 'soybean', 'Luoshui City', 'Bai Yun County', etc.

This must be it; Shen Qing placed the diary close to his body.

Coming to the window, from here one can basically take in the whole view of Baiying Mountain Villa.

What needs to be done next is to find the original soybean seeds and slaughter all the Japanese pirates.

Gazing into the distance, one can see twenty or thirty Japanese pirates distributed around the villa; this is only the visible ones, with some inside the houses and some outside the villa.

A rough estimate suggests there may be over a hundred.

Shen Qing also has a bit of a headache.

Of course, the headache isn't because there are too many to beat, but because there are too many and they are scattered.

Friends who often play games know that on some maps, defeating big monsters isn't hard, but clearing the map is troublesome, as some monsters always hide in dark corners.

"We need to think of a way to lure everyone over."

Suddenly, Shen Qing turned his head to look east; that is the warehouse storing the original soybean seeds.

Shen Qing's eyes gradually gleamed.

Then, friends who often play games also know that tanks have a skill called taunt, and the best effect is group taunt.

Then what could be more taunting than a burning warehouse?