Chapter 719: Blockade

"There really isn't anyone." That was what the Ministry of Justice said. With the current Wokou raids, the world could hardly be called entirely peaceful; there were still bandits and outlaws of all stripes, and some prefectures and counties even had cases involving multiple casualties. The Ministry of Justice's chief investigators were almost all away on assignment, leaving no one behind at the Ministry in the Capital—the people who handled affairs were gone, though a few clerks remained.

Unable to recruit anyone from the Ministry of Justice, the Jin Yi Guard also spread their hands, saying they had no one. Without an imperial decree, who would dare to casually send out Jin Yi Guards to handle such matters? Of course, if you, Prefect Bai Lang, could provide a few tens of thousands of taels as a hardship fee, it wouldn't be any trouble for the brothers to make a trip... Bai Lang wouldn't pay. It wasn't that he was stingy, but he had already sensed that the capable men among the Jin Yi Guard in the Capital seemed to have left as well.

In the end, Bai Lang obtained five experts from the Factory Director of the Eastern Depot. The Factory Director practiced the Green Mirror Secret Scroll; in terms of the purity of this breath of true Qi alone, he could be counted among the best in the world. That's right, he was one of the Innate Experts of the Inner Court.

The level of these five men was roughly on par with the Shaolin Abbot and Zuo Lengchan. Bai Lang would set off a step ahead, while Bai Xu Shi and the others would follow slowly to Datong with the luggage; they would be protected while traveling along the post road. Bai Lang himself carried the military mobilization order from the Ministry of War, preparing to draft troops from nearby garrisons to seal the roads.

Although manpower was insufficient, Bai Lang didn't care much; at worst, he would just have to work a little harder. Besides, how many experts worth mentioning could there be on Black Wood Cliff? Strictly speaking, the Ming Cult was a fading religion. Bai Lang felt it was a gang syndicate operating under the name of a religion; naturally, it also provided a protective umbrella for many wandering villains or martial artists in the north...

Most people on Black Wood Cliff were just mixed up in the underworld. Those who wanted to rebel or had committed major crimes wouldn't be there—Bai Lang had flipped through the Ministry of Justice's case files. Of those major criminals who required chief investigators to travel across the country, only one-third were related to the Ming Cult, and among them, not a single one required going to Black Wood Cliff to be captured. Even someone of Xiang Wentian's caliber didn't have Black Wood Cliff as his area of activity.

This man had been dragged to the Western Fourth Archway to be beheaded during the autumn executions, and his head had been displayed on a pole for several days—this fellow had committed many crimes in Shanxi and Henan back in the day, and by law, he deserved to be beheaded. Although Dongfang Bubai was the leader of the Ming Cult, if one looked through the old files, he actually didn't have many cases against him. Being able to become the leader of the Ming Cult was likely entirely due to his martial arts.

Ren Woxing had many cases against him, but considering that Ren Yingying was now a head maid, that matter was wiped clean for him—in a few years, they would report to the Ministry of Justice that the criminal was dead, and the file would be closed. The remaining people on Black Wood Cliff were only murderers who hadn't been involved in treason. The Jin Yi Guard could still get things done these days; they finally clarified that the White Lotus Sect and the Ming Cult were two different things, and that the Black Wood Cliff Ming Cult was also different from the "Eating Vegetables and Serving Demons" Ming Cult in the south.

However, as long as there was any involvement, they still had to be taken out. This was what Bai Lang was going to do now.

Galloping on horseback, Bai Lang arrived at his destination in just one day and night. Mobilizing the troops took three days—this godforsaken place actually had such lax military preparedness that it took three days to scrape together soldiers who were barely presentable, and there were fewer than a hundred of them. "Forget it, things in this world rarely go as planned eight or nine times out of ten. I'll just have to make up for it with my own martial arts." Bai Lang was quite self-satisfied.

There weren't many soldiers, but the momentum had to be built up. Immediately, the local yamen runners and officials made a great show with gongs and drums, and everyone set up their formation at Black Wood Cliff. Bai Lang sat on his horse, dressed in a bright red official robe with a wild goose patch on his chest, truly looking the part. Arriving at the foot of Black Wood Cliff, Bai Lang channeled his Qi and spoke, "By imperial decree! You are involved in treason! Come down quickly to bind yourselves and surrender, and you may be treated with leniency; otherwise, you shall all be executed!"

After Bai Lang finished speaking, he sat down firmly like a mountain, waiting quietly. With his internal force, this voice had already spread throughout Black Wood Cliff. Even if someone on the cliff had their ear acupoints struck and was unconscious or delirious, Bai Lang could make them clear-headed with a single word—this was the mystery of the Innate realm. He was now prepared to give these people half an hour; those who could come down to surrender would surrender, and those who couldn't would be dealt with when he went up later.

There were many people on Black Wood Cliff who had no martial arts, and Bai Lang knew very well that in half an hour, probably not a single person would come down. It wasn't that no one wanted to surrender, but that those who truly knew martial arts would never allow others to surrender—especially since this place relied on a basket for going up and down; as long as a few people refused, no one could move.

Once the half-hour was up, Bai Lang casually took off his official robe to reveal the narrow-sleeved attire underneath and directly used his lightness skill to prepare to climb the mountain. The few Eastern Depot experts followed closely behind. Bai Lang's mountain climbing was also very simple; with every punch and kick, he could create pits in the cliff face, needing only to borrow force to continuously ascend. Bai Lang had already been here once before, so this time he was quite familiar with the path.

On the first level, there were some dead bodies, both men and women. "As expected of vicious thugs! They have actually started slaughtering the innocent!" Bai Lang saw at a glance that these were servants on Black Wood Cliff, either without martial arts or with very low-level skills. They had all been killed with a single blow, and Bai Lang could already hear the sound of weapons clashing.

"Halt! You defeated rebels!" Seeing several people fighting, Bai Lang let out a tiger's roar. As the sound waves vibrated, the people opposite flipped over and fell, their dantian true Qi already scattered. Even after waking up, they wouldn't be able to recover their internal force for ten days or half a month. After sweeping the first level, Bai Lang signaled for those experts to start sending the survivors down; the people on Black Wood Cliff were to have their homes confiscated.

Burning it down with a fire would indeed be simpler, but this was all money. Bai Lang had told the local county yamen to be responsible for the confiscation. So, even at the risk of using the basket, these yamen runners had to work hard to confiscate the property. The slaves here would be sold by the government; Bai Lang estimated that the vast majority would simply be released.

The second and third levels were the same. Bai Lang only personally took action on the third level, where eight people were lying in ambush, not leaking a single bit of their presence. When Bai Lang stepped into the palace, they immediately launched an assassination attempt. Blades, spears, swords, and several strange weapons, along with fists and palms, came from all directions, even from under his feet.

Bai Lang merely sneered, his body motionless, letting those weapons, fists, and kicks slam into him. The cold weapons like blades and swords immediately twisted and deformed, unable to pierce Bai Lang's body, while the fist and palm techniques could only stop at the surface of his skin. Bai Lang let out a cold hum, and as his force rebounded, the blades and swords shattered into pieces. All the assassins spat out mouthfuls of blood and were sent flying by the rebound, making a complete mess of the things and walls inside the room.

Bai Lang moved his body, lifted his leg, and performed a spinning sweep kick, easily breaking one person's bones. While in the air, he reached out and grabbed, and another person's skull was covered under Bai Lang's palm. Bai Lang slid his thumb, and as he rose into the air, that head was smashed into the chest, but the skull remained in Bai Lang's hand, dripping with blood... ===== CHAPTER 720 =====