Chapter 168: Sending You on Your Way

"Li Ye, this dagger's been melted down and needs to be reforged before it can be used."

Liu Tiezhu didn't notice Li Rui's expression change, continuing to speak on his own.

"Melt it."

Hearing Li Rui's words,

he first froze, then turned his head and, seeing Li Rui wasn't joking, still couldn't help confirming: "Li Ye, this is a fine weapon."

Li Rui smiled lightly: "I don't like it. Melt it."

"Oh."

Liu Tiezhu inwardly sighed at the extravagance of the rich—such a fine dagger, willingly turned to molten iron.

His feet stomped the bellows, whooshing loudly.

Flames burst up instantly.

Soon, the dagger vanished entirely, leaving only a pool of molten iron that cooled into a lump.

Liu Tiezhu found a container, poured the cooled iron into it, and handed it to Li Rui.

Li Rui took back the "dagger."

He looked at Liu Tiezhu with satisfaction: "Good. I was right about you."

He'd always thought Liu Tiezhu was a simpleton, but with natural talent in forging weapons—and crucially, willing to put in the work, understanding both craft and theory.

That was clear from how he'd understood the Dao of Four Blade Methods last time.

So he'd come to test his luck.

Turned out he'd struck gold.

Ever since seeing the hooded man, Li Rui had noticed the weapon hidden beneath his shoe sole.

It wasn't that the hiding was unskillful.

It was that the spiritual substance of the dagger was unusual.

Since gaining the ability to see spiritual substance, and observing more and more, Li Rui had gradually drawn conclusions:

"Though all are spiritual substances, each individual differs greatly."

For instance, this dagger contained spiritual substance mixed with blood ice crystals—he'd never seen such a thing before. Perhaps this was the breakthrough.

That's when he remembered the blacksmith.

Liu Tiezhu smiled awkwardly: "It's my honor to serve Li Ye."

Li Rui clapped Liu Tiezhu on the shoulder: "Interested in joining Anning Guard?"

"What?"

Liu Tiezhu thought he'd misheard.

Li Rui repeated it.

He, a lowly blacksmith, was being noticed by an official, wanted for Anning Guard.

This was an enormous stroke of fortune.

But he immediately shook his head—no, no, no. Heaven doesn't drop such a pie onto his head.

His mind went blank.

Li Rui chuckled: "No rush. If you ever decide to come, just find me at Anning Guard."

Saying that,

he left Liu Tiezhu standing there, eyes wide, face filled with disbelief.

He turned and walked out of the forge.

Liu Tiezhu was a talent—and if he was a talent, he was better off under Li Rui's command.

The forge had always been entangled with Anning Guard.

As a sixth-rank patrol commander, getting a blacksmith transferred was just a word away.

Stepping onto the street,

Li Rui pondered:

"Nanliang. Zhuang family."

Recalling how County Magistrate Zhuang had actively befriended Qu Chengfeng,

he'd already asked the madam—Qu Chengfeng's lavish spending at Chunyan Pavilion was all paid for by Zhuang's men.

Otherwise, Qu's meager fortune wouldn't cover even one night.

"Though evidence doesn't form a chain, it no longer matters."

Li Rui glanced at the iron lump tucked in his chest.

He didn't even plan to hand it over to Ning Zhongtian or Jiang Lin.

It involved a county magistrate.

And Zhuang Renhe wasn't an ordinary magistrate—he was a fifth-rank official, equal in rank to Jiang Lin and Cao Wei.

He'd been sent by the imperial court specifically to balance Anning Guard's power.

"This much evidence won't topple him."

Unless he could find charges of treason or similar crimes, even Jiang Lin would struggle to remove Zhuang Renhe merely by accusing him of framing Anning Guard officers.

Annoying Zhuang Renhe served no purpose.

It would only alert him.

And bring trouble onto himself.

Li Rui never did meaningless things.

Now that he knew who was behind it, he'd simply keep watch in the future.

"Just endure it—for now, he's two ranks above me."

Five days later.

Under the night sky,

the county government office, inner courtyard.

"My lord, the men watching Chunyan Pavilion have been withdrawn."

Xiang Ting said.

"Withdrawn?"

Zhuang Renhe's lips curled into a smile—his plan had succeeded.

A few days ago, he'd invited Cao Wei to dinner; their interests aligned, and they reached an understanding over wine.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

He would supply charges of corruption and bribery.

Cao Wei would make the arrests.

The county government office had its own methods for handling people—since they couldn't act from within Anning Guard, they'd strike from outside.

How many officials have clean hands?

The Yu Kingdom's laws totaled seven thousand six hundred thirty-five articles, covering every detail—even littering could be punished with facial tattooing.

Some laws were so absurd even the Emperor found them ridiculous.

But since they were ancestral decrees, they couldn't be deleted—only ignored.

Local governments mostly did the same, especially officials: unless the offense was too egregious, they'd just give a warning and let it pass, turning big issues small and small ones nonexistent.

But if someone had intent, they could turn small matters into big ones.

Ning Zhongtian's men taken to the Enforcement Camp were mostly cases like this.

The crimes were real; Cao Wei insisted on investigating, and Jiang Lin couldn't interfere.

If they met a truly clean official, they'd smear him with dirt.

Smearing dirt didn't care whether the target was guilty or not.

Once smeared, he was dirty—then the county government office had grounds to "eliminate evil," and with Cao Wei's help, cutting Ning Zhongtian's wings would be simple.

Zhuang Renhe was a scholar.

Didn't the great scholars in court love this tactic?

Killing without bloodshed.

Far more insidious than real swords and spears.

With Ning Zhongtian's men all busy saving themselves, who had time to investigate Chunyan Pavilion?

Xiang Ting bowed:

"My lord, one more thing—Ah Liu is missing. Likely watched, probably dead."

The hooded man Ah Liu was the one he'd sent to deal with Ge Hong.

Zhuang Renhe frowned slightly: "Cleaned up?"

He didn't care about the death of a death-soldier—dead was dead—but he couldn't let trouble come to him.

Xiang Ting: "Ah Liu was trained. He won't leak information."

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Ah Liu was one of his trained death-soldiers.

What is a death-soldier?

Not just someone who carries out a mission with no fear of death—but also, if captured, immediately swallows poison to leave no trace for the enemy.

He had full confidence in this.

Even if the greatest detective came, he could never trace Zhu County Magistrate back from Ah Liu.

Zhu Renhe nodded in satisfaction: "Dead is dead; replace him with another. But Ning Zhongtian must never be allowed to idle."

"Yes."

Xiang Ting said in a low voice.

He was about to turn and leave when Zhu Renhe called him back: "By the way, what was that man's name who exposed the succubus at Chunyan Pavilion?"

Xiang Ting answered: "Li Rui."

"How is he now?"

Xiang Ting understood: Zhu Renhe could not possibly care about the health of a Peace Guard patrolman. "We've sent men to watch him, but he's cautious—lately he rarely leaves his quarters, and we haven't found an opening yet."

Zhu Renhe frowned: "If you can't handle a mere patrolman, what good are you? Deal with him swiftly!"

"Yes, yes."

Xiang Ting nodded repeatedly.

He dared not utter a single complaint.

Zhu Renhe snorted coldly and waved his hand: "Go."

Only after receiving the order did Xiang Ting dare step slowly out of the room.

He stepped out of the county government office.

Xiang Ting rubbed his temples.

Serving a lord is like serving a tiger; serving Zhu Renhe was much the same. He had stayed by Zhu Renhe's side for over a decade and still could not fathom the mind of this Zhu family prodigy.

But the harder he was to read, the more his subordinates obeyed.

"Li Rui."

He knew full well Zhu Renhe's first target was Ning Zhongtian, then Li Rui.

But Li Rui was still a Peace Guard patrolman.

How could he simply kill him at will?

Others were watched by assassins he sent; Li Rui, he had watched personally.

Yet he could never find a flaw.

Not even an opportunity to smear him with dirt—the worst he'd done was visit brothels.

Even Cao Wei himself wouldn't dare use a brothel girl as leverage.

"Difficult."

This was the first time Xiang Ting had faced such a hard target.

"Then kill him outright!"

A flash of killing intent crossed his eyes.

Li Rui was a patrolman—he'd eventually leave the city. He'd have the Ghost Ming Sect send experts to ambush him.

He didn't believe they couldn't kill this seventy-year-old old man.

When the time came, everything would be blamed on the Ghost Ming Sect—nothing to do with his county government office.

He'd done this before.

Killing one or two people wouldn't provoke the Peace Guard too severely.

After all, the Ghost Ming Sect wasn't new to killing Peace Guard soldiers.

Xiang Ting had made his decision.

"Since you're so cautious, so afraid of death, I'll make sure you die!"

Ning Zhongtian's others might lose only their official robes, but Li Rui—Xiang Ting would kill him.

"The smarter the man, the more he must die!"

Xiang Ting's eyes brimmed with killing intent.

Moments later, he returned to his house in Qinghe County.

The house was empty.

No servants, no maids.

He had a wife and children, but they were in Nanliang, under Zhu family care—Zhu Renhe claimed it was for their convenience, but he knew well: they were hostages.

He accepted it.

He did Zhu Renhe's dark deeds; if he betrayed him, Zhu Renhe would face grave trouble.

So he needed leverage to feel secure.

For this reason, Xiang Ting had always lived alone in Qinghe.

He feared leaking secrets and bringing Zhu Renhe's wrath upon his family.

He pushed open the door, too lazy to light a candle, and in darkness began to strip off his outer robe to sleep.

Just as he had half-undressed.

His body froze instantly, pupils dilating.

Someone else was in the room!

"Who's there?!"

Xiang Ting's muscles tensed instantly, his right hand already gripping the hilt of his waist knife.

From the corner's shadow.

A figure in black robes, black shoes, and a black cloth mask stepped forward slowly.

In a deliberately altered voice, he spoke coldly:

"The one come to kill you."

Xiang Ting's gaze sharpened, fixed on the black-clad man, his heart stunned: "A master!"

He drew a deep breath and asked:

"Who sent you to kill me?"

The black-clad man sneered: "You've done so much for Third Master Zhu, and now you die not even knowing who wants you dead? How laughable."

He raised his blade.

"Let me make it clear."

"Blame yourself—you know too much. Third Master Zhu fears you. He sent me to send you on your way!"

(End of Chapter)