Chapter 251: Yielding Xu

Xu Yuan's sword pellet moved, severing Tie Beigai's tendons and sinews.

After advancing to the Sixth Flow of Dan Xiu, the first thing he did last night was reforge his sword pellet to match the Sixth Flow's level.

Tie Beigai is now powerless against my lord Xu.

"Jia Yi, take away the Soul-Examining Shadow!"

"Yes!"

Jia Yi led his men onto the stage and swiftly took Tie Beigai away.

Lang Xiao Ba saw Xu Yuan still standing in place: "My lord?"

Xu Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the stage: "Stay with me and watch this play."

Lang Xiao Ba looked utterly confused—still more to come?

Onstage, Xiao Xiao Lou Fang wiped blood from the corner of her mouth and bowed to the audience: "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to change costume."

Not long after, gongs and drums sounded again; Xiao Xiao Lou Fang reappeared, and all the Liang Family Troupe members took their roles to accompany her.

Xu Yuan calmed his mind and listened intently to the entire play.

Xiao Xiao Lou Fang's singing showed deep mastery—powerful, rounded, and filled with desolation and sorrow.

His voice was already ruined, yet the emotion within it, shaped by ten years of suffering and this very moment, became even more authentic and profound.

"The Han Gao Emperor founded the empire, its realm newly forged,

Passed down four hundred years of splendid homeland.

Now, fortune wanes, chaos stirs in all directions,

Treacherous ministers corrupt state affairs, the ruler weak, ministers strong.

Outside, the Yellow Turban rebels plunder everywhere,

Warlords divide the land, each ruling his own domain.

Yet my Xu Prefecture has a populous, vast territory,

Should war break out, the people will suffer calamity.

I beg your lordship to accept this command—do not refuse,

Even if I die, my soul in the netherworld shall still know your grace."

"Yielding Xu" is a Three Kingdoms opera, depicting Tao Qian's act of yielding Xu Prefecture to Liu Bei.

In the final scene, Tao Qian dies:

"In an instant, my heart surges with blood,

Three souls scatter, seven spirits drift—my life departs."

All characters onstage burst into tears; the play ended.

The audience should have bowed and left together.

But Xiao Xiao Lou Fang staggered.

The actor playing Liu Bei rushed to support him; Xiao Xiao Lou Fang did not leave the stage, steadying himself against his companion, and stared at Xu Yuan: "My lord, do not let my lineage perish because of this wretch!"

Xu Yuan's expression shifted—Xiao Xiao Lou Fang knew he had placed a Shang Law upon him.

He deliberately chose "Yielding Xu" because he intended to surrender his own cultivation to continue the transmission of this "Law."

Xiao Xiao Lou Fang showed no resentment; his eyes held only pleading.

Yesterday, he had known his end was near; the only two things he could not let go of were his karmic debts—and that his Law must not die with him.

Xu Yuan nodded and said to Lang Xiao Ba: "Xiao Ba, go up and kneel."

Lang Xiao Ba looked bewildered: "My lord?"

"Become his disciple. Receive Xiao Xiao Lou Fang's transmission."

Lang Xiao Ba, confused, climbed onstage and knelt, bowing three hard knocks to Xiao Xiao Lou Fang.

Xiao Xiao Lou Fang could no longer hold on; blood continuously gushed from his mouth.

He struggled to pull a small booklet from his chest and trembled as he offered it to Lang Xiao Ba: "My lord, quickly…"

Xu Yuan activated the Shang Law.

As Lang Xiao Ba took the booklet with both hands, he suddenly felt something enter his body.

When he looked up again, Xiao Xiao Lou Fang had collapsed, eyes glazed, life gone.

Master Liang looked to the sky and sighed long and deep, yet could not utter a single fitting word for half a long while.

Xu Yuan stepped onto the stage and patted Lang Xiao Ba's shoulder: "Rise. Xiao Xiao Lou Fang has passed his Law to you."

"Stay here. Arrange your master's funeral—and then… repay his debts."

"I shall return to the magistrate's office to handle official business."

Xu Yuan cast one last look at Xiao Xiao Lou Fang's corpse, then bowed with clasped fists.

This actor had ultimately held onto his final shred of integrity.

He had not sold his "Law" during his cravings.

Had this Law fallen into evil hands, the calamity would have been endless.

Lang Xiao Ba looked down at the small booklet in his hand, where three elegant characters were written: Li Yuan Fa.

So now I'm cultivating both martial and Law paths?!

…

Xu Yuan returned to the Nancheng patrol office; Jia Yi had already completed the Soul-Examining.

In truth, there was no need to conduct the Soul-Examining—Tie Beigai had already shattered.

Once the shadow-puppet was stuck to his back, his body could not move, his thoughts could not arise.

It was like being trapped in boundless, endless darkness.

This feeling was simply too terrifying.

The instant Lin Wanmo retracted the shadow puppet, Tiebei Gai, who had gone two days and two nights without a drop of water or food, was already ready to surrender.

But Lord Xu, fearing he might resist, cleanly severed the tendons in his hands and feet.

Tiebei Gai nearly burst into tears. "My lord, there is no need for this!"

"I will confess everything!"

Once he was brought back to the Nancheng patrol station, Jia Yi asked him a single question and he revealed everything.

However, Jia Yi weighed the matter and felt that such a major incident could not be trusted on his "one-sided account" alone.

So he ordered the soul interrogation to proceed.

This time, Tiebei Gai truly screamed out: "My lord, there is no need for this..."

Jia Yi became even more suspicious and ordered: "Interrogate strictly! Interrogate repeatedly!"

The soul interrogation process was unbearably painful; Tiebei Gai was tortured until he was on the brink of death.

It could be considered repayment, for the innocent who had died miserably at his hands over these years.

After Xu Yuan returned, Jia Yi had already organized the troops and said, "My lord, this group of salt smugglers is at a manor outside the city, and they have another lair!"

"Set out immediately!"

Little Beizhuang is twelve li north of the city.

The manor contains a large residence, which Tiebei Gai purchased with the money he had saved over these years.

This was the place he intended to retire to after "washing his hands of it."

The residence came with one hundred and twenty mu of fertile fields belonging to the manor.

Only a limited number of people in the gang knew of this place.

Four households in the manor were Tiebei Gai's tenant farmers—they simply did not know that the so-called "kind-faced" landlord was actually Tiebei Gai, the salt smuggler who killed without blinking in the occupied city!

For the past two days, Tiebei Gai's subordinates had been hiding inside the residence.

Every day, they would quietly send two people back to the occupied city to gather information.

Xu Yuan and the others dismounted and proceeded on foot just outside Little Beizhuang, quickly surrounding the residence.

Afterwards, they captured everyone with ease.

The entire gang had only one Seventh-Flow cultivator, Tiebei Gai; the rest were at most Eighth-Flow.

The vast majority were merely unranked.

Afterwards, Xu Yuan ordered the traces to be cleaned up, and they hid inside the residence to wait for the rabbit.

In the mid-afternoon, the two who had gone to the city to gather information returned and walked straight into the trap.

"There is no 'Ninth Master' as Tiebei Gai confessed to."

"Even the four attendants by that Ninth Master's side are gone!"

"Tiebei Gai's subordinate confessed that after Tiebei Gai and the other two pushed off with the Blood Salt Spirit, they never saw the Ninth Master and the other five again."

"They didn't even know when the other party left."

Hearing Jia Yi's report, Xu Yuan stroked his chin and thought silently, "Very cautious..."

After pondering for a moment, Xu Yuan waved his hand: "Search this residence thoroughly."

"Yes!"

Xu Yuan now knew how to use certain "code words" as well.

"Search thoroughly" was an implicit permission for his subordinates to keep some of the valuables during the process.

This was also the rule in every yamen office, forming part of the income for the Zhancheng Yamen Runners and Captains.

However, Jia Yi returned not long after: "My lord, we found something."

It was certainly something they dared not dispose of on their own.

Xu Yuan followed Jia Yi to the backyard, where there was a well; near the water's surface, a hole had been opened.

Crawling inside revealed a small warehouse, storing several chests of silver and a small box of gold ornaments.

Besides that, there was a narrow iron chest.

After Jia Yi followed Xu Yuan inside, he stepped forward voluntarily to open the iron chest, revealing the head of a Zhuolong within.

There are many Zhuolong in Southern Jiaozhi.

The large ones can grow to over half a zhang in length.

Legends of super-sized Zhuolong exist throughout Southern Jiaozhi, often reaching three to five zhang in length; theoretically, there shouldn't be one this large.

Yet the head in the iron chest was fully seven chi long.

It is estimated that when alive, its body could have truly been over three zhang long!

What surprised Xu Yuan most was that atop this Zhuolong's head, a single black horn had grown!

"It has transformed into a dragon?!"

(End of this chapter)