Chapter 167: How Dare You

"General, a secret letter has come from Anzhou City; Governor He Yuan has been taken down by Lord Shen Yu!"

"What!" The sudden news shocked the middle-aged man who had been lying on a woman's lap enjoying life, and he hurriedly sat up.

"Is the news true?"

"It is true!" The person beside him nodded and said with great certainty, "Many people already know about this; He Yuan was taken down by him in full view of everyone."

"As soon as He Yuan was taken down, the fence-sitters around him began to kick him while he was down. Given Lord Shen's previous temper, I'm afraid Lord He Yuan..."

"Are you saying Shen Yu dares to kill He Yuan? That is a Governor! Yes, he truly dares; he has the capital and the guts for it!"

The wine cup in his hand trembled visibly; compared to those civil officials, these military generals were more aware of the terror of top-tier experts.

He had heard of Shen Yu's reputation before, and after learning that Shen Yu had become the new Governor, he had focused on collecting information about him.

But the results he obtained left him feeling uneasy; this person's strength had likely exceeded a certain scope, reaching the point of viewing an entire army as nothing.

These generals held heavy troops in their hands, and the imperial court had some misgivings, so they would not be taken down easily.

But if facing a top-tier expert like Shen Yu, the cards in his hand seemed insignificant.

He had once seen a top-tier expert of the Transcendence Realm, and at that time, he felt like an ant.

If he were facing those Transcendence Realm experts, he might not be afraid if his military formation was deployed and the main army charged together.

However, according to the information he had collected, the words all seemed to point to one problem: Shen Yu had already surpassed the Transcendence Realm and reached another entirely new realm.

It is rumored that those top-tier old monsters in the Jianghu kill Transcendence Realm experts as easily as pinching a chicken to death, without any effort at all.

Even the entire imperial court only has the option of appeasing such experts.

Facing such a supreme expert, even if he had a million-strong army, if the other party were determined to kill him, it would likely be as simple as reaching into a bag to take an object.

"All stop, get out!"

At this moment, Lu He was in a terrible mood, and the dance music that had been pleasant to his ears now became irritating.

The wine cup in his hand was thrown out fiercely, and it happened to hit someone, followed immediately by a painful scream.

Inside the military tent, besides these soldiers and generals, there were over a dozen women wearing shackles, dancing completely naked, and they still had to make various charming and shy movements.

It could be said that all their dignity had been completely trampled into the mud; at this moment, they were just living for the sake of survival, like walking corpses.

Encountering such a sudden change, they were so panicked that they hurriedly knelt down, fearing they would be implicated.

"Who are you crying for!" He grabbed the hair of the woman next to him and flung her fiercely to the side.

A portion of her hair was ripped off along with her scalp, and blood streamed down her forehead, instantly ruining most of her previously fair and pretty face.

"Someone, drag them all away; she is yours now, let the soldiers vent properly!"

"Yes, General!"

"Also, beat the drums and gather the generals!"

"General?" The man looked up in surprise and said incredulously, "Do we really have to go that far?"

"This General has no way out; we are all grasshoppers on the same rope, and raising an army is our last chance."

"I only hope Shen Yu will be afraid of harming the innocent and, for the sake of those lowly people, will not dare to act easily!"

At this moment, he knew very well that the troops in his hands posed no threat to the other party at all.

He only heard that Shen Yu seemed very concerned about those lowly people; he just hoped that because Shen Yu would be wary that those lowly people would suffer casualties once he raised his army, he might give them a chance to negotiate, at least to save his own life.

Otherwise, they would have no chance at all. But having reached this point today, they had no choice!

"Dingshan Army Main General Lu He, right?" Suddenly, a figure flashed, looking down at the restless Lu He.

"Who are you? Do you know that trespassing in a military tent is a capital offense?"

"Weren't you just talking about me? Have you forgotten so soon?"

"Shen Yu? You are Shen Yu!" Feeling the terrifying aura from the other party that seemed as vast as the sea and boundless, the expression on Lu He's face changed again and again.

Immediately after, he forced a smile onto his face, "I don't know what brings Lord Shen here from afar?"

"To kill you!"

"What? Lord Shen, I am a Main General of an army!"

"So what? He Yuan was also a Governor of a region, and didn't he die too!"

"He Yuan is dead?" Such news entering his ears made Lu He almost unable to stand steady. A dignified Governor of a region was killed just after being taken down? This Shen Yu is truly ruthless enough.

"Lord Shen, I am a Main General of an army; if you kill me like this, aren't you afraid of a mutiny?"

"I am not afraid. Whoever dares to move, I will kill them; if they all move, I will kill them all. Let's see who dares to move!"

"What of a great general in the army? This official commands the civil and military affairs of Xichuan; I can also decide your position in the army with a single word. If I kill you, there will naturally be countless people who want to rise in rank willing to pledge their loyalty."

"So you are completely overthinking it; just rest assured and go to your death, there will be no mutiny!" While speaking, Shen Yu had already walked up and easily slaughtered everyone in the military tent.

He had done things like this many times, and he was not willing to waste more words with these people.

The information obtained from He Yuan, along with the news from Tingfeng Pavilion, was summarized by him, and he could soon find his targets; every one of them deserved to die.

Only a portion of these executed civil and military officials were tainted with negative energy. Most were supervisors of various regions, main generals in the army, and so on.

Not many others were tainted with negative energy; more likely, they had completely let themselves go.

"If the upper beam is not straight, the lower ones will be crooked"—this is not just talk. The people above were corrupt and committed all kinds of evil; there were repeated reports, but nothing happened, and those who reported were killed instead.

Once or twice is fine, but every time it is like this, it is inevitable that people become numb.

As long as there are people, there is selfishness and desire. Some people rely on flattery and desperate pandering to rise in rank, and others naturally look on with envy.

The years He Yuan served as Governor were years of rapid corruption for the entire officialdom of Xichuan, and gradually such a trend was formed.

Those with ability and talent were kicked aside, while sycophants were vigorously promoted; the entire Xichuan seemed dead and lifeless.

Everyone was desperately trying to make money and desperately trying to please those above. On one hand, they oppressed those below, recouping their costs twofold.

So much so that the once-prosperous Xichuan quickly became depressed, the people lived in hardship and anxiety, and there was bullying and oppression everywhere.

Facing these people, the commoners in various places were actually still considered lucky. At least, although they were heavily oppressed and their lives were becoming increasingly miserable, their lives were still intact.

But it was different in places near the army; after the main generals of the Xichuan Garrison were tainted with negative energy, they seemed to have completely released the killing intent they had been suppressing all along.

They liked to slaughter villages and towns at the slightest provocation, killing large numbers of commoners and plundering their family wealth until nothing was left.

They also liked to imitate the alien tribes of the Northern Frontier by raiding for supplies, tearing through places to burn, kill, loot, and commit rape, taking pleasure in it and becoming addicted to it.

They even treated people as prey, sending troops to drive the commoners from behind and letting them run, then using this to practice archery, calling it a way to let the soldiers see some blood.

Their actions were simply devoid of any bottom line; calling them cold-blooded butchers was a compliment, and these people were not fit to be human at all.

It was no wonder Tingfeng Pavilion suspected they had all been replaced; these Main Generals in the army were mostly loyal and righteous men before, and their military discipline was considered quite good.

But gradually, changes began to occur, and their actions were completely different from before, making it easy for people to think they had been replaced.

Xichuan had become a complete mess, but it was not without resistance; one could even say that resistance rose one after another, yet all were quickly suppressed.

In this high-martial World, no matter how much ordinary people resisted, they were mostly just crushed; this was the tragedy of ordinary people.

They did not have fifty-meter broadswords, but those experts did; when a blade aura is unleashed, let alone fifty meters, they could produce one of one or two hundred meters, so how could one resist, and with what could one resist?

Only magic can defeat magic, and the only things that can defeat these experts who leap high and move fast are likely other experts of the same caliber.

Of course, only an expert of the same caliber could defeat an expert like Shen Yu; otherwise, he would crush everything in Xichuan.

Now, what he had to do was to set things right as quickly as possible, kill these people, and replace them with those who still had some bottom line.

First, stabilize the overall situation in Xichuan, and as for the rest, he could take it slowly.