Chapter 548: You Are Overthinking It

"General, a secret letter has arrived 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!" 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 started kicking him while he was down. Given Lord Shen's past 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 understood the terror of top-tier experts far better.

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

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

Generals like them held heavy troops, 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 appeared insignificant.

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

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

However, according to the information he had collected, the subtext seemed to point to one issue: Shen Yu had already surpassed the Transcendence Realm and reached a whole new level.

It is rumored that the most top-tier old monsters in the Jianghu kill Transcendence Realm experts as easily as pinching a chicken to death; it takes no effort at all.

Even the entire imperial court can only curry favor when facing such experts.

Facing such a supreme expert, even if he had a million troops, 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 of you, 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 the soldiers and generals, there were over a dozen women in shackles, dancing completely naked while being forced 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 merely living like walking corpses.

Encountering such a sudden change, they were terrified and hurriedly knelt down, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire.

"Who are you crying for!" He grabbed a woman's hair and flung her violently to the side.

A portion of her hair was ripped out along with the scalp, and blood streamed down her forehead, instantly ruining her 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 in disbelief, "Do we really have to go that far?"

"This General has no way out; we are all grasshoppers on the same rope, and rising in revolt is our last chance."

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

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

He had only heard that Shen Yu seemed very concerned about those lowly commoners; he just hoped that because Shen Yu would worry about the casualties among those commoners once he rose in revolt, it might give them a chance to negotiate, or at least save his own life.

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

"Dingshan Army Main General Lu He, is it?" Suddenly, a figure flashed into view, 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.

Then, he forced a smile onto his face, "I don't know why Lord Shen has come from so far away?"

"To kill you!"

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

"So what? He Yuan was 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 was truly ruthless enough.

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

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

"What does it matter if you are a great general in the army? I command the civil and military officials of Xichuan; I can decide your position in the army with a single word. Once you are killed, there will naturally be countless people wanting to climb up who are willing to pledge their loyalty."

"So you are completely overthinking it; just go to your death in peace, there will be no mutiny!" As he spoke, Shen Yu had already walked forward 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, were summarized together, and he could quickly 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 simply let themselves go completely.

"If the upper beam is not straight, the lower ones will be crooked" is not just a saying; those above were corrupt and committed all kinds of evil, and despite repeated reports, nothing happened, while those who reported them were killed.

Once or twice is fine, but when it happens every time, it inevitably makes people numb.

As long as there are people, there is selfishness and desire. Some rely on flattery and desperate sycophancy to climb up, and others naturally look on with envy.

The years He Yuan served as Governor were years of rapid decay for the entire officialdom of Xichuan, and gradually, this atmosphere was formed.

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

Everyone was desperately trying to scrape money and desperately trying to curry favor with those above. On one hand, they oppressed those below, doubling the costs they had paid back from them.

As a result, the once-prosperous Xichuan quickly became desolate, the people lived in hardship and anxiety, and bullying and oppression were everywhere.

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

But it was different 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 looting their family wealth until nothing remained.

They also liked to imitate the alien tribes of the Northern Frontier by going on raids, taking pleasure in burning, killing, looting, raping, and abducting, 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, euphemistically calling it letting 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 decent.

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

Xichuan became 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 sorrow of ordinary people.

They did not have fifty-meter broadswords, but those experts did; when a blade aura was unleashed, let alone fifty meters, they could produce 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 about are likely other experts of the same caliber.

Of course, the only ones who can defeat an expert like Shen Yu are other experts of the same caliber; otherwise, he would crush everything in Xichuan.

What he needs to do now is to restore order as quickly as possible, kill these people, and replace them with those who still have some bottom line.

First, stabilize the entire Xichuan on a broad scale, and as for the rest, it can be done slowly.