Chapter 13: A Few Hundred Cash a Month—Why Are You Risking Your Life?!

At night, after once again killing Pan Jinlian, who was weak but stubbornly provoking him,

ensuring she would sleep exhausted until dawn, Zhang Jie quietly opened his eyes.

“Bandits must be wiped out—always, no exceptions!”

“Only without bandits can there be peace!”

Thinking of his caravan’s slain companions and instructors, Zhang Jie’s eyes flashed with cold fury.

When had petty bandits dared to shit on his head as a reincarnator?

Did he, a reincarnator, have no dignity?

To avoid disgracing the countless reincarnator predecessors who punched immortal emperors and kicked demonic gods,

and to avoid being mocked by other Zhang Jies,

Zhang Jie decided that very night he would send those insolent bandits to their doom!

Zhang Jie removed his hands from the two Mount Qomolangmas, then slowly rose.

He took from a hidden compartment in his wardrobe the black nightwear he’d worn when killing Ximen Daguan and his personal servant Dai’an,

and picked up the longsword his late father, Zhang Dahu, had specially commissioned a master craftsman in town to forge for him in his youth.

“Father, today I will use this to kill.”

As he caressed the sword in his hand, a trace of nostalgia rose on Zhang Jie’s face.

“Let’s go!”

Having done this once before, Zhang Jie casually opened the window and leapt out.

“Dark night, high wind—perfect night for killing!”

Zhang Jie gazed at the pitch-black night, where the moon was entirely obscured by thick clouds,

In the pitch-black night, he couldn't help but sigh.

Such a perfect night—must kill a few enemies to set the mood!

With a light tap of his toes, he shot forward over ten meters.

In the darkness, his black nightwear merged with the night,

like a night demon patrolling the shadows.

Soon, Zhang Jie reached the edge of Yanggu County’s city wall.

The wall, four to five meters high and several meters wide, brick-clad with packed earth inside, was guarded by over a dozen soldiers.

These soldiers wore leather armor, leather caps, and held long spears, appearing quite formidable.

But Zhang Jie, familiar with the Great Coward, knew they were nothing but ornamental showpieces.

Since Emperor Zhenzong of Song signed the Treaty of Chanyuan with Liao, declaring brotherhood,

aside from occasional clashes with Western Xia, the Great Song had enjoyed peace for nearly a century.

With prolonged peace, even the border troops guarding Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures against Liao,

and the imperial guards stationed around Bianliang to protect the emperor and ministers, had seen their combat effectiveness plummet,

let alone the city guards of Yanggu, a mere small county.

These soldiers couldn’t even fight Liao or Western Xia troops,

let alone carry out basic bandit suppression or protect their people—

they could barely put on a show to prove they existed.

Yet they were very skilled at extorting, demanding bribes, setting up checkpoints, and collecting tolls…

And mentioning Emperor Zhenzong of Song and the Treaty of Chanyuan requires addressing the ruined Mount Tai sacrifice.

After signing the Treaty of Chanyuan—where the Great Coward was clearly the younger brother—

Emperor Zhenzong sought to demonstrate imperial authority and consolidate his rule

by staging a sacrifice, while also diverting public backlash from the treaty.

After all, since Emperor Taizu founded the dynasty, despite events like Emperor Taizong’s northern campaign

and the donkey-car drift, the Great Song had still stood as an equal to Liao.

How had it come to this under Emperor Zhenzong—that we became Liao’s younger brother?

To this end, he fraudulently fabricated auspicious omens, under the planning of Chancellor Wang Qinnuo,

claimed heavenly scriptures had descended from heaven, held a ceremony to receive them, changed the era name to “Da Zhong Xiangfu,” and built momentum for the sacrifice.

In October 1008, he departed from Bianjing, rode a mountain palanquin up Mount Tai, and performed the sacrifice.

After the sacrifice, he renamed Qianfeng County as Fengfu County, bestowed upon the Mountain God the title “Ren Sheng Tian Qi Wang,”

and carved inscriptions on stone tablets recording the sacrifice.

But even funnier was that posterity regarded his sacrifice as a farce.

Because he lacked the merit and auspicious signs required for a sacrifice, relying solely on forged heavenly scriptures.

This sacrifice directly degraded the sacredness of the ritual; thereafter, no emperor ever held another sacrifice.

Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, and Emperor Gaozong of Tang all expressed shame at being associated with Emperor Zhenzong of Song.

Mount Tai emitted a roar like Xiang Yu, Lu Bu,

or the masked knight He Rundong’s avatar, the unweeping god of death Bu Jingyun:

“Don’t come near me!”

Since Emperor Zhenzong’s sacrifice, Mount Tai, like the Luo River, had been relegated to the children’s table for meals.

After Sima Yi broke his oath on the Luo River, it lost all credibility,

its reputation now utterly foul: Sima Yi, I thank your entire family!

Liu Xiu, the last Han emperor who had previously sworn the Luo River oath and treated nearly all his ministers well, also had something to say~

……

Zhang Jie shook his head lightly, banishing his contempt for the Song emperors from his mind.

Now was not the time to dwell on this—eradicating bandits was urgent.

Zhang Jie arrived at a corner of the wall where only two soldiers were on duty, stared intently,

channeled his internal Qi along the path of the Cloud-Scaling Technique, then pushed off with his feet,

effortlessly leaping over the four-meter wall and appearing outside Yanggu County.

Zhang Jie: Thanks to the Elder of Yitian for the Wudang Nine Yang Qi and Cloud-Scaling Technique~

In The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, Zhang Cuishan, while carving characters on a cliffside,

under pressure from Xie Xun, the Golden-Haired Lion King, used Wudang’s supreme lightness skill, “Cloud-Scaling.”

He pressed his feet, leapt over ten feet, then used the cliff wall to push off again, soaring another twenty feet,

and with his writing brush carved into the stone: “Supreme in the Martial World, the Dragon-Slaying Blade.

Command the world, none dare defy. If the Heaven-Defying Sword does not emerge, who can challenge?”

Though Zhang Jie’s internal Qi was not as deep as Zhang Cuishan’s, his superior physical conditioning supported him,

and leaping ten feet was effortless.

……

“Renjia, was that a dark shadow flying over the wall just now?”

On the wall, Xiao Bingyi, unable to sleep and killing time by watching and listening,

nudged his drowsy comrade Lu Renjia.

“What shadow? You must’ve imagined it.”

Half-asleep and about to meet Zhou Gong for a game of chess, Lu Renjia replied lazily.

“Impossible—I couldn’t possibly be wrong.”

Xiao Bingyi patted his chest, swearing his vision was as sharp as Japanese soldiers who’d eaten fish oil during the Second Global Chaos.

“Probably just a black cat.”

Still half-asleep, Lu Renjia replied with zero sincerity.

“A black cat? Where’s a black cat the size of several feet?”

Xiao Bingyi was speechless—even the cat in “Cat Switches the Emperor” wasn’t this big!

“Who cares what it is.”

Lu Renjia didn’t care.

The world was vast, but after eating, only sleep mattered.

Even the Heavenly King himself couldn’t stop him from sleeping!

At that moment, Xiao Bingyi leaned close to Lu Renjia’s ear, whispering:

“I think that shadow is the wanted criminal the county office is hunting.”

“What? That criminal?”

Instantly, Lu Renjia’s drowsiness vanished; his eyes sharpened,

and he gripped his long spear tightly.

Facing that criminal with unmatched bare-handed strength, only his two-meter spear offered him any comfort.

Facing that ferocious man whose bare-handed combat prowess was unmatched, only the two-meter-long spear in his hand brought him a sliver of comfort.

Xiao Bingyi clamped his hand over Lu Renjia’s mouth to prevent him from screaming.

Xiao Bingyi clamped his hand over Lu Renjia’s mouth to prevent him from crying out.

“Huh～”

Lu Renjia took several deep breaths before suppressing the fear in his heart.

“Are you trying to die? Can we brothers even afford to provoke such a monster?”

The moment Lu Renjia thought of the gruesome death of Master Ximen, his legs trembled.

He nearly ran away—just not wetting his pants already showed he had good composure.

According to his third cousin’s distant uncle on his second aunt’s side, who worked at the county yamen,

Master Ximen and his personal servant had been beaten to death with fists by that monster!

“Didn’t I tell anyone but you?”

Xiao Bingyi admitted he was also terrified of that monster.

Lu Renjia looked around and, seeing no one else, whispered:

“You and I, brothers, we’ll keep this just between us, like this, like that.”

“Let this news rot in our bellies.”

“Mm!”

Xiao Bingyi nodded vigorously in agreement.

Such a monster was far beyond what they brothers could handle.

And even if they reported it, what would they gain?

At best, a pitiful reward.

What?

You say the Ximen family offered a generous reward?

That reward, from top to bottom—the county magistrate might not take a cut,

but what about the county commandant, our squad leader, or his deputy?

As for carrying out their duty as city guards and capturing the criminal?

Lu Renjia and Xiao Bingyi shrugged: “A few hundred cash a month—what’s your life worth?”

Promotion and wealth belong to the superiors—your life is yours alone!