Chapter 404: A Bad Seed

Huobu Quli was also stunned, asking in confusion, "Could that be their Divine Medicine?"

Liu Zheng took a deep breath and laughed in spite of himself, "Divine Medicine my ass! That's opium!"

"Opium?"

Huobu Quli's expression changed slightly.

People in the Liangshan region have two habits. One is a fondness for alcohol, and the other is a love for tobacco. If one were to come to this place, they would discover that the people of Liangshan, young and old alike, each carry a large opium pipe. It is practically as if, without smoking, one's life is not complete...

In Liu Zheng's impression, this habit truly spanned from ancient times to the present.

Furthermore, Liu Zheng also knew that in the later ancient and modern eras, opium was rampant in the Liangshan region, even becoming a disaster. In this Liangshan region, the areas planting Poppy reached a terrifying eighty percent!

In Sichuan, there was once a poem by smokers satirizing the Nationalist government's anti-smoking policy: "I have three mu of fields, the government tells me to plant smoke; I planted the smoke, and had to pay the nest tax; I have one tael of silver, the government tells me to buy smoke; I bought the smoke, and had to pay the lamp tax; I have already planted smoke and bought smoke to smoke it, why do you tell me to quit smoking again?"

In Liangshan, many people develop the habit of smoking opium in their teens. The herbal tobacco is rubbed into fine powder and placed into a pipe to be smoked; this kind of tobacco is called Orchid Smoke.

But in the Liangshan region, what gives people a headache is not herbal tobacco like Orchid Smoke, but Earth Smoke, which is to say, locally produced opium!

However.

In Liu Zheng's memory, this situation began in the Qing Dynasty. Afterwards, this Liangshan region practically became the local Golden Triangle!

Could it be because he transmigrated that he caused a butterfly effect?

Or perhaps...

Is it that this world itself has undergone such a distortion?

Opium... Poppy...

In Liu Zheng's impression, these are synonymous with the devil!

The more Liu Zheng thought about it, the more his whole body trembled.

"Sir, Sir, what is wrong with you?"

Huobu Quli was startled.

Qin Zhangfeng and Pei Yanran also looked over with concern.

Liu Zheng wiped his face hard and said, "It's nothing, Qianyun, it's time to end this!"

In the arena, Pei Qianyun laughed heartily and responded, "Here I go!"

Only now did he truly unleash his strength. Every punch and every kick was aimed at the vital parts of that burly man. Caught off guard just now, the burly man had already dropped that pill on the ground; without the boost of this Divine Medicine, he was already exhausted, so how could he withstand this almost indiscriminate attack from Pei Qianyun!

"Bang!"

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Following this, the scene was entirely Pei Qianyun's performance time.

Soon, the burly man was beaten until his nose was bruised and his face was swollen, kneeling on the ground to beg for mercy.

Won?

Won!

The people on the Small Trouser Leg Tribe side cheered one after another.

On the side of the Middle Trouser Leg.

Aduerjia's face had already turned a greenish-black.

"Damn it!"

"Useless fellow, drag him away for me!"

At the order, the burly man who had looked like a hero just a moment ago was dragged away by several people; it is estimated that the fate awaiting him will be very miserable.

Huobu Quli had won back a round and chuckled, "How about it? Aduerjia, why don't we leave it at this for today? The Torch Festival is coming soon. If you have energy, save it for the Torch Festival, how about that?"

This was considered giving the Middle Trouser Leg a way to step down.

Aduerjia had also been frightened by Pei Qianyun's ferocity, and said with a fierce expression but a cowardly heart, "Fine, today I will give the Huobu Headman some face. We shall meet at the Torch Festival, let's go!"

The people of the Middle Trouser Leg, still arrogant, swarmed away.

Huobu Quli sighed.

Fortunately, this time the Wagu River was saved.

But...

With the current aggressive stance of the Middle Trouser Leg, how much longer could they hold them off? However, listening to the Small Trouser Leg Tribe people behind him cheering joyfully, he could only put on a happy face, while his heart was filled with growing worry.

Liu Zheng, however, had already walked over to the scene of the duel, lowered his body, picked up the pill that had been knocked down, wiped off the dust, sniffed it, and then chuckled, "So that's how it is. It seems this invincible Middle Trouser Leg is nothing more than this."

The bystanders were startled to hear this.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Young Master, could it be that you have discerned some clue?"

Liu Zheng offered no further explanation, looked at Huobu Quli, and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Huobu Headman, can you trust me, Liu Zheng?"

Huobu Quli was stunned for a moment.

Liu Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly: "Let's go back and talk."

The group rode their horses and galloped back.

Back in Liu Zheng's room, everyone could no longer suppress their curiosity as they looked at him.

Liu Zheng sipped his tea leisurely and smiled: "Huobu Headman, if I am not mistaken, this Middle Trouser Leg must not have had any large-scale wars for many years!"

Huobu Quli paused upon hearing this, then his eyes lit up: "That is indeed the case. Ever since he wiped out and expelled the Alu Clan back then, he has been invincible in Liangshan, so large-scale conflicts naturally..."

Before he could finish, he saw Liu Zheng shake his head to interrupt him: "Not invincible, but rather, the army he has available for battle is no longer twenty thousand, and is even fewer than those of the Large Trouser Leg and Small Trouser Leg! That is why this Shama Zhuoyi chooses to use this way of showing off his power, and can only use the annual Torch Festival to cover up the emptiness of his military strength!"

"What?"

The few people present all looked incredulous upon hearing this.

However...

Huobu Quli, however, listened with eyes that grew brighter and brighter.

This lord from Longyan, what he said, seems to really match the situation of these past few years!

……

Wangbei Academy.

Over these past few days, Xie Yu discovered that the recent changes to that tiny chessboard atop the Zhaixing Pavilion made her feel somewhat incredulous.

It seemed it had already been a long time.

This corner of the Longyan Dynasty, which she had not paid attention to, was now becoming rapidly active.

"A bad piece?"

Suddenly, a look of disbelief appeared on Xie Yu's face.

She stared fixedly at that chessboard……

Just like that, she stared for a long time.

Suddenly, her whole body jolted, and she sprang up abruptly: "It's going to go bad!"

She turned and ran down from the Zhaixing Pavilion.

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother?"

"Fourth Senior Brother, be careful! The path is over here!"

Perhaps because of her poor eyesight, she had been tumbling and crawling along the way, scaring those few junior brothers quite badly.

"Quick, call the few senior and junior brothers of the Greedy Wolf Star Plate to me!"

Xie Yu said coldly.

The Greedy Wolf Star Plate?

These two, Qingfeng and Mingyue, hurriedly checked; seeing Xie Yu's such solemn expression, they naturally knew the matter was of great importance, so one continued to stand guard while the other ran off quickly to call people.

"Old Fourth is looking for us?"

"Hahahaha, what madness is she having again?"

Very soon, several elegant and graceful Academy students arrived together.

Among them, one man, tall and incomparably handsome, held a folding fan in his hand and, with a face full of arrogance, snorted coldly: "I really don't know what the Dean is thinking, to actually let a half-blind person be this World-Admonisher!"

"Exactly, in this Academy, no matter how you look at it, only my Seventh Senior Brother acting as World-Admonisher could convince the masses!"

Another person chimed in flatteringly: "Seventh Senior Brother has topped the charts on the Greedy Wolf Star Plate for many years; with just this level of calculation, acting as a World-Admonisher is more than enough!"

This Seventh Senior Brother was named Chen Ran.

Although he had a Han name, he was not a person from the Longyan Zhongyuan.

He was a person from the Southern Barbarian Nanzhao Kingdom.

He had followed his family to seek refuge at Wangbei Academy since he was small; he was astonishingly intelligent, yet he was always firmly suppressed by Xie Yu. Therefore, being constantly ordered around by this Xie Yu, he held quite a bit of resentment in his heart.

A group of people swarmed over.

Xie Yu was already waiting at the entrance of the Zhaixing Pavilion, looking at Chen Ran with a serious face: "Junior Brother, was that bad piece on the Greedy Wolf Star Plate placed by you?"

"What?"

Chen Ran's expression changed drastically upon being asked.