Chapter 736: The Mediocre Lot

"What?!" The moment he heard that Mu Shulan was in trouble, Mu Wuzhen was instantly frantic. He spun around to look and saw the newcomer was dressed as a trusted guard, yet the face was unfamiliar — there was no reason he wouldn't recognize someone who could wear that uniform.

The suspicion had barely surfaced when he heard the crash of chairs and tables behind him. Before he could react, a violent pain suddenly tore through his lower back. His body nearly buckled and collapsed. He'd been ambushed — a dagger or short blade had already stabbed into his waist. Mu Wuzhen understood at once, but that direction could only be his own blood brother.

Mu Wuzhen turned his head. This simple motion was already somewhat difficult to perform. It was indeed his younger brother, Mu Wujia. His cheeks were red and swollen, tears streaming down his face, but his eyes were filled entirely with venomous spite and vicious cruelty.

"You..."

"You are not my second brother!" Mu Wujia rasped out. With a twist of his wrist, the blade churned. Mu Wuzhen's body convulsed violently; he could no longer even stand.

Mu Wuzhen's vision had already blurred. He was filled with endless unwillingness — he had taken a master, entered the sect, braved death time and again, risen and fallen through countless trials, yet he had never imagined an end like this. That heartless, ungrateful bastard. Hatred sustained Mu Wuzhen, kept him from collapsing. He reached for the weapon at his waist...

"Venerable Xu sends a message for Second Master Mu: you and Third Master Mu fail to recognize the greater picture, fail to see the greater trend. Even with heaven-defying ability, you could never accomplish anything." Someone pressed down on his arm and spoke in a voice neither loud nor soft.

The voice belonged to the one who had come up to deliver the report. By now, Mu Wuzhen could more or less piece together the whole sequence of events. The breath he had been holding could no longer be sustained. His entire body went limp, and he knew nothing more.

Angry shouts and agonized screams had already erupted from below the tavern, but the men standing on the upper floor made no move. A meeting between brothers naturally meant bringing no personal guards upstairs. Mu Wuzhen's men had all been left below at the entrance. Mu Wuzhen's subordinate guards all wore grim expressions, and now they uniformly lowered their heads.

Mu Wuzhen's corpse crashed onto the floorboards. Mu Wujia's entire body had lost its strength as well. He slumped into a chair, his face deathly pale, his expression blank and dazed, his body beginning to tremble uncontrollably.

The man who had just pressed down on Mu Wuzhen's arm glanced at Mu Wuzhen's corpse on the floor, shook his head with a sigh, then looked at Mu Wujia, who was trembling all over, his face full of terror. He shook his head again, but this time there was contempt in his eyes.

"M-Master Shen... I... what... what should I do?" After a long while, Mu Wujia finally came to his senses and asked in a trembling voice.

"Shen Zhi does not deserve the title 'Master.' Fourth Brother Mu, before I set out, the Venerable already gave instructions. If Fourth Brother wishes to come to Yanzhou Prefecture, then come along with us. You can stay in Jining for a while first, and within half a year return to Dongchang Prefecture. The territory of Dongchang Prefecture will still be under Fourth Brother Mu's management. If you're uneasy, staying behind is also fine. The main headquarters will send people to help Fourth Brother Mu settle the situation." Shen Zhi spoke calmly.

Mu Wujia was dressed very thickly, and the weather was not that cold, yet now he wrapped his arms around himself as if freezing terribly. After hearing Shen Zhi's proposal, he just nodded and said, "To Yanzhou Prefecture, to Yanzhou Prefecture. I will follow all of the Venerable's arrangements, all of the Venerable's arrangements!"

The Children's Battalion, which had been dispatched outside the city, was ambushed on the road. In a real clash of blades and blood in the underworld, the youths of the Children's Battalion were certainly no match for those hardened killers. The only thing worth mentioning was that not a single one of the Children's Battalion surrendered or fled; all fought to the death.

Although the Holy Maiden Mu Shulan had a great reputation in Linqing and Dongchang Prefecture, the only people she could truly rely on were these hundred or so youths. The dozen or so young women who attended her personally were equally loyal, but at a time like this, they could do nothing at all.

Mu Wuzhen had over two hundred able-bodied fighters under his command. That afternoon, they too had been dispatched outside the city, under the pretext that Mu Wuzhen had been ambushed while going to rescue Mu Shulan. At this point, the only person in the Mu family who could make decisions, Mu Wujia, took his own men and left Linqing together with them.

After arriving at the estate where the Holy Maiden had previously gone to pray for blessings, these men were also ambushed. In particular, Mu Wujia's guards turned on them at the critical moment, catching them completely off guard. Moreover, the ambushers were skilled in combat and fiercely courageous, employing methods nothing like those of the underworld. Before long, these men were wiped out clean.

Many things happened that day. The seemingly illustrious Mu family collapsed with astonishing speed. Mu Wuzhen was "ambushed outside the city," Mu Wujia was "overcome with grief and unable to control himself," and Mu Shulan's "whereabouts were unknown."

At nightfall, a plainly dressed middle-aged scholar appeared at the finest tavern in Linqing. The waiters did not turn him away. Servants dressed in the manner of a noble household had long been waiting outside. The moment this scholar appeared, they respectfully ushered him in.

The moment this scholar entered the room, everyone inside scrambled hastily to their feet, each piling on smiling faces to greet him. Beneath those smiles lay nothing but terror. The scholar, however, was courteous. Upon entering, he first clasped his hands and bowed in greeting, then spoke: "Gentlemen, there is no need for alarm. Xie has come alone. The others are all waiting outside the city."

Hearing this, the crowd breathed a sigh of relief, and then the flattery poured forth without end: "We heard of Xie Mingxian, Master Xie's, great name back in Beizhili! He went alone to Liaodong and opened up an entire situation. Beizhili, Shanxi, Shandong — all these places owe much to Master Xie. Seeing him today, he truly is a man of outstanding talent!"

"Master Xie has worked hard. Tonight, the finest girl at Spring Breeze Tavern has already been reserved, just waiting to attend to Master Xie."

"We have finally awaited Master Xie's arrival. The Mu family ran amok here in Linqing, and they didn't even spare the prefectures and counties of Beizhili. Many thanks to the Venerable for sending Master Xie to us — the clouds have parted to reveal the blue sky, the clouds have parted to reveal the blue sky!"

The clamor of voices chattered on endlessly. A smile surfaced on Xie Mingxian's face, but he did not sit down. He simply picked up a fine porcelain dish from beside him and dashed it to the floor.

The dish shattered into pieces, and the room fell silent. Xie Mingxian still wore a smile, and his tone remained exceedingly gentle: "Wherever you gentlemen came from, go back there. The silver you skimmed and stole will not be pursued. But if anyone is too greedy to let it go and tries to take it with them, then they need not bother going back at all."

A dead silence filled the room. Everyone could hear the dense, murderous chill beneath Xie Mingxian's words. A few people secretly exchanged glances. This Xie Mingxian had come here all alone — how could he have such nerve? Was he not afraid he wouldn't be able to leave?

Yet thinking of the events that had occurred one after another today, no one dared to take the risk. The Mu family had built such a vast domain in Dongchang Prefecture with their bare hands, and in a single day it had crumbled to dust. One dead, two vanished. If they refused, heaven only knew whether these fates might befall their own families.

They understood clearly, but parting with ill-gotten wealth was hard. Everyone had been driven mad by poverty in Beizhili. Wang Haoxian indulged himself in wine and pleasure, caring nothing whether others lived or died. They had finally gotten their hands on a juicy piece of meat like Linqing, and before they could even take a few bites, to be driven away like this — it was truly hard to swallow.

"Master Xie, we came here under the decree of the Hierarch. To just leave like this — that's rather unreasonable, isn't it?" The retort was weak and feeble.

"On this trip, I have come precisely bearing the decree of His Eminence, Hierarch Xu Hongru. I wonder how you gentlemen came by such a claim?" Xie Mingxian asked with feigned puzzlement.

"It was Wang Haoxian..." The voice of the man who spoke this was even quieter, lacking even any respectful honorific, even to his own ears.

Xie Mingxian's face tightened, and he spoke with solemn severity: "Before the Old Hierarch achieved transcendence and passed into immortality in the capital, he transmitted a sacred edict, declaring that all of the Smelling Incense Sect under heaven shall revere His Eminence Xu as Hierarch, and Wang Haoxian as Venerable of Offerings. How dare you falsely address Venerable Wang as Hierarch? What exactly are your intentions? Do you not know the sect's rules?"

His voice rose slightly on the last sentence. Everyone in the room shuddered in unison, their faces turning ashen. There had been two versions of the sacred edict the Old Hierarch transmitted before his transcendence. One named Wang Haoxian as Hierarch, the other named Xu Hongru as Hierarch. The former had naturally been sent out from the Wang family of Luanzhou, while the latter was what the Shandong side claimed. Each side held to its own reasoning. However, Shandong's side was strong in troops and horses, while Luanzhou's side was weak and isolated — naturally, the truth could not be determined.

There were even rumors circulating that the Old Hierarch had originally planned to use a golden cicada shedding its shell to escape the capital's prison and enjoy his twilight years. Who could have guessed he would truly vanish without a trace? Heaven only knew what really lay behind all that.

But the baleful, murderous edge in Xie Mingxian's words made one thing clear to everyone: do not try to use the Hierarch's title and status to pressure people. Besides, Wang Haoxian could not pressure anyone to begin with.

The atmosphere in the room instantly grew heavy and stifling. A smile returned to Xie Mingxian's face. Acting not in the least like a guest, he said with a smile, "It's getting late. I won't keep you here any longer. You all have to rise early tomorrow to travel back to Beizhili, so you must be busy packing tonight. I won't detain you. Off you go, all of you!"

With the conversation having reached this point, the men who had earlier pretended to be hospitable and generous could only swallow their objections, take their leave dejectedly, and depart.

Once everyone had left the room, Xie Mingxian finally took the seat of honor. He poured himself a cup of wine. Before the wine even touched his lips, the door to the private room was pushed open. Shen Zhi walked in. Seeing Xie Mingxian holding the wine, then looking at the table full of exotic delicacies, he couldn't help but smile and remark with emotion, "Master Xie spent ten years in Liaodong. You must have endured hardship and austerity for a long time. That rabble from the Wang family — they can't get things done, can't spread the scriptures, but their eating, drinking, and pleasures are hardly inferior to those of the wealthy and noble houses in the capital. The great prospects of Beizhili were all ruined by them."

After this lament, Shen Zhi's face was again full of smiles as he said, "But now that Master Xie has returned, there's no need to go back and suffer in Liaodong. The comforts within our sect are not bad either."

Xie Mingxian raised his cup and drained it in one gulp. He closed his eyes slightly, then exhaled a breath. "Fine wine. I haven't been back all these years, and I never knew Shandong produced such good wine. If one could sell this wine in Liaodong, wealth rivaling princes and marquises would not be difficult!"

After saying this, a faint, ambiguous smile appeared on Xie Mingxian's face. He spoke leisurely, "And yet, what does this even count for? Compared to the indulgences of the military officers in the Liaodong Garrison, this can only be called shabby..."

This answer stunned Shen Zhi. In his mind, Liaodong was a bitterly cold land beyond the passes — what indulgences could there possibly be to speak of? Xie Mingxian burst out laughing, waved his hand, and said, "Never mind that. Have all the arrangements within Linqing been taken care of?"

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