With the Blade

Du Chengfeng quickly understood Wu Zhao’s intentions.

When he wore Wu Zhao’s face and walked among the crowd, the soldiers brought by Wu Zhao all worshipped him devoutly—even though they had long harbored some, if not many, grievances against their brutal leader, they still remembered clearly who had just saved their lives.

"But the question is, do they remember me?"

Faced with the crowd’s gratitude, Du Chengfeng’s face turned dark.

Simply because these people weren’t actually grateful to him at all.

But to Wu Zhao.

Even though it was Du Chengfeng who had just saved them, Du Chengfeng was still wearing Wu Zhao’s face. So, in their eyes, it was Wu Zhao who saved them—as for Du Chengfeng himself, he became the one chasing them, while the three Wu Zhaos wearing his face rampaged through the crowd, making him a sort of murderous demon in the soldiers’ eyes.

But when did his face change?

"Those fanged bullets just now!"

Touching the unfamiliar visage on his face, Du Chengfeng immediately realized the reason for his transformation.

Those fanged bullets seemed insidious and deadly, but in fact, they weren’t meant to kill—when he focused all his attention on the fight itself, the Wu Zhaos silently used a flesh-morphing method with the fanged bullets to slightly alter his appearance.

This act had no aggression whatsoever, and the change was so subtle it didn’t even catch his attention.

After all, during the battle, his facial expressions naturally varied, and the sensation of flesh morphing... was likely simultaneous with repairing the wound on his calf, the overlaid feelings directly deceiving his perception.

And after that, this was his appearance now.

Humans, as creatures, are interesting sometimes. No matter how many good deeds a person does, as long as they do one bad thing, they will be condemned by the masses and face utter ruin—but if someone who always does bad suddenly does a good deed, people will start recalling their goodness instead.

Just like now, even though Wu Zhao’s treatment of these soldiers was so brutal in the past, once "Wu Zhao" saved their lives, they genuinely began to feel grateful to Wu Zhao.

As for Du Chengfeng, who always had a reputation for kindness...

"That giant was all an act!"

After expressing their gratitude to "Wu Zhao," the soldiers began to curse him.

"Fake! He’s a fraud! He killed so many people!"

"Claiming he voluntarily surrendered and hurt no one, wasn’t that all just for show?"

"Right! How could someone so big not kill people?"

"Indeed, I’ve heard that those who are that tall often have some mental issues..."

...

Initially, Du Chengfeng could barely hold it together. These soldiers were originally ordered to hunt him down, so it’s not surprising they had issues with him, especially since the Wu Zhaos wearing his face killed so many people.

But as the insults continued, he became a bit overwhelmed. It was one thing to misunderstand his actions, but why the personal attacks?

What’s wrong with being a bit taller? Is there a problem with that? What’s this about mental issues? How is his brain problematic?

It doesn’t even make sense; it truly doesn’t.

Especially since he had just saved their lives.

"Um, I just want to say... it’s your leader who wants to kill you."

Facing the sarcasm from these soldiers, Du Chengfeng took a deep breath and eventually reached up to wipe his face.

Wu Zhao’s face disappeared, replaced by his own visage.

"The one who saved you was actually me."

"Wow!"

Upon seeing the familiar face, the soldiers’ expressions immediately changed drastically, and they turned and ran.

The way they fled in panic made it seem like they were escaping from a man-eating monster!

"Hey! Don’t run! I was the one who saved your lives..."

On Du Chengfeng’s side, he kept shouting, trying to make these soldiers understand the truth, but they couldn’t hear anything anymore. They fled, seeking any chance to get away, even shoving and trampling each other to escape.

In this uproar, more people died than those Wu Zhao personally killed.

And precisely because of this, they began to resent the giant behind them even more.

If it weren’t for that brutal giant, how could so many have died in vain?

With this thought, they started reminiscing about their past leader’s virtues—even though they couldn’t quite pinpoint what was good about that brutal leader; at least he seemed far better than the giant behind them.

Besides, their leader wasn’t really a bad person; hadn’t they just been saved by him?

"You all..."

Du Chengfeng was momentarily speechless.

Though he had already had some premonition while revealing his identity, now... he finally understood what the eerie smile left by the Wu Zhaos really meant.

"So that’s your plan..."

Du Chengfeng sighed.

Then, he turned and returned to Yellow Sand City.

Three days later, this remote, frail, even insignificant Yellow Sand City launched an invasion against the entire empire, and three months later, the empire had a new ruler.

Throughout the campaign, Yellow Sand City encountered no resistance. Though the empire wasn’t small, it had already been ravaged by the three Wu Zhaos’ brutal measures, killing anyone who dared to resist them. All Yellow Sand City had to do was kill once more those who dared oppose them.

They couldn’t even find many to kill, as those not slaughtered by Wu Zhao had already learned the virtue of obedience.

Like slaves.

After all, during Wu Zhao’s initial training, he treated them the way the ancient Yin people trained slave servants. Although Wu Zhao never explicitly mentioned where this method originated, since they looked like slaves, acted like slaves, and mimicked slave servants in every way, it was hard for them not to end up in slave positions.

Yet even as slaves in the new empire, they didn’t forget their former glory.

Or rather, their former leader who led them.

The deeds of that leader were recorded and spread in secret, the words and actions of that leader memorized to inspire themselves, and even the training methods passed down by that leader were regarded as some sacred, inspiring ritual.

"Sacred... is it?"

A year later, on a newly crafted oversized throne, Du Chengfeng listened to the reports from his former neighbors.

Then, he turned his head to look at another himself beside him.