Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 6: I’ve Already Executed This Man. Let the Thousand-Household Commander Clean Up the Mess.
“What does Banner Captain Luo want with me?”
Cheng Yu merely nodded, his gaze calm as he looked at Luo Xin, whose face was full of greed.
This man had always been insatiably greedy, squandering the money he got by skimming from his subordinates.
And once he had spent it all, he would bully, threaten, and tempt his men into helping him squeeze the common people dry.
Now that he had come looking for him, he was definitely up to no good.
Luo Xin kept his head slightly lowered as he looked Cheng Yu up and down, a glint flashing in his eyes.
“I heard that Worthy Brother Cheng has been appointed Banner Captain. As your former superior, I’m naturally happy for you… Since you’re heading to prosperous Jiangnan, shouldn’t you at least show a little appreciation to your brothers here?”
He swallowed as he stared at the exquisite Cold-Silk Flying Fish Uniform on Cheng Yu’s body, then lifted his head and revealed undisguised greed and menace.
Any Banner Captain who rose up from under him had to pay a “fee of thanks” to show gratitude for his guidance.
Cheng Yu had not paid for more than a month, and Luo Xin had waited for him for more than a month.
“Show what appreciation? Encourage them a little? Tell them that if they spent less time bullying people and chasing women, they’d naturally improve.”
Cheng Yu’s expression remained calm, but inwardly he sneered.
These days, most of the Jinyiwei were rotten trash who colluded with the Jianghu and oppressed the common people. There was truly no shortage of things he could deal with.
“What do you mean by that?!”
The moment Luo Xin saw that Cheng Yu was deliberately steering the conversation away and refusing to address the so-called fee of thanks, anger flashed across his face.
Just a nobody with no background actually thought that becoming a mere Banner Captain meant he could throw his weight around.
“I wanted to speak to you nicely, but you refuse to appreciate what’s good for you! Do you think you can muddle through this just by spouting nonsense? I’ll give you one more chance. I was able to deal with you for years before, and I still can now!”
Luo Xin had not expected Cheng Yu to brush him off so blatantly. His voice rose louder and louder in fury, drawing the attention of quite a few nearby Jinyiwei colleagues.
Most of them were Strongman Guards and Battalion Commanders who handled hard labor and troublesome tasks.
The instant they saw Luo Xin, they recognized him as that greedy bastard who would pluck every feather from a goose flying overhead.
He treated his subordinates like beasts of burden, yet still skimmed off seventy to eighty percent of their pay. He was less than human.
Sadly, the Jinyiwei were weak now. Caught between pressure from court officials and the forces of the Jianghu, they had no time to deal with people like him, which was why Luo Xin had been allowed to swagger around unchecked.
What Luo Xin did was only one example.
He represented the state most of the Jinyiwei were in now.
Superiors exploited those beneath them to the utmost, and then those subordinates went on to exploit the ranks below them in turn, stripping them layer by layer.
In the end, all the suffering and pressure fell on the people at the very bottom and on the common folk.
Watching Cheng Yu’s situation, these Strongman Guards could not help feeling a measure of sympathy.
“To end up under Luo Xin, with endless crap to do and barely any pay, and still fight his way up to Banner Captain—he really is someone remarkable.”
“If it were under normal circumstances, making Banner Captain would mean he’d finally pulled through and could stand on equal footing. But I heard Luo Xin is about to be promoted to General Banner Captain. That scourge really will leave a stench for ten thousand years!”
“I know that Cheng Yu. Ordinary background, ruthless and serious in the way he does things. Sure enough, he got promoted to Banner Captain, and even got sent to a good place like Jiangnan. What a pity he ran into this…”
“Looks like Luo Xin’s going to fleece him hard today. That damned Luo Xin only has a little strength and a little backing—what’s so great about him?”
Hearing the increasingly noisy chatter around him, Luo Xin gradually grew even more arrogant.
He refused to believe Cheng Yu would dare make him lose face in front of so many people.
If he did that, then Cheng Yu could forget about keeping his position as Banner Captain.
For nobodies with no backing, Luo Xin had more than enough ways to deal with them.
Yet in the face of all this, Cheng Yu remained perfectly composed.
A mere Luo Xin no longer even registered in his eyes.
Instead, he thought back to the days when he had been a Strongman Guard, when Luo Xin had exploited and squeezed him time and time again, while he himself had been weak and powerless.
With his two adoptive parents to worry about behind him, he had had no choice but to swallow down his bitterness.
But now, with the help of the system, his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. He no longer feared Luo Xin, and with his adoptive parents gone, the burden on his shoulders had finally been completely lifted.
This was the perfect time for revenge and for venting his anger.
Having transmigrated into this world, wouldn’t it be a pity if he could not settle grudges and repay enmity to his heart’s content?
He spoke calmly. “I wonder if Banner Captain Luo puts on the same act when he stands before the Thousand-Household Commander.”
The moment those words were spoken, Luo Xin stiffened, and then his face filled with fury.
The Thousand-Household Commander was a great Fifth Rank expert, a prominent figure in Beixuan City.
Whenever Luo Xin saw him, he would only bow and scrape, practically wishing he could kneel down and lick the man’s shoes.
More importantly, among the Jinyiwei of Beixuan City, who did not know that Luo Xin relied on flattering and fawning over the Thousand-Household Commander? That was how he managed to be so arrogant and overbearing, extorting money and playing dirty tricks without the slightest restraint.
When Cheng Yu asked that question, wasn’t he clearly mocking him for bullying the weak while fearing the strong, for changing his attitude depending on who he was dealing with?
He could do those things, but others could not say them out loud.
And they especially should not be said by a mere little Banner Captain like Cheng Yu. The boy truly had too much nerve—he must have been tired of living.
If he did not properly deal with this brat today, how was he supposed to hold his head up in front of others afterward?
And how was he supposed to keep squeezing his subordinates for profit?
“You little bastard, say that again if you dare! Don’t tell me you think becoming a Banner Captain means I can’t deal with you anymore?”
“Let me tell you this! There are countless ways for me to kill you in this world!”
“Get on your knees and kowtow to apologize right now! Otherwise, don’t even think about getting through today in one piece!”
When he saw that Cheng Yu still did not react, Luo Xin flew into a rage.
As he spewed vicious curses, he struck at Cheng Yu’s face with a palm.
A vicious superior like him, who relied on brute tyranny to intimidate his subordinates, naturally did not merely bark. When it came to actually making a move, he was not weak at all.
The palm wind of a Second Rank martial artist shot straight at Cheng Yu, making the watching Jinyiwei instinctively tense.
Something was about to happen!
But in the next instant, the way events unfolded completely exceeded their expectations.
Cheng Yu did not dodge or evade the incoming attack at all, as if he did not care in the slightest.
Then he casually raised a hand and grabbed, actually catching Luo Xin’s palm head-on. He clenched hard, and the sound of bones shattering rang out as all the force behind the blow was neutralized.
Crack! Crack!
Luo Xin let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.
The people around them stared at the scene in disbelief and unconsciously swallowed.
“What’s going on? Isn’t Luo Xin already at the Second Rank, enough to qualify as a General Banner Captain? He didn’t use his full strength, but how was it neutralized so easily?”
“Hiss… Did he just crush Luo Xin’s hand with raw force? Even hearing that sound makes my teeth ache.”
“He’s ruthless! Cheng Yu’s got some nerve. He’s completely offended Luo Xin now. Won’t Luo Xin skin him alive for this?”
Even more than the strength Cheng Yu had displayed, what shocked them was the way he handled things.
He had directly crushed his former superior’s hand. That was vicious.
What they did not know was that crushing a hand was only the beginning.
Cheng Yu casually let go of the mangled hand and looked coldly at the shrieking Luo Xin.
“Ahhh! You’re finished! You’re dead today!”
Luo Xin trembled as he looked at the hand whose bones had been crushed to pieces, his anger reaching its peak. Today, he was absolutely going to kill this little beast!
“Banner Captain Luo Xin of Beixuan City maliciously extorted others and attacked a fellow Jinyiwei without cause! He has violated the rules of the Jinyiwei and has now been punished accordingly!”
Cheng Yu spoke calmly with his hands behind his back.
[The host has righted a wrong, punished an internal parasite, and rectified the conduct of the Jinyiwei. Reward: Internal Energy!]
The pure Internal Energy within his body increased once again, already advancing toward the level of mid-Second Rank.
“What is he talking about? Jinyiwei rules? Who still talks about that now?”
The others were utterly confused when they heard Cheng Yu’s words.
The Jianghu was powerful now, and the Great Qian Dynasty had shown weakness. The Jinyiwei had become the bottom rung. Being able to earn enough for a meal was already good enough—who had the leisure to care about minor rules and regulations?
Especially at the lower levels, it was perfectly normal for superiors to beat, curse, and extort their subordinates.
So although Cheng Yu’s words sounded absurd, they still stirred a strange feeling in quite a few people.
“You!”
Seeing that Cheng Yu completely ignored his threats and instead started talking about some meaningless rules, Luo Xin grew even more furious.
Today, he was going to pay Cheng Yu back tenfold. Otherwise, his surname wouldn’t be Luo!
“You little bastard, just you wait! No one can save you today! Don’t think I don’t know where you went for the past month. My men saw you come down from Mount River-Severing!”
“A man of the Jinyiwei privately going to a Jianghu sect for an entire month—I’d like to see how you explain that!”
He pointed at Cheng Yu with his one uninjured hand, roaring with a face as dark as thunder.
Earlier, when Cheng Yu delayed paying the fee of thanks after being promoted to Banner Captain, Luo Xin had thought he was trying to dodge the payment and had sent people to look for him.
Today, they had just happened to discover Cheng Yu coming down from Mount River-Severing, giving him the perfect handle to use against him.
The moment those words came out, everyone else was startled.
The Jinyiwei were a force of the imperial court, the emperor’s arm. Private collusion with people of the Jianghu was strictly forbidden and punishable as a serious crime.
Naturally, certain important figures did not care about such a rule, and most people tacitly understood it anyway. As long as things got done and profits could be made, who cared who was colluding with whom?
But if Luo Xin chose to hold onto this matter out of spite against Cheng Yu, then that was an entirely different matter.
“Now you understand the stakes, don’t you? So hurry up and—”
Luo Xin was in the middle of threatening him when he suddenly heard a sound that was all wrong.
Shing!
A blade left its sheath, and a sharp arc of saber light slashed toward him.
“How is that possible?!”
He instinctively drew his own saber to block, but it was as useless as a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot.
The Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber in Cheng Yu’s hand cut through Luo Xin’s blade with ease, cleaving it into two. The saber’s momentum did not slow in the slightest and continued straight toward Luo Xin.
“You dare?!”
Cheng Yu gave a cold laugh. “Why wouldn’t I?”
The Xiuchun Saber in his hand did not stop. The blade flashed past.
And just like that, he severed Luo Xin’s head. Blood immediately sprayed from the broken neck.
“Has no one ever told you that you’re very noisy?”
He bent slightly and picked up Luo Xin’s head, then found the wound on the corpse, which was still spraying blood wildly, rather unpleasant to look at.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Three flashes of saber light chopped straight into Luo Xin’s chest, destroying his heart into a bloody pulp. The flow of blood immediately weakened somewhat.
With a slight flick, the blade returned to its sheath, the blood splattering to the ground without staining the saber in the least.
He lifted Luo Xin’s head and rose to his feet, then called out loudly to the others nearby.
“Banner Captain Luo Xin attempted to murder a fellow Jinyiwei for personal reasons. According to the law, death without pardon. I have already executed this man. Report it to the Hundred-Household Commander and Thousand-Household Commander, then clean up the mess.”
After saying that, he gave everyone a long, deep look, dropped the head, and walked away.
The Jinyiwei ought to look like the Jinyiwei.
[The host has slain a traitor within the Jinyiwei, intimidated the crowd, and raised the prestige of the Jinyiwei. Reward: low-grade movement technique, “Coiling Snake Step,” fully mastered!]
The people around them stared at the scene before them in utter disbelief.
They looked at the headless corpse on the ground, its hand still gripping the Xiuchun Saber, its chest hacked into mangled mush.
Sweat poured down their bodies like rain. They swallowed involuntarily, their eyes filled with fear and shock.
The timid ones were so frightened by Cheng Yu’s gaze that they collapsed straight to the ground.
“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”
“A monster! A monster has appeared in our Jinyiwei—a born monster!”
On that day,
Banner Captain Cheng Yu of Beixuan City killed a man, carried off his head, and departed in grand fashion.
When the Thousand-Household Commander learned of it, he flew into a furious rage, yet he was too far removed to do anything about it and could only accept it helplessly.