Chapter 10 : Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Yes, He Was Overjoyed—Overjoyed to Death
Cheng Yu paid no attention at all to the attitude or mood of his superior, Wu Lenggang, behind him.
Killing Sha He was part of the Jinyiwei’s duty.
Anything beyond the act of killing itself was none of his concern.
Now that he had lived a second life, if he still hesitated and looked before and after at every turn when facing the same problems that had troubled him in his previous life, then wouldn’t he just be a beast of burden all over again?
Since he had come to this world, he might as well live freely and without restraint.
Sha He had disgusted him, and since he had crossed him, then killing him was no great matter.
Sha Yue, the leader of the Red River Gang, might be a Third Rank martial artist, but he was by no means impossible to deal with.
And if there were greater connections behind him, Cheng Yu would gladly deal with those as well.
When the time came, they would simply see who was stronger and who was weaker.
As for that useless waste Wu Lenggang, Cheng Yu would let him jump around for a few more days first and see what kind of tricks he could come up with.
At present, Cheng Yu had other things to do.
He intended to gather his own subordinates under his command.
When the time came for bigger moves later, he needed at least a few people to lend a hand.
Someone to kick in doors during raids, handle minor tasks, and do the running around.
There was no need for him, a mere Banner Captain, to personally do every last thing.
He headed toward the place where the subordinates assigned to him were staying.
Then, unexpectedly, he heard noisy voices from a room some distance away.
“Haha, I win! Pay up!”
“Put it on my tab for now. I’ll pay you back when I win! Damn it, my luck is awful!”
“Damn you, Li Dapao, how much do you still owe me? Pay up already! If you’ve got no money, then get the hell out and stop playing!”
“I heard our new Banner Captain came from the North. If he shows up, what if we can’t keep playing?”
“So what? That northern barbarian brat isn’t even twenty. What business does he have meddling in Jiangnan’s affairs? Even if he comes, I’ll keep right on playing. Whatever he says can go in one ear and out the other! Hahaha!”
Following the sound, Cheng Yu walked over and saw utter chaos inside a room with the door half open.
More than a dozen men in Jinyiwei Strongman Guard and Battalion Commander uniforms were squatting around inside, gambling and shouting nonsense.
The air reeked of alcohol. Their martial skills were weak, and their spirits were utterly slack.
If not for the uniforms on their bodies and the Xiuchun Sabers scattered all over the floor, there was not the slightest sign that they were the Emperor’s personal guard.
Bang!
They had been gambling in high spirits when the door was suddenly kicked open, startling them all.
“Which bastard kicked the door? Are you insane?!”
One man had barely gotten half the curse out before a wooden token smashed into his face, leaving one eye instantly bruised black and blue.
“Damn you—” The man who had been hit flew into a rage and was about to rush out for revenge.
But the moment he saw the wooden token that had struck him, one of his legs instantly went weak.
A Banner Captain’s token!
The whole group had been furious at having their gambling interrupted, but after seeing the token, every one of them lowered his head.
Inwardly, they cursed the man who had spoken earlier for his crow’s mouth. Speak of him, and there he was.
“Our Banner Captain is so young. Truly a hero born in youth!”
One Strongman Guard reacted fastest. He immediately looked at Cheng Yu with a fawning smile and bent at the waist, about to kneel.
But before he could finish bowing, a sharp object pressed against his head and cut a blood-red line across it.
“Ahhh!”
Cheng Yu kicked him aside and gripped his Xiuchun Saber as he looked coldly at the others.
“Gambling on duty and neglecting your responsibilities—according to Jinyiwei rules, every last one of you could be dragged out and beheaded!”
“Anyone who already has a Banner Captain above him, get back to him and let him deal with his own dogs.”
“As for those of you who cannot find your superior, then unless something unexpected happens, I am your Banner Captain. I have no need for a pack of crooked trash who bark all day!”
“Banner Captain, spare us! We won’t dare do it again!”
These Strongman Guards and Battalion Commanders immediately began kowtowing and begging forgiveness. Among the Jinyiwei, the strong bullying the weak had always been the norm.
They were truly afraid that Cheng Yu would turn vicious and actually do something.
【The host has intimidated disgraceful subordinates and upheld the dignity of the Jinyiwei! Reward: Internal Energy!】
Cheng Yu swept his gaze over the men, who could barely even stand properly, then sheathed his saber.
His expression remained icy. “I happen to need people right now, so I’ll give you one chance!”
The moment those words came out, the men all let out a breath of relief. So this new Banner Captain was just another one who put on a show. They had thought—
“I’m giving you five minutes to fight in pairs. The winners will tidy themselves up and come with me. The losers, and anyone who fails to settle things within five minutes, will await punishment!”
“Ah? My lord, when do we start?”
“You have four minutes left.”
The hearts they had only just relaxed immediately shot back up into their throats. He was this ruthless right from the start?
Resentment was resentment, but each of them now glared viciously at the man beside him.
“Sorry about this, Li Dapao. Who told you not to pay me back what you owe?”
“Damn it! I haven’t even picked up my saber yet!”
“...”
After a burst of clashing weapons, everyone was injured to some degree. Only half of them remained standing, while the others lay on the floor clutching their wounds.
It was just a fight between a group of unranked martial artists, and Cheng Yu deliberately kept things under control so no one was killed.
“None of you are ruthless enough, but this will do for now. The losers can get out, bandage yourselves, and train. The winners will get ready and come with me!”
“Yes!”
After some quick preparation, Cheng Yu led ten men out of the Guard Office in an aggressive formation.
One of them asked, “M-My lord, where are we going to stir up trouble?”
“Hm?” Cheng Yu shot him a glance. “What do you mean, stir up trouble? We have received the Emperor’s grace. It is only right that we fulfill our duties.”
“Yes!”
The subordinate agreed aloud, but inwardly he was thinking that in all their years as Jinyiwei, they had never handled any shocking case. They could not even skim as much profit as the Red River Gang and the local great families. What work was there for them to do?
“Wait!”
Cheng Yu suddenly raised a hand and stopped them, then asked, “Are there any gambling houses nearby? The improper sort.”
The subordinates froze for a moment, then all showed looks of sudden understanding. So their Banner Captain was only pretending to be upright.
“My lord, of course there are. We might not know other places well, but we know the gambling houses like the backs of our hands—especially the shady ones. If you lose, you can just flash your Xiuchun Saber and maybe you won’t have to pay!”
“But I wouldn’t recommend a few of the ones under the Red River Gang. The waters in those businesses run too deep. The General Banner Captain specifically ordered us not to go there.”
Cheng Yu’s eyes lit up.
“Controlled by the Red River Gang? Good. That’s exactly the kind we want. Let’s go!”
His subordinates were puzzled, but they did not dare ask more. Under Cheng Yu’s lead, the group continued onward.
Before long, they arrived at a large two-story gambling hall with decent furnishings and a broad footprint.
Outside its doors, there were countless people entering with joyous expressions and countless others emerging red-eyed and weeping bitterly.
When Cheng Yu looked inside carefully, he could even see burly men forcing people to sign pledges and dragging them away from the gambling tables.
He nodded. Yes, this was exactly what he wanted.
Nearby passersby saw the Jinyiwei show up here and quietly began whispering among themselves.
“What are the Jinyiwei doing here at a Red River Gang gambling house? Aren’t they usually like mice seeing a cat whenever they run into Red River Gang men?”
“No idea. Maybe they came to gamble... Wait, doesn’t that young man in the lead look familiar?”
“He’s the new Banner Captain—the one at the city gate who nearly cut down an old man with his saber!”
“That’s right. He draws his blade against ordinary commoners, but avoids real bullies. He really does bully the weak and fear the strong! The Red River Gang behind this gambling house bullies men and women alike and seizes whatever they want by force, so why doesn’t he go throw his weight around with them?”
When Cheng Yu had intimidated the old man earlier, it had happened right at the city gate, where the crowd was thickest. Many people had seen it.
Some of the people who had long been oppressed and lived hard, bitter lives already carried resentment in their hearts, and now they grumbled under their breath.
But in the next moment, those same muttering voices fell silent all at once.
Because they saw that young Jinyiwei Banner Captain actually order his men to kick the gambling house doors to splinters and smash down the signboard.
The thugs inside the gambling hall rushed out with weapons in hand, shouting questions and curses, only to be cut down by Cheng Yu in a single stroke—three men killed on the spot.
“The Jinyiwei are carrying out an investigation! This illegal private gambling den is hereby sealed. Any who resist will die! Smash it!”
Before the sound of his voice had even faded, he killed two more men, blood staining the street.
The people watching could not believe what they were seeing. They were so stunned they even forgot to panic.
Only after quite some time did they finally begin screaming, “Murder!”
...
Inside the Qinghe County Jinyiwei Guard Office, Wu Lenggang sat restlessly in his seat, his eyelids twitching. No matter what he did, his heart would not settle.
“That fellow surnamed Cheng... I didn’t expect him to have some ability... But damn it, if you had ability, then fine—why did you have to kill Sha He?”
“And why did you have to cut off his head too? I can’t even make up a good excuse now!”
He had cursed Cheng Yu hundreds of times in his heart, wishing Cheng Yu could just die in Sha He’s place and spare him no end of trouble.
No matter how much he thought about it, he still could not come up with a way to deal with Sha Yue, the vengeful and violent leader of the Red River Gang.
Two years earlier, someone from the Jinyiwei had crossed Sha Yue, and all he had done was say a couple of unpleasant words.
Not long after, he had ended up dead in the street. That was enough to show how savage Sha Yue’s temper was.
Now his younger brother had died right outside the Guard Office. How could Wu Lenggang, the highest-ranking General Banner Captain here, possibly separate himself from it?
As for going to his superiors and asking for stronger experts to settle the matter, that was even less realistic.
Those people were already struggling to protect themselves against stronger local tyrants, and the Red River Gang had backing of its own.
The Jinyiwei might claim to oversee the martial world across the land under the Great Qian Emperor’s orders, but in terms of scale and actual strength, they were no match for the local powers entrenched in each region.
Now that he had offended the Red River Gang, Wu Lenggang knew there could be no good end for him.
After thinking it over again and again, he finally grit his teeth.
“Whoever caused this trouble will deal with it! At worst, things will just be more troublesome afterward when the higher-ups start asking questions!”
The moment he remembered Cheng Yu’s arrogant expression, hatred surged in Wu Lenggang’s heart.
He would hand Cheng Yu over to Sha Yue and clear himself of blame!
“Tell Su Feng to prepare some gifts and come with me to the Red River Gang’s hall.”
Su Feng arrived just as uneasy as Wu Lenggang. When he learned Wu Lenggang’s intention, a chill ran through his whole body.
As the General Banner Captain of the Jinyiwei, after one of his subordinate Banner Captains had killed a villain who bullied men and women alike, his decision was to hand over that subordinate in exchange for his own safety.
In that instant, Su Feng suddenly felt that not a single word Cheng Yu had said when he called Wu Lenggang trash had been false.
...
There was a river in Qinghe City called the Qing River.
It flowed into the lakeside at the edge of the city.
On a broad stretch of docks stood a massive building, guarded by scores upon scores of burly men with weapons at their waists and bare upper bodies.
Among them, a few clearly had Internal Energy already cultivated within them, martial artists who were just about to step into the official ranks.
Carrying gifts in hand, Wu Lenggang and Su Feng entered Red River Gang territory.
A tall, broad, half-naked man sat upon a large chair. He had a vicious face and held a beautiful woman in his arms, though her face was full of fear.
“What wind has blown General Banner Captain Wu to my Red River Gang hall?”
Faced with a General Banner Captain who held a Sixth Rank official post under Great Qian, Sha Yue, the leader of the Red River Gang, did not rise to greet him. His manner was haughty.
Before the overwhelming pressure of Sha Yue’s aura, Wu Lenggang and Su Feng bowed at the waist.
“Leader Sha is a renowned figure of Qinghe County. I, Wu, have long admired you, so I came bearing gifts in greeting.”
With that, he handed over the expensive gifts to a servant.
At the sight, a smile appeared on Sha Yue’s ugly face.
“Hahaha, General Banner Captain Wu is too polite. Sit down and have a drink! Men, pour wine for these two esteemed Jinyiwei gentlemen!”
Wu Lenggang quickly pulled Su Feng into drinking a cup with him, then lowered himself and spoke.
“The truth is, I came today because there is something I wished to discuss with Leader Sha...”
“No rush. Have a few more drinks first. My younger brother loves going over to your place to fool around. He must be having a great time right now, so I should drink a few extra cups with you!”
Wu Lenggang’s hand shook at those words, spilling a few drops.
Yes. He was having a great time. A deadly great time...
Even as fear rose in Wu Lenggang’s heart, a hurried voice suddenly rang out.
“Leader! Something’s happened! Someone smashed our big gambling house on the west side of the county town and killed quite a few of our brothers!”