Ch. 37
Chapter 37: From This Day On, Qingjiang Prefecture Will No Longer Have Three Great Sects!
“Woof!”
A dog’s bark came out of Bai Han’s old, hoarse throat.
“I’m a dog. You have to spare my life!”
Hatred filled his absurd face as old tears slid down from the corners of his wrinkled eyes.
The once-dignified master of a sect had reduced himself to such a vile posture.
Bai Han was gambling that Cheng Yu cared about face and would keep his word!
As long as he had no shame, Cheng Yu would be unable to do anything to him!
Though Cheng Yu was bloodthirsty, this world and this Jianghu still could not do without faith and honor. Bai Han refused to believe that Cheng Yu would go back on his word in front of his own subordinates.
As long as he stayed alive, he could still find a way to avenge Zheng Ping and Leaf Blade Sect.
He could seek out the great figures of the Jianghu and ask them to uphold justice.
As long as he could personally witness Cheng Yu suffer retribution, then everything would be worth it!
But in the very next moment,
things did not go as Bai Han wished. A foot came down hard and crushed his skull apart, splattering blood and brain matter everywhere.
“You’ve already thrown away your face. How can a man still become a dog?”
Cheng Yu cursed in disgust, then flicked the sticky mess off his Cloud-Stepping Boots.
He wanted to rely on shamelessness to disgust him?
Dream on!
【The host has slain the three major Jianghu rebels of Qingjiang Prefecture and restored clear skies to the land. Reward: inner force!】
An unprecedented quantity of pure inner force poured into Cheng Yu’s body.
With his inner force surging to fullness, a bottleneck within him was struck open.
The rushing inner force instantly broadened his meridians and began frantically nourishing his flesh.
Fourth Rank!
Cheng Yu’s heart stirred, and he drew the Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber.
He lightly directed his inner force onto the saber’s blade and found that this first infusion of inner force into a weapon went incomparably smoothly.
It felt as though he had already done it hundreds and thousands of times before. It came as naturally as water flowing downhill.
Only someone with extremely high control over inner force could achieve such a degree.
Cheng Yu’s inner force and body had both been refined by the Demon-Slaying Dao Canon, giving him an extraordinary affinity for inner force.
As inner force poured into the Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber, the fish-scale patterns on the back of the blade flashed with a heavy glow, while a dignified black radiance lit up along its edge.
Anyone who looked upon it would feel dread and almost want to kneel and kowtow on the spot.
This was the unique attribute of his inner force.
Having been refined by the True Martial inheritance, his inner force was weighty and majestic, carrying a sense of supreme authority.
When this kind of inner force was infused into a weapon, it brought about an all-around enhancement.
The rarest kind of all-purpose improvement in the Jianghu!
Now that Cheng Yu had just stepped into the early Fourth Rank, even without borrowing the power of techniques or weapons, he could still fight a Fifth Rank martial artist using nothing but his unique inner force.
At last, Cheng Yu had entered the middle three ranks of the martial path, and his entire body was experiencing a completely new sensation.
Standing to one side, Liu Xiong simply could not believe what he was seeing. He was utterly awestruck.
His master had broken through just like that?
Though he did not cultivate inner force and specialized only in sword intent, he still knew that martial artists were meant to break through bit by bit through accumulation.
Before a breakthrough, they usually prepared resources and entered seclusion with great caution.
And yet Cheng Yu had broken through so casually, and it was even a massive leap from the Third Rank to the Fourth Rank.
Was this even reasonable?
No.
This was exactly how it should be!
As expected of the peerless genius he had personally recognized as someone capable of reaching the summit of the Sword Dao.
After breaking through, Cheng Yu raised his saber and said calmly, “All Jinyiwei, hear my order. Confiscate Leaf Blade Mountain. I don’t want even a single strand of hair left behind!”
“I want everyone to see what happens to those who make enemies of us Jinyiwei!”
“Yes, sir!”
Confiscation!
The moment that beloved part arrived, there was not a single Jinyiwei who did not grow excited.
Watching his subordinates swarm into Leaf Blade Sect and scatter in every direction to search for wealth and clues, their methods becoming more and more professional, Cheng Yu nodded in satisfaction.
Then he took out the Tiger Tally and looked toward the hundred prefectural soldiers.
“You will go keep watch over the other two sects. Do not let anyone carry away even the smallest thing. If they dared raise a hand against an imperial official, then they can wait to have their households confiscated!”
“From this day on, Qingjiang Prefecture will no longer have Three Great Sects!”
“Yes, sir!”
Within two days, the Three Great Sects that had once dominated the entire martial world of Qingjiang Prefecture were completely erased from the map.
Every Jianghu force in Qingjiang Prefecture barred its gates shut and absolutely refused to go outside and stir up trouble.
Even the martial artists were all trembling for fear of their lives,
afraid that if they so much as did the wrong thing, a figure in a Flying Fish Uniform carrying a Xiuchun Saber would appear and take their head before confiscating their household.
They had been utterly terrified out of their wits by the Jinyiwei.
【The host has cleared out the disobedient forces of an entire prefecture, raising the Jinyiwei’s status and might to its peak. Reward: “Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber” (high-grade superior) upgraded to “Thunder-Cleaving Xiuchun Saber” (mid Human Rank)!】
【Reward: “Cold-Silk Flying Fish Uniform” (high-grade superior) upgraded to “Cold-Origin Flying Fish Uniform” (mid Human Rank)!】
Cheng Yu stood atop one of the sects and gazed into the distance in the direction of Dragon Abyss Prefecture.
The Flying Fish Uniform on his body had become even more domineering and exquisite, faintly giving off a chill.
He drew the Thunder-Cleaving Xiuchun Saber and lightly infused it with inner force. Threads of lightning flickered across it, and its aura became violent and terrifying.
“I’ve swept away the filth. Qingjiang Prefecture has changed.”
Over these past two days, Cheng Yu’s figure had appeared all across Qingjiang Prefecture like a demon, constantly bringing storms of bloodshed wherever he went.
Yet behind the wails and screams of martial artists, the common people in the counties had not been frightened senseless by the rivers of blood.
Because they were too busy welcoming back their enslaved loved ones and reclaiming the farmlands that had been seized from them.
The martial artists said Cheng Yu was a devil, and fled from him crying for their fathers and mothers the moment they saw him.
But the common people came out carrying baskets of food and jugs of drink, welcoming him for ten li and kneeling to thank him.
Because in their eyes, Senior Banner Captain Cheng was a good man, a living bodhisattva descended into the world!
Cheng Yu looked calmly in the direction of Qingjiang Prefecture City.
He had already uncovered the matter of the smuggled laborers. All Three Great Sects had been involved.
And in the end, the trail truly did lead to Dragon Abyss Prefecture, to Sword-Forging Manor.
“It’s time to deal with the people behind this. But before that, I need to clean up the parasites feeding from within...”
...
Three hundred li away, an incomparably majestic mountain towered into the sky, with a giant stone shaped like a heavenly sword piercing straight upward from its summit.
At the foot of the mountain stood an enormous city built against the slope.
This was the place where Sword-Forging Manor, the giant sect of Jiangnan, was located.
It was also the core stronghold of Dragon Abyss Prefecture and even of the entire Dragon Abyss Path.
Inside the great hall atop the mountain, countless finely crafted, razor-sharp weapons were displayed and hung throughout the hall.
The gleam of metal flashed everywhere, dazzling the eyes.
A middle-aged man of extremely formidable strength was currently raging furiously at the people around him.
“So much happened over in Qingjiang Prefecture, and only now has the manor learned of it?!”
With that furious roar, the weapons throughout the hall trembled and shook in response.
The others quickly explained, “Reporting to the Manor Lord, the matter truly happened too suddenly. The Three Great Sects were wiped out in the span of only two days. No one could possibly have expected it!”
Their own faces were devoid of pride as well.
Sword-Forging Manor was the overlord of Dragon Abyss Path, ruling the region with unquestioned dominance. Yet a heaven-shaking event had taken place in nearby Qingjiang Prefecture, and they had not responded in the slightest.
It was humiliating!
He Qin, the Manor Lord of Sword-Forging Manor, let out a sigh of anger.
“So be it if they were wiped out. In the end, they were only a rabble of martial artists no stronger than the Fourth Rank, making petty trouble. What matters is that the manor’s great undertaking cannot afford to wait!”
“Now that Qingjiang Prefecture can no longer send laborers over, when will the manor’s great undertaking ever produce results? And if things drag on too long and those people in the Jianghu find out, that will become troublesome!”
“Reporting to the Manor Lord!”
An elder immediately replied, “We have already excavated down to the mountain’s heart and are getting closer and closer to that thing. The laborers are already sufficient.”
The Manor Lord of Sword-Forging Manor nodded. Only then did he feel somewhat reassured.
But the elder hesitated and then continued, “However, I fear that the news from Qingjiang Prefecture may spread too widely. If ill-intentioned people learn that we gathered so many laborers here, then what should we do?”
“I heard that the Jinyiwei who wiped out the Three Great Sects is no easy character. I worry about that...”
“He is only a court hound that has lost his backing. There is no need to worry.”
The Manor Lord waved his hand in utter indifference.
“This is no longer the world of two hundred years ago. In Dragon Abyss Path, the greatest power is my Sword-Forging Manor, not the Great Qian government. A mere Jinyiwei cannot stir up any real waves.”
“If he dares make any move, then he will only be striking an egg against a stone!”
Another elder continued, “Within the prefecture, there are already not a few voices of dissatisfaction and resistance regarding our consumption of laborers. They say it violates the harmony of Heaven...”
“Hmph.” He Qin gave a cold snort, and the overwhelming aura of an Eighth Rank martial artist spread outward.
“My Sword-Forging Manor has stood in Dragon Abyss Path for a thousand years, bestowing favors upon the people. For them to contribute a little toward the manor’s great undertaking—where do all these complaints come from! If anyone is still dissatisfied, deal with them immediately!”
Hearing how calm and composed their Manor Lord was, the others felt reassured and accepted the order.
At that very moment, someone suddenly rushed into the hall from outside to report news.
“Reporting to the Manor Lord, the Martial Alliance Leader of the North, Great Hero Cheng of the River-Severing Sect, Cheng Zhenjiang, has arrived at the manor with his entire family!”