Master of Strange Dao

"Don't think too much about it. Since it's the emperor's command, just follow it."

"I haven't finished arranging things yet, the subsequent... "

"What? You still want to influence the choice of the next commander?"

"..." Song Chengyue was speechless, the table monster was right, it's best not to interfere.

"Don't overthink it, since you're going to fake your death, it should be sudden.

If everything's arranged, only a fool wouldn't see you're preparing for your aftermath.

Do it today, don't hesitate.

I'll show you a safer route.

Hmm, going south of the city today seems appropriate..."

The table monster had already begun to plan the route for Song Chengyue.

It didn't intend to tell Song Chengyue that his escape depended on its risking everything to seek help.

Such matters can't be shared with Song Chengyue.

Now hurry up and leave Daqian.

Song Chengyue took out a previously considered plan for faking his death.

After making the preparations, he left behind all his wealth, taking nothing.

He only took the table monster and a low-ranked Jinyi Wei spy waist badge.

This waist badge was the first one he received after entering Jinyi Wei, marking his step onto a path of no return.

After nightfall, the Jinyi Wei government office was silent.

In Song Chengyue's resting quarters, there lay a body that looked exactly like him, quietly lying there.

The corpse's brow had a dark purple rune, emitting a faint cursed aura.

This was something Song Chengyue had prepared long ago, when his children were discovered, Song Chengyue was cornered and thus prepared the fake death plan.

Only later did he find no use for it.

The body also came from Song Chengyue.

It was a flesh body he nurtured bit by bit from his own flesh and bone, even a bloodline test would show no problems.

However, the body lacked a Divine Soul, power, its organs were a pile of sludge, seemingly normal on the surface.

A specific curse extinguished its weak vitality, making it difficult to recognize the corpse as fake.

Even his soul lamp had long been bound to this corpse.

After the flesh's vitality was worn away by the curse's power, after a dozen breaths, noise came from behind the Jinyi Wei government office.

"The commander's soul lamp is out!"

The entire government office's covered area seemed to suddenly awaken, causing a commotion.

Light streaked across, Jinyi Wei's high-ranking members rushed to Song Chengyue's quarters, others went to inspect the soul lamp personally.

When shouting proved futile, someone forcibly opened Song Chengyue's quarters' door, and instantly, a thick curse aura began to spread.

Someone braved the curse aura, rushed into the room, and saw Song Chengyue lying there, with a glaring curse imprint on his brow, the corpse was already dissolving.

Someone with reddened eyes, disregarded everything, not fearing the curse, desperately rushed forward, using various methods, trying to preserve Song Chengyue's body.

After two hours of effort, the corpse still slowly dissolved before everyone's eyes, leaving only a segment of hand bone intact.

That night, the streets began to fill with Jinyi Wei.

Song Chengyue was killed, cursed to death, leaving no skeletal remains, most capital city's Jinyi Wei couldn't accept it.

For a while, chaos reigned.

The next day, conflict arose between Jinyi Wei and a courtier who casually declared the death deserved, that day, the courtier's scandals mysteriously surfaced and were exposed on a certain frequency of the Jade Tablet.

Unfortunately, most listeners didn't know about this courtier's conflict with Jinyi Wei, nor did they suspect conspiracy.

On the third day, the new emperor unexpectedly flew into a rage at the court assembly.

The Jinyi Wei commander was cursed to death, and a courtier dared publicly applaud the murderer, moreover, his misdeeds surpassed those of Jinyi Wei.

The new emperor unleashed his wrath, others kept silent, secretly cursing the fool.

The kind-hearted emperor was incensed; truly fitting for the fool to perish.

No matter how bad Song Chengyue was, he was still a core minister, being cursed to death in the capital was indeed crossing a line.

However, pursuing the killer proved difficult, Jinyi Wei lacked clues.

Because as Jinyi Wei Commander, he held many grudges...

While Daqian erupted in chaos, Song Chengyue had already headed south, reached Daqian's Southern Border, then continued west, from North West Qian.

Heading north along the border, he saw firsthand the situation on West Qian's border.

Many villages were abandoned, not a single live person, low-strength Loose Cultivators and Evil Dao gathered in large numbers, scattered along the border.

He saw entire villages move into Dadui.

Each hundred li apart, worlds seemed different.

Dadui was thriving and vibrant, while Daqian was overshadowed by hidden evils and population decline.

Even traveling hundreds of li from the border into Daqian's heartland, didn't improve much.

For the first time, with ample time to observe humanity, Song Chengyue felt disoriented.

He discovered many hidden issues in Daqian, only the capital's prosperity blinded people from seeing the remote areas outside the capital.

And this route was also planned by the table monster.

It plotted well, journeying along with minimal encounters or obstacles.