Yefutidaolu

Chapter 310 Retreat
A bloodstain appeared on Huang Chengshi's body.

Qin Long stood not far away, sheathed his short sword, and then looked at Huang Chengshi, whose expression was very grim.

The sword made a soft "click" as it was sheathed, as if sealing away all emotions along with it. He looked at Huang Chengshi, whose face was ashen, then turned to Jin Dafu's greasy face, his eyes calm, yet with a hint of elation in them.

He still couldn't kill Huang Chengshi; the methods of the Netherworld were indeed troublesome.

But... I'm very happy.

To his shame, this was actually the first time he had ever taken action against a powerful family.

Before this, he had never provoked any powerful families. He had killed so many people, yet not a single one of them held a high position, and not even the Fang family had made a move.

A prestigious family, indeed.

When this thought surfaced in his mind, it carried a hint of absurd amusement. Back then, the Fang family, for the sake of a dog, sent two third-realm experts to hunt them down to the ends of the earth.

What does this show? It shows that... Master Qin Long and his disciples are worse than dogs, and those two third-realm cultivators are even worse than dogs. They fight and chase each other, like a cat-and-mouse game. It's such a thrilling life-or-death chase. You are a detective, I am a thief. Everyone shows their most exquisite skills. From the slightest clue to a life-or-death struggle, how wonderful and dramatic it is.

But what about such a motivation?

Haha, it's all because of a dog, a pet kept by the young master of the Fang family.

The Fang family's power and prestige are truly a testament to the prestige of a prominent clan.

But what is the Fang family compared to the Jin family? The Fang family patriarch was only at the seventh level of cultivation, not even ranking among the top twenty families in Liaobei. But this Jin Dafu, who controls the Jin family, is the head of the Liangzhou families, a behemoth that can truly speak for itself in the imperial court.

Qin Long's lips curled up slightly, a barely perceptible smile appearing on his usually stern face. The smile was faint, yet like a sliver of light filtering through cracks in frozen earth, carrying a long-lost sense of exhilaration.

He felt a sense of exhilaration—the assassin who had once fled like a stray dog ​​was now standing here, facing the most powerful family in Liangzhou. He had transformed from a rat in the gutter back into the "knight-errant" he had once fantasized about.

What an irony.

His fingers unconsciously traced the hilt of the short sword, feeling the rough texture of the hemp rope binding it. This sword, passed down to him by his master, had drunk countless lives, but had never tasted the blood of the Fang family. With his current strength, he could easily have single-handedly stormed the Fang family and hung the heads of every member of the Fang family on their gate, but he didn't do so.

The reason is simple: he doesn't dare.

Qin Long understood the rules of the aristocratic families better than anyone. Destroying the Fang family would be simple, but it would be tantamount to provoking the entire Liaobei aristocratic family group; destroying one Fang family would be tantamount to declaring war on all aristocratic families. These deeply entrenched aristocratic families were like underground rivers beneath frozen soil, seemingly calm on the surface, but actually deeply interconnected. They wielded immense power and would not allow a rogue cultivator to provoke the entire aristocratic family group.

But today, he is challenging both the established families and the realms of the living and the dead.

Ironically, even with his current strength, he wouldn't have dared to challenge a powerful family single-handedly before today.

On that day, after his master died, he desperately escaped the pursuit and immediately fled back to his original cave to hide.

Qin Long did not cry.

He clutched the short sword and curled up in his familiar corner. The soil on the cave walls was still warm, and insects crawled around his feet, but an unprecedented coldness and heaviness, like the hardest layer of rock beneath the frozen ground, pressed down on his heart.

He looked down at the short sword in his hand; the dark blade obscured his face, reflecting only the blurry outline of the cave wall's mud. He slowly tightened his grip on the hilt, the rough hemp rope rubbing against the calluses on his palms. A cold, hard, and resolute aura rose from the deepest recesses of his heart.

All the noise, fear, and pain from the outside world will be forcibly suppressed into the narrowest and darkest "abyss" in the depths of one's heart.

Qin Long huddled, clutching his short sword. Outside the cave, the wind and snow howled, while inside, insects chirped softly. With his eyes closed, he seemed to return to that night when the wind, snow, cold, and hunger forced him into the cracks of the rocks, and he saw again the mad light in his master's eyes before he died.

A cold, serene, and rock-like "intention" quietly condensed within his curled-up body, in the "deep ravine" of his soul.

Qin Long huddled in the snow; he was no longer the young assassin who thought "licking blood from the edge of a knife" was cool.

That glamorous facade, woven from precious coins, fame, and a sliver of self-delusion, was utterly torn apart and stripped away by the cold gaze of the aristocratic families and the master's despair on his deathbed, revealing the most primitive and wretched underlying reality—

An insect that crawled out of the frozen wasteland, survived a few more years by sheer luck, and has now been reduced to its original form, drags its heavy body even deeper into the snow-ravaged wasteland. Together with other insects, it hides in caves, barely surviving on the little warmth it finds underground.

He used to find the burrow warm, but now it felt like lying in a grave. The insects that crawled over his wounds were no longer his childhood playmates.

Subsequently, Qin Long gradually grew up.

He was very lucky; he had a fortuitous encounter and obtained a genuine set of martial arts techniques.

He was exceptionally talented and, through his own efforts, managed to find a way to cultivate this technique.

He moved forward, relying on what his master taught him, plus other things he learned on his own, and gradually made breakthroughs.

First, the seminal vesicle is opened, allowing the physical body to prolong its life and recover quickly.

After that, he broke through the divine barrier and became a grandmaster of both barriers.

During this process, he also realized...

Heaven and earth are actually controlled by the noble families and immortal sects of the Divine Dynasty.

Therefore, he was afraid, just as he was initially afraid of the wind and snowflakes; he was just as afraid of the power controlled by the aristocratic families and the divine dynasty.

However, someone gave him the courage.

It's Yang Ling.

Yang Ling, a fourth-level cultivator, was bolder than him. Whether it was the fearlessness of youth or his genuine wisdom and courage, Yang Ling took the lead regardless.

Qin Long then mustered his courage again and stood there. Huang Chengshi suppressed his heartache and surprise at Qin Long's strength, took a few deep breaths, and said, "Qin Long, it is not easy for you, a rogue cultivator, to reach the ninth realm. You should cherish your cultivation achievements. Why do you have to make enemies with the Youming Land and the Liangzhou families? Moreover, affecting the border is a capital offense."

Jin Dafu chimed in, "Having finally become a Grandmaster of the Ninth Realm and Second Stage, one is more than capable of receiving respect anywhere in the Divine Dynasty. One could become a disciple with one's skills, join a martial arts sect, or even form a marriage alliance with a noble family—all good things. Why insist on being so stubborn and associating with the barbarians from beyond the Great Wall?"

Qin Long didn't say anything, but simply picked up the wine gourd and took a sip.

Alcohol can numb the body, but it cannot numb the soul, so you can't get drunk.

But it tastes very good.

The Hu people brewed wine from grass seeds, and no matter how they drank it, they thought it was good, really good, and strong enough.

The intensity of the fight made Qin Long feel like he had become a chivalrous hero.

It's said that heroes eat beef and drink strong liquor. Beef is no longer available, but the liquor is really strong and tastes really good.

Before following Yang Ling, even after cultivating to this point, he didn't consider himself a 'hero', and he didn't even dare to turn against the powerful families, and he still had to take their orders from time to time.

Even though the young masters from noble families he had dealt with thought he was cold-blooded, he knew that he was not even as good as he was back when he was at the first level. At least back then... he was really dashing, really thought he was powerful, really thought he was a 'knight-errant', even though he was not actually a good person.

Now, seeing the elders of the Great Immortal Sect and the head of a powerful family group talking to him, he couldn't help but take another sip!
The pungent aroma of the grass seed wine filled his nostrils, making his eyes slightly hot. He suddenly remembered many years ago, in that snow-covered cave, when his master breathed his last, he hadn't shed a single tear. Now, however, a sip of this inferior wine was forcing tears out of him.

At that moment, he suddenly felt as if he had truly become the "hero" described by those storytellers. Even if his hands were stained with blood, even if there were corpses piled up behind him, at least at this moment, he stood up straight and said "no" to the aristocratic families.

"Oh, he didn't say anything, but his attitude spoke volumes," Qin Long chuckled to himself.

This is enough.

From beginning to end, in Jin Dafu and Huang Chengshi's eyes, Qin Long didn't say a word, he just stood quietly in front of them, showing his attitude.

So Huang Chengshi and Jin Dafu turned to look at Gao Jian, seemingly hoping that Gao Jian would make the decision.

Gao Jian shrugged and said, "Then let's go first. Although we can't take them down, the enemy can't possibly catch up. We can all go back, reorganize our troops, and then... surround and kill them."

This is undoubtedly the safest approach right now: retreat, then surround and kill them. It's that simple.

"Do we really have to go back?" Huang Chengshi seemed to think there was a problem. It would probably take more than a month to get there and back, including gathering manpower.

A month before and a month after our arrival, will the fierce battle take some more time? Almost half a year has passed, and if we wait any longer, the autumn harvest will be almost here. By the time the autumn harvest arrives, the effect of forcing the people of Liangzhou to stop their livelihoods will be much less.

We are currently in a period of food shortage, and if we force them to die now, many more people will sell themselves. If we raise taxes again after the autumn harvest, it will be impossible to incite a large-scale famine within a 'reasonable' range.

What does "within a reasonable range" mean? In reality, it means using the construction of border fortifications as a grand banner, a banner that can intimidate everyone, to impose a tax amount that appears reasonable in quantity but can actually drive farmers in the lean season to their deaths.

This is also an ingenious design.

Because the quantity appears reasonable and matches the accounts of the materials needed to build the border, it makes those so-called 'righteous' factions hesitant to act, since no one dares to disappoint the Divine Dynasty on the matter of the border.

In any case, the border post must be completed.

The "lean period" allows the pressure of border construction to become the final straw, suppressing the situation to its last stage, causing large numbers of farmers to be displaced and ultimately harvested in secret.

The underworld has been planning this for a long time, blocking many of these righteous schemes.

For example, if the righteous sects want to distribute relief, they need to prepare supplies, collect and distribute resources throughout the Divine Dynasty, and transport them. The Netherworld will focus on suppressing this behavior, making it impossible for them to collect the necessary supplies.

For example, when the righteous sects tried to suppress tax collection, Youmingdi and the Jin family had already prepared enough manpower to carry out point-to-point attacks, fighting to the death until the other side feared that their disciples would be wiped out.

These are all manageable and quite simple. After all, if we want to help these people, the righteous path must take action, and to take action, we only need to suppress and interfere with these actions.

Simply put, Youming will have the initiative. No matter what the opponent does, he only needs to make corresponding interference moves. He will always have the first move and will not be afraid of the opponent's actions.

However, the situation will reverse when the autumn harvest arrives.

When that time comes, the people will grit their teeth and realize that some of them will actually be able to pay their taxes. To prevent them from paying taxes and to cause them trouble, it is necessary to increase taxes or use other means.

In other words, at this point, it is up to the underworld to interfere with these people. The initiative will be lost, and it will be the underworld that makes the move, while the other side interferes.

Once this point is reached, if taxes become 'unreasonable' or other means are used, such as maliciously suppressing grain prices, it's hard to guarantee that some people will stand up to 'plead for the people'.

Those so-called 'righteous paths' dared not offend the Divine Dynasty or provoke the court when building the border. But at this time, it is no longer a matter of the border. Collecting taxes is not a problem, as the people can afford to pay them. If they suppress the people at this time, someone might actually come to interfere with the actions of the Netherworld.

Therefore, Youmingdi hopes to resolve this matter in the shortest possible time. Currently, time is on Youmingdi's side, but if he gathers his forces to surround and kill the enemy, then time may no longer be on his side.

This put Huang Chengshi in a bit of a dilemma.

“We don’t have to go back. Should Elder Huang go and fight him to the death? My cultivation is too low, and I probably can’t handle this responsibility. However, I can go and see him and have a chat with him.” Gao Jian looked down.

"Would talking to him be of any use? I doubt he can be persuaded with just a few words." Jin Dafu's expression was somewhat serious.

"I don't intend to persuade him. I just want to see what these people are planning. They won't dare to touch me. It's one thing for them to build the border and cause trouble, as long as the border is completed, the court won't say anything. But if they kill me again, then the envoys from the Divine Dynasty might come, and none of them will survive," Gao Jian said.

"As for Elder Huang and Patriarch Jin, you should go back first and gather manpower. No matter what, we will have to fight a battle. The army probably won't make it in time. Try to gather some experts so we can behead them," Gao Jian said calmly.

(End of this chapter)