Yefutidaolu

Chapter 460 Imperial Decree
Baili Qingbo appeared behind the door. She was clearly still awake, still wearing the standard attire of a true disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect—a pale yellow, belted long dress with flowing cloud patterns embroidered on the collar and cuffs, though it was somewhat wrinkled, indicating she hadn't had time to tidy it. Her face was delicate, but a lingering weariness and anxiety hung between her brows, and her eyes were slightly red, as if she had just endured considerable pressure. At this moment, her brows were furrowed, her expression a mixture of wariness and displeasure at being disturbed, as she looked at the unfamiliar, aloof man in a blue robe outside the door.

"Who are you?" Her voice was distant and wary. "What brings you here so late at night?"

Gao Jian looked at her and went straight to the point, his tone as calm as if he were stating a trivial matter: "Uncle Huang... no, Ye Qingmu and the others are dead. I've come to tell you about this."

Baili Qingbo was taken aback at first, then her face lit up with anger at being mocked. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her voice rose, sharp with the urge to retort: ​​"Nonsense! What exactly do you want?! Sister Ye, she..."

She instinctively wanted to refute and defend the kind and reliable "Sister Ye" in her heart, but Gao Jian interrupted her.

"It's nothing, listen to me." Gao Jian remained calm. "Remember to find reliable people in the future. Also, after you take power, for my sake, can the Flowing Cloud Sect be reformed?"

"Change what? What exactly are you trying to say?!" Baili Qingbo felt bewildered, both shocked and angry. The person in front of her was talking incoherently, coming to her door late at night to say that her "benefactor" had died, and inexplicably accusing her sect.

Seeing that she was unresponsive, Gao Jian stopped talking and simply stretched out his hand, as if he wanted to do something.

Although startled, Baili Qingbo remained composed, demonstrating the discipline of a true disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect. Despite her exhaustion, her reactions were incredibly swift! The Flowing Cloud Tracing Wind Technique instantly activated within her, her aura becoming ethereal and fluid. With a swift wave of her hand—

"Bind!"

With a soft shout, the surrounding air instantly became viscous, and countless invisible yet incredibly strong ropes of wind appeared out of thin air, hissing as they swept towards Gao Jian from all directions, attempting to completely bind him!
The clouds were thick, accompanied by the faint sounds of wind and thunder, displaying her impressive power and solid skills.

however--

Gao Jian's outstretched hand didn't even change its trajectory; its five fingers simply opened and closed slightly.

hum!
A powerful and unrestrained martial arts internal energy erupted like a dormant volcano, yet it was contained within a small area!
The seemingly fierce ropes of wind, before this pure power, were like waves crashing against rocks, unable to even create a ripple before shattering and annihilating inch by inch! The pervasive clouds were forcibly pushed aside and dispersed by an invisible force field!
Baili Qingbo felt an irresistible force pressing down on her, as if the entire sky had collapsed! The spiritual light around her flickered violently, then dimmed instantly. Her delicate body trembled, her legs went weak, and with a "thud," she was pressed firmly to the spot, unable to move even a finger!

Cold sweat instantly seeped from her forehead and temples, sliding down her pale cheeks.

Only now did she truly realize how terrifying this seemingly ordinary man in blue robes was! Her own cultivation level was nothing compared to his, like a firefly compared to the bright moon!
“Alright, listen to me,” Gao Jian’s voice remained flat, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself, “Ye Qingmu and the others are liars. Now that I’ve killed them, you’re spared from being deceived.”

He looked at Baili Qingbo, who was forced into a kneeling position by an invisible force and was covered in cold sweat, and continued, "You know in your heart where your sect's money comes from. It's obtained by trickery and plunder through wind magic, cutting off people's spiritual fields, causing famine in hundreds of miles... So I hope you will restrain yourself in the future, it's that simple."

He pointed out the crimes of the Flowing Cloud Sect and gave a seemingly "well-intentioned" reminder.

However, Baili Qingbo remained silent, head bowed, his body trembling slightly. It was unclear whether he was out of fear, unable to accept the sudden shock of the truth, or... simply unable to listen.
"Sigh... I said, did you hear me?" Takami sighed.

"Impossible! Our sect has always been pure and focused, how could it be the same as what you said!" Baili Qingbo finally realized what was going on and refuted.

With a slight thought, the power suppressing Baili Qingbo suddenly intensified.

"puff--"

She was crushed to the ground, the air in her lungs was forced out, causing her to spit out a bunch of saliva.

Baili Qingbo, the young true disciple of the Liuyun Sect, was suppressed on the spot without even being able to utter a scream, completely powerless to resist.

Gao Jianze said, "Since you don't know—then I'll tell you."

----------

After a while, Gao Jian came out.

Outside the courtyard, the night in the capital city still lingers.

On a street corner, an old woman with a wrinkled face and tattered clothes was desperately clutching the sleeve of a young cultivator who looked to have just arrived in the capital and whose face still bore a hint of immaturity, weeping and pleading:

"Immortal Master! Immortal Master, please have mercy! My son is seriously ill in bed and urgently needs a 'Heart-Clearing Grass' to save his life! I have begged everyone, but I am only one gold coin short! Just one gold coin will do! Please, save my son! I will kowtow to you!" As she spoke, she was about to kneel down.

The young cultivator looked reluctant, his eyes clear, and his hand had already subconsciously reached for his storage bag.

A vendor selling low-level talismans nearby seemed unable to bear it any longer and whispered a warning to the young cultivator, "Young man, don't believe it. This old woman is on this street every day, and her lines never change. Her son died more than ten years ago!"

Upon hearing this, the young cultivator paused, glanced at the old woman crying "sincerely," then at the kind stall owner, and finally let out a soft sigh:
"Sigh...it's nothing really, what if it's true?"

He took out a glittering gold coin from his storage bag and handed it to the old woman.

Seeing this, the old woman grasped at a straw and cried even more shrilly. While taking the money, she kept kowtowing, calling out "living Buddha" and "benefactor" repeatedly. However, a sly glint of triumph flashed quickly in the depths of her lowered eyes.

The kind-hearted young cultivator seemed unable to bear watching any longer, shook his head, and turned to leave in a hurry.

Gao Jian's gaze casually followed the young cultivator, who in the next moment arrived at a plaza where flying boats were moored. He boarded one of the particularly luxurious flying boats, crafted entirely from spirit wood, inlaid with precious jade, and radiating a soft glow. On the side of the flying boat, a Qilin pattern riding the clouds was clearly imprinted—the symbol of the "Tengxiao Sect."

Gao Jian knew a few "old stories" about the Tengxiao Sect, which was not a good thing. These immortal sects could grow so big, so naturally they had some ruthless people in their hands.

Oh, the capital city... Gao Jian stood at the street corner, watching the old woman with the money in her pocket sneak into another alley, and then watched the luxurious flying boat carrying the "benevolent" monk tear through the clouds and sail away from this place. His eyes were deep and unfathomable, as if he wanted to see through the dark night.

But the night in this capital city, stripped of its glitz and glamour, revealed a bizarre and intricate tapestry, leaving Gao Jian with a rare sense of powerlessness. He even felt that he didn't know where to swing his rusty knife.

That old woman was undoubtedly a fraud. She exploited people's sympathy, fabricated stories of suffering, and swindled them out of money. One gold coin is a considerable fortune for a lowly cultivator or mortal, enough to support a family comfortably for several months. What she swindled far exceeded the bare minimum for "survival"; it was pure greed.

The young disciple of the Cloud Soaring Sect's act of charity stemmed from a lingering kindness, seemingly "good." However, the value of the spirit crystals consumed in a quarter of an hour of flight by the luxurious flying boat he rode, and the energy used to maintain the magic array, was probably a fortune that the old woman couldn't earn even with a lifetime of hard work. Supporting his "kindness" and his privileged lifestyle was the Cloud Soaring Sect's less-than-honorable methods of accumulation.

Who is right? Who is wrong?
Who should we kill?

Kill that old woman? She's nothing but a parasite at the very bottom of this enormous food chain, feeding on the occasional scraps and using even more despicable means to devour the weaker.

Even if you kill her, there will be more old women like Granny Zhang and Granny Li appearing on the street corner tomorrow.

Kill that Yunxiao Sect disciple? He didn't directly commit evil; he even harbored good intentions.

After killing Uncle Huang and Ye Qingmu, who will he kill next?

Can we kill them all?
The Huang Shu Group is a cancer, but if you cut off one cancer, new cancers will soon grow on the soil that breeds them.

The Flowing Cloud Sect's domineering behavior deserves to be killed, but how many sects like the Flowing Cloud Sect are there in the Divine Dynasty? And how many are even more despicable than the Flowing Cloud Sect?
How many more people will be killed tonight?
How many people can he kill?
The world is like a giant terminally ill, covered in sores and lesions. He can cut away a few of the most conspicuous ones, but many more lesions lie hidden deep within the flesh, constantly creating new problems.

The rusty knife is incredibly sharp; it can cut through anything.

But can we sever the greed, apathy, injustice, and oppression that permeate every corner?
Gao Jian stood in the night wind, silent for a long time.

His murderous intent gradually subsided.

He took one last look at the alleyway where the old woman had disappeared, then gazed at the horizon where the Cloud Soaring Sect's flying boat had vanished, before turning and silently departing.

He's killed enough tonight.

But the night in the capital city remained deep, as if nothing had changed.

----------

Deep within the Forbidden Palace, in the core sleeping quarters where the dragon's aura is most concentrated.

The emperor did not sit on the majestic dragon throne he used during court assemblies, but rather leaned casually against the edge of a large dragon bed covered with ancient warm jade and carved with nine coiled dragons. He casually draped a precious celestial robe woven from stardust and phoenix feathers, its shimmering light unable to conceal the unusual aura that emanated from beneath it.

Upon closer inspection, through the slightly open collar of his clothes, one could see several deep, bone-revealing wounds on his solid chest and arms! The edges of the wounds were torn and rolled back, displaying an ominous dark color, as if an invisible force was constantly eroding and preventing them from healing, and even slowly spreading.

There was no blood flowing from the wound, but it exuded a chilling sense of desolation, which was the "Taoist wound" left by Gao Jian with his rusty knife.

However, the emperor seemed completely unconcerned.

After all, it was these wounds that allowed him to reappear in this world.

He would only occasionally furrow his brow slightly, and when he felt the corrosive pain from his wound, he would casually pick up a pill the size of a longan, perfectly round, radiating a powerful vitality and a refreshing medicinal fragrance from an open white jade box beside the bed. Without even looking at it, he would casually toss it into his mouth as if it were a candy.

If a master alchemist were to witness this scene, he would surely be heartbroken. Each of those pills was made primarily from several nearly extinct sacred herbs, supplemented with dozens of rare spiritual essences. It was a top-tier pill that a master could only painstakingly refine, producing only one or two pills at a time. The annual production was no more than four or five pills. They were truly divine objects, priceless treasures, and their main function was actually to revive the souls of the dead—this alone was enough to make countless cultivators fight tooth and nail for them.

But for the emperor, it was merely a "snack" to temporarily suppress the pain of his injuries.

At this moment, the emperor held the warm jade slip in one hand, and the divine will within the divine gate had already finished browsing through the information recorded on it—it recorded in great detail all of Gao Jian's actions tonight: from the confrontation with Ye Qingmu in the alley, to the thunderous purge of Uncle Huang's group, to the brief contact with Baili Qingbo and its outcome, and even his indifference as he stood at the street corner at the end.

Looking at the insightful advice in the jade slip, the emperor's face, which was slightly pale from the pain, showed no anger. Instead, a meaningful smile slowly appeared on his face.

He muttered to himself, his voice carrying a hint of amusement and knowing ease: "When I first saw him, he seemed quite capable, his mind unfathomable, and his actions appearing to be entirely at his own discretion. He neither coveted power in the court nor sought to curry favor with powerful families. I truly believed he was detached from worldly affairs and had no desires..."

As he spoke, his fingers tapped lightly on the edge of the dragon bed, making a soft, rhythmic sound.

"Looking at it this way... he doesn't really not want anything at all."

He raised his head and gave a calm instruction to the empty hall, his voice clearly reaching the ears of a specific being:

"Send the order to the Prefect of the Capital, the City Patrol Division, and the Secret Guard to mobilize. They need to thoroughly clean up the atmosphere in the capital, especially those shady scams and swindles. They need to be dealt with in the near future, and the immortal sects and aristocratic families need to be suppressed so that the common people can have a better life. They need to stop going too far."

He paused, his tone carrying an air of gracious condescension:
"We must try to make my beloved Minister Gao feel a little better, mustn't we?"

With the emperor's command, the emperor's power swiftly surged throughout the entire capital.

The deep waters of the capital city were rippled by Gao Jian's killing tonight, but the ripples were quickly smoothed out—however, because of the emperor's casual remark, a flood is about to arrive!
(End of this chapter)