Qin's Moon: I'm really not the Holy Lord of the Demonic Sect

Chapter 149 Overture to Rain

Yan Lingji eventually yielded. Whether by coercion or enticement, she remained at the Sikong Mansion as an inner courtyard guard. Yan Lingji, the fearsome assassin of Baiyue, disappeared when a severed head was sent to Xinzheng.

The matter of Nanyang was drawing to a close, and it was late spring. Incessant rain was falling, and the summer rains were approaching. The entire territory of Korea was shrouded in a thick cloud cover.

One night, a convoy of five large carts set off from the treasury in Xinzheng. Yet, the convoy was escorted by a full seven hundred elite armored guards, demonstrating the immense importance of the goods being transported.

"Are we approaching Dragon Valley?" a middle-aged man in the caravan asked another person riding alongside him.

"It is indeed Dragon-Slaying Valley, an ominous place," said another person.

"It is indeed an ominous place, but in order to make our way, we must pass through the Broken Dragon Valley. As for those talk of ghosts and gods, we should not take them seriously."

This troop was escorting military supplies destined for the frontier, totaling 100,000 taels of gold. The two men in charge of the escort were from the Korean royal family and were brothers with King Han An. Their titles were Anping and Longquan. Among the current Korean royal family, apart from King Han An and his sons, their status was undoubtedly the most prestigious.

Otherwise, the two of them would not have been able to get such good jobs.

As for Duanlong Valley, when the State of Han destroyed the State of Zheng, after the last of Zheng's troops had surrendered, they lured the surrendered soldiers to Duanlong Valley and slaughtered them all.

Since then, Duanlong Valley has become a ruin. People often hear ghostly wails and howls coming from the valley. Gradually, rumors spread that the vengeful spirits of the surrendered soldiers of Zheng State lingered and wandered in Duanlong Valley as ghosts and gods, and that no living person should enter.

However, some clever people know the reason behind it. So while some fools believe such rumors, others just regard it as a normal natural phenomenon. After all, there is wind in the valley, and the howling of the wind is very much like the sound of ghosts wailing.

The border troops had not received their pay for months, and the convoy should have set off long ago according to the original plan. However, it had been raining for days, so the departure time had been delayed again and again. Now, it was truly impossible to delay any longer, so they had no choice but to set off overnight and take the route through Duanlong Valley.

Besides, the men escorting the military supplies consisted of eight hundred elite armored soldiers. Even if they encountered ghosts, they should be the ones afraid of those ghosts.

Of course, it's hard to say whether this unavoidable situation was intentionally created.

With orders from Lord Anping and Lord Longquan, the caravan quickly headed towards Duanlong Valley.

The Dragon Valley was even more desolate under the night rain. The wind and rain were dark and the night was gloomy. Even these battle-hardened elite soldiers in armor had their doubts. Such a night road was really not easy to travel.

"Hey, do you think there really is a ghost?" A soldier lagging behind at the back of the column, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, turned his head and asked his comrade next to him.

"There's a ghost!" The man had intended to mock the other, but the words changed the moment they left his mouth because he really did see a ghost.

Under the night rain, ghostly soldiers, their forms almost ethereal, floated in the air and rushed towards the troops. At first, the soldiers thought it was just an illusion, but when a soldier's face was slashed by a ghostly soldier's weapon, they realized that they had really encountered ghosts.

Even when facing the Qin army, these elite armored soldiers, who dared to fight, were terrified when confronted with the suddenly appearing ghost soldiers. A few brave soldiers attacked the ghost soldiers, but their weapons missed their mark.

"Gold, gold is disappearing!" someone suddenly cried out in terror.

"They are ghost soldiers! They are ghost soldiers who have stolen the military pay!" Lord Anping exclaimed in alarm.

The armored soldiers, already terrified by the appearance of the ghost soldiers, had no more doubts upon seeing this. They had encountered real ghost soldiers, and the rumors about Dragon Valley were not false. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why the gold meant as military pay would slowly turn into white smoke and disappear before their eyes. If it wasn't a ghost or god, who could possess such power?

On the night of March 15th, ghost soldiers robbed 100,000 taels of military pay from Duanlong Valley, shocking the entire Korean court.

"The ghost soldiers robbing our supplies is utterly absurd! A bunch of defeated soldiers, even when they were alive, they were no match for the elite troops of my Han state. Do they think they can cause trouble even after they're dead? Investigate this for me. I must find out the truth. Someone must be using the name of the ghost soldiers to stir up trouble."

In the Han royal palace, King Han An was furious. That was a real 100,000 taels of gold. The entire state of Han had made so much effort to squeeze out that 100,000 taels of gold, and he had been extremely frugal. But now the 100,000 taels of gold had disappeared.

That's military pay. If soldiers riot because their pay was stolen, the consequences would be unimaginable.

In this era of great strife, chaos can occur anywhere in a country, but not within the military. King Han An understood this principle very well.

King Han quickly dispatched skilled officials to investigate the case of the ghost soldiers robbing the soldiers' pay. However, every time the investigators made some progress, they would die mysteriously. There were no clues at the scene of their deaths, only a dark feather, which looked like a crow's feather or an invitation from the Grim Reaper.

As officials investigating the case died mysteriously one after another, the rumors about the ghost soldiers robbing the government funds became increasingly outrageous. Gradually, the entire city of Xinzheng seemed to believe that the ghost soldiers were real.

When rumors were rampant in Xinzheng, a traveler who had returned from afar was invited to a horse-riding party. At the party, he, who did not have much money, actually managed to find a good item.

"A mechanism set up using the Guigu School's strategic thinking techniques, how interesting. What kind of thing could be worth keeping as such a treasure?" Han Fei murmured in amazement, playing with the wooden box in his palm.

The box is made of ordinary material, but the mechanism on it is extraordinary, originating from the Zongheng School.

Han Fei kept moving the puzzle pieces on the wooden box, and with his exceptional intelligence, he quickly solved the puzzle.

"Is this a piece of gold?" Han Fei took out a golden object from the wooden box. Judging from its color and the shape of his hand, it seemed to be gold. But if it was just a piece of gold, it didn't seem worth keeping in a wooden box made of mechanical arts, let alone being auctioned by the Farmer's Hidden Dragon Hall.

So, what exactly is this piece of gold?

As Han Fei approached the border of the State of Han, Yang Che was also packing up in Nanyang City, preparing to return to Xinzheng. The grand drama in Xinzheng had already begun, and naturally, he couldn't be left out.

After several officials were assassinated, King Han An finally thought of Yang Che, the Minister of Works whom he had promoted and trusted, and the imperial edict was soon placed on Yang Che's desk.