My lord, spare his life!

What sins have I committed?

Guan Zong, who had just been thoroughly beaten, was seething with anger.

[A hot commodity afflicted by the plague, a coward who bullies the weak and fears the strong!]

While applying the medicine, he cursed the two of them and their ancestors for eighteen generations.

[If you're so capable, why don't you hit Zhang Boyuan instead of bullying me?]

In all honesty, he was just relaying a message; he wasn't the one who cursed!

At that moment, Guan Si's voice echoed in his mind: "Didn't those words express your true feelings, Guan Zong?"

Guan Zong: [...]

A chill ran down his spine, and he suddenly felt deflated.

Guan Si's strength far exceeded his expectations.

A wise man knows when to yield, and Guan Zong decided to keep a low profile and save his own life until Zhang Yang came to his aid. A gentleman takes his revenge even after ten years; he refused to believe that Guan Si wouldn't one day stumble and fall!

With this self-comforting mindset, Guan Zong eagerly awaited the arrival of Zhang Yang and his group. He kept glancing behind Zhang Yang, but did not see the elite troops he had expected.

Guan Si's eyes darkened: "You only brought this many people?"

A quick glance revealed a total of over five hundred men. Although these soldiers were well-disciplined and in good military bearing, compared to the Hundred Ghost Guards, they were nothing more than raw recruits who hadn't yet shed any blood.

Zhang Yang: [That's enough.]

It's a heartbreaking story to tell.

Zhang Yang was nominally the governor of Tianyue Commandery, in charge of all the counties within the commandery. However, after the recent suppression of the rebellion, she naturally needed to send people to take over these troops and prevent the remnants from resurfacing. For these reasons, the number of troops she could mobilize was very limited. Of these five hundred-plus men, eighty percent were recruited from Weiyin County, considered Zhang Yang's direct troops, while the rest were transferred from neighboring counties.

In addition to that, there is another main reason.

As a PVP player, Zhang Yang dislikes having his kills stolen.

She can take down all the red-named monsters by herself.

Seeing Guan Si's disdain, Zhang Yang was displeased. Guan Si's disdain for her elite troops was tantamount to disdain for her own children; she could complain a couple of times, but outsiders couldn't tolerate even a single complaint: "Stubborn guy, what's wrong with your eyes? Your Hundred Ghost Guards have fewer men than mine."

[...Didn't you call him Easter Egg Bro last time?]

When did he become stubborn?

[Bonus Feature: The Stubborn Guy]

Guan Si: [...]

He shouldn't have asked that question.

Zhang Yang swaggered into the temporary camp, naturally taking the seat of honor without any hesitation. He even greeted familiar faces with a cold expression. The Left Deputy rubbed his eyes, feeling as if he were dreaming. What was even more terrifying was that his general hadn't killed anyone yet.

Is this still his general?

Guan Si's tone was sinister.

Did you wash your neck properly last time?

The left deputy secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, this is still the general he knows.

The atmosphere was tense, and Zhang Yang's personal guards and the Hundred Ghosts Guards were on edge. Some secretly reached for their swords at their waists, raising their guard. They were just waiting for the order to draw their swords and fight to the death. Guan Si, however, was completely unconcerned, only staring coldly at Zhang Yang.

Fan You and Yuan Xie simultaneously made a hand seal.

Zhang Yang grinned, revealing a stiff, rigid smile. The next second, under the gaze of dozens, even hundreds, of eyes, she raised her right hand to grab the back of her neck and, without warning, ripped her own head off, splattering warm blood onto Guan Si's face, who was closest to her.

Guan Si's eyes widened suddenly, and he remained motionless.

Yuan Xie was a beat slow, and cried out in a mournful voice: "My lord!"

Fan You nearly stopped breathing.

Having just settled his men, Puyang Kui was immediately confronted with this horrifying and bizarre scene. His mind went blank, and countless thoughts surged through his mind—someone had plotted against their lord, using a ghost to possess her and force her to commit suicide! Who was this murderer? The Hundred Ghost Guards were suspicious!

Could it be a flying head ghost?

Just as both of them drew their swords, Zhang Yang grabbed his neck with his right hand and shook it, immediately letting out a complaining sound.

Stop shaking! Stop shaking!

He gently tossed the head upwards with his right hand and caught it steadily.

It took Zhang Yang a while to adjust to the separation of his head and body: [It's been a long time since I've done this; it was a mistake.]

What kind of expressions are those?

They all looked like they'd seen a ghost in broad daylight.

She glanced at the system logs that were flooding the screen and found that the favorability ratings of the real people within the system's detection range were fluctuating wildly, and she had no idea what was wrong with them all.

Guan Si wiped the blood from his face expressionlessly.

Judging from his taut cheeks, he had a lot of liver fire.

Zhang Yang reattached the head somewhat listlessly, stretched her neck, and thought to herself that if she ever developed cervical spondylosis, she could simply disassemble her cervical vertebrae one by one. The question then arises: as an NPC, would she get cervical spondylosis?

Fan You: [...]

Yuan Xie: [……]

Puyang Kui: [...]

The lord's condition was not at all like that of someone who had not been affected by the descent of the stars.

The other guards, unaware of the situation, thought Zhang Yang was demonstrating her strength to intimidate her unreliable Hundred Ghosts Guard allies and to show Guan Si not to have any ulterior motives, as she was immortal. While somewhat alarming, it certainly had an effect.

Guan Si exhaled a breath of stale air.

He appeared calm, but in reality, he was completely out of options.

The human skin she craved, Zhang Yang could peel off one after another right in front of her, threatening to behead her, and she didn't even have to lift a finger to pull her head off herself. At that moment, Guan Si wished she had never met Zhang Yang, at least it would have saved her a lot of trouble.

How do you plan to suppress the bandits?

Guan Si, who has always disliked meetings, took the initiative to convene one.

Zhang Yang occupied the main seat, which was covered with a dozen or so animal hides, so he could only find a place to sit down below him—his intuition told him that arguing with Zhang Yang about seating arrangements would only lead to unpleasantness. Seeing this, the Left Deputy and the others had no choice but to swallow their anger.

[Suppressing bandits? Is it enough to just capture and kill them?]

Zhang Yang's speech was quite explosive to everyone's ears.

Fan You suppressed the urge to faint, wishing he could rush up and sew her mouth shut. Was this something a prefect should say?

Brute!

No, you brute!

She's still an illiterate, unruly woman!

Fan You regretted coming along. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have lost face so badly. He even felt that everyone else was looking at him strangely, as if asking him why he had chosen such a lord. Damn it, he hadn't chosen!

Left with no other choice, Fan You forced a gesture to salvage the situation: "General, you are brave and have fought the Eastern Bandits for a long time, weakening their elite forces. Now, only remnants of the bandits remain, posing no real threat. My lord is straightforward and not wrong. The key to this bandit suppression lies not in the enemy's strength, but in their cunning and resourceful nature, making them difficult to eradicate completely."

Guan Sidao: "The Hundred Ghosts Guards know every inch of the Eastern Fan Mountains, yet they still cannot gather them all in one place and kill them all..."

Eliminating the problem at its root is the easiest step.

The most difficult part was capturing the scattered bandits from the Eastern Frontier.

Having been relentlessly pursued by the Hundred Ghost Guards for years, even the most foolish of these Eastern Bandits knew to leave themselves an escape route, secretly digging tunnels or carving through mountains, often losing track of their pursuers. With the assistance of certain ghostly creatures skilled in concealment, the bandits were extremely difficult to capture. This was also the reason for the unfavorable progress of the war.

Zhang Yang: [Didn't you raise a flying star beast?]

Guan Sidao: "It can only see prey on the ground."

Zhang Yang then asked, "Then let's find star beasts with a keen sense of smell."

Guan Si: [I've tried it.]

He wasn't lacking in intelligence; naturally, he figured out this path. However, after trying it, he discovered that the Eastern Bandits' strategists had also considered this point and had used methods to interfere with the star beasts' sense of smell in advance.

Zhang Yang added: "Those hiding in the mountains are difficult to deal with, while those hiding underground can be drowned or burned. The air in the tunnels is thinner than on the surface; they'll either come up or suffocate down there."

Guan Si had never tried this method.

Just as he was about to give it a try, Yuan Xie, who had long lived in Tianyue County and the Dongfan Mountains, poured cold water on the two of them.

One point he wanted to point out was that: "Tianyue County receives little rain, and the Eastern Domain also receives little rain due to its terrain. Whether water is drawn from Tianyue or from the mountains, it won't be effective in the short term."

[Flooding won't work, what about fire?]

Yuan Xie shook his head: "That won't work either."

Flooding is not feasible, and fire attack is not very reliable either.

Why?

This is related to the main vegetation of the Dongfan Mountains, which is highly flammable. Although tree trunks are excellent building materials, the bark is an excellent ignition source. Wildfires of varying sizes occur frequently, especially during hot, dry seasons.

Zhang Yang: [...]

This won't work, that won't work! The game designers wouldn't assign impossible tasks; there must be a way out. Zhang Yang frowned, lowered his head as if no one else was around, and traced his fingers in the air, as if there was something there that they couldn't see.

Zhang Yang remained silent, while the others exchanged bewildered glances.

How can this meeting proceed?

Zhang Yang was scrolling through the system's recorded NPC dialogues.

Knowing the game designers' usual tactics, the clues were definitely hidden here. Sure enough, after a deathly silence of fifteen minutes, Zhang Yang sat up straight: [Let it rain!]

This would perfectly solve the water supply problem.

Rainfall?

Zhang Yang: [Jiu Si mentioned some time ago that Tianyue County receives little rain, and in the event of a drought, they even have to pay money to buy water from Tianjiang County upstream to get through the crisis. He then told me that some places can be artificially rained, which seems to be related to the dragon that controls clouds and rain.]

If this can be solved, it would be killing two birds with one stone.

They dealt with the bandits in the eastern vassal states and also resolved the summer drought problem.

She really didn't want to spend money to buy what was rightfully hers.

Puyang Kui had also served as a prefect, and she was responsible for the livelihood of the people within the prefecture. She knew what Zhang Yang meant when he said: "This method is not easy to implement."

How can you not know how difficult it is if you don't tell me?

[First, one must gather all seven constellations of the Azure Dragon: Horn, Neck, Root, Room, Heart, Tail, and Winnowing Basket, to form an illusion of the Azure Dragon. However, to achieve the effect of summoning clouds and rain, the person in charge must possess considerable strength; otherwise, it will not be sufficient to reach the ears of Heaven. This method of praying for rain may not succeed even once in a hundred attempts.] When Puyang Kui was still the Prefect of Tianbian County, he had only heard of one successful case in one place.

How high are the skill requirements?

[I don't know, but it's at least no less than level two.]

The Stars belong to the Four Symbols. Cultivating to a certain level allows one to transform a portion of their body into a beast. There are seven levels in total, each significantly boosting combat power. The second level may not seem high, but considering that Zhang Yang only has one Tianyue County under his jurisdiction, and the requirement is the second level of the Azure Dragon realm, it is almost an impossible task.

Add to that the probability of success only once in a hundred attempts...

Manually creating rain is less effective than buying water from upstream.

Zhang Yang: [...]

She looked up at the clouds drifting lazily across the sky.

I always felt that this matter shouldn't be this complicated.

Zhang Yang clearly remembered that one of her observation subjects was the meteorological bureau staff, who were always quite excited about their work. If the task were extremely complex and had a high failure rate, their reaction shouldn't be like this. Zhang Yang said, "Why can't we just send someone up to spread dry ice, salt powder... or even just spray those things up there?"

She recalled her brief encounter with the stubborn guy in the bonus scene.

The other party can fly.

Even if he himself couldn't fly that high, the star beast he raised certainly could. If that's the case, why couldn't it fly up there to conduct artificial rainmaking? The Azure Dragon Seven Constellations have such a low probability of rainfall; there must be some details that have been overlooked. Zhang Yang scratched his head, feeling increasingly confused.

[Um, when did the Azure Dragon's Seven Mansions pray for rain?]

[Naturally, it's a time of drought.]

Who would pray for rain when there is plenty of rain?

[Oh, so it's like digging for a toilet only after the poop has reached the anus?]

Puyang Kui: [...]

She really couldn't respond to that.

Fan You covered his face with his hands, utterly humiliated. He turned to look at Yuan Xie, only to find Yuan Xie staring at Zhang Yang with an unchanging expression and a smile playing on his lips—they've gone mad! They've all gone mad!

Zhang Yang asked: "Is it possible that rainfall is conditional? In terms of cloud formation and rain, are clouds and rain actually equally important?"

She suspected that those failed cases simply didn't choose the right time.

Dragons may be able to handle both creating clouds and bringing rain, while humans are not capable of creating clouds—if everyone is capable of creating clouds, why send them up into the sky instead of just throwing them onto the ground?

Therefore, artificial rainmaking should be carried out on days with clouds.

In areas severely affected by drought, there are often no clouds.

Puyang Kui: [...]

She actually found the lord's words to be quite reasonable.

The high failure rate was actually due to the wrong timing of the rain prayer?

If it were really that simple, why hasn't anyone discovered it?

Because there aren't many opportunities for trial and error?

As Jundu just mentioned, it's very difficult to gather all seven constellations of the Azure Dragon that meet all the conditions in just one small place, and each use consumes a great deal of star power. The sample size is small, and data is missing.

Puyang Kui: [...]

Guan Si was not interested in the proposal.

They've gathered all seven constellations of the Azure Dragon and even attempted artificial rainmaking, yet the rainfall might not be enough to flood the tunnels. Even if it were, wouldn't the Eastern Bandits simply relocate and hide inside the mountains? Are they expected to carve each mountain into their territory?

Does she know how many mountains are in the Dongfan Mountains?

[Fancy and impractical.]

Zhang Yang was not angry.

How can the bandits of the Eastern Frontier compare to our children? The Eastern Frontier Mountains are not the only place that needs rainfall; her entire territory needs to be prepared for a rainy day—rather than waiting for a drought to occur and then being dumbfounded, it's better to increase rainfall before the drought even begins.

Since that's the case, then it's up to me.

Zhang Yang looked helpless. Her allies, led by Guan Si, were too incompetent; she still had to step in when problems arose: [Bonus: Stubborn Bro, can I borrow your bird for a bit? A thorough search is needed; I guarantee we'll find even the hidden rats!]

[Rely on you?]

Yes, rely on me!

No matter whether the Eastern Bandits are hiding in the mountains or underground, they cannot escape her discerning eyes! She can't see human figures, but can't she see red names? Red names are beings that can bypass architectural models.