After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

However, the killing intent still erupted very clearly the moment Zhou Yan controlled the Shengwu Sword in his hand to emerge from his arm.

The black-clad guards in front of Zhou Yan were seasoned veterans. Sensing Zhou Yan's murderous aura, they instinctively twisted their bodies, preparing to roll away.

But it was all too late. Zhou Yan's Shengwu sword sliced ​​across the neck of the black-clad guard, splitting his head open like tofu.

Chapter Thirteen: Ambush

According to the Ming Dynasty Records, in February of the 26th year of the Jiajing reign (1547), 300 girls aged 11 to 14 were selected from the capital region to enter the palace.

In December of the thirty-first year (1552), another three hundred people were selected.

In September of the thirty-fourth year (1555), 160 women under the age of ten were selected from the common people; in November of the same year, more than 20 women from the common people of Huguang were selected; in January of the forty-third year (1564), 300 palace maids were selected, for a total of 1,080 people.

After these 1,080 teenage girls were selected, they were fed so-called elixirs and magic pills every day, and waited for their virgin menstrual blood to appear. The menstrual blood was collected and then used to refine red lead pills.

This was not a peaceful process. Every day, some of the palace maids who were recruited died because of the experimentation with medicines and the washing of their bodies with elixirs. Most of the young girls were called "dregs of the medicine" and were subjected to various forms of torture in the palace, making their lives worse than death.

As a result, in 1542 (the 31st year of Jiajing's reign, the year of Renzi), Yang Jinying, a palace maid in Yikun Palace, launched a rebellion and attempted to assassinate Jiajing (but failed), which is known in history as the Renyin Palace Coup.

This was also the only palace maid uprising in the history of the Great Xia Dynasty, demonstrating the extent of the suffering inflicted upon these palace maids during the Jiajing era.

Now, this torment was laid bare before Zhou Yan. He crouched outside several dormitory rooms, silently listening to the sobbing and barely suppressed groans of pain coming from within.

Amidst the groans, several cries grew weaker and weaker, eventually fading away after a few breaths.

Not long after, several Taoist priests in robes came over and carried out several small, thin girls from the shared rooms. They looked like they hadn't eaten well in their previous lives, which had caused their bodies to not develop properly.

Once they were a bit further away, the Taoist priests started chatting.

"Have more people died these past few days?"

"What do you know? The abbot is getting old and a bit impatient lately. He used a stronger dosage of the Huiying Pill formula. I think many of the pills delivered these past few days will die."

"If that's not enough, we'll go to the nearby countryside to get more."

"Yes, yes, catching people is much simpler than catching snakes. Catching snakes requires going to the mountains, but catching people only requires giving an order."

The Taoist priests went to the back door, took out several burlap sacks, put the dead girl inside, and then walked out the back door.

Zhou Yan followed behind these Taoist priests as they left the northern county town.

To the right of Beiyang County is a small river, and on the opposite bank of the river is a mountain. When these Taoist priests arrive at the mountain, they hold a talisman in their hands. When they arrive at the spot, they throw the talisman on the ground, and the ground automatically cracks open.

The Taoist priests skillfully threw the sack of people into the crack in the ground, and then covered the cracked ground with a thin layer of soil.

"OK OK."

"I hope no one dies tonight."

"Never mind, we've already moved twice tonight anyway, let's just go back to sleep. If someone dies again, we'll deal with it tomorrow."

"These little wench, they never die together, but a few of them die every now and then, making it hard for us Taoist priests to carry them around."

The Taoist priests, cursing and swearing, crossed the mountain and returned to Beiyang County.

At the foot of the mountain, Zhou Yan, who had been hiding behind a tree, came out after the Taoist priests left. The young man looked up at the mountain where people had just been buried.

　Search: Four Views∶】汣％柒］±“澪乱葬岗……

A veritable mass grave...

As Zhou Yan walked uphill from the foot of the mountain, his expression changed after a few steps.

Relying on the earth spirit's senses, Zhou Yan felt that there were several half-rotten female corpses buried under his feet.

As you walk further, you see more and more corpses under your feet, ranging from skeletons to half-rotten corpses to those that have just died and are not yet decomposed.

All of these corpses had one thing in common: they were young girls.

After walking from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside, Zhou Yan suddenly stopped on a piece of soil and then hurriedly ran to a piece of land that was dark in color and had a clear color difference from the surrounding soil.

Zhou Yan didn't need to dig with his own hands. With the earth spirit's ability, Zhou Yan only needed to think for the shallow layer of soil on the ground to separate automatically.

Beneath the soil were two girls. One girl was deathly pale and had begun to show signs of rigor mortis on her body, while the other was breathing weakly but her eyes were still open.

Zhou Yan rushed forward and helped up the girl who was still breathing. When Zhou Yan's hand touched the girl, he could clearly feel that the girl was shockingly thin, and there seemed to be bones with an unusual texture under her skin.

"me……"

The girl, who had been helped up, spoke tremulously.

Zhou Yan grabbed the girl's hand, and with just a gentle pull, her fingernail fell off. Her poor physical condition terrified Zhou Yan.

Even so, Zhou Yan reassured him.

"Tell me what you want to say, and I'll help you with everything I can."

"It hurts..."

As soon as the girl finished speaking, she turned her head and fell onto Zhou Yan's shoulder. This time, she stopped breathing; not a breath left.

Zhou Yan: "..."

The white snake that was wrapped around Zhou Yan's hand slowly crawled to the back of his hand and breathed on the girl, but the girl did not move.

How can you bring someone who's dead back to life?

Zhou Yan then placed the girl on the ground and controlled the soil to cover her.

The covering had barely been completed when footsteps approached from the foot of the mountain.

Zhou Yan hid behind a tree.

Soon, several burly men wearing faded clothes came up carrying two burlap sacks, and found a patch of land with no color difference to begin digging.

Because the digging didn't need to be deep, a shallow pit was soon dug out. A bald, burly man threw a sack into it, and as soon as he did, he said timidly.

"Grandpa, what exactly are you feeding those girls? In the last two years, we've buried more than a dozen girls, haven't we?"

Another burly man with a scar on his face hesitated.

"It seems to be about refining elixirs. Master Xu said that the elixir our master refines is based on a prescription from the capital. Even the current Emperor is refining according to this prescription, and even the nobles in the capital find it extremely difficult to obtain one."

The scarred, burly man threw the last sack in, his voice trembling.

"Xiao Hong, Xiao Qing, don't blame us for your deaths. We were just following Butler Zhang's orders. The grievances should be settled by the perpetrators, and we should all go find the people who killed you."

Two burly men began filling the grave with soil. After they finished, they started burning paper money. (The last part, "四÷＼∝≈^", is a Chinese expression and doesn't need a direct translation.)

Unlike their patriarch, they were not ruthless; after each time they dug a pit to bury someone, they would burn paper money to ease their conscience.

Zhou Yan sighed behind the tree.

I can't save people myself.

Even if he were to kill all the Taoists at Jingtian Temple with his Gouchen Sword Qi and rescue the girls who were being treated as medicine dregs from the dormitory, he still wouldn't be able to feed so many mouths.

These girls cannot possibly go back to their own homes and be cared for by their families.

These girls were taken away by the local government to be used as medicine residue. If I take these girls back with me, it might, no, it will definitely implicate their entire family in the countryside.

Don't expect any honest officials or upright bureaucrats to uphold justice for you. In this era, it was the emperor who took the lead in arresting people for alchemy, and the nobles of the entire capital also took pride in consuming elixirs and making medicines. Under such circumstances, which official would dare to punish the crime of using people as medicine?

Zhou Yan is no longer Bai Ze, nor does he possess supernatural powers such as "all things are illusory" or "all things are permissible." How could he dare to confront the mainstream forces of this era?

Zhou Yan could only watch these girls die helplessly.

So let's focus on doing what we can do first.

Zhou Yan lowered his head and touched the white snake's head, which looked completely bewildered and didn't know what to do.

The white snake looked up at Zhou Yan with a puzzled expression. This little guy had become intelligent, but his thinking ability was still very immature. He didn't understand what was happening at all. However, she could tell from Zhou Yan's eyes that he had no ill intentions.

"Little one..."

Zhou Yan sighed repeatedly.

"For the first time, I feel that our era is actually quite good."

No matter how decadent or insane the Eastern Xia Federation may be, it is still a progressive nation compared to the present era.

As Wenquxing said, the times are always moving forward.

……

The next morning.

Jingtian Temple.

A heart-wrenching scream shattered the tranquility of Jingtian Temple.

Three-quarters of an hour later, two Taoist priests dressed in dark robes rode to the entrance of Jingtian Temple. One of them, a Taoist priest with long hair past his shoulders and an elegant demeanor, dismounted first, and two young Taoist boys who had been waiting at the entrance greeted him.

The young Taoist on the left spoke up.

"Uncle Qingyang, you've finally arrived! My master, my master..."

The young Taoist priest wiped away his tears.

"My master had an accident, he was... he was..."

Another beautiful female Taoist priest, who hadn't dismounted, said anxiously.

"What else are you saying? Lead the way now!"

Two young Taoist disciples hurriedly entered Jingtian Temple. The male Taoist priest, known as Qingyang, followed the female Taoist priest inside. After navigating several small paths, the two Taoist priests arrived at the courtyard where the old Taoist priest Qingxu lived.

Several guards in black uniforms were already standing outside the courtyard. The one in the lead was carrying a goose-wing saber, and judging from his appearance, he was a squad leader.

The squad leader clasped his hands and bowed to the approaching Taoist Qingyang.

"Master, I am Li Yang, a squad leader of the Black-Clad Guard in Beiyang County."

Qingyang, the old Taoist priest, nodded.

"The Five Offices of the Imperial Observatory - Qingyang".

The old Taoist priest Qingyang reached out to the female Taoist priest behind him.

"Imperial Observatory Water Clock Doctor - Qingxu".

Wu Zhong qUn: ∝●№″ Chief Li Yang also clasped his hands in a salute to the female Taoist priest.

The old Taoist priest Qingyang asked again.

“My junior brother got into trouble. Have you investigated, Corporal Li?”

The sergeant stood up and nodded.

"You two Taoist priests should go in and take a look; things are a bit complicated."

Corporal Li Yang entered the courtyard, followed by two Taoist priests from the Imperial Observatory.

When Li Yang arrived at the house of the old Taoist Qingxu, he opened the door and a strong smell of blood rushed out. The old Taoist Qingxu was fine, but the female Taoist following behind him covered her nose.

Li Yang walked into the house and then went to the side of the head of the old Taoist Qingxu that had rolled on the ground.

Qingyang Daoist followed him in. The old Daoist first looked at his junior brother's corpse, and then looked at the area where Li Yang was.

Li Yang picked up the head of the old Taoist priest Qingxu.

"Master Qingyang, look at this."

Li Yang pointed at the face of the old Taoist Qingxu.

The old Taoist priest's head fell to the ground, but his face showed no anger or pain, only a slight astonishment and lingering joy.

Li Yang explained.

"When Master Qingxu was dying, he seemed unaware that he was dying."

Qingyang understood what Li Yang meant.

"The killer acted extremely quickly, and my junior brother didn't even notice?"

Li Yang showed Qingxu Laodao the severed neck.

The old Taoist priest said, "Look at this broken neck bone."

"The bone fracture showed no signs of bone spurs, breakage, or irregularity, indicating that an extremely sharp weapon severed Master Qingxu's head at an incredibly fast speed, so much so that Master Qingxu didn't even realize he had been killed."

Dad, *slap!*

The water clock expert behind the sill slammed his fist on the table and said angrily.

It's like saying, "What a scoundrel! How dare he go against the Imperial Observatory!"

Sanming should have just bullied the common people and powerful families. How could the government, which treats people like medicinal herbs, care about the lives of ordinary people? But this vicious man actually dared to kill the Water Clock Doctor of the Imperial Observatory (Qingxu Laodao's position was Water Clock Doctor). He has turned his knife on himself. How can such a person be allowed to live?