Chapter 646: Summoning Reinforcements

Chapter 646: Move People to Bring in Troops

"Accusation? Now that Mr. Yang has just arrived at my humble abode, he's already making such high demands, which makes me very apprehensive and worried."

On the top floor of the Xu residence, there was a terrace overlooking much of Songjiang Prefecture. Two chairs had been placed opposite each other, and a low table in the middle held a chessboard.

Ten squares horizontally and ten vertically, black and red pieces intertwined.

It wasn’t the Go game that had been popular for thousands of years in Confucian culture, but a chess endgame.

Xu Hai Chao sat on the left side, smiling as he looked at Yang Bai Ze sitting opposite him, with Shang Lu standing behind him, his hands folded.

"What? Is Mr. Xu worried that he can't catch it?"

"On the contrary."

Xu Hai Chao shook his head. "I'm worried that if Mr. Yang can't sing anymore in the end, you'll end up losing face, and that won't be a good outcome."

"You're really a hard-working man, Mr. Xu, to still be thinking about me now."

Yang Bai Ze looked at his former boss with a meaningful gaze and suddenly laughed lightly.

"What do you mean, Mr. Yang? Did I say something wrong?" Xu Hai Chao asked.

Yang Bai Ze smiled and said, "That's not the case. I just remembered that not long ago, when I was in the Woguan area, I still had to call myself a subordinate in front of you. Now I'm sitting here listening to you being called Mr. Yang. The world is so strange, that's all."

"An ancient saying goes, 'Riding the wind of Fuyao, soaring up the blue clouds.' It means that as long as you ride the Fuyao wind, even pigs and dogs can fly into the sky."

Xu Hai Chao changed the subject and said with a playful tone, "But even if pigs and dogs fly into the sky, they are still pigs and dogs. Mr. Yang, isn't that right?"

"Of course. It's easy to change the landscape, but hard to change one's nature. Things that are not human, no matter what skin they wear, will never become human."

"Mr. Yang is hinting at something."

"Isn't Mr. Xu also pointing at the willows and cursing the willows?"

Xu Hai Chao smiled slightly. "What I said is all true."

"I'm also inspired by this."

Yang Bai Ze also smiled in response, pointing his hand at the wide street below.

Here, you could still see clearly that the members of the Confucian clan were still standing in the pouring rain, too afraid to move a muscle.

"Mr. Xu, since you've arranged so many spectators, why not let them come in and take a good look?"

Xu Hai Chao said, "As spectators, they don't have the qualifications or the courage to come in and watch. For them, waiting for the outcome is enough."

"It seems that Mr. Xu is very confident."

Yang Bai Ze looked into the distance, where the city lights were blurred by the falling rain.

"What a beautiful scenery."

Yang Bai Ze sighed. "It's a pity that this spectacle of human life, Mr. Xu, is something you won't be able to see again in the future."

"What you consider a beautiful scenery, I think is nothing special. It doesn't matter whether you see it or not."

Xu Hai Chao waved his sleeve and said loudly, "In the future, every household will be reading the classics written by my family by lamplight at night. That scene will be truly magnificent and captivating!"

Another delusional madman, a crazy man with wild imagination.

Yang Bai Ze thought that Xu Hai Chao had already gone mad because of his desperate situation, and what he said were just delirious ramblings, so he didn't take it to heart.

Pfft.

Yang Bai Ze took out a piece of electronic document from his sleeve and threw it on the chessboard.

"Enough with the small talk, Xu Hai Chao. This document lists all the crimes your family has committed over the years, one by one, clearly. The people who worked for you, like Wu Cheng, have already surrendered. Now there is ample evidence, so will you voluntarily accept the punishment from the court, or do you plan to continue to resist?"

Xu Hai Chao leaned back in his chair, raised both hands to lift his robe, and kicked his legs up, never once looking at the document on the table from head to toe.

"Mr. Yang is indeed a young hero, with an unstoppable vigor. Since you think my family is guilty of great crimes, what do you think I should choose?"

Yang Bai Ze was not angered by Xu Hai Chao's arrogant attitude, and his expression did not change at all.

"You know the ins and outs of this matter, so I won't waste any more words. Considering that you used to be my boss, I suggest you save face for yourself, let go of everything, and don't make it difficult for anyone."

"Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Yang. I understand, Xu Jian."

Xu Hai Chao turned his head and called out lightly, and an old servant with white hair and beard came over, bowing his head and eyes with a respectful expression.

"Master."

"Xu Jian, you are a direct descendant of the Xu family, and you are also my senior in terms of age. My father trusted you greatly when he was alive, and let you manage the Xu family's various businesses. But I never expected that you would dare to betray the family, collude with outsiders, and tarnish the reputation of the Xu family. You really have the nerve of a dog."

Although Xu Hai Chao was scolding the servant, his eyes always carried a contemptuous smile, looking at Yang Bai Ze sitting opposite him.

"Now I'll hand you over to Mr. Yang. You must cooperate well and tell him everything you know. If the evidence is solid, it's your own fault, and no one else is to blame. If it's just a misunderstanding, I believe Mr. Yang will clear your name. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

The old servant named Xu Jian knelt down with both knees and bowed directly to Yang Bai Ze.

"I am guilty. Please punish me, Mr. Yang."

Xu Hai Chao made a gesture of invitation with his hand and smiled, "Mr. Yang, you ask for punishment, and I hand over the person. We all work for the court and serve the people, so you don't need to give me any face. Xu Jian is yours, to kill or to spare, as you wish."

Standing behind, Shang Tu looked at the Xu family master and servant who were acting in unison, his eyebrows furrowed, his face turning dark, and his ten fingers in his sleeves clenched tightly, making a cracking sound.

Yang Bai Ze spoke coldly, "Taking an old man who can't handle one sequence out to take the blame, Xu Hai Chao, how can you bear it?"

"This is admitting guilt and accepting punishment, how can it be called taking the blame? But if Mr. Yang thinks it's not enough, the Xu family can add more."

Xu Hai Chao smiled and said, "The Xu family has had a good life over the years, and thanks to my father's kindness, the family has grown in size. I'm sure Mr. Yang will have a good time killing, a satisfying time killing!"

"Xu Hai Chao, you really have no shame!"

In Yang Bai Ze's helpless tone, Shang Lu moved one step sideways, but before he could make any move, a figure had already collided with him.

The owner of the figure was none other than the old servant of the Xu family who had just knelt down and admitted his guilt. He suddenly jumped up, and his eyes, which almost bulged out of their sockets, had no pupils, but were occupied by a 'Xu' character that had appeared.

Xu Jian, who had been stamped with the Confucian seal, was like a vicious dog protecting its master, baring its teeth and claws, and charging straight at Shang Lu with his body.

Bang!

Xu Jian's body suddenly exploded in mid-air during the charge.

Shang Lu's body sidestepped, blocking the splashed limbs and blood from hitting Yang Bai Ze.

Xu Hai Chao, who was also nearby, did not dodge or avoid, allowing the blinding red blood to splash all over him.

"The Law Order was once the sharpest knife in the hands of the rulers, and the most powerful tool for them to maintain their rule. The Zhu Ming royal family was willing to support Huangliang's landing for many reasons, one of which was to help you create the 'Great Ming Law' and completely choke off the throats of all Ming people."

Xu Hai Chao wiped the blood droplets hanging on his eyebrows with his hand, leaned his body towards the chessboard, picked up a 'soldier' chess piece from the endgame, raised it high, and then slammed it down.

Crack!

The soldier crushed the document on the chessboard, just crossing the Chu-Han boundary by one step.

"But unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Although Huangliang was built, the power was divided and shared by all parties. The part left in the royal family's hands was kept as a secret treasure, and they were unwilling to give it out to you, so your Great Ming Law naturally became a joke."

"The law that doesn't enter people's hearts naturally loses its power. Shang Lu, you can still kill some low-ranking Confucian clan members. But to kill me, you're still a bit short."

Xu Hai Chao placed both hands on his knees, raised his eyebrows, and looked up at Shang Lu with a sinister gaze from bottom to top.

"After Emperor Jiaqi ascended the throne, your old nest in the court, the Three Law Offices, became a complete empty shell. The entire Law Order gradually declined, the personnel were depleted, and the outcome was tragic."

"Those who are lucky can get a minor official position in the Imperial Censorate and act arrogantly in remote and poor places. Those who are unlucky can only join the Huangliang Law Realm and use their lives to maintain the last face of the Great Ming Law."

“Who is responsible for this pathetic, miserable predicament? The Martial Sequence bears blame, as does the Daoist Sequence, and even the Yin-Yang Sequence. But when you strip it all away, it is the Confucian Sequence pulling the strings from the shadows. And who stands at the vanguard of the Confucians? None other than the current Grand Secretary, the sovereign patriarch of the New Donglin Faction—Zhang Fengyue.”

Xu Haichao’s lips curled into a sneer of utter disdain. “It was his own hand that drove your Legal Sequence step by step into this dead end, yet here you are, committing the base, groveling ignominy of treating your thief of a foe as a father. Shang Lu, do you hold no reverence for your own family name? With what countenance do you dare face the ancient sages and departed lords of the Legal Sequence?”

“The Legal Sequence recognizes only the righteous path of the mortal realm; it does not weigh the whims of human malice or affection. We serve whosoever holds the scales of justice.”

Shang Lu spoke with a mask of absolute detachment, his words dropping like chips of ice.

Yet, despite Xu Haichao being within arm’s reach, he showed no intention of striking again, standing instead like an immovable monolith before Yang Baize.

Xu Haichao was himself a master of the Ritual Arts, a third-rank adept of the Confucian Sequence, and his resilience against the binding decrees of Legal law far surpassed that of lesser scholars. In this twilight age where the Grand Ming Code grew increasingly frail, Shang Lu possessed no certainty that he could subdue the man.

Beyond that, he could distinctly sense a tempest of raw malice converging from all quarters—emanating not merely from this grand clan estate, but surging from the rain-slicked thoroughfare just beyond its walls.

Yang Baize’s own martial prowess was far too fragile; in a clearing as treacherous as this, he possessed no means to shield his own life.

Should Shang Lu fail to bring down Xu Haichao in the space of a single breath, Yang Baize would instantly find himself in mortal peril.

And if harm befell Yang Baize, there would be no accounting for it to the Grand Secretary.

Xu Haichao’s gaze cut sharp as a blade, seeming to pierce straight through the calculations tethering Shang Lu’s heart.

“Justice? Who possesses the authority to draw the line between justice and private greed? In the end, it is naught but the victor crowned as king, and the vanquished branded as bandits!”

Xu Haichao broke into a booming laugh. “The loyal hounds of the Legal Sequence, drowning in an ignorance they cannot fathom. The verdict cast upon your kind truly cuts deep into the very bone and marrow.”

“Eyes blind to the law, hearts blackened to truth. Xu Haichao, the ones drowning in unfathomed ignorance are you and your ilk.”

Yang Baize’s voice rang out from behind Shang Lu’s towering form.

He extended a hand to gently push aside the figure shielding him, his gaze locking directly with Xu Haichao, whose half-bloodied frame lent him the visage of a vengeful fiend. In Yang Baize’s eyes, there lived not a single trace of panic or dread.

“Your scholarship is filthy, your character is filthy, and you drench yourself in gore thinking you can intimidate a living soul?”

“Yang Baize, to speak truth, I held great expectations for you. Though your origins are humble and your talent within the Six Arts is by no means extraordinary, you possess a fierce, feral audacity that is sorely lacking in the younger generation of today’s Confucian Sequence. That trait is rare and precious.”

Xu Haichao offered a heavy sigh. “Back in the Wa Territories, I dropped hints in the hope that you would join the Spring and Autumn Society, that you might become one of us. Yet you remained stubbornly shackled to that worthless sentimentality of master and disciple, willingly walking this blind alley to the bitter end. And now, you run errands at the vanguard of Zhang Fengyue’s vanguard, content to serve as his hired blade.”

Xu Haichao shook his head softly. “Do you truly understand why he chose a mere seventh-rank official like yourself to lead the charge into the fray? Perhaps you believe it is owing to his ties with Pei Xianjian, imagining that you and your master walk the same path as he? Let me tell you, you are far too naive!”

“The path Zhang Fengyue intends to tread allows for no companions. The great clans of the Confucian Sequence are merely harboring illusions at present, begging Zhang Fengyue to grant them a reprieve. The moment they awaken to reality, Zhang Fengyue will instantly find himself utterly forsaken. He selected you merely to demonstrate to the youth of the Confucian Sequence that the Spring and Autumn Society is not their sole sanctuary.”

“This entire affair is a grand deception of his own staging. In his eyes, you and Pei Xianjian are but two crossing-river pawns in this grand game of chess, destined only to forge blindly ahead until you drop dead.”

Xu Haichao’s voice rose to a thundering roar. “He never intended for you to survive—if not tonight, if not within the walls of the Xu Clan, you would die on some other day, within the halls of some other great house. When that time comes, a Pei Xianjian blinded by vengeance will become the very blade Zhang Fengyue uses to slaughter the entire empire!”

“You have spoken at length, but it is all nothing but utter nonsense.”

Yang Baize remained entirely deaf to Xu Haichao’s rhetoric, his gaze resolute and unyielding.

“I ask you but a single question: the crimes committed by the Xu Clan—do you confess to them, or do you not?”

Seeing him so utterly impervious to reason, Xu Haichao’s aura suddenly shifted into a cold, draconian intent to murder. A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Who is guilty, and who is innocent?”

“The Xu Clan’s crimes are beyond absolution; today, your ruin is assured!” Yang Baize’s words fell like iron striking stone.

The master of the Xu Clan, a man who had dominated the Songjiang region for long years, looked upon the unbending young official before him and suddenly shook his head with a soft chuckle.

The mocking amusement dancing between his brows was akin to that of an elder watching an ignorant babe shouting empty boasts.

“Yang Baize, I too can offer you two paths today. The first is to join the Spring and Autumn Society, sever your ties of master and disciple with Pei Xianjian, and publicly declare within the Yellow Millet Dream the truth of how Zhang Fengyue frames innocents and slaughters the great clans.”

“The second is to perish right here, your very bones ground to dust!”

“Is that so?”

Yang Baize suddenly reached out and seized the 'Knight' piece from the ruined chessboard. Ignoring the sacred rules of placement, he forced the piece to leap savagely through the air, stomping the pawn that had crossed the river into absolute oblivion.

“Let me tell you this as well: since I dared step foot into the Xu Clan today, I never once considered whether I would walk out alive.”

Boom!

A deafening roar ripped through the torrential downpour, and the ascending burst of fierce, searing flame illuminated Xu Haichao’s face, which had turned as dark as a gathering storm.

“You have backers in the shadows, but do you think I stand alone? When it comes to summoning reinforcements, you are leagues behind, you bastard!”

Boom!

Elsewhere in Songjiang Prefecture, Li Jun stood at the base of a colossal crater, lifting a hand to brush away the stray sparks clinging to his shoulder.

He cast his gaze downward at the twisted, mechanical chassis beneath his feet, which had already begun to fuse together under the intense heat, a flicker of confusion and doubt crossing his eyes.

“To think he was a third-rank of the Military Sequence, yet he’s only worth seventy proficiency points? How exactly do the laws governing these points even work?”

“If every single one of them is this worthless, how many eons will it take me to forge so many martial disciplines to their absolute limit?”

Li Jun let out a soft sigh. It was a subtle movement, yet the garments covering his upper torso suddenly disintegrated into fine powder, washed clean away by the cascading rain to reveal a lean, fiercely powerful physique.

“The agents of the Six Strategies have been dealt with. Stripping away those insignificant small-time players, there remains only one of the Nine Kings from the Honghu... Hmph, the background of this Spring and Autumn Society truly is tangled enough.”

Li Jun stepped slowly out of the deep crater, his gaze locking directly onto the southwest.

Within the sensory perimeter of his Enemy-Vanquishing trait, there was no physical trace of any foe. Yet, right beside his ear, a voice spoke with absolute clarity, informing him of exactly where that Honghu agent lay hidden.

“These Confucians truly are a treacherous lot.”

Li Jun muttered under his breath, “You play dirty tricks, I hold hidden hands. On the surface, everyone is perfectly amiable, while beneath the table, we summon armies and move battalions—testing whose hand holds more cards, whose foundation runs deeper. Playing the game by these rules, how could any of these fools hope to outmaneuver Old Man Zhang? It is naught but blind arrogance, teaching a master how to wield his own tools.”

Li Jun grinned broad and fierce as black-and-red lightning erupted with a crashing boom. His silhouette tore through the dense, impenetrable shroud of rain, cleaving open a terrifying, bone-dry void through the storm.

“Little Honghu, stop hiding. I’ve already found you.”