Chapter 440: Tax Silver Robbery Case

Chapter 440: The Robbery of Tax Silver

Zhao Changhe arrived at the town at the foot of the mountain to stay for the night.

Looking around, almost everyone possessed a basic foundation of body tempering and was generally robust, though it was merely at the level of a gym enthusiast, as martial talent and skeletal potential were not things everyone could have.

Another significant constraint was nutrition.

Literature is for the poor, but martial arts are for the rich. Those inducted into the mountain gates of grand sects obviously enjoyed a better supply of nutrition, while those left outside the walls could only fend for themselves; in today's world, it was hard enough for ordinary people to eat their fill, making it highly difficult to provide the sustenance required for martial arts.

Because this area was the domain of the Divine Brilliance Sect, it was relatively affluent overall, not because the land was fertile, but purely because the government did not dare to over-extort here.

As long as things were not disrupted by chaotic meddling, the industrious populace could sustain themselves.

Zhao Changhe thoroughly enjoyed three large bowls of pork rice noodles at the inn, feeling they tasted far better than the nameless delicacies Zhai Muzhi had treated him to.

By the time he finished dinner, the sky had turned dark; standing in the courtyard and looking out, he sensed a faint hint of austerity in the small town, and if he strained his hearing, he could vaguely catch the sound of a large contingent of men and horses gathering at the distant foot of the mountain, echoing indistinctly beneath the night shroud.

This sort of commotion made Zhao Changhe a bit sensitive; having frequently navigated wars since his transmigration, he was highly familiar with this, and with eighty to ninety percent certainty, he could determine that a battle was imminent.

This was not an invasion, but an internal gathering—were they going to strike someone else?

Yet looking around the inn, everyone from the owner to the waiter wore an expression of complete ignorance.

Li Shentong had said that most of the businesses in the town at the foot of the mountain belonged to them.

Zhao Changhe held a stone lock in the courtyard while maintaining a horse stance, but the more he held it, the more restless he became, a curious itch scratching at his heart.

The Divine Brilliance Sect did not seem like a band of brigands, so whether it was a gang war or a town feud, it seemed he ought to offer a little help?

Zhao Changhe put down the stone lock, slipped out of the town under the cover of night, and quietly followed the direction of the sound.

As expected, he spotted a large troop of men and horses, majestic and strictly disciplined... Zhao Changhe narrowed his eyes slightly, recognizing the elder leading the vanguard as the very person he had brushed past when taking his leave earlier.

As if the army had finished assembling, the elder led the crowd away. Zhao Changhe hesitated for a moment, then quietly trailed behind.

After marching for about an hour, they had already departed from the domain of the Divine Brilliance Sect. However, this region was also a mountain range, surrounded by peaks on all sides, where a troop of government soldiers was carefully escorting large wagons along the mountain path. The shouting of an officer could be heard: "Hurry up, move forward to Emei to rest!"

Before his words could completely fade, thousands of arrows flew simultaneously from the left and right, and the elder led his men to charge and slaughter.

And here he thought it was a gang battle, but they actually dared to rob the government army?

Judging from the fact that Li Si'an dared to choose this route for transport, there were at least no rumors of commoners or merchant travelers being robbed here, otherwise Li Si'an would have mentioned it. That meant they only targeted the government...

Zhao Changhe looked up at the sky in thought, the fear the people of Shu County held for Zhai Muzhi and Li Si'an's words floating into his mind; no longer staying to watch the outcome, he turned directly and departed.

Help the Divine Brilliance Sect? There was no need, as ordinary government troops could not possibly defeat them; his own identity was sensitive, so pretending not to know was help enough. Help Zhai Muzhi? He would rather go home and practice his horse stance, for he was no Wang Daozhong.

He truly hadn't expected it though—Situ Xiao, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, was actually a rebel too. However, the Divine Brilliance Sect had never let such matters leak out before, indicating they used to operate with relative discretion, unlike now where they were becoming increasingly blatant, even doing it at the foot of the mountain so close to their own home.

No wonder Cui Wanzhuang was somewhat evasive about Li Shentong back then... It turned out she had received some clues but couldn't be entirely sure if he was a rebel, worrying that inviting him to fight Maitreya might result in a defection on the battlefield...

But rebels were not all the same... The Four Symbols Sect was also a rebel group, yet she trusted Suzaku quite a bit, didn't she, having fought their way into an emotional bond?

On the mountaintop, Li Shentong stood with his hands behind his back under the moonlight, smiling faintly as he watched the young figure of Zhao Changhe scurry back to sleep.

...

Two days later, Li Si'an's convoy arrived at the town at the foot of the mountain, travel-worn and covered in dust.

The small town was not large, and not long after entering, earth-shattering cheers could be heard echoing from the center.

Li Si'an squeezed through the crowd in utter bewilderment only to see Zhao Changhe, bare-chested and displaying robust muscles, walking back and forth while cradling a massive stone lion that looked to weigh at least five or six hundred catties... Suddenly tossing it upward, he caught it steadily as it fell back down, his face unreddened and his heart unhurried.

The surrounding onlookers cheered as if injected with chicken blood: "Excellent!"

A wave of lively festivity erupted, resembling the Lunar New Year.

Li Si'an tucked his hands into his sleeves, completely speechless: "Brother Zhao, are you performing busking?"

As a grand thirty-seventh on the Ranking of Young Heroes, a hidden-realm martial artist, and the possessor of the Blood Asura Physique, flaunting your strength before a bunch of townsfolk—do you really think you are that impressive?

"I am tempering my body, what do you know." Zhao Changhe set down the stone lion and walked over with a smile: "Now that you're here, shall we have a meal? We leave after eating."

Had it not been to wait for Li Si'an's convoy, Zhao Changhe would likely have fled that very night; anxiously worried about Yue Hongling, how could he have the leisure to stay here idly? Yet he knew that searching by himself was basically hopeless; in the lands beyond the Great Wall, it was sheer luck that allowed them to meet unexpectedly under the circumstances where everyone just happened to be giving the Shanxi merchants trouble, but here, where Yue Hongling was deliberately hiding, how could he find a clue?

He could only wait, for sharpening the axe would not delay the cutting of firewood.

Since he was waiting anyway, there was no harm in training his physique; truth be told, he had never properly tested where the absolute limit of his strength lay, which actually ran counter to the principles of body tempering, but in this atmosphere of universal fitness, he had unexpectedly quickly reclaimed the proper demeanor of a body-tempering martial artist.

The townsfolk very enthusiastically invited Li Si'an and his convoy to dine: "Are you friends of Young Hero Zhao? Young Hero Zhao truly lives up to his reputation as a master on the Ranking of Young Heroes; this strength, tsk, I reckon one punch could kill a bull!"

The corner of Li Si'an's mouth twitched: "Masters of internal energy keep a low profile, but one punch from them can kill a bull just the same, so why flaunt physical strength."

"What's so great about that? Just like a woman!" The townsfolk looked at Li Si'an's delicate appearance and instantly lost all interest, scurrying right back to Zhao Changhe's side: "Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao, show us another trick!"

Li Si'an was simply caught between tears and laughter: "Having a lot of fun, aren't you?"

Zhao Changhe put on his clothes: "Wasn't I waiting for you... Come to think of it, I really did forget what body tempering truly means, genuinely treating myself as an internal energy cultivator... These past two days have given me a strong sense of returning to the origin, and I feel my strength has improved a bit."

Li Si'an said speechlessly: "Improved a bit in just two days?"

"It's not a matter of two days, it's that I found a foundation that aligns better with my own cultivation."

Li Si'an still didn't quite understand and said: "The Miao region possesses many peculiar things, perhaps a solution to your meridian issue can be found there as well."

"I hope so; after all, cultivating both the internal and external is the grand path."

"Have you heard? Recently, a batch of tax silver sent by the Pacification Commission was intercepted... Shu County is shaken, and I reckon