106: Challenging Changsheng Village

Across Qingzhou, undercurrents stirred.

Three hundred Black Armor Guards, like a torrent of steel, rolled along the official road. The thunderous sound of hooves rumbled, making the ground tremble slightly.

They bypassed the Prefecture City and headed straight for Chang Sheng Village.

At the forefront, Ministry of War Vice Minister Wang Chongfa, clad in dark armor with an imperial golden saber at his waist, had a face as grim as iron.

"My Lord, Chang Sheng Village is just ahead," the adjutant whispered. "Scouts report that this is Lord Chuping's lair, and the Shen Family brothers are also here."

According to the Prime Minister's plan, they had full authority to handle matters here, but the lives of the Shen Family brothers must be spared. Ideally, the Shen Family should owe them a favor.

A debt of gratitude is the hardest to repay, especially one owed to the Prime Minister. It would be impossible to repay without completely draining the Shen Family of their resources.

Wang Chongfa sneered, cracked his horsewhip, and ordered, "All troops, accelerate! Into the village!"

This Qingzhou was now a treasure land. Since it was a treasure land, it was a pity to let these country bumpkins occupy it.

Indeed, no one believed that the so-called Lord Chuping was a deity. The Great Yan Dynasty had been established for five hundred years; if there truly were deities, how could the imperial court not know?

It was merely some villagers who had allied with demons, and these demons could only hide within clay statues, concealing their true forms. What was there to fear?

More importantly, they had already thoroughly investigated: although this Lord Chuping could command lightning, that lightning could not harm people.

This was their confidence in boldly entering Qingzhou. No matter what heaven-shaking abilities he possessed, in their eyes, it was nothing more than a farce.

If Lin Chuping knew what these people were thinking, he would probably laugh his head off.

It was like crows seeing pigs as black. These people worshipped a fake Fox Immortal, a true fox demon, as a True God, and then assumed Lin Chuping was also a demon in disguise. It was truly laughable.

"Oh no!"

"Oh no, the imperial soldiers are here!"

Wang Houshi, who was herding cattle at the village entrance, had just felt the ground shake. He thought it was a monster attacking the village, but when he looked up, he saw a dark mass of cavalry, like a black storm, rushing towards the village.

All these cavalrymen were clad in black armor, moving like flowing cold iron, exuding a chilling Aura.

Wherever they passed, they raised a cloud of dust.

The soaring Aura, mixed with intense hostility, assaulted him. Four words instantly surged in Wang Houshi's mind—they mean trouble.

Run!

"Run! Quickly!"

Wang Houshi ran desperately towards the village, shouting at the top of his lungs, as if he were being chased not by imperial soldiers, but by man-eating beasts.

The word 'war' was a nightmare for the common people.

Even though they had begun to Cultivate, their fear of imperial soldiers seemed to be ingrained in their bones. Their first reaction upon seeing imperial soldiers was—flee!

The farther, the better.

In his urgency, Wang Houshi's voice unconsciously carried a hint of spiritual power, instantly echoing over Chang Sheng Village and Nan Shu Village.

Chang Sheng Village and Nan Shu Village immediately erupted into chaos.

"Imperial soldiers? What imperial soldiers? Why would there be imperial soldiers here?"

"What do we do? Why did the imperial soldiers suddenly come?"

A young woman tightly clutched the child in her arms, her voice trembling, her eyes filled with panic.

"Our lives have just started to get better, why are the imperial government people here?"

"Why bother with so many questions? Just run!"

As they spoke, all the able-bodied men hid, leaving only some elderly, weak, and infirm people to tremblingly come out to greet them.

Customarily, when imperial soldiers entered a village, there was a high probability they were there to conscript able-bodied men.

Every year, the imperial government needed many, many cannon fodder for the front lines, or some were directly used as bargaining chips to protect the privileged lives of aristocratic families.

When Wang Chongfa led the three hundred Black Armor Guards, like wolves and tigers, into Chang Sheng Village, they were met by all the elderly, weak, and infirm of the village.

Under the deterrence of the imperial soldiers, they knelt on the ground, trembling, not daring to raise their heads.

"Which one of you is the village chief?" Wang Chongfa, astride his tall horse, scanned the trembling commoners with piercing eyes and demanded loudly.

Li Fu stood at the very front of the crowd, his body hunched, his voice trembling.

"Re-replying... replying to My Lord, this old man is... is the village chief of Chang Sheng Village."

Wang Chongfa sneered, looking down at the village chief from his elevated position.

"This official is Wang Chongfa, the Ministry of War Vice Minister. The imperial court received a report that your village is colluding with demons, and has ordered us to come and eradicate evil!"

Upon hearing this, Li Fu's face instantly turned pale with fright.

"My Lord, please be clear, there must be some misunderstanding! We, the villagers of Chang Sheng Village, are all law-abiding people. How would we dare to collude with demons?"

Wang Chongfa raised an eyebrow, sharply cracked his horsewhip, producing a crisp sound.

"Misunderstanding?"

"Without evidence, would this official make groundless accusations? You all stop quibbling! Hand over the clay statue of Lord Chuping and all items related to demons immediately, otherwise, do not blame this official for being impolite!"

"My Lord, Lord Chuping... he is kind-hearted and protects our village's peace. He is definitely not a demon!" Li Fu said with a trembling voice, attempting to explain.

Wang Chongfa frowned, impatiently interrupting, "Hmph, kind-hearted? Protecting peace? That's merely a trick to deceive you! This official will expose his true colors today and restore order to Qingzhou!"

With that, he waved his hand, signaling the Black Armor Guards to begin searching the village.

The Black Armor Guards scattered like wolves and tigers, rummaging through houses and searching everywhere in the village.

The villagers dared not speak of their anger, only watched helplessly as their homes were trampled.

Among the crowd, Shen Jianhong watched the fierce Black Armor Guards, his brows furrowed tightly, his right hand pressed on the hilt of his waist-saber, his knuckles white from the force.

These imperial soldiers clearly intended to make an issue out of Lord Chuping.

They were poking the tiger's head, tired of living.

"Big Brother, aren't we going out to stop them?"

"Wait a little longer!"

The Black Armor Guards had arrived too quickly. The matter of having the emperor personally come to Qingzhou to offer sacrifices had only just been decided.

There hadn't been time to report it to the capital yet.

This feeling of frustration made Shen Jianhong frantic.

This Wang Chongfa, he didn't know where he got the courage to regard Lord Chuping as an evil demon. He was truly ignorant and ridiculous.

Shen Jianhong looked at the white fox on Wang Chongfa's shoulder with even more disdain.

He actually brought this beast with him.

The Black Armor Guards turned the village upside down but couldn't even find a shadow of Lord Chuping's clay statue, let alone any items related to demons.

They only found large quantities of incense and candles.

Wang Chongfa's face was so grim it could drip water. Just as he was about to order the villagers arrested for torture and interrogation, he saw the white fox on his shoulder slowly raise its front paw, pointing towards the direction of the back mountain.

"Lord Fox Immortal, are you saying that evil entity is on the mountain?"

Wang Chongfa looked in the direction the white fox pointed. The back mountain was shrouded in mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

"What a good place to hide filth!" Wang Chongfa thought to himself, then waved his hand and commanded, "All units, follow this official to that mountain!"