52: Is His Highness a Heavenly Vein? Sadistic Ming Qingda!

Chapter 52: Your Highness is a Celestial Vein Holder? The Abusive Ming Qingda!

The Shadow Guards, who were about to rush up to help, were stopped by Zhao Gao. "Your Highness can handle it completely; don't get in the way."

"If you rush up, Your Highness's Sword Qi will have to avoid you. You overestimate yourselves!"

Xing Yusen looked at the effortlessly skilled Li Chang'an and couldn't help but exclaim.

"A sixteen-year-old Ninth-Rank expert is simply unprecedented and unheard of!"

"Amazing! Only one word can describe Your Highness's marvel!"

The Shadow Guards behind him waited for a long time, and someone couldn't help but ask, "Commander Xing, which word?"

Xing Yusen stared and said, "It's the word 'amazing'! Didn't I just say it!"

"Haitang Duoduo, the closed-door Disciple of Northern Qi's Great Grandmaster Ku He, is also a young Ninth-Rank expert, revered as a Saintess in Northern Qi."

"In recent years, Northern Qi has been saying she is a Celestial Vein Holder. I don't know if it's a publicity stunt or if it's true!"

In the eyes of the people of this world, a Celestial Vein Holder possesses a Bloodline left by the heavens, achieving extraordinary accomplishments in combat or arts.

At this moment, Zhao Gao scornfully said, "What Saintess or Saint! If there truly is a Celestial Vein Holder in this world, it can only be Your Highness."

"You all say that only a Great Grandmaster can release True Qi externally, but look at Your Highness's Sword Qi—isn't it formless and invisible, harming enemies without a trace?"

"Although it's not as powerful as a Great Grandmaster's True Qi, he can release True Qi externally just like a Great Grandmaster."

The Shadow Guards all nodded in agreement. Li Chang'an clearly fit the characteristics of a Celestial Vein Holder better.

In a matter of a few sentences, Li Chang'an had already absorbed all the True Qi from the body of the Eighth-Rank expert.

The Eighth-Rank expert only felt his Dantian was empty, and his originally vast True Qi was completely gone!

Although he was already an Eighth-Rank, his True Qi was gone but his Meridians remained, so he could still cultivate it again, but that would take many years of hard work!

The remaining Seventh-Rank assassins were also dealt with by him, one by one, all killed by his palm.

At this moment, Fan Wujiu had become a man of blood, with over a dozen knife wounds on his body. Fortunately, his vital points were not severely injured.

He looked at the salt field stained red with blood and the more than twenty corpses of experts, his eyes filled with horror.

Such a young Ninth-Rank powerhouse had easily killed over a dozen Seventh-Rank experts, and several of them were high-level Seventh-Rank masters!

Moreover, this person's martial arts were too bizarre; Fan Wujiu had never seen anything like it.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, for saving my life. Fan Wujiu has no way to repay you. If Your Excellency has any commands, as long as they are not evil, I will go through fire and water without hesitation."

Li Chang'an said to the Shadow Guards who had caught up, "First, stop his bleeding."

The Shadow Guards applied medicine to Fan Wujiu to stop the bleeding, and Li Chang'an then asked, "Are you Fan Jin, the failed scholar who caused a ruckus in Suzhou?"

Fan Wujiu gave a bitter laugh and said, "Now I am Fan Wujiu, the Life-Snatching Scholar, a wanted criminal on Jiangnan Road."

Li Chang'an said, "How many salt merchants who used fraud to get their children into office have you killed?"

Fan Wujiu smiled with satisfaction, "Including the one surnamed Liu, I've killed four. Two are still alive."

"I killed them, which can be considered as venting some anger for the Suzhou examinees!"

Li Chang'an, however, shook his head and said, "Your vision is too narrow. Guo Zheng is still alive, and he's doing very well."

Fan Wujiu gritted his teeth and said, "The capital is a heavily guarded area, full of experts. My identity would be discovered soon after entering the city."

Li Chang'an said, "I have a way for you to regain a legitimate identity, but you must work for me."

Fan Wujiu had some Jianghu experience and had seen Li Chang'an's unfathomable skills, so he was already somewhat moved.

"Young Master, what do you want me to do?"

Li Chang'an said, "On the fifteenth of this month, come to Tianqiong Mountain Villa outside the city. I won't wait if you're late."

After speaking, Li Chang'an led the Shadow Guards, escorting the Eighth-Rank expert who had lost all his martial arts, and left the salt field.

Fan Wujiu knew that Suzhou's Tianqiong Mountain Villa was a famous wealthy merchant's villa in the city. It seemed this Young Master was a man of wealth.

Since there was an opportunity to clear his name, he should seize the time to kill the remaining two salt merchants first!

If this Young Master could help him clear his name and re-enter the imperial examinations, it wouldn't be impossible!

Li Chang'an and his group arrived at a secluded spot in the woods, where Xing Yusen began to interrogate the expert from the Jiangnan Water Fortress.

"Who exactly is your superior? You'd best explain it clearly!"

The man, having lost all his martial arts, was very cooperative. "This humble one is from the Jiangnan Water Fortress. This time, half of our leaders were brought out, and I never expected to be no match for Young Master alone!"

As he spoke, he began to kowtow frantically to Li Chang'an. "Young Master's martial arts are unparalleled. This humble one is filled with utmost admiration and hopes Young Master will spare my life."

"The failed examinee Fan Jin, who is the Life-Snatching Scholar Fan Wujiu from earlier, is a thorn in the side of the Jiangnan Road salt merchants!"

"The salt merchants were terrified of being killed, especially those who had bribed the examiners, so they hired the Jiangnan Water Fortress with heavy rewards."

Li Chang'an asked, "With these twenty people dead, what is the cultivation level of those remaining in your Stockades?"

The man replied, "The Stockades Master's Junior Martial Uncle, the Old Guardian, is a high-level Ninth-Rank expert, renowned in the Jianghu of Jiangnan Road."

"Among the Stockades Master and other leaders, there are three Eighth-Ranks, over thirty Seventh-Ranks, and more than two hundred brothers below Seventh-Rank."

The nine Shadow Guards led by Xing Yusen were all Eighth-Rank, and with Zhao Gao, who was invincible below a Great Grandmaster, it would be no problem to wipe out these Stockades.

According to the Net's intelligence, Ming Qingcheng, the illegitimate son of the Ming Family, had once appeared nearby and was pursued by the Jiangnan Water Fortress.

In the original timeline, Ming Qingcheng eventually joined the Jiangnan Water Fortress, changed his surname to Xia Qifei after his mother, and successfully inherited the position of Stockades Master.

Because of his deep-seated hatred for the Ming Family, he eventually succeeded in his revenge with Fan Xian's support and managed the Ming Family on Fan Xian's behalf.

Li Chang'an valued not only Xia Qifei's identity as an illegitimate son of the Ming Family, who could help control the Imperial Treasury in the future, but also the Jiangnan Water Fortress itself.

The Jiangnan Water Fortress was similar to Liangshan Po in 'Water Margin', engaging in the business of banditry without capital.

This kind of hidden and dangerous place, easy to defend and difficult to attack, was a good place for gathering rebels and a Holy Land for raising soldiers.

After subduing Xia Qifei, he could secretly raise an elite force here, capable of training both infantry and naval forces.

"Was the Ming Family's Seventh Young Master captured by you?"

Upon hearing 'Ming Family's Seventh Young Master', the man immediately nodded frantically. "Actually, the Stockades Master and the Ming Family don't get along either; we've intercepted Ming Family goods before, so there's a feud!"

"But the Ming Family's Eldest Young Master, Ming Qingda, offered a lot—a full fifty thousand taels of gold—for Ming Qingcheng's head!"

"We mobilized dozens of skilled men and finally captured that kid. He's currently in the Stockades' dungeon."

"But that kid is a tough nut. There are neat and dense marks of knives and axes all over his body, which even the Stockades Master and the Old Guardian winced at."

Li Chang'an curled his lips, knowing that those injuries were from the abuse Ming Qingda, his elder brother, had inflicted on him since childhood.

Li Chang'an still had a vivid impression of the Ming Family's perverse sadistic tendencies, especially towards an illegitimate son like Ming Qingcheng.

"So, your Stockades Master has already considered taking him as a Disciple?"

The man looked at Li Chang'an in surprise. "Young Master is truly a Divine Being! The Ming Family's Seventh Young Master has excellent bone structure, spirit, and toughness. The Old Stockades Master admires him greatly."

"Currently, the Old Guardian still doesn't quite agree. He says that people from wealthy families will eventually accept amnesty and won't be loyal to the Stockades."

It seems Ming Qingcheng's matter cannot be delayed. He must be intercepted and subdued immediately, then secretly developed in Jiangnan.

"Alright, no more questions. Let him lead the way. We'll wipe out these Stockades tonight."

According to Emperor Qing's Martial Pacification Edict, eliminating Jianghu experts who did not obey the imperial court, Li Chang'an's actions could be considered sanctioned killings.

That night.

Led by the captive, Li Chang'an and his group took a small boat and found the Jiangnan Water Fortress amidst the dense network of waterways.

Just as they were about to land, they encountered a patrolling Water Fortress boat head-on.

"People on the boat, listen! You are surrounded! Immediately drop your weapons and submit to inspection!"

Hearing this, Xing Yusen bristled. "They're stealing my lines!"

"Water bandits on the boat, listen! You are surrounded!"

"Drop your weapons and release the hostages! This is your only way out!"