Chapter 44

Chapter 44

While Xie Licheng left the pocket world to go find the prefect, on the other side, the prefect was also with his men, desperately searching for him and the Gu family.

The day Xie Licheng showed up, he took Elder Master Gu and his three kids away.

Many people witnessed Xie Licheng leading them into a room.

But when they set the fire to smoke them out, only Xie Licheng came out.

The prefect's men later searched the room, but the four members of the Gu family were nowhere to be found.

They'd also checked—there was nowhere in the room to hide.

The prefect had been brooding over this the whole time. They'd made such a big fuss specifically to find the secret room in the Gu mansion.

But not only had they failed to find the secret room, they hadn't even silenced all the Gu family members they needed to kill.

Whenever he thought about how he hadn't finished the task that person gave him, he felt both scared and frantic.

If only he'd known the Gu family had such a troublesome guy hidden away, he should've framed them before the chaos started. Then the government could've legally seized their property. It wouldn't have come to this—losing so many men and getting so little out of it.

While the prefect was secretly kicking himself, Secretary Liu came rushing in with his men to find him.

"Sir, sir, it's bad! The city's been breached! Looks like we can't stay in the city anymore—there are too many rebels."

The prefect glanced at Secretary Liu and said with displeasure, "Why are you panicking? We've got a secret tunnel. Even if they do attack, we can still get out fine."

"Then... what's your plan, sir?"

"Keep looking. I've got to find those Gu family members."

Especially that groom. He refused to believe one man could take on so many of them.

When the time comes, they'll all jump him at once. Even if they can't kill him, they'll wear him out.

"Got it, sir. I'll have the men keep searching right away."

Actually, they'd seen Xie Licheng these past few days, but because every time they ran into him, they took heavy losses, many of the constables pretended not to see him whenever they did.

They had no choice. They couldn't beat him in a fight, and as for cursing him out... he never even gave them the chance. He'd just attack and kill at the slightest provocation—a total outlaw with no respect for the law.

It wasn't just them who feared that groom—even the bandits were scared stiff when they saw him.

So every time they ran into Xie Licheng, it was a total joke.

They'd act like they were blind, completely ignoring Xie Licheng.

And conveniently, sometimes Xie Licheng didn't have the energy to spare. Seeing how cooperative they were, he wouldn't bother chasing them.

Now that they'd been ordered to find the Gu family, the group couldn't help but feel frustrated and helpless.

The Gu family had clearly been taken away by Xie Licheng. To find them, they'd have to face him.

They couldn't beat him, and he wouldn't just tell them where the Gu family was. This task was a dead end.

Just as the constables were racking their brains, a familiar tall figure appeared in front of them—the very horse slave their master was looking for.

Xie Licheng glanced at them and asked, "Where's your prefect?"

The constables all looked up, then turned and scattered in every direction.

Xie Licheng only needed one person to show the way, so he casually grabbed the nearest constable.

That constable watched his buddies scatter and couldn't help but turn back with a pitiful look. "Um, Hero, good sir, let's talk this over."

Xie Licheng smiled at that. "Don't worry. As long as you take me to him, I'll let you go immediately."

Xie Licheng didn't recognize him—this poor guy he'd grabbed was the same constable who'd led the way for him at the Gu estate that night.

He knew Xie Licheng would keep his word, so he wasn't as scared anymore.

He gestured for Xie Licheng to let him go first, swearing he wouldn't dare run now. Xie Licheng actually let him go.

The constable's feet hit the ground again, and he led the way.

He didn't want to betray the prefect, but under the circumstances, he had no choice.

If he didn't lead the way, judging by the man's attitude, he'd definitely kill him.

As for what would happen if the prefect found out he'd guided Xie Licheng?

He couldn't worry about that now. Worst case, he'd just run away afterward.

Anyway, from the looks of it, the prefect wouldn't have time to deal with him.

Because this troublesome groom had come knocking, the prefect and his men were definitely going to be busy.

With someone to lead the way, finding people was much easier for Xie Licheng.

This young constable wasn't just cooperative—he was also very thoughtful along the way.

He was like an enthusiastic tour guide, giving introductions as they walked.

"This is where our brothers stay. We've all been living here the past few days."

"This area is where those bandits stay. Their leaders were all killed by you, so now they've got no choice but to follow our master."

"And over there—that courtyard has some beauties. Some came willingly to serve the master, some are from brothels, and quite a few were kidnapped..."

Xie Licheng glanced at him. "You seem to know a lot."

"Of course. Among my brothers, I'm pretty well-regarded by the master."

"Hmph. Then aren't you afraid he'll kill you for betraying him?"

"Not afraid. Now that you're here, Hero, the master won't have time to deal with me."

In fact, he wasn't wrong at all. When the prefect heard Xie Licheng had come looking for him, his first instinct was to run.

He valued his life a lot, even if he thought he had plenty of men.

If it really came to a fight, they might not necessarily lose.

But to be safe, and to make sure he stayed alive, he still planned to run first.

Besides, hadn't Secretary Liu said Lingzhou City had already fallen?

This place would likely be taken over soon. Since they couldn't stay here much longer anyway, they might as well run for it now.

What the Prefect of Lingzhou hadn't counted on was that, because Xie Licheng had been brought in by someone, the guy quickly tracked down his courtyard.

Turns out, this was the first time the Prefect and Xie Licheng had met.

This horse groom Xie Licheng was even taller than the Prefect had imagined.

The guy was actually pretty good-looking, but with all that murderous energy radiating off him, you'd totally miss how he looked and just think he was scary as hell.

Xie Licheng looked at the somewhat sleazy middle-aged man before him, having a hard time believing this creep was really the Prefect.

He frowned a little and asked, sounding unsure, "You... are the Prefect of Lingzhou?"

Xie Licheng was kind of face-blind, especially when faced with people of ordinary appearance—he'd easily get their faces mixed up.

The Prefect wasn't in his official robes right now. If it weren't for his fancy-ass clothes, he'd honestly be about as memorable as dirt on the ground.

The Prefect's eyes darted around, and he blurted out, "You got the wrong guy. I'm just a regular rich merchant, not some Prefect."

Seeing him deny it, Xie Licheng smirked and said, "Whether you're a Prefect or a wealthy merchant, anyone holed up in a place like this sure as hell ain't a good person."

With that, Xie Licheng pulled out his miao dao one-handed.

The second he saw Xie Licheng draw his blade, the Prefect quickly hid behind one of the yamen runners.

That runner looked helpless, but since his boss was yanking on him, he had no choice but to brace himself and face Xie Licheng.

The Prefect said, "Easy, easy, pal. Don't do anything hasty."

His guys hadn't shown up yet, and there were only a few runners here. He planned to stall for some time, and once all his people had gathered, they could deal with Xie Licheng together.

Xie Licheng wasn't one for wasting words. The only reason he hadn't killed the guy on the spot was that he still had something to ask him.

"You're an official of the Great Zhou, so why'd you use the chaos to slaughter the folks of Lingzhou? You've teamed up with those bandits—this can't just be about money and grain. Who's backing you?"

The Prefect wasn't about to answer all that. Hearing that, he tried to blow him off.

Prefect: "Backing me? I have no idea what you're talking about. We went after the Gu family 'cause everyone in Lingzhou knows they're loaded. We were just after their dough, trying to cash in while Lingzhou was in chaos."

Xie Licheng sneered, "Looks like you won't talk until you bleed a little."

Hearing that, the Prefect immediately yelled, "You wouldn't dare?! I—I am an Imperial Official!"

"Oh, now you remember you're an Imperial Official? Is this what an Imperial Official does—siding with bandits to burn, kill, and rob the people you're supposed to protect?"

Xie Licheng had always said he wasn't a good man, but even he wasn't as shameless as this prick. He had no idea how this guy could call himself an official of the Great Zhou with a straight face.

"But... you still can't kill me. As long as I'm still the Prefect of Lingzhou, a nobody horse slave like you can't kill me!"

Xie Licheng let out a mocking laugh. "Oh, yeah?"

With that, Xie Licheng swung his blade, cutting down the runner in front of him too.

Just then, Secretary Liu finally came rushing back, and the second he got there, he walked in on that crazy scene.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Stop! Stop!!"

But Xie Licheng wasn't about to take orders from him. The long blade chopped off one of the runner's arms and also slashed the shoulder of the Prefect cowering behind him.

The delicate little Prefect had never been through anything like this.

Tears and snot were running down his face as he clutched his wound and screamed at everyone around him.

"Waaah... are you all stupid? Why aren't you charging in? Kill this criminal slave! I'm ordering you to kill him!"

The group that had shown up exchanged glances, then charged at Xie Licheng all at once.

They figured that with this many of them, even if this horse slave had some skills, there was no way he could kill all of them, right?

But they quickly realized the guy they were facing wasn't even human.

A normal person might take on three, five, even ten guys.

But this guy was taking on dozens of them by himself.

Some of their guys were even hiding in the shadows, taking potshots at him with bows.

But even then, they still couldn't take him down.

When they saw their buddies dropping one after another, they started to think the guy they were up against might not be human.

A few guys who were just going through the motions stopped fighting altogether.

Especially when they realized that while they'd been busting their asses, the Prefect had already taken off with his men—they all deflated like popped balloons.

Seeing them cower, Xie Licheng flicked the blood off his miao dao and said, "As long as you stay out of my way, I won't kill you."

The few guys blocking Xie Licheng's path traded glances and reluctantly shuffled out of the way.

Xie Licheng ignored them and took off after the Prefect.

Xie Licheng wasn't exactly hurrying, but with those long legs of his, he covered ground way faster than a normal person.

The Prefect had bolted without grabbing anything, not even his own wife and kids.

As Xie Licheng chased after him, he ran into the Prefect's family and kids first.

The second they saw Xie Licheng drenched in blood, they all started screaming their heads off.

Xie Licheng just glanced at them, finding their reaction pretty damn funny.

He blew them off, only wanting to catch the Prefect and grill him properly. As for everyone else, he couldn't care less.

Xie Licheng quickly caught up to the Prefect, who only had two guards with him. These two guards were something else—their skills were clearly way above those of the runners and bandits.

Xie Licheng had to put in a bit more work to kill them. By the time he'd cut down both guards, the Prefect had already opened a secret passage and was scrambling into it.

Xie Licheng followed at a leisurely pace, curious where this secret passage led.

Xie Licheng trailed lazily behind while the Prefect stumbled ahead in a panic.

The two of them moved one after the other, just four or five steps apart.

Then, as the Prefect ran, he faked a trip, but really, as he fell, he hit a mechanism in the passage.

Xie Licheng, following too carelessly and caught off guard, accidentally dropped through a trapdoor.

Seeing him fall, the Prefect let out an excited yell.

He quickly turned around, dying to see if the horse slave who'd fallen into the trap was dead.

Then, before he could even lean over to look down, a large hand shot out from below, grabbed his neck, and yanked him down.

At this moment, Xie Licheng braced himself against the wall with his legs, looking down with a look of pity.

The trap had indeed startled him, but thinking it could kill him was a bit of a stretch.

The passage was narrow, and the pit below was equally small. A tall guy like Xie Licheng could easily brace his legs or hands against the walls to stop his fall.

Plus, he had his own personal world—if worst came to worst, he could just duck into it. And when he came out, he could bring stuff to cushion his fall and avoid a deadly landing.

Besides, his defense was maxed out at 100, so even if he did slip and fall, the blades below wouldn't kill him—it'd just sting a bit on impact.

Xie Licheng didn't bother climbing down to check if the guy was dead; at that depth, even if he wasn't dead yet, he wasn't going to make it.

Thanks to his long limbs, he easily climbed back up, then crouched at the edge and peeked down again.

Tsk, tsk, what a nasty way to go.

With that thought, he got to his feet and gave his limbs a quick stretch.

Then he kept walking slowly, curious where the passage would lead and keeping an eye out for any other traps.

He had no idea how long he walked, but when he finally emerged from the passage, he found himself in a small courtyard.

The courtyard sat just outside Lingzhou City and looked like any ordinary little yard.

When Xie Licheng stepped out, he ran into two yamen guards posted there.

Seeing the passage door open, they figured their boss was back, but when they rushed over, they came face-to-face with Xie Licheng instead.

Xie Licheng took them out quickly, then started wandering around the small courtyard.

The yard had four rooms, and there was a stable with two horses inside.

Xie Licheng checked out the stable, found the two horses in pretty good shape, and decided to take them.

Horses were a key mode of transport back then, and since Xie Licheng's personal world was also ancient, good horses were in high demand.

After taking the two fine horses, Xie Licheng opened and inspected all four rooms in the courtyard.

The rooms stored a considerable amount of grain, and Xie Licheng didn't stand on ceremony with the prefect—he simply collected all of it.

After grabbing the grain, he figured there had to be more stashed away, so he started combing the courtyard more carefully.

At that moment, he regretted being too quick in killing those two guards. If he hadn't killed them, he could have had them help him search, saving himself all this effort.