The fate of Shanan City lay in the temple's hands, so Lu Changsheng went to the prefectural yamen. There was a group of men inside shaking with faces white as paper. They belonged to the families and factions that had not gotten away in time, and the most conspicuous of them was the prefecture lord of Shanan.

"You... rebels! You've broken into Shanan City. What you're doing is killing officials and rising against the throne! The court will send an army and blow the lot of you to ash... Release me now, and there's still room to turn this around..." The prefecture lord had one last struggle left in him. He wanted to live. Given the choice, who wanted to die? Even though he had already been brought down this low, he still preferred to live.

Lu Changsheng looked down at him and let out a long sigh. "The world is a sea of bitterness and all beings suffer in it. Every man in that sea could have...