Chapter 199 - 149: Beginner’s Qi Sensitivity?
In Sanshui County, inside the residence Wang Teng had rented.
Fang Yue slowly retracted his fist, not even sparing a glance for Lin San as he crumpled to the ground.
A quarter of an hour later, inside the room.
Fang Yue had already searched the entire residence, inside and out.
By the flickering lamplight.
’I can’t believe it. Wang Teng’s crew actually managed to kill a few bandit leaders.’
Fang Yue examined the five severed heads before him. Upon closer inspection of their features, he discovered that two of them were the eighth and ninth-ranked leaders of Tenglong Stronghold.
As for the other three, while they weren’t on the official ranking list, they were definitely Marrow Transformer Martial Artists.
’So it seems Wang Teng and his men didn’t do too badly for themselves.’
Of course, besides the heads, there were also some silver banknotes and other valuables.
Some of it likely belonged to Wang Teng, while the rest was probably looted from the bandits.
When all was said and done, it totaled seven or eight thousand taels of silver.
Combined with what he’d earned before...
This one trip had netted him over ten thousand taels of silver. It was faster and more profitable than his tea business.
At this thought, Fang Yue couldn’t help but sigh. ’It’s true what they say: no man gets rich without a windfall.’
~~~~~~~
Night.
For Sanshui County, it was destined to be a sleepless night.
At least for the dozen or so Martial Scholars who had scrambled back in disgrace, it seemed this Prefecture Examination was yet another failure.
Inside a tavern.
"Sigh... I never would have thought a mere bandit stronghold could be so powerful. They completely routed so many of us Martial Scholars. Looks like there’s no hope for this Prefecture Examination."
"Forget the Prefecture Examination! If we hadn’t run for our lives, we’d all be dead by now."
"Sigh... I’m almost forty," the Martial Scholar who had spoken earlier lamented. "After this year, I’m afraid all hope will be lost."
"Enough. Let’s not talk about it. Drink."
The few disheveled Martial Scholars gathered there, their faces grim, drinking in sullen silence and sighing periodically.
They had all arrived full of excitement, thinking their greatest rivals would be the other Martial Scholars. They never imagined the roles of hunter and prey would be so completely reversed.
"It’s all that Wang Teng’s fault. If it weren’t for his incompetence, we wouldn’t have ended up with nothing."
"Watch your tongue! You can’t just say things like that. Be careful Eldest Young Master Wang doesn’t hear you."
As it turned out, these Martial Scholars were among those who had broken through the encirclement with Wang Teng earlier that day.
The only reason they had followed Wang Teng in the first place was his promise that he would ensure they all passed the Prefecture Examination.
But now, they had returned in disgrace, and Wang Teng had taken all the spoils.
Those who had joined his group along the way were left with nothing; they had even been forced to hand over the few trophies they’d already collected.
It was all done under the nice-sounding pretext of "distributing rewards based on merit later."
An indeterminate amount of time passed, and the night deepened.
The Martial Scholars finally stumbled back to their lodgings.
However, just as they reached the entrance, they discovered several black bundles piled at the gate of their rented courtyard.
A few of them moved closer, and the faint smell of blood hit their noses.
One of them opened a bundle. Whatever he whispered to the others, all signs of their drunkenness vanished in an instant.
Then, looking as guilty as thieves, they hurriedly gathered up the black bundles.
’Consider yourselves lucky.’
Fang Yue witnessed this scene, let out a cold snort, and turned to leave.
’These bandit heads could be taken to the Prefecture City and exchanged for credit, which would raise my ranking in the Prefecture Examination. But too many people followed Wang Teng. If I turn in these heads now, I’ll immediately fall under suspicion.’
’Wang Teng died here; there’s no way to keep that a secret.’
’So I can’t take these heads.’
’Giving them to these guys, on the other hand, can create a useful diversion.’
His task complete, Fang Yue turned and vanished into the vast darkness of the night.
~~~~~~~
「Three days later.」
Shanyang Prefecture City.
By now, the entirety of Shanyang Prefecture was in an uproar.
The great Noble Families had all gathered at the Government Office.
Over the past two days, more than a dozen Martial Scholars had straggled back to the Prefecture City in disgrace. Naturally, word of what happened at Tenglong Stronghold began to spread.
Rumors spread that in just a day or two, many of the Martial Scholars participating in the Prefecture Examination had suffered heavy casualties. Several of the dead were even heirs to the city’s most powerful families.
How could these families possibly sit idly by under such circumstances?
They immediately used every resource at their disposal, and it wasn’t long before they confirmed the stories were true.
And so, the very same powerful families who had previously complained about the Prefecture Examination—arguing that exterminating bandits was an inappropriate measure of a candidate’s rank—promptly changed their tune. They all converged on the Government Office.
They had come for one purpose: to pressure Shanyang Prefecture’s Mansion Master, Zhu Quan, into dispatching the elite Guard Army of the Prefecture City to the Boundary Mountain in Sanshui County to annihilate Tenglong Stronghold.
But no matter how much these people clamored, Zhu Quan refused to show his face. These powerful magnates, accustomed to getting their way in Shanyang Prefecture, could do nothing but vent their frustrations.
Meanwhile.
In the back courtyard of the Government Office.
"Oh, is that so? The strength of this Blood Dragon Platform is truly something else."
Zhu Quan read the report in his hand. Since he was the one who had sent these Martial Scholars to exterminate Tenglong Stronghold, he had of course not left things entirely to chance. The Government Office had dispatched covert observers to follow them and report back with timely details.
"These Martial Scholars are far too arrogant and utterly undisciplined. Fighting on their own like that, they were easily picked off one by one. Their deaths were not unjust."
The description in this report was far more detailed than what others in Shanyang Prefecture knew.
It detailed everything, from the moment the Martial Scholars participating in this final test entered the Boundary Mountain region, to the final, night-long battle.