The sky had just begun to lighten when Liu Wenyuan finally met the person he had been waiting for.
Bai Shuangshuang walked at the front, with County Magistrate Shen Mingyuan by her side.
Behind them followed the Prince’s Mansion elite guards and the county government office constables, a dense black mass stretching from the entrance of the County Deputy’s Mansion all the way to the street corner.
Bai Shuangshuang had met with those clan patriarchs last night, and now she understood the situation.
Shen Mingyuan’s strides were noticeably longer than usual, and his back was straighter.
He was a county magistrate personally appointed by the Prince, yet he had been sidelined in Lingxi County for three years.
For three years, the memorials he submitted disappeared without a trace, the men he sent out were beaten back, and not a single thing he wanted to do got accomplished.
He thought he would rot away in this godforsaken place for the rest of his life.
Now he knew: the Prince’s Mansion had not forgotten him.
He turned his head to glance at Bai Shuangshuang.
When this young girl first arrived in Lingxi County, he had thought she was just another arrogant little thing who got a taste of power and lost her head, someone who would make a ruckus, settle a personal grudge, and then leave.
He never expected she would even fool him.
At the feast in the bustling market, his indifferent, detached attitude had become the crucial link that made Liu Wenyuan lower his guard.
Shen Mingyuan sighed inwardly.
‘These young people nowadays… Are they all this formidable?’
When Liu Wenyuan was led out of the study under escort by the guards, his robes were wrinkled, his hair was disheveled, a world apart from the arrogant county deputy of yesterday.
He was shoved out the door, loaded onto a prison cart, and taken all the way out of the city.
The cart traveled further and further into the outskirts.
The official road turned into a dirt path, and the dirt path turned into a wild trail.
The trees on both sides grew thicker, blocking out the sky and the sun, so much so that even sunlight couldn’t filter through.
Liu Wenyuan’s complexion gradually changed.
He recognized this road.
He would know it even with his eyes closed.
He had traveled it once a month for over ten years.
The cart stopped in front of a hillside.
Bai Shuangshuang dismounted, walked before a patch of seemingly ordinary shrubbery, and looked back at several guards behind her.
“This is it!”
The cultivator from the Flying Immortal Platform stepped forward, stood before the shrubbery, formed hand seals, and his spiritual power surged.
The ground beneath their feet began to tremble.
The shrubbery twisted and swayed like a reflection on water, then was pulled aside like a curtain.
A stone gate was revealed.
Heavy, cold, devoid of any ornamentation, the stone gate was embedded in the hillside, merging seamlessly with the mountain itself.
Several yellowed talismans were pasted at the seams of the door, their spiritual light already dim, but they were identifiable as some kind of Illusion Technique.
No wonder the Prince’s Mansion had sent people down twice before to investigate and found nothing.
Liu Wenyuan had hired cultivators to set up Illusion Techniques; how could mortal eyes possibly see through them?
Bai Shuangshuang glanced at the cultivators.
They nodded, then combined their efforts to push the stone door open.
A damp, musty air surged out from the cellar, mingled with the unique fragrance of Spirit Rice and the astringent mineral scent of Spirit Stones.
Torches were thrust inside, illuminating the full extent of the cellar.
It was absolutely packed.
Spirit Rice was piled up like small mountains, golden and gleaming, radiating a gentle luster in the firelight.
Spirit Stones were stacked neatly, layer upon layer, forming an entire wall.
Bai Shuangshuang crouched down, picked up a few grains of Spirit Rice, and rubbed them between her fingertips.
Top-grade goods.
The spiritual energy was well-preserved.
She then picked up a Spirit Stone, weighed it in her hand, and examined its quality against the torchlight.
She turned to look at Liu Wenyuan.
Liu Wenyuan’s legs had already given out.
It took two guards to hold him upright.
His lips trembled as he squeezed out a sentence that couldn’t fool anyone.
“Th-this this this this… Who put all this Spirit Rice and these Spirit Stones in my family’s cellar?”
Bai Shuangshuang stood up and patted the dust off her hands.
“So you admit this is your family’s cellar?”
Liu Wenyuan’s face turned a dead man’s pale.
His knees buckled, and his whole body slumped down, too heavy even for the two guards to hold him up.
He sat directly on the ground, as if someone had pulled out his backbone.
“Our family has been farmers for generations…”
His voice trembled, tears and snot smeared across his face.
“We were terrified of poverty, absolutely terrified… I-I never dared to spend a single piece of this Spirit Rice or these Spirit Stones…”
He cried and cried, his voice growing softer and softer, until it finally dissolved into a mumble of incoherent murmurs.
Bai Shuangshuang glanced at him, then turned to the cultivator behind her.
“Send a message to the Prince. The Pilot Plan was a success. We can begin ‘Closing the Net.’ Before the news spreads, implement it simultaneously in all counties of the Southern Region.”
The cultivator nodded, pulled out a Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman, infused it with spiritual power, and the talisman transformed into a streak of light that vanished into the sky…
—
Noon, the bustling market in Lingxi County
An ocean of people.
Prince’s Mansion guards and county constables had tightly sealed off the inner area, while common citizens crowded the periphery, standing on tiptoes to look inside.
In the very center of the crowd, Liu Mao was tied to a post, a cloth gag in his mouth, his face as white as paper.
He saw his father being brought in too and began struggling desperately, the ropes cutting into his flesh, drawing blood.
Shen Mingyuan stood on the high platform, holding the case files in his hands, his voice loud enough for the entire street to hear.
“Liu Wenyuan and his son Liu Mao are guilty of twelve major crimes, including oppressing the people, forcibly seizing farmland, embezzling Spirit Mines and Spirit Rice, and committing murder and robbery. The evidence is conclusive. According to the law, I hereby sentence—”
His gaze swept across the crowd and stopped on Liu Mao.
“Liu Mao, death by a thousand cuts. Liu Wenyuan will witness the execution. After the execution is complete, he will be beheaded.”
A loud buzz filled Liu Wenyuan’s mind.
He couldn’t hear anything else.
His mouth hung open.
He wanted to shout something, but not a single word came out.
The execution began.
When the first cut was made, Liu Mao screamed.
The cloth gag fell from his mouth, and his cries rang out like a pig being slaughtered.
Liu Wenyuan’s body lurched forward violently, but the guards pressed his shoulders down, preventing him from moving.
One cut.
Two cuts.
Three cuts.
Liu Mao’s screams grew weaker and weaker.
Blood dripped down the post, staining a large patch of the ground red.
Among the watching citizens, some covered their eyes, while others turned their heads away.
But no one left.
They truly wanted this man dead.
Liu Wenyuan watched his son being sliced apart, piece by piece.
His face was devoid of expression.
His eyes were wide open, but there was nothing in his pupils.
Zhao Qingyue stood at the back of the crowd and turned her face away.
It wasn’t that she had never seen blood before, but death by a thousand cuts was different.
It was slicing a person apart, piece by piece, over several hours, making them die in agony, die from blood loss.
She listened to Liu Mao’s screams for a while longer, then couldn’t hold it in anymore.
She tugged at Bai Shuangshuang’s sleeve, her voice very low.
“Is this… a bit too harsh?”
Bai Shuangshuang didn’t look at her.
Her gaze was fixed on the high platform.
“Do you think I’m being harsh?”
Zhao Qingyue didn’t answer.
Bai Shuangshuang was silent for a moment before speaking.
“Liu Mao forcibly took women, and not just once. Last time, a married woman was dragged into the County Deputy’s Mansion. She threw herself into a well that very same night. When they pulled her body out, she was pregnant with a child.”
Zhao Qingyue’s hand froze.
“The Spirit Mines and Spirit Rice that Liu Wenyuan embezzled could have supplied the Prince’s Mansion with countless guards and elite soldiers. The Southern Region is suffering from the Stagnation of Spiritual Energy; every family is having a hard time. He embezzled another fortune on top of that, and all the resentment from the common people is directed straight at the Prince’s Mansion.”
Bai Shuangshuang turned her head and looked at Zhao Qingyue.
“Besides, if we didn’t do it this way, Magistrate Shen’s authority couldn’t be restored. If we didn’t do it this way, we couldn’t deter the others. If we didn’t do it this way—”
She paused.
“There would be a second Liu Wenyuan, a third…”
Zhao Qingyue looked into her eyes for a long time.
There was no cruelty in Bai Shuangshuang’s eyes, no satisfaction, not even much emotion.
She was simply looking at her calmly, as if commenting on the nice weather.
A teenage girl, yet she seemed accustomed to the ups and downs of the world.
Zhao Qingyue looked away.
“I understand…”
She said.
Her voice was a little subdued.
—
Two hours later, Liu Mao’s blood had run dry.
Liu Wenyuan watched his son’s body being dragged away.
Suddenly, he let out a laugh.
The laughter was shrill and thin, like fingernails scraping against a wok, giving everyone goosebumps.
“Heh… hehehehe…”
He laughed and laughed, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.
His eyes were unfocused, no longer looking at anyone.
Shen Mingyuan glanced at him and waved his hand.
“Carry out the sentence!”
With the final sound of the blade falling, the crowd dispersed.
The blood in the market was washed clean with water.
The post was dismantled.
It was as if nothing had ever happened.
But the people of Lingxi County knew that from this day forward, Lingxi County would never be the same again.
Bai Shuangshuang stood in the center of the empty market, looking at the still-damp water stains on the ground, saying nothing.
Zhao Qingyue stood beside her, also silent.
A wind blew by, carrying the scent of blood and the smell of earth.
Bai Shuangshuang turned around and walked back toward the inn.
Zhao Qingyue followed behind her.
After a few steps, she suddenly spoke.
“Bai Shuangshuang.”
“Hmm?”
“All that explaining you just did… Were you telling me, or were you trying to convince yourself?”
Bai Shuangshuang’s steps faltered for a moment, but she didn’t turn around.
“Both.”
Zhao Qingyue looked at her back and the corner of her mouth curled up slightly.
The curve was very faint, so faint that even she herself didn’t notice it.
“So that’s how it is… She was scared too, and here she was lecturing me. Hmph~”