Chapter 44

Chapter 44

While Xie Licheng left the personal dimension and went to find the prefect, the prefect on the other side was also with his subordinates, desperately searching for him and the Gu family.

When Xie Licheng appeared that day, he took away the head of the Gu family and his three children.

Many people had witnessed Xie Licheng bringing them into a room.

But when they set fire to force them out, the only person who came out was Xie Licheng.

Their people later searched the room, but the four members of the Gu family were nowhere to be found.

They had also checked the room—there was nowhere to hide.

The prefect had been stewing over this the whole time. They had made such a big fuss specifically to find the Gu family's secret chamber.

Yet not only had they failed to find the secret chamber, they hadn't even managed to wipe out all the Gu family members.

Whenever he thought about how he had failed the task assigned by that person, he couldn't help but feel both scared and panicked.

If only he'd known the Gu family had such a troublesome guy hidden away, he should have framed them before things got out of hand. Then the authorities could have legally seized their property. It wouldn't have come to this—so many dead and hardly any loot to show for it.

While the prefect was secretly lamenting, Advisor Liu hurried over with his men.

"Sir, sir, the city's been breached! It seems we can't stay in the city any longer. There are too many rebel scum and rioters."

The prefect glanced at Advisor Liu and said with dissatisfaction, "What's the panic for? We've got a secret tunnel. Even if they attack, we can still get out."

"Then... then what do you mean?"

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

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

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

"Got it, sir. I'll get the men back on the search right away."

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

They were stuck—what could they do? They couldn't beat him in a fight, and cursing him? He wouldn't even give them the chance, always coming at them ready to kill. He was just a reckless lunatic with zero respect for the law.

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

So every time they ran into Xie Licheng, it turned into a total circus.

They'd act like they were blind, totally ignoring him.

Luckily, sometimes Xie Licheng was low on energy, and since they were so cooperative, he'd let them be.

Now that they'd been ordered to find the Gu family, the whole group couldn't help but groan in frustration.

It was obvious Xie Licheng had taken the Gu family somewhere. To find them, they'd have to go through him.

They couldn't beat him, and he sure as hell wouldn't tell them where the Gu family was. This mission was a total dead end.

Just as the constables were scratching their heads, a familiar tall figure appeared—none other than the horse slave their boss was after.

Xie Licheng looked down at them and said, "Where's your prefect?"

The constables all looked up, then bolted in every direction.

Xie Licheng just needed one guide, so he casually snagged the nearest constable.

The constable watched his buddies scatter and looked back with a pitiful expression. "Hey, hero, big guy, let's talk this out."

Xie Licheng smirked at that. "Relax. Take me to him, and I'll let you go right away."

Xie Licheng didn't recognize him—this poor sap was the same constable who'd guided him at the Gu place that night.

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

He motioned for Xie Licheng to let him go, swearing he wouldn't run. Seeing this, Xie Licheng actually released him.

The constable's feet hit the ground, and he started leading the way.

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

If he didn't lead the way, the guy would definitely kill him, judging by his look.

As for what the prefect would do if he found out he'd helped Xie Licheng?

He couldn't worry about that now. Worst case, he'd skip town after.

Anyway, with the way things were going, the prefect wouldn't have time to deal with him.

With this troublesome groom on his way, the prefect and his crew would have their hands full.

With a guide, Xie Licheng had a much easier time finding people.

This young constable wasn't just cooperative—he was downright helpful along the way.

He was like a chatty tour guide, pointing things out as they walked.

"This is where all our guys bunk. We've been holed up here the last few days."

"This is where the bandits stay. You killed all their leaders, so now they're stuck following our boss."

"And over there, that courtyard's full of pretty women. Some came willingly, some are from brothels, and a good number were snatched up..."

Xie Licheng shot him a look. "You know your stuff."

"Of course. The boss thinks pretty highly of me compared to the other guys."

"Hmph. Aren't you scared he'll kill you for ratting him out?"

"Nah. Now that you're here, hero, the boss won't have time to mess with me."

And he wasn't wrong. The moment the prefect heard Xie Licheng was coming for him, his first instinct was to bolt.

He was big on self-preservation, even though he figured he had plenty of men.

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

But to be safe, he planned to get the hell out first.

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

This place would be overrun soon. Since they couldn't stick around anyway, they might as well cut their losses and run.

What the prefect hadn't expected was that, because Xie Licheng had been led in by someone, the man quickly found his courtyard.

As it happened, this was the first time the prefect and Xie Licheng had ever met.

Xie Licheng, a horse groom, was even taller than the prefect had imagined.

He was actually quite handsome, but his fierce aura made it easy to overlook his looks and only see him as terrifying.

Xie Licheng looked at the somewhat sleazy middle-aged man before him and found it hard to believe this guy could actually be the prefect.

He frowned slightly and asked, sounding unsure, "You... you're the prefect of Lingzhou?"

Xie Licheng was a bit face-blind, especially with people who had ordinary looks—he'd easily mix up their faces.

The prefect wasn't wearing his official robes right now. If it weren't for his fancy clothes, he'd honestly be as plain as dirt.

The prefect's eyes darted around, and he quickly said, "You've 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 merchant, anyone living here right now is definitely not a good person."

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

The second he saw Xie Licheng draw his blade, the prefect ducked behind one of the yamen runners.

The runner looked helpless, but since the prefect was dragging him, he had no choice but to steel himself and face Xie Licheng.

The prefect said, "Good sir, good sir, hold on, hold on. Don't do anything rash."

His men hadn't arrived yet—there were only a few runners here right now. He planned to stall for time until all his people showed up, then have them take on Xie Licheng together.

Xie Licheng wasn't one for small talk. The only reason he hadn't killed the man on the spot was that he still had questions for him.

"You're an official of Dazhou, so why did you use the chaos to harm the people of Lingzhou? You've teamed up with those bandits—it can't just be for money and supplies. Who are you working for?"

The prefect wasn't about to answer whatever Xie Licheng asked. Hearing his words, he tried to brush him off.

Prefect: "Working for who? I have no clue what you're talking about! We went after the Gu family because everyone in Lingzhou knows they're loaded. We were just after their money, trying to cash in while Lingzhou was in chaos."

Xie Licheng smiled and said, "Looks like you won't tell the truth until you bleed a little."

The prefect immediately shouted, "How dare you?! I—I'm an Imperial Official!"

"Now you remember you're an Imperial Official? Is this how an Imperial Official behaves—teaming up with bandits to burn, kill, and rob the people under your charge?"

Xie Licheng had never claimed to be a good man, but even he wasn't as shameless as this guy. He had no idea how the man could say he was an Imperial Official of Dazhou without batting an eye.

"Then... you still can't kill me. As long as I'm the prefect of Lingzhou, you—a lowly horse slave—can't kill me!"

Xie Licheng scoffed. "Is that so?"

With that, Xie Licheng swung his blade, cutting down the runner shielding the prefect along with him.

Just then, Secretary Liu finally rushed back, and the moment he arrived, he walked in on a shocking scene.

He shouted, "Stop! Stop!!"

But Xie Licheng wasn't someone he could order around. Xie Licheng's long blade severed one of the runner's hands and slashed the shoulder of the prefect hiding behind him.

The delicate prefect had never suffered like this before.

He immediately burst into tears, snot running down his face, clutching his wound and yelling at the people around him.

"Waaah... are you all stupid?! Why haven't you come up and killed this criminal slave?! I order you to kill him!"

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

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

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

An ordinary person might take on three, five, or even ten people.

But this man—he was taking on dozens of them all by himself.

Some of their guys were even hiding in the shadows, shooting arrows at him.

But even then, they still couldn't beat him.

When they saw their people dropping one by one, they got the feeling the guy they were dealing with might not be human.

A few opportunists who were just going through the motions decided to quit fighting altogether.

Especially when they realized that while they were fighting for their lives, the prefect had already taken off with his men—they all deflated like popped balloons.

Seeing them cower, Xie Licheng shook his miao dao and said, "As long as you don't get in my way, I won't kill you."

The few men blocking Xie Licheng's path exchanged glances and reluctantly shuffled aside.

Xie Licheng didn't bother with them anymore and headed off in the direction the prefect had fled.

Xie Licheng wasn't walking fast, but with his long legs and big strides, he moved a lot faster than the average person.

The prefect had fled without taking anything—not even his own family and kids.

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

When they saw Xie Licheng covered in blood, they immediately started screaming and crying in terror.

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

He didn't bother with them. He only wanted to catch that prefect and question him properly. As for the others, he couldn't care less.

Xie Licheng soon caught up to the prefect, who had only two guards with him. These two were somewhat special—their skills were clearly way above those of the runners and bandits.

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

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

Xie Licheng trailed slowly behind while the prefect stumbled ahead in a panic.

The two were only four or five steps away from each other.

Then, as the prefect ran, he pretended to trip, but in reality, as he fell, he hit a mechanism in the passage.

Xie Licheng, who was following too casually and without caution, accidentally fell through a trapdoor.

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

He quickly turned back, wanting to see if that horse slave had died in the trap.

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

At this moment, Xie Licheng braced himself against the walls with his legs, looking down with a regretful expression.

The trap had indeed startled him, but killing him with it was still a bit of a pipe dream.

Since the secret passage was very narrow, the trap below was also quite 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 personal world—if push came to shove, he could just duck into it. When he came out, he could bring stuff along to keep from falling to his death.

Besides, his defense was maxed out at 100. Even if he did fall and get skewered by the blades below, he wouldn't die—it'd just sting a bit on the way down.

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 squatted by the edge and peeked down again.

Tsk, tsk. That was one ugly fall.

With that thought, he got up off the ground and gave his arms and legs a quick stretch.

Then he slowly moved on, planning to see where the passage led and checking for any other traps along the way.

He wasn't sure how long he walked, but when he finally emerged from the passage, he found himself in a small courtyard.

The courtyard sat outside Lingzhou City and looked like a totally ordinary little yard.

When Xie Licheng came out, he ran into two yamen runners guarding the place.

When they saw the secret door open, the two runners figured their boss was coming out. But when they went to greet him, they ended up face-to-face with Xie Licheng instead.

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

The yard had four rooms and a stable with two horses in it.

Xie Licheng went over to the stable, saw the two horses were pretty solid, and took them.

Horses were key for getting around in ancient times, and since his personal world was also ancient, horses like these were in high demand.

After taking the two fine horses, Xie Licheng opened all four rooms in the courtyard to inspect them.

The rooms had a good stash of grain, and Xie Licheng didn't bother being polite to the prefect—he just took it all.

After grabbing the grain, he figured there had to be more, so he gave the courtyard another careful once-over.

At that point, he kind of regretted offing those two runners so fast. If he hadn't killed them, he could've had them help him look instead of doing all the grunt work himself.