Qin Sang forced himself upright and saw Yanwang emerge with Master Yuanjue's soul clutched in its jaws. He glanced at Yanwang, whose form had grown considerably more solid than before, and seeing no sign that it would turn on its master, he felt slightly relieved. He could hardly wait to interrogate the soul of Master Yuanjue.
He was intensely curious about the sacred martial ground of Xuanji Temple, and he also wanted to know whether Master Yuanjue had encountered any other Immortal Masters during his years of wandering abroad.
***
When Master Yuanjue's soul dissipated, a look of surprise crossed Qin Sang's face.
The souls of the people Yanwang had killed previously had all lasted for roughly similar lengths of time, yet Master Yuanjue's soul had persisted for only half as long as the others. This was the first time Qin Sang had ever witnessed such a thing.
Qin Sang was utterly baffled. He had not anticipated this turn of events, and there were still many questions left unasked.
Even so, what he had learned from Master Yuanjue made him feel that the ordeal had been well worth the trouble, and that he had not faced this grave peril in vain.
As it turned out, the reason Master Yuanjue had recognized Qin Sang as an immortal cultivator at first glance was that decades ago, Xuanji Temple had actually killed an immortal cultivator!
Back then, the ones besieging the immortal cultivator had been two patriarchal masters of Xuanji Temple, both Xiantian experts.
That cultivator had possessed methods similar to Qin Sang's. Holding a small bell in hand, he gave it a gentle shake, and one of Xuanji Temple's patriarchal masters died for no apparent reason, completely uninjured across his whole body, just like the Reckless Monk.
The other master was struck with utter terror. Desperate, he fought with everything on the line, going so far as to unleash an unorthodox art that drastically drained his vitality.
The cultivator had not expected a mortal to possess such astonishing speed. Panic written across his face, he frantically drew a talisman slip from his robes and conjured a curtain of water, but he was too slow, and a sword glow pierced him through the heart.
Seeing the bizarre manner of the Reckless Monk's death, Master Yuanjue had instantly recalled that past incident. He had still been hesitating at first, but Qin Sang's hollow bravado immediately pushed him to strike.
If anyone was to blame, it was Qin Sang's lack of worldly experience in Jianghu, which had given him away.
After that battle, Xuanji Temple's only two Xiantian experts were left with one dead and the other crippled, dealing a devastating blow to the sect's foundation. It was only later, when Master Yuanjue broke through to the Xiantian realm, that the situation finally stabilized.
Yet Xuanji Temple's gains were completely disproportionate to their losses.
The cultivator had possessed none of the cultivation methods they had hoped for—only that purple bell, two talismans, and a bare jade slip, with nothing else besides.
They attempted to pour true qi into the bell and the jade slip, but neither showed any reaction, and they ended up destroying one of the two talismans.
After attaining the Xiantian realm, Master Yuanjue had set out to travel, his foremost goal being to find a way to unravel the secrets of the purple bell and the jade slip.
When monumental upheaval shook the Great Sui, Master Yuanjue received a message summoning him back to his sect, and he had merely happened to pass through Hening County on his way.
Qin Sang fell into deep thought for a moment before stooping to lift Master Yuanjue's corpse. A wave of weakness washed through his body; though brief, the flight and struggle just now had almost completely exhausted his physical strength.
He hastily circulated a heavenly circuit of the *Nether Scripture* to recover some vigor. Qin Sang then turned back to pick up the Reckless Monk's body, kicked open the inner manor gates, and gasped at the sight before him.
He had killed with his own hands before, and more than once.
He had also stood upon battlefields where tens of thousands clashed, witnessing gruesome scenes of blood flowing in rivers and corpses piled high.
Yet seeing nearly a hundred bodies lying on the ground without a single fatal wound—some sprawled face down, some on their backs, motionless as sculptures—still made him feel physically sickened.
Qin Sang picked up the Yanluo Banner and looked it over. Several tears on the cloth had vanished, and Yanwang hovered obediently to the side.
The Reckless Monk had enforced strict discipline over his troops, and the curfew in Hening County was exceptionally severe. Even after such a major commotion, the surrounding residents kept their gates tightly shut, not daring to come out to gawk.
Qin Sang looked left and right, drew his sword, and stabbed each corpse in a vital spot. He piled the bodies beside the woodshed, tossed a fire starter onto the heap, and before long, towering flames rose into the sky over the Chu Estate.
So many bodies certainly could not be reduced completely to ash, but Qin Sang only needed to conceal the marks of the Yanluo Banner; burning them into charred corpses would suffice.
Qin Sang recited a passage of scripture. Remembering how much blood had already stained his hands, he felt that putting on such a show was downright hypocritical, and he could not help but let out a bitter smile. He was growing more and more cold-blooded.
***
Registrar Ma, an outer jacket draped over his shoulders, stared anxiously out the window. He had been drafting official documents when he noticed the fire outside.
Why had Magistrate Li not dispatched men to put out the blaze yet?
*Thump!*
Registrar Ma was just about to head into the room to change into his official robes when two severed heads slammed onto the table before him. He let out a terrified screech. His hand jerked violently, hurling his brush aside, and he tumbled backward along with his chair, cracking the back of his head against the floor with another miserable cry.
"Spare me, brave warrior!"
Registrar Ma was fifty years old, yet he moved with astonishing agility. Scrambling face down on the ground, he kept his head lowered and kowtowed toward the pair of feet standing before him.
"Whatever commands you have, brave warrior, just say the word! This humble old man will carry them out to the letter! I beg you to spare my worthless life!"
The heads belonged to none other than County Magistrate Li Ji and Chu Dazhuang. Registrar Ma was nearly scared out of his wits.
Even the Reckless Monk, famed as a pinnacle martial master of the Jianghu, had died without anyone knowing how. Registrar Ma had no illusions about his own ability to resist.
With another thud, the county magistrate's official seal was tossed before him.
"Go out and calm the common folk. Tonight at the third quarter of the wu hour, take this official seal and open the city gates. If you miss the appointed time, consider the lives of your entire family forfeit!"
Registrar Ma kept his head lowered and swore, "Rest assured, brave warrior! This humble old man will see to it that everything is done properly. If I fail, you won't even need to lift a finger—I will end my own life!"
Qin Sang chuckled softly. "You don't ask why I'm having you open the city gates?"
Registrar Ma's eyes darted about, and he declared with righteous conviction, "There is something you may not know, brave warrior! This old man has yearned for the imperial army for a very long time! The current false emperor is depraved and tyrannical, provoking Heaven's fury and bringing down disasters across the thirteen commanderies of the Great Sui until exposed bones bleach the wilderness. Both gods and men burn with indignation! Yet lackeys of the false emperor like Li Ji remain obstinate and abuse their power to oppress others. This old man only lamented being aged, feeble, and of lowly station, forced to feign compliance with those villains while day and night praying for an enlightened lord to deliver the common people, weeping hot tears inward into my gut! Today, my wish has finally been granted. I will certainly do my utmost to serve you and the prince…"
Only after delivering this long, impassioned speech did Registrar Ma notice that the feet before him had vanished at some point. He cautiously lifted his head; not a soul was there.
***
Hening County fell, leaving the rebels with their eyes set on the prefectural seat. The nobility and officials of Jiang Prefecture fell into panic, blundering from one disastrous move to the next. They recklessly ordered the garrison at Duling County to march back to reinforce the prefectural capital, only for the troops to be ambushed along the way, collapsing in an utter rout.
On the day after the city fell, Qin Sang had already departed Hening County. He later heard that Wang Liu flew into a towering rage, but naturally, Qin Sang did not care in the least.
That year, the people of Jiang Prefecture spent the New Year amid the flames of war.
In less than three months, the prefectural capital of Jiang Prefecture fell. After a brief period of rest and reorganization, the rebel forces split into two routes, one advancing toward Beiping Prefecture and the other toward Hu Prefecture.
By this time, Qin Sang had already been staying in Hunwu County of Jiang Prefecture for an entire month.
He had still been unable to break through the third layer of the *Nether Scripture*. Cultivating through the night now yielded scarcely any progress; he was firmly stuck at a bottleneck, and this state had persisted for a full month.
Chapter 35