Return, a New Identity!

After grumbling and cursing for a spell, Wang Ping obediently sat back where he was. "Looks like I'll have to be even more careful from now on." He had no intention of returning to the immortal cultivation realm anytime soon. After all, the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag was currently in the hands of that youthful "Qi Refiner." The moment he crossed over, he would probably be discovered immediately. Then it would truly be game over. "Well, back to Dashun it is." At the very least, compared to the immortal sects that operated on a cosmic scale and casually traversed the stars, the divine weapon martial arts of the Dashun imperial court seemed far more harmless. "Sure enough, I was born to be a martial artist. Even after cultivating immortality, my martial heart hasn't changed in the slightest." He still loved crushing weaklings just as much as ever. Although the waters of the Dashun court ran somewhat deep, no matter how deep they were, surely no one could reverse time with the snap of a finger like that Qi Refiner, right? At that thought, Wang Ping looked once more at the scroll of the Fiend from Beyond. Current Identity: Bailiff (petty functionary). Current Fortune: Seven (Local Stalwart) Consume fortune to exchange for a new identity? "Exchange." Wang Ping gave a slight nod. He had squeezed just about all the value he could out of the bailiff identity. If possible, he naturally wanted to start off with a better station. Yet to his surprise, even though his fortune was seven times greater than the single point he had last time, when the exchange took place, the identity rank remained a petty functionary. There was no qualitative leap, merely a faint tint of cyan and red appearing within the profound light. "Zero fortune is a commoner, while one to ten are all petty functionaries?" Wang Ping felt a sudden realization. Then the text on the scroll began shifting ceaselessly, various identities cycling through one after another, until it finally slowed and settled on one. Gold-bearing armed cavalry. "Why is it an official post again?" Wang Ping's brow furrowed slightly as information regarding the gold-bearing armed cavalry flashed through his mind. It seemed to be directly subordinate to the Imperial Guard in the capital, an identity akin to the personal retinue of the Son of Heaven. Somewhat like the Brocade Guard. Viewed from this angle, there was indeed a difference between one unit of fortune and seven. The former had only made him a bailiff in a county seat, while the latter placed him in the capital's Imperial Guard. Immediately following that, Wang Ping turned his gaze toward the other side of the high platform. There, a dense mound of medicinal pills was piled like a miniature mountain. To his spiritual sense, the terrifying vitality felt like a vast ocean. All of this was the vital essence he had pocketed within the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag using Life-Stealing Thief. A third had come from the corpses of those predatory cultivators, while the remaining two-thirds had been generously gifted by You Xuexin. The sheer quality of it was nothing short of breathtaking. "This time, I can truly gorge myself." Anticipation swelled in Wang Ping's heart as he wondered to what heights he would grow once he returned to Dashun and completely digested all this vital essence. The next second, he stepped forward, striding into the Dashun Heavenly Dynasty depicted within the scroll, allowing the towering tome to erupt in brilliance and swallow him whole. * * * Wang Ping opened his eyes once more. An unfamiliar ceiling came into view. Clad in tight-fitting martial attire, he seemed to have been resting on a bed. He immediately rolled over and checked his physical condition. A moment later, he let out a sigh of relief. "...No change." His reincarnated body perfectly retained the martial arts from two lifetimes ago. The Heavenly Peng strength roared within him, and his lesser heavenly circulation physique was at its absolute peak. "A bit of a pity that the cultivation results from the previous life didn't carry over. Is it because I was refined into an artifact spirit in that life?... Well, forget it. Even if I brought it back, it would only be a waste spiritual root—hardly useful. Life-Stealing Thief and the vital essence are what matter most." Wang Ping quickly regained his composure. Walking over to the bronze mirror in the room, he saw, as expected, that the handsome face reflected within was still his own. Moreover, compared to two lifetimes ago, even his age had not changed much. "This won't do." Wang Ping's brow knitted tightly. Once or twice might pass, but appearing repeatedly under different identities with the exact same face—even a fool would know something was amiss. Recalling that fleeting glimpse within the Classic of Great Peace, when that descended Qi Refiner reversed time to resurrect You Xuexin directly, Wang Ping could not help but lament that the resurrection mechanism of the Classic of Great Peace was still not shameless enough. Why couldn't it rewind time as well? "Looks like I must find a way to acquire a disguise technique." Wang Ping deliberated in his heart. Such martial arts were not hard to come by; the difficulty lay in disguising oneself without leaving any detectable flaw. Just then, memories abruptly surfaced. "Here it comes again." Wang Ping rubbed the space between his brows, beginning to digest the memories of his predecessor. By now, however, he vaguely understood the true nature of these memories. Rather than calling them memories of a predecessor, it was more accurate to describe them as background lore. Most of these memories pertained to his new identity, devoid of mundane daily recollections like eating, sleeping, or using the latrine. Before long, Wang Ping frowned. According to the memories, he was a member of the gold-bearing armed cavalry directly subordinate to the capital's Imperial Guard. This time, he was acting under military orders to head to Longxing County in Changle Commandery to serve as the army supervisor for the Black Armor Battalion. "Why Longxing County again?" At this moment, Wang Ping almost suspected Longxing County was some sort of nexus. Once or twice might be dismissed as coincidence, but three reincarnations all connected to it? This had to be a conspiracy, someone pulling the strings. Wang Ping dug deeper into the memories: *Four months or so have passed since I wreaked havoc on the county yamen. Because the yamen was severely battered, the court's foundation in Longxing County was shaken.* *Afterward, someone seemed to have pulled strings at the Changle Commandery government. The Changle Commandery Governor ultimately pushed past all objections to deploy an army battalion to garrison Longxing County, ostensibly to assist the county yamen in maintaining stability, before reporting to the capital and requesting an army supervisor... Acting first and reporting later—where did the governor get the gall?* Arbitrarily deploying troops, meddling in county governance, and muddling administrative boundaries. *According to information from the capital, an exceptionally influential noblewoman spoke up, which led to this breach of protocol by the Changle Commandery government.* As for who she was specifically, Wang Ping did not know. *Regardless, the Black Armor Battalion is already in Longxing County, and I am the army supervisor dispatched by the court. My overt duty is to assist the magistrate in maintaining stability...* As for covertly, he had received another order. Reaching into his robe, Wang Ping withdrew a roll of bright-yellow brocade embroidered with cloud patterns, mounted on a spindle of black rhinoceros horn. This was an imperial edict. Strictly speaking, it was a secret edict stamped with the seal of the Son of Heaven, commanding him, upon arriving in Longxing County, to covertly support the civil unrest and facilitate the rebels in breaching Longxing County! Accompanying the edict was a bronze tally capable of mobilizing any battalion-level force, evidently granting him the authority to act arbitrarily if necessary. Seeing this, Wang Ping was stunned. Why? If not for the genuine seal of the Son of Heaven on the edict, he would have suspected his own eyes. Was the imperial court digging up its own foundation? "...There really is something strange going on." Wang Ping became even more certain that Longxing County was unusual. Then he relaxed his mind. In any case, he was not who he used to be. Once he digested the vital essence stored in the Mortuary, he had full confidence that he could wipe the floor with that corrupt dog of an official, Xu Bingzheng! "I still have to practice martial arts." Although he could be considered half an immortal cultivator now, he lacked true orthodox transmission. Rounding off, he was merely a rogue cultivator—possessing cultivation without the techniques to protect his path. In the early stages, martial arts could cover that shortfall. As for his path in martial arts, Wang Ping also had an entirely new idea. If feasible, he would tread a road that no one else had ever walked. * * * Outside Longxing County. Unlike several months ago, what had once been an empty stretch of open countryside now boasted an imposing military encampment, thick smoke rising into the sky. The military system of the Dashun Dynasty organized troops into battalions of five hundred men, divided into fifty tents with ten men per tent. Thus, there were five centurions, one hundred squad leaders of five, fifty squad leaders of ten, and a battalion commander who oversaw the whole operation. All personnel were fully freed from civil labor, supported entirely by the imperial court, provided with ample martial arts and weaponry, and enjoyed a status higher than bailiffs. This was especially true of titled encampments like the Black Armor Battalion. Across the entirety of Changle Commandery, they were an elite among elites. When five hundred men joined forces, their combat prowess could overwhelm most titled martial masters listed on the Weapon Register. Yet at this moment. As the battalion commander of the Black Armor Battalion, Wu Xintai was nursing a fierce headache as he looked at the beautiful woman before him, whose icy, lovely face conveyed an unmistakable resolve never to give up until her goal was met. "Commander Wu, will you dispatch troops or not?" the beautiful woman asked in a deep voice. "Madam Su, it is not that I do not want to dispatch troops, but that I truly cannot... That is a county seat. Setting up camp here already bends the rules..." Hearing this, Madam Su's expression turned even colder. Yet looking at Wu Xintai, who appeared submissive while standing firm in his stance, she could not help feeling powerless. The events of the past four months surfaced in her mind. This Black Armor Battalion had been arranged specifically through the Changle Commandery government by a close childhood friend and sisterly confidante of hers after she managed to contact her main family in the capital. Because she refused to simply leave like this. That young bailiff, whose promise was worth a thousand gold, had remained missing for four months, dead without even a corpse found. She wanted to avenge him by killing the corrupt official hiding in the county yamen. *Heavens above...* Looking at Madam Su, Wu Xintai could not help but lament inwardly. *This woman must be eighty percent mad. How on earth did the magistrate of Longxing County offend her?* To actually urge him to deploy troops to kill a magistrate. What a joke. Mobilizing troops was rebellion, and killing an official was treason! He was doing perfectly fine as a battalion commander; how could he possibly commit career suicide like this? What was more, the Black Armor Battalion garrisoning this area had already bent the rules. The higher-ups had made an exception, moving first and issuing the order later. If he deployed troops without authorization and publicly slaughtered the magistrate, he might as well slit his own throat to be buried alongside that Longxing magistrate. Wu Xintai had a stomach full of grievances to air. Yet in the end, he swallowed them back down. There was no helping it; although the woman before him was mad and knew no martial arts, he could not afford to offend her. He had already made inquiries. On her own, this woman was nothing special. Though once a noble daughter of the Su family in the capital, she had long been struck from the clan registry and drifted into the countryside, scarcely someone of consequence. The problem was that in her youth, she had a childhood confidante, a cousin with whom she was extremely close. That person was entirely different. She had been chosen by the Fangxian Dao years ago, and after all these years, she had become a thaumaturge—and a standout among them! Years back, when this Miss Su met with misfortune, that cousin happened to be cultivating in the Fangxian Dao. Now that she had returned and learned of Miss Su's plight, she immediately rushed to the Changle Commandery government and orchestrated the deployment of the Black Armor Battalion entirely by herself. Her connections were boundless, her backing terrifyingly solid. *A pity, really.* *If she hadn't been called away by an unexpected emergency and were here to shoulder the responsibility, it wouldn't be impossible for me to deploy troops. Killing a magistrate would just be killing a magistrate.* Left on his own, however, that was another story entirely. In any case, Wu Xintai would never stick his neck out. He would rather do nothing and be in the wrong than actively commit a catastrophic blunder. He was dead set on holding his ground unless an order arrived. Seeing this, Madam Su grew even more exasperated. "That magistrate abuses his power for private gain, and the officials in Changle Commandery protect one another! Even Liu Ye has been thrown into prison. Even if you won't march on the city to kill the magistrate, at least rescue him..." This was the true reason she could wait no longer. Originally, her dear sister had promised that after temporarily departing to handle her urgent matters, she would return to deal with that corrupt dog who preyed on the common folk. She had also made arrangements for Liu Ye, who had previously sent her word. He was originally meant to be escorted to another commandery, but Liu Ye was unwilling to leave his homeland, so Changle Commandery was chosen in the end. Yet Xu Bingzheng had connections in Changle Commandery; upon receiving the news, he immediately plotted an ambush against Liu Ye. The result was that Liu Ye was detained under the charge of "disrespect toward a superior." The entire process strictly adhered to the laws of Dashun. Stripped of his status and returned to commoner rank in his ancestral home, Liu Ye was sent right back to Longxing County and thrown into the yamen's dungeon that very day. Madam Su had come to Wu Xintai today primarily to rescue him. Yet Wu Xintai still shook his head. "My sincere apologies, but the military camp cannot move without orders." He knew about Liu Ye's situation, but in his eyes, this was undeniably another faction within the court at work, one not necessarily weaker than Madam Su's sister. How could a minor battalion commander like him meddle in such a clash of power between titans? Thus, after weighing it back and forth, he felt the only thing he could do was perform his duties faithfully. That way, even if the sky fell, the blame would not land on his head. "..." Madam Su sank into total despair. Not simply because of Liu Ye, but because in her eyes, both Liu Ye and herself were people that young bailiff had protected with his own life. Yet in the end, Liu Ye still could not escape disaster. In the end, it was all for nothing. If so, hadn't her beloved died in vain? Whenever she thought of this, Madam Su felt it was terribly unjust for him, her heart flooded with rage and helplessness. Right at that moment. "Commander! He's here, he's finally here!" The tent flap was suddenly pulled open, and a centurion of the Black Armor Battalion rushed in shouting, "The army supervisor dispatched by the court has arrived! He's waiting outside the camp..." "Calm yourself." Wu Xintai shook his head, looking at him with exasperated disappointment. "Keep your composure when things arise—that is the mark of a general! How many times have I taught you this?" "It's just an army supervisor, as if you've never seen one before." "Frankly speaking, aren't they all just pale-faced eunuchs with no balls? When we were rotated to the north back then, we saw more than our fill of them. Have you just gone too long without seeing a woman..." "No, Commander!" The centurion shook his head frantically, stressing his tone. "This time, it isn't a eunuch from the palace. It's an armed rider—a gold-bearing armed cavalryman directly subordinate to the Imperial Guard!" "...An armed rider?" Wu Xintai froze. "The kind from the personal retinue of the Son of Heaven?" The centurion nodded like a pounding pestle. "Fuck! Why didn't you mention something so important earlier?!" The next instant, Wu Xintai—who had just been preaching to "keep your composure"—shot up as if electrocuted and sprinted out of the tent without breaking stride.