Truth only exists within the range of cannons. Using Tang Dynasty parlance, whoever has the bigger fist has the reasoning. Sun Renshi believed his fist was not small, as hard as granite. At thirty years old, it was precisely the time when ambition flourished. Added to this, Yun Ye constantly tempted him with treasures, so he firmly believed that all good things should belong to the Tang, and all good land should also belong to the Tang. Why should the hardworking people of the Tang be busy all day yet still unable to fill their bellies, while those lazy fellows could casually scatter some seeds and harvest after just a few dozen days? Where is the justice in heaven?

He believed he could reverse this unfairness. Leading by example was the greatest characteristic of Tang generals. He wished he could organize military affairs in a single day and start warring against this injustice tomorrow.

He left in a hurry, unable to wait to get rich…

Li Anlan carried a pot of tea and lifted the curtain to enter, only to find Yun Ye with his eyes closed, his hands tapping lightly on the table. Just as she was about to speak, Yun Ye waved his hand and said: “Anlan, don’t disturb me. Let me be quiet for a while. My heart is very chaotic, extremely chaotic. If I can’t untangle this mess, I’ll never be at peace for the rest of my life.”

Li Anlan put down the teapot but didn’t leave. In the dim room, only two silhouettes could be seen, one sitting in a chair, one leaning against a pillar.

The sky turned completely dark, yet Yun Ye still couldn’t emerge from his own world. In that world, swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks—all eighteen types of weapons were clashing, shrieking, thirsting for blood. Under a blood-red sky, there was only slaughter. Sometimes it was Old Cheng, sometimes Old Niu, and finally it became Sun Renshi, teeth stained with blood, roaring and accusing.

Do killers really have reason? Enemies—what are enemies? Those unfavorable to oneself are enemies—this was what Old Niu taught him. Two children debating about the sun—whose view is correct? Neither is correct. Neither path is the correct path. Dou Yanshan was dead, yet he revived in Yun Ye’s heart. What difference was there between what he was doing now and what Dou Yanshan did? Two hundred people died by his hand without him batting an eye. Old Niu killed people and still couldn’t find peace. He himself killed people yet needed to rely on greater authority for protection, and even found ridiculous excuses to cover it up. Pitiful…

Sun Renshi’s loud shout pulled him from the boundless sea of blood, soaking wet, throwing him on the shore, vomiting mouthful after mouthful of the fresh blood swallowed into his belly. When did he become so violent and brutal? Could it be that I am inherently a bloodthirsty person?

“Anlan, I should descend to the eighteenth level of hell.”

Li Anlan hugged Yun Ye’s head from behind, saying repeatedly: “No, no, you’re a good person. If anyone should go to hell, it should be me. I harmed you, it’s all my fault. If not for my ambition, you wouldn’t have killed anyone, not a single one.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. We lit the fire, and if we get burned, we should endure it. If you want to gain something, it’s impossible without paying a price. I’ve discovered I’m still best suited to being a wastrel—fan inserted at my collar, leading a vicious dog, bringing along two evil servants like Liu Jinbao, molesting beautiful women on the streets of Chang’an, bullying old farmers selling vegetables, and if I could forcibly abduct two beauties back home, that would be perfect.”

“That won’t work, brother. You’d be beaten to death by the people of Chang’an. If you’re not beaten to death, you’d be sent to officials like Wei Zheng and finally be exiled eight thousand li away, and you’d still end up in Lingnan harming the natives.”

“Are you saying I’m a disaster wherever I go? A perfectly good Sun Renshi spent just an hour with me and turned into another Hong Cheng. Do you know? Organized military killing is far more efficient than three thousand rabble. Sun Renshi could find any excuse—even if his family’s female donkey went missing—to invade another small country to look for it. Of course, the final result would be that the donkey wasn’t found, but he’d lead back several hundred water buffalo from them. He might even cut open their king’s belly to search for his family’s donkey’s whereabouts. If Lingnan wants peace, wait until all the surrounding small countries have been emptied.”

“By then you can peacefully farm and fish, living harmonious days in this beautiful place with clear mountains and waters.”

Li Anlan suddenly stopped and patted Yun Ye’s face: “Wake up! You are a marquis of the Tang, not some marquis of some chaotic country. Your identity determines that you can only consider the Tang. Our own people can’t even eat their fill—who has time to care about other people’s subjects? If they’re being bullied, they brought it on themselves. We haven’t suffered bullying before? You teach at the academy—don’t tell me you don’t know about the disasters of the Five Barbarians’ chaos, when Han people were almost completely slaughtered. You kill one crop, I kill one crop. When Old Master Xiao Yu lectured on this period, he cried several times until he couldn’t speak. What are you doing here playing the good person? Quickly transporting treasures back to Chang’an to aid the people—that’s what you, a Tang marquis, should be doing.”

Yun Ye flew into a rage. He was actually being lectured by a barbarian’s daughter—this was an utter humiliation. He must retaliate. Without assassinating her several hundred or a thousand times, how could he eliminate this hatred…

The retaliation was exhausting, especially for the waist. The target of assassination got up in the morning with a smile, helping the assassin rub his waist while despising him: “With your noodle-like physique, what are you showing off for? How come you didn’t assassinate a thousand times? I was counting. At the end, you counted one thrust as fifty. Did you think I can’t count?”

Ignoring her, this old man’s waist hurts. Today he’s not seeing anyone. Yun Ye wrapped himself in a blanket, planning to sleep from morning until tomorrow morning.

He had just dozed off when Li Anlan rushed in again, yanking off Yun Ye’s blanket in one motion. He was still naked, and she began putting his official robes on him.

“Are you planning to have me meet guests with a bare bottom?” This was someone who had never served anyone—she didn’t even give him underwear to put on.

Li Anlan quickly found underwear from inside the bed and urged repeatedly: “Hurry, hurry! Feng Ang has come. He’s in the reception hall and specifically asked to see you.”

This required haste. The more he hurried, the harder it was to get dressed. Once the clothes were on, Yun Ye also calmed down. He washed his face, tidied himself up and down, then strolled at a measured pace to the front hall.

“Aiya, Duke Feng honors us with your presence! Yun Ye failed to welcome you from afar—forgive me, forgive me.” Entering the door and seeing Feng Ang drinking tea, the polite words immediately gushed out.

Feng Ang didn’t move and didn’t even raise his head. He took another sip of tea before saying: “Last time I drank this tea was in the capital. I didn’t expect to be able to drink it in Lingnan as well. This is truly thanks to Marquis Yun’s blessing. It’s just that my unworthy son’s fortune was shallow and he couldn’t bear Marquis Yun’s kind intentions of beating the drum. He died miserably in the wilderness. Won’t Marquis Yun explain this to this old man?”

“I really want to tell Duke Feng that the drum was beaten by the mountain god, but seeing you, I feel that lying would be an insult to both you and me. Duke Feng, your son tried to steal my woman and planned to be my son’s father. This is unbearable—which can be tolerated if this cannot? So I went up the mountain and beat the drum a few times. Whatever you want to do, this junior will accept.”

“Good! Daring to act and take responsibility! The Tang truly has no worthless marquises. If today you still dared to use the mountain god to deceive this old man, next year’s today would be your death anniversary.”

The old fellow slapped the table and it collapsed. Cackling, he said: “You use the mountain god as an excuse—can’t this old man also use immortals as an excuse? You were slapped to death by an immortal—this would also be a good excuse, wouldn’t it?”

One sentence made Yun Ye break out in cold sweat. He knew the old fellow’s unreasonable character, but he didn’t expect him to have the audacity to explode right upon meeting.

“Since the matter has happened, let’s resolve it. This old man lost three sons. Considering they were at fault first, asking you to compensate thirty thousand strings of cash isn’t extorting you, is it?”

Feng Ang was indeed an old fox. He had over thirty sons, so losing a few didn’t matter to him. Each son bringing home a hundred thousand strings for the family was good business.

“Good thing I only killed three. If I’d killed them all, even emptying the Tang national treasury wouldn’t be enough to compensate you for your sons.”

Since it was like this, Yun Ye threw caution to the wind. Damn that Wushe! Sun Renshi didn’t know where he’d died off to either—why weren’t they coming to save him?

“Don’t threaten this old man with Zhidai’s life in the capital. You’re right—this old man has many sons. One more death doesn’t count for much. But the Feng family’s face needs to be maintained. For the Feng family’s face, what does Zhidai’s life matter?”

“The Yun family is different. My family has difficulty with heirs—we only have two so far. We can’t lose even one. No matter which one we lose, I’ll fill it with the lives of everyone in Lingnan. Duke Feng, you might as well try.”

When the old fellow mentioned Zhidai, he was telling Yun Ye: you also have a son in Lingnan. If you kill my son, I’ll kill your son.

“Yun Ye, Lingnan has no fewer than a million lives. This old man would like you to teach me how you’ll kill them all to the last person.”

“Duke Feng, you may have heard that I came from a strange place. That place has many madmen, among them some who specifically research how to kill all the people in the world most quickly and effectively. Their research progressed rapidly. As far as I know, there are four methods, one of which is simplest and most feasible. Although it can’t kill all the people in the world, wiping out Lingnan is feasible. Moreover, within three years, whoever enters this land dies. Duke Feng, do you want to try?”

“Is this how immortals teach their disciples?”

“That place was too crazy, which is why my master risked his life to escape with me. Competing in killing people is truly boring. Duke Feng, to say nothing else, just smallpox alone—you don’t know what smallpox is, but you must know what captive’s sores are. With this thing, it’s enough to make your Lingnan suffer eternal calamity.”

Feng Ang stood up with a whoosh, pointing at Yun Ye and saying: “You dare to act against heaven? To commit such vicious deeds? Aren’t you afraid heaven will take you?”

“When pushed to desperation, what wouldn’t I dare? Whoever touches my son, I’ll make his entire family die out completely. Dragging all of Lingnan down with them is no big deal either. You’d better pray my child lives a hundred years. Otherwise, just see if I dare or not.”

Captive’s sores were a terrifying demon to ancient people, something that couldn’t even be mentioned. Now that Yun Ye suddenly raised this terrifying hypothetical, it made the scalp of the generation’s ambitious hero Feng Ang tingle and his heart tremble with fear. No one had the courage to test that terrifying possibility.

“Yun Ye, you killed my son.”

“That’s right, I killed him. Apart from paying with my life, if you want money I’ll give it. Thirty thousand is a bit much—I don’t have that much copper cash. How about substituting with family heirlooms?”

“That depends on what treasures. Forget about gemstones—the Feng family doesn’t lack such things. If there’s top-quality glass, that can be considered.” The two returned to the main topic. Yun Ye no longer mentioned smallpox, and Feng Ang no longer mentioned human lives.

Li Anlan brought out a glass rabbit from the back courtyard and placed it on the table. Feng Ang looked at the rabbit sorrowfully, as if looking at his dead sons…