Often walking by the river, one is bound to get wet shoes.
Relying on his formidable martial skills, Meng Qi easily subdued Branch manager Liang. What if he encounters a master like the Elder Qingwu someday? Failing to recognize the opponent’s identity, taking such carelessness, deceived by the enemy, thinking that he sealed the acupuncture points but actually did not… What would be the consequences?
Mo Li restrained himself from continuing such thoughts.
He looked at Branch manager Liang on the ground, constantly vomiting blood, and swiftly sealed several of his acupuncture points with invisible energy, to prevent him from fainting due to severe injuries; after all, to interrogate someone, they need to be able to speak.
This alleviation of injuries is temporary, after two hours, if no further acupuncture is administered, the condition will worsen. If there is a famous doctor, or if one immediately takes a healing elixir and unblocks the meridians, one’s martial foundation remains intact, recovery could take seven or eight years.
Branch manager Liang was well aware of this, though he was filled with bitter hatred, he dared not show the slightest on his face. He struggled to his feet, half of his body drenched in blood.
Young Master Qiu was shocked by Mo Li’s thunderous approach, and his steps halted. The two met by chance, and it was inappropriate for him to rashly propose taking away Master Yin. Moreover, since the Holy Lotus Sect was poisoning the people and endangering the community, if Master Yin was assisting in tyranny, he should not plead on his behalf.
Thus, Young Master Qiu looked towards Master Yin by the carriage, caught in a dilemma.
Master Yin finally recognized a familiar face on Young Master Qiu and exclaimed, “Who are you to Qiu ge?”
“He is my clan uncle,” Young Master Qiu repeated awkwardly.
If he had not recognized Master Yin earlier, he wouldn’t have to feel this awkward now, but his good memory was to blame, remembering faces he had seen a few times in childhood.
Master Yin’s lips moved as if he suddenly lost all his spirit, looking considerably older.
Meng Qi was not in the mood to deal with this guy; he wanted to resolve the matters here immediately. Doctor is not easily angered, but when he does get angry, it’s troublesome, the longer it drags, the worse it gets.
“Speak up, about the arrangements of the Holy Lotus Sect in Yuzhou. Who are your people, what are they doing, and how did this batch of crossbows and bows come about!”
He thought a lot internally, but externally maintained the demeanor of a transcendent expert; such was Meng Qi.
Branch manager Liang desperately pondered a way to escape, meanwhile revealing what he deemed unimportant and likely already exposed details about the Holy Lotus Sect’s local branches.
Yuzhou, located in the heartland of Central Plains, is Qi Dynasty’s most important grain-producing region. The Holy Lotus Sect, harboring thoughts of rebellion, naturally would not overlook Yuzhou.
Unlike Yizhou, which is filled with mountains, or Pingzhou, where bandits run rampant, or Yongzhou, which has suffered droughts and locust plagues, Yuzhou is densely populated, under the residual protection of the Chu Dynasty, where people live fairly well, and those with money and grain at home are reluctant to rebel.
For the Holy Lotus Sect to stir trouble in Yuzhou, they must make the local populace suffer.
Natural disasters are uncontrollable, but man-made disasters still have some hope, albeit requiring time.
Although the officials in Yuzhou have been negligent and greedy for a long time, they are not fools. Money moves the heart, and these officials are willing to make money, but they weigh the magnitude and nature of the issues; they avoid hot money that could cost them their official hats. For instance, they would tolerate constables and local tyrants oppressing the people or even creating wrongful convictions, but they absolutely would not engage in excessive levying that incites public anger.
The court has not completely deteriorated, so the administration is not utterly corrupt.
Despite appearing rough on the outside, Branch manager Liang understood these intricacies well. He was tasked with developing the Holy Lotus Sect’s operations in Yuzhou, and instead of using his martial prowess to assassinate high-ranking officials at the state prefecture, realizing the difficulty of this approach, he discreetly went into hiding, only dispatching his subordinates to villages and towns to preach.
Offering free medical treatment to the poor, providing them with free grain seeds, vegetable seeds, and agricultural tools, claiming to be followers of the Ziwei Emperor, accumulating good deeds.
Once they visited a village, they absolutely did not send people to nearby villages to operate.
In spring and summer, fights broke out over irrigation rights in the fields, when marriages between villagers led to dissatisfaction leading to brawls, when the government conscripted labor and one bribed to reduce their village’s burden causing neighboring villages to work double, more fights ensued.
The Holy Lotus Sect’s small favors could not completely bewitch the people, only through contributing in these matters.
A sect that after belief promises divine protection, impervious to blades and possessing immense strength, was quite appealing.
In rural fights, people usually only grabbed knives or sticks, rarely seeing any formidable weapons. A few skilled in martial arts mingling in the melee, secretly making moves, wouldn’t that result in their side being unscathed while the other side inexplicably falls and wails?
After all, the Holy Lotus Sect’s preachers, if nothing else, were most adept at deceptive tricks, carrying along some energizing elixirs sufficient to fool these villagers who would never leave their hometowns in their lifetimes.
Once people began to waver, seeing that everyone else believed, they too would follow suit.
“…… We only preach; there is absolutely no, and cannot be, any plotting of rebellion. The martial world is treacherous, Yuzhou has many armed escorts and complex forces, just inquire about it and you will know. I really raised my followers for self-protection and to hold our territory. With just these people and a dozen crossbows and bows, could we possibly take over a county town? Even if we did take it, who in the town would obey a group of martial rogues?” Branch manager Liang seemed fearful, yet he strategically downplayed the gravity of the situation.
If not for the doctor still being angry, Meng Qi nearly laughed at Branch manager Liang’s rhetoric.
The self-defensive justifications somehow sounded resentful.
He was upset about being sent to preach in Yuzhou, right in the heart of Central Plains, where the officials are both corrupt and evil, yet couldn’t be utilized by them.
To gain believers, he had to help them in group fights, act as a problem-solver in villages, perform tricks, cure minor ailments, occasionally offer benefits to win people’s hearts, and slowly become a familiar face. Today he would run to this village, tomorrow he needed to go to another village a hundred miles away, like setting up a market stall.
That would have been enough, but he also had to deal with the complex forces of the martial world here. As long as the Holy Lotus Sect did not openly rebel, they remained just another martial faction. What use are a dozen people with a handful of weapons? The followers were truly useless; despite their devout belief, they were unwilling to partake in rebellion, and the people Branch manager Liang could rely on were practically those right in front of him.
Oh, plus the few guys Meng Qi caught in the town last night.
They were so few that even if they relied on force to kill the county magistrate and seize the county office, they couldn’t possibly hold the town.
Martial rogues killing officials and seizing towns—isn’t that seeking death? Even supreme masters cannot withstand thousands of troops!
“You, my man, are also quite unlucky,” Meng Qi intentionally sighed.
Branch manager Liang almost couldn’t maintain his expression.
—Wasn’t his worst misfortune encountering these two fierce stars in front of him?
“You haven’t mentioned where these crossbows and bows came from.”
“These are from Prince Ning in the south,” Branch manager Liang was more forthcoming this time, directly saying, “Prince Ning’s side is short of military funds, and you can buy them if you have the connections. It’s not just us; many martial factions have bought them. The crossbows and bows are extremely powerful; if they weren’t so expensive, I would have bought more.”
Meng Qi raised an eyebrow: “Oh, how much for one?”
Branch manager Liang held up a finger.
Meng Qi did not give him the chance to keep up the suspense, interjecting, “So expensive, it seems that the Holy Lotus Sect didn’t buy them, but stole them from other sects.”
Branch manager Liang: “……”
A single finger could mean one tael of gold or one hundred taels of silver; he hadn’t even stated the price yet, how could this man just guess so accurately?
Meng Qi retorted: “You just mentioned they’re expensive, I merely followed your lead. So, what? Were you just spouting nonsense, and they’re actually not that expensive?”
Branch manager Liang was left speechless; he finally realized this fierce star was unpredictable!
He had been in the martial world for many years, deceiving countless people. His natural appearance as a brawny tower of a man, combined with his rough and impetuous demeanor, made it easy for seasoned warriors to believe what they heard and saw. But unexpectedly, the fierce star he met today did not follow any conventional pattern.
Most critically, the opponent was not only powerful but also unexpectedly insightful, breaking down the origin of the crossbows and bows right away.
Indeed, they were stolen… who would spend money if they could just steal them, unless they were fools!
Branch manager Liang’s mind was filled with doubts, thinking that there must be a traitor within the Holy Lotus Sect, selling out everything cleanly.
Little did he know, Meng Qi was merely guessing, and his accurate guess was solely because he knew the most expensive endeavor in the world was rebellion, none other.
While Branch manager Liang was being intimidated by Meng Qi into paranoia, Mo Li was also busy interrogating Master Yin, who knew the inside story.
However, Master Yin was absent-minded, his whole person dazed, answering only one out of every three questions.
Mo Li slightly frowned, casting a sharp look towards Young Master Qiu.
Ever since Master Yin recognized Young Master Qiu’s background, he had started to act abnormally.
Mo Li pondered for a moment, then spoke, “Young Master, may I have a word with you privately?”
Young Master Qiu shivered and quickly made a bowing gesture: “Not at all, please go ahead.”
His martial prowess was formidable, surely a senior.
Mo Li did not correct the address, though he felt that he was about the same “age” as Young Master Qiu, but the age of his dragon lineage was a mystery.
Young Master Qiu followed Mo Li carefully to a place away from the carriage, while Meng Qi’s attention involuntarily drifted there. He heard Mo Li ask, “Who is this Master Yin? He is clearly aligned with the Holy Lotus Sect, as you have seen, so I cannot let him leave with you.”
“You are right, senior,” Young Master Qiu replied with a bitter smile.
According to the customs of the martial world, if one’s kin or old acquaintances happen to see a killing, it’s likely they would be cut down too.
The fact that Mo Li was talking to him so calmly was enough to make Young Master Qiu nervous.
“It was originally just a familial connection, I just…”
Young Master Qiu suddenly paused mid-sentence, his expression turning to one of surprise and suspicion.
Young people with little experience in the martial world are not good at concealing their feelings, with everything typically written across their faces.
Not to mention Meng Qi, even Mo Li could see it.
When Young Master Qiu came back to his senses, he felt immense pressure.
Despite Mo Li saying nothing nor forcing him to speak, cold sweat formed on Young Master Qiu’s forehead, and he felt as if he was a child again, sick and unwilling to take bitter medicine, stared down by a now-forgotten old doctor.
There was no killing intent, no blame, just waiting for an outcome.
Not providing one was absolutely unacceptable.
Young Master Qiu managed a strained smile, awkwardly saying, “It’s said that in his early years, Master Yin had a dispute with my clan uncle, who then left a letter and went to the Jiangnan region, not returning for over a decade. Now I find one mingling with the Holy Lotus Sect and the other serving Prince Ning; perhaps there was some rivalry between them! So Master Yin felt humiliated upon encountering me.”
This explanation was indeed bizarre.
If so, Master Yin was not misled into the Holy Lotus Sect; he targeted it from the start, thinking it could overthrow the dynasty?
That’s quite strange; the Holy Lotus Sect, known for beguiling the populace, is usually despised by scholars.
A decade ago, the Chu and Qi dynasties were already governing separately by the river.
Yet a decade ago, there was no sign of the Holy Lotus Sect.
Branch manager Liang bringing people to Yuzhou was also a recent affair.
“Doctor.”
Meng Qi called out from a distance.
Mo Li turned around, looking at the collapsed Branch manager Liang and the followers of the Holy Lotus Sect, and casually said, “Young Master Qiu, you should return. Soon, soldiers might arrive, and seeing you could cause trouble; your family’s caravan should also hasten on its journey.”
Young Master Qiu thanked him with a bow, cautiously withdrew a distance, then quickly walked away.
“Do you think he was telling the truth?” Meng Qi did not shy away from admitting he eavesdropped.
Mo Li did not mind; he had asked Young Master Qiu to “step aside” so that Master Yin in the carriage wouldn’t hear.
“Perhaps.”
Mo Li rubbed his temples, uninterested in the squabbles between two scholarly gentlemen.
“I just think that the leader of the Holy Lotus Sect, or rather the person behind it, might be different from what we imagined. From the beginning, they were aiming to rebel and seize power.”
“Scholars plotting a rebellion, three years and no success because they waste time quarreling,” Meng Qi glanced at Branch manager Liang, dismissively said, “As for these guys, no disrespect, but they won’t see any results even after ten or eight years of this fuss. They don’t have money, not even as much as the Si family in Pingzhou, who at least have the gold mines of Si Lang Mountain. What if we wipe them out completely? The main branch of the Holy Lotus Sect might send a few clever and money-smart people to start a new branch here in Yuzhou, wouldn’t that save their doomed venture here?”
Mo Li: “……”
Author’s Note:
Meng Qi: As a participant in a successful dynasty change, a general of the rebel army, I think your Holy Lotus Sect’s tricks are garbage.
