Since he had already made his move he could not worry about so much. Yet the man swinging his sword at him struck empty air. The figure before his eyes vanished and he looked up following the direction where the shadow had disappeared.
Yu Qing who had seized the sword was already one step ahead shooting into the air. He brandished the sword towards the sky to meet the curtain of blade light and shadow breaking through the air.
From his mouth burst an excited resounding shout. “Heaven Sword Style!”
The two men one descending from the sky and one rising from the ground instantly clashed together in mid air.
The moment they exchanged blows Tao Yongli felt greatly surprised. Yu Qing actually dared to meet his blade head on with his sword.
Although both were at the upper martial realm their strength within the same realm still had clear differences. When they had previously sensed each other he had felt his own cultivation was quite a bit higher than Yu Qing’s.
Moreover this slash of his came crashing down from above striking the lower position. He gripped the blade with both hands and in a direct clash the blade naturally held the advantage in power.
With all these advantages stacked the fellow whose cultivation was inferior to his own still dared to swing his sword for a head on collision?
Clang…
The intense sound of metal clashing rang out through the air. The noise was piercing and drew the gaze of people on the nearby mountain peaks.
The instant the blade and sword collided Tao Yongli’s expression changed drastically. He discovered that after his slash came down he could hardly suppress the rising sword momentum.
Little did he know this was exactly where Yu Qing’s confidence for the head on clash lay.
His sword art and mental technique were rather unique with a peculiar way of exerting force. When inner energy was added to the sword it condensed into a branch like distribution across the sword body while Yu Qing’s gripping hand served as the tree root.
Once it collided with external force the effect was the same as a big tree receiving impact.
When force struck the branches it was hard to easily shake the root.
Just like a strong wind blowing on a tree one sees only the branches move yet the root hardly stirs at all. Only an extremely powerful wind could possibly uproot the entire tree.
If Tao Yongli’s cultivation could reach that level Yu Qing would not dare to confront him.
Just this one instant of head on clash had already thrown Tao Yongli into panic and confusion.
Under the direct clash the blade momentum was knocked into disarray while the sword momentum remained free and flowing. At this critical moment in mid air with poor footing and difficulty even dodging it would be strange if he did not panic.
Even more terrifying was that he discovered Yu Qing’s sword held no restraint. Every move was wide open and grand with advance but no retreat only attack and no defence. Once the sword momentum started each strike came faster than the last.
The sword light was like a flood dragon breaking the sea and rising into the air.
The chaotic sword shadows scattered like rainbows and resembled a silver dragon swaying. The sword light almost instantly engulfed Tao Yongli.
The blade flew out.
Blood sprayed violently.
Tao Yongli’s figure shot out like a kite with its string cut.
Before he flew out there remained only one roar. “Run quickly!”
After that there was no more sound.
Yu Qing’s figure passed through the exploding blood rain. He flipped upside down in the air and the stirring sword light in his hand charged straight downward. With another excited shout he cried “Earth Sword Style!”
The Fengchen Sword Art was divided into thirty six styles corresponding to six main directions: front back left right and up down.
The sword style striking towards the sky was the Heaven Sword Style.
The sword style charging towards the ground was the Earth Sword Style.
The sword style unleashed to the front was the Yang Sword Style.
The sword style unleashed behind was the Yin Sword Style.
The sword style unleashed to the left was the Xiong Sword Style.
The sword style unleashed to the right was the Ci Sword Style.
Each of these six main directional styles contained six variations making up the total thirty six styles of the Fengchen Sword Art.
Ge Dajun who had shot up into the sky at this time was also greatly shocked.
He and Yu Qing had taken off almost one after the other. After Yu Qing rushed skyward he arrived in a flash and immediately chased upward in pursuit.
What he had not expected was that the fellow whose cultivation was clearly inferior to his big brother’s would dare to clash head on with big brother.
A head on clash was one thing but he actually…
The exchange had been too short. To outsiders no matter how they looked at it Yu Qing had taken out Tao Yongli in a single encounter.
Ge Dajun naturally guessed who big brother’s shout of “run quickly” was directed at.
Who else could it be but him?
Big brother must have sensed something wrong the moment they clashed. He knew his brother was no match and urgently warned him before disaster struck.
If one escaped there would still be a chance for revenge.
Yet it was too late. He had already risen into the air and facing Yu Qing who was pouring out sword light and charging downward he desperately resisted in a flurry of panic.
The piercing sounds of metal clashing rang out continuously.
Only after truly exchanging blows did Ge Dajun understand what his big brother had encountered and why he had lost.
The two figures landed almost at the same time.
A bloody gash running from the top of his head down to his chin appeared on Ge Dajun’s face.
He seemed to lose all thought in an instant. The look of terror on his face froze and his body slowly tilted backward before he thudded to the ground with no more movement.
Yu Qing held his sword horizontally and looked at the bloodstains on it. He casually circulated his energy to shake them off. The excited expression on his face had not yet faded.
At the same time he felt some regret. It felt like he had not fought enough. It had only been a couple of moves and everything felt unsatisfying.
There was also a bit of remorse. If he had known it would be like this he should not have used a sneak attack on Yi Lifly. If the three had come at him together it might have been more enjoyable.
Ever since he had mastered the thirty six sword styles he had been a bit overconfident and always eager to find someone to challenge. Because he felt the Fengchen Sword Art was good he had wanted to test whether he counted as an expert. Yet he had never found a suitable opportunity.
He could not just pick fights with people for no reason.
Who knew that when he finally got a chance to make a move it would be against his so called big brothers? It was directly turning against his own brothers.
Swish! The sword returned to its sheath.
Yu Qing did not hesitate. He immediately searched the bodies of the three companions and scraped all the money and valuables from them.
After counting what he had obtained he discovered it was more than what he carried himself. The total came to over ninety thousand taels.
He held the silver notes somewhat speechless and looked towards the disaster victims who had been driven to the other side of the mountain. He calculated in his mind.
There were about a thousand disaster victims. Five taels each would be at most ten thousand taels.
That meant he had earned over eighty thousand taels extra?
This situation made the corner of his mouth twitch. Looking at the three corpses he had slain heaven and earth as witness he really had not meant it this way at the start.
Looking around again he muttered in his heart and realised that robbery really made money faster.
There was no choice. This money could only be his now. He estimated it was heaven’s reward for him and counted as not having busied himself for nothing.
He walked back to his large money pouch stuffed these silver notes inside then slung the large pouch over his body. Only then did he wave to signal the young couple.
The young couple watched from afar somewhat afraid. Yet they had nowhere to escape and in front of such an expert they did not dare to flee. They could only walk over trembling with fear.
After the two arrived Yu Qing pointed at the three large packs of dry rations left by the three companions. “Go over and tell them to all come here. Say that I want to distribute food to them and will also escort them into Shangyuan City.”
They really wanted to distribute food?
The couple were surprised. In this disaster area there were actually people who killed just to rob things and then save them?
Yu Qing took out a biscuit tore it in half and tossed it to the two.
The two picked it up from the ground nodded repeatedly while chewing and ran off.
Before long a group of beggar like disaster victims came staggering over. Many were so hungry they could hardly walk.
Yu Qing had seen this situation many times on his journey. Many people had no strength left to walk out of the disaster area. Then some of the living would wait for these people to die. As soon as one breathed their last or even before they fully did a crowd would surge over. After the crowd dispersed only a pile of white bones would remain.
“One biscuit per person. Those who have not taken one stand on this side of the mountain. Those who have taken one stand on that side. Whoever dares to misbehave will be killed!”
Yu Qing shouted at the group of disaster victims. Then he let the young couple help distribute the biscuits while he stood to the side holding his sword and watching fiercely.
Those who received biscuits immediately ran to the designated side and began wolfing them down.
Before long the biscuits were all distributed. Yu Qing then allowed the couple to each take one biscuit as reward.
Shortly after a young boy came over holding half a biscuit he had not finished eating. He knelt before Yu Qing with tears in his eyes. “Benefactor can you give me one more biscuit? My mother over there is so hungry she cannot walk. Can I take one for my mother?”
Yu Qing saw that after one round of distribution there was still half a large pack of biscuits left. He immediately packed it up and carried it on his own body to take away. He let the boy lead him over there to check the situation.
The young couple who had tasted the benefit followed closely behind Yu Qing chewing their biscuits.
When they arrived at the scene and walked around Yu Qing discovered that it was not only the boy’s mother who could not walk. There were dozens more crawling on the ground trying to crawl over to receive food.
Without a word Yu Qing threw one biscuit to each one he saw.
When he returned to the previous spot he found that the bodies of Tao Yongli and the other two had disappeared. There were blood drag marks on the ground. Turning around he saw someone secretly wiping blood from their mouth and knew where the bodies had gone.
His expression sank but he said nothing. If it had been when he first entered the disaster area he would have slaughtered all those with greedy mouths without fail!
He began to select some of the sturdier men and had them make simple stretchers. They would bring along those who could not walk. Those who worked hard would of course receive benefits with biscuits distributed to them along the way.
These people immediately picked up the blades and swords left by Tao Yongli and the others. They cut the bare trees on the mountain and used clothes from many of the dead to make ropes for binding.
In this way after the disaster victims had eaten one round and recovered some strength Yu Qing began to lead them on the journey.
As long as they were still alive Yu Qing brought every single one without exception.
He carried half a pack of large biscuits on one shoulder while slinging the pouch full of silver notes. He waded through the turbid sewage to find the path and led the way for the group of disaster victims heading straight for the so called Shangyuan City…
In the low lying area a boat rowed across the muddy water.
Several officials from Shangyuan City on the boat were conducting their routine inspection to check the situation of the gathered disaster victims. Although they knew this patrol method could not be comprehensive they still had to do it. Having no action at all would make it hard to report.
Zhan Muchun was among them.
Just as he was looking around observing in all directions the chief clerk Yang waved to signal him and called him into the black canopy away from the others.
After that chief clerk Yang took out three silver notes each worth one hundred and handed them to him. He said in a low voice “These are the ones you donated right? I heard about it afterwards and got them back for you. Take them back.”
Zhan Muchun was stunned. “Chief clerk Yang do you think it is too little? On this trip leaving the capital I only brought this much money. I can save one disaster victim and bring them into the city if I save one.”
Chief clerk Yang grabbed his hand and slapped the silver notes back into his palm. “My top scholar if you want to donate just donate a few taels as a gesture. These three hundred taels are too much.”
Zhan Muchun said hurriedly “If I can save a few more naturally…”
Chief clerk Yang raised his hand to stop him. “Do you think you are the richest person in the entire Jin Kingdom? Listen to me and there will be no mistake. It is not appropriate for you to donate too much. With your status as the top scholar appointed by his majesty as long as there are no major mistakes rising to sixth rank official within a few years will be quick. Try not to bring unnecessary trouble upon yourself understand?”
Zhan Muchun holding the silver notes seemed to understand but not fully. He fell into thought.
Right at that moment someone at the bow of the boat outside suddenly shouted “Quick look there is a very strange group of disaster victims!”
“Damn who is that guy?”
On the other side of the drawbridge the guard commander muttered a curse then shouted loudly towards this side. “Brother listen well. The drawbridge cannot be lowered. Once the refugees surge forward the drawbridge cannot bear the weight and be pulled up. If the refugees swarm into the city Shangyuan City will be finished. I will send a small boat over to ferry you across!”
Upon hearing these words Yu Qing looked left and right put away the silver notes in his hand suddenly leaped into the air and jumped with his sword into the nearby crowd scaring them into scattering.
Yu Qing did not do anything to them. What he wanted was the wooden log they had been sitting on earlier. He kicked the log flying. The log entered the water like a dragon crossing the river and slid towards the opposite shore. Carrying the large pack Yu Qing also flew up landed on the log used it for leverage pushed down and rose rapidly into the air again. With a flip he landed and had already reached the opposite shore.
A group of soldiers immediately surrounded him with blades and spears. However the guard commander was rather upright. He waved his hand to make his subordinates retreat stepped forward and examined the blood covered Yu Qing. “Who are you? You slaughtered disaster victims in public and now dare to break through here. Do you know that if investigated you will not be able to bear the consequences?”
Yu Qing’s eyes had already turned somewhat red and he did not accept this. “Who I am is not important. Lower the drawbridge and let the disaster victims I brought in!” He grabbed a handful of silver notes from his pack. “Follow your rules. Five taels per person!”
The guard commander said “I already told you once the drawbridge is lowered the disaster victims will surely surge forward…”
Yu Qing interrupted “I will guard the bridge head. Anyone who forces their way through my sword will not spare them!”
The guard commander looked at the blood stained sword in his hand and believed he had the ability. He reached out pulled one silver note to check its authenticity then returned it and asked “How many people did you bring?”
Yu Qing replied “About a thousand.”
The guard commander said “Fine. Seeing how eager you are to save people I will trust you this once. But let me say this upfront. If any chaos breaks out do not blame the archers on the city wall for being ruthless. Anyone who forces entry will be killed by arrows!”
“As you wish!” Yu Qing threw down these words turned and went back. This time he did not take the water route but charged straight towards the drawbridge that slanted into the night sky. He moved like flying on the steep slope easily reached the top leaped from one end of the towering drawbridge flew across and landed again on the other side of the river.
After landing he saw a pool of blood on the ground. In just this short time the pile of dozens of corpses had been dragged off to who knows where again. The air was filled with a perverse bloody smell.
Yu Qing did not think too much about it. He shouted to gather the people who had come with him to move forward.
He never considered himself a good person. However since he had promised to escort those disaster victims into Shangyuan City and had also earned a large sum of money because of them and had with great difficulty brought the people to the city gates he naturally would not give up easily.
With the money in place if he could not handle the matter well it would be hard to justify.
He still had his reputation for handling affairs for money.
Familiar faces one by one the people who had supported each other along the way to reach here slowly gathered again in front of Yu Qing.
At this time the drawbridge was also slowly lowered and the disaster victims immediately became restless.
Yu Qing waved his blood stained sword and roared angrily “Anyone who forces their way through dies!”
The restlessness turned into fear and anxiety and quietened down considerably.
Once the bridge stabilised a group of men and horses immediately rushed over carrying horse repelling barriers. Soon they blocked the drawbridge leaving only two narrow paths that could allow one person to pass at a time. The soldiers held their blades and spears in a tightly guarded formation.
It was obvious that the defending troops had prepared to prevent the refugees from surging in.
The guard commander walked over jumped onto one of the horse repelling barrier posts and shouted “Hold five taels silver note for permission to enter the city!” At the same time he lifted his chin towards Yu Qing to signal that it could begin.
The disaster victims’ gazes also turned towards the city gate. They saw the heavy thick city gate slowly opening and gradually they could see the scene inside the city. That was the hope of life.
Yu Qing withdrew his gaze from inside the city pointed his sword at the young couple in the crowd and signalled them to come forward.
After the couple arrived Yu Qing took out two bundles of silver notes each bundle one thousand taels and gave one to each. He had them stand at each entrance to hand out the money to the passing disaster victims five taels each.
Fortunately he had exchanged a large amount of small denomination silver notes this time.
This was enormous trust. The couple naturally obeyed and carried it out.
Yu Qing stood at the very front holding his sword to guard and deter. He waved his sword to indicate which people were allowed and only then were they permitted to walk onto the bridge.
Finally seeing the hope of life every person passing by Yu Qing on left or right could not help but bow or clasp their hands in respect or say thank you benefactor. Some even knelt and kowtowed.
For example the young boy who had asked Yu Qing for an extra biscuit to save his mother supported his mother past Yu Qing and thumped to his knees kowtowing heavily several times.
After that more and more people followed suit. This affected the speed too much. Yu Qing grew impatient and shouted “Whoever keeps being long winded do not enter!”
This fellow who killed at the slightest provocation had spoken. No one dared to delay any longer. Each one only bowed quickly when passing said thank you benefactor then hurried to the young couple to collect the money.
The disaster victims who received the silver notes under the fierce gaze of the armed soldiers all held up the silver notes in their hands as they passed to prove they had money to prove they were entering the city legally and not to stop them!
As soon as they stepped into the city almost none did not cry. Some even wailed loudly crying their hearts out.
Facing the thousands of lights inside the city they could hardly believe it was real. It was like a dream. Many only felt like human beings again at this moment.
After that they all did the same thing. They took the silver notes to buy food and wanted to eat a proper meal like a human being…
On the drawbridge side the two thousand taels of silver notes were quickly distributed. Yu Qing threw another bundle to each of the couple.
Another two thousand taels handed out. Continue distributing!
The guards on the drawbridge looked at each other from time to time. From the refugees’ words of thanks they could see that the killer had no relation to these refugees at all. He was purely paying out of his own pocket to save them.
The guards who had been immersed in muddled chaos recently finally caught a trace of freshness.
Yet another two thousand taels was still not enough. Before long it was finished again.
Yu Qing threw out another two bundles and continued distributing!
He had already thrown out six thousand taels of silver notes.
But it was still not enough.
He threw out another two bundles of silver notes.
After nearly eight thousand taels had been distributed Yu Qing sensed something wrong. He felt that the people passing by him not only looked unfamiliar but their eyes were also somewhat evasive.
He said nothing and continued to wave his sword to indicate the people queuing in front to pass one after another.
Not to mention him even the young couple had realised something was wrong.
For the same group of over a thousand people the couple were most familiar with them. The two felt that their own group had already all entered. They felt that the people coming in afterwards were not from their group. Other people had mixed in.
But after hesitating again and again besides continuing to distribute the silver notes they did not say anything more.
The person paying the money did not speak and played the fool.
The people distributing the money did not speak and pretended not to notice.
The people fishing in troubled waters did not speak and mixed in one by one.
After eight thousand taels were finished Yu Qing threw out another two bundles of money and continued distributing!
In his heart he actually had a count. He planned to take out ten thousand taels. Saving one more counted as one more. Earning eighty thousand taels or so was enough for him.
However the queuing refugees were quiet to a frightening degree. They were extremely obedient and seemed to even control their breathing afraid that one wrong look would let others see something amiss afraid they would be kicked out of the queue.
There was no arguing no snatching and not even any chaos.
These were disaster victims these were refugees these were starving people. This group of people in ragged clothes worse than beggars had at this moment created an unimaginable scene.
Especially for someone who had witnessed the terrifying scenes of hunger with no choice this scene before him brought Yu Qing enormous spiritual shock.
How could the city gate guards not feel the same?
So everyone was very quiet. Every link cooperated fully. All wanted the disaster victims to enter the city one by one as quickly as possible.
This unimaginable orderly silence left Yu Qing not knowing how to make the discordant move to stop it.
After ten thousand taels were distributed he almost ground his teeth to pieces. His hand uncontrollably reached into the leather pouch again pulled out two more bundles of money and threw them out to continue distributing.
He assessed the number of people at the scene and estimated that after distributing all the small denomination notes he had exchanged everyone would have entered the city.
So he lowered his own bottom line in his heart. Just distribute all the small notes. At worst he would earn a bit less money.
The guard commander who had been standing quietly on the horse repelling barrier post looking down from above also clearly sensed something wrong. This was far more than a thousand people entering the city. It could not even stop at two thousand. Looking at that fellow’s large pack of silver notes if this trend continued it was unknown whether the city could handle so many refugees suddenly pouring in.
He immediately turned walked across the drawbridge stepping on a row of horse repelling barrier posts jumped down and called two subordinates over. In a low voice he said “You two go and inform the people from the four great families. Tell them the situation here and ask whether it is acceptable to let the disaster victims continue pouring in like this.”
The two subordinates nodded and ran off quickly.
The guard commander watched them leave then turned back to look at the place where the money was being distributed. He sighed helplessly. He could not afford to offend the four great families either. He also needed to survive.
After waiting for a small half hour the two subordinates returned and reported “Over there they said since the disaster time decree has already been set if the disaster victims can produce the money then naturally it must be handled according to the decree. They said it is saving people after all. Those who can produce the money can all be let in!”
The guard commander nodded. It seemed the four great families were confident they could handle this base. Then he could relax. He immediately rushed back to the bridge head and personally went to the front line again.
Yet the two subordinates muttered to each other.
“It seems the four great families have enough grain stockpiled in their hands. Otherwise they would not dare to let so many disaster victims into their own nest.”
“You also know this is their nest. Think about it. Shangyuan Prefecture is the radiation centre for the northern part of Zhao Prefecture and Shangyuan City is the centre of the entire Shangyuan Prefecture. Just the grain supply for more than ten counties around the city itself normally has the four great families using Shangyuan City as the collection and distribution centre.
I heard that when they initially wanted the common people to migrate and said each person would be given ten taels of silver the four great families estimated that those officials would mess things up. They had already urgently purchased and stockpiled large amounts of grain in advance.
It is said that just the Chen family alone added sixty thousand dan of grain in advance. The other three families would not be much less. It is estimated that the four great families together have at least two hundred thousand dan of grain stored. Not to mention the people outside here even if all the hundred thousand or so disaster victims in the entire nearby area came in the four great families could hold out until after the disaster.”
“Damn it. Why not lend out some grain first to tide things over? It would be good to prevent so many people from starving to death! Afterwards the authorities can repay them. With their background would the authorities dare to default on their debt?”
“You are thinking too much. They want to take this opportunity when grain prices soar to make a huge profit. How could the authorities repay them at such a high price? It would be impossible to explain to the imperial court.”