The stolen magic is a bit magical

next day!

early morning!

In Ningcheng, the capital of Huzhou, the sunlight leaps over the Luanyun Mountain to the east and bathes Yuehu Lake in its glow.

The Ghost Festival has just passed, and according to the seasons, autumn has already arrived.

Autumn is already beginning to show its signs in the north, but in the south, birds are still singing and flowers are blooming.

Under the early autumn sun, Moon Lake shimmered with light.

Several boats that had spent the night on the lake returned leisurely, with some scholars standing at their bows. The fragrance of their perfumes added to the beautiful and imaginative atmosphere of Moon Lake.

These boats belong to the Xianyin, Miaoyin, and Tianyin workshops of Ningcheng.

The character "坊" (fang) is prefixed with a phonetic character, giving it an elegant feel.

In fact, there are elegant parts and not so elegant parts.

For example, Xianyinfang is truly elegant, because as everyone knows, Xianyinfang is famous for its music. There is nothing else to do besides music. When you say you are listening to music, you really mean listening to music.

However, not all shops are like this, falsely advertising mutton while actually selling it.

Other establishments, even those with "sound" in their names, are often just a front for something else entirely. Do they really have sound? Of course they do. For example, singing is also sound. Are there sounds besides songs? Yes, they do. For instance, if you're physically strong enough, you can keep a singing girl in bed for an hour or two and make all sorts of sounds. Can you say that sound isn't sound?

Most people who go out to the lake for an overnight stay are doing it for this sound.

Didn't you see those scholars at the bow of the boat, sitting alone admiring the lake view, not quite able to straighten their backs?
Among the many flower shops, there is one boat that is quite special.

This is a swallow boat, very small, with an elegant and unique design.

There was a woman at the bow of the boat, staring intently at the lake.

At first glance, the lake in front of her seemed no different from any other lake, but upon closer inspection, the difference became apparent, for this lake was as calm as a mirror.

The wave disappears when it goes outside this circle.

The wind stops when it reaches outside this circle.

This lake surface seems to have become a giant mirror.

Suddenly, a small vortex appeared in the mirror.

As soon as the whirlpool appeared, a figure slowly rose from the lake.

This woman was stunningly beautiful, like a fairy on water. She was none other than Princess Shanling. At this moment, Princess Shanling was not wearing princess clothes, but a snow-white long dress, which made her look less royal and more like a fairy.

The woman on the boat was the palace maid beside her.

"Your Highness! Your eyes... are clean now!" The palace maid exclaimed joyfully as soon as her gaze fell upon Princess Shanling's eyes.

Princess Shining blinked gently, still harboring some lingering resentment.

That very day, she used the Heavenly Capital Immortal Mirror Technique to take a distant look at the thief she hated most in her life, only to have him defile her eyes with the most vile means, breaking her Heavenly Capital Immortal Mirror Technique.

She submerged herself completely in the Moon Lake, drawing in the essence of the lake's waters. It took her seven days and seven nights to finally cleanse her eyes. Although she had recovered, she couldn't suppress the rage in her heart whenever she thought of that scoundrel.

Princess Shining rose up and boarded the Swallow Boat. With a gentle wave of her hand, a palace maid presented her with her favorite white jade cup, filled with her favorite refreshing tea.

"Tell me, is that thief dead?" Princess Flash asked casually, taking a sip of tea.

For seven days, she stayed at the bottom of the lake, oblivious to everything around her, focusing solely on washing her eyes.

The palace maid's expression was a little strange: "Your Highness, Lord Su has been enjoying great success lately."

"Glory? And Lord Su?" The princess's face darkened.

The palace master was startled and quickly bowed: "This servant misspoke. The traitor Su has conquered three prefectures in recent times and wiped out the Dongxuan Sect, the Bapan Sect and the Qingxuan Sect."

"What? Annihilate them?" Princess Flash frowned sharply.

"Yes! Basically, all the sect elders were wiped out, and the foundations of all the disciples were destroyed. The destruction of the three sects was extremely clean and thorough. The three sects have been wiped out!"

Princess Flash's teacup rippled gently: "He actually wiped out three sects? What gave him the right to do so? Just his third-rate town-level team?"

"I heard it's a formation..." The palace maid reported the information she had gathered.

Princess Shining was completely stunned...

One formation wiped out an entire sect, and to this day, not a single member of the three thousand-strong battle team has been reported to have suffered a single loss...

The palace maid licked her lips, a blush creeping onto her face. "Your Highness, his most breathtaking achievement wasn't the annihilation of the three sects, but the governance of the people. Lord Su... oh... Lord Su the scoundrel reclaimed all the fields, forests, and shops that the sects had seized throughout the prefecture, returning them to their rightful owners. All the wealth of the three sects was distributed to the people of this prefecture. Everyone in the three prefectures knelt to thank His Majesty for his grace, everyone knelt to thank this Lord Su... Princess, please don't scold me. When it comes to this matter, I really can't bring myself to call him 'scoundrel Su'..."

Princess Shining frowned deeply: "Eliminating the three sects, seizing their wealth, and then using it as a tool to win people's hearts? This thief... how dare this thief do such a thing?"

“No, Princess!” the palace maid quickly explained, “He didn’t win the hearts of the people in his own name. He was bestowing the rewards in His Majesty’s name. His Majesty’s statue is high above the entire city. All the people kneel and praise him. His Majesty sees and hears it all… In just seven days and seven nights, in the eyes of the millions of people in the three prefectures, His Majesty has become a sage ruler for all time, surpassing even the most virtuous sages!”

Princess Shining looked bewildered: "Could all of this really have been arranged by Father? But that doesn't make sense. The national treasury is empty, and there's no money to pay the officials' salaries. Father is desperate for money. How could he possibly give up his hard-earned wealth at this time just to show his imperial benevolence?"

The palace maid said, "This servant just received news from the capital. Lord Su seized the treasuries of the three sects, and all the gold and silver inside were given to His Majesty. These three sects alone gave His Majesty several million taels of gold, as well as a large number of precious jewels, jade artifacts, antiques, and paintings. His Majesty is overjoyed and praises Lord Su every day as a model official. He approves every single thing Lord Su proposes, even replacing two prefects, and even though the prefect of Linjiang was replaced by a county magistrate who was above his rank, His Majesty agreed to everything..."

Princess Shining was completely bewildered.

Am I in seclusion for seven days and seven nights?

Why do I feel like I've been in seclusion for several years?

In just seven days and seven nights, he traveled south of the Yangtze River, visiting three prefectures, replacing two prefects, and eliminating three major clans. He also won the hearts of the people in the three prefectures and amassed tens of millions of taels of silver from the imperial court...

This shouldn't have been accomplished in seven days and seven nights; it's an achievement that a minister would need a lifetime to accomplish.

"Your Highness, there is something I am unsure whether I should say..."

"Spit it out!" Princess Shining retorted irritably.

"Yes!" the palace maid said, "This servant is absolutely not pleading for him. This servant is just speaking the truth. What Lord Su did when he went to Jiangnan was truly in accordance with the will of Heaven and the people, as well as His Majesty's holy heart. Princess, you must not make things difficult for him any further."

Princess Shining slowly bit her lip: "So, according to you, my own brother died in vain?"

"Your Highness, please don't think like that. After all, it was His Majesty's arrangement. As a subject, he was just following His Majesty's orders. What wrong did he do? Your Highness..."

Princess Shining closed her eyes.

This argument is convincing.

The Emperor has already approved of this matter in person; it was arranged by the Emperor.

If a ruler commands his subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die; how much more so if it is merely a task?
What serious crime did the person carrying out the order commit?

She wasn't unaware of this principle.

But how can we let our brother go after he died?

You can't find your own father to avenge, so you can only go after him, right? Anyway, even if ten thousand of his kind died, it wouldn't be worth as much as one brother. Don't bother complaining to this princess.

However, the situation now seems to have really changed.

Every step he took during his journey to the south of the Yangtze River struck at the very core of his father's comfort zone.

Destroy sects, win over the people, seize their wealth, and fill the national treasury...

If I were to step in and kill him now, wouldn't that ruin my father's grand plan?
For a princess, that would be unwise; for a daughter, that would be unfilial…

What should we do about this?
I'm so worried...

Princess Shining couldn't understand why, when she originally thought that leaving Tiandu and killing someone would be a piece of cake, it was becoming increasingly difficult.

Suddenly, warships appeared in the sky!

Dozens of warships simultaneously took to the air and surrounded Moon Island in the center of the lake.

In the painting studio on the lake, countless people ran onto the deck.

In the city, countless people ran towards the lake.

The windows of the high-rise building, near Moon Lake, opened almost simultaneously.

Everyone was focused on this sudden scene.

Moon Island in the heart of the lake, a key location in Huzhou.

In the eyes of those in the martial arts world, this is a mysterious place where any doubt or difficulty can be resolved.

In the eyes of officials, this was an uncrowned court deeply rooted in the government, dominating the officialdom, and invincible in every way.

What is the "uncrowned court"? It means that although this pavilion seems to have nothing to do with the imperial court, the power to appoint and dismiss officials is basically in the hands of the pavilion. This pavilion can easily promote officials to high positions, and it can also easily bring officials to their doom.

Therefore, everyone in the officialdom of Huzhou both loved and feared this island in the middle of the lake.

What they love is that their desire for promotion can truly be realized on this island.

What they feared was that they might anger the people on the island, causing them to easily lose their trump card for survival.

Today, fifty warships suddenly appeared, without any warning, on the island in the middle of the lake...

What happened?
On the island in the middle of the lake, the senior elders of Huzhou Xin Pavilion all looked up at the same time, and their expressions changed simultaneously.

"What happened?"

"Su Lin's army!"

"Where is the Pavilion Master?"

With a whoosh, the First Elder, the Second Elder, and the Fourth Elder appeared simultaneously in the main hall of the pavilion.

There was no one inside; the Pavilion Master, Lei Zhentian, was nowhere to be found.

With a soft hum, a golden grid suddenly covered the entire island from above.

"A grand formation! This is Su Lin's sect-annihilating formation..." the elder exclaimed in a long voice...

"Why? Why are you attacking my Heart Pavilion?" The Grand Elder roared, soaring into the sky!

This elder, at the pinnacle of enlightenment, is halfway to the realm of enlightenment rules.

Even within the chaotic Yin-Yang formation of the Sky and Earth, this charge possessed boundless power. However, just as he was about to break through the formation, a figure on the warship took a single step, reaching the top of the Grand Elder's head in a single stride.

boom!
One step down!
The Grand Elder fell from the sky; this was Zhang Tao.

Zhang Tao, who has just returned from Beijing.

Although Zhang Tao is only at the Enlightenment Realm, he is an Enlightenment Realm cultivator who can withstand an attack from the Enlightenment Rule. The Grand Elder has not yet been able to break out of the Yin-Yang Reversal Formation in the Sky and his combat power is at most equal to that of the Enlightenment Body at its peak. How can he withstand this kick?
With just this one kick, everyone in the Heart Pavilion was told that they could not escape.

"Lord Su! My Heart Pavilion has been granted special permission by the Imperial Court to build a pavilion on Moon Island. What is the reason for your unwarranted military suppression of it?" the Second Elder shouted.

This shout shook the heavens and the earth, spreading throughout the entire city.

On the flagship, Lin Xiaosu, dressed in the official robes of a fourth-rank court official, took a step forward and stood in the void atop the Heart Pavilion. With a wave of his hand, a corpse appeared out of thin air.

This person, with black hair and a white beard, dressed in the robes of the Heart Pavilion Master, had his eyes closed. Under Lin Xiaosu's control of his true essence, he slowly rotated in the void...

Lin Xiaosu said coldly, "Did everyone see clearly? Who is he?"

"Heavens...Master!"

“Sect Master…” countless people shouted.

In Ningcheng, there were many people who possessed the ability to see clearly, and they clearly saw that the person rotating in the void was none other than Lei Zhentian, the master of the Heart Pavilion.

At the prefectural government office, Prefect Song Yuncang's face suddenly darkened.

He could see clearly through the prefect's official seal that Lei Zhentian was dead!
They even dragged him out for an autopsy after he was dead!

What is this Su Lin up to?
Lin Xiaosu said in a deep voice, "That's right! This is Lei Zhentian, the master of the Heart Pavilion in Huzhou! Lei Zhentian took advantage of my seclusion last night to launch a sneak attack on me, but I killed him instead. Now it's your turn... Kill!"

Once the kill order is issued...

Behind him, Mad Wolf stepped down!

Zhang Tao's figure blurred, faster than a mad wolf!
Behind them, more than forty guards each unleashed a thousand-foot-tall Dharma body, and for a moment, the entire sky above the Heart Pavilion was filled with these thousand-foot-tall Dharma bodies.

The entire Moon Lake seemed to be pressed down three feet by this invisible force.

"Stay on!"

Suddenly, two words appeared out of nowhere!

The sound reverberated throughout the city and the entire lake.

Before the words had even faded, a golden light shot into the sky from the prefectural government office, spanning half of the long lake.
All those who leaped up were no longer standing on the Heart Pavilion, but on a floor paved with the golden light of official seals.

An official dressed in the robes of a second-rank official walked across the bridge as if suspended in mid-air.

"Your Excellency the Prefect!" countless people below shouted in unison.

"Will the prefect stop it?" some people wondered.

"If the prefect were to intervene in a military campaign at court, the situation would be quite alarming..." This was the assessment of a discerning person.

In a short while, Song Yuncang arrived in front of Lin Xiaosu, standing four feet higher than the deck where Lin Xiaosu was standing.

This is a very typical Shangguan attitude.

He was a second-rank official, while Lin Xiaosu was a fourth-rank official. Officials met in the air by virtue of their official seals, with each rank clearly defined and their status distinct. This was also the law of the imperial court.

"Is this Prefect Song?" Lin Xiaosu slowly raised her head.

Song Yuncang lowered his gaze: "It is indeed I! Lord Su has been in my Huzhou territory for seven days on official business. This is the first time I have met you. Please forgive any rudeness."

Lin Xiaosu said, "Lord Song, you are too kind! It should be me who requests an audience with the Prefect, which is in accordance with the etiquette of officialdom. However, I am under imperial orders to inspect Jiangnan, so I can only do my job and it is inconvenient to disturb you, sir."

Song Yuncang asked, "What is Lord Su's intention in besieging the island in the middle of the lake this time?"

"Didn't Your Excellency hear what I just said?" Lin Xiaosu said calmly, "With troops besieged on the island in the middle of the lake, the natural course of action is to wipe out the remaining forces of the Heart Pavilion!"

Song Yuncang's face darkened: "Lord Su, a country has its laws, and a family has its rules. How can military violence be carried out so rashly? To exterminate an entire clan at the drop of a hat, what kind of decorum is this?"

This loud shout was extremely authoritative.

Everyone at Huzhou Xinge felt a sense of relief at the same time.

With the army besieging Moon Island and their bodies concealed within the great formation, everyone had an ominous premonition of the sect's annihilation, because they had become all too familiar with this method of sect destruction recently.

Dongxuan, Bapan, Qingxuan...

Every sect was stronger than Xin Ge, and he wiped them all out.

Now the Heart Pavilion is surrounded, and its leader, the Heart Pavilion Master, has been killed. The remaining people seem to have no hope.

But then, the prefect appeared!

His appearance meant there was hope.

Lin Xiaosu's face also darkened abruptly: "Since the Prefect knows that a country has its laws and a family has its rules, why not review Article 73, Paragraph 3 of the Great Wilderness Law?"

Song Yuncang's face suddenly twitched!
All the officials in the prefectural government felt a sudden pang in their hearts!
The restaurant was deathly silent. Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Most of them were unaware of the specific provisions of the "Great Wilderness Laws" and were completely at a loss. Could it be that Xin Pavilion had really violated some Great Wilderness prohibition? Did it really meet the conditions for being wiped out?

A young man asked directly, "Sir, what does Article 73, Paragraph 3 of the Great Wilderness Law say?"

The man addressed as "Mr." took a deep breath: "Article 73, Section 3 stipulates that if the leader of a martial arts sect personally kills an official appointed by the imperial court, the entire sect shall be wiped out!"

The young man jumped up: "One person commits a crime, and the whole family is forced to commit suicide? This...this...this is too harsh!"

"It could be called harsh, but upon closer examination, it makes sense. When ordinary members of a sect commit crimes, they are held responsible for their own actions. However, the sect leader can influence the will of the entire sect. If the sect leader commits a crime, it is reasonable for the entire sect to be implicated," the gentleman said.

A person beside him said, "Mr. Chen's words are somewhat biased. The real reason is deeper. This law was a severe punishment established at the beginning of the Great Wilderness to address the rampant chaos among sects. It has continued to this day, and many scholars of etiquette and law have proposed revisions. However, these revisions have been endless. In fact, the fact that a sect leader personally kills an official of the imperial court is itself a very bizarre thing. The sect leader has countless capable people under his command. Why would he need to do something personally? Therefore, this law exists in name only..."

This is a discussion among the public.

On the Golden Bridge, Prefect Song Yuncang's mind was suddenly in turmoil.

He originally thought that he had a great sense of righteousness in standing up and stopping Lin Xiaosu from targeting Lord Xin's heir.

Therefore, he dared to utter the eight resounding words, "A country has its laws, and a family has its rules," in front of everyone.

But he overlooked one clause.

It's not that he was the one who ignored this clause; almost everyone ignored it.

As mentioned above, this clause is essentially meaningless.

The clause states that a sect leader "personally kills an official appointed by the imperial court, resulting in the extermination of his entire sect," which is too easy to circumvent.

How many people does a sect leader have under his command?
What right did he have to kill a high-ranking official of the imperial court?

Why can't he send someone to kill him?
How crazy must he be to do something so taboo?
Therefore, no sect leader with a sound mind would do such a thing.

Over time, officials stopped thinking about it.

Prefect Song Yuncang hadn't expected this at first, but taking this step made him look like a complete fool in front of the whole city, and Lin Xiaosu's words put him in a very awkward position.

But who is Song Yuncang? A man who has navigated the officialdom for decades and is well-versed in its ways, he quickly changed his mind and said, "Lord Su, although there is indeed a law that allows a clan leader to personally kill an official of the court and bring the entire clan to justice, I am aware of Lord Lei. He is not a reckless person. How could he commit such a lawless act? I believe there must be a hidden reason. Perhaps Lord Su could temporarily calm down and go to the prefectural office to discuss the matter before making a decision?"

Lin Xiaosu had a half-smile on her face: "Is the Prefect going to vouch for Lei Zhentian?"

Song Yuncang's face darkened: "When did I ever say I would vouch for him? I only said that things are unpredictable, and what we see with our eyes is not necessarily the truth. Every life is precious and cannot be taken for granted!"

This statement was made with righteous indignation and strong conviction.

He dared to say this even in front of the entire city, because it was a truth that applied to any era.

Human life is so precious that it cannot be taken away at will. Once a serious mistake is made, it is difficult to change. Therefore, it is always good to be cautious in everything you do.

Lin Xiaosu laughed: "So you were talking about human lives! This is a point on which I share the same understanding as the Prefect. Therefore, under my Sky Yin Yang Reversal Formation, I do not kill people, but only suppress... the Mad Wolf!"

Mad Wolf stood still and replied, "Here!"

"Issue the order to the entire army! All elders of the Heart Pavilion and above are to be arrested. Those who do not resist shall not be killed. Those who dare to resist shall be killed without mercy!"

"Yes!"

Lin Xiaosu raised his hand, and the official seal in his palm was like a sword. With a single stroke, the golden light formed by the prefect's official seal, if it was the curtain that prevented the army from destroying Xin Pavilion, then this sword was the curtain that broke through.

This is the inspector's true trump card.

The inspector is acting on imperial orders.

No matter how high the rank of an official, they are all below the throne. In terms of position, Lin Xiaosu follows the order of officialdom. If you are willing to be four ranks higher, I will let you be four ranks higher. However, if you, a second-rank prefect, dare to use your official seal to form a barrier, I dare to use my official seal to tear down your barrier!

In the blink of an eye, the army marched straight to Xin Pavilion.

This presented the Elders' Council of Xin Pavilion with a huge problem.

If you don't resist, you'll be arrested; if you resist, you'll be killed.

People have different ideas, and the results will also be different.

The Grand Elder rebelled and was killed!

The Second Elder and a group of elders tried to escape but were killed!

The remaining hundred or so elders gave up resistance and were all put in special heavy handcuffs...

As for the other disciples of the Heart Pavilion, ignore them. Once they are below the Enlightenment Realm, their dantian will shatter and their cultivation foundation will be destroyed.

Prefect Song Yuncang's eyelids kept twitching...

Xin Ge's relationship with him was extraordinary.

He genuinely wanted to protect her. If it had been an ordinary person coming from the capital, he could have easily resolved the matter by turning a major issue into a minor one and a minor one into nothing. However, the person he encountered was not an ordinary person, but a hothead who completely disregarded the rules of officialdom.

In front of the entire city, they showed him, the prefect, absolutely no respect—or rather, they gave him a tiny bit of face.

This shred of dignity is the biggest difference between the destruction of Xin Pavilion and the destruction of other sects: the elder of Xin Pavilion saved more than a hundred people.

Lin Xiaosu readily agreed, and after the matter was settled, she handed over the 127 elders to Song Yuncang on the spot.

However, the person handed over was no longer the highly skilled elder of the Heart Pavilion, whose spirit and energy were once at their peak; instead, it was a cripple whose dantian and qi sea had been shattered. (End of Chapter)