The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 364: Settling the Storm

Zheng Anqi stood up from the ruins of the collapsed altar, reached out and pulled the woman who was stuck to his waist off. Blood and flesh fell off stickily, leaving only half of her upper body in his hand.

He picked it up and glanced at it.

Sure enough, it was a face of someone from Penglai, only six or seven parts similar to the "standard templates" like Li Miao and Zheng Anqi. It should be an "outer sect" rather than a "family member".

Zheng Qi stood up, clinging to the broken pillars of the altar. Her gaze swept over the corpse held in Zheng Anqi's hand, and her expression changed.

"Mingjun..."

Her only companion in the decades-long hunt for fellow disciples of Penglai was now dead.

Li Miao channeled his true energy, circulating it through Zheng Yi's meridians. When it reached her heart meridian, he suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"She really is a loving mother."

Within Zheng Yi's heart meridian, several different kinds of true energy resided, intertwining and locking each other to maintain a fragile balance—exactly the same as the old man who came to Mount Song to deliver the invitation.

Zheng Qi was actually using these methods of controlling assassins to control her own daughter. No wonder Zheng Yi had delayed making her move until now; if she had acted any earlier, Zheng Qi could have killed her at any moment. And the gash across Zheng Yi's chest proved that Zheng Qi would not hesitate to use force.

Fortunately, Li Miao already had a way to crack it.

"They say that parents are always worried about their children, but the world is not lacking in heartless beasts."

Li Miao's words were laced with sarcasm. Zheng Yi, lying in his arms, pursed her lips and a tear rolled down her cheek, but she did not refute him.

The physical wound on her chest healed slowly as Li Miao's inner energy circulated, but the wound in her heart was difficult to mend. From the moment Zheng Qi pierced her heart with her finger, she knew that their relationship was over.

His inner energy began to run rampant due to his chaotic thoughts, and in an instant, he showed signs of going into qi deviation, but it was forcibly suppressed by Li Miao's inner energy.

Li Miao patted her on the shoulder.

"Alright, Xiao Yizi, you're someone who could start your own sect in the martial arts world, yet you're so useless. So what if you don't have parents? This is a tradition in our Embroidered Uniform Guard, you're not special."

"Think about it from another angle: if you get into a fight with someone in the martial arts world and half of their insults are useless, wouldn't that be a benefit?"

"Get down, this isn't over yet."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Yi silently rolled off Li Miao's embrace, without glancing at Zheng Qi again, and turned to walk towards Wang Hai in the crowd.

Right in the middle of the Heavenly Street.

The altar, over three zhang high and several zhang wide, collapsed, burying all the guards in the rubble. The surrounding people also retreated, leaving only three people behind.

Li Miao's gaze first fell on Zheng Anqi, then swept over him from head to toe, before letting out a sneer.

"Pretend to be a ghost."

Then, he pointed at Zheng Anqi and turned his gaze to Zheng Qi.

"He's the one who got involved; you're the one who's truly in the picture."

"Xue Bangzhu, Zheng Huaijin, the water fortress, and the garrison eunuch—they were all part of your scheme, weren't they?"

"Including after you knew I was coming, it was you, my foolish fellow disciple, who incited the river bandits to rob and kill civilians everywhere in an attempt to delay my entry into the city."

“It was you who led me all the way to Nanjing, starting with the Xue Bangzhu case—but you didn’t expect that I killed them too quickly, and your fellow disciples died too quickly.”

Zheng Qi frowned but remained silent.

Are you wondering why I arrived so quickly?

Li Miao tilted her head.

As he spoke, the people gathered on the street gradually came to their senses and looked over in his direction.

"Master Zheng..."

"Two Immortal Masters Zheng!"

"No, no, it's another evil spirit disguised as Master Zheng... It's the one in black, that's right!"

"Demon... Demon! Get out of here!"

The middle-aged man, dressed like a beggar with his shirt open, touched the silver ingots in his pocket and felt his whole body burning. At this moment, no official, emperor, ruler, or even god or ancestor could inspire more reverence in him than Zheng Anqi—who else could simply throw silver into his hands!

Moreover, this magic of turning stone into gold might not be impossible to replicate! The thought of Master Zheng sprinkling gold and silver again in the future banished all his fear.

He picked up a stone and threw it at Li Miao.

"Get out! Even if I die, I will not allow you to offend Master Zheng!"

The aim was off, and the stone landed at Li Miao's feet.

But this also serves as a reminder to others.

"Yes! Evil spirits, you must not offend Master Zheng!"

"Get out of here! I'll beat you to death!"

"Neighbors! Smash him to death! Smash him to death!"

The hands that had just picked up gold and silver now gathered up various odds and ends from the ground and threw them at Li Miao. The large group of companions around them gave them immense courage, and a fanatical expression returned to their faces. After throwing a pebble, they would quickly bend down to pick up the next one.

"Kill him!"

"Smash him to death!!!"

The noise gradually rose again.

But the next instant—bang.

Red and white substances were splashed everywhere, splattering on people's faces.

The middle-aged man who first threw stones at Li Miao had his head missing. The headless body swayed twice and then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Smash him to death! Smash him...to death..."

The shouts were abruptly cut off by fear.

Li Miao glanced at the crowd, then smiled at Zheng Qi.

"Where were we... Oh, why did I get here so quickly?"

Li Miao pointed to the half-corpse at Zheng Anqi's feet.

"You allowed your fellow disciples to collude with the Twenty-Eight Water Fortresses to simultaneously attack surrounding villages and towns, using hostages to threaten and coerce the people into causing chaos."

"You think that no matter how high my martial arts skills are, it's difficult to distinguish in a short time who is being coerced, who is colluding with me, and who is a real bandit. I can only identify them little by little to buy you time, right?"

Li Miao raised his finger behind him.

Bang!
Blood blossomed, and another corpse fell from the crowd.

"I get it now?"

Zheng Qi slowly exhaled.

"You have no discernment whatsoever."

Li Miao smiled.

"Guessed it right."

Zheng Qi said in a deep voice.

"You've already taken control of the court. Aren't you afraid of giving others grounds for criticism and jeopardizing your rule? This is... the secondary capital. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, what you've done will spread throughout the land in less than a month."

Li Miao raised an eyebrow.

Why do you think I'm afraid?

"Oh, could it be that I saved people in Tai'an City, didn't kill any righteous people at the Moon Appreciation Banquet, and let those outer disciples of the Kongming Sect go... made you misunderstand and think I'm a great philanthropist?"

"This is truly a huge misunderstanding."

Li Miao turned to the side, looking at the crowd that had cooled down. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing his gleaming white teeth.

"Someone just said that even if it meant death, he would rather I offend Master Zheng. He has already gotten his wish."

"And you? Are you willing to die too?"

Ding--

A piece of jade slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground.

The row of people closest to Li Miao in front of the crowd suddenly took a step back.

Li Miao laughed.

"It seems they're unwilling, that makes things easier."

"Get out or die—you have the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

The man at the front of the crowd trembled, touching the wealth in his arms, and swallowed hard.

"He...he wouldn't dare...there are so many of us, how could he possibly—"

Bang!
The body fell to the ground.

The crowd paused for a moment.

Then it suddenly retreated!
Wang Hai and Zheng Yi chased after the crowd, making non-fatal cuts on the backs of everyone who lagged behind. As a result, the flow of people accelerated again, creating a huge space in the middle of the street.

Cao Hanyan sighed, and together with Gao Anyu, who was laughing excitedly, they jumped down and joined the ranks of those driving away the crowd.

Li Miao turned to look at Zheng Qi and Zheng Anqi.

"Alright, the space is cleared out now."

"You two, are you ready to die?"

(End of this chapter)