Near midnight, Classes A and B of the Patrol Bureau’s North Road Left Room, along with the Beichang County constables and strong men, swarmed out. Over six hundred people, armed with weapons or Magical Artifacts, charged straight for Liuyan Street, completely surrounding Chunxiao Building and Wanhua Building.
At a command from Li Qingxian, the troops charged in, plunging the two buildings into chaos.
Several fireworks shot into the sky, illuminating the night over Beichang County amidst the cries of battle.
Before long, the men from the Ministry of Justice mobilized, cursing and swearing. Without any regard for tactics, they charged straight for Datong Martial Arts Hall.
Fireworks exploded one after another above Datong Martial Arts Hall. A battle far more intense than the one on Liuyan Street had begun, with the light from Magic, Martial Techniques, and Battle Poems flashing incessantly.
At the same time, Night Guard reinforcements from the Capital City to the south and the Beichang Guard from the west rushed toward Beichang County. They were headed to assemble in an empty lot one li from Datong Martial Arts Hall.
The strongest enemies at Chunxiao Building and Wanhua Building were merely two Seventh-Grade cultivators. Before Jing Guan and that Seventh-Grade Deputy Room Leader could even act, Li Qingxian stunned them both with a handful of Thunder Talismans.
After the successful arrests, the squad headed straight for the assembly point.
All over Beichang County, people scrambled onto their rooftops to watch the battle from afar, speculating on the cause.
When Li Qingxian arrived at the assembly point, the three parties verified their Order Letters.
The Night Guard had dispatched two Fourth Grade Deputy Disciplinary Officers, twelve Middle Grade members, over a hundred Lower Grade members, and five hundred elite Ungraded soldiers. Fei Yan, the Hall Supervision Army of the North Hall, had also come with the troops.
The Beichang Guard showed considerable respect; their Fourth-Grade Guard General personally led elite troops to the scene. They had fewer Grade-Entering Officers than the Night Guard, but they brought a large number of Crossbowmen and a cavalry squad.
The three parties conferred while observing the battle.
The four hundred-plus men from the Ministry of Justice were advancing like a hot knife through butter. They captured the five courtyards of Datong Martial Arts Hall, discovered multiple tunnels, and charged into them in pursuit.
But not long after, countless black-clothed figures suddenly poured out from the Houses on all sides of Datong Martial Arts Hall, surrounding the Ministry of Justice forces in turn.
From within the tunnels, the cries of battle suddenly grew louder.
Attacked from both inside and out, the Ministry of Justice forces were firmly trapped.
The Ministry of Justice had deployed a full four Fifth Grade and ten Sixth Grade cultivators, but on the Datong Martial Arts Hall’s side, two Fourth-Grade Martial Cultivators were overseeing the battle. The surging aura of their True Essence made it hard for the Fifth and Sixth Grade cultivators to even breathe.
The Nether Mountain encirclement gradually tightened, and the Ministry of Justice members fell one after another.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH...
A sky full of arrows, mixed with Magic from Magical Artifacts and Cultural Treasures and the effects of Battle Poems, descended like a brilliant rainbow cloud, blanketing a swath of Nether Mountain members.
Screams rang out as figures fell to the ground.
A single volley cleared a large open space.
"Who goes there!" a Nether Mountain Fourth Grade cultivator shouted, both shocked and enraged.
"The Internal Factory is apprehending insurgents! Surrender or die!" Fei Yan’s shrill voice echoed across the skies of Beichang County.
Across the town, the rooftop spectators hastily jumped down, with only a few daring to continue watching.
Before his voice had even faded, another volley of arrows and the glow of Magic and Battle Poems descended, followed by the thunder of dense footsteps as Martial Cultivators and troops charged the enemy lines.
The two Fourth Grade cultivators from Datong Martial Arts Hall exchanged a look and began to slowly retreat. But from the shadows, two Fourth Grade Deputy Disciplinary Officers flew out to intercept them.
A panicked voice rang out from within Datong Martial Arts Hall: "Retreat!"
The black-clothed Nether Mountain members broke and scattered in every direction.
"Pursue them! Kill on sight!" Fei Yan shrieked again.
Li Qingxian opened his Spiritual Eye and took a look. He hesitated for a moment. ’I’ve already secured the main credit. From any perspective, there’s no need to take any risks.’
The lessons from his life as a Destiny Gentleman flashed through his mind.
’Steady and sure!’
Li Qingxian led the hundred-plus members of Class A to attack a weaker group of enemies.
Along the way, he first used a Magical Artifact to secretly protect himself, then changed into a No Grade Night Guard soldier’s uniform.
The people nearby who witnessed this were momentarily speechless.
The Nether Mountain group ahead couldn’t escape in time. A dozen or so of the black-clothed men turned to make a stand, charging back at them.
"We’ll cover the rear! The rest of you, run!"
"Slaughter the Barbarian Emperor, restore our true lands!"
"The day to slay demons and vanquish devils is today!"
"Supreme Mother, protect me on the Other Shore!"
"Nether Mountain, Nether River, a paradise on earth!"
"Kill the Emperor to cleanse the heavens, eliminate the wicked officials to eradicate evil!"
Shouting their different slogans, they all charged forward.
The leading Seventh-Grade Martial Cultivator raised his blade and brought it down. With a flash of cold light, a common Night Guard soldier was decapitated.
BZZZT... BOOM...
Li Qingxian finished chanting his incantation, pointed with his right hand, and a wrist-thick serpent of electricity shot out. It was pure white, ringed by a violet glow.
The Seventh-Grade Martial Cultivator barely managed to turn his body and took the full force of the Thunderbolt to his left shoulder. He was sent flying backward, his left arm torn off, revealing a massive hole in his shoulder.
The Thunderbolt continued onward, its electric glare illuminating a series of terrified faces.
"Kill!" The Night Guard’s morale soared, and they charged forward valiantly to slay the enemy.
Li Qingxian blazed a trail of lightning and sparks, leaving his comrades clicking their tongues in astonishment.
After mopping up this group, everyone began to clear the battlefield. Jing Guan asked, "Lord Li, What Grade are you, exactly?"
"Ninth Grade," Li Qingxian said.
"But even a Seventh Grade couldn’t withstand your Daoist Skill."
"It’s the result of diligent daily Cultivation. Strength is like a pregnancy; it takes long months and years before it starts to show," Li Qingxian said with a straight face.
"I’m impressed." As a Seventh-Grade Martial Cultivator, Jing Guan had just been thinking it over. If the two of them were to fight to the death, he’d be blasted to a crisp by a sky full of Thunder Skills before he could even get close.
"His Lordship is amazing," Zheng Gaojue praised, though he was puzzled. ’I’ve never seen Li Qingxian cultivate normally.’
Li Qingxian walked up to the corpse of the Seventh Grade from Nether Mountain, pulled out a clump of hair, and summoned his Immortal-Seeking Bee.
In Li Qingxian’s Spiritual Eye vision, a fist-sized, golden Mother Immortal-Seeking Bee appeared above his head. Farther away in the sky, smaller Immortal-Seeking Bees circled and danced, indicating the locations of the Nether Mountain members.
After walking a few steps, Li Qingxian suddenly stopped.
Everyone else also stopped in a hurry.
Li Qingxian looked ahead and to his left. A Child Immortal-Seeking Bee over there had just been dispersed by Fate Skill Power.
"My lord, what is it?"
"Nothing. I’m searching for the insurgents."
The crowd saw a white mist form in Li Qingxian’s eyes, and within the mist, a watery light rippled.
The onlookers grew even more reverent.
Li Qingxian connected his vision to the Child Immortal-Seeking Bees, finally settling on one of the Houses, and charged toward it.
Li Qingxian led his team on a night-long hunt through Beichang County, capturing over a hundred members of Nether Mountain.
As the sky cleared and turned blue, Li Qingxian gazed at the fish-belly white of the eastern dawn and said, "Fall back."
Jing Guan said in a low voice, "Many of the Nether Mountain people escaped into the mines to the west. I suspect that’s their real stronghold in Beichang County."
"Do you dare go there now?" Li Qingxian asked.
Jing Guan glanced at the people around them—the strongest was only Seventh Grade—and said, "Never mind."
The squad returned to the County Magistrate’s Office. Just as they walked in, they heard someone roaring in anger, "Are you people from Beichang County and the Patrol Bureau all useless? Why did you act on your own and alert the enemy, giving Nether Mountain time to prepare! Why didn’t the reinforcements go to Datong Martial Arts Hall to rescue our men the moment they arrived! Do you have any idea what losses the Ministry of Justice suffered? All the Middle Grade members are dead! All of them! This is your responsibility, and you will bear it!"
The insidious voice of Fei Yan, the Military Supervisor of the North Hall, drifted over. "Lord Zhang, it was clearly your Criminal Capture Department that failed in three ways: first, you didn’t notify the Factory Guard; second, you misjudged the enemy’s strength; and third, you walked right into a Nether Mountain trap. What does any of that have to do with our Internal Factory and the Patrol Bureau? If we hadn’t arrived in time, Nether Mountain would have wiped you all out. If you continue this behavior, don’t blame me for sending a report to the Duke to have you impeached."
"Lord Fei, I didn’t say a single word about the Internal Factory. I hope the Internal Factory will not interfere in this matter."
"The Patrol Bureau is under the command of my Factory Guard. In scolding them, aren’t you just making an indirect jab at me? Young man, don’t let your emotions get the better of you!"
Li Qingxian walked in to see the various parties standing on opposite sides.