The sudden commotion terrified the refugees, who had little experience with the world. Their faces turned ashen.
One refugee tremblingly stepped forward.
“Officer...” He wanted to say something, but a horsewhip lashed down across his face and head, sending him stumbling back. He fell to the ground, his forehead striking a stone and leaving a trail of blood.
“Shut your mouth!”
The leading Deputy Commandant didn't even lift an eyelid as he pointed toward the lush green sweet potato seedlings on the slope. “Quickly, pull all these seedlings up. Leave not a single one!”
The soldiers moved in response, carrying shovels and hoes as they strode toward the slope.
“You can't pull them up!”
“These are Divine Seeds bestowed by the Divine Lady!”
“We're all counting on them to stay alive...”
The refugees finally erupted into an uproar.
However, they felt an instinctive dread toward the government soldiers.
Having no other choice, they could only kneel on the ground, their foreheads pressing into the mud as they wailed and blocked the soldiers' path.
“Get out of the way!”
A soldier impatiently kicked aside a refugee blocking the path and raised his shovel to dig into the tender green seedlings.
“Stop!” a roar erupted from the crowd.
Cui Erlang rushed out.
This small patch of land was something he and his fellow villagers had reclaimed day and night, hoe by hoe.
Those seedlings were plants he had guarded day and night by the field, watering them scoop by scoop as they grew.
How could he stand by and watch them be uprooted?
“Officer, you can't destroy them! Once these Divine Seeds mature, they can save many, many lives!” He lunged at the soldier, death-gripping the arm holding the shovel, his eyes bloodshot.
The soldier stumbled from the weight. Humiliated and enraged, he swung an elbow back into Cui Erlang’s face.
Nosebleed immediately gushed out, splattering onto the emerald seedlings—a shocking sight.
Even so, he did not let go.
“Have you lost your mind? You dare to block government soldiers?!” The soldier kicked Cui Erlang in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
Cui Erlang struggled to get up and lunged again.
He was like a calf protecting its young, using his own flesh and blood to shield the seedlings.
“If you want to destroy the seedlings, you'll have to kill me first!”
The Deputy Commandant’s expression darkened as he watched this scene. He let out a cold snort and gave a look to his subordinates.
Two more soldiers closed in.
They reversed their spears and used the shafts to brutally strike Cui Erlang’s back, shoulders, and legs.
Once, twice, three times.
The dull thuds of the blows mixed with the sickening crack of dislocating bones, making one's teeth ache just listening to it.
Cui Erlang finally couldn't hold on any longer. He collapsed to the ground, blood spilling from his mouth and staining the soil beneath him.
Yet his hands remained outstretched, his fingers digging deep into the dirt to shield the seedlings within his palms.
“Second Brother!”
A heart-wrenching cry came from the crowd. Cui He tried to rush over but was firmly held back by the soldiers.
Shen Yu supported Cui He, who had nearly been pushed over by a soldier. He looked up at the Deputy Commandant on horseback and said coldly, “The refugees are reclaiming ownerless wasteland. According to the Laws of Great Yong, refugees who reclaim and farm ownerless wasteland are exempt from taxes for three years. As a government official, do you not even know the law?”
The Deputy Commandant looked down at the fair-faced, refined young man and sneered. “What kind of thing are you? You think you're worthy of lecturing me on the law?”
Shen Yu clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.
He had studied literature since childhood and knew no martial arts. Facing these wolf-like soldiers, he couldn't even get close.
“Uproot them.”
The Deputy Commandant’s voice was lazy.
Shen Yu made a move to force his way through, but a slender hand with distinct joints pressed down on his shoulder.
“If you go, you’re just throwing your life away.”
Shen Jue’s voice came from behind him.
Then, he bypassed Shen Yu and snatched a spear from a soldier's hand with a clean, swift motion.
No one saw exactly how he moved.
They only heard a clear metallic ring.
The spear flew from his hand, drawing a sharp arc through the air before stabbing into the ground several yards away, forcing back the soldiers who were approaching Cui Erlang and the seedlings.
The Deputy Commandant’s face changed instantly.
“Who are you?” He pulled the reins, narrowing his eyes to study this refugee who had appeared out of nowhere.
Tattered clothes, covered in mud.
He was clearly a commoner from the lowest rungs of society.
Yet the skill he had just displayed and the aura radiating from him were definitely not something an ordinary person should possess.
“Have Zhou Bai come to see me,” Shen Jue said.
The Deputy Commandant was startled.
This refugee actually knew Commandant Zhou?
If today's events reached Commandant Zhou’s ears...
Given his superior’s character of hating evil as if it were his enemy, he certainly wouldn't have a good time.
He gritted his teeth, a flash of ruthlessness crossing his eyes.
Since things had come to this, he had no choice.
“All men, hear my command—”
Thirty or forty soldiers simultaneously gripped their weapons, surrounding everyone.
“These refugees are rioting, resisting the law, and attacking officials with weapons. Kill them on the spot—leave none alive!”
The moment the words fell, the air froze.
The refugees' faces turned as white as paper.
Some collapsed to the ground, others closed their eyes, their lips moving as if they were either praying or waiting for death.
Cui Erlang lay on the ground, covered in blood, yet he struggled to lift his head, his blurred vision fixed on the sweet potato seedlings.
A foot stepped down heavily, snapping a seedling.
“No—” He crawled desperately toward that direction, his fingernails breaking as blood seeped into the mud.
“Those are... those are everyone’s lifeblood...”
Tears mixed with blood as they flowed down.
The soldiers present were also human. Seeing such a scene, it was hard not to feel a sense of pity.
Seeing the soldiers hesitating, the Deputy Commandant roared, “Do you intend to defy military orders?”
“Why are you standing there like idiots? Do it.”
Right at that moment...
A strange fragrance spread without warning.
The scent was as clear as a deep valley orchid, yet it carried the coldness of frost and snow, neither too thick nor too light.
Following that, a burst of heavenly light appeared, plating the vegetation in a faint silver glow.
Then, they saw a carriage.
The carriage was plain white, devoid of painted decorations, yet it shimmered with a pearl-like luster.
Silver bells hung from the four corners of the roof, moving without any wind. They emitted clear, distant sounds, like water dripping in a mountain stream or the tolling of a distant temple bell, striking the heart beat by beat.
Pulling the carriage were two white mythical beasts, shaped like stallions with manes like tassels hanging down to their knees and clouds blooming from their four hooves.
The carriage curtains, woven from deep-sea shark silk, were gently stirred by an invisible current. A seated figure was faintly visible behind the curtains, yet the face could not be seen clearly.
The entire carriage, along with the two mythical beasts, floated half a foot off the ground as it slowly entered the valley.
The refugees were the first to react.
“It's the Divine Lady!”
Someone shouted.
In the next instant.
The sound of knees hitting the ground echoed one after another.
The refugees all knelt, their foreheads pressed against the mud. They were trembling, but not from fear.
They were too overwhelmed with excitement, like a dying man experiencing the wild joy of seeing a saving straw.
“The Divine Lady has manifested!”
“The Divine Lady has come to save us!”
Cries, kowtows, and prayers blended together, echoing continuously through the small valley.
The soldiers' legs began to shake uncontrollably.
The strange fragrance born of nothing, the light descending from the heavens, the carriage floating three feet off the ground...
All of this exceeded their understanding.
“Divine Lady, have mercy!” a soldier dropped his weapon and knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.
“Mercy, My Lady...”
“Have mercy...”
Seeing this, the other soldiers also knelt to beg for mercy.
【Shen Jue Shock Value +10】
【Shen Yu Shock Value +100】
【Wang Laowu Shock Value +100】
【...】
【Current Shock Value: 13,510】
The Deputy Commandant’s face looked worse than a corpse's.
He pulled out the saber at his waist, gripping the hilt as his eyes fixed intensely on the approaching carriage.
The carriage stopped in front of the crowd.
The two mythical beasts lowered their heads, their golden pupils indifferently scanning the crowd as an invisible pressure descended.
The figure behind the curtain moved slightly, and an ethereal, melodious voice drifted from the carriage.
“To destroy the Divine Seeds—do you know your guilt?”
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