ChangNing’s Imperial Army - Chapter 86

Chapter 86 – Who Are You
The man, who was being referred to as ‘big brother’ saw Shen Leng leap down from the roof agilely, before noticing the Great Ning military uniform on him. In that moment, he was terrified. He quickly yelled to his men to run because the military was here. Hence, they all ran out, taking big strides.

That young lady stood there dumbfounded. When she saw Shen Leng, she yelled, “Why do we have to run, it’s just him alone!”

The old man next to her grabbed her and said, “Let’s go, quick. Even if it’s just him, we still have to run. Don’t tell me you’ve lied to people for so long that you managed to deceive yourself too? Do you really think that you’re a true patron saint?”

The young lady shook off his hand. She lifted her head up and stuck her chest out, as she walked towards Shen Leng. I am Tong Shen Sect’s patron saint. If you dare to take another step, bad luck will fall upon you.”

Bam!

Shen Leng kicked her in her lower abdomen, causing her to fly at least four meters away upon impact. When she fell onto the ground, she could not seem to catch her breath.

On the outside, Yang Qibao raised his hand and did a signal. After that, he stood up, lifting his repeating crossbow. “Don’t move. If you taking another step forward, you will be killed without hesitation.”

The person in front picked up a rock on the ground each and threw it at Yang Qibao. Yang Qibao released the arrow and shot him in his leg. That person fell onto the ground, holding onto his leg while screaming in pain.

The rest of the people got so scared that they stopped in their tracks before retreating, step by step.

The remaining people from the ten-man squad who remained outside rushed over immediately. After they entered the ancient village, the ground was level. The two people who were patrolling were taken down by the soldiers on their horses.

The group of people was forced to retreat. Ultimately, they retreated back into the room.

When Yang Qibao walked through the door, he could not help but be happy. Shen Leng was sitting on top of the big brother. That fella laid on the floor and used all his might to beg him for mercy.

The young lady who got kicked was still on the floor, groaning in pain. She could not get up.

“Tong Shen Sect?”

Shen Leng looked at those people. “Still. Who is going to tell me what exactly is going on?”

The old man that wanted to escape earlier immediately lifted his finger and pointed to the big brother, whom Shen Leng was currently sitting on. “It’s him. He was the one who forced us. He’s the main culprit behind cheating the common folks of their money by making them believe in the supernatural!”

He patted him on the back of his head. “Sect leader, your follower is a fake.”

The old man quickly said, “it’s fake, it’s fake. We all are fake.”

The sect leader laid on the floor and sighed. “The people I hate most are the people in the military…I can cheat the common folks, and I can also cheat the scholars. I can even cheat the magistrate of Qingya county. You people are too crude. You didn’t even give us the chance to explain ourselves at all.”

“Explain yourselves?”

Shen Leng placed the black cord sword against his neck. “I’m willing to listen. Explain to me then.”

In truth, it was easy to find out where these people came from. Very soon, they had revealed almost everything about themselves. The big brother, who was the leader of the group, was called Wang Congxi. He swindled and cheated people with that group of fellas. When they got to Qingya county, they heard about Feng Cheng ancient village. Since people already talked about how Feng Cheng ancient village was unclean and haunted, they started to fake supernatural sightings, and even said that the unrested souls of the Chu soldiers wanted to seek revenge, and that the only way of remaining unscathed was to believe in the Tong Shen Sect.

Perhaps, they did not even expect the magistrate of Qingya to believe them wholeheartedly. He was an honorable scholar after all; he was also one of the top three candidates who passed the imperial exam a few years ago, and became a magistrate after being an official registrar for four years.

The way they operated was rather smart. Firstly, they distributed alms – they took the initiative to donate money to the families who were facing difficulties. After that, they spread the news that if one were to join Tong Shen Sect, they would receive five copper coins every month. The money came from the gods that blessed the sect leader. It was not a lot of money, but it was tempting.

Not long later, more and more people of Qingya county became a believer of Tong Shen Sect. Half a month ago, those fellas started to disseminate the news that the Chu soldiers’ unrested souls were about to break the seal laid out by the sect leader. Hence, they needed to take back the money that was blessed upon them previously. In order to protect the people, every single one of them played their part. The “blessed” money contained the forces of the gods; every family that received the “blessed” money had to fork out another five taels of silver, to signify the forces of human beings. By combining both the forces of the gods and human beings, it would thoroughly seal the Chu soldier’s souls.

Of course, Tong Shen Sect was not going to keep those money. After the sealing process was complete, they would return the money. Not only that – the sect leader would even ask the gods for blessings. Every family would have to contribute a certain amount of money, which would become the gods’ money. They would be placed in a bag and must not be opened for a month. After that, it would be multiplied tenfold.

Of course, the money collected were given out of their own accord. There were five taels of silver in each pouch, on top of the five taels of silver from before. Once they were given to the sect leader, they would be safe. Additionally, they would receive the money from the gods. After that, their money would be multiplied tenfold every month.

After Shen Leng heard everything, he felt that the world was preposterous to huge extent. People actually believed such lies. Furthermore, there were many people who fell into their trap.

“Tie them up. Qingya county is not too far from here. Early in the morning tomorrow, we will send them to the county yamen,” instructed Shen Leng.

His men tied up all those men – there were about fifty to sixty of them. After that, he arranged some men to be on night duty. The soldiers took turns to rest.

That young lady looked rather pretty. She glared ferociously at Shen Leng. “You dare to hit girls. You will come to a bad end!”

Bam!

Shen Leng kicked her in the mouth, causing her two front teeth to break.

“I should have kicked you in the mouth earlier.”

Shen Leng gestured to his men to tie her up. After that, he looked for a place to take a nap.

When the sky was starting to get brighter, Shen Leng led his men and brought the group of swindlers to Qingya. The moment the magistrate heard that the sect leader was captured, he rushed out of the room before he wore his shoes. As he ran, he yelled, “Do not hurt Sect Leader Tong Shen, he is the god that’s watching over Qingya’s people. Somebody, quick release the sect leader.”

The bailiffs in the yamen quickly gathered and before they could rush over, they saw Shen Leng and his ten-man squad walk in. They had more manpower on their side, but when they saw Shen Leng and his men, they all retreated. At this moment, everybody could see the stark difference in their power, without a doubt.

The county magistrate Zheng Zhangcai looked at Sect Leader Tong Shen’s swollen face; he was scared out of his wits. “How, how could you do this?”

Shen Leng pointed to the front. One of his soldiers brought the magistrate’s chair over. Shen Leng sat down in the main hall. “Magistrate, what’s your rank?”

Zheng Zhangcai was dumbfounded for a while. He looked at Shen Leng’s uniform and quickly lowered his head. “Greetings, military officer.”

He took a few step forwards and said hurriedly, “Military officer, quick release the sect leader. Or else bad luck will fall upon you. He has supernatural abilities, and he was able to ensure the safety of Qingya. If not for him, the Chu soldiers’ vengeful spirits would come charging out of the ancient village.”

Shen Leng narrowed his eyes. “Are you afraid of the Chu soldiers’ vengeful spirits?”

Zheng Zhangcai slightly trembled as he spoke, “I am the magistrate, I need to be responsible for the common folks, what if…”

“There is no what if.”

Shen Leng’s voice started to sound cold. “As a magistrate, you are actually afraid of Chu soldiers’ vengeful spirits. Did you forget that similarly, there are more than ten thousand Great Ning soldiers’ spirits here too? You are not qualified to wear the official uniform, and definitely not qualified to become a magistrate.”

“I was one of the top three candidates in the imperial exam, Great Ning’s Class A Seventh pin magistrate. Even though you are a military officer, you have no authority to say whether or not I am qualified to be a magistrate.”

Zheng Zhangcai stood upright. “Besides, how do I know if you people aren’t fake?”

Gu Le, who was standing in front of Shen Leng, took a huge step forward. “You freaking…”

Zheng Zhangcai was so scared that he took a step back.

Shen Leng gestured. “Don’t offend the magistrate. After all, he is still wearing the official uniform right now.”

Sect Leader Wang Congxi yelled to Zheng Zhangcai, “These people are being possessed by the Chu soldier’s vengeful spirits. Please arrest them. I cannot bring myself to hurt these innocent people. Otherwise, I’d have dealt them heavy blows and they would be reduced to ashes by now.”

Chen Ran slapped him hard on the mouth. “Heavy blow, heavy blow, heavy blow…”

Wang Congxi spat out a mouthful of blood, including a few broken teeth.

Zheng Zhangcai’s face was already pale. “You vicious people. Somebody, lock them up. These people have been possessed by angry spirits!”

Shen Leng shook his head slightly. “You don’t know what an actual vicious person is like.”

He stood up and walked in front of Wang Congxi. He took out the scabbard of the small hunting knife. “I do not have the authority to sentence you to death. After all, I have to follow the laws of Great Ning. However, when I think about it, I wonder if there is a supernatural entity within your body. Would it be scared of me cutting up your face with my scabbard?”

Shen Leng scraped the scabbard against Wang Congxi’s face. Wang Congxi wailed in pain, “No, no, I am a swindler…please have mercy on me. Stop rubbing it against my face, I beg you, I beg you. Don’t hit me anymore.”

Shen Leng rubbed his scabbard against his forehead. “Apparently gods are afraid of being scraped too. You have to remember how angry spirits look like. When you think about it, you will feel scared.”

He almost scraped off all the skin from his head. Wang Congxi’s head was bloody. He looked extremely grisly.

Zheng Zhangcai was so scared that his legs went weak. “You people who are possessed by evil spirits, you deserve to die.”

“You shouldn’t curse us, because we are carrying the weight of the vast territories of Great Ning on our shoulders.”

Shen Leng looked at him. “Earlier on, I’ve already said. After all, you are still wearing the official uniform of Great Ning…in that case, you should take it off now.

Two soldiers walked over with a vicious smile on their faces. In Zheng Zhangcai’s eyes, they looked like angry spirits. He kept retreating, but how could he escape? He called out for his men to protect him, but nobody dared to move or take any action.

Within a few moments, the two soldiers removed Zheng Zhangcai’s uniform. Shen Leng looked at him, “You should feel fortunate that I can’t do anything to you.”

The young lady, who got kicked twice before, looked resentfully at Shen Leng. “Even when I become an angry spirit, I will never let you go.”

Bam!

The third kick.

That young lady immediately passed out from Shen Leng’s kick.

Chen Ran sighed. “She is still a beautiful girl after all. Go easy on her. Just a lecture will do.”

“Beautiful girl?”

Shen Leng looked outside of the main hall and was in a daze for a while. After that, he snapped out of it and looked at the young lady who had fainted.

“In this world, Master Cha is the most beautiful girl.”

He looked at the bailiffs. “Who here still believes that these people are gods?”

Who would dare to admit?

“Who did not believe in them right from the beginning?”

After a while, a few people stood up and saiad, “We do not believe. Right from the start, we’ve never bought what they said.”

Shen Leng grunted. “In that case, I need to trouble you with something. Qingya is under the jurisdiction of Zhengxing. Pack up and go to Zhengxing. Meet with the prefect of Zhengxing and explain everything clearly to him. Lock all of them in the yamen prison of your county, including your magistrate. Let me give you a warning – if anybody dares to let anybody go, I will kill them.”

Shen Leng turned around and tossed the scabbard to Chen Ran. Cut every single one of them, so that when people look at their faces in the future, they will know that they are swindlers.”

Chen Ran’s hands trembled. “Me?”

Gu Le took the scabbard from him. “Let me do it!”

Shen Leng looked at Gu Le. Gu Le walked and spoke with a trembling voice, “Back then, the money that we saved for my mom’s medical fees was taken away by a swindler. Till her death, my mom believed that the ashes of the burnt grass were a type of magic drug that could save her life.”

He walked towards those people and cut them one by one. He did not let a single one of them go.

One of the bailiffs that was standing in the main hall looked as though he was being put on the spot. He asked, “Sir, if the prefect asks who you are, how should we answer?”

Shen Leng replied, “Oh…me? I am Mu Xiaofeng.”

After he said that, he walked out. “I will come back and take a look in a few days. If none of them is in prison, I will kill.”