The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 88 Joining the Game

“From the moment I set foot in Huangli County, I felt it’s very... weird.”

In the courtyard of a cottage, Song Jiao looked up at the stars. The starlight on her pretty face made her look mysterious as if she was wearing proper makeup.

Li Ye sat on a small chair in the courtyard with his hands behind his head and his back against the back of the chair, leaving the first two legs of the chair suspending in midair. He was very relaxed and looked at the night sky with great ease.

He had never seen such bright stars before his transmigration. It was hard to see so many stars in his previous world, especially in cities. “Stars are the same stars with nothing special. Of course, I don’t understand the astrology, so I can’t figure out anything.”

Song Jiao looked back and saw that Li Ye was very comfortable, with his legs crossed and the wooden chair swaying back and forth. She could not help but push him off the chair and sat on the chair herself with a bright smile. Since she was his elder, Li Ye had no choice but obediently squatted to the side and picked up a wooden branch to draw circles on the ground boringly.

“The cultivators of the Black Office, who have come earlier, have already investigated. There’re a number of cargo ships parking 15 kilometers away from here and there’re Great Cultivators on the ships. They didn’t dare to approach for fear of being noticed. Therefore, they don’t know who the other sides are.”

Song Jiao gathered up her hair. “One kilometer away from the dock in Huangli County, there is an iron stove on a hill. During the night, there were sounds of hammering coming out. It is said that there is a pair of father and son with dark skin, who specially make kitchen knives.”

“Just making kitchen knives? Within a radius of dozens of miles, there are not many people. For ordinary people, they can use a kitchen knife at least for five or six years. For those industrious and thrifty people, it’s common that they can use a kitchen knife for more than ten years. How can they make a living by making kitchen knives in the countryside?”

By the time Li Ye was talking, Shangguan Qingcheng had moved another chair out of the house and put it beside Li Ye. Li Ye immediately sat on the chair with great joy. He smiled at Shangguan Qingcheng brightly to be thankful for her consideration.

With a severe look, Shangguan Qingcheng thought that it was the right thing to do, and then she glanced at Song Jiao unhappily for reproaching Song Jiao’s disrespect for Your Highness.

Song Jiao and Shangguan Qingcheng glared at each other. Song Jiao thought that Shangguan Qingcheng could do nothing to her, so her gaze wasn’t fierce but unfriendly. She answered Li Ye’s question. “The man, who makes kitchen knives, is good at catching fish, so he needn’t worry about his livelihood.”

Li Ye had noticed the tension between the two women. He didn’t attempt to mediate them but enjoyed seeing their conflict. He almost wanted to applaud and encourage them to fight. In this way, Song Jiao felt bored, so she glared at Li Ye instead of looking at Shangguan Qingcheng.

Shangguan Qingcheng slightly lifted her chin, like a proud cock. She turned her head naturally, went back to her post at the gate of the courtyard with her hand pressing her knife, and continued to guard.

Outside the courtyard, there were yamen runners of the Chang’an Office on duty everywhere.

Li Ye requisitioned the nearby civilian houses as he arrived at Huangli County because there was no decent inn or courier station in this small place.

Song Jiao took a glance at Shangguan Qingcheng’s back, and then she looked back to speak to Li Ye in a serious and sincere tone, “You spoil your attendant too much. She always stares at me insolently and doesn’t respect me!”

Because Song Jiao was Li Ye’s elder, she was used to showing “no respect” for Li Ye. However, Shangguan Qingcheng didn’t know her real identity, so she disliked Song Jiao’s behavior. Li Ye jokingly said, “Aunt Song, are you speaking ill of her?”

Upon hearing his words, Song Jiao felt resentful. She glared at Li Ye.

“By the way, how are you getting on with the Nine-word Method that I have taught you?” After a while, Song Jiao asked Li Ye.

Li Ye nodded. “I have already cultivated the first five words among Will, Energy, Braveness, Recovery, Manipulation, Telepathy, Generousness, Freedom, Buddhahood.”

After Song Jiao had come to Prince An’s Manor, she not only established the Black Office but also guided Li Ye’s cultivation. She focused on teaching Li Ye the Nine-word Method. Each word was matched with a handprint with endless power.

Song Jiao was slightly relieved. “With these five words, even if the situation in Huangli County is very weird, you will be able to protect yourself.”

Speaking of this, she glanced at Li Ye and said with surprise, “The speed of your cultivating is amazing. It took me several years to cultivate the Nine-word Method.”

Li Ye gave a dry laugh. “I have great potential and I don’t think it took a short time... You should know who my father is!”

“That’s true.” Song Jiao nodded, and she thought it was reasonable.

At this time, a yamen runner of the Chang’an Office hurried to report. “Your Highness, and Chief, 2.5 kilometers away from here, there are river bandits hijacking cargo ships at night and they are fighting now!”

“Go and see.” Li Ye and Song Jiao looked at each other and got up. The yamen runners were summoned and left the village immediately.

The Black Office was hiding in the dark, and there were only more than twenty yamen runners of the Chang’an Office in Li Ye’s hand. Of course, these yamen runners could not be underestimated. All of them were cultivators and some of them were practitioners of Qi techniques.

In the Chang’an Office, except the civil officials who dealt with paperwork, there was also a group of cultivators. After all, not all cultivators could become officials. If you didn’t have a prominent family, you needed to become an Imperial Scholar first.

However, Li Ye had the highest cultivation among the cultivators.

A cultivator of Level 5 Qi-refining would not be willing to be a yamen runner in the Chang’an Office.

The site of the incident was not far away. Everyone went to the site on horseback with a torch in hand. After a while, they could see the fire on the river. The sounds of the fight were faintly heard, but the fight was fierce. Techniques, such as inferno techniques and Spirit Wind Sword, appeared from time to time.

“They’re practitioners, not the common river bandits,” Song Jiao said.

“They’re the people for whom we are looking.” Li Ye smiled. They had just arrived at Huangli County at dusk today and had no time to investigate the case yet. Now that the other side had exposed his trace, it was good news for Li Ye.

Of course, Li Ye knew clearly that the matter would not be very easy, and it was very likely to be a trap.

At the riverside, several cargo ships were blazing and people were fighting with each other. People fell into the water from time to time. There were shouts, screams, and sounds of weapons striking everywhere.

It was the Changhe Gang that robbed the cargo ships.

Led by Liu Zhiyan, the leader, and Ugly Man, the great master of the Changhe Gang, they aimed to lure Li Ye and the others who had arrived at Huangli County.

At first, the river gangs on the Wei River depended on cargo ships for their livings. In daily life, they always had disputes for the qualification to deliver goods, so gangs of various sizes were founded. With the addition of practitioners of Qi techniques, their forces expanded. It gave rise to their robbing merchant ships and controlling docks and sections of the river.

“Leader, officials are coming!” At the bow, Ugly Man shouted at Liu Zhiyan who stood at the stern as he chopped a boatman in front of him and kicked him off the ship.

Liu Zhiyan held her double knives in her hands and jumped up to the top of the cabin. She didn’t mean to kill anyone, so she only wounded her opponent and kicked him into the river, and then she jumped to Ugly Man’s side. She glanced at the torches at the riverside and turned back to order the members of the Changhe Gang. “Retreat!”

Upon hearing her order, the members of the Changhe Gang, who were fighting on the cargo ships, immediately covered each other to retreat from the battlefield. They paddled boats upstream quickly. When the crowd was almost out of the way, Liu Zhiyan and Ugly Man jumped out of the cargo ship, flew over the water for a while, and then landed on the last boat, like birds.

When Li Ye and the others arrived, all people of the Changhe Gang had already retreated. At the riverside, several cargo ships were on fire. Many people lay wounded and they were howling, covered with blood. From time to time, people appeared in the river and climbed onto the cargo ships. Some boatmen with light injuries or no injury shouted for help as they saw the coming officials.

“Vice magistrate, the gang has run away. I’m going to take people to chase them!” After everyone had got off the horses, Wang Li immediately came forward and asked for Li Ye’s permission.

Li Ye took a glance at the Changhe Gang who had just left, and then he said to Wang Li, “Leave some people here to treat the wounded.” While saying this, he jumped out of the river bank with his feet kicking backward on the roof of the warehouse and flew over the river like a dragonfly to chase the Changhe Gang.

Taking a few practitioners of Qi techniques of the Chang’an Office with them, Wang Li and Shangguan Qingcheng flew over at the same time. They followed Li Ye to chase the Changhe Gang.

Li Ye did not fear their temptation but feared that they hid and that they did not show up so that he couldn’t figure out their identities. If he couldn’t figure out their identities, it would be a dereliction of duty and the Chang’an Office would be held accountable.

The speed of the boat was very fast, but it wasn’t fast enough for practitioners of Qi techniques, so Li Ye caught up with them in a short time. With the tip of his feet kicking the water, he landed on the last boat and saw Liu Zhiyan and Ugly Man. “Where are you going?”

Liu Zhiyan didn’t expect that Li Ye would come so soon. Seeing Li Ye’s method, she knew that his cultivation had already been in the middle stage of Qi-refining. Her eyes were full of awe and fear, but in the end, she bit her teeth and forced herself to fight against Li Ye.

At this time, the ship was in the middle of the river. It was dark everywhere with some light falling from time to time, but it was enough to see things for a practitioner of Qi techniques. As soon as Li Ye landed on the stern, Ugly Man chopped towards Li Ye with his knife. The white light shining brightly on the blade showed that his cultivation was in Qi-refining Stage.

Li Ye laughed scornfully. His back foot moved aside, causing his body to deflect so that he could avoid his opponent’s long knife easily. He stretched out his left hand to grab his opponent’s wrist, and at the same time, his right fist punched upward at his opponent’s armpit. “Click.” Ugly Man’s right arm was broken with a bone of his right shoulder bulging.

The long knife fell to the ground, and Ugly Man groaned with fear in his eyes. He had the cultivation of Level 2 Qi-refining, so he didn’t expect that he would be injured by only one strike of Li Ye.

Meanwhile, Liu Zhiyan hit him from the other side. Her double knives had already arrived at Li Ye’s face. Li Ye had already been aware of Liu Zhiyan’s movement with the corner of his eyes, so his sidekick hit Liu Zhiyan’s chest with lightning speed. After his strike, Liu Zhiyan, who had just entered the Qi-refining stage, groaned and flew backward with her blood flowing.