Xuanqing Guard-Chapter 39: Crushing Victory

Tang Qingyuan’s face was ashen.

His left arm was broken, he’d been hammered hard in the back, his Inner Mansion had shifted from the blow and was badly injured, even his meridians had taken a shock and were now problematic.

The deadliest part was that the Li Family actually put Soft Immortal Powder in the wine!

This stuff isn’t poison, but it can cause any cultivator below the Primordial Pill Realm to suddenly find their True Qi sluggish in a very short span of time, and it’s nearly impossible to detect before it takes effect.

There isn’t even an antidote for Soft Immortal Powder; the usual methods are to drink more water or walk around to speed up metabolizing it.

Once poisoned, facing Li Longcheng, Li Canglie, plus three of the Li Family’s Guest Elders—a total of five Gathering Spirit Realm Third to Fifth Layer strongmen attacking—Tang Qingyuan almost lost his life right then and there.

All the way fighting from the Li family’s main hall to the central courtyard, it was only because Tang Qingyuan’s Personal Guards risked their lives to buy him time that he managed to escape the Li Mansion and send out his Summoning Talisman.

If he hadn’t brought three Personal Guards along thanks to Shen Hao’s warning before the banquet, odds are Tang Qingyuan wouldn’t have made it out of the Li Mansion alive.

Of course, the fact that two hundred Hundred Households’ Personal Soldiers were able to arrive in time was also a huge reason he was saved. Without them, Tang Qingyuan still wouldn’t have lasted.

When he heard these Personal Guards were sent by Shen Hao, carrying the Command Order, Tang Qingyuan finally felt secure. At the same time, he was quite pleased with his own foresight in promoting this lone Xiaoqi without hesitation before.

"Greetings, my lord!"

Though Shen Hao was still injured, he stood up according to proper etiquette and saluted Tang Qingyuan, which moved Tang Qingyuan so much he broke the norm by steadying Shen Hao and insisting he sit back down in the carriage, saying "Good" three times in a row.

While the physician in the carriage cleaned Tang Qingyuan’s wounds, Shen Hao stood aside and completely laid out his current arrangements to Tang Qingyuan, even volunteering to return command authority to him.

But to Shen Hao’s surprise, Tang Qingyuan actually refused.

"This case, up until now, has been coordinated by you. I just oversaw the broader direction and gave you support from above at most. So the case should be wrapped up by you for a proper finish. But let me warn you, not one member of the Li family, top to bottom, is allowed to escape. If even one gets away, I’ll be holding you personally responsible! Understood?"

Shen Hao hadn’t expected such good fortune. He quickly bowed deeply. "Please rest assured, my lord. I swear not a single Li family traitor will escape!"

At the same time, Shen Hao understood instantly: perhaps Tang Qingyuan’s generosity this time was to pay a favor back—if Shen Hao hadn’t kept his wits and wielded the Command Order decisively earlier, Tang Qingyuan would very likely be a corpse by now.

From start to finish, Shen Hao never asked Tang Qingyuan what he experienced in the Li Mansion, nor did Tang Qingyuan ask Shen Hao how he got his own injuries. The two just exchanged a silent look, each understanding the other.

...

Shen Hao continued wielding absolute command. With Tang Qingyuan sitting in the carriage behind him as his backer, his authority was unrivaled.

The main force consisted of two hundred Hundred Households’ Personal Soldiers. They might not be as skilled at investigations as the Flags, but no one in Li City Guard Station rivaled their ruthlessness in combat. This unit existed not to solve cases, but to deal ruthlessly with anyone daring to challenge Li City Guard’s authority.

One phrase summed up the Hundred Households’ Personal Soldiers: If you dare to mess around, we’ll fuckin’ kill you!

So when all two hundred pressed the attack, not only did they save Tang Qingyuan, they also crashed down like a mountain, flattening the Li Family’s Viscount’s Mansion in less than the time it takes for a single meal.

Literally, with no exaggeration: out of the Li Family’s Viscount’s Mansion, fewer than three buildings were still standing, the rest entirely leveled.

Why so vicious?

Were those Gathering Spirit Realm cultivators from the Li Family, the ones who nearly killed Tang Qingyuan, just paper tigers? Surely they shouldn’t have been so easily crushed by Personal Soldiers whose cultivation was far lower, right?

But that’s exactly what happened—crushed without resistance.

Cultivators are much, much stronger than ordinary people, especially those who’ve reached the Gathering Spirit Realm; taking on a hundred ordinary soldiers alone isn’t bragging. But "a hundred" means troops with standard equipment. Against Hundred Households’ Personal Soldiers armed with Breaking Arrows and the like, Gathering Spirit Realm Third to Fifth Layer cultivators are barely different from regular folks.

Can’t kill you in one volley of arrows? Fine, here’s two more! If three volleys don’t do it, then hell, why are you still breathing?

Shen Hao nearly lost the ability to fight after taking two Breaking Arrows. The Li Family’s Gathering Spirit experts, at best, survived four or five hits. If you’re still kneeling and panting after that, you’re pretty damn good already.

If you want to rely on just your cultivation to face off against a formation of Xuanqing Guard troops, you at least need to reach Primordial Pill Realm Fifth Layer or above to stand a chance.

After Qi Refining Ninth Layer comes Gathering Spirit Ninth Layer, followed by Primordial Pill Realm.

Cultivation itself isn’t difficult; the difficulty lies in time. Very few people can reach that visible-but-untouchable threshold before their lives run out, and the further you go, the harder those thresholds are to comprehend.

...

Early 3 a.m., the sound of bowstrings and slaughter had faded in Li City, and the hunt filled with twists and dangers finally came to an end.

The roles of hunter and prey had flipped twice—by Shen Hao’s measure, the result was acceptable.

It felt like a long ordeal, but in reality, not even an hour had passed since Shen Hao was attacked on his way home.

"Report!"

"Speak!"

"Reporting to Lord Hundred Households and Commander Shen: total count of Li family traitors is ninety-one, including thirty-six main family members and fifty-five servants. All have been verified. Seventy are dead, twenty-one captured alive. The key offenders Li Bing and Li Longcheng are both taken alive, but Li Canglie died from an arrow wound; the corpse is confirmed..."

On hearing that Li Bing and Li Longcheng were caught alive, Shen Hao finally set down the last uneasy stone in his heart.

This branch of the Li family was always the hardest to take down. As long as no one slipped through the net, the Li family was thoroughly destroyed—what’s to come next depends on the higher-ups’ decisions.

With live captives, they could also hold a public "execution of infamous villains" show at the market square—always a boost to the reputation of the Li City Xuanqing Guard Station among the locals.

Don’t think that just because the Xuanqing Guard reports directly to Celestial Listener and is the top violent agency, they don’t care about public opinion.

Wrong!

Tang Qingyuan still had to report to Thousand Households Station every year for his job review, and "local evaluation" accounted for a big chunk of the score. If he wanted to keep his post or get promoted, he couldn’t just play with himself behind closed doors; he had to keep the locals satisfied, too.

"Immediately request an order from the Thousand Households Station. Ask them to coordinate all Xuanqing Guard in nearby areas to track down any remaining Li clan descendants on the loose... Order: All city garrison soldiers outside the city must maintain a state of alert, no relaxing vigilance without explicit commands... Order: Begin urgent interrogation of Li Bing and Li Longcheng. Black Banner Battalion Xiaoqi Wang Jian is to personally oversee... Order: Seal off Li Family’s Viscount’s Mansion, begin search and confiscation. Every seized item, even down to a single bead, must be thoroughly listed with no errors!"

Tang Qingyuan was sitting just behind Shen Hao, but he meant what he said and didn’t touch a bit of command authority—everything was up to Shen Hao’s direction. Tang Qingyuan even sat cross-legged in the carriage, clearly trying to metabolize the Soft Immortal Powder as fast as possible.

Only after returning to the Guard Station did Shen Hao finally relax and shed the tension hanging over him.

Immediately, the numbness from the wounds in his right shoulder and leg hit him in a wave of dizziness. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Commander Shen, you can’t drag this out. The blood vessels in your leg have been compressed too long and may not recover function, and if the arrowhead in your shoulder keeps squeezing the meridians, your arm could be crippled for life..."

With the physician persuading him again and again, and with the situation now under control, Shen Hao finally had someone in his Public Office cut open his wounds and dig the arrowhead out of the bone.

Through the excruciating pain, Shen Hao still made a vow to himself: Unless I wring out every drop of shit and piss from the Li father and son, I’m not surnamed Shen!