So, seven days later, with Monk Jing’an risking his life to travel quickly, the Prime Minister’s Mansion finally received the first-hand news from the front lines this time.

"What? You say Qian Jin is dead? There’s been a rebellion in Yizhou?"

In the Prime Minister’s Mansion, the Prime Minister, who had been calm and unruffled before, looked at Jing’an, whose body was covered in injuries, and his expression turned a bit unsettled.

"How did it come to this? What on earth happened in Yizhou?"

"It wasn’t just one Evil Qi entering the body; it was two."

Monk Jing’an sighed.

"Qian Jin’s intelligence was flawed, it was a trap. If I hadn’t run fast, I would have died there."

"...It’s good that you came back, it’s good that you’re back."

Taking a deep breath, the Prime Minister patted Monk Jing’an on the shoulder for comfort.

This wasn’t a case of being cowardly at the front; rather, it was the most correct decision — instead of dying a meaningless death at the hands of two experts who could release Evil Qi in Yizhou City, it was better to return alive. Firstly, to bring back the intelligence, and secondly, by recovering, one could still restore their combat power.

Every expert capable of releasing Evil Qi is generally at a level of being able to take on ten thousand foes alone, a precious talent, so how could they die so easily?

"Go, take good care of your injuries."

After checking Monk Jing’an’s wounds once more, the Prime Minister sighed.

Although it wasn’t clear what those rebels in Yizhou were thinking, previously claiming they wouldn’t rebel, and now suddenly staging a rebellion, acting like they lost their minds. With Qian Jin dead and the rebels occupying Yizhou, all this had become a matter of fact.

With rebels having emerged, suppressing the rebellion has become inevitable.

However, since organizing a counter-rebellion was in order, the matter of a rebellion occurring in Yizhou inevitably got out.

"What? There’s been a rebellion in Yizhou? The rebels killed the commanding prefect?"

As the old saying goes, good news goes unremarked, while bad news spreads far — within just three to five days, the news had reached from north to south.

Upon receiving this information, people weren’t too fazed — of course, there might have been some panic at first, as these weren’t just some bandits or road robbers easily handled by the Capturers, but a force within the Great Chen with real intent toward rebellion. Such an emergence could give anyone a fright.

But in another sense, since the rebellion isn’t within one’s own province, it’s none of their business, right?

As a result, aside from a few local magnates with ulterior motives, most people continued living their lives quietly, adhering to their usual routines.

Among these people, this included the locals of Yizhou where the incident occurred.

"What? You say our Yizhou rebelled? The rebels killed the commanding prefect?"

Faced with inquiries from outsiders, the locals of Yizhou would often start to scratch their heads.

"I knew the prefect died; I even went to crash his funeral feast earlier, but you say Yizhou rebelled... is that true?"

It’s not that they were slow to react, but rather that they hadn’t noticed any changes. They only knew the prefect had died and were unaware even of the cause of death — although, whatever caused the prefect’s death was none of their business. Anyway, their Prefect Qian lived a chaotic life, so it wouldn’t have been surprising if he suddenly dropped dead one day.

Their main concern was whether there would be a funeral feast. If so, it would be considered the last good deed Prefect Qian did before dying.

In fact, the citizens of Yizhou were still awaiting the official appointment of a new prefect, but they understood that it takes time for the news to travel from Yizhou to Jiankang Capital City, for the court to decide on a replacement, and for the new prefect to assume the position. Thus, no one was in a rush, everyone just went about their own lives.

So how did they suddenly become rebels? Why were they unaware of this at all?

"This makes no sense, it truly doesn’t make sense."

About ten days later, Du Chengfeng was dumbfounded as he conversed with Li the Carpenter, who was visiting.

"You say I’m the rebel? I killed the commanding prefect Qian Jin? How could I not know?"

"I understand what you mean, it’s tricky to admit such things directly after all."

Seeing Du Chengfeng’s reaction, Li the Carpenter sighed.

"Brother, you do have great skills after all. If you truly have ambitions for something big, as your elder, I understand. I’m here to tell you... the villagers have been discussing this matter for days now. If you’re truly about to make such a move, they wouldn’t be unwilling to follow you..."

"Oh no, this makes no sense, it truly makes no sense."

Du Chengfeng was dumbstruck.

How did it jump straight to grand ambitions? None of this was adding up. He merely got stuck on an idea after discussing it with Liu Bolun earlier, and decided to retreat into seclusion to study and refine his power system — these past days, he was sharpening his knives and fine-tuning his techniques, he was so deeply absorbed that he hadn’t even stepped outside, unaware that Qian Jin had died.

How could it be that the matter of his rebellion was the last thing he came to know about?

"So when exactly did Qian Jin die?"

"It was after you entered seclusion."

Hearing this from Du Chengfeng, Li the Carpenter sighed again.

"I get it, you want to keep your reputation clean if you indeed aim for something big... I’ll go tell the villagers to spread the word, claiming Qian Jin stumbled and fell to his death on his own, having nothing to do with you..."

"Ah, no, I, ah."

Faced with Li the Carpenter acting as if he completely understood, Du Chengfeng was left speechless.

Even with Li the Carpenter already having his notions, whatever Du Chengfeng said would make no difference — mainly because he himself couldn’t figure it out, he was just trying to live his life normally without stepping outside in recent days, and somehow he was being blamed for Qian Jin’s death, truly incomprehensible.

To unravel the truth of the matter, he immediately sought out the supposedly smartest member of his team.

"Old Liu, you... ah this."

Upon finding Liu Bolun, Du Chengfeng hesitated over whether to approach.

For no particular reason, just that Liu Bolun was drinking alone, with two large wine vats beside him, and a table filled with dishes in front of him, it was the epitome of extravagance — even for Du Chengfeng, who was used to fine dining, it was astonishing to behold.

Clearly, the death of Qian Jin wasn’t sitting well with Liu Bolun, as an old classmate, he might even have been a friend at some point.

This was probably why Liu Bolun was drinking in solitude...

"Huh? You’re here? I was wondering whether to bring you some."

Seeing Du Chengfeng push open the door, Liu Bolun promptly stood up.

"Look at this feast! I brought it all back from the funeral banquet! Today we’ve got some real delicacies!"

"I..."

Du Chengfeng struggled for words.

So Liu Bolun wasn’t actually upset.

"Then why were you sighing just now?"

"Nonsense, this banquet’s just too lacking."

Upon this remark, Liu Bolun’s expression turned upset.

"Not even a single peanut or broad bean for the wine, how am I supposed to enjoy my drink?"