Chapter 240: Chapter 199: Please, Go to Your Deaths

"Liu Wu, you... you took so much silver, why did you have to rob us too?!"

"Simple. It’s faster to just take it."

"You... you bastard! I’ll kill you!"

Lou Yuxue was seething.

She and Hawk had worked themselves to the bone, scheming for so long. They had lost an Iron Banner Officer and risked discovery by Black Tooth’s people, all for a mere 150,000 silver.

But "Liu Wu," all by himself, had taken less than ten days to not only steal their 150,000 silver, but also swindle another 300,000 from Liu Wen...

’How... how in the world did he manage it?’

Little did she know, Chen Yi was currently wondering, ’Should I leave that 150,000 silver for the Hidden Guard?’

He mulled it over.

Then he came to a decision.

’I should probably leave them a little something. Don’t want them getting so desperate they do something reckless.’

As Chen Yi considered this, he saw faint flickers of light appear at the far end of the official road.

The distance was so great that the lights were no bigger than fireflies, twinkling prettily like scattered stars.

Chen Yi froze. ’Wait... did the Hidden Guard succeed?’

’Xiao Jinghong, what are you doing?!’

...

「Cang Lang Town.」

Just after midnight, Xiao Jinghong sensed a strange disturbance near the Summer Grain Storage Room.

Sure enough, someone was about to burn the grain supplies for the soldiers of the Three Towns.

After confirming Liu Lang’s intelligence was accurate, Xiao Jinghong felt a swirl of complicated emotions.

She didn’t know whether to be pleased or furious.

She couldn’t understand who would employ such a vicious scheme to drive the Xiao Family to ruin.

’The Imperial Court?’

’One of the great Noble Families from Shu State?’

’Or was it a hostile foreign power?’

Xiao Jinghong found herself hoping it was the latter.

Whether it was Poshisu Country, the Barbarian Race, or the Western Continent Southern Invaders—any of them would have been a more palatable answer.

But things in this world rarely go as one wishes.

Mulling this over, Xiao Jinghong let out a soft sigh, rose, and stepped out of her wooden cabin.

In a single leap, she was on the roof, her eyes fixed on the distant Summer Grain Storage Room.

There, she saw a dozen or so soldiers in mismatched armor pouring flammable oil around the perimeter of the storage room.

Further off, General Pang Xuan of Cang Lang Town was leading a hundred Heavy Armored Soldiers, quietly encircling the building.

About fifteen minutes later.

The dozen or so soldiers finished pouring the oil.

Then, one of the soldiers pulled a bamboo tube from his tunic. With a quick push and pull, a shower of sparks shot skyward.

The next moment, a firework soared into the air from outside Cang Lang Town, a clear response.

Xiao Jinghong’s gaze snapped toward it, a flicker of murderous intent appearing in her eyes.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the might of her Martial Arts erupted from her.

The Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Mechanism swirled like wind and fire, then plunged down around the grain storage like a sharp sword.

In the blink of an eye, she had suppressed the dozen or so soldiers, pinning them to the ground.

"Th-this is..."

"There’s an Upper Three Grades master here..."

"We’re doomed..."

As the soldiers reeled in terror, Xiao Jinghong shot into the air, flying off into the distance.

Seeing this, Pang Xuan dropped all pretense of stealth. He rushed to the front of the storage room, his face turning livid as he took in the sight of the flammable oil. He gritted his teeth and roared:

"Capture them!"

"Be thorough! I want them alive!"

"I’d like to see just who has the gall to pull a stunt like this!"

The situation behind her was resolved without a sound.

Xiao Jinghong’s attention was no longer on the storage room. Her eyes were fixed on the depths of the dense forest outside of town.

Her aura already enveloped a hundred-zhang radius of the area.

Just then, a similar power, one that churned the Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Mechanism, rose from deep within the forest.

A sinister voice followed. "Xiao Jinghong?"

"What are you doing here?"

Xiao Jinghong hovered in mid-air, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Her voice was ice-cold as she replied:

"I have been awaiting you all for some time—to invite you to your deaths!"