Chapter 1 The Blood Rain World, Imperial Capital

In the Blood Rain World, the Imperial Capital.

A seemingly ordinary restaurant was doing exceptionally well. Xu Jingming arrived on the second floor and ordered several of their signature dishes.

"Qiu Tong is truly a foodie; she recommends such wonderful places." Xu Jingming ate a fish that had been served, the meat tender and smooth, the natural fish aroma captivating him.

"Having been in the Imperial Capital for so long, this place is definitely among the best when it comes to fish." Xu Jingming praised, thoroughly enjoying the meal.

He devoured a large plate of pastries, one after another.

Xu Jingming savored the fragrant fruit wine.

"Did you hear? The Empire's Western Region army was defeated! The main force consisted of 500,000 elite soldiers. They suffered a complete rout in a single battle... chased for hundreds of miles by the Wei King's iron cavalry from the Western Region. The Western Region army is finished."

"News came from the palace today. I heard His Majesty immediately threw several officials into prison! The family of Meng Xu, the commander of the Western Region army, has been arrested and imprisoned in Sky Jail! The entire clan!"

"Yes, the Meng family in the northern part of the city is wailing; all the Meng family members were escorted to Sky Jail, not even infants were spared. The Meng family is completely ruined."

Some in the restaurant were discussing current affairs.

Xu Jingming perked up his ears, startled, "The Western Region army suffered a major defeat?"

As a Blood Rain Guard, he only occasionally went to the South Division headquarters, and he only heard about this while eating at the restaurant.

"The main force of the Western Region army is finished?" Xu Jingming immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. "The Empire's Western Region has long been completely rotten. It's already difficult to muster an army of 500,000 elite soldiers. With this defeat, the entire Western Region will be completely out of control."

"Once the Western Region is out of control, the rebel army can directly threaten the Imperial Capital!" Xu Jingming thought.

Previously, people had said that the Northwest Region was deteriorating.

But the Western and Northern Regions still had Imperial armies! The Western Region army could at least ensure that the rebels could not threaten the Imperial Capital.

"With the collapse of the Western Region, the Northern Region is also in danger, and the Southern Region is barely maintaining itself. Only the Eastern Region... the Eastern Region has the best order, with the Blood Rain Guards being strong enough," Xu Jingming thought. "They should mobilize the Eastern Region's army to enter the Western Region."

The restaurant was noisy, with some people feeling anxious.

"If the Western Region is defeated and the rebels invade the Imperial Capital..."

"There are no more troops in the Western Region to stop the rebels. We need to consider our options early."

"The Imperial Capital's city walls are majestic, and the Blood Rain Guards are assisting the army, so defending the city shouldn't be a problem."

"You can never be sure when it comes to war."

Those who could afford to eat on the second floor of the restaurant were not ordinary people, and they were all extremely concerned about the future of the Imperial Capital, as it was related to their own fate and the fate of their families.

After Xu Jingming finished eating, he paid the bill and left the restaurant.

...

He strolled around some of the bustling areas of the city and heard others discussing the 'major defeat in the Western Region'. The Imperial Capital was only so big, and explosive news like this could spread throughout the entire city in a single day.

"The situation in the Imperial Capital is becoming increasingly dangerous. I need to finalize my target as soon as possible." Xu Jingming went to several potential locations for reconnaissance.

"The Yang family can be considered a large clan in the Imperial Capital. At least my team can take a bite out of this tough bone." Xu Jingming arrived at the street where the Yang family was located. Families like the Shen Gong family and the Feng Yu family were beyond his reach; he could only deal with ordinary members.

Those families were too terrifying; even the Emperor did not dare to fall out with them.

Second-rate families like the Yang family were the most suitable targets. Take a bite and run! He would be satisfied with just a bite.

"This entire street belongs to the Yang family." Xu Jingming observed. "The Yang family's residence occupies half of the street, with many civilian houses outside... the residences of some of the Yang family's collateral branches, guards, and servants."

Xu Jingming glanced at the residence.

It was truly extravagant!

The huge residence had walls that were half a li long and three zhang high. This was the residence of a true aristocratic family in the Imperial Capital.

Xu Jingming walked past the residence and arrived at some of the civilian houses.

"Qiao San! People call you Master Qiao in public, but you need to understand that you are just a dog of the Yang family! Your father, grandfather, and even great-grandfather ate the Yang family's food. Your Qiao family has been the Yang family's dogs for generations. How dare you disobey your master's orders?" A middle-aged man leading a group of people shouted angrily in front of a civilian house. "You're really rebelling!"

In front of the civilian house, a man in cloth was kneeling, holding his dead daughter, his eyes red. "Steward Bai, just because I politely declined the Second Young Master this morning, you killed my child?"

"A dog who doesn't listen to its master deserves to die." The middle-aged man said indifferently, "Today, we killed one of your daughters. If you don't obey in the future, your two brothers, three sisters, and your old mother... your entire family will die!"

"Third Brother."

"Third Brother." Others around were pulling at Qiao San, trying to persuade him.

Qiao San looked at his daughter in his arms, tears in his eyes.

He wanted to risk his life to take revenge! But it would be like hitting a rock with an egg, with no hope at all. Moreover, his old mother, his siblings, and their children... would all be implicated.

"I understand. I will depart with the Second Young Master," Qiao San said in a low voice.

"That's right. If you had agreed earlier, there wouldn't have been so much trouble. Speaking of which, you're the one who harmed your daughter." The middle-aged man glanced around, raising his voice. "Don't think that just because you've lived in the Imperial Capital for a century or two, you're people of the Imperial Capital! Your ancestors have always been people of the Yang family! Whatever the Yang family masters tell you to do, just do it obediently. If a dog doesn't listen, the master doesn't need to keep it; he can kill it and eat it!"

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he left with his men, coldly glancing at Xu Jingming, a passerby. Even though he noticed the Blood Rain Guard uniform under Xu Jingming's blue robe, he didn't care.

How could the dignified Yang family care about an ordinary Blood Rain Guard?

"Qiao San, you're an idiot. The Second Young Master asked you who was willing to go with him? He asked for your thoughts, and you actually honestly said you wanted to stay in the Imperial Capital?"

"Remember this in the future, whatever the Yang family masters tell you to do, just do it."

"This is a warning to others."

The surrounding people said in low voices.

Xu Jingming watched from the side, looking at the dead girl, a bloody whip mark on her chest. The whip had struck hard, killing her with a single blow.

...

That night.

Steward Bai hurriedly walked out of the Yang residence, heading towards his own residence.

"I have to find a way to escape from the team before we leave the city. Then, in the vast Imperial Capital, the Yang family won't have time to find me again," Steward Bai thought. "If I follow the Yang family's team out of the Imperial Capital, who knows how many people will die on that tens of thousands of miles journey?"

Steward Bai usually worked in the Yang residence and only occasionally returned to his residence. Today was a rare outing.

"Hmm?"

Xu Jingming, who was scouting the terrain, noticed Steward Bai, the same man who had led the group during the day.

Whoosh.

A silent spear pierced through the air.

"Not good." As a steward, Bai was also a second-rate expert. Sensing the air currents, he immediately drew a sharp sword from his waist.

But the spear was like a swimming dragon. When it touched the sword, the strange rotational force caused the spear to bypass the sword without any resistance, naturally passing by the back of Steward Bai's head.

Chi~~~

The shaft of the spear lightly brushed against the back of Steward Bai's head, and Steward Bai felt a jolt in his brain before losing consciousness.

Xu Jingming walked forward, picked up Steward Bai with one hand, and left silently.

*******

Inside a deserted woodshed in a civilian house.

Steward Bai finally woke up, seeing a masked man standing in front of him.

"Who are you?" Steward Bai tried to move, but he found that the joints in his hands and legs were dislocated. He couldn't stand up at all. "Good sir, are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?"

"Bai, the steward of the Yang residence. I have some questions for you." Xu Jingming's voice was hoarse. "Answer honestly, and I'll spare your life. If you dare to lie, you should know the consequences."

Steward Bai's heart trembled.

To be captured instantly meant that his strength far surpassed his own.

"Good sir, ask away." Steward Bai was also very cowardly, trying to curry favor. "I will tell you everything I know."

"The Yang family is leaving the Imperial Capital?" Xu Jingming said softly.

"Yes! The situation in the Western Region is getting worse, and many large clans in the Imperial Capital are arranging for some of their branches to leave the city," Steward Bai explained. "They're worried that the Imperial Capital will be breached, and the large clans won't be able to escape."

Xu Jingming listened, "What's the situation with the Yang family?"

"The Yang family has a great influence in the area around Xue City in the Eastern Region, their hometown. The Yang family controls the area within a thousand miles. But most of the Yang family's main branch is in the Imperial Capital. This time, some of the Yang family members from the main branch are taking many experts and a large amount of gold and silver accumulated over the years to leave the Imperial Capital," Steward Bai said.

"Taking gold and silver?" Xu Jingming asked.

"Yes."

Steward Bai said, "The situation in the world is getting worse. Once the Imperial Capital is breached, the government's banks will definitely close, and those silver notes will become worthless paper! Even the banks of some large families... when the world is completely chaotic, the large families will have a hard time protecting themselves, and silver notes will be even more useless. So, they definitely need to exchange them for a lot of gold and silver."

"How much did the Yang family exchange?" Xu Jingming pressed.

"I don't know."

Steward Bai said, "The silver notes were exchanged for gold and silver in secret a long time ago. At least on the Second Young Master's side, I was asked to exchange tens of thousands of taels of silver. The entire Yang family must have exchanged at least a million taels! A million taels of silver is nothing to the Yang family."

Xu Jingming said softly, "Aren't they afraid of being robbed?"

"With the bad situation in the world, the Yang family members will be divided into groups, disguised as merchant caravans and escort teams," Steward Bai said. "By dividing them into so many teams, even if some teams are robbed, it won't have a big impact."

Xu Jingming understood.

In the chaotic world, there were rebels in some places.

No matter how powerful the Yang family was, if large teams traveled together... it would only attract large-scale rebel attacks, and they would likely be wiped out.

"Going to the Xue City area in the Eastern Region, tens of thousands of miles away, I'm afraid many people will die," Xu Jingming said.

"Isn't that the truth?" Steward Bai said, "Actually, many of us don't want to go. With such a long journey, it would be great if half of us made it alive to Xue City. Staying in the Imperial Capital would be so much better! Even if the rebels attack, so what? No matter who becomes the Emperor, we'll obediently be his subjects. In the Imperial Capital, it's safer than leaving the city."

"But the Yang family is different. If the rebels attack, they will first plunder these large families," Steward Bai said. "They definitely need to have many family members leave. Alas, we servants can only be their guards, risking our lives for them."

"The Yang family is divided into groups. Which team are you with?" Xu Jingming asked.

"The Second Young Master's team," Steward Bai said.

"When are you leaving?" Xu Jingming asked.

"I don't know." Steward Bai shook his head. "The Second Young Master said he would take me with him. As for how the teams will be divided, when they will leave, and what kind of disguises they will use? These are all secrets."

"Oh." Xu Jingming understood, and then said, "Do you remember that whip strike from today?"

"The whip strike?"

Steward Bai was stunned, thinking about the day when he whipped Qiao San's daughter to death.

Bang!

A shadow of a spear swept over, and Steward Bai's eyes widened as the spear struck his chest.

Steward Bai's body trembled, his chest split open, and the impact of the spear strike made him spit out blood. He looked at Xu Jingming, his eyes filled with fear and unwillingness, "You said you would spare my life."

Xu Jingming looked at him indifferently, without saying a word.

Steward Bai soon passed away, lying in the woodshed, his injuries almost exactly the same as the girl's.

"The Yang family exchanged silver notes for a lot of gold and silver? Where are they hiding the gold and silver?" Xu Jingming pondered, suddenly realizing, "That's right, once the Imperial Capital is breached, the banks may close down, and silver notes will become worthless paper. I need to be careful with my silver notes, or they might become worthless paper."

...

Over the next few days, Xu Jingming investigated all the intelligence about the Yang family from the Blood Rain Guard's Judicial Division. He also gathered intelligence about the Yang family from the virtual world network.

Before making a move, he needed to have sufficient intelligence!

*******

Night, the Fei residence.

Fei Qing was alone in his study, reading intelligence reports by candlelight.

"His Majesty has ordered the mobilization of three armies from the Eastern Region to form a large army to suppress the rebels in the Western Region." Fei Qing looked up at the darkness outside the window. "The Eastern Region's army was selected, trained, and combat-hardened by my own hand! I am the most suitable person to be the commander of the army. I know every general and the strengths of every division."

"But His Majesty has denied me."

Fei Qing chuckled.

"Even in this situation, he doesn't trust me?"

"Perhaps it's because the Eastern Region's Blood Rain Guard army is the strongest army His Majesty has right now. He's truly paranoid!" Fei Qing said silently. "He was so wise and brilliant in the past, but now that he's the Emperor, he suspects everyone and trusts no one?"

"If the Eastern Region's punitive army is also destroyed this time, then the entire Empire's future will be gone." Fei Qing knew this very well, but he was powerless and could only watch everything happen.

He even had to be obedient, extremely loyal and submissive.

He knew very well...

If the Emperor feels you are not loyal enough, then death is not far away.

"I can only stay in the Imperial Capital. With the current situation, His Majesty will eventually ask for my help." Fei Qing sat in his study, knowing he could only wait patiently for an opportunity. Perhaps, that opportunity would never come.