Chapter 242 - 200: A Wisp of Qing Feng in Hand, Can Destroy the Mountains and Rivers of the Nine States (Part 2)

Seeing her return, Pang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. He strode over and knelt on the ground.

"Reporting, General! The traitors have all been apprehended!"

Pausing for a moment, Pang Xuan’s face flushed with shame. "I have been incompetent. I failed to detect the villains in town in time, causing you trouble, General. I await your punishment!"

Seeing this, the surrounding soldiers also knelt down.

Only the dozen or so masked soldiers who had made a move earlier were bound and thrown to the side.

Xiao Jinghong swept her gaze over them and said coolly, "Your merits and demerits cancel each other out. Rise."

Pang Xuan glanced up at her and offered a hesitant "Thank you." After he stood, his face still bore a trace of shame.

The other soldiers rose as well.

Xiao Jinghong, of course, paid no mind to their feelings. Her gaze fell upon the dozen or so traitors who had come to burn the summer grain, and she commanded:

"Interrogate them through the night. By tomorrow, I want to know who the mastermind is."

Pang Xuan quickly assented. "I’ve already had my men search them for any poisons, lest they... Huh?"

Before the words had left his mouth, he whirled around to look at the dozen-plus traitors.

The men, who were bound and gagged, were now bleeding from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths, one after the other.

Pang Xuan’s face filled with astonishment. "Quick!" he shouted. "Get a Physician to treat them!"

"It’s too late."

After observing them closely for a moment, Xiao Jinghong shook her head. "It must be a Poison hidden beneath the skin, triggered by the vibrations of bone and muscle to corrode the internal organs."

"But..."

Before Pang Xuan could say more, Xiao Jinghong had already turned away.

"I’m leaving this to you. I’m going to the Iron Wall and Profound Armor towns to check on their situations."

Seeing this, Pang Xuan had no choice but to bow. He then turned and commanded in a stern voice:

"The Summer Grain Storage Room is vital ground! All of you will guard it with your lives! Any further lapses will be met with the full force of military law!"

"Yes, sir!"

Xiao Jinghong heard the shouts behind her but simply focused on pushing her Gang Qi to its limits. Executing her Body Technique, she sped toward Iron Wall Town.

’She knew very well. Since assassins had come to burn the summer grain in Cang Lang Town, the other two towns would surely be no exception.’

’Fortunately, she had made arrangements beforehand. Li Changqing and Ma Kui should have been able to stop them.’

...

Yet even the best-laid plans can go awry.

Despite Xiao Jinghong’s orders, General Li Changqing of Iron Wall Military Town had remained skeptical.

His reaction was likely much the same as Pang Xuan’s when he first heard the news.

He looked down on the "Sword Madman," Liu Lang, for being a man of the Jianghu, and so he was naturally disinclined to trust his words.

Furthermore, after two days passed with no incident following Xiao Jinghong’s orders, he had grown complacent.

By the time he realized his mistake, flames were already engulfing the area around the storage rooms.

Searing flames leaped into the sky, filling the air with black smoke laced with the fragrance of roasting wheat and rice.

A searing heat wave rolled out in all directions.

But all Li Changqing felt was a deathly chill. He stared at the inferno in disbelief, his face a ghastly, shifting shade of pale.

’It’s over.’

’I’m definitely going to be punished for this.’

Just then, the squads of Armored Warriors who had been guarding the vital storage rooms began to shout frantically:

"Fire!"

"Someone, quick! Put out the fire!"

"Hurry—"

In an instant, every soldier in the Iron Wall Military Town was on alert.

No one could remain calm, especially when they saw that the flames were coming from the vital storage rooms for the summer grain.

"Which son of a bitch did this?"

"Damn them to hell! I finally get a few days with a full belly, and now someone’s burning our rations? Are they trying to starve us to death?"

"Enough talk! Put out the fire!"

"The fire hasn’t spread far! We still have time!"

Led by the Vice General, several Deputy Generals began organizing men to fight the fire while berating the soldiers who were falling apart around them.

"General Li, General Li..."

The shouts finally brought Li Changqing back to his senses. Seeing the worried, anxious faces of the soldiers at his side, he pushed aside his thoughts and immediately gave the order:

"I smell lamp oil, but it probably hasn’t soaked through yet! Try to break down the storage room walls and get the grain out!"

After so many years leading troops, he knew a thing or two. A fire fueled by oil was nearly impossible to extinguish with conventional methods.

Rather than waste time trying, it was better to sacrifice the grain on the outer edges to save what was left inside.

His Personal Guard immediately acknowledged the order. After dousing themselves with buckets of water, they charged into the storage room with a group of Armored Warriors.

Other soldiers, relying on their high Cultivation, hacked and stabbed at the sturdy walls of the storage room with their blades and spears.

After about a quarter of an hour, Li Changqing saw men managing to pull several intact sacks out of the fire, and he felt a sliver of relief.

’At least my method is working.’

But when he thought of the consequences, he knew he couldn’t possibly escape punishment.

’The only thing to do now is to salvage as much as I can.’

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Li Changqing’s expression hardened. He bellowed:

"Men! Follow me and capture the arsonists! We cannot let them escape, or we’ll all be implicated!"

But with the current chaos, finding the traitors among the crowd was clearly impossible.

Li Changqing immediately ordered all soldiers not engaged in fighting the fire or saving the grain to deploy and pursue the culprits in all directions.

"I want them found—dead or alive!"

「Meanwhile.」

On a hillside ten li north of Iron Wall Town.

Liu Wen gazed at the distant glow of the fire, his effeminate face wreathed in a smile.

"Excellent, just excellent... A fine fire. Burn it all to the ground, haha..."

Chen Yi stood at his side, his expression hidden behind his black iron mask.

But his gaze toward Iron Wall Town held a hint of resignation.

’He still couldn’t understand. He had clearly arranged for Pei Guanli to warn Xiao Jinghong in advance, so how had they still succeeded at Iron Wall Town?’

But Lou Yuxue, still held in his arms, breathed a sigh of relief.

’The summer grain at Iron Wall Town was burned. Not only could she and the Hawk now report back successfully, avoiding punishment from the Pavilion Master, but she had also confirmed her suspicions in the process.’