With some difficulty, Xiao Zhang opened his eyes. Seeing the nervous expressions on the faces of the ordinary people around him, his mood became rather strange.
In the eyes of cultivators, he was a madman who only knew how to fight. They feared him, but when had there ever been people who sincerely respected and protected him?
When he had said that the winter wild tea of Fengyang City was good, it had only been because he truly felt that this tea was countless times better than the Great Crimson Gown that Liang Wangsun loved to drink. How could he have ever thought about what benefits it would bring to the people of this remote city?
Yet these ordinary people that he normally couldn't even be bothered to glance at were now standing in front of him. Even though they were clearly scared to death, their hands trembling as they gripped their blades, they were not willing to leave.
Suddenly, he felt that besides those delightful battles, there were still a few other things he had done in his life that could not be considered a loss.
Like when he had saved Wang Po on the Luo River in the snowstorm, or when he had praised the winter wild tea of this small city.
… …
… …
The simple yet fierce customs of Fengyang City were fully displayed at this moment.
The men standing on the stone steps of the Seven Treasures Stronghold and the people shouting outside were all proof of this.
But the experts of the Imperial Court and the crossbow soldiers showed no change in their expressions.
The blue-clothed Daoists were even more apathetic.
In their eyes, both Xiao Zhang and the people of Fengyang City were no different from the dead.
The blue-clothed Daoists walked up the stone steps.
A bloody event was about to occur, and many people would die in Fengyang City today.
The blue-clothed Daoists did not care. No matter how many people died, it could be explained away with the word 'popular revolt'.
The most tragic were naturally the people and the chief official who were about to die.
The chief official of Fengyang City was naturally the county magistrate, but fortunately for him, the magistrate of Feng City had already arrived in order to prepare for tomorrow's winter wild tea party.
No matter what happened today, the one ultimately responsible was naturally the magistrate.
This magistrate would naturally not allow this bloody event to occur.
The magistrate of Feng City was middle-aged. His face was handsome, his temples grizzled, and he had a rather dignified air.
He clasped his hands to the blue-clothed Daoists and said, "Fellow Daoists, please wait a moment."
The blue-clothed Daoists probably knew that he was the Prince of Xiang's disciple, so they stopped, their expressions still apathetic.
"You fools only want to show off your momentary bravery. Do you want to bring my Fengyang City's entire population into the hands of injustice!?"
The Prefectural Magistrate looked at the tea merchant and the commoners on the stone steps. With a stern expression, he shouted, "Who is this Xiao Zhang that you are protecting? He was a madman who killed without batting an eye! Does a man like him have any true feelings for you? It was just a casual remark back then. Is there a need for you to protect it with your lives? "
Someone in the crowd shouted, "Now that our tea is selling so well, everyone is earning money. Don't we need to thank them?"
The prefectural magistrate harshly rebuked, "Why can my Fengyang City's wild tea sell so well? That's because the Imperial Court helped you build the docks, opened the merchant ships, and even offered this tea as a tribute. If you want to thank anyone, you should be thanking the Imperial Court, not this criminal who is wanted by the Imperial Court!"
There was a slight commotion among the surrounding people, and then they began to discuss. Although they had not dispersed, at least they were not as nervous as before.
Xiao Zhang narrowed his eyes and said to the prefectural magistrate, "You've got quite a glib tongue."
The prefectural magistrate had a firm expression. "There's no need to threaten this official. I'm not afraid of you. If you don't want to listen to me, just kill me."
Xiao Zhang said, "In the past, you would already be dead."
The prefectural magistrate stared at the white paper on his face and harshly rebuked, "So what if I die? I have a clear conscience and speak up for the people, so my death is worthy. But you are just a criminal wanted by the Imperial Court, someone who only knows how to bully the weak and kill the innocent! Truly a heinous crime that cannot be redeemed even if you die ten thousand times! "
… …
… …
"Xiao Zhang has a violent temper, and many cultivators have died at his hands in battle. He truly can't be considered a good person, but bullying the weak and killing the innocent … is not something he would do. It's not that he doesn't want to do it, but that he disdains doing it."
Hu Thirty-Two whispered to Chen Changsheng in the crowd.
Many experts of the Imperial Court had come to Fengyang City today, as well as the divine crossbow camp. Crucially, there were also those blue-clothed Daoists.
If nothing unexpected happened, Xiao Zhang really might be about to meet his death.
As Hu Thirty-Two whispered to Chen Changsheng, he looked at his face to see just what the Pope was thinking.
The only ones capable of changing the situation were naturally Chen Changsheng's party.
At this moment, Hu Thirty-Two suddenly realized that Zhexiu, who had always been at the Pope's side, had disappeared.
"You don't understand us, or else you wouldn't have said those words, and you certainly wouldn't need to look at his eyes when speaking."
Tang Thirty-Six said, "Look, Zhexiu doesn't need to look at his eyes. He's leaving."
Hu Thirty-Two didn't quite understand what he meant until he heard the sharp whistling of air from the top of the stone steps.
… …
… …
The Imperial Court had been pursuing Xiao Zhang for three years, and the pursuers were constantly changing. But besides the assassins from the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets hiding in the shadows, the main force was still from the Bureau of Justice.
Several experts from the Bureau of Justice dispersed the crowd and blocked Xiao Zhang's path of retreat. They untied the chains on their bodies and threw them at Xiao Zhang.
The sinister Qi of the chains and their techniques were far inferior to those of the six government laborers of the Tang clan's Fivekind Man, but they were of the same lineage and possessed their own power.
At this time, Xiao Zhang couldn't even stand steadily, so how could he avoid these iron chains?
Since he couldn't avoid them, he just didn't.
Being powerless to avoid did not mean that he was powerless to fight.
He closed his eyes and thought about which move he should use to kill one of those blue-clothed Daoists and then jump into the river.
Even if he died, he wanted to die in a way befitting of his name and be a little more arrogant.
But in the next moment, he did not feel those cold and heavy chains wrap around his neck. Instead, he heard a series of clanging noises.
These clangs were crisp and clear, clearly the clangs of metal, but they were also so crisp that they sounded like metal snapping.
He opened his eyes and saw that in the light before him, shards of chains were flying about in the air. It was rather beautiful.
Hidden in the depths of these shards were a few extremely sharp marks, but it was impossible to tell what sort of weapon they were.
The blue-clothed Daoists saw the chains in the hands of the Bureau of Justice experts shatter. Their pupils constricted and they began to fly up the stone steps.
They paid no attention to the fierce Qis that had shattered the chains. Their goal was clear: to kill Xiao Zhang.
Several extremely gloomy sword glows stabbed at Xiao Zhang's vitals from extremely strange angles.
These blue-clothed Daoists came from Luoyang's Monastery of Eternal Spring and cultivated the orthodox Daoist techniques of the Orthodoxy. From a certain perspective, they were fellow disciples, but perhaps because the Monastery of Eternal Spring had been hidden in the darkness of history for too many years, their sword styles seemed even more bizarre and unfathomable.
But their swords still failed to stab Xiao Zhang to death.
The stone steps once more resounded with the crisp clangs of metal.
Several extremely deep and invisible scars tore through the morning light, leaving behind blurs on the stone steps like the claws of a wolf.
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