Chapter 937
The Fastest to Die
Accompanied by several elders, Xuan Chengzi slowly walked onto the stone platform. After stopping, he first looked at the corpses on the ground, then at the wine and meat beside him, his face expressionless.
But that expressionless face is more oppressive than anger.
"Mo Ku, Yin Feng, Lie Huo." Xuan Chengzi spoke, his voice not loud, but loud enough for everyone in front to hear, "To die for the sect is a noble cause. The sect will remember the names of all those who died in battle last night. After the snow stops, we will erect a monument in the forest so that their heroic souls will not have no place to rest."
The crowd fell silent.
Such polite words might have been enough to maintain order on a normal day. But right now, many people were so hungry their eyes were sunken, and they were staring at the bowls of meat next to the corpse, their minds not on the tombstone at all.
Xuan Chengzi clearly knew this as well, so he didn't say much and directly said, "Today, open the No. 1 warehouse and release 30% of the grain. The wounded will be given medicine first, and the dead will be given a proper burial. From today onwards, no remaining supplies from any peak may be kept privately; they will all be allocated by the sect. Anyone who dares to cause trouble during the chaos and shake the foundation of the sect will be severely punished without exception."
A murmur of response rippled through the crowd.
It was neither neat nor loud.
It's more like they're just going through the motions.
Xuan Chengzi's gaze slowly swept across the crowd, finally landing on the several bowls of meat.
"As for these."
He pointed with his hand.
"This is something the enemy uses to destroy your spirit. If anyone takes it as a gift, they are belittling themselves and disgracing their sect."
No sooner had these words been spoken than the old man from the Spirit Hall suddenly chimed in sarcastically from the crowd: "The sect leader is right. But if this disciple dares to ask, if it weren't for the enemy sending this venomous object, would this vault still be open today?"
Suddenly, all around became quiet.
Qin Yuancheng's face turned pale, and he shouted sternly, "Who's speaking!"
But there were too many people, and no one knew where the rumor came from.
Xuan Chengzi lowered his eyelids slightly: "The granary was already being prepared—"
"How long has the preparation process been going on?"
This time, it was Li Chuan who spoke.
He dragged his amputated arm and walked out of the crowd step by step, standing where everyone could see him, and bowed deeply to Xuan Chengzi.
"Disciple Li Chuan followed Elder Mo down the mountain last night and was fortunate enough to survive. I have a question I would like to ask the sect leader."
Jiang Che frowned: "Li Chuan, this isn't your place—"
"Let him speak," Xuan Chengzi said calmly.
Li Chuan straightened up, his face pale, but his voice was unusually clear.
"Last night, on our return to the mountain, the disciples were severely wounded and desperately needed medicine, and were starving and freezing, they needed food. The mountain gate was closed, the storehouse was closed, and the medicine hall was closed. Many died on the way back to the mountain, and some died at the gate. I want to ask, if it weren't for Hongyun City sending bodies and flesh, would we have had to raise enough food for today's 30% for several more days?"
On the stone slab, even the sound of the wind seemed to soften.
Everyone looked at Xuan Chengzi.
No one dared to ask this question.
But of all people, the one who least wanted to ask did.
Xuan Chengzi looked at Li Chuan quietly for a long time before saying, "Sects have their own difficulties."
Li Chuan smiled.
“Difficulties.” He nodded. “This disciple understands. But this disciple has another question.”
"You said."
"Who decided on the battle at the foot of the mountain last night?"
A hint of coldness finally flashed across Xuan Chengzi's eyes.
"Mo Ku is prone to acting rashly."
"Elder Mo acted on his own initiative. Why was he able to lead two thousand people down the mountain?" Li Chuan stared at him, squeezing out each word. "Red Cloud Peak, Black Water Peak, Yin Wind Ridge—so many deacons, elders, and inner disciples, and no one stopped them? Or did someone simply want us to go and test how fast Hongyun City's blade is, and how tough that Zheng family's city really is?"
"Li Chuan!" Jiang Che shouted sharply.
"Did I say something wrong?!" Li Chuan turned his head sharply, his eyes red as if dripping blood. "Yesterday, before we went down the mountain, so many people knew we were going to our deaths! But no one stopped us! Because there was no food, no pills, and no road on the mountain! The sect leader had to wait for reinforcements, the elders had to protect the mountain gate, and the deacon had to guard the storeroom. What about us? We were just meat to be used as test subjects!"
"Insolence!" Qin Yuancheng roared in fury. "Men, seize him!"
Just as the two disciples were about to step forward, suddenly, more than a dozen people in the outer circle took half a step forward at the same time.
Someone shouted, "He's right!"
Then came the second and third sounds.
"Yes! That's right!"
"My senior brother was used as cannon fodder and pushed out yesterday!"
"When Chixiao Peak received the order, the steward even said that if they took Hongyun City, they would get to eat meat!"
"Damn meat! They actually brought the meat back!"
"Food for the dead!"
"We living people are worse off than the dead!"
The last sentence was like a muffled thunderclap, making everyone's scalp tingle.
Xuan Chengzi's hand finally clenched slowly inside his sleeve.
He saw it.
The way the crowd was looking at me was strange.
In the past, it was respect, fear, and a reluctance to look.
Now there are questions, grievances, and even probing within.
And all of this started with those corpses, jars of wine, and bowls of meat at the mountain gate.
At this moment, another disciple suddenly ran up from behind the Ancestral Hall, his face full of panic.
"Report! There's chaos at Warehouse Number One too!"
Qin Yuancheng practically yelled, "What is it now?!"
"Some people are saying... that 30% isn't enough, and those who died or were injured last night should get more. Also, the outer gatekeepers and servants are blocking the grain distribution team, saying that they also went to defend the city yesterday, but didn't get anything. The two sides have already started fighting!"
The expressions of the people on the stone platform changed again.
Qin Yuancheng abruptly turned to look at Xuan Chengzi, his lips dry: "Sect Leader..."
Xuan Chengzi remained silent.
He suddenly felt that the stone ground beneath his feet was somewhat floating as he stood in front of the Ancestral Hall.
It's not the ground shaking.
It is people's hearts that are wavering.
Meanwhile, in the study of Hongyun City, three hundred miles away, the brazier was burning brightly.
It's snowing outside too, but the snow is falling in the city, so it's not as cold.
Zheng Yi sat under the lamp, holding a black chess piece in his hand. Elder Liu sat opposite him on the chessboard. Han Wuhen curled up on the warm couch to the side like a fat cat, holding a handful of freshly roasted pine nuts, cracking them open while listening intently.
The sound of footsteps approaching quickly outside the door.
Iron One-Eyed pushed open the door and came in, his shoulders covered in snow, but his eyes were full of excitement.
"Sir! There's an uproar on the mountain!"
Han Wuhen sprayed pine nut shells all over the table with a "poof," and immediately jumped up: "How's it going? Did they start fighting?"
Iron One-Eyed grinned: "It's more than just a fight. We had barely withdrawn from the mountain gate when they started looting. Later, the people from Taiqing Hall went down to suppress them, and I heard they even carried the corpses, wine, and meat to the front of the Ancestral Hall. Just when things were starting to calm down, the grain distribution started up again. Now the whole Qingyun Mountain is like a boiling pot, steam is rising from everywhere."
Han Wuhen rubbed his hands together, exclaiming, "Good! Good! I knew this trick was ruthless!"
Elder Liu didn't laugh, but stroked his beard and said in a low voice, "The sect leader has opened the granary?"
"It's open." Iron One-Eyed nodded. "Our spies hidden on the mountain path can see clearly that 30% of Warehouse No. 1 has been opened. But precisely because it's open, the commotion has intensified. Everyone's afraid they've received less, and everyone thinks others have taken more." Zheng Yi placed a piece, making a soft, crisp sound.
"It's opening perfectly."
Han Wuhen immediately leaned closer: "Sir, what's the next step? Are you still going to deliver it?"
Zheng Yi looked up at him: "You really want to give it to me?"
"I've got plenty of ideas!" Han Wuhen's eyes lit up. "Like, I could get a few more cartloads of hot soup and deliberately overturn them at the foot of the mountain. Or, I could send them some quilts, each embroidered with the words 'May you enjoy eternal bliss'—"
Iron One-Eyed chuckled as he listened.
Elder Liu frowned: "Too hasty. The first move you made was to use a corpse, a piece of flesh, and the mouths of their own people to peel back the skin. If we provoke them again immediately, it might force the Taiqing Palace to put people's hearts back down."
Zheng Yi nodded: "Old Liu is right. The fire is already lit, so there's no need to throw more firewood into the center of the fire."
Han Wuhen was taken aback: "Then where should we throw it?"
"Throw it aside."
Zheng Yi raised his hand and touched the edge of the chessboard with his fingertip.
"Let the fire find its own way to burn."
Iron One-Eyed's eyes lit up: "Sir, you mean..."
"Starting tomorrow," Zheng Yi said calmly, "all ordinary villages, towns, families, and caravans in Dingzhou that rely on Qingyun Mountain for their livelihood, as long as they are willing to relocate to the vicinity of Hongyun City, I will provide them with land, grain, and building materials. The first year will be tax-free. For each household that brings a new owner, a reward will be given. If a blacksmith, pharmacist, or carpenter is brought, the reward will be tripled."
Han Wuhen paused for two seconds, then slapped his thigh: "That's right! The mountain is already almost dead. If we bring over all the people who run errands, plant herbs, mine, and transport grain for them from the foot of the mountain, they'll really become a dead mountain!"
"That's not all." Zheng Yi looked at the chessboard, his tone calm. "Let's spread the word that the Qingyun Sect raided the mountain yesterday and nearly two thousand people died. The mountain granaries have been opened to release grain, but it's only enough to last a month. Let those who are still working for the Qingyun Sect do the math themselves."
Elder Liu nodded slowly: "When people are afraid, they first look for a way out. Especially those vassal families, they have the keenest sense of smell. When they see that things are not going well, they run away faster than anyone else."
"What if the Qingyun Sect orders the mountain to be sealed off and no one is allowed to leave?" Tie Duyan asked.
Zheng Yi smiled and asked, "Who can they seal off right now?"
The study was quiet for a moment.
Han Wuhen suddenly felt that even the fire in the brazier wasn't as cold as the person in front of him.
Zheng Yi added, "Also, pick some clever ones and send them to the towns at the foot of the mountain to chat. Don't say too much, just say that someone saw with their own eyes yesterday that Taiqing Hall didn't open its gates and many Guizong disciples froze to death."
Iron One-Eyed immediately replied, "Understood. This kind of talk is the easiest to spread. Half-truths and half-lies become more and more true the more it is spread."
“It’s not half-true, half-false,” Zheng Yi corrected him. “It’s true.”
Iron One-Eyed was taken aback, then chuckled and said, "That makes it even easier to spread."
Elder Liu, fiddling with a chess piece, suddenly asked, "Sir, what if the Taiqing Palace forcibly kills a group of people to establish its authority?"
“They will kill,” Zheng Yi said. “But the more they kill, the emptier the mountain will become. The emptier it is, the more panicked the people below will be. And the more panicked they are, the more they will want to run away.”
He paused, then placed another piece.
"They only have two paths now. Either feed the people and keep them calm, but they don't have that ability. Or they can suppress the chaos by killing. But killing doesn't produce food or medicine, it will only make the remaining people more afraid."
Han Wuhen clicked his tongue twice as he listened: "Sir, I understand now. You don't want to destroy the Qingyun Sect at all, you want to starve it into a nest of rats that can eat each other."
Zheng Yi raised his eyes and looked at the snow outside the window.
"When the mice have finished eating, they will naturally start eating the biggest one."
Meanwhile, the situation in front of the Ancestral Hall was getting worse.
When news of the grain release from warehouse number one spread, the crowd didn't disperse; instead, it became even more chaotic. Everyone wanted to be the first to arrive, and everyone was afraid that when it was their turn, there wouldn't be any grain left.
Li Chuan stood in the crowd and saw several groups of people starting to squeeze towards the warehouse.
He suddenly turned his head and said to the disciple with the severed ear, "What are you still standing there for?"
"what?"
“Go ahead.” Li Chuan said with a strange smile. “If you don’t go now, there won’t even be any rice bran left.”
The disciple with the severed ear hesitated and said, "Then here..."
“Someone is watching here.” Li Chuan glanced at Xuan Chengzi, then at the few remaining scraps of flesh beside Mo Ku’s corpse. “I suddenly feel that leaving these things here is more useful than burning them.”
The disciple with the severed ear did not understand.
Li Chuan didn't explain, he just limped back towards the back of the crowd.
When he retreated to the shadow of a stone lantern, there were already three people standing there.
They all escaped back from the foot of the mountain last night.
One had a cloth wrapped around his chest, another had half his face burned, and the third was simply leaning on a wooden stick. When the three saw Li Chuan approaching, none of them spoke first.
Finally, the burned man spoke in a low voice: "You were quite bold just now."
“He wasn’t very brave; he died in the snow last night,” Li Chuan said.
The man with the cane stared at the center of the stone platform, his voice muffled: "You really think... this mountain is doomed?"
Li Chuan paused for a moment, then asked, "Did you see the city wall of Hongyun City last night?"
"I saw it."
Do you think we can still take it down?
The three of them fell silent.
Li Chuan then asked, "How long do you think that little bit of grain in the warehouse will last these people?"
The man with the cane gritted his teeth: "One month at most."
"And what about a month from now?"
Still no answer.
Li Chuan smirked: "So it's not that I think the mountain is doomed. It's that it's already falling, it just hasn't hit the ground yet."
The burned man swallowed hard and suddenly asked, "What do we do then?"
Li Chuan glanced at him: "Live."
How will we survive?
Li Chuan's gaze passed over the stone platform and landed on the mountain road in the distance, which was covered by snow.
"Wait."
"Wait for what?"
"Wait until more people are hungry, wait until more people resentful, wait until the Taiqing Palace makes the first move." Li Chuan lowered his voice. "If someone dares to ask for grain today, someone will dare to ask for pills tomorrow. If someone dares to snatch meat in front of the Ancestral Hall today, someone will dare to smash the storehouse door tomorrow. Whoever moves first will bleed first. If we rush to the front now, we'll die the fastest."
The man with the cane's expression changed: "You want to see them kill themselves?"
Li Chuan didn't answer, but slowly clenched his remaining right hand.
“Last night, I crawled over one corpse after another in the snow to save my life.” He stared at his palm and said softly, “Now I just want to know, when they all give up, who will be the first one served on the table on this mountain?”
In the center of the stone platform, Xuan Chengzi seemed to have also sensed something.
He stopped arguing with the crowd and turned directly to Jiang Che, saying, "Take men to Warehouse Number One. Anyone who dares to cause trouble, take them down first."
Jiang Che accepted the order.
But just as he stepped down two stone steps, a louder commotion suddenly arose in the distance.
It's not in the direction of Warehouse No. 1.
It's a pharmacy.
A disciple tumbled and crawled over, his face covered in blood.
"Sect Leader! Chaos has broken out at the Medicine Hall! Some people are fighting over pills, and some are saying that the injured from last night couldn't get their medicine. Meanwhile, the people in the Affairs Hall are using the medicine to treat the inner sect elders first, and three of them have already died!"
Qin Yuancheng's face turned deathly pale. (End of Chapter)