Two months after the new year, seventeenth, early morning, near Dabie Mountain.

The death of Fang Qifo was, for some, somewhat predictable. But his actual death at this moment still brought a sense of surprise to most, mixed with emotions of anger, sorrow, loss, shock, and more.

For Tie Tianying, Zong Feixiao, and others, Fang Qifo's death was the most inexcusable miscalculation in the entire scheme. Yet, Fang Qifo was rescued under the most improbable circumstances. During the pursuit, he stubbornly clung to the fleeing bandits, still holding onto a sliver of hope. Now, everything was beyond redemption. Ning Liheng's sudden intervention caught everyone in the Ministry of Justice completely off guard.

Their initial reaction was anger. For Fang Baihua and her group, anger was secondary, merely a conditioned reflex driven by grief. This emotion was even more complex for Lin Echan, Sikong Nan, and Wang Yin, who was discreetly observing the situation from afar. In a way, they even felt a sense of failure, as if they had fallen short at the last step.

After being rescued, Fang Qifo had said a few words to Chen Fan, one of which was admitting that he was unaware of the three Mani Sect spies among the constables. If he was unaware, Wang Yin might also be in the dark. Besides Fang La's network, Sikong Nan was likely the only remaining Mani Sect informant.

Of course, the Mani Sect case was far-reaching because the religion had a long reach. It was possible that such a large sect had details that Fang Qifo and the others couldn't fully grasp, which Wang Yin, with his meticulous mind, had managed to unearth. This conjecture was never confirmed even many years later. But Fang Qifo's rescue did not bring a positive impact to everyone; this was perhaps clear from the moment he left the prison.

He was a true burden. He would deprive Fang Baihua and others of the chance to scatter and escape, force Fang Baihua, Chen Fan, and the others to fight with their last strength, and enable the Ministry of Justice to exert its power to the fullest, relentlessly pursuing them and leaving no one a chance of escape. Perhaps the best revenge in some people's minds was that all the people he truly cared about would die before his eyes.

Fang Qifo's head was suddenly chopped off. Looking at the scholar-like young man on the slope above, Lin Echan and Sikong Nan felt a void in their minds. Among these people, the one who truly had complex and shocked emotions was Zhu Biao, who was currently following Ning Yi.

He genuinely didn't expect such a scene to unfold.

Since his fight with Chen Fan, he had followed Ning Yi south and was the only follower who knew some of the inside information. Ning Yi wanted to save Chen Fan, save the woman named Xigua (watermelon), and even wanted to talk to Fang Qifo to resolve their obsession. He knew all of this roughly.

However, the situation was serious, and the Secret Intelligence Division's arrival south was too late. Ning Yi didn't have many capable people around him. Although various bits of information were constantly being collected, a detailed picture couldn't be formed in two days. Zhu Biao had seen Ning Yi sitting in his room, deep in thought, tapping his fingers – the last time he had seen Ning Yi like this was in the Zhu Family Village. After that, tens of thousands of people from Liangshan had died directly or indirectly at Ning Yi's hands.

But Zhu Biao wasn't a fool. Although he was usually carefree, he was still a quick-witted person to have cultivated his martial arts to this level. In such a situation, with so many forces involved and so little information, he wouldn't be able to think of any solution. Even Zhu Biao could see the anxiety building up in Ning Yi as time went on. Meeting Fang Qifo was out of the question, and whether Chen Fan and Liu Xigua could escape would depend on luck.

But luck didn't come after all. In those two days, Ning Yi had been rushing around, calculating changes. As the situation became clearer, he had also inquired about the terrain around Dabie Mountain, but he couldn't survey it in person due to the limited time. He had also sent a few documents to the surrounding prefectures and counties as seemingly unintentional foreshadowing, but they didn't work out.

Zhu Biao saw these things and knew that when things escalated that night, he and Ning Yi were still rushing to the front of the pursuit. Along the way, Ning Yi had speculated about several possible ambush locations. Two calculations were wrong because it was always difficult to understand the terrain clearly based on what others said. One was missed because of timing. Only the last mountain path allowed them to arrive hastily.

The firing of several elm cannons disrupted the entire situation. Ning Yi's posture and momentum at that moment did indeed overwhelm everyone present. But Zhu Biao understood that Ning Yi didn't have many chips to use within that forced momentum. Eight elm cannons and twenty or so people couldn't decide the entire situation. Even Ning Yi's move had taken a great risk.

After that, the pursuit's fierce attitude was enough to deter many people around, but the limit was the limit. Ning Yi destroyed Liangshan with a meticulous layout, and every time he thought about it, he was amazed. But because he had participated in the entire thing, Zhu Biao also understood that the so-called clever strategy wasn't a castle in the air built on fantasy. Every step Ning Yi took was simply to expand the power he could use to the maximum, eventually causing a chain reaction. How these people with Fang Qifo could escape was now a dead end. Only Ning Yi's move at this moment almost completely exceeded Zhu Biao's expectations.

Even if Fang Qifo was bound to die tonight, it was entirely different whether he died at the hands of the enemy or at his own hands in front of his friends and woman. When Ning Yi rushed up and swung that blade, Zhu Biao felt a hint of understanding besides surprise.

But… how did this guy do it…

The mountain wind howled, and from the hanging bridge behind, a woman's wailing voice was heard. Ning Yi stood in the flickering light on the hilltop, holding a knife in one hand and a head in the other. His eyes coldly swept over the Mani Sect and Ministry of Justice groups below, and then he turned and went down the mountain from the side he had come up from: "Kill them! Find a chance to cut the hanging bridge!"

Fang Baihua and the others launched a fierce attack. Zhu Biao blocked them with his spear, and crossbows were shot from behind. Because Ning Yi said, "Find a chance to cut the hanging bridge," Fang Baihua gritted her teeth. After exchanging two moves with Zhu Biao, she finally retreated and led the people around her to surround the end of the hanging bridge. She knew that time was running out. If they didn't leave, the people on the hanging bridge would be unlikely to escape. She shouted, "Go!" On the hanging bridge, Luo Bingren and the others pulled Xigua's arm and ran towards the other end.

Zhu Biao understood that Ning Yi's purpose wasn't to take Fang Baihua's life. Seeing the other party retreat, he called the Secret Intelligence Division members holding crossbows next to him to go to Ning Yi's side. The constables below surged up. The firelight flickered. Fang Baihua led four people to block the oncoming attacks. In the blink of an eye, there were only three people left. Some constables tried to throw torches onto the hanging bridge. Fang Baihua tried her best to knock down several torches, but the end of the bridge was still on fire.

On that side, Xigua, who was being dragged backward, followed Ning Yi's figure as he walked down. After a long time, she finally shouted, "Inner Demon! Ning Yi! Even if you're fierce and powerful! I will find you! You wait for me--"

This sentence was full of threatening aura. From afar, Ning Yi raised his knife and his cold voice passed through the night: "I'll wait for you!"

The exchange between the two sides ended here.

Threats on the Jianghu (martial world) are commonplace, and no one took these two sentences seriously. Ning Yi walked down the slope. Zhu Biao and the others hurried back. Zong Feixiao, Tie Tianying, and Fan Zhong had also chased after him.

"Ning Yi, you actually dared to kill Fang Qifo…"

Ning Yi looked up coldly: "So what?"

"Do you know he's a wanted criminal designated by the imperial court? The Ministry of Justice had a strict order to bring him to the capital alive…"

"You want this head?" Ning Yi raised Fang Qifo's head and handed it to Zong Feixiao. Zong Feixiao said in a deep voice: "I want to arrest you…" Tie Tianying next to him reached out to take it, but before he could touch it, Ning Yi threw the head to the back, into Zhu Biao's hands.

"Seal this head with lime! Zong Feixiao! Tie Tianying! Fan Zhong! Escorting Fang Qifo to the capital is your task! You took it upon yourselves to set up a scheme that ultimately failed and made a mess of things! I have to help you clean up this mess! Zong Feixiao, you dare to talk to me like this now!?"

"Talking to you like this, I'll beat you to death today--"

Zong Feixiao was already full of anger. At this time, he pointed his finger over, and the constables behind him immediately looked ready to fight. Here, the Secret Intelligence Division members also raised their crossbows in an instant. Ning Yi confronted the three people with cold eyes, not losing any ground in terms of momentum.

"Constable Zong. If you're sure that you can bear the consequences of provoking me, I'll gladly play along."

This sentence wasn't loud, but every word was clear and made people feel cold in their hearts. Ning Yi wouldn't necessarily say such shallow threats out loud on weekdays, but at this time, it was hard to say what his mood was like. After confronting each other for a few seconds, Ning Yi's eyes slowly swept over the three people, and he pointed his finger down.

"Go back and think it over carefully! Are you arrogant and complacent and made a mistake in your plan? Did you lose Fang Qifo in your hands? Did I help you clean up this mess? Fang Qifo's threat made you actually hesitate. Where has the imperial court's face gone? Think it over clearly, and I'll return the head to you! Also, Fang Qifo is dead, but the bandits over there are still there. Fang Baihua, Sikong Nan, Lin Echan, Wang Nantuo, these Mani Sect evildoers, when are you going to wait until--"

By the time he said the second half of the sentence, his tone was getting higher and higher, and Lin Echan and the others on the hillside would probably be able to hear him. It was unknown what their moods were.

But no matter what Lin Echan, Sikong Nan, or Zong Feixiao, Tie Tianying, and the others decided, the subordinates around Fang Baihua at the end of the hanging bridge were getting fewer and fewer. When the last companion fell, the woman was already covered in blood and scars, even her face had been cut with a terrible knife mark, but the woman still waved her red spear, shrouding the attacks in front of her and trying to force back the constables who were rushing towards the hanging bridge.

Finally, a hook rope pierced into her scapula. Several constables exerted force at the same time, pulling her to the ground. Fang Baihua let out a scream, and the long spear waved over, stabbing at the crowd and entangling the chain. Several constables rushed up again, and the two sides exerted force again, and a clump of blue stuff rose in the air. At this moment, she didn't know how much strength she used, but she broke the chain, waved away the attacking crowd, and was hit several times on her body. As the blood splattered, she rolled to the back. When she stood up, she put an old blue flag belonging to the Yongle Dynasty on the long spear.

The blood was already covering her eyes, but she took one last look at Fang Qifo's headless body--the approaching constables had already begun to drag the body away--and then turned around and rushed out!

Here, Ning Yi turned his head. When Lin Echan, Sikong Nan, and the others turned their heads, they saw that figure leap out from the side of the hanging bridge in the air. The blood-stained blue flag unfolded in the air for a moment. As the figure fell, Fang Baihua's last voice was faintly heard in the air:

"All dharmas are equal… there is no high or low… eliminate evil and eradicate the strong… for the people's eternal happiness…"

That was the slogan shouted during Fang La's uprising. This voice and the blue flag only stayed in the air for a moment. The last afterglow belonging to Fang La's uprising in Jiangnan dissipated here.

The flames burned through the hanging bridge, swinging the long, old hanging bridge to the side of the cliff. More than ten survivors rushed into the distant mountains and forests. Lin Echan and the others were still chasing from below…

*******************

In the late Wu Dynasty, due to the intensification of land annexation and the increase of the imperial court's exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous levies, and the implementation of tyrannical policies such as the Huashi Gang (collection of rare stones), the Mani Sect uprising led by Fang La shook half of Jiangnan. After being suppressed, the Mani Sect continued to survive and develop in the lower levels of the people. In the following years, Mani Sect uprisings broke out one after another, and all were suppressed.

At this time, due to the internal and external troubles of the Wu Dynasty and the idea of using strong medicine for serious diseases, the handling of the aftermath of the rebellion mostly adopted large-scale killings. By the time the Wu Dynasty perished, more than two million people had died under the sword in the Mani Sect case.

Due to the limitations of peasant uprisings at this time, although there were extremely few uprising leaders with relatively good and beautiful ideas, there were countless cases where peasants who gained power in the riots became more brutal and inhuman than the previous imperial court officials.

The oppressed rebel against the oppressors, only to gain the power to oppress others in return. It seems that only this theorem has remained consistent in all the chaos and turmoil, without ever changing.

No one is spared.