Chapter 1 Blood Rain World

　　Blood Rain World, the Imperial City.

　　A seemingly ordinary restaurant was doing brisk business. Xu Jingming arrived on the second floor and ordered a few signature dishes.

　　"Qiu Tong is truly a gourmet; her recommendations are excellent." Xu Jingming ate a fish that was served. The flesh was tender and smooth, and the natural fish fragrance made him somewhat intoxicated.

　　"Having been in the Imperial City for so long, this restaurant ranks first in fish dishes," Xu Jingming praised as he enjoyed the food.

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

　　Xu Jingming also savored the fragrant fruit wine.

　　"Have you heard? The empire's Western Region army has been defeated! The main force of 500,000 men were all top-notch experts. They were completely defeated in one battle… The Wei King's iron cavalry in the Western Region chased them for hundreds of miles; the Western Region army is finished."

　　"News came out of the palace today that His Majesty threw several officials into prison on the spot! The family of Meng Xu, the commander of the Western Region army, was arrested and imprisoned; even the infants were not spared. The Meng family is completely finished!"

　　"Yes, in the northern part of the city, wails shook the heavens from the Meng family's residence. The Meng family members were all escorted into prison; even the infants were not spared. The Meng family is completely finished."

　　Some people in the restaurant were discussing current events.

　　Xu Jingming immediately perked up his ears, shocked. "The Western Region army has been defeated?"

　　As a Blood Rain Guard, he only occasionally went to the Southern Prefecture headquarters, so he only heard the news while eating at the restaurant.

　　"The main force of the Western Region army is finished?" Xu Jingming immediately realized something was wrong. "The empire's Western Region has long been completely corrupt. It was already difficult to gather an army of 500,000 top-notch experts. 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 point directly at the Imperial City!" Xu Jingming thought to himself.

　　Previously, people said the Northwest was corrupt.

　　But the Western and Northern Regions still had imperial armies! The Western Region army could at least ensure that the rebels couldn't threaten the Imperial City.

　　"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 relatively speaking, and the Blood Rain Guard's power is strong enough," Xu Jingming thought. "They should mobilize the Eastern Region's army to enter the Western Region."

　　The restaurant was noisy, and some people were panicking.

　　"With the Western Region's defeat, if the rebels enter the Imperial City…"

　　"The Western Region no longer has an army to stop the rebels; we need to consider our options early."

　　"The Imperial City walls are majestic, and there are Blood Rain Guards assisting the army; defending the city shouldn't be a problem."

　　"You can't say for sure when it comes to war."

　　Those who could afford to eat on the second floor of the restaurant weren't ordinary people; they were all extremely concerned about the future fate of the Imperial City because it was also related to their own fates and the fates of their families.

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

　　…

　　He strolled around some prosperous areas in the city and heard others discussing the "Western Region defeat." The Imperial City was so small that explosive news could spread throughout the city in a day.

　　"The situation in the Imperial City is becoming more and more dangerous; I need to finalize my target as soon as possible." Xu Jingming went to various candidate locations to scout them out.

　　"The Yang family is considered a large family in the Imperial City; at least my team can gnaw at this hard bone." Xu Jingming arrived on a street where the Yang family resided. Families like the Shen Gong family and the Feng Yu family were families he could, at most, deal with an ordinary member.

　　Those families were too terrifying; even the emperor didn't dare to fall out with them.

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

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

　　Xu Jingming looked 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 real wealthy and powerful family in the Imperial City.

　　Xu Jingming walked past the residence and came to some civilian houses.

　　"Qiao San! The outside world calls you Master Qiao San, but you have to be clear 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. When the master gives an order, how dare you, a dog, disobey?" a middle-aged man shouted angrily in front of a civilian house. "You're really rebelling!"

　　In front of the civilian house, a man in cloth clothes knelt there, 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 that doesn't listen to its master deserves to die," the middle-aged man said coldly. "Today, it's just killing one of your daughters. If you don't obey obediently, your two brothers, three sisters, and your old mother… your entire family will die!"

　　"Third Brother."

　　"Third Brother." Others around were also 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 was like hitting a stone with an egg; there was no hope at all. And his old mother, his brothers and sisters, the children of his brothers and sisters… would all be implicated by him.

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

　　"That's right; wouldn't it have been better to agree earlier? Speaking of which, you harmed your own daughter," the middle-aged man said, glancing around, his voice a little louder. "Don't think that just because you've lived in the Imperial City for a century or two, you're people of the Imperial City! Your ancestors have all been people of the Yang family! The Yang family tells you to do something, and you obediently do it. 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 subordinates, coldly glancing at Xu Jingming, the 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 stupid. The Second Young Master asked you who was willing to go with him? He was asking for your thoughts, but you honestly said you wanted to stay in the Imperial City?"

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

　　"This is killing a chicken to scare the monkeys."

　　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 the girl with a single blow.

　　…

　　That night.

　　Steward Bai hurriedly walked out of the Yang residence and headed toward his own home.

　　"I have to find a way to escape the team and hide before leaving the city. Then, in the vast Imperial City, the Yang family won't have time to look for me again," Steward Bai thought. "If I follow the Yang family's team out of the Imperial City, over tens of thousands of miles, how many people will die on the way?"

　　Steward Bai usually served in the Yang residence and only occasionally returned to his home. It was rare for him to come out today.

　　"Hmm?"

　　Xu Jingming, who was investigating the terrain, noticed Steward Bai. He was the same man who had been the leader during the day.

　　Whoosh.

　　The spear quietly tore through the air.

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

　　But the spear was like a swimming dragon. When it touched the sharp sword, under the strange rotational force, the spear wasn't blocked at all and naturally swept past the back of Steward Bai's head.

　　Chi~~~

　　The shaft of the spear gently brushed against the back of Steward Bai's head. Steward Bai only felt a shock in his brain before losing consciousness.

　　Xu Jingming stepped forward, lifted Steward Bai with one hand, and quietly left.

　　*******

　　In a firewood room of an uninhabited civilian house.

　　Steward Bai finally woke up and saw a masked man standing in front of him.

　　"Who are you?" Steward Bai tried to move his body, but found that the joints of his hands and legs were dislocated. He sat there, unable to stand up at all. "Good sir, have you mistaken me for someone else?"

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

　　Steward Bai's heart trembled.

　　To capture him instantly meant that the masked man's strength far exceeded his.

　　"Good sir, ask away," Steward Bai said obsequiously. "I will tell you everything I know."

　　"Is the Yang family leaving the Imperial City?" Xu Jingming asked softly.

　　"Yes! The situation in the Western Region is getting worse and worse; many large families in the Imperial City are arranging for some of their branches to leave the city," Steward Bai explained. "They're worried that the Imperial City will be breached; then, the large families 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 their hometown of the Eastern Region. The surrounding thousands of miles are within the Yang family's control. But most of the Yang family's main branch is in the Imperial City. This time, some of the Yang family members from the main branch are taking many experts and some of the gold and silver they've accumulated over the years to leave the Imperial City," Steward Bai said.

　　"Taking gold and silver to leave?" Xu Jingming asked.

　　"Yes."

　　Steward Bai said, "The situation in the world is getting worse; once the Imperial City is breached, the government banks will definitely close down, and those silver notes will become worthless paper! Even some of the large families' banks… 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 have 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 exchange of silver notes for gold and silver has been done secretly for a long time. At least on the Second Young Master's side, he had me 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 isn't anything to the Yang family."

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

　　"With the terrible situation in the world today, the Yang family members will also be divided into groups and act as merchant caravans and escort teams," Steward Bai said. "They've been divided into so many teams that even if some of the teams are robbed, it won't have a big impact."

　　Xu Jingming understood.

　　The world was in chaos, and some places had rebels.

　　No matter how powerful the Yang family was! If a large team moved together… it would only attract a large-scale rebel attack, and it would likely be wiped out.

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

　　"Isn't that right?" Steward Bai said. "Actually, many of us don't want to go. It's a long journey, and it would be good if half of us made it to Xue City alive. It's so much better to stay in the Imperial City! So what if the rebels break in? No matter who becomes the emperor, we'll obediently be citizens. It's safer to be in the Imperial City than to leave the city."

　　"But it's different for the Yang family; if the rebels break in, they'll first plunder these large families," Steward Bai said. "They definitely have to have many family members leave. Alas, we servants can only be their guards and risk our lives for them."

　　"The Yang family is divided into groups; which branch are you following?" 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 team is divided, when we're leaving, and what we'll be disguised as, those are all secrets."

　　"Oh." Xu Jingming understood, then said, "Do you remember the whip you used today?"

　　"The whip I used?"

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

　　Bang!

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

　　Steward Bai's body trembled, his chest torn open. The impact of the spear shadow caused him to cough up blood. He looked at Xu Jingming, his eyes filled with fear and unwillingness. "You said you'd spare my life."

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

　　Steward Bai soon breathed his last, lying in the firewood room. His injuries were almost identical to 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, he shuddered. "That's right; once the Imperial City is breached, the banks might close down, and the silver notes will become worthless paper. I have to be careful with my silver notes, or they might become worthless paper."

　　…

　　In the next few days, Xu Jingming investigated everything about the Yang family from the Blood Rain Guard's judicial division. He also collected information about the Yang family from the virtual world network.

　　Before taking action, he had to have enough information!

　　*******

　　Night, the Fei residence.

　　Fei Qing was alone in his study, coldly looking at the reports under the candlelight.

　　"His Majesty has ordered the mobilization of three armies from the Eastern Region to form an army to suppress the rebels in the Western Region." Fei Qing looked up at the dark shadows outside the window. "The Eastern Region's army was personally selected, trained, and combat-tested by me! I am the most suitable to be the commander of the army… I know every general, every division's strengths like the back of my hand."

　　"But His Majesty denied me."

　　Fei Qing sneered.

　　"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 really suspicious!" Fei Qing said silently. "He was so wise and martial in the past, but how did he become suspicious and distrustful of everyone after becoming emperor?"

　　"If the Eastern Region's campaign is also lost, then the future of the entire empire 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 you are not far from death.

　　"I can only stay in the Imperial City. With the current situation, His Majesty will eventually beg me." Fei Qing sat in his study, only able to patiently wait for an opportunity. Perhaps, he would never get this opportunity.