Deputy Lieutenant Qian's legs finally gave out. His knees buckled forward, and he slid down the stone wall, landing with a splash in the water.
As the murky black water rose over his belt and stomach, he violently shuddered, scrambling backward on all fours until the back of his head hit the stone wall with a dull thud.
Now he felt the pain.
Deputy Lieutenant Qian's eyes darted around before landing on the edge of the stone platform.
Blood was still bubbling from the jagged stump of Wang Biao's severed neck. His heart had already stopped; it was just the residual blood pressure squeezing the last bit of life out of his veins.
He stared at the severed stump for a couple of breaths, his stomach churning violently.
He opened his mouth, and a mixture of bile and half-digested minced mutton spewed out, splattering onto his own knees.
He wiped his mouth.
This sudden rush of sensations actually jolted him out of his dazed, soul-crushed state.
Deputy Lieutenant Qian leaned against the stone wall and stood up, water dripping from the hem of his official uniform.
He saw that Xu Qinghuan had already descended the stone steps.
In the corridor behind her, the heavy, rhythmic thuds of ten heavily armored guards' boots echoed against the stone steps.
Deputy Lieutenant Qian's mind raced frantically.
He was so terrified his intestines felt twisted into knots, but he couldn't show fear in front of his subordinates, let alone allow this woman to just take Xu Zhan away.
He Minghu's orders were crystal clear: before midnight, get the living man to stamp his fingerprint, or forge it if he was dead.
If Xu Zhan was taken away, the first person He Minghu would kill wouldn't be Xu Qinghuan; it would be him, Deputy Lieutenant Qian.
With Wang Biao dead, the blame fell squarely on his shoulders.
If the prisoner was taken away too, he wouldn't even have an explanation to offer.
It was death either way.
Once this thought surfaced, Deputy Lieutenant Qian stopped trembling. Since he was going to die regardless, he might as well take a gamble!
He squeezed the words out of his throat, his voice cracking with terror, because he truly hadn't expected Xu Qinghuan to just kill a man like that.
You dare to murder an imperial military officer without authorization!
Men, seize this woman!
Up in the corridor, the two dozen jailers behind Chen Kui hesitated for a moment.
But Deputy Lieutenant Qian's military rank weighed heavily on them. At the sound of his roar, their bodies reacted faster than their brains.
A scattered chorus of swords being drawn rang out.
Over twenty waist blades gleamed in the dim light. Some hands clutching the hilts were still trembling, while others fumbled the draw, their blades catching on the scabbards before finally being yanked free.
They managed to form a perimeter, but it was a loose, hesitant circle with massive gaps between each man.
With the fresh example before them, no one wanted to charge forward.
Wang Biao's severed head was still bobbing on the water, face turned toward the ceiling, mouth agape. Having that thing floating right at their feet would make anyone weak in the knees.
Li Sheng let out a cold snort. One was enough.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor, and the clatter of metal armor plates against the stone steps grew rapidly closer.
Thirty heavily armored guards stepped down from the final stone step.
They moved as one: left foot half a step forward, right hand drawing their blades horizontally. Their horse-cleaving swords pointed diagonally, the backs of the blades resting against the iron bracers on their left arms.
A strangulation formation.
The guards formed two rows, shielding Xu Qinghuan and Li Sheng in the center. Thirty horse-cleaving swords faced outward, the steel radiating a chilling aura.
Under the torchlight, the heavy armor on these men gleamed with an iron hue. Their breastplates, arm guards, and greaves fit together flawlessly.
And what were the two dozen jailers opposing them wearing?
Standard-issue leather armor for guard duty. Some were even missing several leather plates, exposing the patched cotton lining underneath.
Waist blades against horse-cleaving swords. Leather armor against heavy plate.
There was no comparison.
The encirclement instantly dissolved.
Without any orders or cries to retreat, the twenty-odd jailers instinctively shrank back.
They sheathed their swords much faster than they had drawn them. Some simply tossed their weapons on the ground, raised their hands above their heads, and dropped to their knees with a thud.
Chen Kui knelt at the very front, his forehead pressed to the ground, not daring to utter a single word.
Deputy Lieutenant Qian was struck dumb.
He watched his twenty-odd men drop to their knees one by one, their swords littering the floor.
No one was listening to him anymore.
Xu Qinghuan hadn't looked at him once this entire time.
Her skirt trailed through the bloody water, leaving a wake as she walked straight to the center of the water dungeon, stopping before the body suspended from the torture rack by iron chains.
She paused.
Less than three paces from Xu Zhan.
The torchlight illuminated him, leaving none of his injuries hidden.
Whip marks crisscrossed his back, layering over one another. In some places, the flesh was torn open. The stump of his severed right arm was festering and black, the edges of the flesh curling outward.
The iron chains were pulled taut, and the iron cuffs on his wrists had dug deep into his flesh. The skin beneath the cuffs was pale and swollen, its original color long gone.
Xu Qinghuan just stood there quietly, looking at him, her second brother, whom she hadn't met once since transmigrating into this book, yet who felt so incredibly familiar.
After a few breaths.
She turned around to face Deputy Lieutenant Qian and said, I inspect the realm on behalf of the Emperor, wielding the Imperial Sword. I have the authority to execute any official below the third rank before reporting it.
Since when did the territory of the Great Qian become the private property of the Ministry of War? Your private property!
Deputy Lieutenant Qian pressed his back against the stone wall, looking left and right.
There were no reinforcements.
Wang Biao was dead, Chen Kui was kneeling, and his subordinate jailers were groveling on the floor.
He Minghu and Ma Jin'an were nowhere to be seen.
All those sayings about the emperor being far away or outsider rules not applying here were useless now. Those words might have bolstered his courage half an hour ago.
Deputy Lieutenant Qian's mouth moved, and the words that tumbled out were beyond his own control.
You killed someone in the Northern Frontier! Vice General He's troops are right here in the city. You won't make it out of Zhenbei City alive! Xu Qinghuan, you won't make it out!
Xu Qinghuan ignored his threat. Colluding with the enemy and committing treason?
Based on this piece of paper?
She thrust the tip of her sword forward half an inch, nearly touching the blood-soaked, softened paper.
Centurion Xu was at the Vanguard Camp. He led his troops in a night raid against the barbarian vanguard. The merit of defeating three thousand men was earned by him and his soldiers with their blades and blood. The commendation from the Ministry of Revenue and the battle report from the Ministry of War are written in black and white, stamped by the Six Ministries, and archived in the capital.
Yet you strung up a centurion who risked his life for the imperial court in a water dungeon, chopped off his arm, and tried to force him to put his fingerprint on a fabricated confession?
I suspect even the charges on this confession were left blank to be filled in later.
Xu Qinghuan moved the tip of her sword away from the paper, pointing it toward Deputy Lieutenant Qian.
Deputy Lieutenant Qian, you are a military officer of the upper sixth rank. You should be able to recite the laws of the Great Qian.
Extorting a confession through torture, forging evidence, and framing a meritorious soldier, which of these is not a capital offense?
Deputy Lieutenant Qian's face flushed crimson. Fear had stripped away his reason. Words spoken by a man pushed to the brink were often truer than those spoken in a clear state of mind.
Deputy Lieutenant Qian roared, You're lecturing me about the laws of the Great Qian?!
He lunged forward a step, his boot slipping on a broken shard of porcelain. He stumbled, his body swaying before being caught by the stone wall again.
This is the Northern Frontier! Even if the Emperor himself came here, he'd have to bow down!
