Mu Jin’s voice rang across the entire wharf, and everyone there heard the warning in it.
As soon as the shopkeepers along the wharf realized that something was wrong, they hurriedly shut their doors. Any customers who refused to leave stayed inside with them, and everyone peered outside through the cracks in the doors.
“Commandery Princess Cenyue is here. I’m afraid Xinzhou City is about to undergo a great upheaval,” an old man murmured as he gazed at the scene outside.
A burly middle-aged man let out a cold laugh. “Hmph. Xinzhou City should have changed long ago. At last, someone formidable has—”
Before he could finish, the old man beside him hurriedly cut him off. “Shh, keep your voice down. Those people outside are all soldiers from the provincial governor’s residence. Do you want to die?”
The middle-aged man waved dismissively. “It’s fine. I heard that the two commandery princesses killed a great many corrupt officials in Yongfu City. They’re incredibly capable. The fact that the provincial governor sent troops here to stop them in advance shows how terrified he is. They won’t have time to bother with us right now.”
A young boy nearby spoke up doubtfully. “There are at least five or six hundred soldiers outside. No matter how capable the commandery princess is or how many guards she brought, they can’t possibly defeat them. We’d better be careful, or those soldiers outside might arrest us.”
The news of what had happened in Liu City had not yet reached this place. The people here still did not know that the provincial governor had sent men to assassinate Xi Qingyue, much less that the matter had already been made public. Sooner or later, the news would reach them.
Many commoners were frightened of the provincial governor of Xinzhou from the bottom of their hearts. He was a high-ranking official who could decide whether they lived or died. Even though the soldiers had occupied the wharf and driven away many customers, the shopkeepers still did not dare voice a single complaint.
At the wharf, Commandant Yu watched the approaching vessel and let out a cold laugh before shouting, “By order of the provincial governor, we are to kill these river bandits impersonating the commandery princesses! Loose the arrows!”
Before the soldiers could even fire, Mu Jin, Nan Yun, and more than a dozen others each raised a Gatling gun and began sweeping the wharf with bullets.
Commandant Yu had only just finished his arrogant declaration, and the cold smile was still hanging on his face when he was struck. In an instant, he was reduced to a heap of mangled flesh.
The gunfire continued without pause. One soldier after another fell, meeting much the same fate as Commandant Yu.
Standing at the bow, Xi Qingyue held Xi Weilan in her arms as she watched the scene ahead. A cruel smile touched her lips. These weapons were enhanced versions, and their power was extraordinary. Anyone who still had an intact corpse could count themselves lucky.
Since they had shot at her, then they deserved to die. After all, when they fired their arrows, they had not spared a thought for the fact that she was still a child.
They were supposed to be imperial soldiers, yet all they did was help the provincial governor prey on the common people. They deserved to die. Xi Qingyue would never believe that simply following orders made them innocent.
The wharf was soon littered with bodies. Mu Jin and the others had skillfully avoided the people aboard the other vessels moored nearby, but those people were still so terrified that they lay trembling on their decks, sweating profusely and cursing their bad luck.
The commoners peering through the cracks in the shop doors were all dumbstruck. They rubbed their eyes, almost convinced that they were seeing things.
“Good heavens! What was that thing? The commandery princess is incredible! She killed hundreds of people just like that?”
The shopkeeper’s eyes were wide with disbelief. The provincial governor’s soldiers, who were usually so arrogant and domineering, had been killed with ease. They had not even had time to scream. It had all happened far too quickly.
The bluestone road along the wharf was dyed bright red with blood, a horrifying sight.
Blood flowed down the steps and into the water, instantly staining the river red. The stench of blood filled the air.
Some of the people who had just docked and had not yet gotten off their boats had barely survived the danger of being caught in the crossfire. Now they ran to the corners and vomited violently. They did not stop until they had nothing left but bile.
Xi Qingyue’s yacht slowly approached the wharf. Without changing expression, she used her water-based power to clear away the blood ahead of her, allowing the yacht to reach the shore without a drop of blood on it.
Looking at the mangled corpses and the blood covering the ground, Xi Qingyue frowned slightly. There was nowhere to set foot.
She activated her power again. One broken body after another flew toward a single location. Shredded flesh whirled through the air across the wharf, and blood splattered in every direction.
Those who had just finished vomiting saw the scene and hurried aside to vomit again. This time, they had nothing left to bring up but bile, and they retched until they could no longer straighten their backs.
A moment later, Xi Qingyue slowly stepped off the yacht.
She gazed at the mountain of corpses and felt a fresh pang of regret. If only she had fire-based powers.
Mu Jin followed behind her, carrying Xi Weilan. Nan Yun and several others came along as well, while a few people remained aboard the yacht to guard it.
After disembarking, Xi Qingyue headed straight for the provincial governor’s residence, with Mu Jin and the others close behind.
The moment their group left, the entire wharf erupted into commotion. Everyone who had been hiding came rushing out.
Some of the bolder ones went over to inspect the pile of corpses, only to run away and vomit violently a moment later.
Those who had vomited themselves weak aboard the boats helped one another ashore, their faces pale—whether from weakness or terror, no one could say.
The commoners gathered together and discussed the matter excitedly. No one had ever encountered anything so absurd in their entire lives.
“My heavens, those corpses flew together on their own just now. Could it be that the heavens have shown mercy?”
“That’s right, I saw it too. Even the blood flew through the air as if it had grown legs. The ground isn’t sticky at all. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed it.” As he spoke, the man squatted down and touched the bluestone pavement. It was completely clean and dry.
While they were still discussing the matter, several people Xi Qingyue had left aboard the yacht came ashore carrying torches.
The crowd hurriedly backed away. The scene they had just witnessed had been far too shocking, and they were now somewhat afraid of Xi Qingyue and her subordinates.
The woman leading them gave the commoners a gentle smile. “Everyone, our commandery princess said that the weather is too hot. Leaving the corpses here would make it easy for disease to spread, so it’s better to dispose of them as soon as possible.”
With that, she led her people to the pile of corpses and tossed her torch onto it. The bodies caught fire at once.
Before long, flames soared into the sky above the entire wharf.
At the provincial governor’s residence, the Governor of Xinzhou, Situ Tai, was listening to music and drinking wine. He had no idea that disaster was about to descend upon him.
Suddenly, a soldier stumbled in, his face filled with panic. “My lord, something has happened!”
Situ Tai snapped angrily, “Can’t you see that I’m busy? What is it that can’t wait?”
The soldier had no time to worry about punishment and hurriedly reported, “My lord, something happened at the wharf. All our men are dead. They were all killed by Commandery Princess Cenyue.”
Situ Tai stared at him in disbelief before erupting in fury. “What did you say? How is that possible? I sent six hundred men! Even if those two brats had brought a large number of guards, there couldn’t have been more than two hundred of them. We outnumbered them several times over. How could our men have been defeated without a single report reaching us?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he rose, drew the saber from a soldier below, and stabbed the messenger to death.
“How dare you deceive me. You deserve to die.”
