Chapter 46: Change In Power Is Bad

I was genuinely curious about the whole setup. Navigating the murky waters of mortal court politics was always far more entertaining when you actually held all the pieces of the puzzle, and knowing the enemy’s cards made it infinitely easier to flip the table later.

"Start from the beginning, Leader Tie," I said, leaning casually over my saddle horn. "What kind of hornet’s nest did you people kick to have imperial cultivators escorting slave carts through this valley?"

Tie Shan rubbed his bruised chest, letting out a heavy, weary sigh as he glanced back toward the burning wreckage in the distance.

"Senior might not know, but our home, the Iron Valley Principality, has fallen into pure chaos over the past three years," the bearded leader began, his voice thick with repressed fury. "There was a sudden, bloody palace coup within the regional seat. The old provincial governor was assassinated under the guise of an illness, and the man who seized the seat is a thoroughly corrupt, power-hungry despot named Governor Yan."

He spat into the dry pine needles, his jaw clenched tight.

"The moment Yan took power, our already fragile lives turned into a living hell," Tie Shan continued. "He tripled the grain taxes, seized private lands, and imposed brutal iron-mining quotas that worked hundreds of peasants to death. But the worst part was the slave trade. Yan completely tore down the border restrictions, colluding openly with shady merchant cartels to snatch healthy youths, young women, and entire families from rural villages to sell to foreign dynasties like livestock. Nobody protected the common folk, the garrison captains were all paid off with silver and spirit stones."

Shen Qingxue’s posture stiffened beside me, her obsidian eyes narrowing beneath her veil.

"When people are driven into a corner with no bread and their children dragged away in chains, what choice do they have?" Tie Shan’s hands trembled against his belt. "A rebel movement rose from the crags. We took up arms to defend our borders, ambush slave escorts, and protect the remaining free hamlets. But fighting Governor Yan is an uphill battle against an iron wall. Not only does he command ten thousand elite mortal troops, but he is also a direct maternal cousin to the Prince of Iron Valley himself."

"The royal court’s lapdog," Qingxue murmured with cold disdain.

"Aye, the Prince’s own blood," Tie Shan nodded bitterly. "In the Iron Valley Principality, the Prince’s word is law; no one holds greater authority. Backed by royal decree and protected by high-tier commanders, Yan acts with total impunity. Worse, he has hired private rogue cultivators to serve as his personal consorts, giving him power no mortal army can oppose."

The burly leader took a ragged breath, gesturing toward the rocky cliffs ahead.

"That was why our resistance had to operate strictly from the shadows, guerrilla strikes, night raids, and underground diversions. And today’s ambush was supposed to be our most crucial operation yet. Three days ago, our scouts intercepted high-priority intelligence claiming that this specific convoy wasn’t carrying common laborers. We were told these four carriages held ’extremely precious captives’, key targets whose recovery could cripple Governor Yan’s political schemes and rally the surrounding territories to our cause."

Shen Qingxue’s brow knitted sharply behind her sheer veil. She had grown up amidst the subtle, vicious betrayals of mortal kingdom courts, watching her father’s northern garrison swallowed by calculated lies before the executioner arrived.

"A high-priority target delivered on a silver platter?" she asked, her voice laced with sharp, razor-cold skepticism. "Leader Tie, did you ever consider that this intelligence was entirely fabricated?"

Tie Shan blinked, taken aback. "Fabricated?"

"It has the unmistakable stench of a baited trap," Qingxue said, her analysis cutting through the air with military precision. "They leaked false rumors about precious captives precisely to lure your main combat force out of the crags and onto an open imperial road. You were baited into throwing your best men at an ambush."

She paused, her eyes widening slightly as a chilling realization struck her.

She whipped her head toward me, her breath catching. "Master... if the imperial convoy was a deliberate setup, could they have anticipated the underground extraction as well? Is there a method for the governor’s men to trace the rescued slaves back to their sanctuary?"

I looked at her sharp, intuitive deduction and nodded with an approving smile.

"A very astute question, little disciple," I said calmly. "And the answer is yes. In the cultivation world, marking a target is child’s play. A drop of spirit-tracking powder rubbed into their hair, a microscopic soul-tracing talisman sewn into the hem of their clothes, or even a basic blood-resonance curse placed inside their food. An experienced cultivator holding a tracking compass can trace those energetic ripples across a hundred miles of dense forest without breaking a sweat."

Tie Shan felt as though an invisible fist had slammed directly into his gut.

The color drained from his weathered face, his vision swimming with sheer, cold terror. The entire sequence crashed through his mind, the oddly light guard contingent, the hidden Qi Condensation cultivator who had stayed dormant inside the wagon, the leaked coordinates...

There wasn’t just one trap, there was an entire secondary net waiting to strangle them! The enemy had deliberately allowed the captives to be spirited away so they could follow the invisible trail straight to their hidden sanctuary.

THUD.

Tie Shan collapsed to his knees right before my warhorse, his forehead slamming into the damp dirt.

"Immortal Senior! Exalted Master!" he pleaded, his rough voice cracking with desperation. "I was a fool! My blind eagerness has doomed our entire village! If Governor Yan’s extermination force follows that trail to our stronghold, our women, our elders, and hundreds of innocent children will be slaughtered like sheep! I beg you... I beg Senior to show mercy and save my people."

"Aiya, stand up," I sighed, waving a dismissive hand as I shook my head with a wry grin. "Why are people always so fond of groveling in the dirt? Since I already took off that spearman’s head, I’m already in this up to my neck anyway."