Chapter 14: The Arrest

The next morning, Chu Danqing took Dabao to maintain order at the porridge-dishing station.

The porridge was being distributed by the official government rather than the Lu clan; the clan was merely assisting because the government lacked sufficient manpower.

The Lu clan themselves had been caught completely off guard by this snow disaster and needed to procure grain urgently; how could they possibly have any surplus grain left for disaster relief.

Upon arrival, Chu Danqing took Dabao on a patrol to serve as a deterrent.

Once that was done, he found a suitable spot to sit down, took out his manual, and began reading it attentively.

Maintaining order, so to speak, practically required no intervention from him regarding minor issues like cutting in line or making noise; he was only responsible for handling major disturbances.

"Consultant Chu, you certainly have a lot of leisure time." Tie Yan walked over, his gaze falling upon the manual in Chu Danqing's hands, his tone tinged with sourness.

He had brought his subordinate apostles to dispense blessed talisman water in order to accumulate camp contributions for completing his mission.

150 points a day, which would happen to be enough to complete it after seven days.

As for the rest of the apostles, Tie Yan could only leave them to their own devices.

He certainly had the desire to undertake missions with higher camp contributions, but his very first mission had hit a snag, resulting in the deaths of three apostles.

One of them had even been a member of the Dragon-Tiger Alliance. Now, only Hanying remained as his loyal follower, while the remaining apostles each harbored their own hidden agendas.

Chu Danqing looked up at Tie Yan; the man was clearly not having an easy time.

Joining the Taiping Dao faction offered the lowest comprehensive difficulty, but correspondingly, its rewards were also the lowest.

"Libationer Tie is quite leisurely himself, actually finding the time to chat with me," Chu Danqing replied with a vacuous remark.

A Libationer was Tie Yan's rank, roughly equivalent to a team leader managing believers.

Aside from Tie Yan, all other dimension apostles held merely the status of ordinary believers upon joining the Taiping Dao.

Their strength was insufficient to attain the position of Libationer.

They needed to become Libationers within seven days to activate the next chain of trial missions.

"The share for the third place in the faction shop must all be in your hands, right? Name your price and let me have a share of it," Tie Yan sensed Chu Danqing's attitude and thus cut straight to the point, saying in a low voice.

Chu Danqing shook his head instead. "I exchanged for the second-place reward. Do you really think I could possibly have four thousand five hundred camp contributions left?"

"Even if I really had that many, I'd rather choose to save them up further to exchange for the first-place reward."

With that, he gestured slightly toward the manual in his hand.

He and Tie Yan were neither relatives nor friends; why should he tell him the truth?

Moreover, Tie Yan's attitude and tone made Chu Danqing very uncomfortable. What did he mean by "name your price and let me have a share"? It was nothing more than an attempt to take advantage of him.

Tie Yan couldn't even scrape together one thousand five hundred camp contributions; what gave him the confidence, with just that level of strength, to produce items equivalent in value to the Lu clan's body-tempering secret medicine?

Even if he possessed such items, they would be trump cards. How could he possibly be willing to use them as trade goods?

Tie Yan had wanted to bluff him, though he actually had some suspicions about the true situation.

If he himself possessed seven thousand five hundred camp contributions, he would certainly go all out for the epic-tier legacy skill in the first-place slot of the faction shop.

His gaze landed on the manual in Chu Danqing's hands, and a different idea suddenly popped into his mind.

"Since your manual can be read repeatedly, Consultant Chu, would you mind lending it to me to copy?" Tie Yan leaned closer and said in a low voice, "One thousand Paradise Coins, just to make a friend."

Chu Danqing closed the manual with a snap, and then said, "Tie Yan, I treat you like a normal human being, so don't treat me like a fool."

"With the paltry scraps you're offering, what makes you think it's enough to trade for the contents of my manual?"

When given a polite reception, the man immediately sought to push his luck.

Copying it was certainly negotiable, but at least offer an honest price.

Tie Yan undoubtedly believed that since both of them represented their respective factions, neither would act too excessively in broad daylight.

Dabao stretched out a massive hand with lightning speed, grabbed Tie Yan firmly by the entire head, and flung him away toward the crowd of Taiping Dao believers.

"Provoke me again, and I'll send you to meet the Supreme Heaven of the Taiping Dao." Chu Danqing had never held any fondness for the Taiping Dao to begin with, and just last night he had been targeted in a retaliatory strike.

Tie Yan scrambled up in a disheveled state, anger welling up in his eyes, but it was quickly suppressed.

Not only was the other party stronger than him, but his influence was also greater; getting into a conflict would only be disadvantageous to himself.

However, Chu Danqing's actions displeased the believers. One by one, they crowded around, glaring at Chu Danqing with hostile expressions.

"Libationer Tie may be in the wrong, but it is not your place—an outsider—to discipline him. My Taiping Dao is..." The leading Taiping Daoist attempted to use his faction's weight to intimidate him.

He didn't care about the personal grievances between the two, but Chu Danqing's action had caused the Taiping Dao to lose face.

Yet before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted.

"What? Can your Taiping Dao also disregard the laws and discipline of our imperial court?" A chilling voice echoed.

Fierce Fist, clad in armor, pushed through the crowd followed by a group of soldiers, his gaze sweeping over the Taiping Dao members present.

"Laws and discipline? Hah." Fierce Fist sneered with utter disdain, then shouted sternly, "Your crimes have been exposed!"

"Spreading witchcraft, assassinating the former Commandery Governor, murdering the Prefect's wife, and conspiring to harm Lord Prefect—every single one of you from the Taiping Dao must come with me."

As those words fell, the entire crowd erupted in uproar.

A wave of whispered murmurs immediately rippled through the onlookers.

"You're talking bullshit!" Hanying was enraged beyond measure, cursing loudly regardless of the consequences.

Yet Fierce Fist didn't even spare him a glance. With a single wave of his hand, the soldiers began arresting the Taiping Dao members.

The dimension apostles who had joined the Taiping Dao were also within the net.

Compared to the docile native residents who allowed themselves to be captured, the dimension apostles were naturally unwilling to surrender without a fight.

"Anyone who dares to resist shall be executed on the spot," Fierce Fist issued his command once more.

"Chu Wusheng, Fierce Fist can move against us today, and he can move against you tomorrow."

"Let's join forces and kill him first!" Tie Yan's expression changed abruptly as he plotted to drag Chu Danqing down with him.

Chu Danqing directly ignored Tie Yan's words and said leisurely, "What Commandery Governor Fierce Fist says is no falsehood."

This was the informational gap caused by having too low a faction status; joining a low-threshold faction required paying a price.

In Tie Yan's view, Fierce Fist was merely clearing the area.

In reality, the government and the aristocratic clans were about to strike against the Taiping Dao.

Yet, ignorant of the truth, Tie Yan merely assumed that Chu Danqing might also be implicated in the scheme.

Therefore, upon hearing Chu Danqing's words, he gritted his teeth, grabbed Hanying, and fled directly.

Fierce Fist looked at Chu Danqing and gave a slight nod. "Consultant Chu, we may have an opportunity to cooperate next time."

With that, he led the captured individuals away; he needed to extract valuable intelligence from the mouths of these Taiping Dao members.

As long as the key figures were captured, those who escaped were of no consequence—they could simply be placed on a wanted list.

After everyone had departed, Chu Danqing finally understood why Lu Yin had been uncertain about the plan.

It turned out they had to wait for the government to extract intelligence from the Taiping Dao members before he could proceed with his deployments.

With the matter settled, Chu Danqing sat back down and continued reading his manual.