The night wind howled, making the clouds surge like waves. A bright moon alternately hid within and emerged from the dark clouds.
Beneath a night sky like a dark veil, the streets were empty and desolate. Aside from a few scattered patrols of Taiping Bandits, there was no one to be seen.
Every household’s door was shut tight. Most had extinguished their lamps, and only a rare few houses showed the dim, yellow flicker of a single, faint light.
The scene was one of utter desolation.
In sharp contrast was the direction of the Lin Family estate, from which a massive roar, like a tidal wave of sound, spread in all directions.
’Has it started already?!’
With a tap of his toes, Fang Rui leaped high into the air. Pushing off the wall twice in quick succession, he landed directly on a rooftop and gazed toward the Lin Family estate.
Unlike the darkness elsewhere in the city, the sky above the Lin Mansion was lit by towering flames, and the battle cries were deafening. He could see troops of Taiping Army soldiers, ferocious as wolves and tigers, pouring into the estate and scattering within like sparks in a dry field.
"Orders from above! No one from the Lin Family is to be left alive!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Mercy!"
...
Battle cries, pleas for mercy, the clash of weapons... all merged into one great cacophony.
There was fighting everywhere, fires everywhere. From all directions, unaffiliated Martial Artists scaled walls and crossed alleys, breaking into the Lin Family estate to plunder, like so many distorted, encroaching shadows.
’Everyone loves to kick a man when he’s down! Now that the great ship of the Lin Family has struck a reef and is sinking, they’ve all come crawling out—old enemies, remnants of other great families eager to add insult to injury, unaffiliated Martial Artists looking to loot in the chaos...’
Fang Rui watched the shadowy figures, knowing that most of them were just like him—people hoping to fish in troubled waters and snag some profit.
Of course, the terrain of the Lin Family estate was restrictive, making it difficult for a large army to maneuver. Individual Martial Artists, however, could traverse the rooftops and walls, making them far more mobile and flexible. This was the very reason it was possible to fish in these troubled waters.
WHOOSH!
The howling night wind carried the thick, sickeningly sweet stench of blood. Fang Rui stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his robes whipping in the wind, as he gazed down from his high vantage point.
He saw:
The Lin Family estate, with its maze of pavilions, towers, and overlapping corridors and courtyards, had fractured the battlefield into countless smaller skirmishes.
Taiping Army soldiers were slaughtering Lin Family retainers and thugs; the Lin Family’s martial guards were battling Martial Artists from the Taiping Army and the Xia Family; unaffiliated Martial Artists and Taiping Army soldiers were fighting each other as they scrambled for loot...
It was total chaos.
’A step late, but not too late! Soldiers fight soldiers, and generals fight generals... so where is the clash of kings?’
The thought had just crossed Fang Rui’s mind.
BOOM!
A huge crash suddenly erupted from the center of the Lin Family estate, around the main hall. Three figures burst through the roof like cannonballs, sending a shower of tiles, stone, and wood fragments raining down.
’What is this?!’
Watching from a distance, Fang Rui saw the shockwave from their exchange—from a distance of two or three feet—obliterate the corner of a nearby roof in a blast of invisible force.
’Dark Force can only project three inches from the body, and it’s nowhere near that powerful... Therefore, these three must be Fourth Grade Martial Artists!’
’That old man with the graying hair must be the Xia Family’s old patriarch. The lion-like, middle-aged man has to be the Lin Family Patriarch, Lin Xiong. The other one, teaming up with the Xia patriarch to attack Lin Xiong, is probably the Rebel Army’s Fourth Grade Martial Artist... Li Xuantong?! But didn’t he leave?’
He dismissed the thought as soon as it arose. ’No! That’s not Li Xuantong!’
’I’ve heard that Li Xuantong is eight feet tall and brawny. Even if that’s an exaggeration, the truth shouldn’t be far off. But that Fourth Grade Martial Artist from the Rebel Army, while not short, has a lean build. He’s got nothing to do with the words ’tall and mighty’!’
Besides, rumor has it that Li Xuantong possesses Innate Divine Power and is unrivaled by anyone in the same realm. If that were really Li Xuantong, why would he need to team up with the Xia Family’s old patriarch just to deal with Lin Xiong?
A new theory formed in Fang Rui’s mind: ’This Fourth Grade Martial Artist is probably a recent breakthrough from within the Rebel Army!’
’It makes sense. After the Rebel Army conquered the county town, they ransacked the great families and seized countless resources. If there was a Martial Artist at the peak of the Fifth Grade, it’s not out of the question that they could use those resources to achieve a breakthrough...’
But Fang Rui still felt that something wasn’t quite right. ’Is the Fourth Grade Realm really that easy to break into?!’
’Besides, Li Xuantong and his men don’t give me the impression of a mere Refugee Army at all!’
’It’s a well-known fact that peasant rebellions have inherent limitations. Take the Yellow Turban Army or the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, for example. In the beginning, they had few military strategists and were prone to making foolish moves. Their success depended entirely on their opponents being even more rotten than they were.’
’But Li Xuantong, on the other hand—’
’He has wisdom: he subdued the bandits of Changshan and twice annihilated the Official Army sent after them. After conquering Changshan County Town, he launched a swift, overnight raid on another county...’
’He has ruthlessness: he slaughtered all the refugees remaining after the siege to eliminate any unstable elements, and he never goes easy on the great families...’
’You could, perhaps, explain all that away by calling him a ruthless warlord.’
’But what about his governance?’
’After the Taiping Bandits entered the city, they confiscated wealth from the great families, redistributed land and grain, and held trials to right past wrongs... and they did it all with remarkable flair and efficiency.’
’It’s only been a few days, yet his decrees are being implemented and the region is already stable. This shows there is someone of immense talent in their ranks!’
’Someone of such talent shouldn’t have appeared in the Rebel Army at this stage. Or rather, they’ve shown up far too early,’ Fang Rui thought with a frown.
’In times of chaos, when the world is turned upside down and both heroes and villains emerge, it’s true that the great Noble Families and renowned scholars will place their bets on rising powers.’
’But that’s only after a faction has shown some potential—at the very least, they’d need to occupy an entire prefecture before that becomes a possibility.’
’And yet, how far has Li Xuantong’s group really come?’
’Of course, you could try to force an explanation for this great talent among the Taiping Bandits: a down-on-his-luck scholar from a poor family, discovered by chance, a stroke of good fortune... It’s not an impossible story, but it feels a bit too contrived.’
In short, Fang Rui felt that this Rebel Army was shrouded in deep mystery.