Chapter 440: The Fall and Annihilation of the Nation

His voice was incredibly loud; just then, a gust of wind blew past, and his words carried downwind for nearly half a *li*.

All the teams in front of the checkpoint heard it and looked over in unison.

Checkpoints often led to disputes, and it wasn't unusual for arguments to occasionally break out in such places, but such a large-scale commotion was rare.

Which official was being greedy again?

He Lingchuan stopped his team from unloading the goods, a decision also motivated by safety. With hundreds of eyes fixed on them, it wouldn't be easy for the constables to plant contraband or tamper with the goods as they had before.

He noticed several soldiers whose eyes darted around, always trying to position themselves to block the vehicles. But frustrated by the team members' glares as they followed closely, they couldn't find an opportunity.

Zhongsui Mou naturally didn't miss it. He sized up He Lingchuan. "Who do you think you are?"

"Just a commoner." He Lingchuan shrugged. "One who acts uprightly and doesn't rely on framing others to gain rank and promotion."

The Inspector's duty was to oversee officials and enforce discipline. Yet this scoundrel immediately tried to frame them, showing that his usual methods for meeting performance targets weren't exactly honorable.

Zhongsui Mou's gaze deepened. "Are you defiant?"

"Of course I comply." He Lingchuan bared his teeth in a smile, meeting his gaze. "This is Lingxu City territory; of course we must comply."

"Good that you're sensible." Zhongsui Mou seemed to ignore his sarcasm, taking a few steps forward, his tone light and mocking. "Otherwise, according to Lingxu City law, defaming a high official of the royal court means having one's tongue cut out. You'd have to at least sever that troublesome tongue before you could pass through this checkpoint."

Just then, a soldier suddenly yelled, "Here's more! Found it!"

What was it?

Everyone looked over, seeing the soldier holding up a bottle containing several crystals.

"Ancient Rock Heart fragments!"

The caravan members could no longer hold back and cursed aloud.

The bottle was only palm-sized. Clearly, this fellow couldn't place it in the larger goods under everyone's watchful eyes, so he could only secretly slip in a small bottle to complete his task.

"Ancient Rock Heart!" Zhongsui Mou paid no heed to their complaints. He beckoned a junior official, "How is this accounted for?"

"Smuggling six pieces of Ancient Rock Heart, uh, that's a tenfold fine... five hundred *liang*!"

The crowd was in an uproar.

Again, it was planting evidence, and the maximum penalty!

The junior official helpfully added, "If two or three more such items are found, it constitutes malicious smuggling, increasing the charge and allowing for detention."

Fu Shanyue suddenly said, "Your behavior is so ugly. Doesn't anyone in Lingxu City usually report you?"

He looked toward the back of the checkpoint. "Where are the gatekeepers who originally guarded this pass? Why aren't they out here? Instead, they've replaced them with you acting as a lackey?"

He had passed through this checkpoint more than ten times. If the usual gatekeepers dared to act so recklessly like Zhongsui Mou, there's no telling how much trouble would have erupted.

"What's it to you?" Zhongsui Mou said idly. "This is your last chance. Plead for them properly, or else..."

Steward Shi was too weary to struggle further. He went to gather money from his managers and subordinates.

Having just paid three thousand *liang*, his pockets were empty.

Fu Shanyue's face darkened. He suddenly strode towards Zhongsui Mou.

The guards behind Zhongsui Mou immediately stepped forward to block him, but were waved back by their master.

Fu Shanyue was heard to say in a low voice, "I hear that in three months, the Zhongsui family is hosting a grand event at the Xileng Grass Sea, and quite a few noble families will be attending. You should be careful; the Grass Sea hasn't been very peaceful lately."

Zhongsui Mou's expression subtly changed. "You dare?"

Fu Shanyue said darkly, "In these times, some bandits and fierce demons simply cannot be suppressed. What can you do about it?"

Zhongsui Mou snorted, but he no longer seemed as smug as before.

After a few moments of hesitation, he finally waved his hand at the constables, signaling to let them go.

He was the highest-ranking officer present. With his nod, his subordinates naturally had no objections.

So the team members picked up the goods, reloaded them onto the carts, and rejoined the queue.

Half an hour later, they finally passed through the checkpoint and stepped onto the territory of Chiyan Kingdom.

Both the Shimen Caravan and Fu Shanyue's guards collectively let out a long sigh of relief.

They finally passed!

The head constable also turned and led his team away.

He didn't forget to take the lowly slave with him. After walking a dozen *zhang*, he slapped the slave hard on the head, grinding his teeth, "Look what you've done!"

The lowly slave was so scared his teeth chattered. He stammered incoherently, "I, I, I don't know what happened, it was clearly on their cart..."

The constable kicked him in the backside, almost knocking him over. "You just wait until we get back to the office!"

No one cared what would happen to the lowly slave. This group of constables had lost face in public; they would surely vent all their anger on that unlucky fellow when they returned.

Fu Shanyue also sneered.

Zhongsui Mou thought the lowly slave was a good card to play, a way to make trouble for him. But Xiao Taozi wasn't in this group at all. Seeing his plan fail, Zhongsui Mou then activated his backup plan, temporarily planting evidence on him again.

This was a clear indication he insisted on antagonizing him.

He turned around and saw He Lingchuan gazing at the retreating figures. "What's wrong?"

He Lingchuan sighed with emotion. "What a figure King Yuan was back then, and the people of Yuan Kingdom were truly unyielding. Who would have thought that barely a century later, their descendants would turn out like this?"

The lowly slave's words and actions made him more deeply feel the misfortune borne by this land.

One person's conduct was a microcosm of a whole group.

Fu Shanyue said indifferently, "Anyone with a bit of spirit was killed off back then; what remains now are only cowards. You can trample on them however you like. The only thing they can't do is walk with their backs straight."

He Lingchuan recalled King Yuan's resolute words before his death:

"I would rather my children die with clear minds than live as cowards."

On the eve of Yuan Kingdom's demise, its rulers and ministers upheld righteousness, facing death with laughter. Their voices and smiles seemed to still echo.

In contrast, now, the descendants of Yuan Kingdom had long had their spines broken and their spirit drained, living like maggots on the ground, daring only to vent their resentment on their weaker and more innocent compatriots.

They and their ancestors were like two completely different species.

Who could have imagined these were the same people from the same land?

Only a little over a hundred years had passed.

He Lingchuan could almost feel Lingxu City's booming, mocking laughter echoing beneath this sky:

"This is the consequence of opposing Beijia and the gods. If you dare to defy the gods and cause trouble for Beijia, I will destroy your nation, extinguish your lineage, and humiliate your descendants! Let your descendants be scorned, ridiculed, and spat upon for generations to come. Let your descendants wish they had never had such an endlessly disastrous ancestry!"

What was even more terrifying, if Beijia could be so cruel and vicious to its own people, would it show any restraint or pity towards other nations and people?

Thinking of this, He Lingchuan couldn't help but touch the divine bone necklace hidden beneath his collar, a chill spreading down his spine.

What kind of behemoth would he face in the future?

What kind of insane, deranged people were they?

How should he contend with it?

Zhongsui Mou was still standing behind the checkpoint, his gaze darkly fixed on them.

Fu Shanyue raised his middle finger at him.

This was a gesture he had learned from He Lingchuan just days ago, said to express disdain, contempt, and malice all at once.

Now that he had entered Chiyan Kingdom — his own territory — he wasn't afraid of that guy anymore! Even if he were to let Xiao Taozi escape and run around on the spot, people from Lingxu City couldn't directly cross the border to pursue him.

He Lingchuan also glanced back at the checkpoint. "Are you just letting it go?"

Based on his understanding of Fu Shanyue, this fellow was the type who relentlessly pursued. Otherwise, he and Fu Shanyue wouldn't have become enemies in the first place.

"How could I?" Fu Shanyue scoffed at the idea. "I'll sneak back in a few days and get 'intimate' with them!"

That's more like it, that's Fu Shanyue's style.

Fu Shanyue also told He Lingchuan, "I'll definitely get revenge for you, don't worry!"

He Lingchuan was indifferent. "I'm only concerned about the three thousand *liang*. When will you pay?"

"When I get home!" Fu Shanyue said helplessly. He had given his last copper coin to this fellow in front of him; he truly had nothing left. "You'll have as much money as you need!"

He looked at the checkpoint again and said resentfully, "That Zhongsui Mou is like a mad dog; once he bites you, he won't let go. Unless you kick him to death, he'll always come back to annoy you."

Why frame them so openly? Why use a glass jar to plant evidence? Wasn't it all just to spite him, Fu Shanyue?

He Lingchuan rolled his eyes. Was this guy talking about Zhongsui Mou, or himself?

"I thought high-ranking officials in Lingxu City would be more sophisticated when framing people."

He thought it would be a battle of wits, with both sides engaging in verbal sparring, fighting hundreds of rounds without revealing a flicker of emotion.

However, reality was almost like the opponent kicking over a bench and coming at them with a cleaver for a direct fight.

Fu Shanyue chuckled aloud. "You don't understand Lingxu City, nor do you understand these demon officials."

"Indeed, I don't." He Lingchuan said humbly.

"Monsters and humans, their natures are always different," Fu Shanyue said meaningfully.

Are demon officials brutish, and human officials cunning? He Lingchuan found it amusing. "So, are you human or demon?"

Fu Shanyue calmly replied, "Strictly speaking, *ba* are also human."

Fair enough. He Lingchuan lightly coughed. "By the way, what kind of demon is this Inspector?"

"You don't know?" Fu Shanyue was surprised. "Haven't you seen a *Jiaoren*?"

"So that's a *Jiaoren*?" He Lingchuan scratched his head. "I thought they all lived by the water." The tales of the supernatural he had read in Panlong City, of course, described *Jiaoren*, but always portrayed them as inhabiting shallow waters.

The nearest big river was ten *li* away, and Zhongsui Mou had traveled all the way from Lingxu City, detouring through Twilight Plains. He didn't seem to be lacking water.

"Oh, *Jiaoren* do indeed require water," Fu Shanyue filled him in on Beijia common knowledge. "But they wear water-gathering formation plates on their bodies. These allow them to absorb moisture from the air to sustain themselves, so being away from bodies of water for half a month is no problem for them."

"Lingxu City, half mountain and half sea, is very vast, with quite a few aquatic races living there."

"Are all *Jiaoren* so petty, or is your animosity towards him simply too strong?"

"He's just an exceptional case." Fu Shanyue, of course, had nothing good to say about Zhongsui Mou.

Since he had offered to cover the cost, this incident was considered closed, and even Steward Shi didn't mention it anymore.

Only the members of the Shimen Caravan continued to grumble and curse all the way.

In this way, the team continued until they reached the second small town before resting.