Chapter One: Troubled Times
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In the third year of Longtai under the Da Yong dynasty, several northern provinces suffered a severe drought, sparking widespread uprisings among the populace.
Alarmed, the Emperor dispatched Wang Lunye, the Grand Pillar of the State, with an army of one hundred thousand to quell the rebellion and suppress bandits. After the bandits were crushed, Wang Lunye rejected the thirteen golden edicts sent by the Longtai Emperor, executed the imperial envoy, and seized the northern four provinces and twenty-seven counties of Da Yong, declaring himself king and founding a new nation called "Qing."
Furious, the Emperor appointed Shi Kai, the Grand Marshal of the Five Armies, as commander and sent two hundred and fifty thousand troops to suppress King Qing, Wang Lunye. Yet, once Shi Kai’s forces departed the capital, they mutinied, marched south along the river, and occupied three provinces and eighteen counties in Jiangnan, founding the nation of "Jing" and proclaiming himself king.
The Emperor died.
Upon the ascension of the new Emperor, the era was renamed "Grand Unification." The ruler was young, the nation imperiled. External warlords and princes held territories, while internal ministers and eunuchs schemed, casting the realm into peril.
Thus, the empire fractured as heroes and lords rose everywhere—some ruling a county as king, others founding nations by seizing a district. Amidst the chaos, monsters and demons emerged, plunging the world into turmoil.
In the blink of an eye, it was already the third year of Grand Unification.
...
Da Yong, Cai Prefecture, Yangyuan County.
Crack!
Dust billowed, and gray-black smoke obscured the sky.
Whips lashed, and well-dressed youths galloped their horses down the streets. Hooves struck the ground, sending clouds of dust swirling.
"Hyah! Hyah! Hyah!"
The youths shouted with abandon, each holding a rope. At the other end, a person was dragged along.
"Hahaha..."
As the horses raced, the bodies tied to the ropes left wet, bloody streaks along the ground. Their eyes rolled white, lips quivered yet no sound escaped.
They were barely breathing, unlikely to survive much longer.
Vendors and passersby on both sides of the street watched the horsemen and their dragged victims with numb indifference. Only after the youths had ridden off did people return to the street, their tattered shoes stepping over dried blood, their expressions unchanged.
"Ah..."
Li Ju, clad in a worn coarse cloth, stood beneath an eave holding a large winnowing basket, sighing as he watched the scene unfold.
"Boss, I’ll take a fish—the one on the far left."
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"All right!"
Hearing a customer, Li Ju quickly set down his basket and picked out a fish from his stall.
His stall was exceedingly simple: just a mat of straw pressed flat on the ground, with several black fish laid atop.
Weighing the fish by hand, Li Ju said to the buyer, "About three pounds. Three coins per pound, so nine coins total."
He had no scale, relying on years of selling fish to judge the weight by feel. After three years, he'd honed the skill well enough.
"Wrap it up."
The buyer nodded, a regular who trusted Li Ju not to cheat.
Li Ju drew a lotus leaf from beside the stall and deftly wrapped the fish with leaf and grass twine.
Money and goods exchanged hands, the transaction complete.
A few hours passed; the sun sloped westward, and only one fish remained at the stall. Li Ju packed up, wrapped the fish in the straw mat, tied it with grass rope, and slung it over his shoulder. Glancing at the low houses around and the county office at the town center, he shook his head and sighed again.
He had been in this world for three years. Only after arriving here did he truly understand what it meant for lives to be as worthless as grass in times of chaos.
Here, those in power held absolute sway over life and death. The victims dragged through the streets today were not criminals, merely ordinary folk who had the misfortune of being caught by the scions of wealthy county families while out shopping, doomed to be dragged to their deaths.
Every day, those privileged sons would randomly select people to torment: dragging them behind horses, executing them publicly, or tying them atop tall poles to feed the vultures.
There was no law here. Or rather, there once was, but it no longer existed. In Yangyuan County, the magistrate and wealthy families were gods; commoners were cattle and sheep, to be slaughtered at will.
Li Ju made his way home, passing various streets and dwellings.
His home was in the southernmost corner of Yangyuan County’s Hut Street—the most remote area, inhabited only by the lowest class of people.
The houses and streets in Hut Street matched its name: all were huts, the street named for the multitude of huts that filled it.
Greeting familiar faces along the way, Li Ju turned several corners and entered the alley where his home stood.
"Hmm?"
Li Ju paused at the alley’s entrance, frowning at two burly men standing by his door, dressed like the retainers of a wealthy family.
He hurried toward his home.
"Old Li the carpenter, I’ll come again the day after tomorrow. Make sure everything is ready!"
Though he was still some distance from his house, Li Ju heard a voice from within.
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"Hmph."
A thin man, clad in a white robe utterly out of place on Hut Street and bearing an arrogant expression, walked out from Li Ju’s home. He glanced dismissively at Li Ju, then left with the two retainers.
"That’s a steward from the Zhao family," Li Ju recognized the man. He had seen him before when selling fish to the Zhao family—a figure he could only look up to in his current circumstances.
"Why would someone like that come to my house..."
Recalling rumors he'd heard, Li Ju felt a sudden anxiety, striding quickly into his home.
As soon as he entered, he heard the faint sound of a woman’s sobs.
Li Ju’s father in this life, Old Li the carpenter, sat silently on a battered wooden stool, puffing on dry tobacco, his face grim.
Li Ju’s younger sister in this life squatted in a corner, face buried in her hands, weeping bitterly.
"Father, why did the Zhao family’s steward come to our house?"
"And why is my sister crying?"
Li Ju took a deep breath and asked Old Li.
"Oh, it’s you, eldest," Old Li looked up at Li Ju, usually calling him "eldest" and his sister "second daughter."
"Brother!"
Hearing Li Ju’s voice, his sister Li Yan raised her tear-streaked face and threw herself into his arms.
"Ah, I should never have taken second daughter to the Zhao family!" Old Li slapped his thigh, looking troubled.
"Father, what happened exactly?" Li Ju was still confused about what had transpired at home, but judging by the current situation, it could not be anything good.
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