119: Chapter 113: Wang Ye Enters Jiangnan!

119: Chapter 113: Wang Ye Enters Jiangnan!

The experiment proceeded quite perfectly, and Duke of Qin’s proposal was validated.

Wang Ye, now in a puppet’s body, can indeed enter and exit the Array!

This breakthrough sparked a glimmer of hope in the hearts of the civil and military ministers who had been stifled for several days.

However, there was also something about it that they found deeply concerning.

With Wang Ye’s collaboration, numerous magicians conducted a seven-day test, each time fitting Wang Ye with a Heavenly Mechanism Lock designed by the Ministry of Works.

They sent him through more than a dozen entrances into the fog, and after confirming his ability to move freely in and out, they began to try having Wang Ye bring living people with him.

But the result remained the same, Wang Ye could get out, while others…

could not…

This meant that once Wang Ye was inside, no one could monitor him, and any so-called intelligence relied solely on his word!

As a result, there was considerable debate later on about sending Wang Ye in to gather intelligence, since his current state of reliability was in question.

After several hours of intense debate, Duke of Qin made the final decision, overruling the objections and personally vouched for Wang Ye, which allowed the plan to proceed.

On the tenth day after Wang Ye arrived in Jiangnan, he finally boarded a military ship with everyone’s doubts, suspicions, and a certain level of expectancy, and entered Nanming Prefecture via water route!

———————————-

“Minister Shaoting?”

On the ship, all the soldiers watched Wang Ye bring several zombies onto the ship from under the water and hurried forward to nail the zombies’ limbs down with their weapons.

Information about zombies had already been known since the early days of the experiment, and with warnings in mind, everyone was too wary to approach them, let alone consider the terrifying number beneath the water.

Unexpectedly, this official, who was born a civilian, dared to jump directly into the river, catching a few alive.

It was odd, though, that the zombies, while having a strong desire to attack living people, were not afraid to die.

However, in the face of Wang Ye, they appeared to have no interest at all.

Even when he caught their companions, the other zombies did not try to stop him.

It was truly strange.

After changing his clothes, Wang Ye approached the zombies.

Once on the ship, the zombies wailed in pain and became increasingly frenzied.

Wang Ye glanced at the sky and immediately jotted down the intelligence that zombies fear the sun.

He had basically grasped the overall situation on the river throughout the half day.

“Note…” Wang Ye instructed the military officer next to him to record, “The zombies at the bottom of the water, judging by their clothing and appearance, should come from the West Sea countries.

From this number, it’s likely that all the people in the areas covered by the dense fog have turned into these monsters!”

Hearing this, everyone shivered, wrestling with the notion that all the people had turned into monsters – could the same fate befall those who had entered?

Furthermore, if the fog were to spread…

“Sir, do we need to avoid breathing in the mist?” asked a tall general standing beside him.

Wang Ye glanced at him.

This man was named Xuu Ming, one of Duke of Qin’s deputy generals.

“We’ve been here for half a day.

If breathing in the mist could turn us into these creatures, what’s the point of covering up now?”

Everyone: “….”

“But General, there’s no need to worry too much.

Based on my probing over the last few days, these zombies are only interested in living people.

So I suspect the zombie mutation is transmitted through flesh and blood.”

“That’s good to hear, that’s good to hear!” Xuu Ming sighed in relief, wiping off sweat.

Although he was prepared to die when he came, the thought of turning into such a monster still gave him goosebumps.

Wang Ye just smiled and said nothing.

After days of testing, he had roughly figured out the motive and situation of the fog Array.

The fog was there to contain the zombies’ poison; therefore, it wouldn’t allow any living creatures to leave.

What he needed to test now was why the area was divided into several sections.

“Be careful when controlling the ship, and remember not to cross the line.

If you do, I can get out, but you can’t, and if I turn back, it’s very likely that I won’t be able to find you.”

“We understand that!” Xuu Ming grinned, saying that he had come along this time to see if what Wang Ye had said during the experiments was true.

Duke of Qin had sent him because of his strength, which was enough to handle Wang Ye!

And so, the ship wobbled into the port.

—————————————

“Sir, reinforcements have arrived!”

Inside the Government Office of Nanming Prefecture, a soldier hurriedly dismounted his horse and, stumbling and scrambling, shouted excitedly from a distance.

Upon hearing this, Governor Zhou Hanyang and others stood up excitedly, forsaking the sand table exercises and rushing out the door.

“Reinforcements?

Are you sure they’re reinforcements?” Zhou Hanyang lifted the fallen soldier and asked.

“Yes, I’m certain, it’s General Xuu Ming!”

“Xuu Ming is here?” Zhou Hanyang burst into laughter, turning to Mu Hongqing, “We have you to thank, Academic Commissioner.

Without you, these reinforcements might not have come!”

“You’re too kind, Governor,” Mu Hongqing replied with a slight smile, though his expression was serious, “It seems the content of the letter sent is true.

The one in charge of the Jiangnan incident is none other than the Duke of Qin himself.”

The atmosphere grew somewhat delicate with this remark, as everyone was aware of the actual relationship between Mu Hongqing and the Duke of Qin.

“Let’s go, take me to see them!”

Xuu Ming was also impatient to wait.

Disregarding the need to conserve his strength, he surged his blood energy and ran towards the city gate like a cheetah, while others swiftly followed.

The commotion stirred up dust clouds, causing people hiding in their houses to climb up the walls to get a look at the commotion.

“Tch, have you no sense?

Don’t you recognize General Xuu?

What are you waiting for, not opening the city gate?”

At the city gate, Zhou Hanyang berated the deputy commander in charge of defending the gate.

Seeing Zhou Hanyang and the others safe and sound, Xuu Ming breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed the situation hadn’t reached the worst-case scenario.

His greatest fear was that all of Jiangnan had become like the zombies at the bottom of the river.

“You, always throwing your weight around a deputy commander,” Xuu Ming laughed and scolded, “Aren’t they just following military regulations?”

“Heh, you and your rigid ways, always following rules.

In times of urgency, doesn’t the saying go, ‘rules are made to be broken’?

No wonder you’ve only ever been a deputy commander.”

“Serving as a deputy commander to the Duke of Qin was something you coveted badly in the past, wasn’t it?

Now you’re complaining?

Fine, I’ll tell the Duke of Qin when we get back.”

“Hey, hey, you old man…

why drag the Duke of Qin into everything…” Zhou Hanyang, feeling helpless, continued to usher people through the gates, but couldn’t help frowning at the sight of the few hundred soldiers: “Old Xuu, is this the extent of the support?”

“Dissatisfied with the number?” Xuu Ming glanced at the other party.

“Given the unclear situation, of course we can’t just rush in with a large force.

Once we clear things up on our side, naturally we will allow Duke of Qin to continue sending reinforcements.”

“Isn’t the situation clearly explained in the letter?” Zhou Hanyang frowned.

“Can a letter be trusted?” Xuu Ming glared.

“You’re truly rash.

What if someone tampered with the letter?

For such a major issue, we naturally need a living person to scout for intelligence.”

“That’s actually in line with what Academic Commissioner Mu was saying.” Zhou Hanyang looked over at Mu Hongqing and said.

Xuu Ming also looked towards Mu Hongqing and with narrowed eyes said, “It’s been a long time since we last met.”

Mu Hongqing was all seriousness as he clasped his hands in greeting, “I see General Xuu.”

“What, not calling me ‘Uncle Xuu’ anymore?”

Mu Hongqing didn’t respond, and Xuu Ming sighed, not pressing the issue further, and turned to the matter at hand, “First tell us, what exactly is the situation?”

Zhou Hanyang hurriedly recounted the recent events.

“Lord Mu’s previous speculation was correct.

As long as we don’t excessively clear out the undead, the river won’t release new undead into it, but…

we can’t just let things be!”

Upon hearing this, Xuu Ye nodded.

If left unaddressed, the undead would penetrate deeper into the interior, causing harm to the population of other districts and counties, leading to the emergence of even more undead.

“So, for the past few days, we’ve been dispatching elite squads to hold at the essential routes through several districts and counties.

Any undead horde heading toward the districts, we’d use cavalry to clear them out in the open fields, but…”

“But what?”

“But this method has proven to be less effective in the past few days.” Zhou Hanyang lowered his voice, “Observing these days, I saw that the undead are being commanded, unlike those without sense.

These commanding undead, clearly with intelligence, prevent their ranks from making pointless sacrifices.”

“In that case, why not adopt a decapitation strategy?” Xuu Ming frowned.

“The fighting power of these undead isn’t strong on an individual level, right?

With warriors and cavalry, isn’t it possible to decapitate them?”

“It’s possible, but it’s useless…” Zhou Hanyang said with an odd look, “These commanding undead keep regenerating.

Kill them today, and by tomorrow there will be new ones!”

“So that’s how it is…” a young voice interjected, “I noticed earlier that the undead were devouring each other; it seems that doing so allows them to strengthen.”

“And who might this be?”

“You’ve been on the frontier for too long to know.

This is the Minister Shaoting of the Judicial Court, Wang Ye,” Xuu Ming introduced with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hanyang glanced at Mu Hongqing, who was silent beside him.

He thought to himself: Mu Hongqing’s guess was quite accurate, the Imperial Court really did call for Wang Ye!

“But even so, shouldn’t we keep up the decapitation strategy?” Wang Ye frowned.

“Even if new ones come forth, as long as we keep killing the leaders, the internal strife among the undead would escalate, right?”

“It won’t work…” Mu Hongqing shook his head upon hearing this.

“Why not?”

“The method you’re talking about was already tried by the Shen Family in Nanyang City.

The Shen Family has several Grand Sorcerers, and their decapitation efforts are more efficient.

But according to their letters, once too many undead leaders are killed, more formidable high-level undead will emerge from the river.”

“Oh?” Wang Ye’s eyes narrowed.

“How formidable?”

“According to the intelligence from the Shen Family, they’re getting tougher and tougher.

The two monsters that appeared the other day are already close to the strength of a Second Rank Martial Husband!”

At this revelation, Xuu Ming was also taken aback.

What did this mean?

The more you kill, the stronger they get?

If they continue to kill high-level undead, would First Rank or even Super First Rank monsters emerge?

Wasn’t this a bit too bizarre?

Wang Ye, however, nodded, having a rough guess in his mind, but still unsure, and asked, “Is the intelligence from the Shen Family reliable?”

“Not sure…” Mu Hongqing shook his head.

“After all, we’re separated by mist, and we can only communicate through wooden birds.

So, we’ll need Mister Wang Ye to take a trip to Nan Ming and ascertain the facts!”

With these words, those like Zhou Hanyang turned their strange gazes to Wang Ye, obviously…

they had all heard it from Mu Hongqing before: Wang Ye…

was of wooden puppet form.

However, Wang Ye didn’t care about the others’ odd looks and smiled, “No worries, my coming here was to do just that.”

Mu Hongqing was about to speak again, but Wang Ye was quicker, “Lord Mu, may we speak in private for a moment?”

The expressions of several military generals suddenly changed, especially Xuu Ming, whose smiling face instantly fell away as he looked at the other coldly, “Lord Wang, you’ve crossed the line!”

Wang Ye, unconcerned, pulled out a Golden Token from his sleeve, “His Majesty’s Royal Edict!”

The others were stunned, their expressions shifting uncertainly, but all recognized that it was indeed a genuine Golden Token, engraved with the image of the Golden Crow by a Court Sorcerer!

After a few moments of hesitation, they eventually retreated and knelt, “We obey the Royal Edict!”

“Lord Mu, if you please?” Wang Ye said with a smile.

“Alright!” Mu Hongqing nodded, having a rough idea of the matter at hand.

The two moved to a room inside the Government Office.

Wang Ye activated the power of the Heavenly Moon Sorcery to isolate the room before starting, “Lord Mu, His Majesty is quite concerned— is the bloodline in the belly of the Thousand-Faced Fox secure?”

Mu Hongqing frowned, His Majesty actually told this matter to Wang Ye?

This shouldn’t be, as Liu Yu had been fiercely opposed from the beginning…

“There shouldn’t be any issues yet,” Mu Hongqing replied.

“After all, Mister Ziyue is personally overseeing it.”

“Mister Ziyue…” The light flickered in Wang Ye’s eyes.

The Court’s leading sorcerer and the sole inheritor of Heavenly Moon Sorcery, Dugu Ziyue!

Mu Hongqing, seeing this in Wang Ye, reacted instantly, his eyes flashing coldly, “His Majesty didn’t tell you!!”