Ruffian 017

His expression was frantic: "Do you know? I don't understand why you could pass the imperial examination and befriend so many high-ranking officials. Later, I understood. You have money, you are good-looking, and you have a silver tongue."

"Later, I joined the army. The military was so bitter, but the Great General said my facial features were suited for leading troops in battle—after all, I can scare people, right? I once had extravagant hopes. When I heard people talk about your deeds, my heart was filled with admiration. I thought I could also achieve something great. But what was the result?" He laughed self-deprecatingly and pointed at the corpses on the ground. "I said it back then: if I can't test my way in, I'll fight my way in! Today, I have done it!"

"It's a pity, Brother Fang, you... what are you doing?" Huang Chao's expression was somewhat puzzled.

Fang Zhiyi picked up two bronze candlesticks. They were somewhat heavy.

"You keep going, I'm just testing the weight."

Huang Chao frowned: "You..."

Fang Zhiyi suddenly smashed one of the candlesticks forward. Huang Chao didn't react in time and was hit squarely. A dull pain spread from his chest.

"I gave you a path to take, truly. If you had taken the other path, you would have also left your name in history."

Two soldiers raised their blades and stepped forward to fight, but they were smashed to the ground by Fang Zhiyi in two strikes.

Huang Chao clutched his chest, his face becoming even more hideous: "Fang Zhiyi! Do you... do you think you can still get out of here alive?"

Fang Zhiyi didn't answer him. He simply approached with the two candlesticks: "Do you know why very few people in the martial world use weapons like hammers? Because there are few techniques, they are inconvenient to carry, and more importantly, they don't look cool... But when facing fully armored soldiers, blunt weapons are the best."

"You, don't come over!" Huang Chao panicked a little. He felt things were deviating from his expectations. "The Western Shu Dynasty is finished! Those ministers, that Emperor, they are all finished! Do you think killing me will do any good?"

Fang Zhiyi suddenly stopped walking and glanced at the shivering little boy. The boy understood his gaze and, stepping over the blood on the ground, hid behind his back.

Just then, Huang Chao suddenly shouted: "Men! Kill this running dog!!!"

His voice was very loud. The dozen or so soldiers outside dividing the spoils all looked over, then picked up their weapons and ran toward the main hall. Seeing the blurry figures, Huang Chao couldn't help but laugh triumphantly again: "Fang Zhiyi, it's a pity. We should have been good friends."

There was a hint of mockery in Fang Zhiyi's eyes: "Is that so?"

Following his question, several figures dropped down from the eaves. The dozen soldiers approaching the hall hadn't expected people to be on the roof and were caught completely off guard.

When swords and sabers were useless against the armor plates, they stabbed the eyes. Some even relied on brute martial strength to snap the soldiers' necks.

Huang Chao's eyes widened: "These people..." They were dressed in a motley assortment of clothes, but Huang Chao could still recognize them—they were martial artists of the Jianghu!

"You!" Huang Chao's mind was in complete chaos.

Fang Zhiyi narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Brother Huang, no matter what group it is, there will always be those who hold righteousness in their hearts, and those who want to change the status quo. You didn't really think I established the Heaven-Shrouding Guard just to control the martial world, did you?"

More people continued to leap down from the roof. With a clear division of labor, a dozen of them reached the doorway in the blink of an eye and pushed together to close the heavy doors of the inner courtyard.

Huang Chao staggered to his feet: "So what? My army will charge in any second. You forgot, these grass-roots martial artists are no match for an army. You're just dying a little slower!!"

As he spoke, the outer courtyard doors began to be rammed. The soldiers patrolling outside had noticed something was wrong, and the leading lieutenant was directing his men to bash the doors open.

"Hahahahaha!"

Fang Zhiyi clicked his tongue: "Sigh..."

This sigh was extremely mocking, and Huang Chao inexplicably felt his heart tighten.

"You..."

Sky-shattering shouts of battle rang out. He looked in confusion toward the gates. The martial artists using their bodies to block the doors were still pressing against them desperately, but the doors were not rammed again. After a burst of noise, a faint voice came through. It was one person shouting, and then it became a group of people shouting.

"The Great General Wang Shi'an has executed the rebels! Please open the palace gates!!!"

Huang Chao froze completely.

At this moment, a chain of events suddenly flashed through his mind: from the very beginning when Fang Zhiyi introduced him to seek refuge with Wang Shi'an, to Wang Shi'an sending him to exterminate the demonic cult, and then this escort mission...

He wasn't a fool; a fool couldn't have scored so well in the imperial exams.

"Fang Zhiyi! You set me up!!"

Fang Zhiyi shook his head: "I didn't set you up. I warned you."

In the original storyline, after Fang Zhiyi was killed by Jiang Gucheng, the court was in turmoil. A scholar raised the banner of rebellion, and the decaying Western Shu was quickly overrun by the rebel army. The rebels' slogan was equality for all, but wherever they went, there was a reign of terror. They wantonly robbed and killed the commoners. When they breached the capital, the emperor fled with his officials, and the citizens of the capital became the targets of their vented anger.

Although the rebellion was eventually quelled, the entire Western Shu was left tottering, local martial warlords acted even more recklessly, and the commoners suffered unspeakably.

When Huang Chao set out with his army, Wang Shi'an had already mobilized his troops according to his agreement with Fang Zhiyi.

Fang Zhiyi raised the candlestick in his hand. Huang Chao opened his mouth wide to say something, but he never spoke again.

Wang Shi'an strode into the Golden Throne Room. Looking at the scene before him, his expression was solemn.

He met Fang Zhiyi's gaze, and Fang Zhiyi turned slightly sideways, revealing the child behind him.

Wang Shi'an breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing Wang Shi'an, the child's tears fell uncontrollably: "Grandfather!!!"

Wang Shi'an only paused for a moment before dropping to one knee: "Wang Shi'an, Great General of Western Shu, pays his respects to the Emperor!"

The soldiers behind him also dropped to one knee.

The little boy stood frozen in place, somewhat bewildered.

Fang Zhiyi glanced at him. It was finally all settled. He had laid the groundwork for this scheme for far too long.

Wang Shi'an was different from those people. He was an old minister of the late emperor and had never been satisfied with the situation in Western Shu. But as a subject, he could not disobey the emperor—until that young man calmly proposed the idea of changing the emperor.

He was furious at the time, but faced with the young man's sharp questioning, he hesitated.

Wang Shi'an's mind was full of Fang Zhiyi's schemes. Logically, he should have arrested the man on the spot and sent him to the Ministry of Justice, but Fang Zhiyi's words kept echoing in his ears: "Are we just angry, feeling powerless, and so we do nothing? Even the censors dare to speak out, yet the general can only complain at home under the influence of alcohol. How pathetic."

"I, Wang Shi'an, come from generations of loyal subjects. I will absolutely never commit treason!" That was his bottom line.

The young man smiled: "There is no need for the old general to commit treason. You are still a loyal subject, absolutely." He walked into the courtyard. "I heard that the old general has a daughter who was taken into the emperor's harem, and has now given birth to a little prince. Fang Zhiyi must also congratulate the general on becoming a grandfather."