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Three days later, inside Xuzhou City, on the bustling streets packed with carriages and horses.

Fu Junjuan walked ahead, dispirited and in a daze, followed by an equally disheartened Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling.

Although three days had passed and Security Hall had undergone multiple clean-up procedures including washing, burning, and disinfecting, the three still felt a thick, lingering stench of blood in the air that seemed impossible to dispel.

The scenes from three days before were seared into their memories, vivid whenever they closed their eyes.

“I’ve made up my mind!”

Suddenly, Kou Zhong stopped in his tracks, clenched his fists, and declared, “I’m going back to ask to become a disciple!”

“Become a disciple?”

Xu Ziling was surprised, looking at him incredulously, “Become a disciple of whom?”

“Of none other than Doctor Xu, no, Master Qingyang!”

Kou Zhong’s fists tightened, his eyes full of longing, “To wield power that can turn the skies and overturn the seas, effortlessly slapping that dog-thief Yuwen Huaji into a dead fly mid-conversation, a man should aspire to such greatness. I must become his disciple, master the same martial arts as him, awe the world, and traverse the Martial World…”

“What nonsense are you spouting? I’ve told you to stop listening to those wild tales!”

Watching an excited Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling was at a loss for words, “Even if you ask to become a disciple, would he just accept you?”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

Kou Zhong turned back, serious, “I’ve already made inquiries. Master Qingyang has always accepted numerous disciples. Most of the disciples in Security Hall are from poor families or orphans, just like us. If Master Qingyang could accept them, naturally, he could accept us too. Xiaoling, let’s go together, shall we?”

“This…”

Hearing this, Xu Ziling hesitated.

Fortunately, Fu Junjuan snapped back to her senses in time, “That won’t do!”

“That wan’t do?”

Kou Zhong, confused, looked at her, “Why not, mother?”

“This…”

Fu Junjuan’s expression was one of hesitation, but finally she said, “This man is unfathomable, with terrifying schemes and stratagems, an extremely frightening and dangerous existence. You must never get entangled with him.”

“Really?”

Kou Zhong cocked his head, “But I think Master Qingyang is a good person. Look, he healed your wound, mother, squashed Yuwen Huaji, that dog-thief, and even gave us the Longevity Jue manual. He’s practically the number one good Samaritan in the world.”

“You don’t understand!”

Fu Junjuan wanted to explain, but didn’t know where to start, only able to say, “Just listen to your mother, do not get involved with this man. He’s very dangerous, extremely dangerous!”

“This…”

Kou Zhong was somewhat hesitant.

“Alright, what mother says goes, so that’s what we’ll do.”

Seeing Fu Junjuan so serious, Xu Ziling sided with her, advising Kou Zhong, “Mother wouldn’t harm us. Besides, since Doctor Xu allowed us to leave, it means he has no intention of taking us as disciples. Going back now would be pointless. Why not practice the Longevity Jue well with mother?”

“This… alright then.”

Upon hearing this, Kou Zhong didn’t insist any further, though he was a bit disappointed.

Meanwhile, at Xuzhou’s government office, in the dungeons.

Yuwen Huaji, dressed in prisoner’s garb and with a pale, anxious face, looked uncertainly at the person before him.

“Well, have you thought it through?”

Xu Yang sat before him, smiling lightly, “A book for a life, it’s a bargain.”

Yuwen Huaji fell silent for a while, but finally said, “The secret manual is originally in the sect leader’s hands; I can only copy one for you.”

“That’ll do!”

Xu Yang nodded, “One book for one life. Plus, Yuwen Chengdu, Yuwen Wudi,

Yuwen Shiji, Yuwen Zhiji, and the host of masters and trusted aides from your Yuwen Sect are all available for trade.”

Yuwen Huaji sank into silence again. After a long while, he said, “I don’t have that many!”

A book for a life seems simple enough, but how many martial arts techniques that can reach the level of “Condensing Spirit and Unifying Dao” like the Ice Mysterious Power are there in the world?

Even though Yuwen Huaji was the second in command of the Yuwen Sect and had the authority to access the sect’s treasury and royal storehouses, and had accumulated quite a hoard from his dominion in the Martial World over the years, he still found it difficult to redeem all the Yuwen Sect’s masters, including Yuwen Chengdu.

Now, he understood why Xu Yang had shown mercy three days ago. He had spared his life and captured the Yuwen Sect’s masters without killing them. It turned out to be a ploy for ransom, a hostage extortion.

If possible, he really didn’t want to play right into Xu Yang’s hands.

But that possibility did not hold true. Including himself, the four top masters of the Yuwen Sect, along with their chief strategist Yuwen Zhiji and their retainers, personal guards, and friends, had all fallen into this trap in Xuzhou.

Although the Yuwen Sect had great strengths and vast interests, they could not withstand such losses, so they had to pay the ransom no matter what.

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What to do?

Yuwen Huaji found himself in a dilemma.

After a moment, he tentatively said, “Could gold, silver, grain, and fodder suffice?” Xu Yang smiled and said, “They could!”

“How much?”

“For each of the four great experts of the Yuwen Sect, a martial arts secret manual equivalent to the Ice Mysterious Power is required. For the others, gold, silver, grain, and fodder will suffice—Gang Qi practitioners ten thousand taels, True Qi practitioners five thousand, Inner Strength and trusted aides…”

Facing the terms set by Xu Yang, Yuwen Huaji fell silent for a while but eventually nodded and said, “As Mister suggests, I will personally write a letter to the Yuwen Sect. The required items can be arranged to arrive shortly. I hope Mister will keep his promise.”

Xu Yang smiled, said nothing more, had someone bring in the Four Treasures of the Study, and then stood up and left the prison…

As always, killing is only a means, not the end.

Yuwen Huaji bore no deep grudge against him and there was no reason he had to be killed.

On the contrary, a living Yuwen Huaji could bring him even more benefits, more advantages.

These ransoms were just one of them.

Moreover, he needed Yuwen Huaji to be alive, to return to Yang Guang’s side to fulfill his historical mission by stirring up chaos in the world, initiating the struggle for the dragon throne.

For this reason, he had half-sold, half-given the surviving experts and the private troops of the Yuwen Sect back to him.

As for whether this would be releasing a tiger back to its mountain?

No matter the Yuwen Huaji in history or in the novels, none ended with a good fate. They didn’t even require Xu Yang’s attention as others would take care of him thoroughly.

So, what tiger to release, what mountain to return to?

Unless after he returned, he immediately mobilized all forces of the Yuwen Sect and persuaded Yang Guang to dispatch troops to Xuzhou, betting the very last of the Great Sui Dynasty’s national fortune—only then could he pose a certain threat.

But would he do such a thing?

Clearly not!

Such action would bring him no benefits. As a person in power, rational cold-bloodedness was an essential trait; he would only be driven by interests, not personal grudges, love, hate, or emotions.

He wouldn’t take such a huge risk to gamble against Xu Yang with all his wealth, even if he might win but at the cost of great damage to his vital energy.

Therefore, after returning, not only would he not seek trouble with Xu Yang, but he would also retract the power of the Yuwen Sect to avoid further conflicts with Xu Yang, trying his best to preserve his own strength to stand firm in this tumultuous world.

Xu Yang believed that Yuwen Huaji was smart enough to understand this. Even if he wasn’t, others in the Yuwen Sect would ensure that he did.

If there were any risks, it would be exposing some of his secrets, such as having replaced the major families in Xuzhou with substitutes, secretly forging iron armor for the Martial Guardians, and bringing Xuzhou under his control.

This news, once out, would certainly make all the families in the world feel threatened, seeing him as their greatest enemy, and may even band together to attack him swiftly, to rid themselves of him quickly.

After all, such actions were too shocking, too extreme, and touched upon the bottom line of the major families.

But Xu Yang had no choice but to do so because this world was different from the Great Zhou.

In the Great Zhou’s timeline, after the Sui and Tang dynasties during the Song and Yuan periods, a series of twists and turns had greatly weakened the power of major families. The segregation of the Martial World and the court was the best proof of this.

However, this world was different. History was in the Sui and Tang period, and after four hundred years during the Eastern and Western Han dynasties, the major families had thoroughly taken root. Following the Three Kingdoms, Wei, and Jin dynasties, the usurpation of power by the Sima Family and the implementation of the nine grades of rank in regimes allowed the families to reach their zenith.

Even the subsequent chaos caused by the Five Barbarians did not affect this, but rather it further strengthened the major families, leading to today’s four major cliques, the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes, the eight major families, the Guanlong elite—each a behemoth with a heritage of hundreds or nearly a thousand years.

It’s clear how powerful the families were. The Great Sui fell after only two generations, and besides the supreme reason of Yang Guang, the creation of the imperial examination system, which was resisted by the major families, was also an important factor.

Therefore, in this world, Xu Yang couldn’t operate as he did in the Great Zhou world during the Hundred Broken Mountains period, through profit-sharing, mutually beneficial cooperation, and persuading the major families to accommodate him.

Because these bastards had been lording over for too long and had become a group of voracious wolves and tigers, wanting to swallow all benefits and unwilling to share with Xu Yang, even if the share was 70-30, 80-20, or even 90-10.

And Xu Yang did not have absolute martial power to challenge the experts of various schools and suppress the Martial World as he did in the Great Zhou, forcing all forces to accept his presence.

Hence, regrettably, he had to utilize some extreme measures, changing the bloodline of Xuzhou’s major families, replacing the people or items, and manipulating them in secret.

This matter, once leaked, would surely make him the enemy of the entire world.

But it didn’t matter anymore. By now, he had already grown powerful, the momentum was on his side, and he was at the turning point of an era when the world was in chaos. Even if all the families in the world were against him, they wouldn’t be able to shake his foundation. At most, he would have more enemies, but for him, the difference was negligible. It was just a matter of using their own means.

As for blocking the news…

There’s no wall in the world that doesn’t leak any wind. Even if he silenced Yuwen Huaji and the others, the anomalies during the battle at Xuzhou would still raise suspicions. A slight investigation and analysis could lead to the same conclusion; there was no point.

Therefore, Xu Yang chose the most cost-effective strategy—ransom for release, exchange captives for money!