Chapter 103: The Ambition of the Marquis of Broken Army

  Li Wenjun had the healing pellets left by Liu Zhiyun on him. These pellets might not have a significant effect if used on cultivators, but they would be divine medicine for ordinary people. It wasn't like bringing the dead back to life or turning white bones into flesh, but using them to treat the injuries of Sun's father and son as well as Qin Yue was relatively easy.

  Li Wenjun took out three pills and gave them to Sun's father and son, as well as Qin Yue. After they took the medicine, he had the yamen runners carefully carry them and place them in the county yamen's rear courtyard for rest. This was originally where the county magistrate and his family lived, but now Li Wenjun had taken it over without hesitation.

  The new county magistrate escaped without a trace, but his family was left in the back courtyard. How to deal with them made Li Wenjun very headache. Li Wenjun is not a person who kills innocent people indiscriminately, but he is also very clear about the principle that if you don't eradicate the roots when cutting grass, it will grow again with the spring breeze.

  Later, Li Wenjun came up with an idea to let the yamen runners temporarily take custody of the new county magistrate's family members and wait until Qin Yue's injuries healed before letting him handle it. He also specially told this decision to the new county magistrate's family members, which meant that he transferred all the risks that handling the new county magistrate's family members might bring to Qin Yue. In the future, if the descendants of the new county magistrate wanted revenge, they would have to find Qin Yue.

  This is not Li Wenjun's deceit, nor is it Li Wenjun's unwillingness to take risks. Since Qin Yue has chosen to hold his thigh, he cannot just enjoy the benefits and leave all the risks to him. There are no free lunches in this world.

  For the escaped new county magistrate, Li Wenjun directly ordered the yamen runners to offer a reward of 1,000 taels of white silver and conduct a manhunt throughout the entire county. Anyone who harbors or fails to report him will be treated as an accomplice.

  The yamen runners were intimidated by Li Wenrui's methods and were extremely afraid of being burned to ashes by a single fireball, so they all became unusually energetic and competed with each other to show off their skills. As a result, by nightfall, a beggar discovered the new county magistrate's trail, greedy for Li Wenrui's reward, reported it to the authorities, and soon the new county magistrate was caught by several yamen runners in the southern city's slum.

  Li Wenjun immediately fulfilled his promise, gave the beggar a thousand taels of white silver at first, and ordered that no one was allowed to rob the beggar's money. If he knew it, he would take revenge on the robber.

  Those constables who caught the new county magistrate were also heavily rewarded by Li Wenjun, each receiving ten taels of silver, and they were overjoyed, holding the silver and thanking him profusely.

  Li Wenjun had the new county magistrate brought before him and interrogated him.

  The new county magistrate was very arrogant, scolding Li Wenjun for not following the national law, breaking into the county government office, seizing the grand prison, searching and arresting officials appointed by the imperial court, which is equivalent to rebellion. Sooner or later, he will let the wise emperor know, and he will surely send someone to surround and wipe him out.

  Li Wenjun patiently waited for the new county magistrate to finish his reprimand, then asked him to answer his own question. The new county magistrate not only failed to respond but also repeated what he had just said, and Li Wenjun's patience was finally exhausted. He waved his hand, ordering the bailiffs to use corporal punishment on the new county magistrate.

  The new county magistrate hadn't even been flogged a few times before he went soft, shouting in pain and repeatedly begging for mercy. When Li Wenjun asked him questions again, he just said whatever came to mind.

  From the new county magistrate's mouth, Li Wenjun verified his guess. The new county magistrate was a student of Po Junhou, and Po Junhou had spent money in the Ministry of Officials to send him to San Shan County to take office on horseback. On the one hand, he was tasked with capturing Li Wenjun, and on the other hand, he was also responsible for monitoring Zhou Wei nearby.

  Before the new county magistrate took office, Bao Junhou had specially instructed him to find an excuse after taking office, and then arrest all those who were close to Li Wenjun, one by one, to see if they could pry out the ins and outs of Li Wenjun's affairs from their mouths.

  Sun Baicao, Sun Jianing and Qin Yue were arrested by the new county magistrate for this reason. As a result, the three of them were tortured under the new county magistrate's poisonous punishment, and they all pleaded guilty, allowing the new county magistrate to frame them with the crime of communicating with bandits. However, when it came to how Li Wenjun obtained the cultivation method, how he cultivated it, and other details, the three of them all claimed to be completely unaware.

  No matter how the new county magistrate used torture, the three of them never loosened their mouths. Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing did not want to implicate Li Wenjun, while Qin Yue was worried that Li Wenjun would settle accounts after autumn, and he could not bear the consequences of offending Li Wenjun, he did not want to repeat the mistakes of the former county magistrate Wu Qi.

  Li Wenjun continued to ask questions in accordance with the new county magistrate's confession.

  The new county magistrate also handed over that the Marquis of Broken Army had always had a wish, wanting his family to become an immortal family and control the entire Song Dynasty in the future. They paid extra attention to things related to the good practice of immortality.

  Li Wenjun killed the three princes and Jiang Shan, then entered the line of sight of Po Junhou. The purpose of Po Junhou was very clear, it was to wait for Li Wenjun's cultivation method, kill Li Wenjun to avenge the three princes, which was secondary.

  Monitoring Wei Zhou is also for the same purpose.

  Li Wenjun continued to follow the new county magistrate's confession, asking further questions, but the new county magistrate couldn't say anything more. After all, he wasn't a confidant of Po Junhou, and matters concerning Po Junhou's core secrets were unclear to him.

  Since there was nothing to interrogate, Li Wenjun fired a fireball and burned the new county lord into a ball of ash. The new county lord not only tried to kill Sun Baicao and his son Sun Jianing, but also intended to deal with him, and he deserved to die.

  Looking at the new county magistrate turning into a pile of ashes, the attendants beside him trembled with fear, and their respect for Li Wenjun increased even more. This was the second imperial official killed by Master Xian, compared to the county magistrate, what were these small attendants worth?

  Just then, a yamen runner came in to report that Qin Yue had come around and was asking to see Master Xian.

  Li Wenjun had someone bring Qin Yue over.

  A moment later, Qin Yue, with the help of two careful attendants, walked to Li Wenjun's front. He pushed away the attendants with some difficulty and knelt down in front of Li Wenjun, saying: "Your humble servant thanks the immortal master for saving his life."

  Li Wenjun waved his hand and let Qin Yue get up.

  Qin Yue did not get up, he knocked his head again and said: "Your humble servant has one more thing to say, please forgive your humble servant for taking the liberty of acting on his own authority. Just now, I have already ordered that all members of the young master's family be executed as bandits, regardless of age or sex. Just now, I personally supervised the executioner and had them beheaded. Your humble servant did not ask for the immortal teacher's instructions and took the liberty of acting on his own authority, please punish your humble servant."

  "Why?" Li Wenjun gazed at Qin Yue and asked.

  Qin Yue's expression was unusually calm as he said, "As a subordinate of the immortal master, I must eliminate all unstable factors in order to properly manage San Shan County. Moreover, since I have already been put on the list of people to be killed by Po Jun Hou, it is only natural that I should take the initiative to remove his claws beforehand. Should I wait for them to deal with me later?"