Chapter Nine: The Might of the County Commandant

"Sir, why don't we retreat? We are nearly at Jiyin County now!"

Wang Zhenling gave a cold laugh. "Nonsense. This place is clearly the border between two counties; one could even say it remains within the territory of our Danling County. As the County Lieutenant of Danling, where is there that I cannot go within my own jurisdiction? As for reinforcements? Anyone who dares to obstruct the authorities in the execution of their duty is a rebel. When the time comes, do not blame me if my blade proves too sharp!"

His words were filled with such murderous intent that they turned heads and made his resolve clear to all.

Zhu He gritted his teeth, drew the long blade at his waist, and shouted, "Follow me!" With that, he led the county soldiers in a charge up the mountain.

Wang Zhenling felt satisfied. Zhu He was a civil clerk; if it came to raw martial prowess, he likely couldn't even compare to an ordinary soldier. Yet, his willingness to put himself at the front showed true loyalty.

*Even if I am no longer the County Lieutenant, I will certainly make arrangements for you all in the future. I will never let you be left without a path,* Wang Zhenling thought to himself. Of course, he could not voice such sentiments now.

There were only about twenty people in the Taoist temple. Seeing the government soldiers charging up, they did not surrender as expected. Instead, they emerged from the temple clad in armor and wielding weapons, preparing to block the assault.

"They actually possess private stocks of iron armor! That is a capital crime!" Wang Zhenling’s expression shifted slightly as he saw the Cheng Tian Taoist priests donning the gear. This would make the ascent far from easy.

Although Mount Dongji was not particularly tall, it was steep and rugged, with a mountain path only wide enough for one person to pass at a time. As long as these armored priests held the path, taking the mountain would be no simple task.

At that moment, the county soldiers unleashed a volley of arrows. The priests merely covered their faces with their arms, ignoring the arrows as they clattered harmlessly against their iron armor. After all, the county soldiers were not using heavy bows, and firing uphill, their arrows lacked the force to penetrate the plating.

"It seems I must take action myself," Wang Zhenling muttered, shaking his head. The martial skills of the county soldiers were ultimately no match for a professional force.

Even a professional force would find such a situation thorny. Wang Zhenling snatched a bow from a soldier and tested it; it was a five-dou bow, a bit weak, but it would have to suffice.

He pulled the bowstring to a full moon, and the arrow flew like a shooting star. It struck the lead priest in the throat, finding the gap in his armor. The man did not die instantly; he clutched at the wound, his fingers slick with blood spilling from between them, before collapsing to the ground.

*My foundation is still shallow, and I have no masters under my command. I must do everything myself,* he thought. He fired a second arrow at another priest. This one was prepared and swiped it aside; the arrow struck his arm guard, sending sparks flying as it deflected.

"The draw weight of this bow is far too low," Wang Zhenling sighed with regret.

By now, the priests on the mountain had noticed his movements. The Martial Divine Envoy, who had nearly died at Wang Zhenling’s hands once before, recognized him instantly. Hatred burning in his eyes, he pointed and shouted, "That is the rascal Wang Zhenling from Danling County!"

At once, the upper echelons of the Cheng Tian Taoist sect turned their gaze upon him. Their scorching stares made him feel slightly uncomfortable. *Such a powerful primordial spirit,* he mused. *There is someone on this mountain with cultivation even higher than Wu Zhong’s!*

As he thought this, a priest stepped forward and bellowed, "You mere mortals dare to offend our immortal order? Do you have a death wish?" The shout was like thunder, shaking the mountain forest. He flicked his wide sleeve, and a beam of green light, fast as lightning, shot toward Wang Zhenling.

"A flying sword..." Wang Zhenling’s heart tightened, but there was no time to ponder. He used his bow to parry.

The flying sword was blindingly fast. With only twenty paces between them, the blade struck before Wang Zhenling could fully raise his guard, shattering the longbow. The razor-sharp sword qi nearly sliced his skin. But in the next moment, as his sleeves billowed, he shouted, "How dare a scoundrel assault an official!"

A boom resonated as if the very air were a giant drum. In that split second of parrying, he had triggered the Legal Web. An ordinary official would have needed to hold their seal and recite the statutes to invoke it, but Wang Zhenling had activated it with a single thought.

The invisible net surged. The flying sword, only an inch from his skin, was suddenly pinned in mid-air by a formless force, unable to move a hair's breadth. Then, another invisible force, heavy as a giant hammer, slammed into the blade. With a crisp snap, the sword shattered, its light extinguished, and it fell to the ground.

The envoy who had launched the sword vomited a mouthful of blood and slumped over, horror-struck. "This scoundrel... he actually dared to mobilize the Legal Web..."

Before he could finish, Wang Zhenling snatched another bow from a soldier and began firing. "I am an official capturing a thief; those who resist shall be executed!"

Each arrow was imbued with a faint red glow, as if the tips were ignited by fire—it was the power of the Law, now augmenting his archery. Every shot was lethal. The priests tried to block with their iron armor, but the arrows had become unnaturally sharp, piercing the plating as if it were paper and pinning the men to the ground.

Three arrows in rapid succession left three armored priests dead. The remaining dozen, who had relied on their armor to feel invincible, lost their nerve. Panicked, they turned and fled toward the upper reaches of the mountain.

The others on the mountain were shocked. They had believed that their twenty sets of iron armor would hold the county soldiers for hours, providing enough time for believers from the surrounding countryside to arrive upon seeing the signal. Yet, in less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, their defense was crumbling.

"This Wang Zhenling truly cannot be left alive. We should have killed him from the start," the priests lamented in fury, but it was already too late. As the Danling soldiers swarmed in from all sides, their only priority was to protect the temple.

"If only it weren't daytime; if it were night, we could have summoned the Qingyang Divine Soldiers to assist us!" the envoy stomped his foot.

"Even at night, if we could summon them, couldn't Wang Zhenling dispatch ghost soldiers of his own?" the commander, Luo, retorted with a grim face. He had originally had marriage ties to the Wang family of Danling and admired Wang Zhenling’s talent, hoping to bring him into their fold. But now it seemed Wang Zhenling had no intention of boarding their ship—he intended to capsize it.