In fact, Li Chengyuan had never planned to rebel.
If he had intended to rebel, when he led his troops into the capital thirty years ago to quell the unrest, he could already have used the emperor as a puppet to command the feudal lords, or simply declared himself emperor.
But now, the reason he raised troops was more out of desperate necessity.
After the Battle of Sandwind Pass ended, his son Li Chong was nominally promoted to Deputy Commander of the Southern Court, but in reality he had been demoted.
A military general without troops—how could he still be called a general?
Li Chengyuan understood that now he held military power over three prefectures, and Li Chong had won brilliant achievements in the northern prefecture, holding off hundreds of thousands of Shanrong troops outside Sandwind Pass.
For a time, he was unmatched in glory among the northern garrison.
The Great Yu emperor certainly did not want the northern military power to fall entirely into the hands of the Li family, so he transferred Li Chong to be Deputy Commander of the Southern Court. Lord Jing'an said nothing.
But the emperor did not stop there.
He wanted Li Chengyuan to hand over control of the eastern prefecture’s troops.
Combined with the previous moves, this instantly put Li Chengyuan on high alert.
Hand over the eastern troops today, the troops of Hezhou tomorrow, then the Weizhou garrison the day after—military power itself wasn’t the issue, but if he truly handed over all his troops, would he still be allowed a peaceful retirement?
So Li Chengyuan raised his banner.
Li Chong had also come to see Chen Yan several times.
He went to persuade Chen Yan to come out and help.
Chen Yan refused every time.
And as the flames of war spread to Hezhou, Chen Yan also lost the quiet environment he needed.
This Great Yu was no longer a place where he could continue cultivating in peace, Chen Yan thought.
He decided to depart for a quieter place more suitable for training.
...
Great Yu, Southern Court, Yizhou.
This was the southern border of the Yu Kingdom. Beyond here lay the territory of Liaolong.
Chen Yan had stayed in Hezhou for less than two months, but he still gathered some information from passing merchants.
He found that both in architecture and customs, the merchants and common folk around here showed the style of the northwest of the Southern Region of the Chenping Continent.
He was likely at the northwest corner of the Southern Region or the southeast corner of the Western Region.
After all, between the Southern and Western Regions there was not a grand mountain range acting as a natural barrier like the one between the Western and Northwest Regions.
The customs of the northwest of the Southern Region and the southeast of the Western Region were very similar.
Chen Yan crossed Yizhou’s border and formally stepped onto Liaolong soil.
Because of the chaos from the Great Yu dynasty’s wars, Liaolong’s borders had begun to suffer incursions from deserters or bandits fleeing from Great Yu.
On this road, he occasionally saw corpses of travelers who had been robbed and killed.
Some villages had even been ransacked by bandits.
None of this stirred any emotion in Chen Yan.
He had seen far too much.
Unless someone tried to rob him personally.
Body Forging Realm cultivators could not yet practice fasting, and after their muscles and bones were cleansed during Body Forging, they consumed even more energy, so their appetites were often larger than ordinary people’s.
So before leaving Hezhou, Chen Yan had taken quite a bit of silver to buy food along the way.
Two or three li away, Chen Yan spotted a nearby village. He happened to be hungry, so he decided to rest there for a while.
“Stop!”
A rough voice came from under a tree nearby.
Chen Yan halted and saw two bandits clad in leather armor, one wielding a meteor hammer, the other a curved blade, blocking his path.
One was tall, one short.
The taller one was quite fat, the shorter one thin.
The taller bandit with the meteor hammer sized Chen Yan up:
He looked young, only fifteen or sixteen.
Soft-skinned, seemed weak, yet he wore a sword at his waist.
Ha, showboating.
Soon the bandit drew his conclusion.
He exchanged a glance with the short companion, then—
“Hand over your money!”
The bandit ordered Chen Yan.
Chen Yan said nothing.
He had no intention of playing house with these two.
He was hungry.
Chen Yan moved.
He stepped forward. Before the two bandits could react, he punched the tall bandit square in the chest.
The tall bandit’s chest caved in instantly, and his body flew backward several zhang.
The short bandit still hadn’t reacted.
Chen Yan pivoted, pressed both hands to the short bandit’s neck, and gave a light twist.
Crack.
A crisp sound, and the bandit died instantly.
After dealing with these two blind fools, Chen Yan resumed his walk toward the nearby village.
Then he paused.
If bandits were around the village, that village...
might already have been looted.
But perhaps not; who knew if those two had accomplices?
He decided to try his luck.
As he neared the village, he heard sounds of fighting from within.
Then a figure flew toward him.
Or rather, was thrown at him.
It was a boy of about thirteen or fourteen.
A few bandits stood behind the boy.
He crashed to the ground hard before Chen Yan; from the thud it was clear it hurt.
But the boy immediately climbed up.
He looked at Chen Yan, or rather at the sword at Chen Yan’s waist.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the sword from Chen Yan’s waist and charged toward the bandits.
Chen Yan did not stop him.
The bandits laughed, looking at the boy who overestimated himself.
When the boy rushed forward, someone raised a foot and kicked him in the chest.
The boy flew backward again.
When he hit the ground, he struggled to his feet, sword in hand, and charged the bandits once more.
Again, a bandit’s foot sent him flying.
This time, before he was launched, the boy threw the sword he held at the bandits.
They didn’t have time to react; the blade pierced the arm of one bandit.
The laughter died instantly.
“Damn it...”
The wounded bandit angrily picked up the sword and strode toward the boy lying on the ground.
Chen Yan had watched the whole thing.
He felt pity.
Not for any other reason, but because he saw in the boy’s stubbornness the shadow of an old acquaintance.
The shadow of Lin Xinyang.
Chen Yan reached up, plucked a stone from the wall of a nearby house, and crushed it with force.
Then he hurled the crushed stone at the bandit holding his sword.
The stone pierced the bandit’s forehead; the bandit slumped backward.
Chen Yan continued to fling shards of stone like bullets, striking each of the bandits.
The boy on the ground watched what happened as if he could not comprehend it.
Until a figure cast a shadow over his vision.
“How are you?” Chen Yan asked calmly.
“I’m fine, I’m fine! Brother, how did you throw those stones so hard... hiss!”
The boy mumbled, then his face drained of color as he clapped a hand to his chest.
Chen Yan squatted slowly and pressed lightly where the boy held his hand.
“A rib’s broken,” Chen Yan said evenly.
“One, two, three, five, eight... thirteen.”
Hearing this, the boy’s eyes widened in surprise.
“How many ribs does a person have?”
“Twenty-four.”
“Holy—more than half are broken... hiss!”
The boy’s face showed shock; the pain from his injuries flared again and twisted his expression.
...
Chen Yan felt speechless. He had helped because he thought he saw Lin Xinyang in the boy, but where was that shadow now?
“Brother, what’s your name?” the boy asked straightforwardly.
“Chen Yan.”
He answered truthfully.
There was nothing to hide.
“My name is Su Hongzhen. Brother, you can call me Little Su... hiss!”