Debt Collection
The people of Chang'an City were busy ascending the throne, vying for power, fighting among themselves, and trying to trip up others, completely forgetting that in some corner of the Tang Dynasty's territory, there was a son of the previous emperor.
Li Chongfu had always felt unlucky. He was the eldest son of the previous emperor, but because he was not born of a legitimate wife, he always lagged behind his younger brother, born to the Wei family. Finally, he seized an opportunity and informed Empress Wu Zetian, then the Emperor, that Wei's only son had been murdered. However, a few years later, the Five Princes staged a coup, and the Empress abdicated. The first act of Wei, who became Empress, was to banish him from Chang'an. In the third year of the Jinglong reign, the Emperor granted amnesty to the entire country, but not to him, forcing him to endure the hardships of his confinement in Junzhou.
He endured for five years, finally seeing his father's death, the execution of the Wei family, and the abdication of the young emperor. He thought the throne would eventually be his, but in the end, the emperor became his uncle.
To be fair, this uncle was actually quite nice to Li Chongfu. At least after he ascended the throne, he immediately changed his official position and appointed him as the governor of Jizhou.
But Li Chongfu didn't think so.
When he was drunk, he complained to his confidants: "I am the eldest son of the late emperor. If there is a legitimate heir, the eldest son shall be the heir. If there is no legitimate heir, the eldest son shall be the heir. I should be the new emperor. Why should the throne fall to him, Prince Xiang?"
Li Chongfu thought so, and coincidentally, two ministers named Zhang Lingjun and Zheng Yin also thought so. So the three of them hit it off and decided to rebel.
On August 15, the three men launched a rebellion in the Eastern Capital and brazenly attacked the soldiers of the Left and Right Tunying camps.
The imperial army put up a desperate resistance, and Li Chongfu should have been defeated. But that day, a cultivator happened to be in the Eastern Capital. This cultivator was a powerful Transcendent Realm cultivator and the eldest sister of the former captain of Team Geng 7, who died in the coup. After emerging from seclusion, she discovered that her junior sister's life tablet had been shattered. She had come out of seclusion to investigate her junior sister's death and was currently resting in the Eastern Capital, waiting for an opportunity to enter Chang'an for revenge.
Sometimes it was just such a coincidence. If Li Chongfu and the other two had started their rebellion a few days earlier, the elder sister would not have arrived in Dongdu yet. If they had started their rebellion a few days later, the elder sister might have left. But they happened to start their rebellion on this day, and the elder sister happened to be watching and decided to help.
Thus, the lives of Li Chongfu and the other two were saved.
With the cultivators intervening, the Shenlong Guards' Second Team stationed in the Eastern Capital naturally could no longer stand idly by. The captain of Second Team led the entire team to encircle and suppress the Senior Sister, and they were unsurprisingly defeated.
"Where is Liu Mingyin?" The other members of Team B2 were unconscious, only the captain was still conscious. The eldest sister held his neck and interrogated him.
"Liu Mingyin... he's in Chang'an... he's now the captain of Team A-1."
As soon as he finished explaining, the senior sister threw him out with a flick of her hand. His head hit the ground and he followed the same fate as the other team members.
Fortunately, the senior sister did not take their lives, but only locked them up in the dungeon of the Shenlongwei official office in Dongdu.
Seeing that resistance was unsuccessful, the Dongdu garrison withdrew from the capital and hid in the valley outside the city. Pei Tan, the governor of the Dongdu, rode a fast horse and rushed day and night to Chang'an to report the news that "Li Chongfu had rebelled and the Dongdu had fallen."
Inside the Xuanzheng Hall, all officials were in an uproar.
"Who among you, my dear ministers, is willing to go to the Eastern Capital to quell the rebellion?"
The emperor asked the officials questions in a way that made it impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry, and everyone in the hall was silent.
It is a critical moment for the struggle for power. Who is willing to leave Chang'an?
"No one is willing to go?" This time, there was a hint of anger in the emperor's voice. Some officials in the hall who could not bear it lowered their heads directly, but still no one was willing to quell the rebellion.
Just as the emperor was about to lose his temper, a female voice broke the silence in the Xuanzheng Hall.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to go." Xiao Wan'er stood up.
Her petition displeased Princess Taiping's faction, while the Crown Prince's faction felt a certain gloating pleasure. Seeing that someone had finally stepped forward to shoulder the responsibility, the Emperor immediately ordered her to quell the rebellion.
After the court was dismissed, Princess Taiping was clearly unhappy. She walked directly to Xiao Wan'er and ordered in a cold voice, "Follow me back to the Princess's Mansion."
Arriving at the Princess Mansion, Princess Taiping took Xiao Wan'er directly to the study. After entering the study, she slammed the door and was about to question Xiao Wan'er.
"Why are you volunteering to quell the rebellion? At this critical moment, when everyone is eager to move forward, you're withdrawing?"
Xiao Wan'er lowered her head and explained, "Princess, Li Chongfu still carries the sinful debt of four lives. After so many years, it's time for someone to take it back."
Princess Taiping understood Xiao Wan'er's thoughts.
But she still felt uneasy: "You going there to quell the rebellion like this, isn't that exactly what Li Longji wants?"
Xiao Wan'er took this opportunity to recommend her junior fellow apprentice to Princess Taiping: "I have a junior fellow apprentice named Liu Mingyin, currently serving as the captain of the first squadron of the Divine Dragon Guard. Your Majesty should be aware of him. He returned to Chang'an from the Eastern Capital the other day, presented his duties to Your Majesty, and came to see you. My junior fellow apprentice is also a Transcendent Realm cultivator, and his strength is comparable to Pei Yingguan. If your Majesty needs him, feel free to send him."
Princess Taiping still had an impression of Liu Mingyin, so when Xiao Wan'er introduced her, she accepted it immediately.
"Okay, I'll do as you say."
Only Xiao Wan'er was dispatched to suppress the rebellion. She returned home to pack her equipment, briefly instructed Liu Mingyin, and then headed straight for the city gate.
Pei Tan was already waiting at the city gate. He had rushed into Chang'an so fast that his horse had died. He was just struggling to figure out how to get back to the Eastern Capital with Xiao Wan'er when she lifted him up, lifted him into the air, and flew off at high speed towards the Eastern Capital.
After arriving in Dongdu, Xiao Wan'er followed Pei Tan's instructions to the valley where the Dongdu garrison was hiding. Seeing that the garrison had suffered no further casualties, Pei Tan breathed a sigh of relief.
"Didn't Li Chongfu send troops to wipe you out again?" Xiao Wan'er wondered.
"Lord Xiao, you don't know. The rebels are already weak. Without the help of the demonic sects, they would be no match for us," a general from the Eastern Capital garrison replied. "But we are afraid of encountering the demonic sects, so we dare not leave this valley."
Xiao Wan'er nodded, secretly concentrating her mind throughout the valley. The valley truly looked like it had been ravaged. All the edible weeds had been dug up and eaten, and the animals had been hunted to the point of being completely wiped out.
"I want to go to the Eastern Capital to wipe out the rebellion. Are you willing to go with me?" Xiao Wan'er asked the garrison general.
"That's what I wish for."
Li Chongfu remained discontented after conquering Dongdu. His army was weak, unable to pursue the Dongdu garrison. The Taoist nun who had helped him capture Dongdu refused to obey his orders. She imprisoned all the unsubmissive Dongdu officials and the Taoist priests of Team B-2, refusing to kill any of them. But the nun was so powerful that he couldn't afford to offend her.
After another unhappy breakup, he fell asleep with a belly full of resentment. In his half-dream, he heard the sound of marching troops.
"Your Majesty, someone is attacking the city!" His servant woke him up.
Li Chongfu quickly put on his clothes and saw Zhang Lingjun and Zheng Yin guarding outside the door.
"What's the situation now?" He forced himself to remain calm.
Zheng Yin replied, "The deputy commander of the Divine Dragon Guard led the former Dongdu garrison to attack the city, and the Immortal Master has personally gone to stop them."
Hearing that the powerful Taoist nun had already left, Li Chongfu breathed a sigh of relief and ordered the two men: "You two go to supervise the battle, and the guards stay to protect the emperor."
"Yes!" Despite their dissatisfaction, the two men accepted the order and rushed to the city gate.
High in the sky, Xiao Wan'er and Captain Pei's senior sister had already exchanged several rounds of blows. The senior sister, sword in her left hand, watched Xiao Wan'er warily, her right hand already bleeding.
"Deputy Commander Xiao is truly capable. No wonder my junior sister died at your hands."
"My fellow Daoist, I wasn't the one who killed your junior sister," Xiao Wan'er said helplessly. "Besides, the cultivation world has long had a consensus that relatives and fellow disciples of those who died in court struggles are not allowed to seek revenge. This has been the case with the relatives and fellow disciples of other cultivators before. Are you planning to break this rule?"
With her right arm injured, the eldest sister simply gave up her sword and attacked Xiao Wan'er with magic.
"I don't care about the rules. I just know that she's my junior sister, the one I raised since she was little! Since you killed her, you must pay for her life!"
Xiao Wan'er sighed helplessly.
"Actually, I don't really want to start a fight with you."
Having said that, she immediately made some hand gestures and fought back with even more powerful magic.
The spell struck the senior sister with terrifying force. Only then did she realize how terrifying Xiao Wan'er was when she exerted all her strength. However, after just two spells, she completely lost her fighting ability.
"The ones who killed your junior sister were the former and current commanders of the Divine Dragon Guard. They were both the current Crown Prince's men. The Crown Prince also tried to kill me on the day your junior sister died and a few days before, but failed." Xiao Wan'er informed the senior sister of the specific targets of her revenge. "You can leave now."
The eldest sister didn't expect that she would be let go.
"You won't kill me?"
"We have a common enemy, why should I kill you? Just don't betray me if your revenge fails." After Xiao Wan'er said this, she fell directly to the ground from the air.
"The demon has been defeated, why don't you surrender?"
The rebels had previously relied on the eldest sister to win, and upon hearing that she had been defeated, their morale plummeted. Without even glancing at the ground, the eldest sister simply walked away through the empty space.
Xiao Wan'er handed the rebels over to the Dongdu garrison, and broke through the city gate alone and went straight to Li Chongfu's residence.
Li Chongfu had received secret information and learned that the cultivator he relied on had been defeated. He was about to escape when Xiao Wan'er arrived.
"Protect the emperor!" He ordered the guards to stand in front of him and turned around and ran.
Xiao Wan'er found it absurd—a being that could barely even be called human had so easily killed three people, plus a baby on the way out. Those who hated him had already turned to dust, those who refused to be killed by him had long since shattered their souls, yet he was still alive and well. If he hadn't rebelled, he might even have died of old age.
What a damn fate.
Xiao Wan'er cast a single wind spell, and all of Li Chongfu's guards were killed. Li Chongfu turned back in horror, seeing the corpses strewn across the ground. His legs and feet instantly lost strength, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Please let me go," he actually begged Xiao Wan'er for mercy, "Please let me go. I can give you anything you want. Gold, silver, treasures, handsome men as your concubines. Anything is fine. I can even be your concubine!"
Xiao Wan'er sneered: "I don't need a mistress who stinks of urine."
Li Chongfu then realized that he had lost control of his bladder due to fear. He finally realized that he was at the end of his rope, and trembling all over, he looked at Xiao Wan'er who was walking towards him.
"You owed four lives, and today I'm here to collect the debt."
With just one blow, Li Chongfu was dead. Xiao Wan'er dragged his body straight towards the city gate.
"The rebel leader has been executed. The rest of you will be spared if you surrender!"
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