Seeing everyone staring at him as if he were a monkey in a circus, Li Dashan's heart finally sank to the depths of despair.
He felt as though he'd been plunged into an icy abyss.
Realizing that nothing he could say would clear his name, Li Dashan didn't kneel and beg for mercy. Instead, a blazing fury ignited deep within him.
It wasn't the first time he'd been on the receiving end of such a look.
Whether it was the previous Magistrate Su, the current Magistrate Chai, or the once-unbridled Han the Eighth, they had all looked at him this way.
As if he weren't a man, but an animal.
He decided to throw caution to the wind. Snatching the potion, he smashed it on the ground and began to curse, "You goddamn corrupt official! May your family line be cursed and may lightning strike you down where you stand!"
Crude words, sublime satisfaction.
One could only imagine the resentment this simple farmer, who had swallowed his grievances for most of his life, had built up against the Government Office to be pushed to such a point.
If Li Dashan had felt even a sliver of hope for survival, he would never have become so hysterical.
However, his outburst did not have the intended effect.
Magistrate Chai didn't get angry; he merely furrowed his brow slightly.
The two Government Officials standing by immediately seized Li Dashan's arms and forced him down, leaving him gasping for breath.
No matter how he struggled, he couldn't move an inch.
Looking at Li Dashan—his face crimson, his eyes spitting fire, yet able to do nothing but rage helplessly—Magistrate Chai smiled. He spoke slowly, "In all my years, I've seen plenty of hotheads who lash out when faced with death. But I've never seen one whose final curses are so utterly unoriginal!"
He took a sip from his teacup, then waved a hand. "Li Dashan, Huang Xiaoru, and Li Xiao conspired with rebels, intending to start an uprising. The evidence is irrefutable. Men, have them sign and press their fingerprints to the confession!"
Upon hearing the command, several more green-robed government officials hurried forward, holding a scroll on which the confession was already written out.
Just as they were about to force the signatures and hastily close the case, a shadowy figure slowly walked in from outside the County Magistrate's Office. "What an impressive display of authority, Magistrate!" a voice called out.
At the sound of the voice, everyone in the County Magistrate's Office froze, their gazes instinctively turning toward the entrance.
—Standing at the entrance was a fair-featured boy of about ten, dressed in patched linen clothes. He carried a bulging bundle in each hand and his chest heaved as if he had just rushed back from a long journey.
Staring at the impossibly young boy, Magistrate Chai was uncertain. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Who are you? Why do you disrupt this court? Do you not know that is a capital offense?"
Li Chang'an didn't answer, simply continuing to walk inside.
Once his face was in full view, Master Wang, who held a significant grudge against him, was the first to recognize him.
At first, Master Wang looked stunned, but realization quickly turned to elation. He shot to his feet and exclaimed, "That's the boy! That's Li Chang'an, the one who conspires with rebels and brings ruin to the people! Magistrate Chai, Historian Liu, seize him at once!"
—Looking at the youthful, fair-featured boy, both Magistrate Chai and Historian Liu's expressions darkened.
They both already knew that the enemy Master Wang was sparing no expense to exterminate was a six-year-old boy.
But hearing about it and seeing him in the flesh were two entirely different matters.
When they'd first heard, they'd thought it was absurd, but hadn't given it much more thought.
But now, actually seeing Li Chang'an in person, they couldn't help but feel a profound sense of the absurd.
'We went to all this trouble, mobilized half the resources of the entire Government Office, and all for what? To take down a perfectly ordinary family of commoners?'
'What a joke!'
Magistrate Chai's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. But he had already taken the money; he couldn't back out now. He slammed his gavel. "Men! Seize this vile little spawn!"
Hearing the order, the group of Clerks, who had been staring in a daze, finally snapped back to reality and began to close in on Li Chang'an from all sides.
Seeing that an inescapable net was now closing in within the County Magistrate's Office, Master Wang stared at Li Chang'an with a savage grin. "Well, well, boy. Heaven has a path, but you refused to walk it. Hell has no gate, yet you came knocking. Where's that wretched Daoist? Is he lying in ambush outside? Why don't you two just attack together? We'll see whose is faster—Magistrate Chai's blade, or your own necks!"
"I know you gentlemen are in a hurry, but don't be *too* hasty..." Li Chang'an, a pleasant smile never leaving his face, suddenly lifted the bulging cloth bags in his hands. "I've prepared a little surprise for all of you today. It won't be too late to decide whether to arrest me after you've received it."
At Li Chang'an's words, the County Magistrate's Office fell silent for a moment. No one knew what this disturbingly demonic young man was plotting.
Before anyone could react, Li Chang'an tossed one of the bundles forward.
THUMP-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!
The bundle landed in the middle of the main hall.
Thrown with considerable force, it continued to roll across the floor.
One of the Government Officials mustered his courage, stepped forward, and used his saber to flip open a corner of the cloth. Inside was a severed head... its eyes still wide open!
The smile hadn't even had time to fade from Master Wang's lips.
After getting a clear look at the head that had rolled to a stop on the floor, he fainted dead away.
A servant from Master Wang's household recognized the head's owner and shrieked, "Th-th-that... that's the Young Master's head! It's the Young Master's head! Young Master, Young Master, what's happened to you?!"
The crowd erupted into chaos.
No one could have imagined that one of the two bundles Li Chang'an carried contained the head of Master Wang's son!
But it was far from over.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Li Chang'an threw in the second bundle, sending it rolling across the floor.
The hall fell deathly silent.
Learning from the first grisly reveal, this time no one dared to open it.
Finally, a Government Official steeled himself, stepped forward, and kicked the contents out of the bundle...
Sure enough, it was another head.
But while the first head had belonged to a young man, this one had aged skin and gray hair.
"Father... My father? That's my father!" Chai Busan, who had been sitting high on the dais, glanced at the head and froze. A moment later, as if struck by lightning, he began to tremble and let out a squeal like a pig being slaughtered. "Men! Get him! Seize that boy! I'll have him sliced into a thousand pieces!"
Magistrate Chai's roar threw the County Magistrate's Office into chaos. Still, dozens of government officials heard the order, instinctively drew their long sabers, and prepared to hack this unbelievably audacious fiend to pieces.
"They say this chaotic era is unjust, that a man's life is as worthless as a weed..." Looking down on the crowd, Li Chang'an's gaze was as cold as a blade. He let out a slow breath. "If that's the case, then watch me. Today, I will forge a new world of light and justice!"
...