The Blade-Wielding Legend

Chapter 1605 - 815: Uprooted

Hearing this man’s plea, Li Yan was a little surprised as well.

The spies the pirates sent to lurk in the Divine State were all vicious and forbearing; otherwise it would be impossible for them to have stayed so long.

Even if they took wives and had children, with their temperaments they would only regard them as pieces on a board.

For example, that one lurking in the Capital also had a family, yet he went mad and murdered his own son and daughter.

However you put it, a person cannot be allowed to die so easily.

After all, there was still a lot that needed to be pried out of his mouth.

The "Lóng Che" Shikigami rampaged around the courtyard, the Resentful Spirit Ox Cart grinding the stone steps to powder, blue smoke coiling like ghostly wails.

Li Yan no longer hesitated. He pressed two fingers together like a sword and ran them along the blade’s edge, quickly chanting at the same time:

"Nine Heavens Responding Yuan Thunder Sound Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerate, in Yuqing Heaven, together with the Ten Directions Celestial Emperors, assembles in the Yuxu Nine Palaces..."

This was the "Heavenly Thunder Demon-suppressing Hammer", whose casting required recitation of the Nine Heavens Responding Yuan Thunder Sound Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerate’s Jade枢 Treasure Scripture.

This method was the utmost rigid and yang; even among Thunder Techniques it was extremely fierce, most suitable for the Suppression and Killing of demonry.

Li Yan swung the crackling Duan Chen Blade crosswise, then suddenly exploded with force underfoot.

With a thunderous boom, lightning flashed.

The Shikigami "Lóng Che", already wounded, collapsed in an instant.

It turned into whirling black mist, and amid the agonized screams of countless people, was completely reduced to drifting ash.

Shikigami, to put it plainly, were just alien Divine Souls, worlds apart from those Undying Demon Gods.

Creak~

As the smoke and dust dispersed, the wooden door of the woodshed in the back courtyard creaked open, and a woman and child stumbled out.

The woman clutched a boy of five or six, tear tracks still wet on her face. She looked at the fallen rich merchant on the ground, yet dared not approach.

It was clear this rich merchant had protected them well; they had no idea what had just happened.

Li Yan sheathed his blade, nodded slightly, and said, "Do not fear, the Evil Spirits have been removed."

Just then, outside the courtyard wall, torches surged like a dragon.

Sha Lifei led the Hangzhou Prefecture soldiers in breaking down the door, with Zhu Cong close behind, armor clanking.

"Hahaha, caught man and evidence together!"

Sha Lifei laughed loudly; chains clinked as the soldiers swiftly bound the unconscious Witch and the surrendered Ninja.

Seeing his family unharmed, the rich merchant finally let out a breath and dropped to his knees with a thud.

Not bothering to have him dragged off to a cell, Li Yan directly ordered the soldiers to guard the outside and began the interrogation.

"Speak. What is your real name, which sect are you from, and how long have you been in the Central Plains of the Divine State?"

Now that things had come to this, the rich merchant no longer concealed anything. Kneeling in the Japanese manner and kowtowing, he said, "In reply to my lord, my humble real name is Shi Bingwei. I am a Ninja of Kakashi’s Kagayama Valley in Jinjiang Country of Japan, skilled in Bone Shrinking Soft Skill and the Five Elements Escape Technique."

"We are all ’Tangdu Ninja’."

Li Yan frowned. "’Tangdu Ninja’... what does that mean?"

Shi Bingwei hurriedly replied, "Ever since the Divine Lord Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan, he began planning to infiltrate the Divine State, so he selected youths from various sects and Sects to study the culture of the Divine State. As for myself, I studied the Essentials of Tang Language from childhood, can recite the Thousand Character Classic, judge West Lake Longjing, and I disguised myself as a peddler in the Capital for three years, specializing in selling Japanese fans and lacquerware, but in truth it was to draw maps of Cao Yun routes."

Sha Lifei cursed as soon as he heard this, "Shit, you’ve been plotting this for years—where’d you get the guts?"

"Aren’t you afraid that once the court’s great armies arrive, they’ll slaughter every last thing on that damn island of yours?"

At these words, Shi Bingwei lowered his head, not daring to respond.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly. "You surrendered so easily—how are we supposed to believe you?"

Shi Bingwei secretly turned his head and glanced at his family, then gritted his teeth and said, "We Kakarinja were supposed to sever all emotion and desire. But since childhood I witnessed internal strife in Kagayama Valley, clansmen devouring each other like wild dogs. Only after I came to the Divine State, married Miss Hui, and had children did I feel like I’d finally become a human being."

"For many years I’ve had nightmares day and night, afraid that everything before my eyes would vanish."

"I know full well my sins are heavy, but I beg that you spare my wife and children. They know nothing of this."

"Master!"

"Father!"

In the distance, the woman and child cried out and tried to rush over, but were stopped by the soldiers.

Li Yan seemed deep in thought and continued to ask, "Within Hangzhou Prefecture, who are the other hidden agents?"

He had thought this fellow would hold something back, but to his surprise Shi Bingwei, tears streaming, spoke out directly: "There are seven internal contacts in Hangzhou: the Shopkeeper of Qinghe Fang Tea House, the sweeping monk of Lingyin Temple, and a Clerk named Zhao Wu in the Weaving Bureau..."

As he spoke, he pointed toward his own study. "Behind the bookshelf, inside the wall, there are secret letters exchanged with them."

Li Yan gave Sha Lifei a look, and Sha Lifei immediately rushed inside.

After a clatter of rummaging, he ran back out with the secret letters in hand, shaking his head. "It’s all written in Japanese. I can’t read it."

Beside him, Salt Transport Envoy Zhu Cong quickly said, "There’s someone in the Hangzhou merchant team who understands Japanese. I’ll have him brought here at once."

Faced with a case of this magnitude, he was shocked, yet somewhat excited.

He hadn’t expected to turn misfortune into blessing this time.

Though he had only been assisting from the sidelines, his name would certainly appear in the record of merits; who knew, his seat might be moving up a notch.

The position of Salt Transport Envoy was indeed a fat one, but there were likewise many eyes fixed on it, and he had been walking on thin ice.

Not daring to slack off in the slightest, he trotted out at once to make arrangements.

There was no small commotion here; they mustn’t let the duck they’d already cooked fly away.

As for Li Yan, he stayed where he was to continue the interrogation. "What, exactly, is your plan here in Hangzhou?"

"At first the plan was to start unrest in Hangzhou to echo Jinling, then lure forces to land and harry the coast. But things failed in Jinling, and with no leader to issue orders, the Demon God we controlled turned on us instead, causing us tremendous losses, so everything was halted..."

What Shi Bingwei said was no different from what they had extracted in interrogation over on the "Qing Chuan" side.

Seeing that the man was not holding anything back, Li Yan continued, "The forces you planned to lure ashore to harry the coast—are they Hideyoshi’s troops?"