Chaotic World Book-Chapter 454 - 441: Erhai

Li Si’an was too lazy to investigate the tax silver robbery. He was indeed quite loyal to his identity as a secret agent of the Demon Suppression Department, but he had no intention of helping his Ba Shu colleagues with their work, especially with Zhao Changhe around. Depending on the nature of his relationship with the chief, whether he felt like investigating depended on his interest alone.

According to Li Si’an’s bandit-sensitive judgment, perhaps Zhao Changhe was even an accomplice to the robbers...

He continued traveling south with Zhao Changhe, who was posing as Wang Daozhong, and whispered, "Actually, the tax silver of the Southwest Provincial Government was lost once already in early spring... The Imperial Court had planned for this batch of silver taels to go directly downstream to support Jiangnan in the suppression of Maitreya, but it was lost before reaching Shu... so the initially intended tax silver for Shu to be sent to Jiangnan also stayed put temporarily..."

Zhao Changhe narrowed his eyes.

Was it all done by Li Shentong?

Or was it more of a case of ’if I don’t rob it, someone else will, so I might as well’?

"At that time, the chief was about to have a decisive battle with Maitreya on Tai Lake and couldn’t spare effort to investigate this case, so the Imperial Court sent other officials to investigate. In the end, they said it was stolen by thieves, and nothing more came of it..." Li Si’an said, "In any case, the Demon Suppression Department here had clues pointing to Li Shentong, which were reported to the chief. Of course, given Li Shentong’s significant status, no one could really investigate the Divine Brilliance Sect, so the matter indeed came to nothing."

Zhao Changhe nodded, "I see..."

"Oh, to say the investigation did nothing isn’t quite true; they did do something. Under the pretext of searching for thieves, they scraped the land clean. Anyone who dared resist slightly was labeled a silver robbery bandit, with family ruin and loss of life being the lighter consequences." Li Si’an said, "Situ Xiao once killed a few officials on the spot for these matters, and his so-called travel is just a prettier way of saying he’s out to dodge the heat."

Zhao Changhe felt a starkly discordant sensation. Was Situ Xiao trying to make amends for the troubles he had caused?

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Is Li Shentong wary of Zhai Muzhi? Or is he simply cautious of the Imperial Court?"

"How would I know? Does Li Shentong tell me his thoughts?"

"...Is there still an Inspector of Yi State around? I haven’t heard of one."

"The Imperial Court Inspector only has authority to monitor, the true power lies with the Governor. However, that also varies... Well, do you think the Governor of Huiji has more power than Tang Buqi? Let alone the power of Qinghe Langya."

"...Then who is supporting Zhai Muzhi from behind? I haven’t heard of any Aristocratic Family in Ba Shu at the level of King Cui."

"There isn’t one, but if you had to say there was, maybe the Ba Mountain Sword House could count... Didn’t I tell you before? Many people from Ba Shu have gone to the Sword House to pay homage to the swords, and numerous members of the Zhai family have been there too."

Zhao Changhe nodded, then shook his head.

A single expert isn’t necessarily capable of sustaining a large power, but a large power cannot exist without experts. Often, masters can indeed turn the tide of great matters. A power without top-notch experts is prone to decline.

The master of Sword Pavilion, Wuding, had risen to the sixth position on the Earth List after Maitreya’s death. There were only a dozen or so people in the world stronger than him, certainly qualified enough to support a regional power.

But Zhao Changhe still felt that if Li Shentong was wary, it was of Xia Longyuan from afar. If it was worries about the immediate situation, it wouldn’t amount to concern of an Earth List level unless Ba Shu or the soon-to-arrive Miao Region still harbored individuals capable of restraining Li Shentong’s fury.

For instance, the sixth on the Heavenly List, whose identity no one knew, the master of Listening Snow Pavilion, Snow Eagle.

That was the real number six.

...

Miao Region was just a general term. In reality, the term used by people like Li Si’an for the "hundred tribes" was more accurate. There were many tribes, and many were different from what Zhao Changhe knew in his time, many of them unheard of.

The customs weren’t necessarily full of singing, dancing, and warm hospitality; barbaric beliefs of primitive tribes and intertribal conflicts were common, and it wasn’t an overstatement to say that they were not fully civilized.

Geographically, it was also undeveloped; it was not the tourist-rich province known to Zhao Changhe’s memories. Poisonous miasma, mosquitoes, fierce beasts, and primeval jungles were everywhere, with winding and narrow paths. The tribes were not necessarily friendly to Xia people, and robbery was a common affair.

For Xia people, "soothing" was all they could do; they had no real control. Self-rule was the main governance among the tribes, and within them, there was no single Heavenly List warrior to keep order across the regions. Earth List, Human List, and Hidden Dragon List had some presence, but mutual disdain led to utter chaos.

Ordinary merchant caravans did not dare trade here lightly. Only merchants like Li Si’an, grounded in martial arts expertise, dared to come and go. For Yue Hongling, seeking refuge here was extremely suitable. Even Xia Longyuan found such places to be a headache, hard to conquer, and even harder to govern. How could Sword Pavilion hope to control this land? They could only rely on familiar forces to slowly search...

After half a month of arduous travel through mountains and forests, Zhao Changhe’s party finally reached the plains. They were fortunate along the way, not encountering any robbers, but they had plenty of run-ins with venomous insects and wild beasts—many in the caravan were stung to the point of looking like the Buddha.

This gave Zhao Changhe a good opportunity to practice using the Rejuvenation Technique. With his current mastery of the technique, it was particularly effective against such afflictions, and accumulating experience in treating various insect poisons was beneficial for its advancement.

They arrived at their destination without any mishap, feeling a team leaner and dirtier. Wuzhui was nearly beyond riding, prompting an involuntary recollection of a certain female knight’s condition from Zhao Changhe.

All talk of romance in the Worldly Society was deceitful...

As Zhao Changhe was sniffling, a large lake appeared on the distant horizon.

Under the sunlight, the lake shimmered, clear as brocade, as beautiful as a fairyland.

The lake stretched in a long strip, slightly narrower from east to west, boundless from north to south, with thousands of acres of blue waves, it was practically like an ocean.

To the people here, this was the sea.

Erhai.

Looking into the distance, plains and grasslands lined the shores, with herdsmen grazing their horses, an abrupt contrast to the rugged terrain that lay behind them. It felt as if this could be a secret realm, and it wouldn’t seem out of place.

Just around this lake, countless tribes could sustain their livelihoods. And this was just one small part of the Southwest, with its vast expanse of other territories, endless mountains, and lakes, where one could truly spend years searching for a person.

Li Si’an sighed with relief, "We’ve arrived. There is a town ahead where various tribes come together for trade. Does it remind you of Yellow Sand Market? Oh, the grassland before we reached Yellow Sand Market."

Zhao Changhe was still absorbed in the beautiful scenery, full of admiration, "I thought that coming here would mean sneaking into each tribe’s stronghold. I didn’t expect the far south and north to be so strikingly similar, as if the Creator tore the same thing in two and placed the halves at the ends of the earth."

Li Si’an cracked the whip and laughed heartily, "The sea is vast, heaven and earth are boundless, perhaps Divine Continent within the world is but a grain of millet, and what then is south or north?"

Eh?

Zhao Changhe twitched the corners of his mouth, as he, a modern man, had been outdone by an ancient in displaying a modern view of the world. Of course, this wasn’t the modern understanding, but rather the contemplation of an intellectual of this world on the nature of the world, which was quite impressive.

Who wouldn’t know how to act high and mighty, "Whether it is the south or the north, it falls under my definition. Whoever has the right to define is the master of the world."

"Eh..." Li Si’an also gave him a glance but said nothing in the end.

Zhao Changhe stopped paying attention to him and thought about taking a bath.

Seeing that Zhao Changhe was itching to jump into the sea, Li Si’an grabbed him, "Bathing in the wild is inconvenient. If we encounter horse bandits, would you fend them off with your hammer? Let’s go into town first, you’ll get to wash there."

Zhao Changhe: "..."

The town was called Xizhou, and it turned out to be a bit of a trick by Li Si’an — it was actually quite a distance away, and they only arrived by the seaside at dusk.

Of course, being a town, it was naturally larger than Yellow Sand Market, and more beautiful.

How could the endless expanse of yellow sand compare to this place, nestled between mountains and waters, where birds sang and flowers fragranced? Instead of resembling Yellow Sand Market, it bore more of a resemblance to the elegance of Suzhou and Hangzhou.

The town was bustling, with the diverse clothing of the Alien Clan dazzling the eyes. It was a pity Zhao Changhe couldn’t distinguish which attire belonged to which clan; at a glance, they all looked similar... Among them, quite a few girls wore short tops that revealed their midriffs, walking unconcernedly on the streets, with passersby paying no mind, as if it were perfectly normal.

However, when people saw Zhao Changhe and the others leading horses into town, the previously calm atmosphere began to feel somewhat eerie. There were many exchanging glances, and it was unclear whether they were conveying caution or malice toward the Xia people, causing Zhao Changhe to frown slightly.

"Hey, Xia didn’t conduct any massacres here or anything, right?"

"No. But once, they killed a Heavenly List warrior here, which scattered the just-united tribes into seventeen or eighteen pieces." Li Si’an looked at him even more strangely, "Hey, didn’t you study a lot of history? I heard the Head Instructor taught you personally. What were you doing during classes?"

Kissing the teacher’s ass.

Zhao Changhe was near tears; whenever it was time for history or culture classes, he felt like sleeping. Was it my fault... well, it was the teacher’s fault for not making it interesting. They should have told the stories in a vivid and engaging way, as anecdotes instead of history, that would make someone want to plug their ears, just like that.

"So because they killed their revered king, the people here are unfriendly to us?"

"Killing the Black Miao King would at most make the Black Miao people unfriendly. The other tribes gained autonomy, and they rejoiced with excitement." Li Si’an lowered his voice, "Besides, that’s old resentment, and it wouldn’t likely cause... The present aloofness can only be due to current problems with the Provincial Government."

Zhao Changhe nodded slightly, asking, "What’s the story with Lei Ao?"

"He can be considered a hero of sorts... Originally, he was just a common tribal leader among his people, his cultivation hadn’t reached the Heaven, Earth, and Human List level, but it wasn’t too shabby either, probably around the Eighth or Ninth Layer of the Mystical Gate. In his early years, he engaged in all sorts of professions in such trading towns. Because he was magnanimous and honorable and had connections with various tribal leaders, he gradually grew in stature within the town, becoming a local strongman, known as ’Lei the Tiger.’"

Zhao Changhe was just wondering why all local strongmen named Lei were called ’Lei the Tiger’ when their carts arrived outside a large tent. A man emerged, his voice booming like a bell, "Ha... I was just thinking that Fourth Brother should be about to arrive, and sure enough. Uh... and this is..."

Zhao Changhe looked at the newcomer, who had a full beard, looked powerful and robust, with the force of a galloping horse—indeed, he did have the look of a "Lei the Tiger."

But having encountered Ba Tu previously, Zhao Changhe did not dare to underestimate these seemingly brash strongmen; who knew if he was another tricky character.

He carried a reserved smile, gave a slight bow, and responded indifferently, "I am Langya Wang Daozhong."

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