Chapter Sixty-Five: Turbulent Times in the Martial World

A heavy black fog swallowed Yang Sheng. This time, Yang Sheng kept his eyes open the entire time, wanting to see what exactly was inside the black fog.

Unfortunately, he could only see a patch of pitch black. When light finally appeared before his eyes once more, it was still night, with only scattered starlight and lanterns shining.

Yang Sheng sized up his surroundings at the very first moment.

This did not seem to be a modern world. The surroundings were filled with ancient architecture. Yang Sheng was not a history major, so he had no way of telling which dynasty this was.

At the moment, he was crouching on the roof of a tall building, dressed in a black martial arts uniform, with black armor hanging from his chest and shoulders. The attire looked slightly bizarre.

At that moment, lines of blood-red text emerged in his mind.

Time: The 18th Year of Jianxing, Great Zhou Dynasty
Location: The Capital
Background: The Great Zhou Dynasty has ruled for two hundred years. Surrounded by powerful enemies on all sides, plagued by natural and man-made disasters, beacon fires are burning everywhere.
In the north, the Golden Tent Khanate has invaded the nine northern prefectures, while the Jurchens are rising in the east, pressing closer step by step.
In the south, the Miaojiang Saint Lord’s uprising rages on, and internally, thirty-six giant bandit factions are wreaking havoc in the Central Plains.
Temples and martial realms alike, the people cannot live in peace.
Supreme heroes find it hard to endure the vicissitudes of time.
Martial Dao, Tantric Buddhism, Xuan-cultivation, Buddhism, Chuuma...
In this chaotic era of the pugilistic world, who can truly be called a hero?
World Level: Upper Profound Grade
Main Quest: Ensure the survival of Emperor Zhou Heng of the Great Zhou for three months.
Reward: Martial Gang Pulse

Beneath the blood-red text, as usual, was the black personal information.

Personal Information:
Name: Yang Sheng
Strength Evaluation: Nine-Turn Peak
Title: Reincarnator
Identity: Chief Constable of the Capital Anti-Bandit Office in the Great Zhou (Identity upgraded because the Reincarnator sacrificed the Wuzhou Imperial Token)
Divine Heritage: City God (Inheritance: 5%)
Specializations: National Martial Arts Specialization 92%, Xinyu Saber Technique Specialization 90%, Maoshan Secret Arts Specialization 18%
Weapon: Imperial Guard Saber
Status: Power of Yinggou
Skills: Blood Alliance, Five-Fierce Soldier Soul
Remarks: Technological weapons exceeding the technological upper limit of this world cannot be used.

Yang Sheng tested it and found that he indeed could not pull out the Leisen air pistol and the Vost pocket laser cannon.

Checking his memories, this time, because of his upgraded identity, the Reincarnation System gave Yang Sheng a simple memory outline, allowing him to check the general background of this identity.

After reading it, Yang Sheng suddenly felt that this identity upgrade was somewhat of a trap.

The so-called Great Zhou Dynasty before him bore similarities to several dynasties in his memory, all of which were eras of dying imperial courts and widespread turmoil.

His position as the Chief Constable of the Anti-Bandit Office sounded quite imposing, but in reality, he was just a minor official catching thieves, barely holding the ninth rank.

Moreover, Yang Sheng’s current identity was previously a grand bandit of the martial world. Coinciding with the imperial court's amnesty, he had turned from a thief into an official, and now he was catching thieves instead.

The most frustrating part was that the reincarnation task was to ensure the emperor did not die for three months, yet a minor ninth-rank official like himself could not even catch a glimpse of the emperor's face. Heaven knows if the emperor would be assassinated tonight.

Furthermore, the Great Zhou Dynasty valued civil officials over military ones, and military generals held low status, let alone a minor constable like him.

Yang Sheng’s ears twitched, and his gaze turned toward the distant long street.

It was already the middle of the night, yet dozens of people were engaged in a fierce battle on the long street.

This group was divided into three factions, fighting over something unknown.

With Yang Sheng’s current spiritual and perceptive powers, he could see clearly even in the pitch-black night. He lay prone on the eaves, carefully observing the combat level of these people.

"Their physical fitness is quite strong, but it hasn't broken the limits of ordinary mortals. Their weapon specialization level should be quite good; both their swordplay and saber techniques have distinct features.

After all, this is the ancient era, and the opportunities to use weapons are far greater than in modern times.

However, they occasionally use some peculiar force-generating techniques, allowing certain moves to erupt with tremendous power.

This is definitely different from the techniques used by most national martial arts styles to generate force through body joints, and it is even somewhat extremely unreasonable.

Could this force-generating technique be internal energy?

Still, given their innate physical foundation, this force-generating technique suspected to be internal energy is not too exaggerated.

The strongest among these people should only be around the early Nine-Turn realm in terms of strength."

Yang Sheng quickly formed a rough judgment of their strength.

However, he did not underestimate this world either.

This world was a Profound-grade world, and its upper limit of strength would definitely not be low.

He wondered if this was because his second world had mutated into a Profound-grade world. Logically speaking, a newcomer at his Nine-Turn level rarely experienced Profound-grade worlds; most were Yellow-grade.

Yet out of Yang Sheng's three worlds, two were Profound-grade, which could be described as hellish difficulty.

"Boss, our job is getting harder and harder to do.

In broad daylight—well, right in the middle of the capital—they are fighting brazenly on the streets. They truly don't regard our Anti-Bandit Office as human beings at all."

A young sword-wielder, also dressed in a black martial arts uniform but without armor, leapt over from the roof of another building, landing without the slightest sound.

This youth appeared to be only in his early twenties, with delicate and gentle features, giving off an ambiguous, androgynous vibe.

"This wretched position of ours cops grievances from both sides. We can't afford to offend anyone, and if we do nothing, we still get reprimanded by those officials. We really are caught in the middle and blamed by everyone."

A voice full of allure came from the other side.

That was a woman wearing a fiery-red tight-fitting long dress, appearing to be in her twenties or early thirties. Her face was charming and exquisite, her figure curvaceous, exuding a ripe and alluring charm.

"If you ask me, being government runners isn't nearly as gratifying as being people of the martial world!

Boss, why don't we just rebel against these bastards, occupy a mountain stronghold, and live a life of carefree leisure!"

A scarred, bald, and burly man wearing armor also climbed up onto the roof, looking fierce and violent.

These three were subordinates Yang Sheng had previously commanded in the martial world, who had followed him to surrender to the imperial court and become constables of the Anti-Bandit Office.

The delicate and gentle youth was called Yin Wuxie, peerless in lightness kung fu and swift swordplay.

The curvaceous and fiery woman was called Ye Meiniang, skilled in poisonous arts and hidden weapons.

The burly man at the end was called Chen Da, reckless by nature but born with divine strength.

Yang Sheng gazed at the people engaged in the fierce battle and said calmly, "Occupy a mountain as king and live a life of carefree leisure? That depends on the timing.

In today's chaotic world, who can we rob? The major martial sects or those warlord rebels?

The thirty-and-six giant bandit factions of the Central Plains have swept up over a hundred thousand people; that is what you call occupying a mountain as king.

Don't be naive. Since we've entered the imperial court, we must play by the court's rules.

However, you are right about one thing: we can no longer go on living this aggrieved life.

Having learned literary and martial arts, one sells them to the Emperor's household.

Since we are selling this set of skills, we must sell them for a good price.

The direct superior of the Anti-Bandit Office is the Mayor of Shuntian. That old fellow is timid and submissive himself, afraid to offend anyone, let alone protect us.

Therefore, we should also consider changing our superiors.

Since these people are so arrogant, their backgrounds must not be simple, right?"

Yin Wuxie said in a deep voice, "One faction consists of retainers raised by the Eighth Prince, and another faction comprises guards from Grand Tutor Cai's estate.
The last wave should be people from the Imperial Guardian Office under Chief Eunuch Han of the inner court."

In the memories within Yang Sheng's mind, there was a general introduction to the various factions and major figures in the capital.

The Eighth Prince was the current emperor's uncle, but only a few years older than the emperor.

Because the previous emperor died young, the Eighth Prince had always believed he would become emperor—passing the throne from brother to younger brother—only to be verbally crushed and driven out by a group of civil officials in the end.

However, because the Grand Empress Dowager was still alive, and the Eighth Prince was deeply favored by her, he had always acted extremely arrogantly and defiantly, gathering many retainers under his banner.

Grand Tutor Cai was a powerful reigning minister and held half the sky for the civil officials of the Great Zhou. The guards of the Grand Tutor's estate were all experts from the martial world.

As for Chief Eunuch Han, the inner court supervisor, he was the emperor's confidant. The Imperial Guardian Office was nominally responsible for the safety of the imperial city, but in reality, it felt somewhat like the embroidered uniform guards.

Yang Sheng narrowed his eyes and said, "These three are all powerful and influential figures. No matter which one we follow, it will be better than our current predicament.

Let's go help one faction beat away the other two later; consider that our token of allegiance."

"Then which faction shall we choose to help, Boss?"

Chen Da asked excitedly, eager to make a move.

Working in this Anti-Bandit Office was simply too frustrating.

Nominally they managed the capital's security, but in reality, they dared not touch this person or arrest that person, restricted to dealing with petty thieves.

"Adding flowers to embroidery is never as good as sending charcoal in snowy weather. Of course, we choose to help the weakest! Move out!"

At Yang Sheng's command, the four of them leaped down from the roof and charged straight into the battlefield.