Nine Astra Skies

After using his Astral Body to survey the responses of all the civilians in Donglin City, Ye Chen became somewhat astounded but then quickly realized why they had responded in such a manner. Countless people had already been holding Liu Xun in disdain although they did not dare to speak out against him before this. Since the Second-rank Prince had finally died, these citizens would, of course, feel very emotional.

“On behalf of the House of Ye, I, Ye Chen, order all troops of the Second-Prince’s Palace to disband right away. Otherwise, you’ll all be killed without pardon! If there are still any stubborn people among you who are unwilling to admit defeat, the House of Ye awaits your visit! I announce that the Second-Prince’s Palace will now open their granaries to provide relief to the public. All citizens of Donglin City can each come and get one hundred catties ¹of grains from the palace!” Everyone in both the inner city and the outer city could hear Ye Chen’s voice clearly.

The citizens of Donglin City became dumbstruck when they heard Ye Chen’s announcement. The palace was opening their granaries to provide relief to the public? Everyone could get one hundred catties of grains?

Aside from a few wealthy households and martial arts families, most of the common people in Donglin City lived in poverty, especially the poor living in the outer city who usually would not know when their next meal would come. If the imperial court were to investigate this matter and track down all those who claimed their shares of the grains, these people would be punished as rebels. However, if they did not go and receive their shares of the grains, many of them would probably die of starvation before the imperial court’s army arrived!

After a moment of hesitation, a great number of inhabitants from the inner and outer cities rushed eagerly toward the Second-Prince’s Palace.

They would rather be beheaded than to die of starvation!

Many people had arrived at such a conclusion so the entire city fell into a state of frenzy.

Upon seeing the excited crowds from the inner and outer cities, Ye Chen sighed inwardly. As he used his Astral Body to scan these civilians, he found that the majority of them were nothing but skin and bone and were dressed in tattered garments. Yin Mengtian was right. Such citizens should rise in rebellion indeed. How were they supposed to survive if they did not revolt? Today, he would consider his actions as meritorious and charitable. The gods were always watching over the wicked and the good from above, and Ye Chen believed that he was doing the right thing.

With Ye Chen riding on its back, the Raven Hawk landed in front of the warehouses in the Second-Prince’s Palace.

The moment he landed, Ye Chen noticed a silhouette dashing over rapidly.

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow. It was a mid-Ninth Level combatant. If it had been a month ago, he might have still felt a little wary of a Ninth Level combatant. However, at that moment, a mid-Ninth Level combatant was of no threat to him at all. As he scanned the person with his Astral Body, Ye Chen found that the person was the Xu Clan’s Patriarch, Xu Jian. What was this guy doing here?

Xu Jian secretly felt shocked when he saw Ye Chen as well as the Raven Hawk, the Vermillion Spirit Condor, and the Zephyr White Ape. It had only been a month since they last met but Ye Chen’s capabilities had already become so fearsome. He had even tamed three Tenth Level mystical beasts. Xu Jian could not help shuddering with fear. Certainly, no one in Donglin County was capable of overpowering Ye Chen at this point.

Xu Jian wondered whether it was a blessing or a curse for the Ye Clan to have produced such a character. If Ye Chen could defeat all his enemies and rise quickly as a formidable figure, then it would be a blessing. If not, the Ye Clan would have to face the disaster of being exterminated.

“My esteemed nephew, I’m Xu Jian, the Xu Clan’s Patriarch. I’m a close friend of your father, Ye Zhantian,” Xu Jian said while holding up a fist salute. Although he was a senior to Ye Chen, he did not dare to take advantage of his seniority.

“I remember seeing Uncle Xu before during our last clan celebration. Uncle Xu, you don’t have to be so courteous.” Ye Chen’s impression of Xu Jian was not too negative. Back then, when Liu Zhen scorned the House of Ye, Xu Jian had stood on the House of Ye’s side. Nonetheless, Xu Jian and Ye Zhantian could not be considered close friends, so Ye Chen wondered why exactly Xu Jian had decided to show up here.

“My good nephew, do you know that you’ve committed a huge crime? That Second-rank Prince of Donglin, Liu Xun, had been invested by the imperial court with possession of this county in exchange for his pledged service. As for Liu Kan, he was the imperial court’s Minister of War. By killing them, you’re going to enrage Great Emperor Mingwu,” Xu Jian said. As he glanced at the three mystical beasts by Ye Chen’s side, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. “My nephew, although you have astounding capabilities, Great Emperor Mingwu is already a Heavenly Venerable One. When the time comes, I’m just worried that this incident will cause the Ye Clan to be exterminated, and that Xuanyi, the Master Apothecary, might not be willing to step in.”

All humans in this world had a deep-seated fear in their hearts toward mystical beasts. Even Xu Jian could hardly maintain a calm composure in front of three Tenth Level mystical beasts although he was an experienced and knowledgeable man who was usually capable of staying composed during a tense situation.

“If I didn’t kill Liu Xun and Liu Kan, the people lying dead right now would be from the Ye Clan instead of the Second-Prince’s Palace. I know that you mean well, Uncle Xu, but the House of Ye was forced by the situation to such a thing. If worse comes to worst and Great Emperor Mingwu decides to punish us, the Ye Clan will rebel against the Xiwu Empire and leave!” Ye Chen muttered. Xu Jian was quite a good person since he was putting his life at risk to some extent by coming here and saying these things to Ye Chen. After all, Xu Jian was standing right in front of three Tenth Level mystical beast at the moment!

“Regarding the matter of distributing the grains to provide relief, in my opinion, I don’t think it’s a good idea to do so either. It’s not that I want to keep these grains for myself. It’s just that Donglin County will certainly fall into chaos now that the Second-rank Prince of Donglin is dead. While your decision to use these grains to provide relief to the public is well-intentioned, I doubt that most of the people here are capable of keeping their shares of grains for long. Others will soon come and try to steal it from them. When the time comes, this might even result in their deaths instead.” Xu Jian warily raised his head to take a look at Ye Chen’s expression.

Ye Chen frowned slightly as he had not considered that possibility. If he distributed these grains and caused the deaths of many more people, would that not be a sin instead? A sudden idea occurred to him and he said, “Since the Second-rank Prince of Donglin has died, I hope Uncle Xu could help out with this matter by contacting all the martial arts families in the area and asking them to help stabilize the situation to prevent any riots from happening.”

“Well… I’ll try my best,” Xu Jian replied with a long sigh after pausing to think. Since the Xu Clan was staying in Donglin County, it would not do them any good to have the county fall into chaos.

“Allow me to thank you on behalf of the House of Ye, Uncle Xu,” Ye Chen said while giving a fist salute. It was highly likely that the House of Ye would be forced to leave Donglin County, so they could not devote any attention to running this city!

“My good nephew, you’re too modest. This matter shouldn’t be delayed. I shall go back and contact all the other patriarchs right away.” Xu Jian bid Ye Chen goodbye and left in a hurry.

A few moments later, the common people had arrived at the entrance of the Second-Prince’s Palace. There were many local gangsters and hooligans with martial arts cultivation who initially intended to take advantage of the chaotic situation to come in and plunder the palace but upon seeing these three enormous Tenth Level mystical beasts, they instantly dropped the idea and stayed far away from the place.

To them, Tenth Level mystical beasts were creatures that could never be defeated!

The civilians did not dare to come near when they saw the Tenth Level mystical beasts but many of them were simply too hungry and eventually made their way into the palace while trembling with fear.

“Those who wish to receive their share of grains should stand in line over here!” Ye Chen said while pointing at the space beside him when he saw the civilians coming in.

The people hurriedly formed a line and stared warily at the huge Zephyr White Ape as they were afraid that the Zephyr White Ape might suddenly become violent and attack them.

Ye Chen swept his gaze over the crowd and saw that these people had a pale, anemic complexion and an extremely thin figure. If a gust of wind were to blow at them, they would probably struggle to remain on their feet. The sight of their tattered clothing made Ye Chen feel rather sad for them.

“Can you guys carry one hundred catties of grains?” Ye Chen asked and looked at the crowd.

The people exchanged helpless glances and then nodded but did not dare to reply.

“Take out the grains in the warehouse,” Ye Chen ordered.

With a thunderous bang, the Zephyr White Ape smashed open the entrance of a warehouse and picked up a bag of grains with two fingers.

“The first person can come over here. This bag of grains is yours now,” Ye Chen said while pointing at a thin middle-aged man who stood at the front of the line.

The middle-aged man looked fearfully at the Zephyr White Ape, which was almost five meters tall. Seeing as the Zephyr White Ape had used only two fingers to pick up a hundred-catty item, his fear toward mystical beasts grew immensely. However, in the end, he could not withstand the temptation of the grains and slowly walked forward.