Chapter 257: Han Xin (Subscriptions and Votes Requested)

"This is too much!" Seeing this, Shi Lan could hardly bear to watch any longer and prepared to teach this good-for-nothing rogue a lesson.

"Thud!"

Just as the man was about to kneel, a hand suddenly rested on his shoulder, and a voice rang out, "Even if you don't care about kneeling, I still think a man shouldn't just kneel down so easily."

"Who the hell are you? What? Trying to stand up for Han Xin?" the rogue shouted unhappily upon seeing someone step in to help Han Xin.

"Bang!"

Impatient, Xiao Xie flicked his hand in a palm strike, instantly sending the rogue flying through the air. The man crashed heavily into the river, splashing up a wave of water.

"This is for you!" Ignoring the cries for help from the rogue he had just batted away, Xiao Xie produced a cyan token and shoved it into Han Xin's hand. Then, ignoring the astonished Han Xin, he turned around, took Shi Lan's hand, and walked away.

"The master of the Tower to Heaven! Xiao Xie!" Looking at the two characters "Tower to Heaven" engraved on the token in his hand, and then gazing at Xiao Xie's departing back, Han Xin muttered in utter shock.

With the release of the newspaper, almost everyone had learned of the immense value of the Sky-Ascension Token. However, since these tokens were personally bestowed by the master of the Tower to Heaven, very few people had ever laid eyes on one in person, let alone received one.

Han Xin solemnly put away the token. Although he did not know whether Xiao Xie had helped him on a whim or because he had recognized his extraordinary potential, Han Xin committed this favor to memory.

"Big Brother Xiao, do you know that man from just now?" Shi Lan asked Xiao Xie with a hint of curiosity. She wasn't surprised that Xiao Xie had intervened, but giving him a cyan Sky-Ascension Token felt a bit unusual.

Xiao Xie smiled and said, "Han Xin is a genius of rare caliber, but he is currently at his lowest ebb. I gave him the token just to plant a seed of good karma; who knows, I might find a use for him in the future."

"Oh," Shi Lan nodded, half-understanding.

"Alright, let's not talk about him anymore. Your martial arts are too poor, and I'm a bit worried. Once we get back, I'll teach you a few forms of martial arts so that you can protect yourself when I'm not around!" Xiao Xie tapped the tip of Shi Lan's nose affectionately, speaking with doting fondness.

"Heehee..." Shi Lan blushed slightly and stuck out her delicate tongue. Her martial arts were fine for dealing with ordinary people, but against second-rate martial artists, she would find herself overmatched. In just these past few days, had Xiao Xie not appeared in the nick of time, she would have died twice already.

...

In Xianyang Palace, Ying Zheng looked at the battle report transmitted back, the veins on his forehead throbbing violently. He had reached the very edge of fury. Throwing the bamboo slip in his hand hard against the floor, he glared at the civil and military officials below and roared in rage, "The entire army annihilated! Fifty thousand Black Armored Guards wiped out by a thousand men from the Tower to Heaven in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea! Is this the battle report you expect Us to read?!"

Faced with the furious Ying Zheng, the ministers in the imperial court stood like cicadas in winter, terrified that the emperor would vent his wrath upon them.

"If fifty thousand Black Armored Guards cannot flatten the Tower to Heaven, send one hundred thousand! If one hundred thousand isn't enough, send five hundred thousand! My armies are invincible; We refuse to believe We cannot take down a mere Tower to Heaven!"

Ying Zheng roared with indignation. He was the sovereign who had unified the six states; the six states themselves could not stop him, let alone some petty Tower to Heaven.

"Your Majesty, please calm your wrath. This time, the defeat of the Black Armored Guards was far too swift and exceedingly bizarre. Unless we figure out what weapons the Tower to Heaven used, sending more troops will simply be sending them to their deaths," Luna stepped forward to say.

Hearing this, Ying Zheng calmed down somewhat. The total annihilation of the fifty thousand Black Armored Guards was not the real issue; the crux of the matter was that their enemy numbered only a thousand, and most astonishingly, the Tower to Heaven had wiped out the entire force in the span of a single cup of tea.

If they failed to uncover the weapons and hidden cards utilized by the Tower to Heaven, Qin might exist in name only even if they managed to flatten the tower. After all, although Ying Zheng had conquered the six states, numerous rebellious remnants of those states still lingered in the shadows. Once Qin's military strength suffered severe losses, those rebels would undoubtedly seize the opportunity to overthrow the entire Qin Empire.

"Zhao Gao, the Net organization under your charge is the empire's largest intelligence network. We command you to investigate as quickly as possible the weapons and trump cards used by the Tower to Heaven to annihilate the Black Armored Guards!" Ying Zheng ordered Zhao Gao.

"This slave obeys!" Zhao Gao bowed respectfully.

"Tower to Heaven! Xiao Xie!" Ying Zheng clenched his fists tight, his gaze cold as he looked in the direction of Qingyun City. Until he discovered the Tower to Heaven's trump card, it seemed he could not move against Xiao Xie just yet.

Yet at the thought of the weapon the Tower to Heaven used to obliterate fifty thousand Black Armored Guards, a surge of fiery ambition ignited in Ying Zheng's heart once more. Initially, his objective had merely been to acquire the papermaking method, but now he was even more captivated by the weaponry employed by the tower. If he could obtain the manufacturing methods for those weapons, who could possibly stop the iron hooves of Qin? By then, even the Xiongnu would be nothing more than a pack of stray dogs.

...

With the release of the latest issue of the newspaper, the news that fifty thousand Black Armored Guards had been wiped out by the Tower to Heaven spread far and wide. The entire world was shaken, and common folk everywhere buzzed with discussion, all of them talking about this monumental event.

"Hey, have you guys read today's newspaper?"

"I read it ages ago. Who would have thought the Tower to Heaven's strength is so terrifying? They wiped out fifty thousand Black Armored Guards in one fell swoop!"

"What do you think the emperor will do next? Will he keep sending troops to attack the Tower to Heaven?"

"Hard to say. The Divine Might Cannons of the Tower to Heaven possess immense power; they fired just two rounds and wiped out fifty thousand men. Wanting to attack that tower now is probably as hard as ascending to the heavens."

...

In the backyard of the Returning Sea Manor, Old Man Ban and the others were gathered together, and Zhang Liang was present as well.

"With the Tower to Heaven wiping out fifty thousand Black Armored Guards this time, Ying Zheng must be fit to burst with rage. Hahaha..." After finishing the newspaper, Thief Tuo laughed joyfully.

"The Grand Master did a truly magnificent job this time! Fifty thousand Black Armored Guards—even Ying Zheng will feel the pinch from this loss for a while!" Big Hammer chimed in, unable to suppress the overwhelming joy on his face.

"Although Qingyun City is still nominally part of Qin, everyone knows it is now completely under the control of the Tower to Heaven. In reality, it has become an independent city-state of its own," Duanmu Rong said calmly, though a trace of uncontainable delight lingered in her tone.

The Tower to Heaven was Xiao Xie's enterprise, and Xiao Xie was the Grand Master of the Mohists. The destruction of the fifty thousand Black Armored Guards by the tower allowed Thief Tuo and the others to see hope for overthrowing Ying Zheng, so their heartfelt joy was entirely natural.

"Alright, let Ying Zheng be the one to tear his hair out over this!" Old Man Ban stroked his beard with gloating satisfaction, then turned to ask Zhang Liang, "Could it be that Mister Zhang has come here this time because you have discovered the secret of the Black Dragon Scroll?"

Hearing Old Man Ban's words, Thief Tuo and the others temporarily suppressed their inner joy and looked expectantly at Zhang Liang.

"Zifang did indeed come here today to speak of the Black Dragon Scroll, but why is Master Xiao not present?" Zhang Liang asked with a puzzled expression.

"Our Grand Master has always been elusive; heaven knows what he's been busy with these past few days. Mister Zhang, whatever you have to say, you can share it with us first!" Thief Tuo said hurriedly.

Zhang Liang nodded upon hearing this and said, "That is fine as well. As top-secret imperial documents, to prevent their contents from leaking, the empire always employs some specialized cryptographic language to compose them. And the Black Dragon Scroll this time was written using precisely such a cryptographic system known as 'Qianji' (A Thousand Machines)."

"Qianji Cryptography?" The group looked at Zhang Liang with puzzled expressions.

"This is an even more advanced cryptographic system independently created by the Yin-Yang School. Building upon traditional cipher methods, it incorporates the principles of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Therefore, whether considering the patterns in character selection or the arrangement order of the chosen characters, there are a total of one million possible variations," Zhang Liang explained.

"A million possibilities?! Good grief, then who on earth could ever crack it?" Big Hammer felt his head ache the moment he heard of a million variations.

Zhang Liang smiled and said, "True, even a genius of peerless intellect would find it utterly impossible to decode the Qianji cryptography purely out of thin air. However, a lock is designed with a key in mind, and every lock has its own key."