Hejin County Town!
Shi Jian led more than fifty garrison soldiers sprinting through the streets, shouting until their throats went hoarse.
"Everyone, move! Leave Hejin County Town at once! Head for Dragon Gate Ferry! Wang Jiayin's bandits are on the way—if you stay, you'll die here!"
Beside them scampered the Titanic Dao Xuan Tianzun, moving with surprising agility for something that technically shouldn't count as a living being.
Li Daoxuan had always thought of himself as a stay-at-home type—an indoor cultivator of the highest order. Yet ever since he'd unlocked statue co-sensing, he'd developed a worrying habit of going outside and causing trouble.
Perhaps no one was truly a homebody. They were merely people who hadn't yet found something outside more entertaining than staying in.
The Titanic Dao Xuan Tianzun, molded from silicone and frighteningly lifelike, blended perfectly into the crowd. Dressed in plain clothes, he looked like nothing more than a slightly aloof young man jogging through the city. No one mistook him for a monster—at worst, they thought he was a refugee with unusually calm eyes.
At first, Li Daoxuan treated this trip like sightseeing.
Then he saw Hejin County Town properly.
Burned-out houses littered the streets. Walls collapsed inward like broken ribs. Gaunt figures wandered aimlessly, eyes empty, expressions numb.
His mood sank.
Most townsfolk, hearing Shi Jian's shouts, hurriedly packed what little they had and followed the soldiers out. Outside the city, personnel were already organizing evacuation routes, guiding people toward Dragon Gate Ferry, where they would be fed and sheltered, and where a water fortress would soon rise.
But not everyone moved.
A small group remained seated amid the ruins, staring blankly into space.
Why run?
Die to bandits.
Die to hunger.
What difference did it make?
Li Daoxuan leaned toward Shi Jian and murmured a few instructions.
Shi Jian nodded sharply, then barked new orders. The soldiers changed their pitch and shouted again as they charged through the streets:
"Everyone, go to Dragon Gate Ferry! There's food—real food, every day! And if you help build the docks and the water fortress, you'll be paid daily!"
That did it.
The hollow-eyed refugees stirred. Food and wages? That sounded better than waiting to be slaughtered like livestock.
More people began to move.
Still—around five hundred remained.
They didn't trust officials.
They trusted soldiers even less.
"Relief food?" someone scoffed. "From soldiers? You expect us to believe that?"
"Paid labor?" another spat. "Working for the army and getting money? I wasn't born yesterday."
Shi Jian felt his scalp tightening.
The soldiers were equally helpless. Fighting bandits? Fine. Killing enemies? No problem. Convincing civilians who'd been betrayed a dozen times already?
That was harder than facing cavalry.
A group of soldiers returned, whispering urgently. "Centurion Shi… there are still over five hundred who won't leave. They think the bandits won't come back."
One soldier hesitated, then said, "Should we… just pull out and retreat?"
Bam!
Shi Jian's fist knocked the man flat.
"Idiot!" Shi Jian roared. "If they don't trust us, that's because soldiers earned this reputation! And now you want to abandon them? If we do that, we deserve every curse they throw at us!"
The beaten soldier scrambled up, covering his face, not daring to reply.
Another asked quietly, "Then… what do we do?"
Silence fell.
At last, Shi Jian turned to the Titanic Dao Xuan Tianzun.
Li Daoxuan climbed onto a half-burned rooftop, surveying the shattered town.
Even if the bandits never return, he thought, this place is finished. Without rebuilding from scratch, no one survives here.
Those five hundred had to leave—whether they liked it or not.
He asked calmly, "You've heard the story of Feilai Peak?"
The soldiers nodded.
"Master Jigong warned a mountain would fall. The villagers didn't believe him. So he grabbed a young woman and ran. Her family chased him… and that's when the mountain crushed the village."
Li Daoxuan folded his arms. "Extraordinary times require extraordinary methods. Even if the method looks wicked—if the result saves lives, it's worth it."
Shi Jian's eyes lit up. "Understood! I'll go grab a—"
Li Daoxuan's eyelid twitched.
"…You'll what?"
Shi Jian blinked.
Li Daoxuan stared at him. "Why is kidnapping women always your first idea?"
Shi Jian froze. "…Isn't that how the story goes?"
Li Daoxuan sighed deeply. "You're soldiers. Be intimidating. Be unreasonable. Be the thing people fear."
Shi Jian slapped his forehead. "Right!"
He rallied his men, all fifty-plus soldiers donning savage expressions as they stormed toward the stubborn group.
Shi Jian snarled, voice cold as iron.
"All of you—move to Dragon Gate Ferry now. Anyone who refuses, I'll chop them up and report them as bandit chiefs!"
The effect was immediate.
The five hundred stiffened. Courage evaporated. Nobody wanted to test whether this was bluff or truth.
They packed up and fled the city at once.
More than ten thousand refugees streamed out of Hejin County Town.
They trudged for dozens of li, dragging children, carrying the elderly, crying all the way. By the time they reached Dragon Gate Ferry, they expected misery.
Instead—
A massive cargo ship was docked at the pier.
Grain was being unloaded nonstop.
A foreman shouted, "What are you staring at? Come help unload—food's waiting!"
At the word food, hesitation became blasphemy.
The refugees surged forward.
Chaos turned into order. The elderly, women, and children began cooking for thousands. Able-bodied men hauled cargo without being asked.
By the time the last arrivals showed up—the five hundred stubborn ones—they froze.
Instead of chains or whips, they saw steaming noodle pots and people working willingly.
Someone whispered, stunned, "They… didn't lie?"
Only then did Shi Jian relax his scowl. He rubbed his face and muttered with a bitter laugh:
"To save you hardheaded fools, this old man had to play the villain for the first time in his life… damn it."