Chapter 503: Chapter 419: Storm (4)

The men eagerly opened the wooden boxes, only to see a dark, paste-like substance inside that gave off a faint, strange fragrance.

"What is this stuff?"

"It’s not gold and silver..."

"Damn it!"

Most of them didn’t recognize the substance and were naturally disgusted. They tossed the wooden boxes to the ground and went back to looting the bodies for money.

In an instant, the area outside the pier descended into chaos.

Scrambling, cursing, brawling...

...

「About an hour later.」

The sound of urgent hoofbeats came from the main road.

"Make way! Everyone, make way!"

A troop of government constables arrived on horseback, cracking their whips to disperse the crowd still lingering about.

Leading them were none other than the Governor of Linjiang and the Linjiang County Captain.

The two dismounted, their gazes sweeping over the field of corpses outside the pier. Their expressions instantly turned incredibly grim.

"The Celestial Sword Sect..."

The Governor of Linjiang felt a massive headache coming on.

He had seen such a gruesome scene several years ago.

Who could have imagined that in just a few short years, it would happen all over again at Jiangkou Pier.

"Investigate! Thoroughly!"

His face ashen, the Governor of Linjiang ordered sharply.

The government constables spread out and began to examine the bodies and collect clues.

The Governor of Linjiang and the County Captain, meanwhile, walked over to the bodies of Jian You, Sword Fear, and Sword Fool, squatting down to examine them closely.

"Sword wounds... Each one was a fatal blow, a Longsword straight through a vital organ."

The County Captain said in a low voice, his expression grave.

"Whoever did this possesses exceptional Swordsmanship."

The Governor of Linjiang’s brow was deeply furrowed, and he was just about to speak.

"Your Excellency! Captain!"

A government constable came running over, cupping a wooden box in his hands.

"Sirs, we found this in one of the crates over there."

The Governor of Linjiang took the wooden box and opened it.

Inside was the dark, paste-like substance, its strange fragrance hitting his nose.

His pupils contracted suddenly.

"Opium Paste?!"

The County Captain leaned in for a look, and his expression changed instantly.

"Where did you find it? How much is there?" the Governor of Linjiang demanded sharply.

"In those crates over there." The government constable pointed to a dozen or so pried-open wooden crates in the distance.

The Governor of Linjiang and the County Captain exchanged a look, and both saw the horror in the other’s eyes.

The two of them strode quickly to the wooden crates.

The lids were open, revealing insides densely packed with identical, thin wooden boxes.

They opened a few at random; all of them contained Opium Paste.

"Go, open the other crates and check them!" the Governor of Linjiang ordered in a grim voice.

The government constables split into several teams and began prying open the remaining crates.

"My Lord, this crate has it too!"

"This one too!"

"It’s all Opium Paste!"

With each report, the hearts of the Governor of Linjiang and the County Captain sank lower and lower.

The two of them stared at the hundreds upon hundreds of large crates, a faint sheen of sweat appearing on their foreheads.

"Don’t tell me... all these crates are filled with Opium Paste?"

The County Captain murmured, his voice hoarse.

The Governor of Linjiang did not reply.

But his expression had become impossibly grim.

Regardless of whether all these crates were filled with Opium Paste, there was one thing he was already certain of...

This was a disaster.

Over a hundred Elders and disciples of the Celestial Sword Sect lay dead at the pier.

Tens of thousands of boxes of Opium Paste, worth millions of taels, had appeared...

Either one of these incidents was enough to shake Jiangzhou and alarm the imperial Court.

And now, the two had collided.

"Lock down the pier!"

The Governor of Linjiang took a deep breath and ordered sharply.

"Seal all the crates! No one gets near them!"

"Send a top-priority express report to the State Magistrate’s Office immediately!"

The government constables acknowledged the order and began to disperse the onlookers and set up a perimeter.

The Governor of Linjiang stood outside the pier, looking at the ground littered with corpses and the crates of Opium Paste, and felt his scalp tingle with dread.

He had no idea what the consequences would be of reporting eighty thousand boxes of Opium Paste.

He knew even less what role the Celestial Sword Sect played in all this, or how the Court would deal with them.

He only knew that a storm was coming.

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