A single day passed in the blink of an eye!
“Director Mu, these are the remains of the missing Xuanbird Guards. Give them a proper burial!”
“As for their compensation, calculate it at ten times the usual rate!”
“Just say it’s on my orders!”
In the Mingxin Prefecture, Lu Xuan had returned once again. With a casual wave of his hand, a flash of purple light flickered and vanished, and fourteen exquisite boxes instantly appeared on the ground.
The deaths of these Xuanbird Guards were, in the end, somewhat related to him.
So Lu Xuan had personally sorted out their remains, one by one, and placed them separately into the boxes.
“Yes!”
After Mu Yun left with the remains of these fallen Xuanbird Guards, Lu Xuan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, slowly casting his gaze toward the door, and murmured to himself.
“Those four people, it seems they’re not dead yet!”
Yesterday, after Lu Xuan killed those four mysterious individuals, he hadn’t left.
Instead, he directly manipulated Shunli Chiyatian, slipping into the void and hiding in the shadows to observe.
Only after a full day had passed, when Lu Xuan saw that those four had not, like that Wu Jiu before, come back to life on the spot, did he finally feel at ease and choose to return to the Mingxin Prefecture.
However, after returning here, he still felt deeply suspicious.
Those four were definitely no ordinary people.
Lu Xuan was ninety percent certain that they likely came from the Eight Great Families.
And the power of the Eight Great Families was extremely mysterious—especially since they wielded the Ten-Patterned Sun Artifacts, said to be the ultimate power of the Great Xia Imperial Dynasty.
“It’s time to make a trip back to Anzhou!”
Baidao Prefecture, Panshi County!
The deep night was dark as ink, shrouding the entire county town.
Only the occasional sound of wind and distant barking of dogs broke the dead silence.
Along both sides of the street hung a few dim, lightless lanterns.
The faint glow from the lanterns barely illuminated the narrow bluestone path.
Near an impressive estate, three figures were hidden in the shadows, blending into the vast darkness of the night.
These three had extremely sharp gazes, closely watching the movements around them, as if waiting for something.
Time quietly slipped by, and it was unclear how long had passed.
Suddenly, a whistling sound cut through the night sky.
In the distance, a blurry figure ran swiftly across the pitch-black street, footsteps light and graceful.
“Very good!”
Among the three hidden in the distant corner, a deep voice sounded, carrying barely suppressed excitement.
“Brother Su, that damned beast has finally shown up.”
Another voice followed closely, its tone filled with gnashing hatred.
“It wasn’t for nothing that I, your uncle, squatted here for five days straight.”
“Cousin Yunqing, it’s our turn to act now.”
The one who spoke first said in a low voice, a hint of coldness in his tone.
“I, your uncle, will make sure this beast and scum knows the methods of Liang Cheng!”
Before the words faded, the three figures moved swiftly and silently, darting out from the shadows like ghosts, quickly pursuing that blurry figure.
The night wind howled, and the lanterns on the street swayed slightly, reflecting the three speeding figures.
And these three were none other than Yellow-Rank Xuanbird Guard Su An, along with Liang Cheng and Lu Yunqing.
“Who goes there!”
That dark figure seemed to sense movement behind him and suddenly turned around, his voice filled with immense panic and alertness.
“You are…”
Before he could finish his words, what greeted him was an enormous fist.
This fist carried fierce wind, heading straight for his face with a powerful strike!
“It’s your uncle Liang Cheng coming for you!”
Liang Cheng’s voice exploded like thunder, his fist mercilessly smashing into the dark figure’s face.
“Crack!”
A crisp sound of bone shattering suddenly cut through the night sky, followed by a heart-wrenching scream.
“Ah—!”
After taking Liang Cheng’s heavy blow, the dark figure’s thin body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground.
In a place where Liang Cheng and the others couldn’t see clearly, the man’s nose bridge was deeply caved in, bright red blood gushing from his mouth and nose.
Such intense pain nearly twisted the mysterious man’s entire face out of shape.
But this wasn’t the end. Liang Cheng and Lu Yunqing exchanged a glance, their eyes flickering with terrifying ferocity.
The two of them didn’t hesitate, instantly closing in and using both hands and feet.
“Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me!”
The mysterious man immediately curled up on the ground, hands covering his face, his voice full of pain and fear.
“It hurts! It hurts so much!”
Cries echoed through the night sky, as if every inch of his bones had been crushed, countless meridians in his body forcibly torn apart.
Liang Cheng sneered, directly stepping on the dark figure’s chest with one foot, looking down at him condescendingly: “Beast, now you know what pain feels like?”
“If I let a beast like you die comfortably, then I, your uncle, wouldn’t need to be in this business anymore!”
Su An also slowly walked over at this point, coldly staring at the dark figure on the ground.
Su An said in a deep voice: “Yan Chengping, speak. Who put you up to this?”
“You dared to set fire to Feng Jin’s entire family!”
“And violated the Feng family’s daughter to death!”
Yan Chengping, pinned under Liang Cheng’s foot, trembled uncontrollably, his voice sounding broken: “I… I don’t know… I was just following orders…”
“Following orders?”
At this moment, Liang Cheng suddenly let out a cold snort, increasing the pressure under his foot.
“Whose orders?”
“Speak!”
“Ah—!”
The dark figure let out another scream, nearly fainting from the pain.
Lu Yunqing frowned and said in a low voice: “Brother Cheng, don’t kill him. We still need to get something useful out of him.”
Liang Cheng curled his lip, slightly easing his foot, his face full of dark lines as he looked at Lu Yunqing speechlessly.
“Cousin Yunqing, you little brat!”
“When we were beating this beast earlier, you were way more ruthless than me!”
As his words fell, Liang Cheng’s gaze inadvertently swept toward Yan Chengping under his foot.
At this moment, Yan Chengping was painfully sprawled on the ground, hands clutching his crotch, curled into a ball in agony.
When Liang Cheng’s gaze landed on Yan Chengping’s crotch, there was a faint dark stain of moisture there.
It was impossible to tell whether Yan Chengping had wet his pants from fear, or whether blood was seeping out after being struck.
After all, when Lu Yunqing made his move, he hadn’t held back at all.
Under the full-force kicks of Lu Yunqing, a martial artist at the Bone-Refining Realm’s great accomplishment stage, even Liang Cheng felt a chill run down his spine.
Anyway, that thing between Yan Chengping’s legs had definitely been stomped to burst by that dark-hearted Lu Yunqing.
Lu Yunqing awkwardly scratched his head, an embarrassed smile involuntarily appearing on his face.
A gentle breeze swept by, carrying away the mysterious man’s cries from the ground, but it couldn’t carry away the thick smell of blood permeating the air.
The figures of Su An, Liang Cheng, and Lu Yunqing appeared especially cold and stern under the dim lanterns.
On the ground, Yan Chengping’s pleas for mercy, mixed with cries, had never stopped.
“Someone! Help!”
Although the pleas grew fainter and fainter, Yan Chengping still desperately shouted, as if trying to grasp the last straw of hope.
“Murder!”
“Murder!”
Su An glanced indifferently at Yan Chengping, then coldly spat out two words: “Take him away!”
Before the words faded, Su An’s figure flickered, turning into an afterimage, speeding off into the distance.
In just a few breaths, Su An disappeared into the night at an extremely fast speed.
Beside him, Liang Cheng looked at Yan Chengping, sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, with a face full of disgust.
Then, he furrowed his brow and muttered in a low voice: “Seems like some trouble, Cousin Yunqing!”
At this moment, Yan Chengping was covered in blood, clothes torn, his face a bloody mess—a truly pitiful sight.
Although Liang Cheng couldn’t help but feel a headache at this moment—this guy was too disgusting.
There wasn’t a single intact spot on his entire body, covered in blood stains, looking as if he’d been fished out of a blood pool.
If Yan Chengping could hear Liang Cheng’s inner thoughts right now, he’d probably die with his eyes wide open in resentment, even in death.
Wasn’t this all the doing of you two bastards!
Lu Yunqing saw this and also wore a look of disgust.
Then, Lu Yunqing frowned and looked around.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he pointed not far away: “Brother Cheng, there’s a piece of ragged cloth over there!”
Liang Cheng looked in the direction Lu Yunqing pointed, and sure enough, there was a dirty piece of ragged cloth in the corner.
“Perfect!”
Without a second thought, Liang Cheng quickly walked over, grabbed the ragged cloth, and shook off the dust.
Then, he quickly walked back to Yan Chengping’s side.
“Yan Chengping, if you weren’t still somewhat useful, I, your uncle, would have killed you long ago!”
Liang Cheng muttered angrily while wrapping Yan Chengping in the ragged cloth, tying him up tightly like a zongzi.
During the binding process, Liang Cheng showed no restraint—he didn’t care about Yan Chengping’s wounds at all.
Lu Yunqing watched Liang Cheng’s movements and couldn’t help but laugh: “Brother Cheng, your technique is quite skilled.”
“Worthy of being the famous constable of Qingyun County!”
Liang Cheng rolled his eyes and said irritably: “Cut the nonsense!”
“Hurry over and give me a hand, carry this beast away!”
“Brother Su is still waiting for us at the Feng estate!”
With that, the two of them worked together to hoist Yan Chengping up, completely ignoring his resistance.
Although Yan Chengping was covered in blood, fortunately he was tightly wrapped in the ragged cloth, so Liang Cheng and the others’ clothes didn’t get dirty.
Liang Cheng complained as he walked: “This damned bastard, looks skinny as hell, why is he so heavy!”
Lu Yunqing, walking ahead, smiled and didn’t reply.
Just like that, the two carried Yan Chengping and quickly pursued in the direction Su An had gone.
The night was deep, the street still silent, only a few dim lanterns swaying in the wind, reflecting the backs of the three figures gradually receding into the distance.
A faint smell of blood permeated the air, as if silently telling that what had just happened was no illusion.
In front of an estate layered with white seals, over a dozen people had long been standing.
This estate emanated an eerie aura, the air filled with the lingering smell of char.
The broken gate hung half-open, swaying in the wind as if it might come crashing down at any moment.
The strips of white seals pasted on this ruined gate seemed out of place, somewhat superfluous.
Looking closely, every person in front of this broken estate wore the official uniform of the county office, expressions solemn, gazes heavy.
They stood quietly in front of the estate, as if waiting for something.
Liang Cheng and Lu Yunqing carried Yan Chengping, slowly walking over from the distant street.
Yan Chengping, wrapped tightly in the ragged cloth like a lifeless corpse, gently swayed with the steps of Liang Cheng and the other.
When they reached the estate, Liang Cheng and Lu Yunqing, with perfect tacit understanding, unceremoniously tossed Yan Chengping aside.
“Thud!”
Yan Chengping’s body crashed heavily to the ground with a dull thud.
The ragged cloth came loose, revealing his bloodied face and blood-soaked body.
Then, Yan Chengping’s body twitched slightly, and then he lay motionless, as if already unconscious.
The county office officials who saw this all revealed expressions of disbelief.
Of course, among them, one official’s face showed a complex expression.
At this moment, an older-looking official cautiously stepped forward and asked in a low voice: “Master Liang, Master Lu.”
“This person… is Yan Chengping?”
Mainly because Yan Chengping had been beaten too badly—even if his own parents came, they wouldn’t recognize him.
Liang Cheng patted the dust off his hands and said coldly: “That’s right, it’s this beast!”
However, just as that official wanted to say more, Liang Cheng had no interest in dealing with him.
Liang Cheng’s gaze was fixed deadly on Yan Chengping on the ground, the corner of his mouth slightly curling into a cold smile.
“Damned thing!”
Liang Cheng cursed in a low voice.
Then he quickly crouched down and yanked open the ragged cloth wrapped around Yan Chengping.
Yan Chengping still had his eyes tightly shut, motionless, as if truly unconscious.
“Playing dead?”
Liang Cheng let out a mocking dry laugh, a flash of jest passing through his eyes.
He reached into his bosom and pulled out an exquisite small porcelain bottle, waving it in front of Yan Chengping’s face, his words carrying a hint of mockery.
“Hehehe!”
“In your uncle Liang Cheng’s hands, the thing I never lack happens to be these miraculous healing medicines.”
As Liang Cheng spoke, he quickly opened the porcelain bottle and poured out a pill emitting a faint, refreshing fragrance.
Then, Liang Cheng roughly pried open Yan Chengping’s mouth and forcefully stuffed the pill in.
“Cough cough cough—”
Yan Chengping choked on the pill, coughing a few times, his eyelids twitching slightly, but he still didn’t open his eyes.
Seeing this, Liang Cheng’s cold smile deepened.
He stood up, raised his right foot, and then, without hesitation, stomped heavily on Yan Chengping’s left hand fingers.
“Ah—!”
A shrill scream suddenly rang out. Yan Chengping’s body jerked upward, the muscles on his face twisting and contorting from the intense pain.
His left hand fingers had been stomped into a bloody mess by Liang Cheng, the sound of bones shattering clearly audible.
“Keep pretending!”
“Keep pretending!”
Liang Cheng’s voice was icy cold, the pressure under his foot increasing further.
Yan Chengping’s screams grew even more shrill, as if his throat would tear apart.
The officials watching nearby were terrified, yet didn’t dare step forward to stop it.
These people knew that the origins of Liang Cheng and the other two were extremely significant.
Moreover, Yan Chengping, this beast, deserved his fate, and he was also a wanted serial rapist that Baidao Prefecture had been offering a bounty for.
In his hands, the blood of countless innocent women had been stained—he was truly deserving of death.
Originally, a serial rapist like Yan Chengping wouldn’t have been qualified to alarm an existence like the Xuanbird Guards.
But the bad thing was!
After the entire Feng family was wiped out, the matter became extremely complex and bizarre.
After the Feng family massacre occurred, dozens of innocent commoners around the Feng family all mysteriously disappeared within a few days.
It was as if they had evaporated from the world, leaving not even a trace.
Since it involved something bizarre, it was related to the Baidao Prefecture’s Xuanbird Guards.
And the one who caused all this, Yan Chengping, naturally entered the Xuanbird Guards’ sight.
Lu Yunqing stood to the side, watching coldly, not a ripple of emotion on his face.
However, if one looked closely, one could discover that Lu Yunqing’s expression faintly revealed something strange.
Lu Yunqing couldn’t help but mutter inwardly.
Why do I keep feeling something’s a bit off?
Damn it!
Cousin Liang Cheng’s method—how is it any different from the brutal, cruel officials I’ve heard about.
