Leaving, Pursuers!

A fierce tiger descending a mountain was drawn on the parchment, with hundreds of tiny characters beneath it.

The Tiger Fist of the Xingyi Fist.

"It really is the Xingyi Fist!"

Qin Ming was overjoyed. Forcing down his excitement, he tucked the parchment into his sleeve.

Before long, Qin Ming found the other boot, which also contained a sheet of parchment.

The Snake Fist of the Xingyi Fist.

Qin Ming remembered this Snake Fist well. Not long ago, he had suffered a crushing defeat at Yuan Lie's hands.

After putting both fist techniques away, Qin Ming continued searching the corpses.

"Mine! That's mine!"

"Get lost! I saw it first!"

Some people came to blows over the silver.

Seeing the people from the Eight Trigrams Martial Arts Academy arriving one after another, Qin Ming promptly stopped.

The corpses had already been more or less picked clean. He had a large sum of silver on him, and the high-denomination silver notes he had taken from Yuan Lie alone amounted to a fortune.

"Where's that traitor Yan Yangtian?"

Lu Liu slapped his forehead, suddenly remembering his eldest senior brother, Yan Yangtian.

"That's right, where is Yan Yangtian? That beast injured Master. Don't let him get away!"

Everyone searched all around, only then realizing that Yan Yangtian had vanished without a trace at some point.

"Forget it. Leave that traitor alone. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible."

Pei Heng took a deep breath as he spoke, pressing a hand against the wound at his waist. Blood was faintly seeping through the white bandages wrapped around it.

Pei Heng, Huo Zheng, and Qin Ming, their three Flesh Refining Realm fighters, had all suffered injuries of varying severity. If the Ninth Boss of Clearwind Stronghold caught up with them, only death awaited.

Pei Heng brought over more than ten carriages from the Eight Trigrams Martial Arts Academy, and Huo Zheng also obtained quite a few. Some of the town's lineages had their own carriage trains and had only packed up some money and property deeds. The poor commoners who wanted to leave but had no other choice could only follow behind the convoy.

"Since we've decided to go, let's leave quickly. Don't waste time."

Huo Zheng urged them on. For some reason, he had a bad feeling.

"Xiao Xi, come over here."

Qin Ming brought Wang Shun and his family of three along, and together with Embroiderer, the five of them rode in one carriage.

The wound on Wang Shun's back was rather severe, but there was no time to treat it now. They had only stopped the bleeding and bandaged it.

"Brother Qin, your arm..."

Embroiderer pointed at Qin Ming's fractured left arm.

"Bear with it!"

Pei Heng took hold of Qin Ming's left arm, turned it several times, and suddenly applied force. A crack rang out, and Qin Ming frowned slightly. His fractured left arm had actually returned to normal.

"Rest and recuperate for a few days. You mustn't fight anyone, or there's a good chance it'll break again."

Pei Heng gave him a few more words of advice.

Soon, the convoy departed in a vast procession.

"Wait! We haven't gotten on yet!"

Some people had hurried home to pack their gold, silver, and valuables, delaying themselves. In the end, they could only watch helplessly as the convoy departed.

"Forget it. Let's find somewhere to lie low until this blows over. We'll come out again in a few days, when it's safe."

"It's just as well they've left. Those bandit corpses haven't all been searched yet. There must be plenty of silver left. We're going to strike it rich!"

"Creak..."

As the convoy passed the yamen, its tightly shut gates slowly opened. Liao Jun rode out on horseback, followed by several carriages and more than a dozen horses. Numerous yamen runners were among them, including Wang Bo.

"What a coincidence, everyone! Are you headed to Qingyang County?"

Liao Jun laughed heartily. "As it happens, I'm going to Qingyang County too. How about we travel together?"

With that, he ignored whether they agreed or not and led the yamen runners into the convoy.

No one spoke, though they were angry.

While the bandits had been burning, killing, and looting in Qingshan Town, Liao Jun and his fellow yamen runners had shut their doors and done nothing. Now that the bandits had been wiped out and it was safe, they finally came out.

They were a perfect example of what it meant to cling to life and fear death.

"What is it, Captain Liao? Finally awake? I thought everyone at the yamen had gone deaf!"

Pei Heng sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I had a few drinks with the brothers last night, so I overslept a little. See? We came as soon as we sobered up." Liao Jun laughed it off and led the yamen runners past everyone, taking the lead along the official road toward Qingyang County.

"Those cowards, clinging to life and fearing death!"

Li Shengnan was furious.

If those yamen runners had been there earlier, fewer innocent civilians might have been killed or injured.

"Are we really going to let them follow us? Why should we?"

Lu Liu clenched his fists tightly, seething with indignation.

The people from the yamen hadn't lifted a finger, yet they would reap the benefits.

"It's just as well to let them follow. At least the group is a little stronger overall," Pei Heng said, shaking his head. "Little Six, they're all government men. Remember, no matter how unhappy you are, you mustn't provoke them, or you'll bring trouble down on yourself."

Hearing this, Lu Liu felt a deep sense of helplessness.

Though these were chaotic times, the imperial court still stood. Any power had to bow its head before such a behemoth, let alone a mere Skin Refining Realm martial artist like him.

Qin Ming silently watched the scene, gaining a deeper understanding of power and influence.

With the imperial court and government at one's back, even a mere yamen runner wasn't someone just anyone could touch.

At the very front, Liao Jun glanced back from time to time. He seemed to be looking around aimlessly, but Qin Ming could tell that Liao Jun's gaze lingered on him every time. It was so subtle, however, that no one would notice without paying attention.

More importantly, there were traces of wariness and greed in his eyes, making Qin Ming very uncomfortable.

He had slain the Four Protectors and Yuan Lie not long ago. Liao Jun must have seen it, or he couldn't have looked at him that way.

When something's out of the ordinary, there's bound to be a demon behind it. That little brat's strength has grown so fast. Maybe he's the one who ate the Li Lineage's Blood Ginseng!

Liao Jun thought.

He had long known that the cargo the Li Lineage had sent under escort was Blood Ginseng, because he was the one who had tipped off Clearwind Stronghold.

Only the Li Lineage itself and the government had known the escort route. Even the Weiyuan Escort Agency hadn't learned the general direction until after they had set out.

All of it had been for secrecy.

They had told the government only because regulations required it.

But Liao Jun had learned about the Blood Ginseng through his own inquiries. By then, the incident had already happened, and it was too late for everything.

Now, quite a few well-informed people had learned that the Li Lineage's escorted cargo included two items.

One was Blood Ginseng, said to contain abundant Spiritual Qi and be worth at least a thousand taels of silver.

The other was a rather rare martial arts cultivation technique.

But as for how rare it was and what type it was, the Li Lineage had kept a tight lid on the information, so no one outside its upper ranks knew.

Rumor had it that the Li Lineage had stumbled upon the martial arts technique by chance. It had no owner and belonged to no sect or lineage as an inherited technique. That meant it could be passed down as a legacy technique in the future, greatly enriching the Li Lineage's foundation and blessing its descendants.

Thus, the true value of the martial art had already surpassed its inherent worth.

The Li Lineage was certain Clearwind Stronghold was responsible, but there was nothing they could do. They could only swallow the loss.

Now, however, Liao Jun thought otherwise.

Qin Ming, a Skin Refining Realm martial artist, had disappeared for several days, then suddenly returned like a king and killed five Flesh Refining Realm martial artists in succession.

His strength had risen far too quickly. It was highly abnormal, and Liao Jun strongly suspected that Qin Ming had eaten the Blood Ginseng.

If that were true, the mysterious, unclaimed martial arts technique had to be on Qin Ming as well.

Kill Qin Ming, and the things would be his.

Liao Jun didn't act rashly. Although Qin Ming, Pei Heng, and Huo Zheng were all injured, especially Pei Heng, whose injuries were the worst and who couldn't fight anyone at all, making this a rare opportunity to strike, the sight of Qin Ming cutting down the Four Protectors with a single blow still filled Liao Jun with dread.

He was waiting for a chance to strike!

Liao Jun's gaze swept over the carriages behind him one by one, the greed in his eyes growing stronger.

The two martial arts academies, the town's great lineages, and numerous local gentry had most of their wealth packed into those carriages. If all that money belonged to him, it would be enough for him to cultivate to the Bone Refining Realm!

When that time came, who in Qingyang County would dare look down on him?

To Liao Jun, the greatest threat at present was Qin Ming. The good news was that one of Qin Ming's arms was broken, and he had also suffered internal injuries. As long as Liao Jun devised a way to deal with Qin Ming, the rest would be nothing to worry about.

The group traveled toward Qingyang County in a vast procession as the sky gradually darkened. No one noticed the wisps of ghastly white flame rising from a graveyard several hundred meters from the official road.

Immediately afterward, a white skeletal hand suddenly reached out of a solitary grave that had gone untended for years.

Slender and long.

"Such strong Yang Qi. I want it, I want it so badly..."

Qingshan Town.

After Qin Ming and the others left, a figure silently emerged from the shadows of an alley.

It was Yan Yangtian, who had suddenly disappeared earlier!

He hadn't left. Instead, he had hidden in the shadows, only daring to show himself again after Qin Ming and the others were completely gone.

Yan Yangtian's sudden appearance startled the dozen or so people searching the corpses.

"Yan... Yan Yangtian!"

Their hearts skipped a beat, and they had a bad feeling.

Yan Yangtian could bring himself to strike a killing blow at the master who had raised him, let alone ordinary people like them.

The next moment, before they could beg for mercy, Yan Yangtian struck.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

More than a dozen bodies fell one after another.

Yan Yangtian helped himself along the way, stuffing all the silver they had painstakingly looted from the corpses into his robes.

"A bunch of paupers! They searched for ages and only found this little silver!"

Yan Yangtian cursed inwardly.

Just then, Yan Yangtian suddenly felt an extremely cold breath blowing against his back. His body trembled, and he couldn't help shivering.

He instinctively turned around and found that, at some unknown point, a person whose face he couldn't make out had appeared behind him, completely shrouded in a black robe.

A barely perceptible sense of pressure made Yan Yangtian's heart sink. This person was definitely even stronger than he had imagined.

"Are... are you the Ninth Boss?"

Yan Yangtian's heart skipped a beat. His knees went weak, and he dropped to the ground at once.

"This humble one, Yan Yangtian, pays his respects to the Ninth Boss!"

"Yan Yangtian? I've heard of you."

The Ninth Boss remained impassive. When Yuan Lie was still alive, he had told him that Yan Yangtian had some talent for cultivation, and that given enough benefits, he could be made to betray his master and sect.

The Ninth Boss held such two-faced people in utter contempt.

"Tell me, what happened here? Where's Yuan Lie?"

The Ninth Boss asked.

As he spoke, his men arrived. There were more than thirty of them, all martial artists, each at least in the Late Skin-Refining Realm. Every one of them had abundant Qi and blood and rode a warhorse.

Clearwind Stronghold had many branches, each managed by one of its nine bosses. Under them were many lesser chiefs, each of whom could recruit troops, though their numbers were limited.

Those who followed Yuan Lie were men he had recruited. Even if every last one of them died, the Ninth Boss wouldn't care in the slightest. He only cared whether Yuan Lie would ruin his important undertaking.

"Yuan Lie..."

Yan Yangtian pointed at the mangled remains on the ground and gave a rough account of what had happened.

"A Skin Refining Realm brat killed Yuan Lie?"

Even the experienced Ninth Boss froze for a moment. "That's impossible! That brat must have used some special method. The Skin Refining Realm is still the Skin Refining Realm. Even if Yuan Lie stood there without fighting back, he wouldn't die. You dare lie to me?"

The Ninth Boss sent Yan Yangtian flying with a kick.

"Ninth Boss, I saw it with my own eyes."

Blood spurted from Yan Yangtian's mouth and nose, and he swore to it on the spot, terrified.

The Ninth Boss fell silent.

"Which way did they go?"

"That way."

"After them!"

The Ninth Boss swiftly led his men in pursuit.

Yan Yangtian followed behind, a sinister grin spreading across his face.

"Qin Ming, you didn't expect this, did you? I stayed here to wait for the Ninth Boss and show him the way. With so many people, you can't possibly travel fast. Get ready to die, hahaha!"

Yan Yangtian's face was practically blooming with laughter.

All the Ninth Boss's men rode horses and traveled at great speed. Whenever they saw villagers searching corpses along the way, they cut them in half with a single stroke.

"Pei Heng, you can't escape!"

"Hyah!"

Before long, the sky turned completely black.

"I can see them, boss! Right ahead!"

A man at the front shouted a warning.

Beneath the pitch-black night sky, the convoy's firelight stood out sharply ahead.

Only a few li separated the two sides.

"After them!"

The Ninth Boss swiftly gave the order.

Just as the Ninth Boss prepared to charge over in one go, wisps of white mist rose around them at some unknown point.

"What's this?"

"Boss, I can't see the road!"

"Something's wrong. There's something wrong with this mist!"

"Something's there! Boss, watch out!!"

"Squelch—"

A strange sound suddenly came from the fog. Someone screamed, and in the space of a single breath, the sound cut off.

The Ninth Boss immediately rushed toward the sound. When he saw the scene before him clearly, his face darkened.

There, on the ground ahead, lay a headless corpse!

One of his men had just been killed right under his nose!

No, that thing wasn't human!

Because he saw teeth marks on the corpse's neck!

His head had been bitten off...!!

Could it be...

At that moment, even the Ninth Boss, whose strength was close to the Bone Refining Realm, felt a chill run down his back.

"Retreat! Quick, retreat!!! Back to Qingshan Town!!"

The Ninth Boss practically roared the words. At that moment, his scalp felt ready to burst, and the blood in his body felt ready to freeze. He turned and sprinted toward Qingshan Town without looking back.

His retreating figure was as bedraggled as a dog driven from its home.