The Reactions of the Various Parties

Lu Chen first went to Zhao Defu's residence.

After searching it, he left with a sack of money and some medicinal herbs, cursing all the way.

He had even tapped over every part of the floor and worked his way across the walls bit by bit, but he hadn't found a single hidden compartment. He had searched every inch of the furniture too, and still found nothing.

There were only a paltry few thousand taels of silver and a few packets of medicinal herbs that looked fairly valuable.

"Was it really so hard to find a Cultivation Method?"

Lu Chen pinned his hopes on Zhao Defu's mistress's home.

Lu Chen was somewhat torn over how to deal with the mistress.

He couldn't quite decide whether to send her and her son down to reunite with Zhao Defu or let them go.

"I'll see first!"

Lu Chen opened a window on the second floor of the Jade Pavilion and glanced at the sky.

The sun had already risen.

Xiao Taohong, who had only recently woken up, had fallen fast asleep again on the bed, her face flushed.

The night had truly been long.

Beside the county yamen in the west of the town, everything was in an uproar.

Corpse after corpse was carried out.

Among them was Li Feng's mangled body.

Li Ziren stood beside the corpses, his face exceptionally grim.

Beside him stood his eldest son, Li Jun.

"Father, there's not much we can tell from his wounds, but we can be sure that little brother was at the Jade Pavilion earlier. He was probably abducted and brought here afterward, then killed. As for who did it, everyone in the Black Pole Gang is dead now, so there's no one left to testify."

Li Ziren was silent for a long while before turning his gaze to the children who had been rescued.

"The people from the Black Pole Gang are dead, but aren't they still alive? My son is dead, so how can they be allowed to live? Also, who told Hu Bufan about what was happening here? Find out!"

"Father, Hu Bufan is personally keeping watch here right now. It won't be easy for us to..."

"My son is dead!" Li Ziren growled, his eyes bloodshot. "My son is dead! Is he going to kill me too? Ignore him and do as I say!"

Li Jun said nothing.

He had never liked this younger half-brother of his, and now that he was dead, he felt no particular grief.

Even so, he didn't dare contradict his father.

Meanwhile, Hu Bufan had people fetch doctors to treat the rescued children while he wrote furiously, preparing to send the good news to his superiors.

"I never expected such a large breach to open up overnight in Sand Lake County Town, which they had run so tightly that not even a breath of air could get through. Li Ziren's son is dead too. Good riddance! I hope Li Ziren knows what's good for him and doesn't stir up trouble at this critical moment. Otherwise, I don't mind showing him a thing or two!"

Standing in the courtyard, Hu Bufan tucked the secret letters he had written into tubes tied to the legs of several pigeons waiting nearby. He fed them a little food, and they flew off with a flutter of wings.

The county yamen was as lively as a marketplace, with many commoners who had heard the news coming to see the commotion.

At the sight of the corpses carried out by the yamen's constables, every one of them looked excited, without a trace of fear. Instead, they whispered among themselves.

"I never imagined there was a gang in Shahu County that we didn't know about, hiding underground right across from the county yamen. They were buried far too deep!"

"Those child traffickers were beasts! If I'd seen them, I would've beaten them to death! My second uncle's son was abducted. He was only three!"

"My little niece from my sister's family disappeared the year before last too. We searched for half a year. Maybe she was abducted by this pack of beasts! Good riddance!"

Many people wanted nothing more than to go up and flog the Black Pole Gang members' corpses.

When they saw the children, their limbs broken and their bodies covered in wounds, everyone was shocked. They sucked in sharp breaths, unable to bear looking at them.

"How awful!"

"Those animals were worse than beasts! Boo-hoo, those poor children!" One older woman couldn't help covering her mouth and weeping.

Everyone felt so sorry for the children.

What family didn't have children?

If something like this happened to their family, it would probably feel as though the sky had fallen.

Many people felt a lingering fear.

No one could have imagined that such a gang had been hiding right under their noses.

Fortunately, it had been wiped out. Otherwise, who would dare let their children run around in the streets anymore?

Meng Ping and Wang Xiong also came to the Black Pole Gang, their faces tense.

It was unclear whether they were upset that such a horrifying thing had happened or because Zhao Defu and his people were all dead.

"They're all dead. Judging by Zhao Defu's corpse, his wounds look a little like they were made by the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique. But Zhao Defu was your man, and I heard he had already reached Blood Exchange... Isn't the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique only good for cultivating up to Organ Refining?"

Wang Xiong remained expressionless and didn't answer. Instead, he said, "Wang Hu of the Green Bamboo Gang is dead."

"Mm. Someone reported this morning that an intruder broke into the Green Bamboo Gang last night. Wang Hu died afterward, and even the gang's gold, silver, and jewels were swept clean."

"Zhao Defu is dead, and so is Wang Hu. Li Mantun and Wang Bao's bodies were found on the main street in the east of town. All these people had one thing in common: traces of hidden weapons, either flying daggers or something like stones. And many of their wounds were also caused by the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique!"

"Hidden weapons? Could it be Six-Finger Flying Stone Zhuoli from neighboring Tianmu County? He specializes in hidden weapons, and I heard he knows Hu Bufan too!" Meng Ping was startled.

But Wang Xiong shook his head. "No, Hu Bufan isn't that foolish. He wouldn't do something like this! Besides, we've lived in peace with him ever since he came here a few years ago. Why would he suddenly make a move at this critical moment? It doesn't make sense! Perhaps it was someone else!"

"But I haven't heard of any other experts skilled with hidden weapons in the nearby counties."

"Could it be someone from another prefecture?"

"Well... the Ox-Cleaving Swordsmanship belongs to the Bao Household of Mingde Prefecture, if I remember correctly. They're the only ones who have the complete swordsmanship. Wang Hu also obtained an incomplete copy of it in an exchange with the Bao Household. The Bao Household seems to be on that side! And the Flying Eagle Horse Gang also came from Mingde Prefecture! Could there be some connection?"

Both men frowned.

The Bao Household was no small family.

"Forget it. This is beyond us now. Let's report it and let the people above us worry about it."

"Mm!"

"Young master, come play with me again!"

Xiao Taohong watched Lu Chen leave, reluctant to see him go.

To avoid arousing suspicion, Lu Chen had gone to Zhao Defu's mistress's home after leaving Zhao Defu's house. He had knocked the mistress and a child unconscious and tied them up, then returned to the Jade Pavilion at great speed without making a sound and woken Xiao Taohong.

Never mind how he did it.

Then Lu Chen left.

After picking a restaurant at random and finishing a meal, he looked around to make sure no one was there, then leaped into Zhao Defu's mistress's home.

The two people he had tied up were still unconscious, so Lu Chen slapped the mistress awake.

After questioning her, he learned that her name was Xiao Cui. She was an ordinary person and had no idea of Zhao Defu's true identity.

Xiao Cui had always believed Zhao Defu was a traveling merchant who often went away on business. Sometimes he only returned once every ten days or half a month, leaving her a little money for living expenses each time. She knew nothing else and worried about Zhao Defu whenever he traveled far from home.

"Did your man leave you anything? Some kind of book, painting or calligraphy, anything at all, or even an address? If you dare hide anything and I find it in the house, you and your son will lose your lives! Also, don't shout, understand? Make a sound, and your son dies!"

Lu Chen sat in front of Xiao Cui and threatened her, placing his saber against the head of her still-sleeping son.

Tears covered Xiao Cui's face as she shook her head in terror. She deliberately kept her voice low, terrified that Lu Chen's hand might accidentally slip. "He really didn't! Don't hurt my son. I'll give you anything you want. I, I... You can have me too, if that's what you want. Please don't hurt my son!"

Seeing the fear and panic all over Xiao Cui's face, Lu Chen felt as though he were the villain.

To make sure she wasn't deceiving him, Lu Chen searched the entire house, tapping here and poking there, but found nothing. He even emptied the rice jar and the stove's firebox. There was nothing.

The household looked rather poor.

Her son was only two, too young to understand anything.

Faced with this situation, Lu Chen fell silent for a long time. In the end, he didn't strike.

He chose to tell Xiao Cui about Zhao Defu's true identity.

Xiao Cui froze as she listened to Lu Chen's account.

She clearly hadn't expected Zhao Defu to be the Gang Leader of a gang that trafficked children, and kept muttering, "Impossible."

Lu Chen carefully studied Xiao Cui's expression.

He could only say that if Xiao Cui had really fooled him, he would accept it.

The expression and the reaction really didn't look like an act to him.

There was nothing he could do. Lu Chen didn't consider himself someone who killed people like cutting down hemp. He simply couldn't bring himself to kill someone who had done no evil and hadn't even enjoyed any of the benefits Zhao Defu had brought.

He let Xiao Cui and her son go, gave them a little travel money, and watched with his own eyes as she hired an ox cart and left Sand Lake County Town with a few valuables.

Lu Chen was deeply disappointed.

His plan to obtain another Cultivation Method had come to nothing.

No wonder Wang Hu had said the Cultivation Method was with Wang Xiong, not Zhao Defu.

Only now did he truly understand the intense frustration Wang Hu had felt back then.

It wasn't that he was incapable, but that he had tried everything and still hadn't had a single opportunity!

"The upper ranks' control over Cultivation Methods has reached an insanely strict level! Sand Lake County Town doesn't even have a martial arts school, and there are no Cultivation Methods circulating on the market at all. The ones in ordinary people's hands are only incomplete versions. No, they don't even reach ordinary people. Which of those men like Wang Hu could be considered ordinary?"

Lu Chen returned to his courtyard and sighed as he looked at the three large hemp sacks in the room.

They were full of money, but having so much money wasn't particularly useful to him.

"Still, thank goodness I can break limits. Even incomplete Cultivation Methods can be upgraded!"

Lu Chen looked at his Fate Value and Luck Value.

At least his efforts hadn't been for nothing.

And there were also the formidable, though incomplete, Cultivation Methods he had found in the Green Bamboo Gang, so it wasn't a complete loss.

Incomplete as they were, before Luck Value, they were as good as complete!

He would start practicing as soon as he got back!