As Long as It Is Hard Enough, It Will Not Break

"Dragon's Roar Sky Shattering Finger at mastery?"

Hu Qing, Luo Wen, and the others had long since been dumbstruck.

First there had been the mastery-level Heavenly Gang Blood Burning Saber; now there was Dragon's Roar Sky Shattering Finger. It seemed that not a single martial art Wei Fan had mastered was below mastery.

And the Flowing Cloud Chasing Wind Steps he had just used seemed to be at mastery level as well.

It was precisely by relying on that mastery-level movement technique that Wei Fan had caught up to Zuo Qiu in an instant and killed him.

Luo Wen in particular clearly remembered that he had taught Wei Fan these martial arts only a few days ago.

"You should have caught up with Lu Tianming, right?"

With both Zuo Qiu and Lu Tianming dead, there was no one worthwhile left in the Lu Family. Wei Fan bent down and began searching Zuo Qiu's body.

Three Moon Condensing Evil Finger was not a poor technique. After all, his Dragon's Roar Sky Shattering Finger had torn the Tiger King apart alive, yet when Zuo Qiu's fingers collided with his, they had not shattered—only the flesh had been blasted apart.

Hu Qing walked over. "Are you looking for the Three Moon Condensing Evil Finger manual?"

Wei Fan nodded.

Hu Qing said, "That is a Demonic Cultivation Art. Do you know how Three Moon Condensing Evil Finger is cultivated? To master it, you must coat all ten fingers in virulent poison. Every month, you must kill three people, then continuously thrust your ten fingers into corpses for twelve hours to gather Sha Qi. Only after continuing this for three months can it be considered complete. That is why it is called Three Moon Condensing Evil Finger."

The moment he heard that cultivation required killing people, Wei Fan instantly lost all interest in Three Moon Condensing Evil Finger.

"Still, if the Lu Family wanted to develop into a martial arts clan, they should have collected other martial arts manuals. We can look for them. Zuo Qiu knew more than just Three Moon Condensing Evil Finger. I'll help you search."

Hu Qing began taking part in the search of the Lu Family estate.

Wei Fan did not join in. Instead, he turned to Luo Wen, who was directing everyone. "Squad Chief, see? I didn't kill anyone recklessly. I only killed Zuo Qiu, who attacked me."

Luo Wen was speechless!

You indeed had not killed anyone yourself, but Lu Tianming was dead, and Lu Tianming's other two sons had also died in the clash between you and Zuo Qiu. Not a single male of the Lu Family had survived. It was no different from wiping out the entire family.

"You stay here and direct them. I need to go see the City Lord and report this matter."

As he spoke, Luo Wen walked over and lowered his voice. "Pay attention to the evidence you collect. See whether there is any proof that Constabulary Clerk Wei Qingyuan colluded with demons. If there is, keep it well guarded."

Those who had died were no ordinary people, but the family of Wei Qingyuan's brother-in-law, the Constabulary Clerk of the Eastern District. With matters having reached this point, they had completely fallen out with Wei Qingyuan. They could only proceed by bringing Wei Qingyuan down for good.

Without proof that Wei Qingyuan had colluded with demons, merely relying on the fact that Wei Qingyuan had asked him to look after the E Shen Gang would not be enough to topple him.

Wei Fan was powerful and unafraid of retaliation. At worst, he could quit being a constable; with Wei Fan's abilities, he could thrive anywhere. But Luo Wen was a civil official. Unless he thoroughly brought Wei Qingyuan down, he feared he would have no good days ahead.

After Luo Wen left, Wei Fan began directing the yamen runners as they confiscated the Lu Family's property.

The Lu Family was not some great clan with decades or centuries of history, and there were not many of them. With Lu Tianming and his sons dead, only Lu Tianming's several concubines and his sons' concubines remained. Having lost their backbone, these women obediently allowed the runners to shackle them, while some were interrogated on the spot.

There was never any shortage of seasoned hands in the yamen. People who had previously been afraid now began to act.

Now that Lu Tianming had been killed, everyone knew that if they wished to avoid being targeted in the future, the only way was to bring down Wei Qingyuan and strip him of his position as Constabulary Clerk of the Eastern District.

Unfortunately, they found neither testimony nor physical evidence proving that Wei Qingyuan had colluded with demons.

"Put these away quickly. Don't let anyone see!"

Hu Qing returned furtively and quietly stuffed several books into Wei Fan's hands. Knowing there were too many eyes around, Wei Fan did not look at what they were and decided to examine them after returning.

After all, members of the Lu Family were still present. They could not openly pocket things for themselves.

Today's incident had become a major affair and involved a Constabulary Clerk. Others would certainly come later to take over and interrogate the Lu Family members one by one.

After a while, Luo Wen returned.

A group of yamen runners came with him, along with two men dressed in the official robes of Constabulary Clerks and a chief constable. In Cloud City, these three were unquestionably major figures.

Interestingly, one of them was Wei Qingyuan, the Constabulary Clerk of the Eastern District. He had two thin strips of mustache, a gloomy face, and an expression cold enough to freeze over.

"Everyone, return to the Eastern District. The Constabulary Clerks and the Chief Constable will take over from here."

Luo Wen gave Wei Fan a look. Wei Fan understood that he was likely asking whether they had found evidence of Wei Qingyuan colluding with demons, and could only shake his head slightly.

An old hand in officialdom like Wei Qingyuan would not leave behind any evidence even if he truly had colluded with demons.

Without tangible evidence, even if it was confirmed that the Lu Family had colluded with demons and brought demons into the city, it would only hurt him somewhat. It would not be enough to kill him.

"Uncle, you must uphold justice for the Lu Family..."

"Brother-in-law, your elder brother and the others died so terribly..."

The moment they saw Wei Qingyuan, the Lu Family women came forward, weeping and complaining. Wei Qingyuan consoled them for a while before walking over to the corpses of Lu Tianming and the others.

"You... very good..."

Wei Qingyuan looked at the miserably slain Lu Tianming and his sons, then turned back to Wei Fan and the others. After a long while, he squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth.

To him, today's affair was not merely the slaughter of his brother-in-law's family. It was also his subordinates' disloyalty. Something like this had happened, yet they had not reported it to him and had instead charged into the Lu Family estate on their own. They were clearly trying to take him down along with them.

Wei Fan casually cupped his hands. "Thank you for the praise, Lord Wei. These beasts had lost all humanity and brought demons into the city for their own selfish gain. This subordinate merely did what he ought to do!"

Was he praising you?

At those words, the other Constabulary Clerk and the chief constable both looked at Wei Fan, strange glints flashing through their eyes.

Luo Wen's eyelids twitched wildly. They did not even have evidence that Wei Qingyuan had colluded with demons, yet Wei Fan still dared provoke him like this.

Wei Qingyuan had clearly been provoked. His chest heaved violently, and only after taking several deep breaths did he suppress the fury in his heart. "You must be Wei Fan. Young man, worry that being too rigid will make you easy to break."

Wei Fan grinned. "Thank you for the reminder, sir. But as long as this subordinate is hard enough, I won't break.

Gentlemen, this subordinate will take his leave."

Luo Wen also cupped his hands. "Gentlemen, this subordinate will also take his leave. There's still a pile of corpses in the eastern district that needs handling. Once I return, I will write up the entire course of events and submit it as soon as possible. The Crocodile Demon's corpse is still there. You may send people to the eastern district to verify it at any time."

Bastard!

Wei Qingyuan watched Wei Fan and the others leave with a gloomy face, unable to stop himself from cursing inwardly.

"Zuo Qiu actually had his head crushed alive. A genius has emerged in the eastern district—he'll probably enter the Demon Suppressing Division sooner or later."

Chief Constable Song Jinsong looked at Zuo Qiu's corpse, his expression revealing wariness. As a martial artist, what concerned him more was how the expert hired by the Lu Family had been beaten to death.

"That Wei Fan cannot be offended. This matter must be handled impartially. Otherwise, once he enters the Demon Suppressing Division, I'll be the one in trouble."

What the Demon Suppressing Division liked most were ruthless geniuses. If one's killing intent was not heavy enough, the Demon Suppressing Division could not even be bothered to look.

In an instant, Song Jinsong knew what attitude he should take in handling this matter.

He had encountered Zuo Qiu several times before. Even as chief constable, he had not been confident he could defeat Zuo Qiu. Yet now, Zuo Qiu's head had been crushed by a mere constable, his brains splattering all over the ground.

As a martial artist, you could provoke anyone—but you absolutely could not provoke this kind of genius, unless you were certain you could kill them in one blow.

Taking a deep breath, Song Jinsong shouted, "Take everyone from the Lu Family back for questioning, one by one!"

Then he turned to Wei Qingyuan. "Clerk Wei, in order to avoid suspicion, please leave from here on."

Wei Qingyuan's expression changed. In an instant, he understood that Song Jinsong would not give him any face and intended to handle the Lu Family matter strictly by the book.

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