After asking about the general layout of the residence, Su Que killed seven people in succession beneath the astonished gazes of the White Lotus Disciples.
Then, he skillfully searched the corpses.
Thirteen corpses lay sprawled across the ground. Judging by his past experience searching bodies, he would make another small fortune tonight.
As he searched them, he could not help seeing their miserable deaths, and he sighed inwardly.
He wondered whether these White Lotus Disciples had ever imagined, while enjoying themselves in brothels and gambling dens yesterday, that they would be beaten to death alive today.
"Life is unpredictable because strength is insufficient," he thought.
Before long, Su Que took all the valuables from their bodies.
The Silver Notes and silver alone amounted to more than three hundred taels. There were also jade pendants, hairpins, and the like; judging from their luster, they were probably worth a great deal.
After stowing the valuables in his clothes, Su Que walked to the residence's high wall. His legs surged with force, and with a dry-land onion-pulling leap, he vaulted into the residence.
Whoosh!
Su Que's loose hair swept upward like a gust of wind. With a touch of graceful ease to his bearing, he landed on the ground.
His eyes behind the Monkey Mask shone brightly as they swept over his surroundings.
Just as those White Lotus Disciples had said, aside from the leader lying in wait for a hare by a tree stump, no one else remained in the residence.
Su Que headed toward the medicine storehouse in the depths of the residence. He did not deliberately lighten his steps, letting faint footfalls carry through the night.
Knowing that someone lay in ambush inside the medicine storehouse, he could have softened his footsteps and struck first, catching the leader, Zhao Tashan, off guard.
But he did not want to damage the medicinal ingredients in the storehouse during his fight with Zhao Tashan, so he intended to lure Zhao Tashan out.
Zhao Tashan was still inside the medicine storehouse, eating raw meat and drinking strong liquor in great comfort.
Though he was merely the leader of a small outpost, he was a Three Blood Martial Artist. His strength was already on par with the Hall Master of the White Lotus Sect in Jade Water City.
After Fan Wuyang's death, Fan Wuyang's position as Hall Master would, nine times out of ten, fall onto his shoulders.
Logically speaking, in Jade Water City, the number of people who could defeat him would not exceed ten fingers.
In his mind, whoever had come tonight could not be very strong. Otherwise, they would have attacked directly rather than making other moves.
"Whoosh..."
As Zhao Tashan tore at the raw meat with his teeth, he suddenly heard faint footsteps outside the window.
"Hehe, here you are!"
Zhao Tashan set down the raw meat and wine bowl, casually wiped his hands on his trousers to remove the grease, then picked up two enormous battle-axes.
The axe bodies were pitch-black, while their sharpened edges flashed with chilling light in the night.
"Whoosh..."
When the footsteps drew closer and he determined from the sound that the visitor had reached the door of the medicine storehouse, he braced himself and abruptly sprang to his feet.
His tree-trunk-thick legs kicked against the ground.
With both axes leading the way, his entire body charged through the door like an attacking elephant!
"Where did this little thief come from? Die for me!"
The force carried by the twin axes blasted the door into splinters.
Zhao Tashan's massive body burst through a storm of wood chips and paper scraps.
The two gigantic battle-axes were like two small mountains, ripping howling gusts through the air as they crashed down toward Su Que!
This was "Splitting Barren Mountains," a move from the Mountain Splitting Axe Technique he had mastered. This single move had already sent many martial artists to bitter deaths!
Su Que had known someone was in the medicine storehouse, so he had long been on guard.
From the moment Zhao Tashan burst through the door, Su Que noticed his stance and swiftly spotted his weakness.
Zhao Tashan's twin axes swung wide and open, leaving his centerline defense utterly hollow.
Strike his centerline!
As the two enormous axes descended, Su Que kicked off the ground, his body flashing away.
The twin axes whistled past his sides, while he arrived directly before Zhao Tashan.
Zhao Tashan's eyes abruptly widened at this turn of events, and he was just about to pull back his axes and hack fiercely at Su Que.
But Su Que had already aimed at Zhao Tashan's chest and thrown a punch!
He used the Hidden Separation Art from the Seven Injuries Fist, its fist force soft yet firm.
This fist force could injure Zhao Tashan without blasting him backward, thus avoiding damage to the medicinal ingredients behind him.
Moreover, since he used only the force of a single art rather than unleashing all seven arts at once, its power was weaker.
He still needed to question him. He could not kill Zhao Tashan with one punch.
Hiss!
After the fist force entered Zhao Tashan's body, it burst out through his back!
A circular patch of Zhao Tashan's clothing suddenly shattered, turning into fragments that scattered through the air.
Struck by that punch, Zhao Tashan was in such agony that he could no longer hold his twin axes.
The axes fell and slammed into the ground with a boom.
The twin axes were so heavy that they smashed two pits into the ground.
"Was it you?"
After taking Su Que's punch, Zhao Tashan, like the deputy leader before him, thought of the mysterious person who had killed the medicine-delivery lackey and Fan Wuyang.
"You know me?" Su Que narrowed his eyes slightly, sharp light bursting from them.
"You're the one who killed the medicine-delivery lackey... and Fan Wuyang..." Zhao Tashan said as pain forced him to his knees, blood froth spilling from his mouth.
"Oh."
Behind the mask, the corners of Su Que's lips rose slightly.
He had deliberately not destroyed the corpses before. Now, he knew that it had indeed achieved the desired effect.
He had not destroyed the corpses because he believed the savage wounds upon them were the best cover for his true identity.
Others could determine from the corpses that his martial arts were likely vicious techniques such as the Seven Injuries Fist and Heart Shattering Palm. They could also determine that he was no weakling.
Yet in his daily life, he was merely an honest schoolteacher who specialized in teaching young children their first lessons.
Who could connect a schoolteacher who had never even killed a chicken with a fierce martial artist proficient in the Seven Injuries Fist?
The more formidable others believed him to be, the less likely they were to find his true identity.
"Do you know where Jing Sha and Luo You's outposts are?" Su Que asked.
These were the two Hall Masters Su Que had previously learned of from the White Lotus Disciples. Each controlled an evil technique.
Jing Sha possessed the Crimson Fiend Skill, while Luo You possessed the Dark Yin Finger.
"If I tell you, will you let me go?" Zhao Tashan asked.
"I will," Su Que answered.
"I don't believe you."
Having seen the deaths of the medicine-delivery lackey and Fan Wuyang, Zhao Tashan knew that the person before him was cruel and ruthless. He could not possibly leave survivors behind.
"Whether you speak or not is not up to you."
Su Que kicked the kneeling Zhao Tashan to the ground and stepped on his chest.
Then, with a thought, Wedding Dress Divine Skill true qi surged from the meridians in his foot into Zhao Tashan's body, where it ran rampant.
The true qi of the Wedding Dress Divine Skill was incomparably hard and fierce. The instant it entered his body, Zhao Tashan felt his flesh, meridians, internal organs, and bowels ache, go numb, and itch all at once. For a time, life was worse than death.
Rather than endure such torture, he truly wished for a swift death.
"I... I'll talk!" Zhao Tashan said in a trembling voice, blood froth spilling from his mouth.
Su Que withdrew the Wedding Dress Divine Skill true qi and looked down at Zhao Tashan with both eyes.
Zhao Tashan then revealed the locations of Jing Sha and Luo You's outposts.
After Su Que memorized them, he asked again, "How strong is Bai Wuji?"
"He is a Fifth Blood Organ Refining martial artist," Zhao Tashan answered.
"Where is Bai Wuji's outpost?" Su Que asked.
"I don't know." Zhao Tashan shook his head.
"Other than the Seven Injuries Fist, Yin Wind Claw, Crimson Fiend Skill, and Minor Self-Harm Skill, what other evil techniques does the White Lotus Sect of Jade Water City possess?" Su Que asked again.
"No more. Only those few," Zhao Tashan answered.
Seeing that Su Que had no more questions, Zhao Tashan said:
"Great hero, please... give me a swift death!"
He was terribly afraid that Su Que would torture him again.
That unbearable numb, itchy feeling in his internal organs was more than even a tough man like him could endure.
"Every word you said just now was true?" Su Que stared at Zhao Tashan.
"Of course it was true," Zhao Tashan said tremulously.
"You cannot die yet. If what you said proves untrue, you must receive the punishment you deserve," Su Que said flatly.
"I really didn't lie. Let me go, give me a swift death!" Zhao Tashan was utterly terrified, the skin on his face twitching violently.
Su Que ignored his pleas. The White Lotus Disciples had committed every evil under heaven and lost all conscience; he would not readily believe their words.
With a thought, Wedding Dress Divine Skill true qi once more surged into Zhao Tashan's body.
The true qi first poured toward Zhao Tashan's head and lightly struck within his brain, causing Zhao Tashan to lose consciousness.
At the same time, the true qi ravaged Zhao Tashan's limbs. In a single instant, it shattered the meridians in both his hands and both his feet.
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