A red maple forest appeared in the distance, with several exquisite farmhouse buildings half-hidden beneath the maple leaves.
This was Red Leaf Manor, the place where Shen Zhui had previously come at Lin Ze's invitation to capture the bandit.
Shen Zhui and Wang Long were on top of a building inside Red Leaf Manor. Below them was a courtyard, where a red-haired, burly middle-aged man in bizarre, mismatched clothing was holding a dazed-looking maid in his arms and engaging in lewd, indecent acts.
This must be the traitor Lin Ze wants to capture. Shen Zhui thought grimly. He hated this rebel to the bone.
If he had not noticed an opportunity earlier and used Daoist arts to help Li Zhong sabotage him, how could he have been forced into such a desperate situation?
He had come within a hair's breadth of death!
Wang Long suddenly flicked his sleeve, and an invisible ripple descended upon the red-haired man's head.
"Reveal!"
With Wang Long's low shout, a sheet of water suddenly appeared above the red-haired man's head.
Rows of conspicuous words appeared across it.
Shen Zhui focused his eyes.
"Wu Gu, formerly captain of the Fire Dragon Squad of the Wu'an Army. High-stage Xiantian. Three years ago, he was expelled from the Wu'an Army for seizing a treasure and murdering his comrades."
"Afterward, he sought refuge with the Guiyuan Sect, cultivated evil techniques, and committed murder, treason, and robbery."
So this man's name is Wu Gu. The Wu'an Army has ten men to a squad and a hundred men to a company. A late-stage Xiantian expert is actually only a squad captain. Shen Zhui thought. He cultivated evil techniques and murdered his comrades. His crimes... probably wouldn't be atoned for even if he died ten times.
"Yet he actually escaped the Wu'an Army's pursuit for three years, and even got away this time. He truly isn't an ordinary character."
By now, Shen Zhui had simply suppressed all the questions in his belly and quietly watched the events unfold.
Speaking of which, when he had secretly made his way over earlier, he had only been standing guard outside the manor before Li Zhong and He Tong ambushed him, leaving him gravely wounded and unconscious. In other words, he had missed a great deal of information. Now that he had the chance, he naturally could not miss the battle between these Xiantian Masters.
Especially the methods of a Qi Cultivation True Person—Shen Zhui knew nothing about them.
After waiting a full half an hour, the red-haired man still had not finished. Shen Zhui could not help feeling speechless.
After waiting for quite some time, the tranquil manor finally changed.
The red-haired man seemed to sense something. He suddenly raised his head in confusion and looked around.
Wu Gu shoved away the woman sitting on him, pulled out something resembling a compass from his robes, and examined it quietly.
The needle suddenly began spinning wildly, and Wu Gu's expression changed drastically.
"Damn it! Someone's coming!"
Immediately afterward.
"Rumble!" An ice mountain condensed above the courtyard and slammed down toward Wu Gu.
"Lin Ze!" Wu Gu roared furiously. He raised both hands above his head, and a crimson defensive barrier appeared. Only then did Shen Zhui realize that the bizarre clothing Wu Gu wore was actually a defensive treasure!
"Crack, crack~" The ice mountain split apart in all directions, while the maid was crushed into a bloody mess.
Wang Long and Lin Ze then flew over from opposite sides.
Of the four experts who had originally been present, only two could be seen now. The people from the Li and Yang Families were nowhere to be found.
Shen Zhui had already grown accustomed to this by now.
"Lin Ze, I'll fight you to the death!" Flames blazed around Wu Gu's entire body as he broke through the ice mountain's attack and flew into the sky.
"Rebel, prepare to die!" Lin Ze's voice rang out.
In another direction, dozens of Ice Walls abruptly appeared. They extended endlessly upward, reaching more than ten zhang in an instant.
They were like an icy mountain cage, trapping the Flame Figure inside.
Wu Gu released several fireballs in the blink of an eye. Most of them shot toward Lin Ze, but sheets of water appeared before Lin Ze. The instant the fireballs touched the water screens, they all went out like snow melting beneath the sun.
Something strange also happened in the other directions.
Before the fireballs had flown even ten zhang, they suddenly collapsed, as though they had been attacked by something.
It seems that if no one appears here, even the fluctuations of true qi and the techniques themselves won't appear. Shen Zhui came to a sudden realization.
After struggling for a while, the Flame Figure suddenly chose a direction and began breaking out.
Wu Gu was indeed formidable. Wang Long and Lin Ze's attacks could only reach the patch of space where his flames burned. Aside from weakening the flames slightly, they could not tell whether his true body had suffered any damage.
Wu Gu flew toward the main entrance of the manor. After that, Shen Zhui saw the scene in which he himself had been attacked.
"Hahaha, interesting. A Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artist actually caught the attention of two Xiantian Masters. In that case, let me give you a hand!"
Laughing loudly, Wu Gu suddenly conjured a massive fireball before him and sent it toward Shen Zhui below.
At the same time, Shen Zhui saw the other version of himself below suddenly ambushed by He Tong, who drew his blade and attacked him from behind.
"He Tong..." Shen Zhui gritted his teeth. Although the incident had already passed, he still could not hold back his fury at seeing this scene.
Who could have imagined that He Tong would betray them?!
The fireball was cleaved apart.
But the Shen Zhui below had only just survived the second crisis.
A breath later, the clothes and skin on Shen Zhui's body split apart inch by inch. He was crushed into the earth, gravely wounded and unconscious.
The green fist attack that Li Zhong should originally have launched here also failed to appear.
"Observe my movements carefully," Wang Long said at this moment.
Shen Zhui naturally knew that he was referring to the illusory body in this retrospective space, so he immediately nodded.
"You're courting death?" The clone Wang Long revealed a vicious look.
"An accidental injury?"
"You've provoked the laws of the kingdom time and time again, and launched a covert attack right in front of me!"
"You all deserve to die!"
After watching for a while, Shen Zhui immediately understood that Wang Long had been speaking to other people at the time. But now that no trace of those people remained, it looked as though Wang Long were talking to himself.
However, just when Shen Zhui thought things would continue like this, the situation suddenly changed again.
When Wang Long took a crimson Execution Order from his robes, the space not far around him suddenly began to tremble.
"First Summon of Deity: Distinguish Good and Evil!"
A crimson radiance merged into Wang Long's body. At the same time, two blurry figures suddenly appeared in the surrounding space!
"Second Summon of Deity!"
The second crimson radiance entered his body, and the two blurry figures immediately became clearly visible.
They were none other than Li Zhong and someone from the Yang Family!
The tokens in the two men's arms shattered, and they began pleading for mercy.
"No, no, no!"
"Wang Long, spare us! We were wrong!"
"Too late!" The clone Wang Long's eyes were icy cold. He raised his sword and pointed at the two men, fixing them in place. Then a strand of Sword Qi howled toward them.
Just as the Sword Qi was about to reach Li Zhong...
At this moment, Wang Long, who was standing beside Shen Zhui, waved his hand.
"Stop!"
Everything around them suddenly froze.
Shen Zhui did not understand.
Wang Long pointed at Li Zhong, who wore an expression of terror as he fled, and shouted, "Reveal!"
Just like with Wu Gu, rows of words appeared above Li Zhong and the other man's heads.
"Li Zhong, a native of Anyang, Heyuan County. Mid-stage Xiantian. Murdered 182 people and crippled 591. Guilty of robbery, murder, and fraud."
"Yang Feng, a native of Taishan, Heyuan County. High-stage Xiantian. Murdered 123 people and crippled 361. Guilty of robbery, murder, and rape."
Immediately afterward, the water screen trembled. Countless images flashed across it, showing the crimes of the two men one scene after another.
At first, Shen Zhui could still make out one or two images. But as the scenes grew faster, he could no longer see them clearly, leaving only streaks of scarlet.
In the end, the images stopped. The water screen shifted, forming two scarlet words above the men's heads.
Capital Crime!
These two men had actually stained their hands with the blood of so many people! Shen Zhui felt a chill in his heart. In the few scenes he had been able to make out at the beginning, he had seen Li Zhong ruthlessly stomp a peasant woman's head to pieces, blood spraying everywhere. The brutality of his methods and the depth of his crimes were simply horrifying!
"Let's go. It's time to leave." Wang Long sighed, draped an arm over Shen Zhui's shoulder, and prepared to depart.
As always, don't forget to vote~