The Demise of the Iron Saber Society

The chains exploded and shattered. Grabbing Zhou Bao, Li Ye's body flickered, and he appeared several meters away, putting a safe distance between himself and Shen Heng.

He set Zhou Bao down on the ground.

Motherfucker, I'm going to die.

I don't want to die.

Huh? Someone's saving me? Who is he?

Can he beat those two dog-bastards?

Those had been Zhou Bao's thoughts when Li Ye appeared in the Iron Prison.

By now, his injuries were so severe that he had already fallen into a half-conscious state.

He did not yet know that he had narrowly escaped death again just a moment ago.

"Y-you... who are you? Why did you save me?"

Using the last shred of his consciousness, Zhou Bao asked heavily.

With the Shapeshifter Mask on, not only had Li Ye's appearance changed, even his voice differed from before, becoming more magnetic.

So even Zhou Bao, who was familiar with Li Ye, failed to recognize him.

Just as Li Ye was considering how to brush him off, he discovered that Zhou Bao decisively shut his eyes and passed out.

So, he left Zhou Bao on the ground to rest.

Shen Heng stared at the empty cross, a face full of disbelief.

Only when he sensed Li Ye's gaze did he grit his teeth and say, "Fine, fine, fine. Today, I lost to a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you. I admit defeat."

"But I have one question."

"You... what level of Qi Gathering are you at?"

Normally, when one revealed one's cultivation, both sides could identify the other's exact realm.

The Qi Gathering Realm was especially easy to distinguish.

At Qi Gathering First Layer, one could cultivate a single strand of Spiritual Power.

At Qi Gathering Second Layer, there would be two.

At Qi Gathering Third Layer, three, and so on.

Yet throughout the battle, not a single strand of Spiritual Power had been released from Li Ye's body, leaving Shen Heng deeply puzzled.

"Body Tempering Eleventh Layer."

Li Ye answered frankly.

Body Tempering Eleventh Layer?

No wonder, no wonder I'm no match for him...

Body Tempering Eleventh Layer?

Shen Heng thought instinctively, then suddenly came to his senses. "You're insulting me!"

Damn you, Body Tempering Realm, and an eleventh layer at that.

Does Body Tempering even have an eleventh layer?

This kid thinks I'm an idiot.

Li Ye sighed and said with a helpless look, "If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do. Time to send you on your way."

Just as he was about to make a move, he heard a bang—Shen Heng had made a move on himself.

He slammed a heavy palm into his own forehead, cracking his head open in an instant. "Good and evil will meet their due in the end. This lifetime of mine hasn't been lived at a loss."

"Hahaha... gah!"

As he spoke, Shen Heng fell straight backward, rolled his eyes, kicked his legs, and breathed his last.

Red and White Matter spilled all over the ground.

That decisive?

Li Ye froze for a moment.

"Little Heng!"

Chen Hong shouted.

The Iron Saber Society they had built with their own hands, the Iron Saber Society that had enjoyed glory for so many years—how could it simply be gone just like that?

He had clearly only laid a hand on an insignificant Lowly Person, a beggar.

Chen Hong could not accept this reality. Pointing at Li Ye, he asked, "Just who are you?"

He knew he would not survive today, so he did not act particularly afraid or utter any pleas for mercy.

Just as Shen Heng had said, the two of them had enjoyed wealth and glory in this lifetime. They had gotten their fill.

Even death would not be a loss.

Bang!

Li Ye stepped forward and planted a foot on Chen Hong's neck, producing a crisp, grinding crack. Chen Hong's face immediately flushed red from lack of air.

"What, you're feeling very unwilling, aren't you?"

"But you refuse to lower yourself and beg me for mercy. Do you want to preserve that last scrap of pathetic dignity, or had you long foreseen that this day would come?"

"You've enjoyed your blessings and lived your fill. But what about your wife and children? Have you ever considered that one day, the pain you inflicted upon others would also be visited upon them?"

"You call some people lowly persons and beggars at every turn. Then after you die, will anyone support your elderly parents? Will anyone look after your wife and children? Can you be sure they won't be despised by the world because of you and end up wandering the streets?"

Li Ye stared at Chen Hong and spoke with a smiling face.

Though Chen Hong was in agony, when he first heard Li Ye's words, his eyes still held the stubborn defiance of a ruthless hero—though tens of millions stand against me, I shall still go on.

Because what Li Ye said was precisely what he believed in his heart. A true man had things he would do and things he would not; once he had done something, he would not regret it.

But when he heard Li Ye mention his wife, children, and parents, Chen Hong became Agitated.

The expression on his face changed from initial unyielding defiance to unease, and finally terror. It was utterly spectacular.

"No, no, that won't happen..."

"Trouble should not extend to one's family. What are you going to do?"

Chen Hong screamed, unable to imagine the situation Li Ye had described.

Li Ye shook his head with a sneer. "It's not about what I want to do. It's about what the families of those miserable people you persecuted want to do."

"Half a lifetime of causes, half a lifetime of consequences. Do you think it'll all be over once you die? Do you think the sins you committed will vanish with your death?"

"I won't touch your family, but I can't guarantee that others won't."

After committing every evil imaginable, they put on an appearance of facing death as though returning home right before they died, as if they were some kind of great hero.

Li Ye despised people like that the most.

So even if Chen Hong was going to die, he would not let him die comfortably.

"No..."

"A thousand mistakes, ten thousand mistakes—they were all my, Chen Hong's, mistakes! Kill me, carve me up, do whatever you want, but I beg you, save them! Save them!"

Chen Hong broke down completely. Clutching Li Ye's ankle with both hands, he pleaded desperately.

He had utterly lost his wits, actually begging Li Ye—the man who was about to kill him.

"Hahahaha!"

Li Ye laughed loudly. "I said I won't touch them, but I won't save them either."

"The cycle of karma never fails. Chen Hong, your This Generation is over."

Upon hearing this, Chen Hong's face turned ashen. At the final moment of his life, he asked the question buried deep in his heart. "You... who exactly are you?!"

Li Ye's gaze was deep and shadowy as he slowly removed the Shapeshifter Mask from his face.

His true features were revealed.

Chen Hong's pupils contracted violently. "You?"

He had encountered Li Ye at close range before. Although Li Ye's face had been covered in coal ash last time, he still recognized him.

So the Shop Assistant in his store had not been mistaken.

This terrifyingly powerful man was the Little Beast he had been looking for.

Crack!

Suddenly, Li Ye pressed down hard with his foot and snapped Chen Hong's neck.

Sending him to the afterlife.

On this day, the Iron Saber Society was erased from Licheng City.

Zhou Bao's injuries were severe, but his life was not in danger.

It was simply that Li Ye had not cultivated any methods for healing injuries, so for the time being, Zhou Bao could only be wronged and lie on the ground.

Corpse Incineration Furnace!

Li Ye silently recited in his heart. By then, he had already carried the corpses of Chen Hong and Shen Heng into the courtyard.

The courtyard had long since been enveloped by the Star Bead, and all the corpses had been piled together.

There were three hundred and five people in total.

Buzz!

The next moment, a scarlet furnace appeared in the courtyard out of nowhere.

Li Ye tossed the corpses of Chen Hong, Shen Heng, and the others into it one after another.

Before that, he had thoroughly searched the two of them.

He found the Secret Manual he had given Zhou Bao. Aside from that, there were Banknotes totaling thirty thousand taels, along with some silver ingots, loose silver, and the like.

Li Ye watched the progress of the Corpse Incineration Furnace, his heart brimming with anticipation.

"More than three hundred people, with Body Temperers making up over half. Their cultivation may not be high, but with so many of them, they should be enough to bring my Body Tempering Eleventh Layer to completion and break through to the Qi Gathering Stage, right?"

Li Ye thought to himself with delight.

He felt that his earlier decision had been wrong—he still needed to come out and move around more often.

See? Hadn't he just struck it big this time?