Crushing Qian Hao

Leaving aside what the Demonic Beasts were thinking, Su Ye dispelled his blood baleful intent and drifted back to the Demon Suppression Division's ranks. Before anyone could come forward to congratulate him, his gaze locked onto Qian Hao, and he approached at an unhurried pace.

Qian Hao's legs began to tremble. Every step Su Ye took seemed to land heavily on his heart, and a warm trickle spread down his legs.

His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. His voice broke with tears. "Su Ye, I was wrong. It was all a misunderstanding. It was my elder brother."

"Yes, it was my elder brother, Qian Chengzhu. He said Yunzhou was about to descend into chaos, and told me to use this opportunity to grab whatever benefits I could and make plans early."

"None of this is my fault."

At this, Su Ye knitted his brows and said coldly, "You're Qian Hao, the fourth young master of the Qian Family?"

"Yes, yes, that's me." Qian Hao nodded repeatedly.

The moment those words were spoken, the crowd around them erupted in startled cries.

"This man is the fourth young master of the Qian Family?"

A middle-aged lieutenant frowned. "That's not the point. The point is that Yunzhou is about to descend into chaos. What exactly is going on?"

The members of the prominent families who had been watching Su Ye murmured among themselves.

"His name is Su Ye. He's so young, yet already terrifyingly strong. How come we've never heard of him?"

"Could Guardian Jiang have deliberately kept him hidden, only bringing him out now that the situation is urgent to steady the people?"

Someone noticed Su Ye's uniform and exclaimed, "He's only a lieutenant? How is that possible? With his strength, he could easily be a commander."

"A commander? He should be at least a deputy commissioner."

Su Ye paid no attention to their chatter. He kicked Qian Hao to the ground and demanded coldly, "What do you know about Yunzhou descending into chaos?"

Qian Hao was frantic with fear. "Nothing! I panicked and spoke carelessly just now. You must've misheard."

Su Ye thought to himself: Earlier, Ji Changqing, the master of the Divine Blade Sect, had said that an expert was stationed at the Green Bamboo Sword Sect, yet the entire sect was withdrawing from Yunzhou. He had said "withdrawing."

These sects and prominent families had clearly learned long ago of the upheaval in Yunzhou. The Green Bamboo Sword Sect was the only force in Yunzhou with someone in the True Martial Realm at its helm, yet the entire sect was withdrawing. One could imagine how serious the matter was.

As for that old ancestor in the True Martial Realm, it was said that he had been stationed at Demon Suppression Pass for years. His strength was unfathomable, and he had entered that True Martial Realm even earlier than Jiang Qingcang, the Yunzhou Garrison Commander.

Su Ye immediately realized that the woman from the Blood Lotus Cult hadn't been lying. The Nether Abyss Demon Court might really be coming.

At the thought, Su Ye lifted his leg and stomped down.

"You... You're actually going to kill me?"

Feeling the thick killing intent, Qian Hao was terrified. "I'm the Qian Family's fourth young master! My grandfather is the Prefectural Commander of Ruichang Prefecture!"

"I advise you to know your place. Otherwise, you'll die too!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a muffled BANG rang out. Flesh burst across the ground as Qian Hao's entire body exploded.

The scene fell silent as the grave. Everyone exchanged glances, unsure what to say. Qian Hao was a direct descendant of the Qian Family, and Su Ye had killed him just like that. Wasn't he afraid of their revenge?

Just then, a burly man stepped out of the crowd. He looked to be in his thirties, and his voice was low. "Perhaps you all don't know this, but Qian Hao took the position of commander from Lieutenant Su."

"What do you mean?" The crowd came back to their senses and pressed him for an explanation.

The man who spoke was named Zhao Hu. He had the Wu Family backing him, and he had heard Zheng Yu speak of Su Ye's exploits some time ago. He had assumed Su Ye was just an ordinary lieutenant, never imagining the man would be so formidable.

Slaying Demonic Beasts as casually as eating or drinking—now that he thought of Zheng Yu's words, they had sounded utterly absurd.

Now Su Ye had thoroughly offended the Qian Family. If Zhao Hu seized this chance to bring him into the Wu Family, then with this connection, wouldn't his own future look bright?

Zhao Hu gave a derisive laugh. "Before Lieutenant Su joined the Demon Suppression Division, he was only a constable."

"Even then, Lieutenant Su charged alone into a trap laid by the Corpse Demon Cult and foiled their vile scheme to blood-refine an entire city's population."

After that, he should have been promoted to commander. But who could have guessed that the Qian Family would stick their nose into it?

"They forcibly pinned the credit on Qian Hao. If that happened to any of you, how would you feel?"

Hearing this, the crowd couldn't help feeling bitter. Did having no connections mean they deserved to be bullied? For a moment, everyone was furious.

"The Qian Family is truly despicable, stooping to such underhanded tricks."

"Ptooey!"

"We risk our lives to earn merit, only for those spoiled brats to steal it. This is too much!"

"Brother Su Ye, if the Qian Family dares retaliate, we'll stand by you and give you all the help we can," Zhao Hu vowed, cupping his fists.

Jiang Qingyun, who had returned from afar, quickly rejoined the crowd. "I can't believe such a filthy thing happened. Rest assured, brothers. I'll report this to my master and make sure it's thoroughly investigated. We won't let anyone get away with it."

Then he turned to Su Ye. "Lieutenant Su, I'll report tonight's events truthfully. There's one more thing I hope you'll agree to."

"Commander Jiang, go ahead." Su Ye nodded.

"Once this matter is settled, I'd like to invite Lieutenant Su to meet my master with me."

Su Ye pondered briefly. Jiang Qingyun probably thought his cultivation had reached the Core Formation Realm because he had just used his blood baleful intent. That was likely why he had extended the invitation.

Once he understood the reason, Su Ye nodded in agreement. From the moment he had stomped Qian Hao to the moment Jiang Qingyun arrived, only a short while had passed. Now, all the Demonic Beasts who had been scrambling in panic had gathered together.

The people from the Divine Blade Sect had gathered as well, glancing now and then toward the Demon Suppression Division's ranks as they searched for the tall figure they had just seen.

"Lieutenant Su." Jiang Qingyun cupped his hands.

Su Ye raised a hand to stop him. He understood the man's intentions. He didn't care about anything beyond dealing with these Demonic Beasts, and that suited Su Ye just fine.

With a sidelong glance at the Demonic Beasts and the Divine Blade Sect, Su Ye silently spent 3,300 points of assistance to raise [Vast Sea True Intent Fist] to mastery. Before he could fully adapt to it, all kinds of information about the fist technique surfaced in his mind.

He sprang forward and charged straight at the Demonic Beasts.

Yuan Xiao and the other Demonic Beasts immediately went on guard.

"What do we do now? That human is coming over!"

Yuan Xiao snorted. "What are you afraid of? He may be strong, but we're not fish on a chopping block. Everyone, attack together. We only need to hold him off."

He then looked toward the Divine Blade Sect. "This all started because we were here to escort you. Now a powerful enemy has appeared."

Yuan Xiao waved his hand, quickly beckoning the Demonic Beasts to retreat and placing the Divine Blade Sect's group in front of them.

Seeing this, an elder of the Divine Blade Sect flew into a rage. "Yuan Xiao, what do you mean by this? We're all grasshoppers tied to the same rope. With behavior like this, aren't you courting death?"

"Ptooey! Shut your trap, you old fossil. If you don't like it, then we brothers don't mind splitting up those disciples we sent beyond the border." A Goat Demon replied with contempt.

"Well said, Brother Goat," Yuan Xiao agreed coldly.

"You—you..." The elder of the Divine Blade Sect had no way to refute him. To secure the Demonic Beasts' support, they had secretly moved their families and personal disciples beyond Yunzhou's borders.

They had even handed over countless resources. The Divine Blade Sect had no way back now.

"Master, I'm afraid we chose wrong this time."

At that moment, Jiang Qingyun noticed Su Ye's movement and immediately gave the order. "Everyone, join Lieutenant Su and seize these Demonic Beasts and those traitors!"