First Place Seal

Su Yuan found the despondent Tie Niu in the forest and handed him a cloth-wrapped human head.

"Tie Niu, this is the head of a martial artist from the Shan Family Martial Academy. Take it, and you will pass the test."

"A Shan family head?" Tie Niu was still in a daze when Su Yuan pulled him out of the forest.

As the two reached the mouth of the valley, Su Yuan looked up toward the high platform.

Why does everyone look so unhappy?

He presented the head in his hand, and the examiner froze upon seeing it.

This was clearly the head of a Shan family martial artist.

Seeing that Su Yuan had actually presented a Shan family head, the others all secretly observed the reaction on the platform.

"Su Yuan! What are you doing!" Upon seeing the head, Shan Xiongqing flew into a rage and stood up instantly.

Su Yuan remained calm and unhurried: "Young Master Shan, we were rooting out traitors for you. Du Hengfeng led his group to huddle in the forest, hunting their own colleagues and releasing captives; he is truly an inside agent for Great Jing. This head should be worth one hundred points."

"Nonsense! You dare to slaughter your own kin before the Wolf God? You deserve to die!" Shan Xiongqing, unable to believe what he was seeing, barked a harsh reprimand.

The various young masters and misses of the Liang People cast side-glances, curious to see who was so bold.

"Oh, it's that carpenter again," Rong Yuzhi said, looking toward Su Yuan.

Tie Niu stepped forward at this moment: "Everything Su Yuan said is true."

The Chai Family martial artists who had participated in the encirclement also stepped out to support Su Yuan.

Shan Xiongqing glared at Chai Nian: "Is your Chai Family trying to rebel?"

Chai Nian did not look at Su Yuan, his gaze resting on the other head in Tie Niu's hand: "Since they dare to testify in public, they must have proof."

"That's right! Everyone present can bear witness!" Su Yuan turned around, looking at the crowd emerging from the forest one after another.

Huang Tong stepped out from the crowd.

Since they had already killed a Shan family martial artist, if they did not support Su Yuan now, they would find it difficult to clear their own names.

"I can testify for Su Yuan. This young woman was originally hunting beasts when Du Hengfeng suddenly led his group to attack us. It is clear that he violated the rules first, and we were forced to defend ourselves." Her voice was clear and bright as she also presented a head of a Shan family martial artist.

The members of the Rong Family Martial Academy followed suit.

Rong Yulian lifted her chin slightly; she had not expected Huang Tong to be dragged into this as well.

With two Liang People martial academies taking the lead, the martial artists from the various martial halls also stood up one after another.

If they could use the heads of the Shan family to meet the quota, they would not need to kill anyone else.

Moreover, everyone had long suffered under Du Hengfeng and the Shan Family Martial Academy.

They had long suspected that the disappearance of many fellow disciples was related to them.

Seeing the surging public sentiment, Shan Xiongqing was so angry his breathing became heavy: "You... you are truly rebelling! Where is Du Hengfeng?"

Chai Nian chuckled: "Su Yuan has cleared out the internal threats for your Shan family; you should be grateful. Could it be that your Shan family is truly in league with Great Jing?"

Gao Mian stood up at the right moment to draw a clear line: "I did not expect the Shan family to produce such treacherous villains. Xiongqing is heartbroken by his subordinates' betrayal and lost his composure for a moment. On his behalf, I apologize to everyone. The Shan family will certainly investigate this matter and provide everyone with an explanation."

"Gao Mian, you— Pfft!"

The smoothness and triumph of the hunting competition over the past two days formed a tragic contrast with the successive bad news of the final days.

The Shan family in the city had also suffered the greatest losses.

Shan Xiongqing felt a wave of metallic sweetness rush to his throat, spat out a mouthful of blood, and as his vision went black, he fell straight backward.

"Xiongqing!" Gao Mian cried out in alarm and stepped forward to support him, but she was a step too late; his forehead hit the ground with a heavy thud.

"Quick, call a doctor!"

Rong Yulian and her sister exchanged a smile, happy to see this scene.

Their Rong family martial artists had also obtained a few heads just now; it was not a loss.

The upper echelons of the Shan family were speechless for a moment.

Under the gaze of the crowd, both the evidence and the hearts of the people had tilted to the other side, and the other families were watching as well.

Su Yuan added at the right moment: "Du Hengfeng has taken advantage of the chaos to flee, and his whereabouts are unknown."

A thorough investigation would naturally follow.

For the time being, the heads of these traitors were each counted as one hundred points, and the Trial of Loyalty was thus passed.

Tie Niu returned to the top spot, and Su Yuan also rose to fifth.

Gao Mian gave Su Yuan a look, signaling him not to worry about the bets: compete for third place.

The final day of the hunt.

Su Yuan carried the head of Du Hengfeng, walking through the silent forest.

His figure was solitary and straight, with only the light sound of his footsteps breaking the deep seclusion of the woods.

Du Hengfeng was still alive, yet he had been whittled down into a human stick; only his head and torso remained, still emitting faint groans.

The vengeance that could be exacted at this stage had been settled.

It was just unclear whether Duan Hongyan was still around, or if he had already taken his own life.

Su Yuan walked toward a shaded mountain crevice.

The rock wall recessed inward, draped with hanging vines, forming a natural, shallow cave that was extremely well-hidden.

He heard the sound of faint breathing.

Duan Hongyan was still alive.

He leaned against the rock wall, his complexion ashen like paper, the wound on his chest a bloody mess, his breath hanging by a thread.

Yet, his right index finger was dipped in his own flowing blood, laboriously writing on a tattered piece of clothing.

He did not know if anyone would be able to carry this out, but it was merely a final thought left behind.

Hearing footsteps, his movements stalled, and he smiled bitterly: "It is over."

He stuffed the blood-written letter into the soil beneath him and closed his eyes to await death.

Immediately after, he saw a clean-looking youth in tight-fitting attire step into the crevice, dragging a dwarf along.

"Su Yuan, it is actually you, this running dog." Duan Hongyan had not expected to see an acquaintance before his end.

"You saved the children, so I will not kill you. As for your enemy, I have brought him to you." Su Yuan tossed Du Hengfeng onto the ground.

He examined Duan Hongyan's injuries; his heart meridians were shattered and his channels were completely severed—there was no hope of recovery.

"Are you two animals putting on a show? I will not say anything." Duan Hongyan sneered.

Du Hengfeng actually still had the strength to mock: "Fool, your Young Master has already confessed..."

"What? Senior Sister Yun, she!"

Su Yuan stepped on Du Hengfeng's head, grinding his unfinished words back into his throat, and said indifferently: "She did confess, but the horse farm has been breached, and the people have already been rescued."

Duan Hongyan was silent for a moment, then smiled with relief: "It is good that the people were rescued. They took the cultivation manuals, but that is fine. Cultivation manuals... how can they be more important than human lives?"

"Su Yuan! You traitor, let me go!" Du Hengfeng hissed and cursed.

Su Yuan crushed his entire set of teeth with another stomp: "How do you wish to deal with him? It is up to you."

Duan Hongyan finally believed they were not acting. He lowered his eyes to look at the enemy who had tortured him for many days, his voice calm: "Kill him."

"Very well." Su Yuan applied pressure with his foot, and the skull emitted a sound of unbearable strain.

Du Hengfeng finally revealed the terror of impending death: "Don't kill me! I still have an old mother to support! I still have to serve the Young Master! I haven't taken revenge on that masked man yet! If you kill me, the Young Master will never let you off—"

Hearing the mention of the masked man, Su Yuan's foot paused.

Du Hengfeng thought he was afraid and was about to continue his threats, but when he looked up, he met a green-faced, fanged ghost mask: "Ah! A ghost! You are that ghost!"

His pupils shrank to pinpricks, and he realized the truth in an instant, but it was already too late.

The crisp sound of a neck bone snapping came clearly.

Su Yuan had only just retracted his foot, as this head still needed to be brought back intact to fulfill his mission.

"Senior Green Ghost?! Su Yuan, you... you are actually Green Ghost!" Duan Hongyan was shocked beyond words.

How could he have imagined that the mysterious and powerful Green Ghost would be Su Yuan?

If it had been Su Tieniu, he might have believed it.

But it was precisely this Su Yuan, who was regarded as a running dog of the Liang People.

He finally understood where those precise intelligence reports regarding Yun Xu and the horse farm had come from.

Once a deep-seated prejudice took root, it blinded one to all other possibilities.

With his emotions surging and his blood roiling, he coughed up a mouthful of stagnant blood, and his aura weakened sharply.

Su Yuan rapidly tapped several major acupuncture points on his body, barely protecting the last thread of life in his heart: "Do you have any final words?"

Duan Hongyan's hand trembled as he fished the blood-written letter from the soil: "If there is a chance, I trouble you, Senior, to deliver this to my family."

"What is this?"

"A letter home." The handwriting on the cloth was distorted and difficult to recognize, written in a script unique to the south.

"You are a Nan person?"

"Yes, it is a pity I cannot go back." Duan Hongyan smiled miserably, "Senior, take my head... as well. I know they want to use the heads of their own kin as a pledge of loyalty. Let this head repay your kindness; that way, you can better gain the trust of the Liang People. When Ji City is liberated one day in the future, bring this letter back to the south."

"No need. I have already passed the test of loyalty, and you saved the children; we are even." Su Yuan briefly recounted the matter of the Shan Family.

"Senior has excellent methods, but that Shan Xiongqing is sinister and cunning; I fear there may be further changes. Taking my head... would be safer." The light in Duan Hongyan's eyes gradually dimmed.

Su Yuan was silent for a moment, then finally spoke frankly: "I was initially forced to pass messages to you by Yun Xu. I do not wish to hide this from you. In a few months, I may leave Ji City and head to the Great Liang heartland. I can try to find a way to deliver this letter to your Junior Sister, but I cannot agree to the rest."

Duan Hongyan's gaze dimmed completely, yet he still whispered: "Then let it be considered repayment for you avenging me, Senior. Your choices... I have no right to interfere."

He struggled to lift his uninjured left hand and drew it across his own neck.

In the valley, Tie Niu looked around anxiously.

After the Shan Family finished their investigation, they insisted that only Du Hengfeng was a traitor, while the others had been coerced; although they deserved to die, their heads did not count for points, nor could they satisfy the Trial of Loyalty.

Those holding such heads were required to return to the mountains and forests to hunt down refugees.

Tie Niu discovered that the head Su Yuan had stuffed into his hands earlier was actually that of a refugee, so he was naturally in the clear.

Yet, since that moment, Su Yuan had never returned.

The final hunting gong had sounded, the competition was nearing its end, and Su Yuan was still nowhere to be seen.

After Shan Xiongqing regained consciousness, his face was deathly pale, yet he felt that something was increasingly wrong.

Su Yuan must have done this to frame them, all while avoiding the need to kill Jing People, thereby maintaining his own innocence.

He felt in his gut that this man was also an inside agent.

Otherwise, why would this person repeatedly oppose the Shan Family? This scheme was perhaps intended to clear his name and infiltrate the higher ranks.

"Everyone, my assessment is correct: that Su Yuan is definitely a traitor! He and Du Hengfeng acted in tandem, one in the light and one in the dark, performing this charade just to win our trust and penetrate deep into our Great Liang. Now that their plot has been exposed, he must have fled in fear of punishment!" He analyzed with ironclad certainty.

Chai Nian looked at the previously cowardly Tie Niu and began to harbor suspicions about these two brothers as well.

Even if a thorough investigation was required later, the champion of this event would ultimately be someone from his Chai Family.

Gao Mian's gaze never left the direction of the mountains, the worry in her eyes deepening as she hoped that figure would appear.

Fortunately, Su Yuan finally appeared.

He carried two heads, one in each hand.

One was Du Hengfeng's, and the other was Duan Hongyan's.

"My apologies, my lords. I am late because I was pursuing the traitor Du Hengfeng."

"The ritual is concluded! I invite the champion Su Yuan, the most loyal warrior of Great Liang, to ascend the stage and present his hunt!"

The master of ceremonies announced in a loud voice, and all the observing nobles rose to their feet.

The final day of the ritual had ended, and everyone had returned.

Su Yuan, draped in the golden silk that had once covered the statue of the Wolf God, donned his cap and carried the two brocade boxes containing the heads, offering them before the idol.

The hunt, worth a hundred points, was indeed the most significant of the entire event.

Because the previous assessment of the Shan Family warriors' heads had been erroneous, many people's points had been recalculated and reduced.

Once Su Yuan presented these two heads, his points surpassed Tie Niu's, allowing him to seize the championship in one fell swoop.

The City Lord Wei Yan appeared once more, his eyes filled with approval: "You carved the statue of the Wolf God and received his blessing. Today, you have won the hunting championship and upheld our martial prestige. You shall be the heaven-blessed Warrior of the Wolf God!"

Thunderous applause erupted all around.

Su Yuan lowered his head: "I thank the Wolf God for his blessing."

He gently straightened the brocade box containing the head of Duan Hongyan.

As expected, Shan Xiongqing had played another dirty trick; without these two heads, he would have been unable to prove his innocence and would have been utterly ruined.

Su Yuan gazed calmly at the head inside, lost in thought.

Caw—caw—

It was not until a few lonely cries of wild geese swept across the sky that Su Yuan looked up to see a flock of geese flying north.

Spring has arrived, he thought.

The wild geese head north and do not return south.