A Desperate Struggle

"Reporting to the Hall Master! All thirty-six bandit dens, large and small, in the eastern province have been wiped out. The bandit threat across Salt City has been completely eliminated!"

In front of the Mo Clan's lavish gate, carved with dragons and painted with phoenixes, Yun Zimo led a group of Law Enforcement disciples and members of the Mo Clan in a grand welcome for Mo Cheng and his returning men.

Though Mo Cheng's face was fierce, he bowed respectfully as he reported in. Yun Zimo wore a delighted expression and personally helped Mo Cheng up from his one-knee salute.

"Steward Mo, thank you for your hard work. I notified the Mo Clan in advance to prepare a victory banquet. We've been waiting eagerly for your triumphant return, and at last we've received your good news."

Though Mo Cheng was somewhat displeased that Yun Zimo had issued orders so openly in the Mo Clan's home, he didn't dare say much. Instead, he repeatedly thanked Yun Zimo, looking overwhelmed by the honor.

After several rounds of drinks, Mo Cheng, as the campaign's greatest contributor, was further puffed up by Yun Zimo's intentional flattery. Before long, he'd had a few extra cups.

"So what if you're the Punishment Hall Master? I had you fooled all along. Even in the Misty Cloud Sect, I, Mo Cheng..."

Thinking of certain forbidden words, Mo Cheng grew even more excited and drank heartily with the others. When he happened to glance around, he suddenly realized that nearly everyone present was a direct member of the Mo Clan—the very people who had taken part in the evolution experiments...

Alarmed that something was wrong, Mo Cheng hurriedly apologized, claiming he couldn't hold his liquor, and said he wanted to check the secret chamber.

"Steward Mo, why spoil the fun? You're today's 'star,' yet you're leaving so early. Won't that disappoint the Hall Master?"

A Law Enforcement Team member chuckled, but Mo Cheng still felt that something was off.

"Don't make things difficult for Steward Mo," Yun Zimo said, drinking the last of his tea before rising and surveying the hall. "I imagine everyone's had their fill of fun today."

Yun Zimo smiled at Mo Cheng, then swept his sleeve. In an instant, he was dressed in the Punishment Hall Master's black-and-white robes.

"The star has already taken the stage. So why hasn't the show begun?"

"Bang!"

With a loud boom, the entire Mo Clan compound was instantly shrouded in white mist. Even a Dou Ling as powerful as Mo Cheng could barely make out what was in front of him.

"Fire!"

By now, even Mo Cheng understood that the Punishment Hall had come with hostile intentions! He shouted at once. Crossbow bolts shot from the watchtowers throughout the Mo Clan compound. Amid several screams, Mo Clan disciples caught in the crossfire fell to the ground, wailing, their blood flowing to Mo Cheng's feet.

"Damn it!"

The accursed white mist blocked his view. Mo Cheng knew the watchtowers had all been blinded, so he could only stop giving orders to attack. What he didn't know was that the ones who had fired the bolts weren't members of his Mo Clan at all.

"Yun Zimo! I've shown you respect as the Punishment Hall Master and stood up for you time and again. Why are you attacking my Mo Clan? Even if we're down on our luck, we're still an affiliated power of the Misty Cloud Sect, and I, Mo Cheng, am an outer disciple steward of the sect! If you attack us for no reason, aren't you afraid the other factions will lose heart?!"

Mo Cheng roared into the white expanse. He knew Yun Zimo could see and hear him!

"Five years ago, the Mo Clan slaughtered all thirty-eight members of a household over a land dispute."

"Four years ago, you beat members of the imperial Jia Clan to death, then used the Misty Cloud Sect's name to force the matter under the rug."

"Four years ago..."

"..."

The voices that kept coming from the white mist made Mo Cheng's face grow grimmer and grimmer. At last, he roared, "Enough!"

"You abducted people with rare physiques and stole their organs..."

Another eerie voice drifted out of the white mist. Yun Zimo himself had read that charge aloud, just to see what other act this old man would put on.

"So you never came to suppress bandits at all! You'd been watching my Mo Clan from the start!"

Mo Cheng gritted his teeth, his face twisted in a snarl.

"I gave the Misty Cloud Sect so many benefits every year, and in the end, heh..."

"Steward Mo, what are you talking about? We really did come to suppress bandits. But if we're talking about the biggest bandit in the eastern provinces, wouldn't that be your Mo Clan?"

A Law Enforcement Team member laughed softly. At a time like this, why keep pretending to be the victim?

"You've gone too far!"

Mo Cheng let out a roar that sounded nothing like a human's. Several Mo Clan members answered with roars of their own. In moments, they had all transformed into grotesque half-human, half-beast abominations. The Dou Qi within them surged, their auras turning violently savage. They looked less like people than some kind of magical beast!

"You had perfectly good human bodies. Why insist on becoming beasts?"

"Today, the Mo Clan will be wiped out!"

Yun Zimo shook his head, then turned toward someone nearby and called out softly.

"Gentlemen, you've all seen what the Mo Clan is made of now, haven't you?"

"Sigh. I never imagined you'd openly violate the empire's laws and harm its talented people, Mo Cheng. For the sake of our many years of friendship, I'd originally planned to plead with the Hall Master on your behalf."

City Lord Mo's voice rang out. If the Mo Clan hadn't committed such a grave crime, he truly wouldn't have wanted to show up. But now things were different.

"Yes, you really have made a terrible mistake!"

"Sigh..."

Several more sighs sounded. Hearing those familiar voices through the white mist, Mo Cheng's forehead throbbed with bulging veins. He could understand the other three great clans turning on him, but even those who'd taken so much from the Mo Clan over the years were kicking him while he was down!

"Die!"

With horns on his head and his hands turned to claws, Mo Cheng stamped forward. The floor tiles shattered with a boom as he shot toward the source of the voices like a cannonball—only to tear apart a Mo Clan disciple who had turned into a half-beast.

"Yun Zimo! Come out and fight me fairly, if you have the guts! Even if I die, I refuse to die like this, humiliated!"

"Very well!"

To Mo Cheng's surprise, Yun Zimo, who had remained silent until now, actually answered him. The next moment, the white mist in front of him really did slowly dissipate. But when Mo Cheng saw what lay before him, his face turned even paler.

"Ugh, that's hideous!"

Beside Yun Zimo stood a group of powerful Dou Ling. They were the pillars of the nearby clans and families, yet even they—veterans who had weathered countless storms—couldn't help gagging at the sight of Mo Cheng's inhuman appearance.

"You... Ah!"

Mo Cheng looked at the Mo Clan disciples' bodies strewn across the ground and let out an enraged roar. These were all the geniuses his clan had spent countless resources raising over the past decade!

"Enough, everyone. Send him on his way!"

A Dou Ling Law Enforcement Team member called out, then moved with an unorthodox footwork technique straight for Mo Cheng's face. The others followed close behind, and the attacks of more than a dozen Dou Ling fell upon Mo Cheng in an instant.

"Roar!"

Surrounded and beaten by so many Dou Ling, Mo Cheng let out a furious, humiliated roar. His form shifted again. A minotaur three or four zhang tall rose from the ground, sweeping a palm to knock away one of the charging Dou Ling.

"Damn! That old bastard's already at Peak Dou Ling!"

The green-robed Dou Ling couldn't help cursing. He glanced back at Yun Zimo, who stood calmly by, then gritted his teeth and joined the others in attacking again.

"This is our chance to get in good with the Misty Cloud Sect!"

"Roar! I hate this! My Mo Clan's decades of planning, ruined at your hands in a single day! Yun Zimo! Roar!"

Even after Mo Cheng forcibly raised his strength to Peak Dou Ling, he couldn't withstand more than a dozen Dou Ling attacking him, not to mention the occasional blows from the high-ranking Da Dou Shi on the Law Enforcement Team.

At last, Mo Cheng's eyes turned bloodred. He exhausted all the power within him and gathered it into a single strike comparable to a Dou Wang's.

"Earth-Shaking Mountain-Breaking Claw!"

Mo Cheng's left arm was severed at the shoulder. The monstrous limb, wreathed in powerful energy, ripped through the air and struck toward Yun Zimo.

"Hall Master, watch out! That's the left arm of a fifth-rank magical beast, the Blazing Mountain-Breaking Rhino!"

The green-robed Dou Ling gritted his teeth and lunged forward to stop it, but the Law Enforcement Team members reacted even faster. Some swung swords, others hacked with sabers, but none could impede it in the slightest. With no other choice, the green-robed Dou Ling prepared to take the blow himself, only for Yun Zimo to gently brush him aside with a gust of palm wind.

"You came with me to carry out this mission. Did you really think I'd let you throw your lives away?"

Yun Zimo gave a soft laugh, then disappeared into layers of smoke.

"Boom!"

"Swish!"

A fierce sword light shot out of the billowing smoke and, in an instant, slashed diagonally through Mo Cheng's body, pinning him down. With a boom, the building behind Mo Cheng exploded, collapsing into a heap of rubble.

"Ugh, ugh..."

Mo Cheng could no longer utter a single word. His body fell apart like a split log, toppling in two. Only then did blood spill from the mirror-smooth cut and scatter across the ground.

"Hall... Hall Master?"

The people nearby swallowed nervously and stared at the place where the smoke was clearing. A fiery red arm fell limply to the ground. Not a speck of dust had touched Yun Zimo's robes, and his expression was as indifferent as if he'd done something utterly trivial.

"You're quite impressive. Are you the Ye Clan's ancestor?"

Yun Zimo nodded at the green-robed Dou Ling. His faint praise left the man feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the honor.

"I'm Ye Liang. I'm unworthy of the Hall Master's praise."

Yun Zimo gave a quiet hum, then left them to deal with the bodies here and walked toward the Mo Clan's secret chamber.

"This, this..."

Bo Er, the City Lord of Salt City, stared at the Mo Clan's secret chamber, which looked like something from hell. He knew his political career was finished, but he hurried to file a report anyway, hoping his superiors would be lenient.

"A Dou Ling clan like this is already such a festering sore, heh..."

Yun Zimo sighed inwardly. He knew there was no need to investigate any further. Digging deeper might drag in certain people in the Imperial Capital and on Misty Cloud Mountain.

"I'm really not cut out for the official world..."

"Hall Master, Hall Master, please, I beg you, let them off, let them..."

An old man cried out in alarm, but before he could finish, his voice abruptly caught in his throat. He couldn't say another word.

"Oh? Elder Ge Ye, what were you saying just now? Let them off... what?"

Yun Zimo held an arm in his hand and turned to look at Ge Ye, who had rushed over but now stood rooted to the spot, his face blank. He asked with a smile.

Ge Ye looked at the rows of corpses on the ground, at Yun Zimo's apparent indifference to the slaughter behind him, and at his own disciple Mo Ling's half-human, half-beast corpse. He swallowed and forced a dry smile.

"N-nothing. I was just acting on the Sect Master's orders, coming with Master Gu He to see if there was anything we could do to help."

Only then did Yun Zimo notice the flying magical beast in the distance and Gu He walking toward them. His eyes narrowed slightly, his expression hard to read...

What did Sister Yun mean by sending those two here?