After Wang Deli lowered his bow, a grin split across his face.
Several dozen armored men followed behind him; clearly, they had come prepared.
On the deck, Zeng Shilin stood with his hands behind his back, looking toward the people on the shore of Water Cloud Island.
When his gaze met Zeng Anmin's from afar, his brows furrowed deeply.
"Heh heh."
Zeng Anmin felt somewhat guilty.
Could the scheme between father and son really be called a scheme?
He merely turned his gaze toward Qi Linxian, who was currently on the small boat by the shore, and shouted a reminder:
"Don't let him get away!"
Qi Linxian's expression was incomparably gloomy. He clearly had not expected Zeng Anmin to have calculated everything so thoroughly.
The atmosphere gradually grew heavy.
"Hmph!"
In an instant, he had seen the current situation with perfect clarity.
Qi Linxian gave a soft snort and looked toward Wang Deli aboard the ship.
"A crude martial artist like you dares dream of stopping this old man?"
With a light wave of the feather fan in his hand—
The little boat beneath him suddenly rippled. In the blink of an eye, a ring of green patterns wrapped around Qi Linxian.
"Instantaneous Movement Array!"
The Xuanjing Division Commander, Wang Deli, saw this and shouted in fury:
"You foxes of the Profound Formation Division! Other than running away, what else can you do?? If you have the guts, fight me!!"
As he spoke, he was about to leap up and raise the longbow in his hand.
"Whoosh!!"
The second arrow reached Qi Xianlin in an instant.
"Illusion!"
Qi Linxian waved his feather fan again. The green patterns suddenly flashed, enveloping his entire body.
"Pop~"
The feathered arrow passed through Qi Xianlin's body without causing any harm.
"Young Master Zeng, until we meet again!!"
With a chuckle from Qi Linxian, his body began to flicker. Even his voice had become blurred; in the next instant, he was about to vanish.
Just then, a cold snort rang out.
"It has been too long since I last fought. The world has forgotten the might of my Confucian Law. How lamentable."
Zeng Shilin's gaze was calm. He seemed to turn a blind eye to Qi Linxian, who was about to disappear. One hand rested behind his back as he stood upon the deck.
The river wind brushed past him, stirring the unmatched elegance at the hem of his robes, along with vast azure qi that seemed to pierce the heavens.
"The Sage said: speak not of strange powers and chaotic spirits."
A vast, boundless voice sounded beside everyone's ears.
Zeng Anmin saw countless streams of azure qi reaching straight into the sky, vast as clouds and smoke, thick as mountain mist.
Within that curling azure qi, his father stood like a great mountain, Heaven and Earth Righteous Qi swirling around him.
In the blink of an eye, it reached the ghostly green glow around Qi Linxian.
The instant the green light touched the azure qi, it was like water droplets meeting the sun. Before long, it dissolved and scattered away.
"Bang~"
Qi Linxian's figure reappeared.
He fell back onto the small boat in a miserable heap.
He frantically urged the spiritual power within his body, but it was utterly useless.
Then he abruptly raised his head to look at Zeng Shilin, horror filling his face.
"Even the spiritual power of my Profound Formation Division can..."
"Ignorant child."
Zeng Shilin merely smiled faintly, too lazy to waste words on him.
He only glanced at Wang Deli. "Take him."
"Yes, sir!!"
Wang Deli spread his wings like a great roc and leaped fiercely onto the water, his toes tapping out several ripples.
"Tap, tap~"
In only two steps, his agile figure had arrived before Qi Linxian.
Qi Linxian was merely a Seventh-Rank Array Master. Having lost his spiritual power, how could he be a match for the Xuanjing Division Commander?
Within moments, he had been captured alive.
Ignoring Qi Linxian's deathly pale face, Zeng Shilin looked toward Zeng Anmin on the shore.
Father and son looked at one another.
"Where is the Black Cat Martial Artist?"
Zeng Shilin looked at his son with a half-smile as he asked.
"What Black Cat Martial Artist?" Zeng Anmin blinked, his face full of confusion.
Zeng Shilin's expression stiffened slightly.
He could hardly say, I used Heart Inquiry on you, and you pointed at the map and said the Black Cat Martial Artist was here, could I?
By then, the ship beneath his feet had already docked.
Zeng Shilin slowly disembarked and came before Zeng Anmin.
He first lowered his head and glanced at Wang Daoyuan's corpse on the ground, his face expressionless.
"Not settling matters with him completely back then was merely a casual move by your father, to see whether Prince Jiang's Estate would take the bait."
"I never expected that casual move to become the trump card in your hand."
Zeng Anmin froze, then looked at his father in disbelief.
"I thought you spared his life because he was working for His Majesty at the time... because you were concerned for His Majesty's dignity."
His father sneered. "Would His Majesty care about the life or death of an ant like that?"
Zeng Anmin was suddenly stunned. Then his gaze toward his father filled with admiration, and his voice became incomparably respectful.
"If not for you sparing his life back then, we likely would not have caught this big fish today."
"Governor Sir truly calculated every move without fail, your wisdom surpassing that of mortals! This subordinate admires you!! I bow in complete submission!!"
Zeng Shilin slowly nodded, a faint smile appearing on his face as his right hand unconsciously stroked his beard.
As the two spoke, Wang Deli arrived, carrying the bound Qi Linxian as he strode across the river.
"Thud~"
He casually tossed Qi Linxian to the ground and asked Zeng Shilin for instructions. "Sir, this bastard has been captured. How should he be dealt with?"
"Take him back and torture him severely."
Zeng Shilin swept a cold glance over Qi Linxian's old face, his voice utterly devoid of emotion.
Only then did he turn to Zeng Anmin.
"This Wild Mountain holds evidence of Prince Jiang's Estate plotting rebellion."
Zeng Anmin's expression turned solemn. He bowed to Zeng Shilin.
"Reporting to Governor Sir, the evidence is in the gorge beyond this hill, but there are some guards within the gorge..."
"Mm."
Zeng Shilin slowly nodded, then turned to look at Wang Deli and the several dozen armored men on the deck.
"Move quickly."
Wang Deli accepted the order with a solemn expression.
"Yes!!"
After speaking, he looked toward the dozens of guards on the deck and shouted:
"Form up! Up the mountain!!"
"Shhk!!"
A formation was arranged in the blink of an eye. Several dozen soldiers disembarked in perfect order, marched in neat steps, and followed Wang Deli away.
That night, Wang Deli led his men in clearing out all the people from Prince Jiang's Estate across the entire mountain island.
Zeng Anmin followed Zeng Shilin as their group entered the gorge.
Several hundred laborers knelt trembling on the ground.
More than a dozen armored corpses lay beside them.
Wang Deli stared at them with a fierce gaze.
Not one of the several dozen armored men had been harmed. Their weapons gleamed coldly as they guarded against every person present.
Zeng Shilin sat in a chair, watching it all.
On the ground, fresh Firearms were laid out in neat rows.
"Prince Jiang's Estate truly harbors the heart of wolves and the ambition of wild beasts."
There were at least two or three hundred Firearms.
This alone was enough to confirm Prince Jiang's Estate's crime of rebellion!
Zeng Shilin's voice turned icy.
"Bind them all and take them back!"
"Yes!"
However, just then—
A strange, gentle, somewhat hesitant voice suddenly sounded.
"Um... Qi Linxian... I need to take him away!"
The voice had appeared with extreme abruptness.
It drew everyone's attention.
"Who!!!"
Wang Deli's expression darkened as he looked toward the source of the voice.
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