What Adult Would Get Angry at a Child?

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Hong Yuan flicked the blood from his long saber. He had heard County Magistrate Zhang's shouted orders too, and a trace of amusement crossed his face.

County Magistrate Zhang was all thunder and little rain. He shouted for the thief to be caught but never ordered his guards to attack.

Hong Yuan had thought that after wiping out the whole family, he would have to kill his way out. This was easier than expected.

In truth, he had struck too fast. In a breath or two, he had dispatched every man who could take charge. Without anyone to lead them, who was left to give orders?

And with County Magistrate Zhang harboring his own designs, Hong Yuan had become little more than a side dish.

Suddenly, Hong Yuan's ears twitched. He looked toward the curtain behind Huang Yihe's corpse.

A main stage had been erected in the front courtyard, with a curtain separating it from the rooms behind.

Rrip!

Hong Yuan split the curtain with one slash and walked through at an unhurried pace.

Behind the curtain, he saw—

A beautiful woman in a gold-woven dress, her hair laden with jewels, was running down a corridor with a child in her arms.

Perhaps she was running too fast. She stepped on her hem, stumbled, and fell hard.

The child in her arms cried out. She hurriedly covered his mouth, struggled to her feet, and ran on, soon disappearing around the corridor.

Hong Yuan followed. He heard a sharp creak, as though a door had opened.

A smile touched his face. Keeping his pace steady, he rounded the corridor and saw a door standing slightly ajar. In her haste, she seemed not to have closed it.

Hong Yuan chuckled and pushed the door open.

It was a study.

Judging by its position at the heart of the house, it was probably Huang Yihe's study.

Hong Yuan let his gaze wander. It looked like an idle glance, but his keen eye caught every faint trace.

Before long, he spotted a slight protrusion beside the bookcase against the left wall. He reached out and pressed it.

With a click, a hidden compartment opened.

Hong Yuan narrowed his eyes. Only after making sure it was safe did he reach inside and pull out a square box.

Click. The box opened.

Inside lay a stack of banknotes. Hong Yuan picked them up and flipped through them. They were identical to the ones he had seen in the Jade Wutong Immortal Realm.

Every note was worth a hundred taels, issued by Baoji Zhenji. There were roughly five or six thousand taels in all.

It was a vast fortune. Hong Yuan pocketed it without ceremony.

Besides the banknotes, the box held three small jade bottles and a sheet of gold foil engraved with dense rows of tiny characters.

Hong Yuan picked up the three bottles and weighed them in his hand. Something rattled softly inside: pills of some kind.

Each bottle bore a small label. The fullest read: For Commander Xiang.

The next read: For Captain Guo.

And the last: For Captain Yang.

"What pills?"

Hong Yuan looked at the gold foil. His eyes hardened when he saw its title: "Red Pill Rejuvenation Technique."

"Materials: a girl under eighteen, richly blessed, with both parents living and a pleasing appearance..."

"Ritual: three matchmakers and six betrothal gifts, thunderous wedding music, and a grand feast to counter her Baleful Intent."

"Strip away all clothing and apply a mixture of beeswax and cinnabar..."

"Use the girl's sweat, essence blood, and tears as supplementary ingredients..."

"Once the Spring-Rejuvenation Pill is complete, it prolongs life."

Crack!

Hong Yuan crushed all three bottles in his fist. Glittering green shards mingled with red powder from the broken pills in his palm.

Looking at them, he felt he had killed Huang Yihe far too quickly.

He rubbed the gold foil between his fingers until it crumbled into golden dust.

"Commander Xiang, Captain Guo, Captain Yang..."

Hong Yuan committed the three to memory.

He did not know their given names, but a commander and two captains were undoubtedly powerful figures in the Prefectural City.

That did not matter. To meet the conditions for opening the Taisui Blessed Land, he would have to trample each of those great figures underfoot anyway.

Hong Yuan left the study, glanced around, and strolled on.

Not far from the study, behind a rockery—

Beneath a large blue-gray stone screened by flowers and shrubs—

The beautiful woman crouched with mud on her dress, clutching the child and listening tensely as the footsteps faded.

The child bit her palm. She cried out in pain and snatched her hand from his mouth.

He was only eight or nine, wearing a gold collar, his plump face fair and rosy. Now his eyes blazed with hatred. "Mother, Father is dead. Grandfather too..."

"Don't speak."

She hastily covered his mouth again and leaned close to his ear. "Chen'er, remember. Remember that man..."

"Remember what?"

A low voice sounded above her head.

It was quiet, yet to her it struck like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Terror nearly drove her soul from her body.

She raised her stiff neck.

A tall, slender figure stood atop the rockery. The light behind him hid his face, but at the sight of his calm, indifferent eyes, her body went limp.

Run!

She screamed it again and again inside, but her body felt hollow. She could not summon an ounce of strength.

He leaped down. With a thud, he landed before mother and son.

"You killed my father! You killed my grandfather! I'll kill you..."

An eight- or nine-year-old child in a great family already understood plenty. His face twisted with hatred as he grabbed a pebble and threw it at Hong Yuan.

Pfft.

The pebble struck Hong Yuan's robe and slid to the ground.

Hong Yuan glanced at it, then flicked the dust from his robe. "Oh? How do you plan to kill me?"

"I'll kill you like I killed Zhu'er! I'll throw you into a snake pit and feed you to the snakes!" the child screamed.

The woman's eyes reddened. Strength surged through her from somewhere, and she pulled the child into her arms, covering his eyes with her hand.

"No! Don't kill my child! He didn't mean it, and he hasn't seen your face!"

Hong Yuan said mildly, "Don't worry. What adult would get angry with a child?"

As he spoke, Hong Yuan moved her hand aside and met the child's hateful stare. He smiled. "Remember my face. Don't forget it. When we meet again, come and take your revenge."

"When I grow up, I'll kill you." The child glared at Hong Yuan, his once-pleasant round face contorted.

Just then, a jumble of footsteps sounded.

County Magistrate Zhang led a crowd of guards into the rear courtyard, bringing the women of Huang Mansion with them.

As he walked, he shouted orders. "Huang Mansion's servants, stay outside and keep watch. Don't let the thief escape. Zhang Family guards, follow me in and seize him!"

Several of Huang Mansion's senior servants and guard captains wanted to enter the inner courtyard too. But County Magistrate Zhang left more than a dozen guards watching them with drawn blades, and they had no choice but to stay.

The woman's face lit up. She opened her mouth to call out, then remembered the killer was right in front of her.

But when she looked up, he was gone.

Overjoyed at escaping death, she gathered the child in her arms and staggered toward County Magistrate Zhang. "My lord! I... I'm here!"

The short distance took all her strength. By the time she reached him, she was almost spent and stumbled to the ground.

County Magistrate Zhang hurried to catch her, drawing her halfway into his arms. He looked at the child she held. "This is...?"

"My lord, she is the wife of the Huang Family's eldest son, and this is their son," a Zhang Family guard answered.

County Magistrate Zhang nodded and looked gently at the woman in his arms. "Madam, are you all right?"

"Thank you for your concern, my lord. Had you not arrived in time, that villain would have killed me." She turned to the child, her teeth clenched. "Chen'er, remember that man. When you grow up, tear him limb from limb..."

Before she could finish, screams reached her ears. She looked up in shock and saw the Zhang Family guards cutting down the women they had brought in, one after another.

Pfft!

County Magistrate Zhang held her with one arm. From his other sleeve flashed a short blade, which he drove into her chest.

Blood sprayed.

Her mouth fell open. She stared blankly at County Magistrate Zhang's smiling face.

Then, at the edge of her vision, a Zhang Family guard grinned and seized the shouting Chen'er in one thick hand.

He pinned the boy to the ground and hacked off his head.

Her sight dimmed. The last thing she heard was County Magistrate Zhang shouting, "The villain is ruthless! Don't let him harm Brother Huang's family!"

Smack!

County Magistrate Zhang shoved the still-warm body away. As he withdrew the blade, he wiped its edge across the swell of her breast, his face as still as water.

"My lord, we caught this girl. What should we do with her?" A guard came forward, holding a young woman in red bridal clothes. Her eyes were swollen, and tear tracks covered her face.

She was the concubine Huang Guiling had intended to take that day. Terror filled her face, and she trembled uncontrollably.

"You're asking me about something so trivial?" County Magistrate Zhang glared at the guard and waved a hand. "Dispose of her."

The guard said nothing more. He nodded and thrust his long saber toward her chest.

Pfft!

A blade hissed through the air, but it was the guard who screamed. One of his arms flew upward.

County Magistrate Zhang's vision blurred. Someone was suddenly before him, moving too fast for him to react. The guard's arm fell to a single slash, and the blade kept going, flashing past County Magistrate Zhang's cheek.

Agony flared at his left ear. The blade had taken it, and it fell to the ground.

"Don't scream. Scream, and I'll take your head!"

An icy chill against his neck forced County Magistrate Zhang to swallow his cry of pain.

A bloodied Steel Saber rested against his throat.

The hand holding it was long and fair, its joints neatly defined. It was a strikingly handsome hand.

Its owner was an even more handsome, valiant young man.

The young man smiled at him. "When it comes to cruelty, you officials are hard to beat."

Hong Yuan sighed and looked at the head on the ground, its eyes still open. He shook his head. "We meet again... A pity someone stole my job."

"Young hero, I have no quarrel with you..." County Magistrate Zhang forced a smile through the pain.

The Zhang Family guards glared, their eyes nearly bursting with rage. Their master had lost an ear while they stood around him, and now he was being held hostage.

When a lord was humiliated, his retainers ought to die.

Their master would be within his rights to have them killed.

But with County Magistrate Zhang in Hong Yuan's hands, they could only glare. None dared move.

"Of course you don't."

Hong Yuan smiled faintly. "I don't like holding grudges. If I have one, I usually do everything I can to settle it quickly. Likewise, I don't like owing anyone a favor..."

"So I took care of the Huang Family for you and handed you a windfall. You can do me a small favor and repay me for that, can't you?"

"What would you like me to do, young hero? Just say the word." County Magistrate Zhang seethed inwardly but had to endure it.

"First..." Hong Yuan pointed at the girl in red, who was weeping like pear blossoms in the rain. "Send her back to her family. Poor child—and you were going to kill her? Are you even human?"

Hah!

County Magistrate Zhang sneered inwardly. You little wretch, you were far more ruthless when you killed Huang Guiling's family.

"Give her some silver to ease her fright. And with your resources, County Magistrate Zhang, you should be able to find the concubines Huang Guiling took before, and the girls he abducted. Send their families some money too."

Hong Yuan looked at him coolly. "Most of the Huang Family's estate will be yours now. After gaining so much, giving a little back is only reasonable."

"Perfectly reasonable." County Magistrate Zhang nodded vigorously.

He was furious. If those were the only things Hong Yuan wanted, why couldn't he have simply asked?

As the magistrate of Qingxu County and head of the Zhang Family, he was practically the county's local emperor. Even the county governor was little more than a rubber stamp before him.

Losing an ear would not strip him of power, but it was a terrible blow to his dignity.

"Second, help me deal with a few people..."

Hong Yuan named several people.

County Magistrate Zhang nodded repeatedly. At last, he heard Hong Yuan say with a smile, "That's all. If you ever want revenge, County Magistrate Zhang, I'll be waiting."

"I wouldn't dare. I wouldn't dare."

County Magistrate Zhang denied it at once. The pressure on his neck suddenly lifted. The dark-robed figure before him blurred, sprang upward, and scrambled onto the roof as nimbly as an old ape. A few bounds later, he had vanished.

Only then did County Magistrate Zhang understand how Hong Yuan had appeared so quickly. Never in his life had he seen movement like that. It called to mind the wandering heroes in swordplay novels, leaping over roofs and scaling walls.

Damn it. The Zhang Family needs to recruit—no, train—some real experts!

And that little wretch... County Magistrate Zhang pressed a hand to his left ear. Blood seeped between his fingers. I can't deal with you for now, so I'll report you to the Prefectural City and let Commander Xiang handle you.