The Execution of an Entire Family

"Last night's incident was specifically connected to the Blood Demon Cult."

Du Cangying's tone was calm. "You should all know of the Ye Lineage. In Qingbei Town's outer city, the Ye Lineage could be considered a top-tier wealthy merchant family."

"We know."

One of the true disciples nodded. He was tall and lanky, but his frame was thin, standing like a bamboo pole. "I previously escorted a shipment for the Ye Lineage and accompanied their merchant caravan to Shagou Town once."

"The Ye Lineage's old patriarch, Ye Fang, is already ninety-eight this year."

Du Cangying spoke slowly. "Although Ye Fang had considerable talent for business, his talent for martial arts was quite ordinary. Despite spending a great deal of money, he achieved nothing remarkable. He only reached the level of transformed force and could advance no further."

"So."

"At ninety-eight, he was already one foot in the grave, with few days left to live."

"Yet."

"That old fellow Ye Fang did not want to die. About half a year ago, the Blood Demon Desire Woman of the Blood Demon Cult found Ye Fang and deceived him, claiming she could refine a pill that would grant him another ten years of life."

"The result was easy to imagine."

Du Cangying shrugged. "Ye Fang was deceived by the Blood Demon Desire Woman. Not only did she fail to refine any pill, she instead used the Ye Lineage's influence as cover to ravage the living within the city, refine a blood pool, and use it to create many corpse ghosts, corpse monsters, and even zombies."

"Last night."

"The Ye Lineage's affair was exposed. The Demon Extermination Agency and the Yamen Agency were fully mobilized, along with the gangs, martial arts schools, and escort agencies of the outer city."

"In just one night."

"All of the unrest was suppressed."

"That was the whole matter."

"So that was it."

"It was actually connected to the Ye Lineage."

"..."

The crowd began discussing it quietly.

Xu Qing also fell into thought. He was rather curious why his master knew so much. It struck him as strange.

In truth.

Xu Qing did not know.

The Ye Lineage was merely a wealthy merchant family in the outer city. The Yamen Agency and the Demon Extermination Agency had already investigated everything clearly more than a month ago.

Moreover.

Azure Hawk Martial Arts School, Crushing Stone Martial Arts School, and Crimson Eagle Martial Arts School were the three great Martial Force powers of the outer city. Naturally, they had their own channels of information and had long since learned the whole story.

It was only that.

Bu Wuyun and Wei Wohe had wanted to let the situation grow worse. Once it became sufficiently serious, they would step in to suppress it, allowing them to reap greater merit.

Unfortunately.

Things went against their wishes.

At the critical moment.

Bu Wuyun and Wei Wohe never expected that the Blood Demon Cult's people would be willing to sacrifice themselves for righteousness. Fan Liang had actually detonated the Golden Armored Corpse King to let the Blood Demon Desire Woman escape, while using his own life to delay Bu Wuyun and Wei Wohe.

As a result.

Bu Wuyun and Wei Wohe let the Blood Demon Desire Woman escape.

The true mastermind was not captured.

Furthermore.

If they had captured the Blood Demon Desire Woman, they might have been able to interrogate intelligence about the Blood Demon Cult from her. If they truly obtained such intelligence, it would have been another great merit.

"Blood Demon Cult."

Xu Qing pondered. Once again, he heard the name of this demonic cult.

"Master."

At that moment.

One of the true disciples carrying a broadsword raised his head and suddenly asked Du Cangying, "Do you know someone named Lü Dongbin?"

"Lü Dongbin?"

Du Cangying glanced at his third disciple. "You mean that swordsmanship expert who appeared last night?"

"Yes."

The true disciple nodded.

"I have not heard of him."

Du Cangying shook his head. After pondering for a moment, he still said, "However, judging from some of the rumors that have spread, the sword technique he used should have been the Thirteen Sword Strikes of Life-Taking."

"Thirteen Sword Strikes of Life-Taking."

The true disciple pondered.

"Correct."

Du Cangying nodded. "Furthermore, his strength should have reached the level of transformed force, not much different from yours. If you have the chance to encounter him, you can indeed seek a spar with him. It would be greatly beneficial to the improvement of both your swordsmanship and cultivation."

"Yes, Master."

The true disciple nodded.

"..."

Xu Qing had been standing to the side, listening to Du Cangying and the true disciples speak. Especially when they mentioned "Lü Dongbin," Xu Qing felt slightly tense.

Fortunately.

Du Cangying had only deduced the sword technique Xu Qing used. That alone could not confirm anything, so there was no need to worry that anyone would suspect him.

After all.

The Thirteen Sword Strikes of Life-Taking was not a sword technique exclusive to Azure Hawk Martial Arts School. Other martial arts schools, especially those that primarily taught swordsmanship, also possessed this sword technique.

"You should not involve yourselves in last night's matter."

Du Cangying gave a final reminder. "Moreover, this matter should end here. Only the Ye Lineage will likely be executed root and branch by the yamen."

"Colluding with a demonic cult naturally could not lead to a good outcome."

"Yes."

"Understood."

"We will obey Master's instructions."

"..."

The six true disciples nodded.

"Xu Qing."

Du Cangying raised his head.

"Master."

Xu Qing cupped his hands in salute.

"Come and get acquainted with your senior brothers and sisters."

Du Cangying said.

"Yes."

Xu Qing replied.

Time flashed by.

It was roughly noon.

Only then did Xu Qing leave Azure Hawk Martial Arts School. He had spent the entire morning there, becoming acquainted with the six true disciples of Azure Hawk Martial Arts School.

Aside from Senior Disciple Brother Huo Yi and Second Senior Sister Du Luan.

There was also Third Senior Brother Xiao Feng, who carried a broadsword and wished to spar with "Lü Dongbin"; Fourth Senior Brother Zhu Bihe, tall and thin-framed like a bamboo pole; and Fifth Senior Brother Jin Hong, fat as a pig, with a kind smile but a sinister heart.

Lastly.

There was the adorable Sixth Senior Sister Pang Yunyun, with her bun-like face.

"Have you heard? The reason such a thing happened last night was because the Ye Lineage colluded with those demonic cult fiends, allowing them to refine so many zombies inside the city."

"The Ye Lineage is truly detestable."

"Yes! Yes!"

"The Ye Lineage truly grew rich without mercy."

"The yamen has already reached a verdict. The Ye Lineage has been sentenced to execution of the entire family, with not a single person spared."

"Good! Good! Good!"

"A fine sentence! What a fine sentence!"

"The Ye Lineage deserves to die."

"My son was bitten to death by those monsters!"

"And my daughter."

"My father too..."

At this time.

In Qingbei Town's outer city.

The yamen had already released the news, and it spread at lightning speed. Throughout Qingbei Town's outer city, practically everyone knew about it.

In the end.

The yamen constables were dispatched. All of the Ye Lineage's businesses were sealed, all gold, silver, and treasures were confiscated, and relatives, friends, and others connected to the Ye Lineage were basically all arrested.

Among them.

Was the Ye Lineage's eldest young master, Ye Yi.

That evening.

Xu Qing met Zhao Jingyuan.

Of course.

Yu Chen was there as well.

However.

This time, they did not gather at Kaiyuan Tower. Instead, they met at Laike Tower, the second-largest restaurant in the outer city. They sat together, ate meat, drank wine, and chatted.

"Last night scared me half to death."

Yu Chen took a sip of wine, his face already somewhat flushed. "That Ye Lineage is truly sick in the head. They had already earned so much money and were already one of the foremost wealthy merchant families in the outer city, yet they still colluded with a demonic cult and caused such a massive disaster."

"A lot of people died last night."

"If I had not dug an underground cellar at home, my entire family might have been in trouble."

"Yeah!"

Zhao Jingyuan shook his head and sighed. "The Ye Lineage is now like a wall collapsing and everyone pushing it, a tree falling and the monkeys scattering. Old Master Ye died so thoroughly that even his corpse could not be found. The Ye Lineage's young masters have all become prisoners. Once the County Magistrate finishes the trial, they will all be beheaded at noon tomorrow."

"Everyone from the Ye Lineage was arrested?"

Xu Qing asked.

"The Ye Lineage's third young master, Ye Langtian, has not been captured yet. He received the news beforehand and fled somewhere unknown."

Zhao Jingyuan said.

"I see."

Xu Qing nodded and said nothing further.

However.

Zhao Jingyuan was, after all, a junior constable of the yamen. He was now a dark force martial artist. Though his status was not high, he was no longer at the bottom, so Xu Qing could still learn quite a bit of information from him.

"Oh, right."

Zhao Jingyuan suddenly lowered his head and quietly said to Xu Qing and Yu Chen, "I'll tell you a rumor. I heard that the two Chief Commanders of the Yamen Agency and Demon Extermination Agency are extremely unhappy and flew into a towering rage. Several commanders and squad leaders were scolded badly."

"It seems to be because some mastermind escaped."

"Really?"

Yu Chen's eyes widened.

"I don't know!"

Zhao Jingyuan shrugged. "It's only a rumor I heard."

"She escaped."

Xu Qing pondered, his tone rather speechless. "They still let the mastermind escape?"

That evening.

Outside Qingbei Town.

White Dwarf Mountain.

At the foot of the mountain.

As the view drew closer.

Two figures could be seen standing face-to-face. If Xu Qing had been there, he would have recognized them as Ye Langtian and Fifth Senior Brother Jin Hong.

Thud!

Ye Langtian dropped to his knees.

"Many thanks to Fifth Senior Brother for saving my life."

Ye Langtian knelt before Jin Hong and kowtowed. His eyes were bloodshot, clearly having cried, yet his expression had become ever more resolute.

"No need to thank me."

Jin Hong shook his head and said, "This was Master's instruction. His old man does not possess heaven-reaching abilities and can only protect you this far."

"The Demon Extermination Agency's Chief Commander Bu Wuyun and the Yamen Agency's Chief Commander Wei Wohe are both Innate Gang Qi existences. There are likely few people in Qingbei Town who can stop what they intend to do."

"Since you have already joined Azure Hawk Martial Arts School, Azure Hawk Martial Arts School will naturally do everything possible to protect you. But today's matter was no small affair. Master could only find a way to secretly send you out of the city."

"From this day onward."

"Do not return to Qingbei Town."

"This disciple obeys."

Ye Langtian kowtowed once more.

"Let's go."

Jin Hong waved his hand.

"Yes."

Ye Langtian rose to his feet, carrying a crude bundle on his back.

He had once possessed decent martial talent and had been the young master of a wealthy merchant Lineage.

But now.

Ye Langtian had become a wanted criminal everyone wanted to beat, a homeless drifter.

All those changes had happened in the span of a single day.