The Principal Culprit Was Already Executed—How Could the Accomplices Be Spared?

Pfft—

Zhou Qing raised his blade and brought it down.

Every swing of his blade took a life.

"Ah, don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

"Young Hero Zhou, Hero Zhou, I can tell you where my father hid all his money! Just spare my life!"

"With me leading the way, you can obtain all the wealth of Zhou Manor."

A richly dressed young man knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

His face was filled with terror. Both hands clutched Zhou Qing's leg tightly, his eyes brimming with the desperate will to survive.

"Young Master Zhou!"

Zhou Qing looked down at him and recognized who he was.

This Young Master Zhou was a notorious wastrel in Black Stone County. He usually bullied men and preyed on women, committing no small amount of evil.

The common people hated him to the bone, yet could do nothing about him.

"Oh? You know where Zhou Manor's wealth is hidden?"

Zhou Qing spared Young Master Zhou's life for the time being.

Everyone else had died beneath his blade.

"Yes, yes, yes, I know." A flicker of hope flashed through Young Master Zhou's eyes. He nodded repeatedly like a pounding pestle. "I'll tell you everything. Just please don't kill me."

"Fine!" Zhou Qing slowly sheathed his blade and said flatly, "Lead the way. If you dare play any tricks, your end will be worse than theirs."

"My father hid all the money in a secret chamber in the study. I know how to open it."

Young Master Zhou scrambled to his feet and led the way ahead.

"It's up ahead. The study is right up ahead!"

Afraid that Zhou Qing would lose patience, Young Master Zhou jogged the entire way, his voice trembling slightly.

Before long.

The two arrived at the study.

Bookshelves stood in rows within the study, the scent of ink hanging thick in the air.

Young Master Zhou led Zhou Qing to a corner of the study and pointed at a section of wall. "The secret chamber is here."

As he spoke, Young Master Zhou began feeling along the wall.

Before long, a series of clicking sounds rang out. The wall slowly opened, revealing a pitch-black entrance.

"You go in first!"

Zhou Qing looked at the entrance and said.

"Yes!"

Young Master Zhou went ahead.

Zhou Qing followed behind him into the secret chamber.

Before them lay heaps of treasures of every kind—gold, silver, jewels, antiques, paintings, calligraphy... everything one could desire, dazzling the eye.

"Where are the banknotes?"

Zhou Qing swept his gaze over the treasures and asked.

"The banknotes are here!" Upon hearing this, Young Master Zhou immediately found a small locked iron chest in the secret chamber. "I don't have the key!"

"No key is needed!"

Zhou Qing took the small iron chest. With a slight exertion of strength, he tore off its lock, then opened it to find it packed full of banknotes.

Most of these banknotes were for one hundred taels, while some were for one thousand taels. Altogether, there were roughly fifty to sixty thousand taels.

"So much money?"

Joy rose in Zhou Qing's heart.

Fifty to sixty thousand taels in banknotes was no small sum. An ordinary person would never see so much money in their entire lifetime.

If he could get another sixty or seventy thousand taels in banknotes, he could buy a first-rate internal art through an official auction.

Zhou Qing tucked the banknotes into his clothes and left the secret chamber.

He was not greedy.

Crate after crate of gold, silver, jewels, antiques, paintings, calligraphy, land deeds, and property deeds were all valuable, but he did not possess a treasure such as a spatial ring. He could not possibly take everything with him. Banknotes were all he could carry on his person.

"I, Zhou, keep my word." Zhou Qing said blandly, "I'll spare your life this time. Don't let me see you again next time. Get lost!"

"Yes, thank you, Young Hero, for sparing my life!"

Upon hearing this, Young Master Zhou beamed with joy and immediately fled the study, scrambling and crawling.

Whoosh!

The next instant, a figure appeared in front of Young Master Zhou.

"We meet again!"

As the words fell, a flash of blade light swept out.

Young Master Zhou's head and body immediately parted ways.

Clang!

Zhou Qing sheathed his blade and swiftly departed.

Elsewhere.

The county constables surrounding Zhou Manor heard that there had been no movement inside for some time, and every one of them furrowed their brows.

"Why has it gone quiet?"

"Could something have gone wrong?"

"Impossible. Three Eagle Wolf Guard members acted this time, including Lord Lin Feng, the Red Wolf Deputy Commander—a First-rate Martial Artist at the seventh level of the Acquired Realm. Zhou Qing is merely a Second-rate Martial Artist. How could he possibly be Lord Lin Feng's match?"

"That's right. With Lord Lin Feng taking action, capturing the criminal Zhou Qing should be as easy as turning over one's hand. What could possibly go wrong?"

"A First-rate Martial Artist against a Second-rate Martial Artist is a crushing sweep, like rotten wood meeting a collapsing force."

"Wait a little longer. Perhaps the lords have already captured Zhou Qing and are interrogating him to uncover some secrets. If there is still no movement after a while, we'll go in and take a look."

"..."

Outside Zhou Manor, the constables discussed among themselves.

But just then, a figure shot out of Zhou Manor.

"Who goes there?!"

"Stop right there!"

The constables shouted at once.

"Those who aren't afraid of death, come after me!"

Zhou Qing's icy voice rang beside the ears of the constables.

At those words, the constables seemed to have been struck by an immobilizing spell. Their bodies froze stiff where they stood, and none dared continue the pursuit.

"That was... the criminal Zhou Qing?"

"The three Eagle Wolf Guard lords failed to capture Zhou Qing?"

"How is that possible?!"

"Could something have happened to the Eagle Wolf Guard lords?!"

"Quick, go in and investigate at once!"

The constables did not dare pursue Zhou Qing. Instead, they entered Zhou Manor to investigate.

When they stepped into Zhou Manor and reached the rear courtyard, the sight before them left them utterly shocked. The three Eagle Wolf Guard members, including Lin Feng, the Red Wolf Deputy Commander, had all fallen to the ground.

Lin Feng had been beheaded. The other two Eagle Wolf Guard members had their heads smashed like watermelons, their skulls shattered, brains visible within. Their deaths were gruesome beyond words.

"This... how can this be possible?"

Seeing everything before him, one constable muttered to himself, his voice filled with shock and disbelief.

They could not imagine how a Second-rate Martial Artist could defeat three Eagle Wolf Guard members, including a First-rate Martial Artist at the seventh level of the Acquired Realm.

This utterly overturned everything they thought they knew.

The constables stood rooted in place, unable to recover their senses for a long while.

"How could the criminal Zhou Qing's strength be so terrifying?"

"Exactly. This Zhou Qing is simply unfathomable. The strength he has displayed has grown more frightening each time. This time, even the Red Wolf Deputy Commander, a First-rate Martial Artist, was no match for him and was killed by him."

"A criminal like this is no longer someone we can handle."

The constables were horrified.

A wave of lingering fear rose in their hearts, and they were thankful that they had not acted rashly and pursued Zhou Qing.

Otherwise, they would already be corpses by now.

At this moment, Zhou Qing had arrived at the county yamen.

He had spent more than twenty days in the county yamen's dungeon. Zhou Manor had been the principal culprit behind framing him, so the dog officials who had acted without distinguishing black from white, never even interrogated him, directly used brutal torture to force a confession, and sentenced him to death were accomplices.

Now that the principal culprit had been executed, Zhou Qing naturally would not spare those dog officials who had aided and abetted them.