"Oh dear, Mr. Chen Household, the God of Literature, why are you only arriving now!"
While still at the entrance of the mountain stronghold, Chen Qing was warmly greeted by a woman. However, it was clear to Chen Qing that the woman was trying to stall him.
He remembered this woman; she had married into the village from Pan Household Stronghold and was known as a shrew in the village. She was the most aggressive when the village seized his family's land. Later, after he became a scholar, she immediately shamelessly went to his door to try and establish connections. She even tried to arrange a marriage for him with one of her nieces, for which his mother often beat him with a broom.
When this person came out, Chen Qing should have breathed a sigh of relief. At least it proved that the Chen Household had indeed escaped here. If this woman could run up safely, then his elder brother should be able to protect his younger sister and bring her up as well.
But for some reason, the more Chen Qing looked at the other person's guilty smile, the more uneasy she felt.
"Are the other clansmen alright?" Chen Qing asked tentatively.
"Oh dear, you have no idea, so many people died! Last night, I was still washing clothes. You know, several families downstream all wash clothes by the river. You have no idea, back then..."
Seeing this clumsy attempt to stall for time, Chen Qing interrupted without hesitation, "Sister-in-law, go and call the survivors of the Chen Household family and the Pan Household here. I have some instructions."
The woman's face stiffened slightly, then she immediately said, "You'll have to wait a while. The Pan Household is holding an ancestral worship ceremony today, so they probably can't accommodate you right now. Let me arrange for you to rest in the village first. You must be hungry after traveling so far, and there are so many of you. I need to have someone cook enough dinner for you."
Upon hearing this, Chen Qing stopped listening and pushed the other person aside, quickly walking inside!
With the dignified prefect himself arriving, and under such circumstances of rescue, how could the Pan Household family still be in the mood to open their ancestral hall?
This woman doesn't even know how to make up a better lie.
"Hey, Chen Qing, Chen Qing!" The woman turned pale with fright and tried to stop him from behind, but Chen Qing gave her no chance. He moved like the wind and arrived in the village in an instant.
As soon as I entered, a group of people came to greet me.
"Oh my, this must be the Prefect!"
The old man at the head of the group was dressed in black silk, and his attire was clearly more luxurious than that of the other villagers. With several elderly people from Chen Household Village supporting him, Chen Qing immediately guessed his identity.
"But is it the patriarch of the Pan Household?"
"This humble commoner Pan Qinghe, greets Your Excellency, Prefect!"
The Chen Household beside Chen Qing gave him pale, forced smiles. " Chen Qing, you've finally arrived! We knew you wouldn't abandon your people."
Chen Qing coldly looked at the Chen Household who were smiling extremely reluctantly, then at the Pan Household whose eyes were darting around, and finally fixed his gaze on the middle-aged man who called himself Pan Qinghe.
How did you recognize me at first glance?
"Your Excellency possesses an imposing presence and is clearly extraordinary; you are easily recognizable," Pan Qinghe replied with a smile.
As they were talking, the new recruits who had come with Chen Qing also came in. Because they were all young and strong and wearing temporary military uniforms, the Chen Household and Pan Household felt even more guilty and stepped back.
Chen Qing's face darkened as he said, "You don't just recognize me, you must have seen my younger sister. She looks like me, so if you've seen her, you'll recognize me easily!"
Upon hearing this, Pan Qinghe's expression immediately faltered, revealing obvious panic. He hurriedly said, "Why do you say that, sir? I have never seen him." Before he could finish speaking, a snapping sound was heard, and Pan Changhe was still trying to lie, suddenly knelt down on the ground.
He then collapsed to the ground, letting out a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered!
Everyone was so frightened that they all stepped back, because they could clearly see that Pan Qinghe's legs suddenly twisted and deformed in an extremely exaggerated manner, and even the bones were broken open and the flesh was exposed!
"I'll only ask you once!" Chen Qing stared coldly at Pan Qinghe, who was kneeling on the ground screaming in agony, "Where are my older brother and my younger sister?"
Pan Qinghe screamed in pain, his eyes filled with terror. This young man from the Chen Household was actually a sorcerer?
It's over, it's really over!
He had been to the north when he was young and witnessed the ruthlessness of the sorcerer officials. In those chaotic towns, the sorcerers would kill hundreds of ordinary people without batting an eye in order to maintain order, no different from butchers.
Moreover, the imperial court will not pursue the matter!
You mustn't say it! You absolutely mustn't say it! Saying it will mean the extermination of your entire clan!
"Sir, are you mistaken? This humble citizen has never seen anything like it."
Click!
This time, Chen Qing didn't hold back. Under the horrified gazes of the crowd, Pan Qinghe's body twisted and deformed like a pretzel, his bones shattered inch by inch, and his screams were heart-wrenching. He even fainted after less than two seconds. Chen Qing simply twisted him into a lump of mangled flesh and casually threw him aside.
Such a gruesome death startled not only the Pan and Chen families on the opposite side, but even the soldiers following Chen Qing back, causing them to take several steps back in fear.
In the next instant, several people in the crowd turned and ran without hesitation.
Chen Qing watched this with a cold smile. With a gentle lift of his hand, the fleeing young men were lifted up by a gust of wind. No matter how desperately they struggled, they could only watch helplessly as they flew right up to Chen Qing.
"Aren't these Zhaohui and Zhaohai?" Chen Qing looked at the two young men who had run the fastest and were now the first to be caught by him and sneered.
These two guys, one tall and thin, the other short and stocky, aren't they the children from my second uncle's family who tried to seize our family's land?
He recognized the rest as well. These two were the ringleaders who spent their days loitering outside, neglecting their fields and causing trouble everywhere, engaging in petty theft and other despicable acts. Rumor had it that they had even conspired to rob passing merchants.
They were at odds with his family, and seeing how nervously the group was running away, Chen Qing could naturally guess that the matter was related to them!
" Chen Qing!" The short man hurriedly kowtowed, saying, "Please don't do anything rash, please don't do anything rash! It has nothing to do with me, really nothing! Those monsters came suddenly last night, and Chen Ye surrounded them. I really wanted to go and save them, but I still have my old mother to protect. I'm so sorry, so sorry!"
"Yes, Chen Qing. We were terrified at the time, we never expected this!" The tall, thin man also reacted immediately, kowtowing and saying, "I know we're scoundrels, but you can't kill someone over something like this!"
The others were also so frightened that they knelt down and kowtowed, not daring to speak. They dared not lie, much less admit it, since everyone here had participated in the forced marriage, and in the end, no one could escape responsibility!
This Prefect Chen not only possessed sorcery, but was also incredibly ruthless, making it even more difficult for me to speak the truth.
Chen Qing simply ignored their nonsense. With a flick of his finger, the five captured men instantly suffered the same fate as Pan Qinghe before, their limbs broken and twisted, emitting pig-like screams.
"I'll only ask once," Chen Qing said coldly. "What about my older brother and my younger sister?"
" Chen Qing!" The Chen Household elder behind him suddenly mustered his courage and shouted angrily, "Are you really going to kill everyone just because of a suspicion?"
Chen Qing answered the question directly with his actions.
With several loud bangs, the five people whose limbs had already been twisted were also turned into a mangled mess, just like Pan Qinghe. Their shrill screams before they died sent chills down everyone's spines!
" Lord Chen!" Chen Ying, unable to bear it any longer, quickly reminded him, "My lord, public opinion will judge this reputation for atrocities against one's own kind."
"Once they're all dead, nobody will know!" Chen Qing interrupted the other person directly.
The group of people suddenly felt a chill run through them, realizing that Chen Qing was not joking at all.
After all, the bloody scene was right in front of them!
As he spoke, Chen Qing raised his hand again, and this time, he grabbed several young children next to the women!
"I'll talk, I'll talk!"
Instantly, the women broke down. "In the cellar, in the cellar! It has nothing to do with us! It was the brothers Zhaohui and Zhaohai who killed Chen Ye, and it was the Pan Household family who forced Chen Yuan into the marriage! Chen Qing, you can't treat your own nephew like this!"
Did he smash Chen Ye to death?
Despite having a bad feeling in his heart, he still staggered when he heard the news. Several children fell down with a thud, immediately bleeding from their heads and crying loudly. The women rushed forward to hug the children.
"You heartless bastard, how could you do that?!"
The elderly Chen Household family member cursed loudly, while several women held their children and wept bitterly.
Chen Qing ignored them and, following the path the women had just confessed to, activated his Wind Walk technique, instantly disappearing from everyone's sight and arriving at the cellar they had mentioned.
Suddenly, I saw the side I least wanted to see.
"Second brother? Second brother??"
The little girl, who had cried all her tears, screamed and backed away in fright when she saw someone rush into the cellar. But when she saw that it was Chen Qing Chen Qing, she became so excited that she scrambled forward and hugged him tightly.
"Second brother, why are you only arriving now? Big brother, big brother..."
Chen Qing, holding the little girl, stared blankly ahead at the large man lying on the ground, his head a bloody mess, clearly lifeless.
"Elder brother"
A flood of memories rushed through my mind, and a cracking sound came from within me, as if something had shattered.
"Second Brother?"
Chen Yuan looked up at Chen Qing, and a strange and cold feeling washed over her.
This feeling wasn't just felt by her; Chen Ying, outside the cellar, also sensed it immediately. She looked sharply towards the cellar, unsure if it was just her imagination, but it felt as if some terrifying, illogical thing was brewing.
This feeling was even more terrifying than when the Laojiu on the ship looked at her—no, it was on a completely different level.
" Chen Qing?"
The Mirror Demon in Chen Qing's arms was also stunned. This guy... was actually...
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