My Liu Family Needs No Evidence to Kill Him

Li Baiyi left, and Xu Chunliang quietly went home as well.

He told no one that he, too, had entered the Buddhist Ruin Realm that had suddenly appeared on Fireworks Street.

Nor did anyone believe that a nobody like him could have anything to do with a Buddhist Ruin Realm classified as Imperial Apex.

The next day, at the Demon-Slaying Bureau.

"Xiao Liang, next time you get sick, you have to send someone to tell me. You live all alone. What if something happened to you..."

Shi Qin patted Xu Chunliang on the shoulder, his expression earnest. Xu Chunliang knew the concern was genuine, so he smiled sheepishly and said:

"I understand, Brother Qin. Next time I get sick, I'll tell you right away."

Watching Shi Qin leave, Xu Chunliang felt a rare trace of warmth rise in his icy heart.

What he didn't know was that Shi Qin, who had always looked out for him in silence, had quietly gone to his home when he failed to show up for work the following day. Finding him absent, Shi Qin had requested leave on his behalf.

Shi Qin was simply a man of few words, accustomed to acting rather than talking, so he hadn't told him any of that.

He had always felt that his master's son was different from ordinary people like them and had secrets of his own. Out of respect, he didn't want to ask.

Life wasn't a novel; it couldn't be one dramatic climax after another forever. So after Xu Chunliang escaped with his life from the Buddhist Ruin Realm, his life grew peaceful for a change.

He reported for work during the day, occasionally going home with Shi Qin for a simple meal afterward. At other times, he quietly roamed the night, searching for every monster he could find and killing each one with a single slash.

That night, after dinner, Xu Chunliang tucked his newly forged brass knife into his belt and quietly left the courtyard, heading for Fireworks Lane.

Although the Ruin Realm's appearance had killed a great many people on Fireworks Street last time, Fireworks Lane had become bustling once again in less than a month.

New girls, bought from who knew where, stood on the upper floors in their finery, calling out coy invitations to the passersby below from time to time. The lechers who had come seeking amusement couldn't help howling in response.

The Ruin Realm had wiped out all the girls who had originally worked on Fireworks Street, forcing the owners of the various brothels to spend a fortune replacing them with a new batch for Fireworks Lane.

Any brother who went out to have fun often knew that establishments that kept bringing in new faces were the most appealing.

The business in Fireworks Lane flourished all the more thanks to this rare novelty. So when Xu Chunliang walked down the lane again, he was surprised to find that business on Fireworks Street was several times better than it had been before the Ruin Realm appeared.

Plump old moneyed men, scholars posing elegantly with folding fans, martial artists with swords and sabers at their waists-all sorts of men gathered there...

On the top floor of the Mandarin Duck Tower, the room that should have been full had been cleared out today. Only one young master of ordinary looks but a cold, haughty bearing sat by the window, slowly sipping a cup of mild tea.

He watched Xu Chunliang walk past below, a disdainful smile rising at the corner of his mouth.

Behind him stood an old man whose gloomy eyes were like a dead man's. The fingers of both hands curled like eagle talons. Whatever sinister art he had cultivated, they had taken on an unnatural bluish hue, with red lines like thin snakes winding around his fingertips, seemingly ready to strike and devour someone at any moment.

When he saw Xu Chunliang pass by, the old man bent slightly and said into the young master's ear, "Third young master, after half a month of secret investigation, the people most likely to have had something to do with Young Master Liu Jie's death are Zhou Dafu, who unexpectedly landed the position of captain, and this minor flag officer, who has deliberately concealed his strength.

"He's clearly at Star Transformation Grade, yet he presents himself as being at Transcending Mortality. He keeps a low profile by day, but in the darkness he's a god of slaughter who hunts monsters. This man has hidden himself too deeply. He must have a secret."

The Liu Family's third young master, Liu Xin, smiled as he finished his tea, only then setting the cup down.

He rose unhurriedly, looked up at the flickering lights in Fireworks Lane, and said with a faint smile, "Mm, this man does have a few secrets. I hear my little brother used to bully him quite a bit, too...

"Hmph, a mere minor flag officer. Being bullied by my Liu Family was his honor. How dare he harbor resentment? He's courting death.

"Whether it was him or not, since he's under suspicion, kill him as well..."

"My Liu Family needs no evidence to kill him. If we think it was him, then it was him even if it wasn't. The same goes for Zhou Dafu. Liu Jiu, bring me Zhou Dafu's head before I finish this pot of tea. I want to look at it while I drink."

"Yes." The gloomy old man Liu Jiu nodded in assent, then vanished into the darkness.

Zhou Dafu declined his subordinates' invitation to drink, bought a cut of meat and a jug of wine at the market, and walked into his courtyard humming a tune.

He felt lucky to have unexpectedly become captain of the Demon-Slaying Bureau's third squad, but he was also apprehensive.

He had no background or connections, yet he had landed this cushy post. Surely many people already resented him for it.

Fortunately, Flag Officer Jin Jun had said that day that he would treat him as one of his own from now on and that Zhou Dafu should come to him if he needed anything. Only then had Zhou Dafu's anxious heart settled.

"Tomorrow, no matter what, I have to take the two hundred taels of silver my wife borrowed from her family and pay the flag officer a visit..."

Zhou Dafu stepped through the courtyard gate and called out with a smile, "Wife, I'm home! Guanwa'er, come see what Daddy bought you! The meat you love..."

Before he finished speaking, he smelled blood.

He hurriedly reached for his saber and rushed into the courtyard.

A hunched figure stood in the dark, moonless courtyard, holding two black spheres, one large and one small.

Seeing Zhou Dafu, the figure chuckled and tossed the spheres toward him.

"Zhou Dafu, you have a fine name. You really are blessed. Look at your wife's and child's heads. So round, so blessed."

"Zhou Dafu, how could you chop at your beloved wife and child with your saber? Don't you recognize them?"

Zhou Dafu's eyes nearly split with rage. He charged at the figure with his saber, only to feel a sudden pain in his throat.

At some point, a blood snake as thick as an index finger had pierced his throat.

"You!!"

"You..."

Zhou Dafu opened his mouth, but couldn't say another word. Liu Jiu emerged from the darkness and came to his side. His bluish left hand effortlessly broke through Zhou Dafu's breastbone and gripped his still-beating heart.

"A very crisp heart. As expected of a martial artist."

"More tender than your wife's heart, crisper than your son's. I like it very much..."

"The young master wants to look at your head while he drinks. I don't care for wine..."

"I like eating hearts..."

He yanked out the heart, still beating and as large as an adult's fist, and put it in his mouth. He tore at it slowly, as though eating a delicious piece of cake.

Xu Chunliang jumped down from a roof beam. A starlight-colored blade gleam flashed, pinning the female monster fast to the bed where she lay sleeping with her eyes closed.

Clear light flickered, and his attribute points rose to 265.