A Sudden Killing! Then Death!

Shi Qin carefully pulled a small, slightly heavy pouch from inside his clothes and pressed it into Xu Chunliang's hand.

"Brother Chunliang, your father took good care of me when he was alive. He always treated me as his disciple. I'm not capable enough to do much for you, but take this money. You'll need it when you apologize to Young Master Liu later..."

"Don't refuse!"

"Really!"

"I'm useless. This is all I can do to help..."

"Ah..."

Without giving Xu Chunliang a chance to refuse, Shi Qin placed the pouch in his hand, then turned and walked back along the wall into the shadows.

Xu Chunliang opened the pouch and looked inside.

There were six pieces of broken silver of various sizes, dozens of copper coins, and a tiny gold earring.

His heart warmed.

Perhaps Shi Qin had even pulled that earring from his wife's ear.

With a sigh,

Xu Chunliang tucked the pouch inside his clothes.

He planned to return it to Shi Qin after work that evening.

He understood that innocent bystanders could get caught up in trouble, so naturally, he wouldn't openly argue back and forth with Shi Qin, who wanted no part of it.

But to his surprise,

by early afternoon,

the people in the squad had already begun encouraging Shi Qin.

Xu Chunliang even saw the squad leader, Yu Ming, call Shi Qin into the bureau and give him a harsh scolding.

Xu Chunliang, who never let a grudge last overnight, could no longer restrain himself.

He strode over, seized Yu Ming by the collar, and cursed:

"Yu! Have some shame! You did something shameless yourself, and you still dare pick a fight?"

"Believe me, I'll kill you!"

Yu Ming glanced at Liu Jie, who stood nearby and gave a slight nod. He said disdainfully, "Hmph, you want to kill me? In the Demon-Slaying Bureau, defying a superior is a capital crime!"

"Xu Chunliang, do you dare defy your superior?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Jie, who stood behind Xu Chunliang, flicked a copper coin silently toward him and shouted angrily:

"Everyone! Xu Chunliang has defied his superior! His crime deserves death! Let's kill him together!"

Seeing the copper coin shoot toward Xu Chunliang at high speed, the normally timid Shi Qin shoved him aside.

"Xiaoliang, look out!"

Pfft!

The gleaming copper coin struck Shi Qin between the eyebrows, punching a bloody hole in his head.

Blood flowed from the hole.

Shi Qin slowly fell.

He felt great pain.

Yet he also felt utterly relaxed.

Scenes from long ago appeared before his eyes.

There was one thing he had lied to Xu Chunliang about.

Xu Chunliang's late father had done far more than simply take care of him.

He had been his master after he joined the Demon-Slaying Bureau.

That day, his master had pushed him aside just like this.

[Shi Qin, look. When you're fighting an enemy, this is how you hold a saber. Don't grip it tightly like that. You have to keep your grip loose, so your saber can move freely.]

[Xiaoqin, I think that young woman who sells tofu at the market is nice. She's very pretty. Rough fellows like us who live by the blade shouldn't always be dreaming of those beautiful, dashing heroines. In life, it's the quiet and ordinary that matters. Look at Xiaoliang's mother. Isn't she ordinary too? Aren't we happy together...]

[Xiaoqin, next time you run into an eerie, hide behind me. My saber skills are better than yours...]

His master's words flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

Shi Qin felt darkness gradually closing in around him, and he murmured:

"Master, rest assured. Even if I die, I won't let anyone bully Xiaoliang..."

Thud!

Shi Qin hit the ground.

Xu Chunliang's heart turned utterly cold in an instant.

He stared silently at Liu Jie, making no attempt to hide the overwhelming killing intent in his eyes.

He didn't ask why like some innocent child,

nor did he utter a single threat.

After glancing at his save point, Xu Chunliang plunged his knife into his own heart and twisted it sharply.

He twisted the brass knife into a cross.

Then he fell beside Shi Qin's corpse.

Liu Jie stared blankly at Xu Chunliang, who had killed himself. He couldn't understand why Xu Chunliang had looked at him with such surging killing intent, only to take his own life.

He gazed fixedly at Xu Chunliang's corpse, a fear only he knew flashing through his heart.

From that single look Xu Chunliang had just given him, he had felt a vast killing intent that made even his soul tremble.

It was like a dam releasing a flood, like rivers pouring forth.

In an instant, it was enough to overwhelm his mind.

He simply didn't know why Xu Chunliang had chosen to kill himself after unleashing such immense killing intent.

Liu Jie was full of questions. Then, with a crack, spacetime shattered in the world he inhabited, and it vanished into nothingness.

"Hey!"

"It's a Paper Ghost Face!"

"No wonder so many people went missing. I can finally give the flag officer an explanation."

"Not bad, Chunliang. You're so young, yet you managed to kill a Mortal Transcendence Realm Paper Ghost Face. Very good!"

"Here, take these ten taels of silver. This is your material reward."

"Oh, right. You killed the Paper Ghost Face this time under my wise guidance and with the full support of Liu Jie's plan. So when I report it to the flag officer, the two of us will take the lion's share of the credit. You don't mind, do you?"

Xu Chunliang rose to his feet.

"Awoo!"

Eerie Tiger Howls at the Heavens!

A deep yet deafening sound rang out through the bureau.

Three eerie tigers appeared behind him, fixing their gazes firmly on Liu Jie.

Liu Jie felt a baleful killing intent engulf him in an instant. He couldn't muster even the slightest thought of resistance.

A warmth spread through his crotch.

"Xu Chunliang, this has nothing to do with me. I never wanted to steal your credit. It was Yu Ming's fault. If you want someone, go after him."

Then he shouted to the flag officer, who was wreathed in a halo of sunlight and rushing in from beyond the third courtyard:

"Brother-in-law, save me! He's going to kill me!"

The flag officer, a Sun Halo Realm expert, leaped high into the air and descended like a great ape, shouting:

"You little flag officer! How dare you unleash such vicious killing intent against a colleague? You deserve death!"

As his words fell,

he swung one of the long arms hanging at his sides, like those of an old ape, sending a ray of light mixed with golden sunlight smashing toward Xu Chunliang.

Xu Chunliang let out a roar.

Using Eerie Tiger Descends the Mountain, he tore Liu Jie into four pieces in an instant.

Then,

he planted both feet firmly on the ground, the sinewy muscles in his thighs bulging one by one, and launched himself forward.

He charged straight into the light.

Boom!

Xu Chunliang was killed by the blast!

The flag officer, Jin Jun, was secretly shocked. He wondered what combat technique that had been, to shake his mind when Xu Chunliang was only at the Mortal Transcendence Realm.

Looking at his brother-in-law's body, torn into four gruesome pieces and scattered on the ground,

he groaned inwardly.

Liu Jie was dead. Given the Liu family's power,

even he would have a hard time facing their anger...

Crack!

Spacetime shattered, and everything rolled back once more.

Xu Chunliang sat across from the squad leader, Yu Ming, utterly shocked.

The flag officer, Jin Jun, was a Sun Halo Realm expert!

The flag officer, Jin Jun, was Liu Jie's backer!

He couldn't fight them openly anymore!