Ch. 36
Chapter 36: You Caused Countless Lives to Die Far from Home. Is That Your Righteous Deed Too?!
“You! You evil ghost—You killed my disciple, you slaughtered my entire sect. Even if I die, I still won’t let you go!”
Poison having already invaded his body, Bai Han collapsed onto the ground.
The venom was wildly devouring the inner force within him.
As he looked at the elders lying dead and the disciples’ corpses carpeting the ground, despair consumed him. He pointed at Cheng Yu and shrieked out a curse.
“You slaughter innocents for no reason at all. You will die a horrible death!”
“Oh?”
Cheng Yu flicked the blood off his Xiuchun Saber and sheathed it, then looked at Bai Han with an odd expression.
“I slaughtered innocents for no reason? You actually have the nerve to say that?”
“Wasn’t it your disciple who ran off to assassinate me, a Jinyiwei Senior Banner Captain, first?”
His voice rang out clearly, loud enough for many of the Leaf Blade Mountain disciples who were still fleeing for their lives—or had already been captured by the Jinyiwei—to hear.
“Zheng Ping attempted to assassinate an imperial official of the sixth rank. That is a capital crime worthy of household confiscation and sect extermination!”
For decades, the people of the Jianghu had looked down on the Great Qian court.
The private killing of imperial officials happened again and again, and no one dared do anything about it.
But Cheng Yu was different.
Not only did he intend to do something about it, he intended to enforce it by the strictest possible standard!
“The ones who truly brought death upon your entire sect were precisely you master and disciple, who wanted to use me to gain fame! Your skills were inferior, so he died outside. And now you still dare curse others instead!”
The instant Cheng Yu said that, the Leaf Blade Mountain disciples—who were already doomed to die—were struck with sudden realization.
Now they understood why Zheng Ping had provoked the Jinyiwei. It was because he wanted to assassinate an imperial official and make a name for himself.
Killing an evil official who butchered the Jianghu was exactly the sort of feat a Human Ranking prodigy would use to make his reputation.
But what did any of that have to do with disciples like them?
His skills were inferior, so he died—and yet they had to die with him!
The moment they realized that if Cheng Yu had not said this out loud, they might not even have known why they were dying, grief flooded their hearts.
Bai Han still had not died yet, and the disciples immediately began cursing him at the top of their lungs.
“Damn Zheng Ping! Damn Bai Han!”
“Old dog Bai, you won’t die a good death!”
“No wonder you wouldn’t let us leave! So you knew you were doomed and wanted us to die with you. I hate you!”
The disciples viciously cursed their own sect master.
He was the true culprit who had ruined them!
Cheng Yu looked at Bai Han indifferently.
“You personally destroyed Leaf Blade Sect. Now you can die...”
He drew the Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber and was just about to swing it down—
When suddenly a loud shout rang out from behind him.
“Stop!”
Cheng Yu turned back and discovered that two martial artists had fought their way in from outside.
Their weapons were both suffused with inner force.
They were unmistakably both Fourth Rank martial artists.
Given the strength of these two newcomers, Cheng Yu immediately understood who they were.
Aside from Leaf Blade Mountain, these could only be the sect masters of the other two of the three great sects!
“There are only so many Fourth Rank martial artists in Qingjiang Prefecture. I didn’t expect to meet all of them in just two days.”
The two sect masters came in with ferocious momentum, joining forces and attacking Cheng Yu together.
Cheng Yu used the Serpentine Step lightness skill underfoot, his body moving like a slithering snake.
He slipped past the two men’s attack from beside Bai Han.
“You people of the Jianghu pride yourselves on chivalry and righteousness, so why is it that you are always the ones bullying the weak with the strong and the few with the many?”
His calm, mocking voice rang out.
The expressions of the two sect masters changed slightly, then quickly grew solemn.
“There is no need to speak of chivalry when dealing with a ruthless butcher like you!”
One of them turned and helped Bai Han up, feeding him an antidote pill.
“Many thanks to you both, brothers,” Bai Han said weakly, cupping his fists.
“There is no need for thanks. Our three sects stand united like branches of the same tree. Only by helping one another can we preserve the stability of Qingjiang Prefecture’s martial world! If one of our disciples had not seen a large force of Jinyiwei enter Hongxi County, a great disaster would almost have been unleashed.”
One of the sect masters looked at Cheng Yu warily, his expression extremely grave.
They had come only a step too late, and already so many disciples of Leaf Blade Sect had been slaughtered.
These Jinyiwei truly had come here to exterminate a sect.
If Leaf Blade Sect were destroyed, then theirs would be next!
“Brothers!”
The poison in Bai Han’s body was still not fully cured, but it had at least been suppressed by seventy to eighty percent for the moment. He glared at Cheng Yu with hatred.
“This villain knows no law or heaven. Fate has favored him with some strength, and again and again he has committed acts that defy all human morality.”
“Today, the three of us must join hands and leave him here. Otherwise, none of us will die with our bodies intact!”
“Good!”
The two sect masters nodded without hesitation. That was exactly why they had come.
If they did not kill Cheng Yu, then they would be the ones exterminated!
“So you’re allowed to send your people to assassinate me, but when I exterminate your sect according to the rules, that becomes an atrocity that defies heaven? What an utter joke!”
Cheng Yu sneered.
“My disciple was acting on Heaven’s behalf to kill a dog official like you. How can that even be mentioned in the same breath!”
Having his true face exposed yet again, Bai Han roared in fury.
“Hmph! We of the Jianghu should throw ourselves into the cause of justice for all under Heaven. Zheng Ping killing you was a righteous deed. Do not insult a hero!”
The other two sect masters also understood the situation now, and their faces filled with displeasure.
Everything they had done was for the sake of righteousness!
It was Cheng Yu whose deeds were soaked in evil from top to bottom!
“Hahaha!”
Hearing the three sect masters—men with the loftiest standing in Qingjiang Prefecture’s Jianghu—speak with such moral righteousness, Cheng Yu burst into laughter.
“Exactly right! You tricked and deceived thousands upon thousands of laborers into going to Dragon Abyss Prefecture. How many households were left without their adult men and suffered every kind of bullying? How many lives died far from home? Was that your righteous deed too?!”
“What did you say?!”
When Bai Han and the other two heard Cheng Yu suddenly bring up the matter of Qingjiang Prefecture sending laborers to Dragon Abyss Sect, their faces changed dramatically, as though they had all been struck by lightning.
They had thought Cheng Yu was merely arrogant and tyrannical, killing people and amassing wealth for pleasure.
How could they have imagined that he had actually been investigating this matter?
A matter so grave that no number of beheadings would be too many!
In their panic, they exchanged glances and nodded viciously.
This child absolutely could not be allowed to live. Otherwise, they would all die without a burial place!
“Stop spewing nonsense. Kill him!”
The three men did not hesitate in the slightest. They immediately sent inner force into their weapons and attacked Cheng Yu together.
The three sect masters of Qingjiang Prefecture’s three great sects joining forces—there was no equal to them!
“Heh. Hypocrites.”
Watching the three of them instantly change their faces and never again mention chivalry, Cheng Yu felt nothing but endless mockery.
They shouted slogans of chivalry, righteousness, and acting on Heaven’s behalf—
Yet they were doing the filthiest work imaginable.
Disgusting. Revolting hypocrites!
He slowly stepped aside.
“Liu Xiong, it’s your turn.”
“Yes, Master!”
A swordsman in coarse hemp robes stepped out from Cheng Yu’s side, standing there with a scarred hand lightly stroking the longsword in his grasp.
“Where did this mangy stray dog come from, daring to think he can stand in our way?”
Seeing that Liu Xiong wore neither the Flying Fish Uniform of the Jinyiwei nor a soldier’s armor, but only tattered hemp clothes, the three men were filled with disdain.
He is called Cheng Yu Master?
What stray cat or dog had come crawling out of nowhere, thinking he could stop them!
They attacked together, intending to teach Liu Xiong a lesson.
They would let him know that in all of Qingjiang Prefecture, no one could block the three of them!
But in the very next instant—
A blood-red sword flash swept out, like a blade cleaving through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
The expressions of all three changed drastically.
Inner force infused into a weapon—yet carrying some special power?!
Where had Cheng Yu found such an expert?
The three men widened their eyes and, in a rush, turned offense into defense, hurriedly taking up a guarding stance.
But Liu Xiong’s attacks gave them no room at all, each sword strike pressing down with absolute suppression.
“Ah!”
Miserable screams rang out. Under Liu Xiong’s sword, the three sect masters did not even possess the power to resist.
In only a few short exchanges—
Six arms and three weapons were severed and sent falling to the ground.
The three sect masters collapsed, writhing in agony, completely crippled.
“Master, the three of them have been crippled. Please decide their fate!”
Cheng Yu nodded in satisfaction and walked over to stand before the three men.
Their eyes were full of despair and utter disbelief.
That sword expert had crippled all three of them in an instant. He possessed at least late Fifth Rank strength. How could a man like that call a mere junior like Cheng Yu his master?
“I told you before—if you dare lay a hand on me, then you had better be prepared for every consequence. Sect Master Bai wasn’t prepared. Were you two prepared?”
Cheng Yu’s calm voice sounded like a cold underworld wind that hooked the soul from the body.
It made people feel an icy kind of despair.
The two sect masters who had come to aid Bai Han gnashed their teeth and said, “If you want to kill us or carve us up, then do it! In our next lives, we’ll still be heroes!”
“There is no next life for you. You have taken too many lives. Those laborers will never let you go! But don’t worry—your sects and your families will soon be coming to join you.”
The two men widened their eyes, just about to say something—
When a flash of saber light swept past, giving them no chance to speak.
Their heads rolled from their necks.
“Now it’s your turn, Sect Master Bai.”
Seeing the two sect masters who had come to aid him die before his eyes, Bai Han’s mind finally snapped completely.
His proud disciple was gone. His sect had been destroyed. His disciples and followers had cursed him to his face. Under the repeated blows rising and crashing over him, he finally broke.
At that moment, he lost every trace of backbone.
All he wanted now was to live.
“My lord, don’t kill me! I’ll tell you anything!”
“Don’t worry. I can find out everything even after I kill you.”
Cheng Yu sneered and shook his head.
What was he supposed to do—keep Bai Han alive for the New Year?
“Wait!” Bai Han suddenly cried out. “At the beginning, didn’t you say that if I guessed Ping’er was dead, you would spare ten lives? I guessed it then! You have to keep your word and spare me!”
Looking at Bai Han’s shameless behavior, Cheng Yu was actually a little surprised.
There really were people this shameless?
“How do I remember saying I would spare ten dog lives? I’ll definitely spare the dogs. But are you a dog?”
“I can be! Woof! Woof! Woof!”