That night's investigation confirmed some answers for Zhang San, but it also gave him five new questions.
First, where did the catcher get 500 taels from?
From his salary?
Zhang San said, nonsense.
Second, why didn't Xiu Wangchou take the 500 taels?
Don't great heroes really not eat?
Third, after confirming Wang Hu's level as an Earth realm master, why would an Earth realm master be willing to follow a newly appointed county magistrate and be a catcher in a county town?
It should be known that a county magistrate was just a tiny official, while an Earth realm master was fully capable of becoming a gold-clothed catcher of a commandery or prefecture. Why would they need to be a catcher without any rank in a county town?
Fourth, what exactly was Wang Hu doing, or what did he do? To actually attract a martial arts expert like Xiu Wangchou to come and kill him.
Fifth, what was originally hidden in that empty hidden compartment?
He was completely clueless about this last point.
However, Zhang San did not have a strong desire to come here tonight to figure out Xiu Wangchou's purpose. Moreover, he now had the extra income of 500 taels, which made him somewhat overjoyed.
It wasn't a wasted trip.
Zhang San smiled slightly and was about to leave.
"If there is no second swordsman in this small county town who can kill an Earth realm master, then the killer is Xiu Wangchou. And now it seems that Xiu Wangchou will continue to kill."
Zhang San whispered this sentence before using his lightness skill.
A few more days passed.
As Zhang San expected, there were more deaths in the city.
The master and apprentice in the art shop talked about it again.
Wang Xia'er asked, "Master, it really happened just like you said, but how did you know?"
Zhang San replied, "Fool! If he really just wanted to kill a catcher, why did he watch the new county magistrate patrol the streets that day? I'm afraid he knew that when the new county magistrate patrolled for the first time, officials big and small from the government would accompany him. That was why he appeared in our shop that day."
Wang Xia’er said in response, "So he wanted to kill were all government officials?"
Zhang San replied, "It should be so."
As Zhang San predicted, in the few days after Wang Hu's death, several people in the county government died one after another. There were catchers, accountants, and most terrifyingly, even the county magistrate's tutor died...
Yet the government was strangely calm.
There were no notices from the county government, nor was there any chaos.
...
Xiu Wangchou was tired for quite a few days.
However, there was a kind of "delight" flashing in his eyes.
He was very happy. Although he had killed more and more people these days, his mood was getting better and better!
In a small alley in the county town, Xiu Wangchou got up after waking from his sleep. He planned to go tonight to kill the last person he needed to kill.
He had even thought about how to celebrate after killing them.
Xiu Wangchou was going to use his last two cents to buy half a pot of wine.
Any kind of wine would do. As long as it was wine.
With this thought, Xiu Wangchou walked out of the alley. His white-clothed figure walked along the street, completely ignoring that the entire Wang mansion in the county town was issuing orders to arrest a swordsman in white.
It wasn't a matter of great skill or courage, but fearlessness.
However, a few words from passersby on the road made Xiu Wangchou stop in his tracks.
The passersby said, "Have you heard? Recently, Wang mansion sent people to harass the father and daughter of that noodle shop again."
Another person said, "Of course we know about this. That Wang old scoundrel, he has a vicious heart. He privately occupied so much farmland. So many decent farmers have become tenants. Now his prodigal son commits wicked deeds and gets killed by a hero, yet he goes around arresting people everywhere instead."
The passerby said, "That's right, I'm looking forward to that hero not leaving and killing that beast."
"A father is just like his son. I see that their whole family will not meet a good end."
Xiu Wangchou did not miss the whispers between the passersby.
He did not hesitate and immediately headed to that street with his sword raised.
...
The family of the father and daughter pair was behind the small noodle shop they ran, very easy to find, especially with the house surrounded by servants from the Wang mansion.
The simple small house behind the noodle shop was surrounded by piles of firewood brought by servants of the Wang mansion.
The servants had even put up notices.
If Xiu Wangchou did not come, then the father and daughter would be burned to death to mourn the spirit of the Wang mansion's young master in heaven.
It was evident that after they had not found Xiu Wangchou for many days in the county town, people from the Wang mansion came up with this method.
At noon, the servants surrounding the small house did not wait for Xiu Wangchou to arrive. A middle-aged man dressed as a steward gave the order to set the fire!
The flames instantly rushed to the sky!
Crying sounds rang out from the house.
The man dressed as the steward shouted loudly to the surroundings: "Since Xiu Wangchou is not coming, the Wang family can't be blamed either. Come, guard the door. If that father and daughter try to escape, then..."
He had not finished speaking when a sword had already severed his throat.
Xiu Wangchou had arrived.
Seeing the steward being killed, those servants fled in all directions.
However, from the burning house, the cry for help from a girl rang out again.
"Save me..." the voice of the girl was gradually weakening.
So Xiu Wangchou was too lazy to chase those evil servants. He infused internal energy into his sword and with a sword strike of “Star Sea Gale” he cleaved apart a path in the sea of flames.
Without a second thought, Xiu Wangchou rushed in.
In the blazing fire, a stench permeated the room.
A girl was crying in the room, but her father was not by her side.
The girl looked up. Seeing the swordsman in white who had come in that day, she cried out, "Hero, they took my father away. I'm sorry..."
Xiu Wangchou rushed into the room and saw that it was indeed the girl from that day. But before he could rescue them, he already felt dizzy and disoriented!
Xiu Wangchou immediately realized that the stench in the room was not from burning, but...
"Poison!"
Xiu Wangchou immediately circulated his internal energy to forcefully suppress the onset of the fierce poison. However, the girl gave out a cry and fainted dead away after suffering from the violent poison.
...
There were already two black figures that had been lying in ambush outside the cottage for a long time.
Scorpion, ranked 71st in the Earth ranks, and Python, ranked 70th.
The two Earth realm masters from “Poison Valley” in Dawu Country had made ample preparations for today, as well as for the generous rewards from the Wang mansion.
The fire outside the house grew more and more intense, but with a slash of sword energy through the flames, the swordsman in white Xiu Wangchou charged out carrying the girl!
Seeing this, Scorpion and Python were greatly shocked!
Scorpion said, "Big brother, this man has been afflicted by our Poison Valley's “Blood Poison Powder”, yet he can still unleash such powerful sword energy to slice apart the fierce flames with one strike. I'm afraid he has cultivated Star Sea Sect’s internal energy arts and swordsmanship to an extremely high level!"
Python then said, "You need not worry so much. As long as we delay him, when the Blood Poison Powder enters his limbs and meridians, no matter how powerful Star Sea Sect’s internal cultivation is, how can it last?"
Carrying the girl, Xiu Wangchou came out and saw the two black-clothed men waiting at the door. In a moment, he had guessed everything.
Vile scoundrels!
Xiu Wangchou scolded in his heart.
But he did not utter a single angry word. Holding the girl, he pointed his sword at the Two Poisons!
Because Xiu Wangchou always remembered what his master had told him:
"Xiu Wangchou, you must remember, to speak with despicable villains will only dirty your mouth! Killing them is right!"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
