Chapter 96 Destroy the Village
At the moment, Butler Jin sat in the village with a towel covered on his face. He scolded angrily,
“I do not care! Don’t forget that you are all servants of the Jin Family. The First Master will be the head of the Jin Family in the future. He may even become a general of the Dahan Country. How dare you disobey his order?!”
The three headmen of the Tiger Village all looked sullen after hearing that. Although Butler Jin was telling the truth, his words were harsh and coa.r.s.e. He didn’t save their face.
Then the well-built First Headman stood up. He said in a deep voice, “Butler Jin, since you put it that way, we surely will not refuse you. But you should give us some time to prepare, otherwise it would mean a handle to other people. If we were encircled and suppressed by the feudal official, the Jin Family would also be affected.”
Butler Jin snorted and coldly said while swallowing his anger, “By tomorrow at the latest! Catch all members of the Linli Building tomorrow at the childe’s disposal. Bear this in mind — their boss Mr. Li must be caught if you can’t catch others!”
Then Butler Jin took out the portrait from his chest. The First Headman took it to have a look. Suddenly, he bitterly laughed and said, “Butler Jin, you are forcing us to do things that are beyond our power. A man in a bamboo hat is all over the street. Where do we find the one in the portrait? You can’t recognize him even if we have brought him back.”
Butler Jin suddenly stared in the opposite direction of the First Headman when he was about to say something more.
The Second and Third Headmen subconsciously looked back. They saw a knife and a sword become bigger and bigger in front of them!
Squis.h.!.+
The knife and sword plunged into two people’s heart almost at the same time.
“Blowout…”
The two people made sounds of unclear meaning and tepid blood spurted out from injures. In a very short time, they twitched on the ground and their breath ceased.
Butler Jin’s blood was almost frozen when he saw that. His heart was filled with fear, which made him unable to move as if he had suffered from the motionlessness skill. He was afraid that he would have the same fate as the two headmen of the Tiger Village if he dared to move.
The First Headman’s pupils narrowed when hearing the voice. He ran out of the window at the pace of lightening with the thought that he could easily flee by virtue of his cultivation and bodily movement of practicing martial arts.
But soon he found that his body strangely stopped at the same spot no matter how hard he tried to move. After that, a more frightening thing happened. He couldn’t help moving to the original spot just like being back in time.
“Ghost!”
Butler Jin was so scared that he pa.s.sed out. The First Headman was filled with fear. He was left alone and couldn’t move.
Telekinesis!
It was actually telekinesis!
d.a.m.n it… When did he offend a legendary person?
At this time, the wind faintly blew. The First Headman instantly smelt an intense smell of blood.
The entire Tiger Village fell into dead silence. No sound could be heard except the sound of living persons in the room.
“Wheeze…”
The First Headman couldn’t help but gasp. He slowly looked back and actually saw… the man in a bamboo hat!
His eyes suddenly widened. He instantly understood the cause and effect after seeing the portrait in his hand once more!
“Butler Jin, you bring about your own destruction! And you want the entire Tiger Village to be buried with you!”
Ticking, ticking…
The blood dripped on the ground from the points of the knife and sword and made a dreary sound.
Qu Qingning and Fang Yuan stared at Su Li in astonishment. Their hearts were pounding all the time even though they were expressionless.
They thought Su Li’s cultivation was at the peak of the acquired realm, which they had believed was higher than her actual cultivation. But they had never thought… Su Li also was a Young Master in the inborn realm.
“Another Young Master? When was a Young Master so worthless?” Qu Qingning’s mouth curled. He turned around and saw the bemused Fang Yuan. He felt sorry for Fang Yuan.
His brother Fang Yuan thought that no one could know what he was thinking. But Qu Qingning was experienced enough to discern his thought. It was a pity… Although Fang Yuan was excellent, there was a long way to go before he was worthy of Su Li.
Fang Yuan looked firm from his eyes. He clenched the handle of the sword so hard that the blood on his hand dripped faster.
He would never give up!
“I admit my defeat. Senior, I am at your disposal.”
The First Headman relaxed without too much consideration. Since they were in no rush to kill him, it was obvious that they would inquiry him about something. So he may have the opportunity to survive.
Su Li smiled and said, “If you hadn’t promised Butler Jin, I may have felt a little guilty.”
The implication was that even if he hadn’t promised Butler Jin, this frightful woman would have killed all the members of the Tiger Village too.
The First Headman s.h.i.+vered. Compared with the true big devil, what he had done seemed to be childish and was worthy of nothing.
“Everyone will want to kill you if you ever killed. Those killed by me in this life had only themselves to blame. So, I never feel guilty.”
Su Li suddenly muttered. Then she slightly sighed enchantingly, “Wu Lin, you should die immediately since you have committed countless crimes in this life. But I will let you choose a more dignified way of death. What do you think about it?”
“How can you know my name?” the First Headman’s face turned pale completely as if the name was a taboo to him.
“Besides your name, I also know that you have your wife, children and mother. They have thought you are a businessman other than a bandit who have committed all kinds of crimes including burning and looting.”
Su Li spoke lightly, but it made the tall man shake all over. Then he kneeled down with a bang and said tearfully, “Senior, I will do whatever you ask! Please don’t tell my family the truth!”
Seeing Wu Lin kneel down before Su Li, Qu Qingning and Fang Yuan became silent completely and couldn’t calm down for a long time. They seemed to have met Su Li for the first time today. It appeared that this girl who seemed to be only sixteen years old was far more complicated than they had imagined.
Late at night, the cold wind was blowing.
The three people walked on a mountain road. They didn’t feel cold because of the vital energy.
Under the cold moonlight, Su Li carried a small box and suddenly said with a smile, “What’s wrong? Do you think I’m mean and merciless?”
Qu Qingning immediately shook his head and instantly became silent. After a while, he said, “You can either pity or hate the weak. Wu Lin is by no means the weak, so there is only hate left for him. But when he dies, his family will…”
“I will secretly take care of them.” Fang Yuan said. He obviously felt that no help would be against his conscience.
“Very well.”
Su Li smiled in a melancholy way and said, “Both of you still have the sense of compa.s.sion to men, but I have carelessly lost it for a long time…”
The melodious chuckle echoed at night, but people felt sad and dreary hearing that.
The next day, Wu Lin confessed his crime to the Qinghe Provincial Office and handed over an account book, which recorded the ridiculous things that the Jin Family had asked him to do in these years.
Satrap Yan got furious after seeing that. Although he did nothing, the redeployment of the armed force obviously became frequent.
Su Li knew very well that this alone couldn’t defeat the Jin Family. The ending of Wu Lin had already been written. He had eaten the poison that she prepared and would eventually die in the prison.
“Jin Cheng’ao, you led people in killing him in the street and destroyed my family in the previous life. I will make you know how painful that taste is in this life!”
Su Li stood on the roof and looked far to the southern town. There seemed to be flames burning in her dark pupils.
What happened in the Tiger Village was exposed. The Jin Family were deeply troubled to such an extent that they didn’t have any spare time to deal with the Linli Building. It seemed that Su Li could have more free time, but she actually was quite busy in preparing a number of things.
Butler Jin went back to the Jin Family with a blank expression. He actually didn’t remember what had happened. Didn’t he go to the Tiger Village and give them the master’s order?
Why did he come back confusedly?
Butler Jin unknowingly came to the study of Jin Cheng’ao. Jin Cheng’ao, with a somber look, saw Butler Jin and directly slapped his face.
“Bang!!”
He directly b.u.mped on the wall. How could Butler Jin bear the slap? The sparks flew in front of his eyes. He opened his mouth and spat out several teeth.
“Idiot! What did you do yesterday?”
Jin Cheng’ao was full of anger. He was severely scolded by his father for both the Tiger Village and the investigation of the feudal official. He had never allowed any stain on him. When did he ever suffer from such humiliation?
And all this was brought by Butler Jin!
Butler Jin was muddled because of the hit. He immediately crawled up and kneeled down after hearing what the master had said. He repeatedly begged for mercy, “Master, you asked me to go to the Tiger Village yesterday…”
He didn’t dare to say that he couldn’t remember anything. So, he had to find some words to say according to old memories.
He didn’t expect that he would be slapped when he just began the words!
“How dare you to say that! Do you truly believe that I will not change you?!”
“Ah! Master, don’ beat me. I know I am wrong!”
“Ah! Ah! Ah!”
“Master, don’t beat me anymore. I am going to die!’
Butler Jin couldn’t clearly tell what had happened yesterday even though he had nearly been beaten to death. It made Jin Cheng’ao instantly feel that Butler Jin was keeping something back. Butler Jin, with a broken leg, had a miserable ending.
Jin Cheng’ao restrained his anger and ordered someone to remove Butler Jin out of the room. He coldly said with a smile, “No matter who has done it, it was ridiculous to think that the Jin Family might be defeated merely by the Tiger Village!”
The so-called account book and confession were only the statement of Wu Lin. They would be safe and sound if they refused to admit even unto death.
But in the third day, the Jin Family were informed by their informer in the feudal official that Wu Lin suddenly died in the prison and wrote uneven characters — Jin Cheng’ao before he died.
Jin Cheng’ao felt chill in the heart. He finally was aware that the means of his opponent were far more complicated than he had imagined.
Yan Ziye angrily said in the Satrap’s Mansion, “Father! The Jin Family went too far to look down upon the Satrap’s Mansion. They didn’t obey the rule and dared to kill people in the prison!”
A learned and gentle middle-aged man in the vestment stood in front of Yan Ziye. No one could know from the appearance that Yan s.h.i.+xun not only ranked first in the martial arts of the Qinghe Town but also was a satrap in charge of the military force of one province! Instead, he was more like a well-educated Confucian scholar.
But the Confucian scholar’s face was cold and harsh at this moment. It was obvious that he was very angry. The Jin Family killed a prisoner in the feudal official, and it was a challenge against his bottom line. If he did nothing, they would think that he as the satrap was only used for display!
In his opinion, the matter was full of strangeness, but he couldn’t tell what it was. It was merely his intuition. Although the Jin Family was rampant, they didn’t dare to do evil openly. So, he had gotten nothing on them so far. But this time what they did was too obvious.
Thinking about this, he raised his hand and asked, “Ziye, what have you found in the investigation of the Tiger Village?”
Yan Ziye remained calm. He nodded and said decisively, “Just as Wu Lin has said, the entire Tiger Village was exterminated by their enemy. No one survived there. It seems that Wu Lin confessed his crimes to the feudal officials to save his life, but he was still killed by the Jin Family. It is a pity.”
Yan s.h.i.+xun snorted and said, “Wu Lin has committed the most heinous crimes, so his death, even the extermination of his village, is not to be regretted. All those people have killed someone. Ziye, you shouldn’t show sense of compa.s.sion towards them. You still need more experience.”
“Yes, father.”
Yan Ziye obediently replied and went back to his room. He found that his back was wetted all over.
Besides people of the Linli Building, only he knew that it was Ms. Li that destroyed the Tiger Village. His father also belonged to the martial arts circle. Sure enough… Were all people of the martial arts circle as cold as a stone and hardhearted?
Yan Ziye became confused for a moment. He didn’t know whether his direction of efforts was right.
Gossip gradually appeared in the town. It turned out that the Jin Family had supported bandits secretly. They had been burning and looting all these years. It was hard to know how many tales they had robbed. The Jin Family were sanctimonious and pretended to be good persons.
Indignation gradually appeared among common people. But the words of the lowly carried little weight and they didn’t dare to speak out their hatred. Of course, it was Su Li that arranged people to spread such comments.
Qu Qingning had kept a watchful eye on the development of the matter all the time. He asked Su Li about the order of the next step when the heated discussion calmed down.
“Next step?”
Su Li put on a cloak and carelessly shrugged and then said, “In the next step, I will go to cla.s.s. I have cla.s.s tomorrow.”
Qu Qingning was stunned and could find nothing to say.
Su Li talked as if the situation of the Qinghe Town had been caused by Fang Yuan and him.
Qu Qingning watched the girl who was humming a song while sorting out books. He shook his head and doubted if she was truly the girl who had killed people without mercy that night…