The Imperial Guards, like Yama, slaughtered until the Empress cried out for help.

The place was now empty, with only a handful of people remaining.

Carrier pigeons occasionally flew in during the morning light.

Four hours earlier, Shen Qing had sent out all the Imperial Guards, in pairs, to keep watch on each sect and report their movements every half hour.

Even if they managed to trap that rogue cultivator in the West City, the West City is not a small place. With only a few dozen people in the Hundred Household Office, finding someone would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, let alone a Xiantian Realm cultivator who is determined to hide.

Let those sects handle this needle-in-a-haystack task; Shen Qing's job is to steal the needle after they've retrieved it.

After all, going to find it yourself is nowhere near as fast as just snatching it.

Fang Ming continuously received reports of his movements from carrier pigeons to Shen Qing.

"At 1:15 AM, a small-scale clash occurred between the Blackwater Gang and the Yellow Sand Gang; no other abnormalities were found."

"At the third quarter of Chen hour, at the Red Cloud Sect..."

They had been monitoring these sects for several hours, but there was still no movement from them.

There were some changes until noon.

Fang Ming hurriedly ran into Shen Qing's room with a scroll of secret letters.

"Sir! Something's happened. It seems the entire Huangsha Gang has set out eastward."

The scholar quickly looked at the map and made a simple comparison.

"Boss, there are only two streets to the east of the Huangsha Gang's base: Mud Bottle Street and Changshui Street."

"They've most likely caught up with the rogue cultivator's movements."

Shen Qing didn't open her eyes, and said calmly.

"No rush, investigate further, then report back."

Another cup of tea's time passed.

"Sir, it's confirmed. That rogue cultivator must be in Changshui Street. People from the Huangsha Gang and the Heishui Gang have all gone that way."

Shen Qing smiled.

"Black Dog, get the knife."

"Let's go join in the fun."

......

At this moment, Changshui Street and Niping Street were in complete chaos.

The martial arts sects have already located the hideout of that rogue cultivator.

People on both streets were running away, and yamen runners could be seen chasing them away from time to time.

Clearly, some martial arts sects sought assistance from the government.

Feiyun Street was filled with people who had been driven there.

On the second floor of a teahouse, a young woman in white was leisurely eating pastries and sipping tea.

She is Su Jiudie, the daughter of the sect leader of the Red Cloud Sect.

Beside him, a young man dressed in black kept looking toward Changshui Street, his face unusually anxious.

"Junior sister, are we really not going to go and see them? They're right in Changshui Street."

Su Jiudie poured a cup of tea for the man as well.

"Senior Brother Zongfang, let's not think about any treasures on this trip."

"The Third Elder is gone. What kind of treasure can we two cultivators at the Acquired Realm possibly seize?"

Zong Fang paced back and forth a few steps, then stomped his foot and sat down opposite Su Jiudie, drinking the tea down in one gulp, as if drinking water from a cow.

"That's true, but the treasure is right in front of me, it would be really painful to miss it."

Su Jiudie rolled her eyes: "So what if we missed out? Does having this treasure mean our Red Cloud Sect will become the number one sect in Yongning County?"

"Senior brother, do you still remember what the Grand Elder always said?"

"The sect's strength..."

Zong Fang interrupted Su Jiudie.

"I remember, I remember."

"The strength of a sect has never depended on the amount of treasures it possesses, but on its people."

Then Zongfang muttered a few more words under his breath.

"All they do is share joy with the people and put the people first, but what's the use? The Red Cloud Sect has been around for nine hundred years and still hasn't reached the pinnacle of the martial arts world in Yongning County..."

Just then, a loud bang came from Feiyun Street, followed by what sounded like shouts and curses.

Zong Fang immediately ran to the window and glanced around.

"It looks like the Blackwater Gang members; they're fighting with the Yellow Sand Gang members."

"The one leading the charge is the Mad Swordsman Wang Xiu, hehehe, it's that idiot again."

"He's gone berserk again, what's he doing causing trouble in the street?"

"Hey, junior sister, where are you going? Wait for me..."

When Zong Fang turned around, he saw that Su Jiudie had already walked downstairs. Zong Fang quickly grabbed his knife and followed her.

On the street, Wang Xiu forced back three Huangsha Gang disciples with a single sword strike, while the powerful aftershocks of his sword energy also injured several civilians.

The streets were filled with cries of agony as civilians scattered and fled.

But Wang Xiu didn't care at all, and instead laughed wildly.

"Are you the leaders of this generation of Huangsha Gang disciples? You seem rather ordinary."

Several Huangsha Gang disciples looked somewhat displeased.

"Wang Xiu, what are you so arrogant about? All you do is bully us. Didn't you still lose to our senior brother half a year ago?"

This clearly stung Wang Xiu, and his face flushed slightly.

"Six months ago was six months ago, now it's now. Let him try again."

"Besides, how can you judge me?"

"Take this!"

Before he finished speaking, Wang Xiu thrust his sword at the three disciples.

Knowing they were outmatched, the three disciples turned to flee, but their escape only brought misery to the civilians behind them.

It looked like this sword energy was about to pierce through these people.

At this critical moment, a cyan folding fan pierced through and firmly blocked all the sword energy, the violent collision stirring up a cloud of dust.

The fleeing members of the Yellow Sand Gang all stopped, and Wang Xiu simply said something coldly.

"Who is it?"

"Senior Brother Wang, why do you have to fight here? It will be difficult to explain to the court if you hurt civilians." A voice from Su Jiudie came from the smoke and dust.

The next moment, Su Jiudie gently waved her fan to disperse the surrounding smoke and dust.

"In my opinion, we should stop fighting here today."

Wang Xiu laughed maniacally.

What if I say no?

"Junior Sister Su of the Red Cloud Sect, I've long heard of your great name and have always wanted to test your abilities."

Su Jiudie sighed. She knew that it would be difficult to persuade Wang Xiu by just trying to talk him out.

Wang Xiu has been unusually irritable since birth; it's considered good if he only gets into one fight a day with other children his age.

However, some of their talents were noticed by the Blackwater Gang, who made them their disciples.

At this moment, several disciples of the Yellow Sand Gang also turned back and shouted.

"Senior Sister Su, why don't we join forces to deflate his arrogance?"

Su Jiudie did not respond to them.

She came to stop the fighting and protect the people, not to get involved in their brawl.

Su Jiudie's voice was cold as she slowly mobilized her internal energy, her expression becoming even colder.

"Senior Brother Zongfang, protect the people!"

"I'll stop Wang Xiu."

Zong Fang wanted to fight Wang Xiu, but seeing Su Jiudie's firm tone, he didn't say anything more.

He turned around and helped several fallen civilians up.

"Thrust the Wind!" Wang Xiu shouted, thrusting his sword through the wind towards Su Jiudie.

Su Jiudie lightly stepped forward, using exquisite footwork to dodge the sword energy. With a slight tap of her folding fan, a wave of energy pierced towards Wang Xiu's chest.

Su Jiudie chose to use softness to overcome hardness, as a head-on confrontation was clearly not a wise choice.

The two fought back and forth, resulting in a draw.

A middle-aged woman, around forty or fifty years old, was helped up by Zong Fang. Looking at Su Jiudie in the arena, she couldn't help but speak up.

"Little girl, be careful."

Zong Fang laughed heartily: "Auntie, don't worry, this is my junior sister, the daughter of our Red Cloud Sect Master, she's very capable."

He then whispered in the old woman's ear, "The one fighting my junior sister is the Mad Swordsman from the Blackwater Gang, and the other three fighting him are from the Yellow Sand Gang."

Zong Fang did this on purpose. After all, the fighting prowess of the old lady at the village entrance was evident to all. Before long, rumors would spread in the circle around her that the Red Cloud Sect was saving lives and healing the wounded, while the Yellow Sand Gang and the Black Water Gang were committing all sorts of misdeeds.

The struggles between sects are sometimes this simple and unpretentious.

The two went back and forth for dozens of rounds, and Su Jiudie felt increasingly exhausted.

After all, her age and cultivation level were slightly inferior to Wang Xiu's.

Moreover, Wang Xiu became increasingly agitated the more he fought.

His swordsmanship became increasingly explosive, and every strike destroyed buildings.

It's either a roadside stall or the walls and pillars of a roadside house.

If Wang Xiu still retained a shred of humanity at the beginning, he has now completely gone berserk, only wanting to defeat Su Jiudie in front of him, kill her, and tear her to pieces.

In mid-air, the veins on Wang Xiu's body gradually became clearer, and a strange red color appeared on his meridians, gradually converging towards his right hand.

A maniacal smile appeared on Wang Xiu's face.

"You could be proud of dying by my move."

"Blood Essence Sword!"

With a single thrust of the sword, thick crimson sword energy pierced straight at Su Jiudie's face, causing even the surrounding air to become incredibly heavy.

On the other side, Zong Fang no longer cared about the common people and lunged forward, knocking Su Jiudie aside, but he himself couldn't dodge it.

All that could be heard was the sound of flesh tearing apart, and the sword energy directly opened a fist-sized hole in his abdomen.

However, this crimson sword energy continued to advance even after passing through Zong Fang.

In front of the sword energy, a dark-skinned man looked bewildered and fearful.

He was just a laborer who had worked at the docks for a month. After being exploited by his superiors, he had just received his meager wages and wanted to go home to buy some things for his wife and son.

I discovered my purse was missing, so I went back to retrieve it, only to be met with this unexpected disaster.

The sword energy was getting closer and closer. Even when it was about to dissipate, it was still something an ordinary person like him could not withstand.

In his final moments, the laborer closed his eyes in despair, clutching the money bag tightly to his chest, hoping that someone would pass it on to his wife after his death.

But after a long time, the death he had imagined did not come, and he nervously opened his eyes.

What came into view was a flying fish robe embroidered with silver patterns and a long sword that gleamed with a faint blue light.