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

After Shen Qing gave the order to leave no one alive, all that remained in the entire Dezheng Pavilion were cries of agony. Before long, blood flowed into a small river within the pavilion.

Just then, Ding Yi grabbed a woman who looked to be about thirty years old and brought her to the front of the attic.

The woman was crying her eyes out, her face deathly pale. She only regained some composure after seeing Song Wen.

"Brother Wen, outside...outside..."

Song Wen's eyes were bloodshot, and his initial composure was long gone. He clenched his teeth.

"Shen Qing! This has nothing to do with Ah Zhu! He wasn't involved in my affairs! If you have the guts, come at me!"

Shen Qing scoffed.

"It doesn't matter? Then tell me who bought the necklace she's wearing? And who bought the hairpin?"

"She enjoys the luxurious life you got from selling children, every single thing she did was tainted with sin, and now you're saying she has nothing to do with it?"

"You die!" Song Wen roared, his eyes blazing with fury. He got up and tried to pounce on Shen Qing, but Shen Qing kicked him into the wall.

Shen Qing walked up to him, no more than a fist's distance away, and her voice reached Song Wen's ears with perfect clarity.

"Song Wen, when you pushed your first child into the fire, did you ever think about today?"

"Open your eyes wide and see how you dragged this so-called innocent woman into hell!"

Almost instantly, Shen Qing swiftly slashed with his hand.

A glaring red line appeared on the woman's neck.

Song Wen's screams stopped abruptly. He stared intently at the woman's headless corpse lying on the ground, his eyes filled with deathly ashes.

"My name is Song Wen. I've been a human trafficker for six years, abducting children from the area around Luoshui City to other countries or to Japan. The person who covered for me was Wu Gang, the magistrate of Luoshui City. The silver notes I got from selling children are all under the Buddha statue."

"I've told you everything I know, please kill me."

Shen Qing turned around: "You wish! You want to die like this? Drag him back to the Hundred Households' Prison, subject him to all twelve forms of torture, and finally, execute him by slow slicing!"

Song Wen panicked and cried out, "Shen Qing! Shen Qing! I beg you..."

Before he could finish speaking, two Imperial Guards rushed in, gagged him, and dragged him out.

The dark clouds that had swept across the sky gradually dissipated, and several golden rays fell on the path Shen Qing was about to take.

With Dezheng Pavilion gone, the next person to be dealt with is Wu Gang, the Assistant Magistrate of Luoshui City.

If we only kill Dezhengge and let Wu Gang go unpunished, that would only be treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

Today, Dezheng Pavilion is gone, but in the future, there will be Fuqing Pavilion and Heishui Pavilion.

Since we can kill, we should kill them all.

What's more, the killing was perfectly justified!

Shen Qing only wanted to fight.

......

Luoshui City, Wu Mansion.

Wu Gang had been feeling uneasy ever since he woke up in the morning, and even felt palpitations when handling government affairs.

"What happened?"

"Could it be that someone has an enemy who wants revenge against me?"

However, Wu Gang couldn't come up with any solutions, for no other reason than that he had offended far too many people in Luoshui City.

The line of people who want to kill him could stretch all the way to Qiushui City.

At this moment, the two old men who were guarding outside the house opened their cloudy eyes and sensed the strange movement inside.

The old man in black looked into the room.

"Mr. Wu, do you have a bad feeling again?"

"I told you, with us here, no one in Luoshui City can touch you."

Wu Gang felt a sense of relief upon hearing their voices.

They were guards that Wu Gang had hired at a high price from Jiashui County. The one in black was named Ge Dong, and the one in purple was named Ge Xuan. The two were collectively known as the Two Elders of Dongxuan, and their cultivation was only one step away from the Grandmaster realm.

"Not at all. Of course I believe in your abilities, but I'm still a little scared. After all, the martial arts world of Yongning County is full of hidden talents."

Ge Xuan said confidently, "It's not that I look down on the martial arts world of Yongning County, it's just that you don't know our reputation in the martial arts world of Jiashui County."

"As long as no grandmaster appears in Yongning County, we are invincible."

Wu Gang: "How about comparing her to Shen Qing, who has been making headlines recently?"

Ge Dong stroked his beard: "Shen Qing, the 'Crossing the World Yama'? Since he's made such a name for himself, he must have some skills."

"But he's still too young, and we brothers have already analyzed his attack records; we know his moves by heart! If he really dares to fight us, it's a 10/90 chance—he's 10% and we're 90%!"

Hearing this, Wu Gang felt relieved. He had a feeling that he would have to confront Shen Qing sooner or later.

Just then, in the direction of the Wu family's gate.

A loud bang was heard.

Amidst the flying sawdust, the two mahogany gates of the Wu mansion, symbolizing power and status, were kicked away by a domineering force.

Shen Qing, dressed in a silver flying fish robe and with a Qinghe sword at his waist, slowly walked into the Wu residence through the smoke and dust, accompanied by a roar like that of a dragon and an elephant.

"The Embroidered Uniform Guard is investigating a case. Wu Gang, get out here!"

Shen Qing's voice wasn't loud, but it sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the Wu family.

"The Embroidered Uniform Guard? The Embroidered Uniform Guard has come to our Wu residence?"

"It seems to be Shen Qing, the Yama of Salvation! He loves wiping out entire families!"

"He's not here to wipe out the whole family, is he? Maru!"

In the Great Wu Dynasty, who didn't know the fearsome reputation of the Embroidered Uniform Guard? It was a sharp blade hanging over the heads of countless people!

Clearly, these members of the Wu family knew what they had done in the past, and were only afraid of the Imperial Guards coming to their door, but not too surprised.

"Shen Qing, the Chameleon King? What a prestigious name! Does he really think the Wu family is so powerful? How dare he trespass on my Wu family's property!"

A powerful voice rang out, and a middle-aged man suddenly rushed out from the depths of the Wu mansion, his robes rustling in the wind.

Some people in the Wu family recognized the middle-aged man, and a glimmer of hope appeared in their eyes.

"It's Uncle Wu He! Known in the martial arts world as White Crane Hand!"

Wu He gathered his inner energy, and a crane shape faintly appeared in the air, giving him the aura of a master.

Shen Qing narrowed his eyes, casually broke off a piece of wood from the door frame, infused it with domineering true energy, and flicked it. The wood shavings flew towards Wu He like a cannonball.

Almost instantly, Wu He, on whom the Wu family had placed high hopes, fell on the road to attack.

"All talk and no action."

"Whether there were people in the Wu family in the past was none of my business, but after today, there will be no one in the Wu family."

In the Great Wu Dynasty, the buying and selling of people was a red line, and anyone who crossed it would be guilty of a capital offense, even a prince.

Moreover, the Dezheng Pavilion was selling people to neighboring countries and Japanese pirates.

This is a different matter altogether. The children are sent to the Japanese pirates, who raise them to adulthood and then turn around to attack Da Wu.

With one side gaining and the other losing, the fortune of the Great Martial Kingdom will eventually be completely devoured.

Even death would be too good for them.

Generally speaking, families that cross this red line will have their male members stripped of their cultivation and sent to the border as slaves until their deaths, while their female members will have their cultivation stripped and be sent to brothels, where they won't even be allowed into the brothel.