After the path was cut off

It was midday, and the town's ancestral hall was packed with people. There were so many people that it was impossible to squeeze in.

Taking advantage of his thin frame, Tang Xiao'ao secretly climbed the crooked old locust tree outside the ancestral hall. The dense foliage completely concealed him. He clung tightly to the trunk, barely daring to breathe, only peeking down through the gaps in the leaves.

That one glance almost made him slip off the tree.

A large group of people were kneeling in the courtyard of the ancestral hall.

Kneeling at the very front was Ye Xingwen, the village chief of Qiuye Village. Behind him were Ye's uncles, elders, and nephews, who usually held absolute power. At this moment, they were all covered in blood, some with broken arms, some missing legs, their wounds hastily wrapped with rags, and dark red blood was still seeping out.

In front of them, a dozen or so human heads were neatly arranged on the ground.

Some still bore the lingering horror of their impending death, while others stared blankly at the sky with wide-open eyes.

Looking further to the side, there were several people tightly bound, lying sprawled on the ground, their bodies shrouded in wisps of faint black mist. The mist was extremely faint, yet it was enough to make one feel nauseous at first glance, as if one were hearing mad babbling in their ears.

Tang Xiao'ao subconsciously held his breath, his fingers slowly digging into the tree bark.

He wasn't unfamiliar with dead people.

Over the years, people have moved around with the town, and it's common for people to die on the road. But most of them died of illness, starvation, or were abducted by evil cultivators in the middle of the night. I've never seen such a bloody scene before—heads falling to the ground, people kneeling all over the courtyard, even the air seemed red.

In this atmosphere, no one dared to speak loudly, but no one could hold their tongue either. So all sorts of whispers mingled together, buzzing like a swarm of mosquitoes.

Just then, the crowd suddenly fell silent. Those who had been blocking the entrance to the courtyard spontaneously moved aside, clearing a path.

Li Qingfeng helped Li Wangchuan as they slowly walked in.

Li Wangchuan's face was still pale and his complexion was still weak, but his eyes were still very sharp, like the cold light of a worn blade, clear but not dull.

He walked up to the group of Ye family members, and someone immediately brought over a grand chair and carefully helped him sit down.

Immediately afterwards, a figure in cyan stood silently behind him.

It was Li Wangxiang. He wore a spotless, moon-white Taoist robe, his face was slender, and his posture was upright, exuding an otherworldly, ethereal aura that stood out starkly against the bloody atmosphere in the courtyard.

Li Qingfeng and Li Jingshan stood on either side.

In the crowd, a hunched figure stirred slightly; it was Wang the blacksmith. He had arrived at some unknown time, standing in the corner like an inconspicuous piece of old iron.

Ye Xingwen knelt at the front, head bowed, his eyes subtly rising a sliver. In that single glance, several thoughts raced through his mind.

Li Wangchuan was sitting. Li Wangxiang was standing. This seating arrangement alone was enough to say a lot.

While the returning immortal is certainly important, it is still Li Wangchuan who truly decides life and death and fate in the ancestral hall today.

Ye Xing quickly recalled all the information about the town mayor: patient and decisive, shrewd and experienced, willing to sacrifice some for the continuation of the tribe... but deep down, he always had compassion for the innocent tribesmen!

Whether we live or die today depends entirely on this person's compassion.

Li Wangchuan's gaze slowly swept over the Ye family members, over the blood on their bodies, severed limbs, and the heads lying on the ground, without the slightest surprise. He had always known that the Ye, Liu, and Mei villages had become henchmen of evil cultivators; in fact, he had deliberately facilitated it. Simply because these three families were the most ruthless—ruthless to themselves, and even more ruthless to others.

Li Wangxiang wouldn't be surprised by what these three families did. However, it seems that the Ye family has at least maintained their principles and hasn't practiced any evil magic.

"Looking towards home, please help them get treatment."

Li Wangxiang remained silent, then flipped his hand and took out a jade-green pill the size of a longan, emitting a refreshing fragrance. With a flick of his finger, the pill exploded in mid-air, transforming into a misty blue light that fell evenly on all the kneeling Ye family members like a fine rain.

A miraculous scene unfolded! Wherever the light reached, the gruesome wounds on their bodies stopped bleeding, scabbed over, and fell off at a visible speed, revealing new, tender flesh! Deep wounds that exposed bone healed rapidly, and broken bones snapped back into place with a soft cracking sound! Even the weakened aura of the severely injured became noticeably stronger! In a short time, except for the bloodstains on their clothes and a few whose limbs were beyond repair, most of the people's injuries had healed!

However, this miraculous scene made the Li family members kneeling below feel even colder.

"Explain yourself," Li Wangchuan uttered five words, his gaze like a cold iron spike, fixed on Ye Xingwen.

Ye Xingwen crawled forward two steps on his knees, his forehead slamming heavily against the cold stone slab with a dull thud: "Mayor! I, Ye Xingwen... am guilty!"

Choosing to be honest was Ye Xingwen's strategy; in front of the immortal, he had no choice but to lie.

"I, Ye Xingwen, have colluded with evil cultivators and harmed my own kind; my sins are heinous!" Ye Xingwen's words were shocking.

"For more than twenty years, in order to preserve the peace of Qiuye Village and to prevent the evil cultivators from slaughtering our village, I secretly offered up villagers from other clans and disobedient members of the same clan to the 'evil cultivators,' totaling... 3,972 people. Some were sacrificed for blood, and some were enslaved."

"I eliminated dissidents, secretly framed them, and used evil cultivators to purge the former inhabitants of 'He Family Village' (the predecessor of Qiuye Village) who refused to submit, almost wiping out their bloodline!"

……

As Ye Xingwen recounted his crimes one by one, the courtyard erupted in chaos.

"What?! Ye Xingwen... he's actually a lackey of the evil cultivators?!"

"Five hundred and seventy-two people! My God! Those are all living, breathing human lives!"

"So that's how the people of Hejia Village died!"

The clamor of shock, anger, fear, and disbelief nearly overturned the ancestral hall! Countless gazes, filled with hatred, contempt, or other complex emotions, shot like arrows at the kneeling Ye family members!

But Ye Xingwen, who was currently recounting his crimes, paid no attention to them; he merely glanced at Li Wangchuan's face out of the corner of his eye. The old man's expression remained unchanged. Ye Xingwen knew then that it wasn't enough, far from enough.

Then he suddenly raised his head, his voice abruptly rising in pitch:

"I... deserve to die a thousand deaths! A hundred deaths would not atone for my sins!"

"Indeed! Today, the immortals have returned home, and the entire Baixi Town intends to relocate to the Yunmeng Great Swamp. This is the dawn of Baixi Town's liberation from evil and its rebirth."

"I, Ye Xingwen, am burdened with sins and my broken body, and I cannot bear to add any more shadow to this migration of light. I cannot bear to see the descendants of Qiuye Village forever fall into the clutches of evil."

"Therefore, today I lead the sons of the Ye family to turn against their own side and personally slay Liu Shihao of Qingliu Village, Mei Tieshan of Meiling Village, and their core followers, who are also henchmen of evil cultivators. With their blood, I will wash away the shame of my Ye family. With their heads, I will offer sacrifices to the wronged souls who died unjustly, and end these decades of evil deeds."

This resolute statement shocked the surrounding crowd, and finally, some people felt a surge of goodwill and began to plead for the Ye family.

"Mayor, the Ye family has shown remorse, taken responsibility, and eliminated their accomplices in the evil cultivation practice. Please show them leniency!"

"The crime doesn't warrant death. The Ye family has tens of thousands of villagers, most of whom are unaware of the situation..."

Li Wangchuan remained silent, letting the emotions of those around him surge. After a long while, until a heavy, deathly silence once again enveloped the courtyard, he finally spoke slowly: "Are you finished?"

Ye Xingwen kowtowed again, his forehead pressed against the cold ground, his voice filled with desperate pleading:

"We ourselves deserve to die a hundred times to atone for our crimes. But most of the ordinary villagers in Qiuye Village, and our innocent children, know nothing of this. They are innocent. We beg the mayor... to spare them, for we are all of Baixi Town blood! Give them a way out!"

Li Wangchuan's gaze swept over the heads, over the prisoners shrouded in black mist, and finally settled on Ye Xingwen, where he asked a seemingly unrelated question:

"Ye Xingwen, do you know that each village has its own ancestral hall to worship its ancestors? Why do I need to set up this general ancestral hall in Baixi Town to worship all the villagers and townspeople who died during the migration more than fifty years ago?"

Ye Xingwen's body trembled. He slowly raised his head, looking at the densely packed memorial tablets in the main hall of the ancestral hall. His throat was dry and tight, and he hissed:

"Because all twelve villages originated from Baixi Town. Because regardless of village or surname, everyone before this monument is a resident of Baixi Town. There is no distinction between villages, no distinction between surnames."

"What a fine 'no distinction between villages, no distinction between surnames'!" Li Wangchuan's voice suddenly turned sharp, like a thunderclap.

"Ye Xingwen! When you killed Liu Shihao, you said: 'The Ye family only seeks to act with a clear conscience!'"

"Now, in front of all the residents of Baixi Town, say it again. Does your Ye family have a clear conscience?"

This question, like an invisible hammer, struck Ye Xingwen's heart hard!

He suddenly raised his head and looked around—in those pairs of eyes, there was overwhelming hatred for the loss of loved ones, bewildered fear of the future, disgust for bloodshed, and a trace of barely perceptible complexity.

He then saw the densely packed memorial tablets in the ancestral hall behind Li Wangchuan, some of which he had personally delivered to the evil cultivator!

Under immense pressure, Ye Xingwen's straight spine seemed to collapse instantly. His lips trembled, and finally, he squeezed out a broken and heavy voice from between his teeth:

"My Ye family is ashamed! I, Ye Xingwen, am ashamed! I am unworthy to be the village chief of Qiuye Village!"

Immediately afterwards, Ye Xingwu, Ye Xingnong, and all the kneeling core members of the Ye family, regardless of age, kowtowed heavily and echoed in unison:

"I, Ye Xingwu, am ashamed!"

"I, Ye Xingnong, am ashamed!"

"...I feel ashamed!"

The cries of "I feel ashamed" rose and fell in unison, like a heavy funeral bell tolling in everyone's heart. The previously noisy discussions completely disappeared, leaving only this heavy repentance and a deathly silence throughout the ancestral hall. An indescribable desolation permeated the air.

Li Wangchuan's gaze slowly swept across the entire room, finally settling on Ye Xingwen and the others. His voice was cold and resolute:

"Since you are all ashamed, then stay here and reflect on your actions. There is no place for you in the Yunmeng Great Swamp."

These words were like a death sentence! Ye Xingwen abruptly raised his head, his face instantly drained of color, turning ashen white. He trembled, wanting to say something, but lacked the courage to speak. Li Wangxiang's gaze remained fixed on them, and they couldn't utter a word.

The Ye family members kneeling on the ground were in despair. Behind him, some Ye family members were limp, some had closed their eyes in despair, and some bit their lips tightly to keep themselves from crying out.

Stay? In Baixi Town, which is about to become a slaughterhouse for evil cultivators? This is to make them use their lives... to "reflect".

However, Li Wangchuan's voice rang out immediately afterward, like a glimmer of light in a desperate situation: "But... the villagers of Qiuye Village may go."

A dramatic turn of events! Ye Xingwen was jolted, looking at Li Wangchuan in disbelief. The Ye family members behind him also looked up, their faces filled with a mixture of bewilderment at surviving such a calamity and immense joy and sorrow.

Use the lives of these "culprits" to save the lives of all the innocent villagers of Qiuye Village! This... is Li Wangchuan's verdict!

"Thank you... thank you, Mayor! Thank you for your mercy, Mayor!" Ye Xingwen's voice trembled, and he kowtowed heavily, again and again, his forehead striking the bluestone slab with bloody marks once more.