Sixty years of blacksmithing, a single hammer blow forging a celestial being.

The disciples of the abandoned hall cheered.

"Damn it! What's the origin of this hammer?"

Xu Yan was stunned and felt a little flustered.

He even used his strongest killing move.

They still couldn't do anything to Li Ping'an.

How can this be good?

Just then, several dark figures rushed in from the horizon.

Upon closer inspection, they were dressed in the uniforms of the Enforcement Hall, and the leader, a man with a fierce appearance, was none other than Liu Jinhu.

It was Liu Jinhu who brought his men; the people from the Enforcement Hall had arrived.

Both Li Pingan and Xu Yan saw the newcomer at the same time, and both felt a chill run down their spines.

Li Ping'an was worried that Liu Jinhu would find out about his killing of Steward Wang.

Xu Yan, on the other hand, was worried that Liu Jinhu would investigate his involvement in killing Li Ping'an with Steward Wang.

Xu Yan, in particular, was extremely flustered.

Now that Li Ping'an is back, the Enforcement Hall will definitely question him in detail.

This matter involves an inner sect servants' steward, so it will definitely be taken seriously by the sect's higher-ups.

This is a big deal.

No!

I absolutely cannot let Liu Jinhu investigate Li Ping'an, or I'll be finished.

Xu Yan felt even more terrified when he saw Liu Jinhu arrive.

Gritting his teeth, he glared at Li Ping'an and roared.

"Li Ping'an, you have indeed fallen into the demonic path! Prepare to die!"

As he spoke, he quickly pulled three crimson short swords from his pocket.

This is the Soul-Chasing Blade, a mid-grade Yellow-rank magic weapon, belonging to the first-class hidden weapon category.

It is most capable of killing silently and unexpectedly.

This magical artifact is Xu Yan's most treasured possession.

Now, in order to silence him, he had no choice but to resort to this method.

"Xu Yan, what are you doing? How dare you lay a hand on me in front of this steward!"

Upon seeing this, Liu Jinhu, who was flying rapidly towards them, immediately rebuked them angrily.

"Li Ping'an is the person I'm investigating; you mustn't lay a hand on him!"

However, Xu Yan didn't care about any of that.

He pretended not to hear, and the Soul-Chasing Blade in his hand was still instantly unleashed.

It shot straight at Li Ping'an's three vital points.

"Damn it!"

Liu Jinhu was furious that Xu Yan dared to kill someone right in front of him.

That's practically suicide.

In an instant, Liu Jinhu also launched three hidden weapons.

They attempted to interrupt Xu Yan's projectile aimed at Li Ping'an.

However, they were ultimately a step too late.

Xu Yan's three Soul-Chasing Blades were already aimed directly at Li Ping'an's throat, forehead, and chest—three vital points!

Li Ping'an sensed the approaching danger, and anger surged within him.

Xu Yan was so eager to hurt himself; he had already decided to die!

It just so happens that he took the initiative to launch a deadly attack on me, so it's reasonable for me to fight back and kill him.

Li Ping'an's expression turned slightly cold.

But in the blink of an eye, with a thought racing through his mind, Li Ping'an swung his hammer.

A whooshing sound erupted.

With two clangs, the two Soul-Chasing Blades were forcefully blocked by the hammer.

As for the last Soul-Chasing Blade, Li Ping'an freed up his other hand the instant he swung the hammer.

He pulled a thin, diamond-like blade from his robes, unleashed his spiritual power, and hurled it with great force.

The swing was extremely precise, colliding perfectly with the incoming Soul-Chasing Blade.

He knocked the Soul-Chasing Blade away.

At the same time, the sharp, diamond-like blade continued its relentless advance.

After knocking the Soul-Chasing Blade away, it shot straight towards Xu Yan's throat.

This disaster struck suddenly and with tremendous speed.

Xu Yan originally thought that these three Soul-Chasing Blades would surely kill Li Ping'an on the spot.

Even if we can't kill it, we can certainly severely injure it.

Then you can finish the job yourself.

So they were off guard and just stared intently at Li Ping'an.

But they forgot to protect themselves.

All I saw was a flash of cold light before my eyes.

He suddenly felt a chill on his neck.

Then I felt a sweet taste in my throat, and I felt my breath catch instantly.

Then came an overwhelming pain, numbness, and suffocation in my neck, and I gradually lost consciousness.

Xu Yan touched the thin blade stuck in his neck, too shocked to speak.

He was the one who wanted to assassinate Li Ping'an, so how did he end up being the one who was killed?

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out when Li Ping'an launched the hidden weapon.

His legs gave way and he knelt down, his eyes filled with shock and resentment.

Then all expression vanished from his face, and he slowly collapsed to the ground.

Xu Yan is dead.

Liu Jinhu, who was rushing over, witnessed this scene from the air and was quite surprised.

The reversal came so suddenly that even he didn't have time to react.

He originally thought that Li Ping'an would be seriously injured, if not killed.

Unexpectedly, Xu Yan was the one who died the next second.

Even the head deacon of his Enforcement Hall was somewhat at a loss.

How should this be calculated?

Li Ping'an killed a sect servant in front of him.

But just a second ago, this handyman foreman clearly wanted to kill him.

Would this be considered legitimate self-defense?

With a thought racing through his mind, he landed in front of Li Ping'an.

He looked Li Ping'an up and down with a complicated expression.

When he came to this sect last month, he didn't find that there was a powerful figure like Li Ping'an in this hall.

"Deacon Liu, you just saw it; it was Xu Yan who tried to kill me. I was just fighting back normally, is that alright?"

Before Liu Jinhu could speak, Li Ping'an spoke first.

The golden blade we just saw was none other than the high-grade yellow-rank magic weapon we found in Steward Wang's storage bag last time.

All other magical artifacts were sold, but this one was kept by Li Ping'an because he was certain of its existence.

Ordinary people would not recognize this kind of concealed weapon.

"this……"

Liu Jinhu looked at Xu Yan's body, then at Li Ping'an.

Finally, he nodded and said,

"I saw it. Xu Yan attacked you without any explanation, ignoring my attempts to stop him. Your counterattack was perfectly reasonable."

He said this with great resentment.

Xu Yan ignored his attempts to stop him and actually attacked Li Ping'an directly.

You should know that Li Ping'an was an important target in his investigation of Manager Wang's disappearance.

That damned Xu Yan ignored his warnings and went his own way.

They deserved to die now!

However, after thinking for a moment, Liu Jinhu added:

"You'll need to cooperate with our investigation before we can reach a conclusion. But I'm here today to discuss another important matter with you."

Upon hearing this, Li Ping'an took a deep breath.

I've heard that what's meant to happen will happen eventually.

Come, let me meet the most demanding deacon in the Inner Sect's Enforcement Hall!

"What brings you here, Steward Liu? I happen to have something to report to you as well."

"Do you also have something to report to me?"

Liu Jinhu raised an eyebrow and said,

"Tell me first, let me see what it is."

Li Pingan said.

"Last month, that scoundrel Xu Yan tricked me into going down the mountain to bring him something. But halfway down the mountain, I saw Manager Wang suddenly jump out from the middle of the road and try to kill me. Luckily, I ran fast enough and didn't let him succeed, otherwise I would have become a victim of Manager Wang's knife."

Liu Jinhu nodded upon hearing this.

In fact, he had basically figured out the general outline of this matter during this period of investigation.

Manager Wang did indeed want Li Ping'an dead, and he was indeed colluding with Xu Yan.