I am Jinshan Youxia

Duan Yanqing was also frozen in place. That finger strike was too fast and too fierce; he hadn't reacted at all. If it had been him, he probably would have died on the spot as well.

"boom!"

One of the Western Xia warriors who was surrounding the area turned to run away, but a large crater suddenly appeared in the ground next to him, which startled him so much that he fell to the ground on the spot.

"Whoever runs, dies."

Zhang Chengyi's voice arrived late. Perhaps someone understood what he was saying, because he shouted something, and he wasn't sure if it was the Tangut language of Western Xia or some other dialect. So everyone stopped moving.

He didn't know who deserved to die. What if there was an innocent person among them? The probability was low, but it certainly existed. He might as well just take them back and let Qiao Feng decide.

Yun Zhonghe was the first person he was certain deserved to die, followed by Ye Erniang.

He enjoys kidnapping other people's children, playing with them until he's tired of them, and then giving them away to other families. He's a truly wicked person who deserves to die.

Xuan Ci's mistress and Xu Zhu's mother were unimportant to him. They had harmed countless families; at most, he would let her die knowing the truth before she died.

The remaining two are a bit more complicated.

Chapter 45 I Also Have a Rule

Both Duan Yanqing, who was utterly wicked, and Yue Laosan, who was fierce and evil, were strangely wicked people.

Or rather, simply calling them villains doesn't do them justice.

First, there is Duan Yanqing. His heinous crimes stem from his cruel methods of revenge, where he slaughtered his enemies' entire families, leaving no one alive. After experiencing disfigurement, disability, and being abandoned by his family, his personality became extremely cruel and ruthless. He committed many evil deeds in order to reclaim the throne.

This kind of evil is highly purposeful, and they don't bother with unrelated people.

Moreover, he had some bottom line. In order to repay a debt of gratitude, he prepared to save Xu Zhu under Ding Chunqiu's command. He even sent a telepathic message to Xu Zhu to teach him to play chess. When he killed Yue Laosan, he didn't intend to kill him. After learning that he had a son, he retired from the martial arts world.

He believed he had committed too many evil deeds, so he deserved to be condemned to the bitter end one day. When he played the game of the Precious Chess Game, he regretted that he had not taken the right path.

Most importantly, he has leverage over Duan Yu. Zhang Chengyi clearly remembers Duan Yu's birth date and time, which is mentioned in the book. He just needs to look it up to recall it. To have cultivated martial arts to this level while crippled is to be an excellent servant, and he is worth bringing back to Leigu Mountain.

Then there's the fierce and menacing Yue Laosan, who can be summed up in one word:

Unscrupulous and reckless.

According to him, he had only one rule in his life: never kill those who are powerless to fight back. However, in practice, it was somewhat like he was thinking, "I'm sure you can fight back."

For example, before Duan Yu recognized him as his disciple, he first made him happy, and then pointed to Granny Rui and her group who had caught up with him and said that these people would kill him after he left. So without thinking, he took action and took the initiative to kill four of them.

With his large head but small brain, he couldn't really judge much anymore. If we're talking about evil deeds, he was indeed ruthless and merciless.

But Zhang Chengyi always felt that he was an idiot, and killing an idiot directly felt like killing someone without teaching them anything.

“Your son is a monk at Shaolin Temple, his Dharma name is Xuzhu. He doesn’t know his father. When I get there, I’ll help them recognize each other.”

He turned to look at Ye Erniang and said, "So you know that I killed you because you often steal other people's children, causing families to be separated."

“Even the most pitiful person has their hateful aspects. You have committed so many sins. Today is your day. However, I will not implicate your lover and son.”

"Your Excellency—" Duan Yanqing wanted to say something, his voice tinged with anger.

"Shut up," Zhang Chengyi interrupted him. "Outside Tianlong Temple, under the Bodhi tree, Prince Yanqing, do you know you also have a son?"

Duan Yanqing was shaken and stood frozen in place.

After a long while, Ye Erniang came to her senses with tears in her eyes. Her lips trembled, and her face showed gratitude. She did not argue, closed her eyes, and offered her neck for execution.

Zhang Chengyi stepped in front of her, slapped her forehead, and channeled his inner energy into her brain, instantly killing her.

"Waaaah!" Yue Laosan cried out and attacked the powerful enemy without hesitation.

Zhang Chengyi casually knocked the weapon out of his hand, grabbed his neck, and said, "I heard that you have a rule that you don't kill those who can't fight back. Coincidentally, I also have a rule."

"Don't kill the mentally challenged."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Northern Darkness Divine Art dissipated all the power of this fierce and evil man. He became weak all over and collapsed to the ground without being able to stand properly.

"As for you," Zhang Chengyi glanced at Duan Yanqing and said, "we'll have a proper talk after I capture Murong Fu."

"Take him and this corpse, and let's go."

He wasn't worried about the Western Xia warriors disobeying; it was simple: he had already warned them, and those who disobeyed would die.

After saying that, Zhang Chengyi led the way into the manor. It was obvious that the camellia was easy to hide poison or traps, so it was cleared away long ago. But when he approached the manor's long corridor, he could still hear rustling sounds.

With his internal energy channeled, his already incredibly sharp senses were amplified. If he really wanted to, he could have caught all those centipedes, scorpions, and venomous snakes, but he was too lazy to be so meticulous and simply slapped out with his palm.

"boom!"

The vine-covered pergola was directly smashed and blown away by the adjacent courtyard wall and the wooden floor that was laid for waterproofing.

Various fragments flew away with a crackling sound, some smashing through the doors, windows and walls of houses, others embedding themselves in the ground. The destructive effect was quite astonishing. After all, the poisonous creatures were made of flesh and blood, and no matter how potent their toxicity, they were reduced to dust by a single gust of wind from the palm.

"Whoosh!"

A dark figure carrying another figure darted out of the village and rushed toward the shore where the boats were moored, disappearing into the boat in the blink of an eye.

"what?"

Zhang Chengyi could see clearly that the dark figure was a masked man. He made a surprised sound and stomped his foot on the ground. In his pursuit of speed, he stomped a hole in the damp ground with a thud.

"Where do you think you're going!"

The sound only spread after he arrived. He reached out to grab the masked man, who seemed to want to put up a last-ditch effort. He raised his hand and pointed, and an invisible force stabbed towards his brow with a hiss. Before it could get close, it was dissolved by the spreading true energy.

"Damn it, you dare to attack me."

Zhang Chengyi wasn't going to tolerate it. If someone was determined to kill him, there was no need to be polite. He raised his hand and slapped the masked man across the face. With a crack, the masked man was shoved into the boat, crashing through the bottom. A dull thud could be heard from below, indicating that he had most likely fallen into the lake.

They're actually quite tough; their strength is impressive.

He was a little surprised. Although he hadn't put in much effort and wasn't aiming for the head, he was still annoyed by the attack aimed at a vital spot, which was why he made the move. The other party hadn't died on the spot, but had somehow deflected the force. Judging from the feel of the attack, it should have been at most a minor injury.

"Daddy!"

The young man, who had been placed on the boat by the masked man, sat up with a deathly pale face and cried out.

"Glug glug~"

Zhang Chengyi grabbed the young man with one hand and dragged him to the shore. Looking at the sinking boat and the bubbling water, he stretched out his palm and said, "Get out here."

A few seconds later, the water surged, and a dark figure jumped onto the shore. His left hand hung limply at his sides, the mask had come off, and the wig on his head was gone, revealing a face that, well, he didn't recognize anyway.

He was prepared that if the masked man underwater really wanted to escape by diving, he wouldn't be polite.

[Speaking of which, bald? Mantuo Villa? Someone calling him "Dad"? This guy?]

"Are you Murong Bo?" Zhang Chengyi glanced down at the young man in his hand who appeared to have internal injuries and asked casually.

The bald man pressed several pressure points, causing the man to groan and bleed from the corner of his mouth. Then, he snapped his dislocated arm back into place with a crack, his drooping white eyebrows trembling. He was clearly enduring excruciating pain, but he remained calm and said, "Didn't Master Zhang ask me to meet him at Shaolin Temple? Why don't you recognize me now?"

"Snapped!"

Zhang Chengyi raised his hand and slapped the old man across the face. He didn't use any force, but the slap was extremely insulting. He looked at the old man with displeasure and said, "What are you trying to prove?"

He hated two kinds of people the most: those who showed off in front of him and those who didn't let him show off.

Murong Bo was stunned on the spot.

Chapter 46 Poison

Unpredictable mood swings.

Duan Yanqing made his own assessment of Zhang Chengyi, but didn't take it to heart.

Among villains, those who are capricious and unpredictable are relatively easy to deal with. Yue Laosan was happy one moment, but if someone said something wrong, he would immediately turn on them and try to kill them.

What he was more concerned about was whether he really had a son.

How did the other party find out about what happened that night? Or perhaps...

No, the age doesn't seem to match.

"Master Zhang, now that you've seen me, please feel free to ask for anything you need." Murong Bo quickly recovered from the slap, showing no anger whatsoever, and adopted a very humble posture.

Zhang Chengyi didn't answer, but threw Murong Fu on the ground and simply said, "Let's go."

He was completely unaware that Duan Yanqing was now treating him almost like a son. He led the way into the interior of Mantuo Manor, where there were many rotting, swollen corpses on the ground, exuding a strange and foul stench. They were human and animal, and they looked like they were highly poisonous. The walls and plants in the courtyard were all withered and decaying.

What's going on here?

He didn't sense any other living beings and frowned as he asked.

Murong Fu, supported by his father, followed behind and said, "When I received the distress call, there was no one alive inside. Ding Chunqiu jumped into the water and escaped under the cover of night after exchanging a blow with me."

He spoke with a hint of frustration. Initially, his maids Azhu and Abi entered Mantuo Manor and then disappeared without a trace. Subsequently, the four retainers came to provide support and find out the situation, but they vanished without a trace, as if they had disappeared into thin air.

He learned from the servant who escaped from Qinyun Xiaozhu that the Xixia Yipintang had besieged Mantuo Manor. He was convinced that it was the Xixia people who were behind it. However, he was inexplicably fighting with the Four Evils when he arrived. He was unable to fight alone and was injured. He only realized that he had been tricked after he fled into Mantuo Manor.

The room was filled with corpses. Already suffering from internal injuries, he could only watch helplessly as Ding Chunqiu jumped into the water. The old monster seemed to be very good at holding his breath and other such skills, and in the blink of an eye, he ran far away.

Instead, he was trapped by Yipintang. If his father, Murong Bo, hadn't appeared, he would have been captured by Yipintang by now.

"Li Qingluo and Wang Yuyan are both dead?" Zhang Chengyi asked again.

"I don't know." Murong Fu's answer was curt. He was more interested in knowing where his four great retainers had gone. Compared to them, his aunt, with whom he had a bad relationship, and his cousin who was always clinging to him were completely unimportant.

Murong Bo answered for his son: "Neither the mother nor the daughter were in the body. Perhaps Ding Chunqiu sent them away beforehand."

It's also possible they killed it and threw it into Taihu Lake.

He thought to himself, but seeing that Zhang Chengyi seemed to care a lot about the mother and son, he didn't say it aloud.

"laugh!"

"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

One of the Western Xia warriors seemed to be still shaken from the earlier fright. When he reached for his crotch, he accidentally stepped on a corpse in the yard. The swollen corpse spurted out a yellowish-green liquid, which landed on his bare ankle. The flesh that came into contact with the liquid quickly dissolved into pus and blood. He cried out in pain and fell, crashing onto the corpse.

What the hell!

Zhang Chengyi was the first to react. He raised his hand and struck out with a palm, which, along with the Xixia warrior whose body had been smashed and the swollen corpse on the ground, were all squeezed by the palm wind, smashed through the wall, and scattered far away.

"Splash!"

The sap scattered everywhere, but it did not corrode anything. Instead, the Western Xia warriors who were in direct contact with the swollen corpses quickly dissolved in the air, turning into pus and blood. Soon, only a set of clothes remained, hanging on a distant wall and swaying in the wind.

Not only were the Western Xia warriors frightened, but even Murong Bo and his son changed their expressions, as they had just been near such a deadly poison.

That's incredibly poisonous! Is Ding Chunqiu's poison really that potent?