Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 158 Wu's Hidden Man
Lu Zheng slowly walked around the pig demon, came to the entrance of the underground passage, and then bent down to enter.

It was dark below, filled with a strong, pungent, and unpleasant smell.

When he arrived below, Lu Zheng looked around and felt like he had come to a dungeon.

It was a mess everywhere, with broken bones and flesh pieces, including some human corpses.

Many ordinary people are imprisoned in some rooms.

These people were half-naked, skinny, weak, and in a half-dead state, obviously because their vital energy had been drained away for a long time.

Lu Zheng also discovered a Yang-Gathering Bead placed high up, slowly absorbing the Yang energy from the surrounding area.

He raised his hand and released a burst of righteous energy, collecting the Juyang Pearl.

Then, Lu Zheng reached out and took out a treasure to dispel the foul air in the surrounding air.

Lu Zheng turned to look at the crowd and said, "I am a student from Kaiyang County. Today, I came to this mountain with my friends to suppress bandits. Now most of the bandits in the mountain stronghold have been controlled. Everyone, rest assured. I will take you away from here in a moment."

After saying this, there was no response.

Most people looked dull and numb, as if they had lost the ability to think.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng sighed inwardly, knowing that these people had been tortured for so long that they had mental problems and were unable to believe or accept what was happening outside.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng didn't say much. He took out some food and water from his storage bag and distributed them to these people.

It was not until a long time later that someone reacted and asked Lu Zheng for help.

Some people finally couldn't hold back their emotions anymore and started crying.

For a moment, the entire dungeon was in chaos, and the sound of sorrow was endless.

Lu Zheng hurriedly said, "Everyone, please eat something and have a good rest..."

After a lot of consolation, Lu Zheng finally reassured these people and they all wolfed down their food.

Above, footsteps were heard.

"Brother Lu?" Zhang Bo's voice came from above.

Lu Zheng said, "It's me."

Zhang Bo hurried down and saw the tragic scene below, he couldn't help but frown.

Lu Zheng asked, "Where are they?"

Zhang Bo said, "There are still some bandits outside who want to escape, so they chased... these people..."

He had met Qing Wan before and knew that Lu Zheng had already dealt with the real boss here, and now there were only some ordinary bandits left to be dealt with.

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "There should be some people in the mountain stronghold who were captured and used as slaves. Let them take good care of these people."

"Okay, I'll go get those people." Zhang Bo nodded and quickly left.

Lu Zheng walked around the dungeon again, and when he didn't find any other bandits or demons, he left.

Only when he reached the ground did Lu Zheng let out a long sigh.

He glanced over and saw the pig demon lying on the ground not far away, groaning in pain.

Lu Zheng walked over with a long sword in hand and stopped in front of the pig demon.

The pig demon trembled and said weakly, "Master, let me go. They forced me to do this."

"Hmm?" Lu Zheng looked at the pig demon with cold eyes.

The pig demon said, "It was the big boss and his men. I was originally a pig demon from a nearby mountain. They said I had the qualifications and could help me cultivate, and asked me to join them. I was momentarily bewildered and believed their lies. I never imagined they were a group of evil people. They captured so many people and asked me to guard them. If anyone died, they would make me eat them, saying it would be beneficial to cultivation... I was also forced to do it!"

Lu Zheng's eyes were icy. "Why do I hear people say that you seem to enjoy eating people?"

"Who? This is nonsense, slander!" The pig demon was shocked and said quickly, "I know how many evil things they have done. Master, please keep me and I will report them."

"They are all still alive, what's the point of keeping you?" Lu Zheng said lightly.

After saying that, Lu Zheng stabbed the pig demon with a sword.

The sharp sword directly pierced through the pig demon's body, and strands of righteous energy raged in the pig demon's body.

The pig demon's eyes widened, unable to bear the severe pain all over his body, and he let out a sharp howl.

Li Zhao was rushing towards the stronghold carrying two human heads. When he heard the sudden shout, he was startled.

"Who is killing the pig?"

Li Zhao muttered something and went back to the stronghold excitedly.

After a while, Zhang Bo brought a few slaves from the mountain stronghold and asked them to take care of those in the dungeon.

Zhang Bo looked at the pig demon still twitching on the ground and couldn't help but say, "This demon has a really tough life."

Lu Zheng said calmly, "The harder the better. Brother Zhang, stay here and I'll go look somewhere else."

"Okay." Zhang Bo nodded.

Lu Zheng quickly left the room, jumped onto the roof in a flash, then went up to the blockhouse to observe the surrounding situation.

"Kill...kill, me."

The pig demon lying on the ground was dying and said to Zhang Bo.

It could not bear the pain any longer and wanted Zhang Bo to kill it. But Zhang Bo just glanced at it and turned a deaf ear to it, and went to direct the people to place the victims.

When the victims saw the dying pig demon again, they finally believed what Lu Zheng had just said. They were all very excited and suddenly became energetic.

"Monster, give me back my wife and children!"

A skinny man rushed towards the pig demon and hit it with a wooden stick.

The pig demon lay on the ground motionless, no longer having the strength to react.

When the others saw this, they also looked crazy and rushed forward to vent their emotions.

Seeing these people becoming almost crazy, Zhang Bo wanted to say something but hesitated, but in the end he said nothing.

The thick-skinned and tough pig demon finally died after being beaten by everyone.

Lu Zheng stood on a high place and looked around, but did not find anything unusual.

He took a few leaps and arrived at the yard where Qing Wan was.

Outside the yard, some bandits were lying there in a mess. Some of them were already dead, while others were groaning in pain.

Qing Wan ran over excitedly, holding a stack of cultural treasures.

"Someone just tried to escape, so I used two of them. It seems a few people died."

Lu Zheng said, "You did a great job. These people deserved to die."

"Yeah!" Qing Wan nodded heavily and returned the remaining cultural treasures to Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng quickly put it away, then glanced sideways and saw Li Zhao coming back.

Li Zhao looked at Lu Zheng and grinned, "This is really exciting. I've never done anything like this before!"

Lu Zheng looked at Li Zhao's bleeding shoulder and asked, "Are you injured?"

Li Zhao said excitedly, "Yeah, I was chasing someone just now and got slashed by a knife. Luckily, I reacted quickly and only hit their shoulder, exposing the bone! But they weren't much better off either. Look, their heads were chopped off!"

"I have healing pills." Lu Zheng said.

Li Zhao smiled and said, "No need. I took the elixir and now I don't feel the pain anymore. That's good. I'll go back and show my father. I've done something great! If this injury heals slowly, maybe the academy can let me rest for a few more days..."

A strange look flashed in Lu Zheng's eyes when he heard this. So you are so excited even though you are injured, and it is because of this kind of thing.

Seeing that Li Zhao was not seriously injured, Lu Zheng said, "Brother Li, please go and ask them to search again and gather the survivors of the village together."

"Easy to say!"

Li Zhao looked at the bandits in front of him again and sighed, "Brother Lu is really brave. He attracted most of the bandits and captured them all in one fell swoop..."

They had to work very hard to deal with the remaining bandits, but they were still not as efficient and effective as Lu Zheng.

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng just smiled and went back to the yard.

Of the leaders of the village, only four are still alive, but their cultivation has been destroyed by Lu Zheng and they have no power to resist.

Lu Zheng first came up to the short, thin middle-aged man and asked, "What's the secret you just mentioned? I'll only give you one word."

As he spoke, the long sword in Lu Zheng's hand was already against the middle-aged man's eyebrows.

The middle-aged man couldn't help swallowing his saliva. He could feel that if he couldn't give a satisfactory answer, Lu Zheng would really take action.

"I, I am from Wu, a soldier of Wu." The middle-aged man said in a hoarse voice.

After saying this, the middle-aged man's body went limp.

He knew that if he told this, he could save his life, but what he would have to face if he survived would probably be worse than death.

However, in the end, the desire to survive prevailed over everything.

Even if there will be a punishment worse than death later, being able to survive for a while may lead to a turning point, which is better than being stabbed to death by a sword now.

Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes when he heard this and said, "You have one more chance to say something."

The middle-aged man said that he was a soldier of Wu State, which really surprised Lu Zheng.

But just this one sentence could not satisfy him.

The middle-aged man only felt a sharp pain between his eyebrows, and a trace of blood flowed down.

He quickly said, "I, the boss, and the two of them are all soldiers of the Wu Kingdom. A general sent us here to lurk in Anguo and disrupt the peace when necessary, cooperating with the Wu Kingdom."

Lu Zheng looked calm and did not completely believe what this person said.

As a soldier of the Wu State, the other party was too afraid of death and said such things directly.

"Where's the evidence?" Lu Zheng said slowly. "I can make up a hundred identities for your story. I need concrete evidence to prove it."

The middle-aged man was stunned when he heard this. He really had no evidence to prove that he was a soldier from the State of Wu.

How could spies like them leave any evidence to prove their true identity?
The middle-aged man looked at the scarred man and said through gritted teeth, "Boss, at this point, this is our only way to survive. Please say something."

When the people present were sent here, Scarface was the leader. The other party knew more than they did.

Scarface sat on the steps, grinning and said, "I'm not a good person, but I've lived a carefree life. It's worth it. Why bother saying so much? You're afraid of death, so don't drag me into this!"

(End of this chapter)