Heaven rewards diligence; he fought his way through chaos to become a saint.

Chapter 102 News of Death

The people of the five major families were greatly shocked at this moment.

He dared to kill someone in front of Duan Wu, and even more so, he remained so calm afterward.

This is simply courting death.

Shen Zonghan looked very unwell and quietly wiped away the fine beads of sweat that had appeared on his forehead.

He felt fear because he knew Ye Ci was involved.

The women looked at Ye Ci with a hint of pity in their eyes.

At this moment.

Ye Ci was enjoying his wine and food with great satisfaction. At one point, he raised his wine glass and toasted Qiu Tang's head with it.

Drink it down in one gulp.

"My lords, I have brought someone with me."

He didn't even look up, continuing to speak to himself in a way that was still incomprehensible to others.

This scene, however, was rather chilling.

Duan Wu narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze sweeping over the corpse on the ground, and then looking at Ye Ci.

He's got some skills.

His clothes were not stained with blood.

He deliberately controlled the direction of the blood splatter when he killed someone.

This young man is not only confident, but also ruthless and decisive; he is far more than he appears on the surface!

Duan Wu and his men, being from military backgrounds, immediately recognized that Ye Ci's confidence stemmed from his mastery of the Transformation Realm.

even so.

Qiu Tang also crawled out of a mountain of corpses and blood, and died before he could resist. It wasn't that easy for him either.

"Interesting, Ye Ci, you certainly didn't disappoint me."

A flicker of surprise crossed Duan Wu's eyes, followed by a deeper smile and a hint of genuine interest in his tone. But his expression suddenly darkened: "Why did you kill Qiu Tang?"

"He forced me to do it."

"You have quite a temper." Duan Wu narrowed his eyes slightly.

Ye Ci's eyes remained unwavering, his tone indifferent: "He bought my grain shop for only three thousand taels. How do you tell me I'm angry?"

Duan Wu was stunned for a moment.

Ye Ci scoffed: "Lord Duan, if someone tries to steal your things, would you kill them or not?"

"kill."

Duan Wu nodded.

Previous reports indicated that Ye Ci only possessed internal strength, suggesting that he must have broken through to a higher level recently.

He understood that Ye Ci was definitely no match for Qiu Tang back then, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger.

"He stole my things and tried to bully me by taking advantage of your power. Shouldn't this beast be killed?"

"He deserves to die."

Ye Ci took a bite of food and slowly said, "I feel it's not enough. I want to kill his whole family, but unfortunately I don't know where his hometown is."

"Hahaha----"

Duan Wu burst into laughter, downed the wine in his cup in one gulp, slammed the cup heavily on the table, and said in a deep voice, "Good! You're a beast too! This kind of temperament suits my taste perfectly! I'll kill his whole family!"

His tone now carried a hint of genuine appreciation.

Ye Ci smiled and said, "Drag Qiu Tang out and feed him to the dogs."

"good!"

Duan Wu clapped his hands and laughed loudly: "Drag him out and feed him to the dogs!!!!"

He felt he had found a better dog for the general.

A vicious dog that holds grudges and seeks revenge.

Ye Ci looked at him with a smile, thinking about how to stab the knife into that gaping mouth.

The music gradually resumed during the gathering.

Those adults, accustomed to life and death, didn't find the bloodshed disgusting at all; on the contrary, they were quite content.

They thought this was normal.

Those who had been inwardly mocking Ye Ci were now completely silent, their gazes towards him shifting from initial contempt to deep awe, and they dared not even meet his eyes.

-

They found the conversation between Ye Ci and Duan Wu quite alarming.

Shen Zonghan's face turned pale, his eyes filled with lingering fear; he was genuinely worried that Duan Wu would become angry.

Who would have thought that Duan Wu would be so happy?

In the main hall of the Commandant's Mansion.

Shen Wanzhou paced back and forth anxiously, and many small and medium-sized wealthy households looked at the head of the five major families and avoided him.

They didn't say it aloud, but they even felt a bit mocking in their hearts.

He said he didn't know that Lord Qiu was targeting him.

Shen Wanzhou felt uncertain. After a moment, he heard a commotion coming from not far away.

Then, a group of people surrounded him, and Shen Wanzhou, disregarding his dignity, also peered out from behind the crowd.

His pupils suddenly contracted.

Corpse!

Judging from the clothing and body shape, it is Qiu Tang's corpse.

Everyone present was extremely surprised.

Gasps of shock rose and fell from the crowd. Some people retreated in fright, while others moved closer, but their eyes were filled with terror and confusion.

Who doesn't know Qiu Tang's importance?

When he was alive, he was ruthless and vicious; whoever he targeted would meet a bad end.

Which of these petty rich kids isn't afraid of him?!

In the past, people would fall silent at the mere mention of his name.

When Qiu Tang was alive, whoever he targeted would not have a good ending.

"No—impossible! This is Lord Qiu?!"

A sudden, shrill cry of alarm erupted from the crowd. It was Wang Huai'an, a salt merchant from the west of the city. His face was ashen, and his legs nearly gave way, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Everyone knows that Wang Huai'an had just established a relationship with Qiu Tang, and his death could result in a significant loss of money.

But no one dared to utter a sound, because Qiu Tang's death was suspicious, and how would the general deal with it?

For a moment, the hall fell into a deathly silence, and everyone felt uneasy.

Shen Wanzhou was extremely anxious.

He feared that Ye Ci was the killer.

If that's true, it was really impulsive!

After a moment, he saw a familiar figure slowly walk out.

"Young Master Ye, how did Qiu Tang die?"

Shen Wanzhou hurriedly went to greet him.

"I killed him."

When these words reached everyone's ears—

Shen Wanzhou felt that everything around him had become eerily quiet, and everyone even held their breath.

Someone killed the general's men on the general's territory.

Then this person came out.

All is well!

Everyone looked at Ye Ci in surprise.

His face, with its distinct features, held no superfluous expression. He didn't try to show anything, but simply nodded slightly: "Let's go."

Shen Wanzhou was stunned for a while before he quickly chased after them.

"Did you really kill him?"

"Yes, but this is the Commandant's residence. It wouldn't be good to kill Duan Wu and leave unscathed. Otherwise, we would have killed him as well."

Shen Wanzhou felt an overwhelming sense of absurdity and couldn't help but ask, "Then they didn't make things difficult for you?"

"Not only did they not make things difficult for me, they also said they wouldn't make things difficult for the Shen family."

"What's going on?"

Shen Wanzhou found it unbelievable. Before, he had tried everything he could, but Zhang Guan had never given up, giving him a sense of panic as if a knife was hanging over his head.

"That guy named Duan Wu conveyed the general's message: he gave us a month to raise 200,000 taels of silver to reward the troops."

"Two hundred thousand taels?"

Shen Wanzhou fell into deep thought: "Less than I expected, which is actually problematic. I suspect Zhang Guan is having some reservations, planning to take a long-term approach to this kind of money-making scheme, like cutting flesh with a dull knife. This—"

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "I have to go."

Ye Ci: "One month."

Shen Wanzhou nodded: "I know."

******

News of Qiu Tang's death spread quickly.

No one expected that Ye Ci would not only escape punishment for killing Qiu Tang, but would also be praised by Duan Wu.

Inside the Rock Martial Arts School, discussions erupted like boiling water.

Qiu Tang had previously killed Meng Zhaoting, and Xiao Hua had gone to demand an explanation several times, but no one paid any attention to him.

But Ye Ci simply killed the person.

When Xiao Hua received the news, his feelings were extremely complicated.

He really hoped that Teacher Yang would come back soon.

For the first time, he felt restless and uneasy.

In recent days, two old masters, Chong Yue of the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts School and Gao Jing of the Black Dragon Martial Arts School, have visited Xiao Hua several times, but they always turned away as soon as they saw him.