Start your cultivation journey by allocating points to your Destiny.

Lu Chen went to Zhao Defu's residence first.

After searching for a while, he left cursing and swearing, carrying a sack of money and some medicinal herbs.

He knocked on the floor and then on the walls, but he couldn't find any hidden compartments. He also searched every inch of the furniture, but still nothing.

All they had were a pitiful few thousand taels of silver and a few packets of medicinal herbs that looked rather precious.

"Is it really that hard to find a cultivation manual?"

Lu Chen pinned his hopes on Zhao Defu's mistress.

Lu Chen was conflicted about how to deal with his mistress.

He was undecided whether to send the mother and child down to reunite with Zhao Defu or to let them go.

"Let's take another look!"

Lu Chen opened the window on the second floor of the Jade Pavilion and looked at the sky.

The sun has risen.

Little Peach Blossom on the bed had only been awake for a short while before falling back into a deep sleep, her face flushed.

That night was truly long.

The area next to the county government office in the west of the city was in complete chaos.

One by one, the bodies were pulled out.

Among them was Li Feng's mangled corpse.

Li Ziren stood beside the corpse, his face extremely gloomy.

Beside him was his eldest son, Li Jun.

"Father, we can't tell much from the injuries, but we can confirm that my brother was in the Jade Pavilion before, and was later kidnapped here and killed. As for who it was, the entire Black Gang is dead now, and there's no way to verify anything."

Li Ziren remained silent for a long time before turning his gaze to the children who had been rescued.

"The Black Gang members are dead, but aren't they still alive? My son is dead, how can they be alive? And who told Hu Bufan about what happened here? Find out!"

"Father, Hu Bufan is personally watching this place now, it's not good for us..."

"My son is dead!" Li Ziren roared, his eyes bloodshot. "My son is dead! Was he planning to kill me too? Ignore him, do as I say!"

Li Jun remained silent.

He had never liked his half-brother, and now that he was dead, he felt no sadness.

However, he dared not contradict his father.

At this moment, Hu Bufan was sending people to find a doctor to treat the rescued children while he was also writing furiously, preparing to send good news to his superiors.

"Unexpectedly, this tightly controlled Shahu County town has suddenly developed such a large breach overnight. Li Ziren's son is dead too, good riddance! I hope Li Ziren will be sensible and not cause trouble at this critical juncture, otherwise, I won't hesitate to teach him a lesson!"

Hu Bufan stood in the courtyard, stuffed several secret letters he had written into tubes tied to the legs of a few waiting pigeons, fed them some food, and the pigeons fluttered away.

The county government office was bustling like a market, with many people who had heard the news coming to join in the excitement.

Seeing the corpses being carried out by the yamen officials, they were all excited, showing no fear whatsoever, and instead whispering among themselves.

"I never imagined that there were gangs in Shahu County that we were unaware of, hiding underground right across from the county government office. They're hiding way too well!"

"These child traffickers are beasts! If I ever see them, I'll beat them to death! My second uncle's son was kidnapped; he was only three years old!"

"My sister's little niece also went missing two years ago. We searched for her for half a year. Maybe she was kidnapped by these beasts! Good riddance!"

Many people wished they could go up and whip these gangsters to death.

When they saw the children with broken limbs and covered in injuries, everyone was shocked and gasped, unable to bear the sight.

"That's terrible!"

"These beasts, they're utterly despicable! Waaah, these children, they're so pitiful!" An older woman couldn't help but cover her mouth and weep.

Everyone felt so sorry for these children.

Which family doesn't have children?

If someone were to encounter something like this, they would probably feel like the sky had fallen.

Many people still feel a bit scared.

No one could have imagined that such a gang was hiding right under their noses.

Thankfully, it was wiped out, otherwise who would dare let their child run around on the street in the future?

Meng Ping and Wang Xiong also arrived at the Black Gang, their faces tense.

It's unclear whether the displeasure stemmed from the horrific events that occurred, or from the fact that Zhao Defu and his ilk were all dead.

"Everyone's dead. Looking at Zhao Defu's body, the wounds look a bit like those from the 'Dissecting Ox' technique, but Zhao Defu was your man, and I heard he'd had his blood transfused... Isn't the 'Dissecting Ox' technique only supposed to be practiced up to the 'Refining the Dirty' level?"

Wang Xiong remained expressionless and did not answer, but instead uttered a single sentence: "Wang Hu of the Green Bamboo Gang is dead."

"Yes, someone came to report this morning that someone from the Green Bamboo Gang broke in last night, and Wang Hu died. All the gold and silver treasures in the gang were looted."

"Zhao Defu is dead, Wang Hu is dead, and the bodies of Li Mantun and Wang Bao were found on the main street in the east of the city. These people all have one thing in common: marks from hidden weapons—either throwing knives or something resembling stones. Moreover, many of their wounds were caused by the 'dissecting ox' technique!"

"Hidden weapons? Could it be Zhuo Li, the Six-Finger Flying Stone from Tianmu County next door? He's skilled with hidden weapons, and it's said he knows Hu Bufan!" Meng Ping was startled.

Wang Xiong shook his head: "No, Hu Bufan isn't that stupid. He wouldn't do such a thing! Besides, he's been living peacefully with us for the past few years. Why would he suddenly make a move at this critical juncture? It doesn't make sense! Perhaps it's someone else!"

"But I haven't heard of any other experts skilled in concealed weapons in the surrounding counties."

"Could it be someone from another prefecture?"

"This... the 'Dissecting Ox Knife Technique,' I remember it belongs to the Bao family of Mingde Prefecture, right? Only they have the complete version of the technique. Wang Hu also obtained a fragmented version from the Bao family. The Bao family seems to be on that side! Moreover, the Flying Eagle Caravan also came from Mingde Prefecture! Could there be some connection between them?"

The two frowned.

The Bao family is no small family.

"Forget it, we can't handle this kind of thing anymore. Let's report it and give the higher-ups a headache."

"Um!"

-----------------

"Young master, please come again next time!"

Little Peach Blossom watched Lu Chen leave with reluctance.

To avoid arousing suspicion, after leaving Zhao Defu's house, Lu Chen went to his mistress's house, knocked out and tied up his mistress and a child, and then returned to Biyu Pavilion at great speed and without a sound, waking up Xiao Taohong.

It's none of your business how it happened.

Then Lu Chen left.

After he finished eating at a random restaurant and, seeing that no one was around, he jumped into Zhao Defu's mistress's house.

The two people who were tied up were still unconscious when Lu Chen slapped his mistress, waking her up.

After some interrogation, it was discovered that his mistress, named Xiao Cui, was an ordinary person who had no idea of ​​Zhao Defu's true identity.

Xiao Cui always thought Zhao Defu was a traveling merchant who often went out to do business and would only come back once every ten days or half a month. Each time he came, he would leave her some money for living expenses, but she knew nothing else. Instead, she always worried about Zhao Defu when he went on his long journey.

"Didn't your man leave you anything? Like some kind of book, calligraphy, or anything at all, or even just an address? If you dare to hide anything, and I find it in the house, you and your son will be dead! Also, don't shout, understand? If you shout even once, your son will be dead!"

Lu Chen sat down in front of Xiao Cui, placed the knife on the head of her still-sleeping son, and threatened him.

Xiao Cui's face was streaked with tears as she shook her head in fear, her voice deliberately lowered, afraid that Lu Chen might accidentally tremble: "Really, he didn't! Don't touch my son! I'll give you anything you want, I... I'll take whatever you want, please don't touch my son!"

Seeing Xiao Cui's terrified expression, Lu Chen felt like he was the bad guy.

To avoid being deceived, Lu Chen searched the entire house, knocking here and touching there, but found nothing. He even emptied the rice container and the stove, but there was nothing there.

This family looks rather poor.

Her son was only two years old, and was completely unaware of the dangers.

Faced with this situation, Lu Chen remained silent for a long time before finally deciding not to take action.

He chose to tell Xiao Cui Zhao Defu's true identity.

Xiao Cui froze as she listened to Lu Chen's narration.

She clearly hadn't expected Zhao Defu to be the leader of a child trafficking gang, and kept muttering "impossible" to herself.

Lu Chen carefully observed Xiao Cui's expression.

All I can say is that if Xiao Cui really did fool him, then he'll accept it.

That expression, that reaction, didn't seem like acting to him at all.

There was no other way. Lu Chen knew he wasn't a ruthless killer, and he simply couldn't bring himself to harm someone who hadn't done anything wrong and hadn't even enjoyed any benefits from Zhao Defu.

He released Xiao Cui and her son, gave them some travel money, and watched as she rented an oxcart and left Shahu County with some valuables.

Lu Chen was very disappointed.

His plan to obtain another cultivation manual failed.

No wonder Wang Hu said the technique was in Wang Xiong's possession, not Zhao Defu's.

Only then did he truly understand the intense resentment Wang Hu had felt back then.

It's not that I'm incapable, it's that I've tried everything but haven't had any chance!

"The higher-ups' control over martial arts techniques has reached an abnormally strict level! There isn't even a martial arts school in this Shahu County, and there are practically no martial arts techniques circulating in the market. What ordinary people have are only incomplete versions—no, they can't even reach ordinary people. Can Wang Hu and his ilk be considered ordinary people?"

Lu Chen returned to his courtyard, looked at the three large sacks in the room, and sighed.

That's all money, but he doesn't really need that much money.

"Fortunately, I can break through limitations; even incomplete techniques can still be upgraded!"

Lu Chen looked at his fate and luck scores.

It wasn't all for nothing.

Moreover, the few incomplete yet powerful martial arts manuals found from the Green Bamboo Gang were not entirely fruitless.

Although it's incomplete, it's complete in front of the numerical value!

Go back and practice!