Start your cultivation journey by allocating points to your Destiny.

When we returned to Sanyuan Temple, there were no longer any onlookers.

Even tourists inside the Taoist temple were persuaded to leave.

The Taoist priests of Sanyuan Temple were also cleaning up the wall that Yang Ce had knocked down.

Lu Chen looked at the people working, thought for a moment, and took out a few caltrops.

It was covered in golden energy, and then he swung his arm and threw it into the Sanyuan Temple.

With his current strength, he could easily throw these iron beads several kilometers away outside the city.

However, his target was the tallest building in the Sanyuan Temple, as well as the few shorter houses next to it.

The barbed wire was as fast as lightning, and in the blink of an eye, it drew an arc and struck the targets.

"Bang bang bang!"

At roughly the same time, these buildings were hit by the barbed wire, as if they had been bombarded by artillery shells.

The energy on the barbed wire exploded, scattering countless iron filings in all directions like a shower of flowers. The violent shockwave pulverized the surrounding wood and bricks.

The Taoist priests inside the Sanyuan Temple all looked up, stunned by the horrific destruction.

Has someone attacked the Sanyuan Temple?

The Taoist priests next to the secret room were also stunned for a moment, then stood up and looked up into the temple.

"Oh no, it looks like someone has broken in! Quick, go help!"

In no time, everyone had left.

Lu Chen leaped across the river, lightly touched the wall, and floated down in front of the house where the black stone tablet was located.

There's no one here anymore.

He arrived at the underground entrance with ease and looked inside.

There were torches illuminating the steps, but the place was empty; only a broken bronze alchemy furnace remained, bare and desolate.

The children and medicinal herbs that were there before have all disappeared.

"They've all been transported away!"

Lu Chen left and immediately ran towards Wuyi Lane.

"That should be a base!"

Wuyi Lane is also a lane along the river. Qingzhu and his group were able to easily transport all their belongings to that lane by boat without anyone noticing.

Lu Chen arrived at the door where the Taoist priest had stood earlier and listened intently.

I didn't hear any sound.

He leaped over the wall and rushed inside.

This place felt strangely familiar to Lu Chen.

Not only are the house designs and layouts similar, but even their strange "atmosphere" is somewhat similar.

"Qingmiao Hall?"

"This looks like the stronghold of the Black Gang and the Flower Gang!"

Lu Chen quickly remembered.

This "temperament" made him somewhat uncomfortable.

He squinted, looked around, and quickly surveyed his surroundings.

There was no one in the courtyard, but there was a faint noise coming from the backyard.

Lu Chen immediately grabbed the pebble in one hand and held a few stones in the other.

There's no need for barbed wire to deal with some small fry.

Pushing open the door, I walked a short distance inside and arrived at the familiar backyard.

In the backyard, four people were enjoying drinks and food in the pavilion, having a very pleasant time.

Upon closer inspection, Lu Chen noticed that there was also an underground entrance beneath the pavilion.

"Damn, it must have been the same renovation company, right? They're a nationwide chain!"

He cursed aloud and threw several stones.

The four men who were drinking had just seen someone coming and hadn't even had a chance to start cursing when they were shot in the head.

"Thump!"

Four soft sounds, and the body fell to the ground.

[Under the host's influence, the fates of Huang Si and the other three have changed.]

[Life Points +675, Total 4588]

[Life Points +4, Total 52]

Lu Chen stepped forward, threw the four people far away, and looked towards the underground passage.

The interior was dimly lit, yet cool air still blew out even under the bright sun.

Lu Chen could hear voices coming from inside.

As Lu Chen descended the stairs, he became more alert and slowly peeked out.

A row of dozens of wooden crates came into view.

There were also many iron cages containing dirty children with chains binding their feet and blank expressions.

A Taoist priest was talking, while a middle-aged man dressed in brocade sat imposingly in a chair, tilting his head and stroking it with his hand, looking somewhat bored.

Lu Chen did not see any trace of the alchemy furnace.

"However, since they're going to refine pills, they'll inevitably need raw materials. I only need to disrupt one part of the process to delay their progress!"

Lu Chen quickly surveyed the entire underground space.

The area wasn't large, and he only saw about ten people inside. Some of them seemed to be disciplining the children, holding sticks and whips, ready to strike them if they did anything wrong.

Lu Chen assessed the combat strength of both sides.

"This Qingmiao Hall should be the 'Black Stick Gang' of Shanyang Prefecture. Their leader shouldn't be stronger than Qingzhu. I think Qingzhu is probably the person in charge of the entire Shanyang Prefecture, and his strength is likely the strongest. If I were to face Qingzhu now, I should be able to hold my own for a few moves. Let's give it a try!"

Lu Chen's eyes were filled with determination. He immediately took out a handful of pebbles and rushed out of the underground passage.

Look here!

He shouted as he threw pebbles.

Those underground who heard the shouts instinctively looked over.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

In the underground space, the pebbles were like bullets fired from a shotgun, yet they found their respective targets with incredible precision.

"who……"

"what!"

From underground, a series of screams rang out.

Lu Chen listened to the system notification in his ear without changing his expression, and then threw two iron caltrops at the person sitting in the chair who looked like a strong person.

The middle-aged man in brocade robes, Ma Yuanlei, who had been lazy, suddenly became serious upon encountering this situation. He swiftly dodged behind the chair, grabbed the back of the chair, and swung it sharply.

"Snapped!"

The chair collided with a barbed wire.

To his surprise, the caltrop was not knocked away, but instead pierced through the thick, hard wood, carrying some wood fragments as it hurtled toward his head.

His eyes widened, and he stomped his feet hard on the ground, his body leaping directly into the air to dodge the attack.

The barbed wire smashed through a wall behind him and came to a stop.

"And the other one...?"

Before Ma Yuanlei could finish his thought, he caught a glimpse of a dark shadow flying past him out of the corner of his eye.

"Phew! Luckily I missed!"

He had just breathed a sigh of relief when the barbed wire suddenly returned from behind him in an extremely bizarre way, striking him in the back with a whoosh.

A sharp pain shot through me.

"puff!"

He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and the force of the blow sent him sprawling to the ground, his internal organs feeling as if they were about to burst.

Lu Chen struck successfully, drew his steel blade, and rushed towards the people who were still screaming in agony.

"call out!"

A single, fatal blow.

The children who had been beaten earlier stared blankly at the scene, their bodies trembling.

too fast.

From the moment Lu Chen shouted to the moment he drew his knife and slashed at someone, only two breaths had passed.

But now, Lu Chen is the only adult still standing in the underground space.

Ma Yuanlei convulsed on the ground, his eyes almost bursting out of their sockets. He crawled a couple of times and then suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

"You...you..."

His mouth was full of blood. He struggled to open his mouth, but before he could finish speaking, his head lolled to the side and he died.

"Holy crap? I controlled my strength, and I hit him in the back, not the head, so how did he die?"

Lu Chen was quite taken aback.

He was already being very careful; he didn't intend to kill this person.

This person was clearly an important figure who knew a lot of information. He planned to interrogate him, but was also worried that the explosion would hurt the other children, so he didn't attach any energy to the caltrops and even controlled his strength, only using half of his power and not daring to go all out.

Who knew this bastard would die so easily?

[Under the host's influence, the fates of Ma Yuanlei and thirteen others have changed.]

[Life Points +2725, Total 7988]

[Life Points +51, Total 103]

He sighed and quickly searched the underground space.

There was no one else there, and no other entrance or exit.

The entire underground area contained only about twenty wooden crates and some children who had been imprisoned there before.

"There were twenty-five wooden crates in total, and eighteen of them were children, all of them injured!"

He felt it was very difficult.

He opened a wooden box, inside which lay a child curled up unconscious. It looked as if the child had been unconscious for a long time, and the child's face was pale.

When the other boxes were opened, the same thing happened; there were boys and girls, all quite young, probably no more than six years old.

"This is utterly depraved, worse than a beast!"

Lu Chen took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, opened all the boxes, and then released the children from the iron cages.

"Children, I've killed the bad guys. Be quiet. I'm taking you outside. Remember not to make a sound, okay?"

Lu Chen spoke softly, trying his best to make his voice sound friendly.

The children's eyes reddened, and they nodded hurriedly.

Some people were terrified, but they still covered their mouths and dared not make a sound.

Lu Chen nodded to himself, then quickly carried out all the children, one in each hand.

He jumped onto the pavilion and looked around at the other houses.

"Hey, there's an abandoned house here!"

Lu Chen's eyes lit up, and he quickly got to work.

It took him a while to finally move all the children here.

He didn't wake up the children who were in a coma.

If someone were to cry, the sound would be quite loud and easily noticed.

The children in those iron cages are much better off.

Having probably experienced so much before, they had matured considerably and knew that Lu Chen was saving them, so even though they had wounds, they endured the pain without making a sound.

"You've been very good. I can't settle you all by myself. I need to go find someone now. Wait for me here, and remember not to make a sound, okay?"

Lu Chen patted the head of a slightly older child.

The child's leg is lame and his hand is unnaturally bent; these must have been broken by those beasts.

He must have some authority among these children. When Lu Chen spoke, many of them subconsciously looked at him, indicating that they were willing to listen to him.

"My benefactor, don't worry, I'll keep them in check!"

Lu Chen nodded and returned to the underground space he had been in before.

After searching around and gathering some money, he turned and quickly left.