The proof of Emperor Wu began with daily rewards for diligence.

"How many gangs are still on Cuihu Street?" Chen Jue asked.

Upon hearing this, the scarred-faced martial artist looked at Chen Jue with surprise.

But the other person remained calm, as if asking an unimportant question.

"There are three more," the scarred-faced warrior replied truthfully, fearing the young man would kill him with a single blow.

"They're quite fast..."

Chen Jue muttered to himself, then continued, "When did you little gangs get in touch with the Shi Huo Cult?"

"..." The scarred-faced martial artist turned pale.

Without even asking, the other party directly confirmed that the gangs on Cuihu Street were involved with the Shihuo Cult.

This is clearly something the government officials have already discovered, and they're just having these two people confirm it, all to get some credit for nothing.

"Not going to tell?"

Chen Jue remained expressionless, and with a flick of his blade, he sliced ​​off a piece of flesh from the scarred-faced warrior's shoulder.

The scarred-faced warrior hissed softly, instinctively reaching out to cover his shoulder wound, but was stopped by the cold back of the blade.

"With the authorities watching closely, how long do you think the Fire Sect can continue to run rampant?"

"If you tell the truth, you might not die, but if you don't, you will definitely die."

Chen Jue lowered his eyes, his bright, starry eyes revealing a chilling threat.

The scarred-faced martial artist felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this.

Yes, if he can't even overcome the current difficulties, what's the point of him being wary of future retaliation from the Fire Sect?

"Our Crimson Blood Gang made contact with the Fire Sect a month ago..."

"At that time, the Rat Gang was wiped out, and the inner city forces behind it lost contact. Our small gangs' income from 'testing drugs' decreased significantly, so we had to turn to other sources of income..."

"Then, the Fire Sect of the South City came knocking on our door."

"They are extremely generous. Major powers in the inner city use living people to test medicine, giving two thousand to the survivors and one thousand to the dead, but the Fire Sect gives four thousand to the living and two thousand to the dead..."

As Chen Jue listened to Scarface's account, the two bloody phrases "humans are like pigs and dogs, and lives are like grass" flashed through his mind.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Don't the participants recruited by Inner City Pharmaceuticals have to sign a 'Voluntary Drug Trial Form'?!"

Chen Jue was inwardly condemning this deplorable world, while Wu Nanyuan, who had been listening in the whole time, couldn't help but speak up and rebuke him.

"..." Chen Jue and the scarred-faced martial artist were both stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked at her.

"You should go keep watch at the alley entrance... This scene isn't suitable for you."

Chen Jue definitely doesn't want to set a bad example for children.

Wu Nanyuan herself was being oppressed by her family to the point of exhaustion. Seeing the expressions on the two people's faces, she thought about it for a moment and immediately understood the key point.

As long as there are benefits involved, "involuntary" can be transformed into "forced voluntary".

She used to only know that she was suffering in the Wu family, but now she realizes that fate is not targeting her alone, but that all beings suffer.

Seeing Wu Nanyuan deep in thought, Chen Jue turned back to the scarred-faced warrior and asked, "Is the sacrificial site of the Fire Sect located in the abandoned factory by the lake?"

"What big thing have they been up to lately...?"

"No, what big thing are they planning to do tonight?"

Chen Jue suddenly realized that Zhang Wei had deliberately shifted his patrol time to the night.

Given that this person is full of scheming, it's perfectly normal for him to try and sabotage him.

The scarred-faced martial artist's expression changed once again.

"You already know that tonight the Fire Cult shamans will be offering a living sacrifice at the lakeside factory to pray for the arrival of their shadow guards?"

The moment those words left the scarred-faced warrior's mouth, an extremely violent and malevolent burst of fiery energy erupted from his body.

The scarred-faced warrior's face twisted rapidly like putty, his nose rose high like a pig's, and his mouth tore like paper, from which two white fangs quickly grew.

"Lost one! Do you want to know the secrets of the Fire God?!"

In the blink of an eye, the scarred-faced warrior transformed into a monster with a pig's head and a human body.

His eyes were bloodshot and blazing with a strange, captivating light that pierced Chen Jue's bright, starry eyes.

"In no mood."

Unmoved by the pig-headed monster's eerie gaze, Chen swept his blade across and severed the monster's entire head.

"How dare you!!"

The pig-headed monster seemed to have no idea that Chen Jue was not only immune to his mental attacks, but also directly took action and severed his head.

"You're not the same martial artist you were just now, are you? Your Fire Cult still has the evil technique of seizing other people's bodies?"

Chen Jue swung his knife and severed the limbs of the headless corpse.

"You!" The pig-headed monster's expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to deny it, Chen Jue slashed off his head with a single blow.

The next moment, an extremely strange wisp of fire-attribute spiritual energy flew out from the pig-headed monster's body. It was so fast that it passed through Chen Jue's lower abdomen like a bolt of lightning and rushed straight into his dantian.

Chen Jue's expression changed drastically, and he instantly mobilized all five elements of true energy in his body to surround and intercept him.

"Haha! You dare kill me? You'll die a much worse death than me..."

The strange true energy carrying the consciousness of a monster rushed into Chen Jue's dantian and saw a furnace that reached the heavens and the earth. Inside the furnace was a fiery red sun that radiated astonishing heat and light.

"No! What the hell is this?!"

The eerie fire-elemental spiritual energy screamed in terror under the blazing sun, like melting snow in summer, instantly vaporizing into a wisp of pure fire-elemental spiritual energy, along with a faint, mysterious sediment.

"That's it?!"

Chen Jue mobilized a large force, drawing upon all his inner energy.

Before it could even make a move, that wisp of eerie true energy imbued with the monster's consciousness was vaporized by the dantian furnace.

This left him both surprised and speechless.

Are you alright?

Seeing that Chen Jue had been frozen in place after smashing the pig's head, Wu Nanyuan went up to ask him what was wrong.

"It's nothing, it's just that I didn't expect the Fire Sect to be so sinister. If the big shots in the inner city don't take action to punish them, there may be a great calamity in the outer city."

Chen Jue reached out his hand to Wu Nanyuan. "Do you have a handkerchief?"

Without much thought, Wu Nanyuan took out a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Chen Jue.

Under Wu Nanyuan's incredulous gaze, Chen Jue wiped the blood off the knife with a handkerchief and then threw it into a mud pit nearby.

"You?...That's my handkerchief!" Wu Nanyuan.

"Oh, thank you."

As Chen Jue thanked him, he stomped heavily on the blue bricks beneath his feet. When a stray blue stone reached shoulder level, he suddenly swung his sword, sweeping the stone toward the roof.

Snapped!

A sword light burst open from the roof like a fan, shattering the bluestone, and a figure leaped down from the roof.

Chen Jue gripped the knife in one hand and slowly walked towards the figure.

Wu Nanyuan remained silent, gripping the long sword at her waist, following closely behind, full of vigilance.

"Friend! It's a misunderstanding! I'm not a bad person!"

"I'm also here to gather information about the Fire Sect!"

Seeing Chen and Wu, each wielding a sword, flanking him from both sides, Liang Ben realized he was in danger and quickly sheathed his sword, raising his hands.

"I am a reserve officer of the Divine Understanding Organization, and I have come here to investigate the Fire Cult under orders from my superiors."

"You should have heard of us. We are a righteous organization dedicated to resolving the descent of the Star God and bringing peace to the world."

"Sorry, I've never heard of that." Chen Jue frowned upon hearing this, and his blade instantly slashed towards the person who had landed.