C11 (2/2)
”Greetings, Captain Li! Greetings, sirs!”
Hong Ling was respectful, neither humble nor arrogant, causing everyone's eyes to light up. To be able to reach the cultivation of an early stage Essence Refinement into Qi at such a young age, and to be able to treat people with courtesy, this youth's temperament was truly not bad.
”Brother Hong Ling, you said that you were trapped in the well. Do you know who exactly killed this Hidden Dragon Village?”
It had already been over ten days since he received the report. The entire village had changed beyond recognition, and the corpses had already been disposed of by someone, so it was difficult to find any valuable clues.
”It's the Black Mountain Thief, Zhang Yan, and his subordinates!”
Hong Ling said coldly after taking a deep breath. As matters stood, he once again thought of the Black Mountain Bandit, Zhang Yan. His heart was filled with killing intent.
”Hmm?” Li Yan's eyes narrowed as a cold light quickly flashed through them. ”Little brother, are you sure that it's the Black Mountain bandit, Zhang Yan, or anyone else?”
”I can swear to the heavens that if there is even a single false word, I will die without a place to lose my body!”
Li Yan and the nine Chu soldiers looked at each other. They did not expect that this young man would insist that it was the Black Mountain Thief, Zhang Yan.
”Forget it, little brother. You should first rest. Change into a set of clean clothes and eat something to rest yourself!”
Li Yan threw a glance at a soldier. The man understood and gestured for Hong Ling to go ahead. The young man did not argue, and followed him to wash up, and changed into the white clothes they sent over.
After eating the food provided by Li Yan's group, Hong Ling wanted to take his leave, but Li Yan stopped him.
”Little brother, where are you going?”
Hong Ling looked at him with a unhappy expression. He had already paid for the food and clothes provided by Li Yan's group, but at this moment, he actually stopped him.
”Captain Li, where I'm going seems to be my freedom!”
The young man's tone was cold. This Li Yan, ever since Hong Ling had invited him to go with his subordinates to exterminate the Black Mountain Bandit, Zhang Yan, had stuttered and refused. Now, he had stopped him.
”No, little brother, you are a felon in the imperial court, where did your freedom come from!”
With a slight raise of his eyebrows, Li Yan gave a meaningful look to the soldiers around him, immediately causing nine people to unsheathe their sabers, and point them at Hong Ling.
”You said that I am a felon of the imperial court?”
Hong Ling looked at the group of people, he did not want to cause any trouble, but if someone were to recklessly throw dirty water on him, he would not sit still and wait for death.
”Could it be that what I said was wrong? You, as a martial artist, killed the villagers of Hidden Dragon Village, yet you blamed it on Zhang Yan. This is even more of a crime.” Now that our brothers have caught you and you are running away in fear of your crimes, you deserve to die! ”
Li Yan did not stop talking, he spoke as if he was serious, the rest of the soldiers all nodded, they stared at Hong Ling with unfriendly eyes, the long blade Authentic Qi in their hands surged, and slowly moved closer and closer.
”Just what kind of benefits did Zhang Yan give you? It's worth it for you to cover up such a heinous crime for him!”
Hearing that all these people were spouting nonsense, the killing intent in Hong Ling's eyes became real, the Qi on his body circulated as he coldly looked at the surrounding people.
”Brat, if you want to blame something, then blame yourself for not clamoring to get revenge on Zhang Yan. If you forget everything, then maybe I will just cripple your cultivation and spare your life.”
Li Yan paused for a moment before continuing, ”But you stubbornly refused to give up. You wanted to seek revenge on Zhang Yan and cut off our path to riches. This is a huge taboo. Do not blame us for being cruel and merciless when we reach the netherworld!”
Li Yan was not worried that there would be any big problems, but of course, he was also confident that he would be able to win against Hong Ling.
Nine cultivators at the early stage of Essence Refinement into Qi, combined with his own middle stage Essence Refinement into Qi cultivation, if he wanted to kill a little kid at the early stage of Essence Refinement into Qi, it would be as easy as flipping a palm.
What responded to him was the look of disdain in the youth's eyes. It was a look of haughtiness, or perhaps pity.
”Enough?” Hong Ling asked coldly, ”Since you've said enough, then die!”
He clenched his fist into a fist and with a tap of his foot, his figure had already flashed in front of a Chu soldier. The youth's fist was filled with energy, and before the soldier could even react, his throat had been shattered by a punch.
The soldier, on the verge of death, could not understand why Hong Ling, who was clearly the furthest from the white-clothed youth, would sacrifice himself to kill him. When the soldier saw the ice-cold killing intent in the youth's eyes, he suddenly let go of the blade in his hand and threw it towards the ground.
Hong Ling grabbed casually and raised the long blade in his hand. He held the blade with one hand and pointed it at the remaining people in the distance.
”You bunch of evildoers. You first colluded with Zhang Yan, and now you want to frame me. Are you all prepared to die?”
Under the cloudy sky of Hidden Dragon Village, Hong Ling wielded his blade and stood up straight.