Chapter 54: Since we can kill, we must kill cleanly

After Shen Qing issued an order to leave no survivors, the Hall of Virtuous Integrity held nothing but wails; soon after, blood pooled inside it into a small stream.

At that moment, Ding Yi grabbed a woman about thirty years old and came to the front of the upper floor.

The woman wept with tears like pear blossoms in rain, her face deathly pale; only after seeing Song Wen did she regain some composure.

"Brother Wen, outside... outside..."

Song Wen's eyes were bloodshot; his earlier calm was gone, and he clenched his teeth.

"Shen Qing! This matter has nothing to do with A Zhu! He wasn't involved in my affairs! If you've got guts, come at me!"

Shen Qing snorted.

"No relation? Then tell me who bought the necklace she wears around her neck, and who bought the hairpin?"

"She enjoys the fine clothes and food you gained from trading children, every bit of it tainted with sin, and now you say she has nothing to do with this?"

"Die!" Song Wen's eyes almost burst; he rose to lunge at Shen Qing, but Shen Qing lifted a leg and kicked him into the wall.

Shen Qing walked up to him, within a fist's distance, his voice crystal clear as it reached Song Wen's ears.

"Song Wen, when you pushed the first child into the fire pit, did you ever think of today?"

"Widen your eyes and see how you dragged that so‑called innocent woman into hell!"

Almost in an instant, Shen Qing's hand slashed out swiftly.

A blazing red line split open on the woman's neck.

Song Wen's anguished cry cut off abruptly; he stared fixedly at the woman's headless corpse lying on the ground, his eyes filled with dead ash.

"My name is Song Wen; from six years ago I've been in the child‑trafficking business, abducting and selling children from around Luo Shui City to foreign lands or to the wokou, with Luo Shui City's Deputy Governor Wu Gang covering for me, and the silver notes I got from selling the children are hidden beneath the Buddha statue."

"I've told you everything I know; please kill me."

Shen Qing turned around: "Pretty you, you want to die like this? Drag him back to the Hundred Household Office's Great Prison, apply all twelve punishments, and finally execute him by slicing."

Song Wen panicked, let out a loud shout: "Shen Qing! Shen Qing! I beg you..."

He hadn't finished speaking when two Embroidered Uniform Guard rushed in, gagged him, and dragged him away.

The sky‑covering dark clouds gradually dissipated, shedding several golden rays onto the path Shen Qing would walk.

The Hall of Virtuous Integrity is gone; next to be dealt with is Luo Shui City's Deputy Governor Wu Gang.

If only the Hall of Virtuous Integrity were destroyed while Wu Gang goes free, that would be treating the symptom, not the root.

Today the Hall of Virtuous Integrity is gone, but later there will be the Hall of Blessing Purity and the Hall of Black Water.

Since we can kill, we must kill cleanly.

Moreover, the killing is justified!

Shen Qing only wants to fight.

Luo Shui City, Wu Manor.

From the moment he woke up this morning, Wu Gang has felt uneasy, and even handling affairs gives him palpitations.

"What's going on?"

"Could it be that enemies are seeking revenge on me?"

Wu Gang thought and thought and could find no clue; the reason is simple—he has offended far too many people in Luo Shui City.

Those who want to kill him could line up all the way to Autumn Water City.

At this moment, the two elderly guards outside opened their cloudy eyes, and he sensed a disturbance inside the house.

The black‑clad elder looked toward the interior.

"Master Wu, do you feel uneasy again?"

"We've said it—with us here, no one in Luo Shui City can move you."

Hearing their voices, Wu Gang felt only a sense of relief.

They are guards Wu Gang hired at great expense from Jia Shui Jun: the black‑clad one is Ge Dong, the purple‑clad one is Ge Xuan; together they are known as Dong Xuan Er Lao, and their cultivation is only one step away from the Grandmaster Realm.

"As for that, I naturally trust your strength, but I'm still afraid, after all the martial world of Eternal Tranquility Commandery is also full of hidden tigers and dragons."

Ge Xuan spoke confidently: "It's not that I look down on the martial world of Eternal Tranquility Commandery; it's just you don't know the reputation we two have in the martial world of Jia Shui Jun."

"In Eternal Tranquility Commandery, with no Grandmaster appearing, we are invincible."

Wu Gang asked: "How does he compare to the recently prominent Shen Qing?"

Ge Dong stroked his beard: "Du Shi Yan Luo Shen Qing? Since he managed to make a name for himself, he must have some skill."

"But he's still too young, and we brothers have already analyzed his attack records; we know his moves inside out! If he truly dared to fight us two, the odds would be nine to one in our favor—him one, us nine."

Hearing this, Wu Gang's worried heart settled; he always had a feeling that he would eventually clash with Shen Qing.

Just then, in the direction of the Wu family gate,

a huge sound came.

Amid flying wood chips, the two red‑wood doors of the Wu Manor, symbolizing power and status, were kicked open by an overpowering force.

Shen Qing, clad in a silver flying‑fish robe and wearing an Azure River Blade at his waist, strode slowly into the Wu Manor through the smoke and dust, accompanied by a roar like dragons and elephants.

"Embroidered Uniform Guard investigating—Wu Gang, get out here!"

Shen Qing's voice wasn't loud, yet it made everyone in the Wu Manor tremble.

"Embroidered Uniform Guard? The Embroidered Uniform Guard came to our Wu Manor?"

"It sounds like Du Shi Yan Luo Shen Qing! He loves to exterminate whole families!"

"He wouldn't come to exterminate us, would he? Damn!"

The fearsome reputation of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—who in the Great Wu Dynasty doesn't know it? Who is unaware? It is a blade hanging over countless heads.

It's obvious these Wu family members also know what they've done in the past; facing the Embroidered Uniform Guard at the door, they feel only fear, not much surprise.

"Du Shi Yan Luo Shen Qing? What a big name! Do you really think my Wu family has no one? How dare you barge into our Wu Manor!"

A voice full of vigor rang out, and from deep within the Wu Manor a middle‑aged man burst forward, his robes rustling in the wind.

Some people of the Wu Manor recognized this middle-aged man, and a glimmer of hope appeared in their eyes.

"It's Third Uncle Wu He! The jianghu calls him Baiheshou!"

Only saw Wu He gather his true qi within his body, a crane-shaped silhouette faintly appearing in the air; at first glance he truly bore the aura of an expert.

Shen Qing narrowed his eyes, casually snapped off a wood chip from the door frame, infused it with overbearing true qi, flicked it with his finger, and the wood chip shot toward Wu He like a cannonball.

In almost an instant, Wu He, who had been placed with great hopes by the Wu Manor, collapsed on the road of the attack.

"Thunder loud, raindrops small."

"In the past, has anyone from the Wu Manor had nothing to do with me? But after today, the Wu Manor will have no one left."

In the Great Wu Dynasty, human trafficking has always been a red line; whoever touches it incurs a capital offense, even if an imperial prince does so, it's still a death sentence.

Moreover, the Dezheng Pavilion's human trafficking even sells to neighboring states and the Wokou.

This nature is different now; sending the children to the Wokou, the Wokou raise them to adulthood, then turn around and attack the Great Wu.

One wanes as the other waxes; the Great Wu's fortune will sooner or later be nibbled away to nothing.

Death is too lenient for them.

Generally speaking, for a family that violates this red line, the men have their cultivation abolished and are sent as slaves to the border pass until death; the women have their cultivation abolished and are sent to a brothel, not even able to enter the Imperial Music Bureau.