Chapter 223: Beyond the Position of Sect Leader

"The Red Jiao Society was wiped out?"

"Peng Qianjiao is dead? The four Grand Elders too? How could this be possible!"

"Him alone? Could it be a trap?"

In the silence, Yang Zhu forced himself to calm down, his brows tightly furrowed, his heart filled with shock and uncertainty.

He knew the Red Jiao Society's strength better than anyone — especially its leader Peng Qianjiao, whose cultivation had reached the perfection of the Earth Altar Realm's Divine Bridge, making him a true powerhouse. How could he possibly have been slain single-handedly by a young man?

It sounded like a fantasy.

Just as he hesitated, Lu Ziyi, who had been leaning against the mountain wall, somehow found the strength to struggle to her feet. Her voice trembled with emotion, yet carried a fierce conviction.

"Yang Dharma King! It's Brother Chen! Brother Chen would never lie to us! If he said they were wiped out, then they were wiped out!"

She had not known Chen Mu for long, but she knew well that his temperament was steady — he was no one to speak carelessly.

More importantly, a nameless sense of trust deep in her heart made her choose to believe without the slightest hesitation.

Seeing Lu Ziyi so certain, and noting that outside did indeed seem unnaturally quiet, Yang Zhu clenched his teeth and said in a low voice.

"Fine! We go out! Everyone stay alert!"

The group supported one another, hearts filled with the lingering dread of having narrowly escaped death and a faint sliver of hope, and carefully pushed aside the vines at the cave mouth, emerging from the mountain hollow where they had hidden for many days.

Outside the cave.

Chen Mu had already lit a torch and wedged it into a nearby tree branch. The flickering flames dispelled part of the darkness, illuminating his calm face as well as the disheveled yet wary figures of Yang Zhu and the others.

Chen Mu's gaze passed straight past Yang Zhu at the front and landed on Lu Ziyi behind him.

Seeing that though her face was pale and her breathing weak, her life was not in danger, he felt a faint measure of relief.

He stepped forward, took a jade bottle and the well-preserved letter from his robes, and handed them over.

"These are healing pills. Their effect is passable."

Chen Mu's voice remained flat. He then lifted the letter in his hand, the corner of his mouth curving into an extremely faint, almost invisible smile.

"As for this letter, I think it would be more appropriate for Miss Lu to deliver it personally."

Looking at the healing pills and the letter — that token of entrustment and trust — held out before her, the surge of emotion from Lu Ziyi's narrow escape, the grievances of these past days spent in fear, and the complicated feelings at seeing Chen Mu truly come to her rescue, all welled up at once, turning into moisture at the rims of her eyes.

She took the items, her fingers trembling slightly. A thousand words lodged in her throat, and in the end all became a single, repeated phrase, choked with sobs.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Yang Zhu now also suppressed the shock and doubt in his heart, stepped forward, and solemnly cupped his fists and bowed to Chen Mu.

"Many thanks to Inspector Chen for your righteous aid, saving us in our hour of peril! This kindness, our entire Holy Sect shall never forget, for all generations!"

After a brief pause, an indignant look crossed his face, and he quickly explained, "Inspector Chen, that 'Heart Flame Stele' was originally a sacred relic passed down in our Baihuo Sect. Decades ago it was forcibly seized by the Red Jiao Society. This operation of ours was not theft — it was reclaiming what belonged to us!"

Chen Mu merely gave a flat "Mm" after hearing this out. No expression could be read on his face, as if he cared little for the rights and wrongs of the matter.

His gaze swept over the battered members of the Baihuo Sect, and he said calmly.

"With matters here concluded, Chen takes his leave."

Having spoken, without waiting for Yang Zhu and the others to say anything more, his figure swayed slightly, then he sprang into the air. Like a night owl, in a few bounds he vanished into the vast darkness.

He had come suddenly, and left just as decisively.

The primary purpose of Chen Mu's coming to Changlin Prefecture this time was to repay the favor Lu Ziyi had earned by standing guard for him at the Tianmen River and helping him create his art.

Secondly, the "Red Jiao Society" itself had committed countless evils, and eradicating them weighed not at all on Chen Mu's conscience.

Now that the people had been rescued, what the Baihuo Sect did afterward was no longer any concern of his.

……

Watching Chen Mu depart so cleanly and decisively, Yang Zhu stood where he was, taking a long while to recover, his heart a tangle of inexpressible feelings.

He drew a deep breath, then waved to the sect members still lost in their excitement and sorrow.

"Let's go. We'll talk after we leave this place."

The group supported one another and carefully made their way down the mountain path toward the outside.

Lu Ziyi followed the party in silence, gazing in the direction Chen Mu had disappeared, lost in thought.

When they passed through the southern stream valley, everyone was so stunned by the sight before them that they froze in place, the sound of sharply drawn breaths rising without end.

Corpses!

Corpses everywhere!

The stream had been stained a pale red, and broken weapons lay scattered about.

Most conspicuous of all were Lu Minghao, in his white robes with his head severed from his body, and Yu Chenghe, white-haired but boyish-faced, fallen on the rocky shoals with his head separated from his torso!

"It's… it's the Red Jiao Society's Third Elder and Second Elder!"

"It's true! Everything Chen the Prodigy said was true!"

"Heavens! He really did it all alone!"

At this moment, every last lingering doubt vanished completely, replaced by incomparable excitement, shock, and disbelief.

"Could it be… Inspector Chen has already broken through to the Earth Altar Realm?" someone could not help but guess in a trembling voice.

"It must be! Otherwise, no ordinary Hidden Dragon Prodigy, no matter how strong, could possibly be this powerful!"

Another person chimed in excitedly.

"Even if he hasn't broken through, he's close!"

"Haha, the Red Jiao Society is gone — wouldn't their territory be ours now?"

"……"

The group was immensely excited.

Beside them.

Yang Zhu gazed at the scene of carnage before him, and after the initial excitement and fervor, his heart could not help but stir.

He strode quickly to Lu Ziyi, who had remained silent all this while, lowered his voice, and asked with a hint of hope, "Ziyi, you and Inspector Chen are quite close, aren't you? Have you two… developed feelings for one another?"

At those words, Lu Ziyi came back to herself from her daze. A trace of bitterness showed on her face as she slowly shook her head, her voice faint as a mosquito's hum, "The Dharma King thinks too much. He and I are only friends. Besides…"

She paused, her tone carrying a touch of self-mockery and clear self-awareness, "I'm not worthy of him."

A flicker of disappointment passed through Yang Zhu's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by an even stronger thought.

He looked at Lu Ziyi with burning gaze, "Such a heaven's pride—if we could win him over into our Holy Sect, why worry the Holy Sect won't flourish? Ziyi, do you have a chance to persuade him? As long as he's willing to join, apart from the position of Cult Leader, any position or resource within the sect—he may choose freely!"

"It won't work."

Lu Ziyi recalled how, back at the inn, she had tentatively preached the doctrine only to be bluntly refused by Chen Mu, and her bitter smile deepened.

"Dharma King, I have tried this before. He refused me outright. His Dao does not lie here."

Hearing this, Yang Zhu's face showed an expression of extreme regret, but as he looked in the direction Chen Mu had left, a trace of unwillingness still lingered in his eyes.

"Such a heaven's pride… sigh, forget it. But if there's a chance in the future, I still must try to fight for it…"

……

On a nameless mountain peak.

Chen Mu sat cross-legged on a giant boulder at the summit and took out a large pile of cards.

"Next, let's tally the harvest!"