Chapter 69: Raging Sea of Fire, The Mansion Collapses

When the treasury was instantly illuminated by golden light, Jin Taihong, who was already extremely vigilant, had his alarm bells ringing wildly in an instant; his hair stood on end as he abruptly dodged to the side.

However, although his movements were fast, they were still not faster than the extreme speed of the light; a sharp golden gleam grazed his neck in an instant, slicing open a deep bloody gash.

The severity of this wound severed his external carotid artery, causing a rain of blood to gush out from the wound incessantly!

After all, he was a Refining Blood Martial Artist; having suddenly suffered such a heavy injury, Jin Taihong rolled away to hide behind a pile of wine jars, then clutched his wound with eyes threatening to split from rage.

In contrast, the old steward who had come down with him was not so lucky; after the golden light flashed, he had his neck cut halfway through with almost no resistance, collapsed to the ground without even a groan, and blood pooled all over the floor.

Qingyike!

It is Qingyike!

Hiding behind the wine jars, Jin Taihong's eyes were red as he pressed hard on the blood vessels at his neck to constrict them and reduce blood loss, his heart feeling as if it had fallen into an ice cellar.

Whether when entering the cellar or just now, he had not seen anyone from beginning to end, and the extremely bizarre light attack just now completely exceeded his understanding.

Such a bizarre attack could only mean one thing: that mysterious Qingyike had come for him!

However, regardless of what he was thinking inside.

The next instant, the golden gleam flickered once more in the dim cellar.

Bang!

The moment the wine jars shattered and wine spilled everywhere, Jin Taihong immediately felt a sharp pain in his upper back, as if his body had been struck by an arrow, and a blood gash deep enough to see bone appeared instantly.

However, it could be vaguely seen from the wound on his back that he was actually wearing silver-shining scale armor inside his clothes, which had largely resisted this strike and avoided a fatal injury.

And although he was caught off guard by the renewed injury, Jin Taihong hurriedly rolled to dodge while simultaneously locking onto the source of the attack from the direction the golden light had flashed!

Never having faced such a bizarre enemy, and with his life hanging by a thread, the heavily injured Jin Taihong gritted his teeth and immediately erupted with the determination to perish together:

"You dog thief wants to kill me? You die first!"

With a thunderous boom!

His aura boiled like an erupting volcano; he ferociously clutched the severe wound on his neck and took the momentum to pounce out like an arrow released from a string, while the cruel sharpness of his Golden Ring Blade tore through the dimness, exploding with a shrill whistle as it slashed out!

Clang—!

The next instant, the blade light slashed past; the firelight of the lanterns on the ground shook violently, and the cellar walls suddenly cracked and shattered in large sections, with rubble flying everywhere and emitting shrill whistles as it broke the air.

"Die, die, die!"

The fierce airflow surged in all directions like a tide, and Jin Taihong, not sensing the enemy's presence, became even more enraged; his great blade swept across all directions like a mad dragon, wanting to force that invisible enemy out.

The physique of a Five Realms Blood Refining Martial Artist was inhumanly strong, and he possessed the strength of ten thousand catties; clutching his wound, he swung the violent blade, sweeping through the entire cellar in just a few breaths, shattering all debris in his path and blowing it across the floor with the violent gale.

Such a terrifying offensive turned the cellar upside down in three or five breaths, but Jin Taihong, who had lost too much blood, was instead filled with immense panic and suspicion.

When the golden light struck for the second time just now, he had clearly felt the enemy's presence, but after this sweep and attack, he had found nothing, as if it had just been his own hallucination.

No, this cannot go on.

Otherwise, he would definitely be dragged to his death!

He could not spare the time to think about what was going on with such a bizarre situation.

With a face as pale as a dead man's, Jin Taihong was completely terrified; he tightly clutched his wound, gritted his teeth, and used his Golden Ring Blade to clear the way with one hand, then tapped his feet and instantly rushed out of the cellar stone stairs, shouting through gritted teeth:

"Someone, come quickly—"

However, just as he rushed out of the cellar entrance, his voice had not yet had time to spread.

In the courtyard, at a distance of no more than two or three zhang in front of him, two more blinding golden gleams suddenly tore through the darkness, filling his entire field of vision!

Ding! Chih!

Although he had instantly parried and blocked with the Golden Ring Blade in his hand out of sheer terror, as the sounds of metal breaking and flesh being pierced rang out, Jin Taihong's figure still trembled violently, and then he looked down in disbelief.

He saw that the thousand-refined Golden Ring Blade in his hand had already been shattered, and at the same time, a bloody hole had appeared right in the center of his throat, piercing through from front to back, with blood gushing out like a fountain.

With such a fatal injury, even the physique of a Five Realms Martial Artist could not survive; his eyes were full of disbelief, his burly body slowly knelt to the ground, and then blood gushed from his throat, spreading across the floor.

This famous and formidable leader of the Money Gang, who had shaken the south of the city, died just like that in his own home, unable to close his eyes in death.

And the moment Jin Taihong fell to the ground.

In the courtyard, the darkness rippled and twisted, and Lu Yuan's figure suddenly appeared.

Staring at the corpse, he wore a grave expression as if he had expected this:

"Sure enough, such a top-tier expert at the Fifth Realm level is not so easy to deal with; it still requires more effort and extra caution..."

Unlike when he had easily killed his way through the Jingwu Division dungeon using a combination of Earth Travel Technique, Invisibility, and Generating Light.

This Jin Taihong had powerful Martial Arts; his vigilance, reaction, strength, and speed had all reached an extremely high level, which resulted in his sneak attack from behind failing to kill him in one blow.

Subsequently, the opponent was even able to vaguely perceive his location and ferociously launch a counterattack; if he hadn't been so heavily injured, he might have even had the strength to escape, which showed just how fierce he was.

If a Five Realms Martial Artist was this formidable, then a Martial Arts Master of the Sixth Realm or even a supreme Grandmaster of the Seventh Realm would surely be much harder to deal with.

This also made Lu Yuan more alert and aware that the reason he had been able to succeed in everything was mostly because his technique abilities were unknown to others;

And once his technique methods were figured out or even deliberately countered, there might be a possibility of capsizing in the gutter while his cultivation was insufficient and his Dharma Power was low!

When he thought of this.

"Master, is that you?"

From the corridor not far away, a voice came vaguely; it seemed a servant had been startled and was calling out to ask.

Lu Yuan did not linger; he immediately stepped forward and cut off Jin Taihong's head with one blade, then disappeared into the darkness.

Subsequently.

A maid carrying a lantern arrived at the front courtyard entrance and was the first to discover Jin Taihong's headless corpse, letting out a scream of extreme terror.

The shrill scream soon startled the other family members in the large mansion; then, Jin Taihong's concubines, as well as Jin Zhenglin's legal wife and concubines, and many servants rushed over upon hearing the sound.

After confirming that the headless corpse was indeed Jin Taihong, they were first in disbelief, then in extreme horror and shattered hearts; the fragile ones among them wailed and fainted on the spot.

They could not believe that someone could sneak into the Jin family mansion, located in the heart of the gang's base, and kill and behead Jin Taihong, who was already at the Fifth Realm level.

More importantly, although the Money Gang was the largest gang in the south of the city, it relied entirely on Jin Taihong alone to hold it up, and he definitely had no shortage of rivals and enemies.

Now that this pillar of support was dead, the fate of these family members was likely grim!

And just as this group of people were wailing to Heaven and earth, completely at a loss.

Boom.

In the direction of the back courtyard, a thick blaze suddenly rose up, quickly turning into a raging fire that ignited everywhere in the back courtyard.

Jin Taihong's family members cried and shouted, not even bothering to tend to Jin Taihong's headless corpse, instead calling for the maids and servants to rush to save the fire, especially to save their own private wealth.

And not long after the fire started in the back courtyard of the Jin family mansion, raging fires also broke out in the entire Money Gang compound, including places like the cargo warehouses, gang dormitories, and the assembly hall, and soon flames were shooting into the sky!

The fire that ignited in the Money Gang was extremely fierce.

Although two or three hundred gang members living in the compound woke up in time to fight the fire, the monstrous flames still swallowed half of the compound, and the crimson firelight illuminated half the horizon.

Many commoners in the nearby area woke up in the middle of the night, gazing at the flames shooting into the sky with a mix of shock and joy, secretly clapping and cheering.

After all, the Money Gang was a tyrant of South City; although they had restrained themselves a lot in the past few months, there were countless commoners who had been oppressed by them and harbored hatred, so seeing them meet with misfortune was naturally very satisfying.

Just as many people in the surroundings were secretly cheering.

The raging fire at the Money Gang compound burned for over an hour, and half of the compound was reduced to charred ruins.

At the same time, during this process, busybodies who had secretly come near the compound were astonished to discover that a large number of Money Gang members had begun to engage in infighting to seize gang property and flee, presenting a scene of a crumbling mansion and total disintegration!

The night was vast, the sounds of killing and cursing shook the heavens, and the infighting and slaughter amidst the ruins and scorched earth occurred one after another; soon, officials from the South City yamen arrived, but they were completely unable to stop it and could only immediately notify the Martial Suppression Bureau.

Upon learning of the abnormal situation at the Money Gang, a large number of elites from the Martial Suppression Bureau were dispatched, led by Duyuan Li Zhenguang, along with two Colonels including Yu Xianting, as well as a fifty-man Firearm squad, to personally rush over to suppress it.

And when they arrived at the Money Gang compound, the infighting and slaughter amidst the ruins and firelight were nearing their end, and corpses of all sorts of Money Gang members could be seen almost everywhere.

Li Zhenguang, without the slightest mercy, led the Firearm soldiers to shout and suppress, and those who did not listen were shot dead on the spot without exception.

The personnel dispatched by the Martial Suppression Bureau were no soft touches; as the firelight and gunfire spread, the infighting throughout the gang was quickly brought to a halt.

But the Money Gang was the largest gang in South City, with a momentum as high as the midday sun; the sudden situation of infighting was undoubtedly strange to the extreme, so Li Zhenguang, harboring great suspicion, led his men toward the Jin family mansion, the heart of their territory.

As it turned out, after arriving at the place, he discovered that this gang leader's mansion had also been mostly burned, and there were corpses everywhere.

Among them were maids and servants, Money Gang members, and elites like Protectors, and even the family members of the gang leader Jin Taihong!

They finally managed to find the survivors hiding in the mansion.

After some questioning by Li Zhenguang, he was shocked to learn that Jin Taihong, who was a Fifth Realm Martial Artist, was already dead, and his head had even been cut off by someone!

And because the Jin mansion had also caught fire, other high-ranking members of the gang had rushed over to fight the fire, but upon learning of Jin Taihong's death, everyone lost their composure, and those with ulterior motives grew greedy for the wealth accumulated by the gang, ultimately triggering this infighting and slaughter that swept through the entire gang.

Yet, ironically, the final victor of the infighting in the back courtyard was the Money Gang's Deputy Leader, Kongweiyang, who was also a veteran figure who had worked diligently under Jin Taihong for over ten years.

This person turned hostile and took action immediately, slaughtering other competitors and, after interrogating Jin Taihong's family, found the silver vault, only to discover that all the wealth inside had long since vanished, making his actions a huge joke.

Kongweiyang had already fled in a panic upon hearing the gunfire of the suppression, and Li Zhenguang led his subordinates to find Jin Taihong's corpse and the location of the silver vault entrance based on the survivors' identification.

Unexpectedly, this front courtyard had not been affected by the fire, and Jin Taihong's headless corpse remained in its original place, untouched.

But the location of the so-called silver vault entrance was filled with dismembered corpses, clearly having experienced a tragic and bloody battle.

"Sir, there is no need to overthink this matter."

Before Li Zhenguang could personally examine the corpse, Yu Xianting at his side said with a wooden face:

"Qingyike, the person who did this must be Qingyike!"

Although he had already thought of this name, Li Zhenguang's face still twitched upon hearing this.

Over the past half-year, Qingyike had basically become a nightmare for their Martial Suppression Bureau; as soon as this name was mentioned, from the Duyuan down to the ordinary bailiffs, everyone was terrified.

He had originally been quite shocked by the death of a Fifth Realm grandmaster like Jin Taihong, but thinking of how Qingyike could easily break into and slaughter his way through the Martial Suppression Bureau's dungeon and calmly take a prisoner away, he felt that if Jin Taihong died at the other's hands, it seemed only natural.

At this thought, Li Zhenguang leaned over to carefully examine the corpse, then looked around and said strangely:

"This physique is indeed Jin Taihong without a doubt; to think that a dignified Fifth Realm Martial Artist actually died just like this... but where did his head go?"

Yu Xianting and the other two Colonels also felt it was strange and immediately questioned the surviving family members, learning that they had not seen the head when they first discovered Jin Taihong's corpse.

They took the bailiffs to search the surroundings again, but still failed to find it.

"Strange."

Unable to find Jin Taihong's head, Li Zhenguang's brows knitted into a knot:

"Could his head have been cut off and taken by Qingyike?"

When Qingyike killed, although it was either decapitation or throat-slitting, such a situation had never occurred before.

Then, he and Yu Xianting went down to the cellar together and entered the empty silver vault, and upon seeing the large hole cut into the iron-cast floor, he asked again:

"Also, how was this cut open, and who did it?"

Beneath the cut iron plate was cold, hard soil; Yu Xianting dug it himself, and after a few moments, he stopped and said in surprise:

"Sir, the soil underneath is compacted; there are no traces of it having been dug."

"Strange, strange."

Thinking back and forth without understanding, Li Zhenguang sighed at length, too lazy to think more, and waved his hand:

"That's enough, take the brothers to search everywhere, see if there are any other clues, and then we can let the yamen people come to collect the bodies!"

The Firearm soldiers outside excitedly agreed and began searching all around.

When a wall falls, everyone pushes it.

The situation with the Money Gang was clearly a total disintegration; from now on, such a gang would likely no longer exist in South City.

And this was the lair of the gang leader Jin Taihong; although it had experienced a fire and infighting, there might still be good things left, which for these common soldiers was a rare opportunity to get rich!

The Firearm soldiers searched around in high spirits.

Li Zhenguang, meanwhile, left a few people to rack their brains searching the silver vault and its vicinity, as well as interrogating the surviving Jin Taihong family members, wanting to figure out where the Money Gang's family fortune was hidden, or where it had been moved to.

However, after tossing about for half a day, they still failed to find any traces of gold or silver treasures.

Just as Li Zhenguang was feeling annoyed, several officials from the South City yamen rushed in from outside the courtyard, shouting with terrified faces:

"Sir, it's bad, something major has happened!"

(End of this chapter)