Chapter 370: A Trip to Yun Province

"Alright, Zhang Shu, I will."

"Mm."

That afternoon, Zhang Ping'an returned to the Zhang Family Village Back Mountain, watered the Tea Plantation, opened up three stone caves in the surrounding mountains, and then released Dahu and the others.

"Roar!" X3

"Dahu, from now on, you all will guard this Tea Plantation. Don't run around when there's nothing to do."

"Roar!"

The massive tiger head rubbed against Zhang Ping'an. The scent here was both familiar and strange to them; they seemed to have stayed here before, yet it was somewhat different.

After years of Zhang Ping'an's modifications and frequent applications of Space Water, this place, already deep in the old forest, now had even taller trees, and even the pasture grass had grown to the height of a person's thigh.

The area within a three-kilometer radius was rarely visited by humans, but it was a paradise for animals. The animals Zhang Ping'an had originally left to guard the Tea Plantation were still in their prime.

After the initial shock of the three tigers appearing, they calmed down. They were all old friends from the space; although they hadn't seen each other for over ten years, the scent was unmistakable.

Zhang Ping'an filled the stone troughs with Space Water again, waited for the animals to finish drinking, and refilled them before preparing to leave.

Afterward, he released swarms of wild rabbits, pheasants, sheep, and deer to populate the surroundings, and also expanded the range of his Space Water application while heading down the mountain.

Zhang Ping'an wanted to turn the surrounding area into a complete no-man's-land for humans; at the very least, he didn't want anyone coming to disturb it for the next ten or twenty years. He might even build a "Blessed Land" here in the future.

Returning to Sijiucheng, there was nothing he could help with for the time being. Now that Zhong Mingzhu had been placed in the open, it was time to go to Yun Province to obtain the definitive criminal evidence against Zheng Zhiming.

"Brother Ping'an, we have to go back. Wanqiu and the others have already started school for a few days."

"Mm... that's fine. Once they graduate, you all can stay in Sijiucheng permanently."

"Mm, okay."

Wang Xiaoling thought about it and agreed. Now, it only took four hours to fly between Sijiucheng and Xiangjiang, so traveling back and forth was very convenient.

Zhong Mingzhu took the children home and told Zhong Laotou.

"Mingzhu, can't you stay?"

"Dad, Mom, I have a group of children over there waiting for me to teach. Once someone replaces me in two years, I'll come back."

"Besides, it's convenient to travel back and forth now; it only takes a few hours. If anything happens, you can call me."

"Alright, then fine. Take care on your way."

"Mm, okay."

That night, the four of them played a spirited game of Landlord. Early the next morning, the three women and the children flew back to Xiangjiang. The Siheyuan here became quiet again, and Zhang Ping'an's family moved back to Nanluoguxiang.

The next morning, Zhang Ping'an also flew to Yun Province. Following the procurement route he took with Zhang Yadong last time, he reached the border between the two countries and located the lair of Qi Lu and his group from there.

Zhang Ping'an didn't expect that the batch of fake raw stones he had left behind was still there, untouched. Observing them from a close distance, after years of wind and rain, the traces Zhang Ping'an had left back then had been completely washed away. Now, even if someone said they were fake, no one would believe it.

Once he took down Qi Lu's group, Zhang Ping'an planned to take a trip to Myanmar to dig up some jade raw stones to replenish his space.

Zhang Ping'an disguised himself and, following the address provided by the Ghost Market, headed straight into the depths of the mountain forest.

These human traffickers were hiding very deep. To familiarize himself with the terrain, Zhang Ping'an didn't move fast, marking his path as he slowly ventured deeper.

Zhang Ping'an walked from three in the afternoon until nightfall before he vaguely saw the dilapidated stockade fence and dim candlelight. He checked the time; it was almost eight o'clock.

Zhang Ping'an entered the space to replenish his energy and took a nap until eleven o'clock before sneaking into the stockade under the cover of darkness.

With his Space Perception fully activated, Zhang Ping'an knocked out the guards one by one. After knocking out and tying up over a dozen people, he ventured deep into the stockade and finally "saw" the gang led by Qi Lu.

Blowing sleeping smoke into several houses, Zhang Ping'an tied up and subdued the group without sustaining any injuries.

Perhaps it was because they had stayed in the old forest for so long that they had lost their vigilance; otherwise, with the skills of the Southern Fist members, they should have been able to detect Zhang Ping'an's arrival. But now, they had no resistance at all.

Zhang Ping'an gathered the four leaders in the center room, lit a candle, and then splashed a basin of ice water to wake them up.

"Who?"

"Who the hell splashed me?"

"Hiss..."

"Are you all awake?"

Qi Lu realized something was wrong immediately and wanted to get up, but not only was he powerless, he was also tied up tight as hell.

"Friend, what path do you walk?"

"Smack!" Zhang Ping'an slapped him, scattering his bandit aura.

"Stop putting on an act."

Afterward, Zhang Ping'an took out the confession from the Northern Leg from back then and displayed it in front of them.

"I knew that bastard Lao Er betrayed us."

"Brother, what do you want?"

"Simple. Just like that so-called Northern Leg, write down the things you've done over the years. I won't trouble your wives and children. Otherwise, I can't guarantee what might happen to them."

"You... fine, I'll write."

"Sensible."

Zhang Ping'an used a Silver Needle to prick Qi Lu and the others a few times, then untied the ropes and thoughtfully provided them with paper and pens.

"Go to hell!"

As soon as Southern Fist felt his strength returning after the ropes were untied, he prepared to pounce, but as he braced his hands on the table, his lower body wouldn't move.

"You, you, what did you do to me?" Southern Fist felt that he had no sensation below his waist.

"Nothing much. You know about acupoint pressing, right? You've only temporarily lost your mobility. Write quickly, or you'll really be paralyzed."

"A... an Internal Qi expert?" The four of them were shocked, their faces turning ashen.

"Hehe..."

Zhang Ping'an had never been involved in the martial arts world, and he didn't understand anything about Internal Qi. Perhaps there was some saying about it when they were young, but when he practiced Tai Chi, he could indeed feel a flow of Qi moving in his body.

He guessed Jia Youwei was the same, which was also the reason why he remained in his prime even in his fifties.

Realizing there was no hope of escape, the four of them soon honestly wrote down many of the things they had committed, but Zhang Ping'an was not satisfied after reading them.

"You all are being very dishonest, aren't you? You could hide anything about the past, and it's hard for me to distinguish truth from falsehood, but why didn't you write about your escape from Sijiucheng?"

Zhang Ping'an didn't say a word; he directly broke the legs of the Southern Fist closest to him and restored and amplified his sense of pain.

Zhang Ping'an felt not the slightest sympathy for these people; the sins they had committed were enough to warrant dying a hundred times over. Since they were going to die anyway, he didn't mind torturing them a bit if they wouldn't cooperate.

"Ah, ah, ow,"

Watching the wailing Southern Fist and his twisted legs, the remaining three all shivered.

The enjoyment of these past years had long since worn away their initial spirit, and one by one, they wrote down the affairs of Sijiucheng in minute detail.

"Hmm... not bad, not bad."

Zhang Ping'an looked at the three confessions, which were more or less the same; Qi Lu's, in particular, even mentioned Zheng Zhiming.

With two "crack!" sounds, Zhang Ping'an set the legs of the Southern Fist back in place.

"Come on, continue with your confession."

"You... you are simply a devil in human form."

They were all men in their fifties, and it was only by virtue of having practiced martial arts in their youth that their physical condition was still decent; they hadn't expected to suffer such torture in their old age.

Seeing Zhang Ping'an make a move to break his legs again, the Southern Fist hurriedly picked up the pen and paper and wrote rapidly.

Half an hour later, Zhang Ping'an held the four confessions with satisfaction; two of them contained the name of Zheng Zhiming. The four people behind him were already cold, and Zhang Ping'an directly set fire to the house.

As for the dozen or so people outside, Zhang Ping'an directly crippled their diagonal limbs. Ignoring the wailing crowd, Zhang Ping'an simply brushed off his clothes and left, hiding his name and identity deep within the shadows.