The Death of the Southern Lord Fei Jianhua, and the Heavenly Lotus Sect! [3rd update, ple

Chapter 61 The Death of Fei Jianhua, the Southern Lord, and the Heavenly Lotus Sect! [Third update, please subscribe!]

"I have to go to the canal gang tonight."

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Su Yang stared at the empty soup bowl in his hand, his eyes showing a thoughtful expression.

The 25-year-old purple Ganoderma lucidum has been consumed.

In the wooden box under the bed, only a small piece of the fifteen-year-old ginseng remained, enough to make at most two bowls of soup.

I went to Jishetang today, but I couldn't buy any ginseng that was old.

I could only buy three ginseng roots that were three years old.

To advance from the Great Completion stage to the Perfected stage of the Nourishing Life and Strengthening the Origin Technique, a proficiency level of 62500 is required. Low-aged ginseng is insufficient; high-aged ginseng is necessary.

Wang Jian controls the waterways of the Grand Canal, and merchant caravans from the north frequently travel there. They should be able to collect medicinal herbs like ginseng and lingzhi much faster than he could find them himself. As long as the money is right, he might even be able to buy ginseng that is thirty or forty years old.

"And Huang Shiyun, I got rid of his dog. He's definitely investigating who posted the 'disclosure'. I need to inform Chen Wenyuan and tell him to be careful so he doesn't get caught red-handed."

Su Yang made up his mind and walked outside.

"Give me back my daughter!"

"Hand over Fei Jianhua!"

"A blood debt must be paid in blood!"

At 5:30 p.m., a large group of people knelt down in the bluestone square in front of the Jingling Prefecture government office, their cries and curses startling the crows on the eaves.

The constables leaned wearily against the stone lion.

Zhao Hong, the squad leader, had puffy eyes. These people had been making a scene all day and still wouldn't leave. Last night, there was a fire in the western part of the city, and he spent the whole night collecting corpses, so he barely got any sleep.

"Sir—I only have one question: Is my grandson dead or alive?"

At the bottom of the steps, an elderly woman with white hair had her forehead bruised and bleeding, and tears of blood dripped onto her grandson's old clothes. She held up a rattle drum with a hoarse voice.

Zhao Hong chewed more slowly.

He remembered his mother, who had starved to death on the road to escape famine two years ago.

"You corrupt official! Come out here!"

Just then, a one-armed man suddenly stood up, holding a blood-written letter aloft. The words were dark red, and his empty sleeve fluttered in the morning breeze.

"Three years ago, on the seventh day of the eighth lunar month, at berth number three of the South City Wharf! My sister was kidnapped, stuffed into a sack, and Fei Jianhua's one-eyed henchman chopped off my hand. He stood at the bow of the boat, pointing at me and laughing! He said, 'Throw her into the river to feed the fish!'"

"For the past three years, I've thought about killing that beast every single moment!"

He ripped open his left sleeve, revealing a gruesome severed arm: "If you don't hand over the person today, I'll plaster the entire gate of Jingling City with the messy accounts I've uncovered over the past three years! Let everyone see how much dirty money you've taken!"

The crowd erupted in angry roars.

Yang Lie continued to shout, each cry like a knife scraping: "I remember that ship, the merchant ship of 'Shunfeng Cargo Warehouse'! The character 'Shun' was carved on its hull! For three years I've searched every dock in Jingling, asking every boatman!"

He turned to face the gate of the government office and roared with all his might, "You corrupt official! The accountant of Shunfeng Goods Depot can testify! Fei Jianhua comes to rent a boat every month on the fifteenth, saying he's transporting furs from the north," but the sacks are all crying!

"Old Wu, the boatman, can testify! He personally heard Fei Jianhua say that this batch of goods, once delivered to Jiangbei, was worth three hundred taels!"

"Liu San, the dockworker, can testify! When he was helping to carry the sacks, he felt inside and found people inside. Fei Jianhua then broke three of his ribs!"

"I have both witnesses and physical evidence!"

Yang Lie pulled out a stack of yellowed papers from his pocket, which rustled in the air: "These are all the evidence I've found over the past three years!"

Receipts, shipping manifests, witness signatures! You won't hand over Fei Jianhua until today!

He spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice as cold as ice: "I'll plaster these posters all over the four gates of Jingling! Let the entire city see just how much bribe money your government has taken and how many scoundrels you've protected all these years!"

The back hall of the government office.

Standing by the window, Liu Chengye heard Yang Lie announce the list of witnesses, and his forehead instantly broke out in a fine layer of cold sweat.

"Quick! To the dungeon!"

He shoved his chair back and growled at the clerk beside him, "Take Fei Jianhua out the back door! Pretend to be moving the prison van, and when you get to the corner of West Street—oops, he escaped!"

The clerk opened his mouth: "Sir, I'm afraid—"

"idiot!"

Liu Chengye stamped his feet in frustration, lowering his voice even further: "The Huang family sent a thousand taels of silver last night, asking us to bail him out for three days! Now those rioters outside want to tear him apart. If we hand him over in public, how will we explain it to the Huang family?"

He leaned close to the clerk's ear and said, "Let him escape, then we'll hunt him down," putting on a grand show. Then we'd say the prisoner resisted arrest and was killed on the spot... The people would be satisfied, and the Huang family would have an explanation—a win-win situation!

A knowing glint flashed in the advisor's eyes, but he hesitated and said, "But what if he really escapes—"

"escape?"

Deacon Liu sneered, "The docks are surrounded on all sides, where can he escape to? Go and make the arrangements!"

"That beast Fei Jianhua deserves to be torn to pieces!"

Outside the government office, after informing Chen Wenyuan, Su Yang stood in the shadows on the outskirts of the crowd, listening to the old woman's whispers beside him. The torchlight flickered on her face, illuminating her eyes, which were like dry wells, long since devoid of tears, filled only with deep-seated hatred.

His gaze swept over the people who were kneeling, sitting, and helping each other.

A middle-aged man held a child's padded jacket, his fingers unconsciously tracing the faded embroidery. Beside him, a young woman held a sleeping baby, but she stared intently at the government office gate, biting her lip until it bled.

One hundred and twenty-three broken homes.

Su Yang remained indifferent.

He is not a bodhisattva; in this chaotic world, tragedies happen every day.

"stop!!"

"The prisoner has escaped!"

At that very moment, shouts suddenly ripped through the twilight from the direction of the back alley of the government office!

"What?!"

Yang Lie, who was standing at the front, suddenly looked up, and a terrifying light burst from his single eye.

"Fei Jianhua ran away?!"

"Where?!"

"Chase him! We can't let him get away!"

The crowd erupted in chaos.

Su Yang stood still, without making any immediate move.

His pupils contracted slightly in the darkness as he caught the details of the shouts; the voices were loud, but lacked the urgency expected of a pursuit. The direction was fixed, as if deliberately guiding the way.

"Feigning death to escape, like a cicada shedding its shell!"

A cold glint flashed in Su Yang's eyes. Almost instantly, he understood... This was not an accident, but a carefully designed scheme to make Fei Jianhua disappear from the public eye in a "reasonable" way.

Liu Chengye accepted the money and released the man, with the Huang family secretly providing assistance.

After Fei Jianhua escaped from prison, he changed his name and moved to a different place to continue managing the shady businesses for the Huang family.

After all, Fei Jianhua had been operating in the black market for over a decade, and he knew all the channels, contacts, and money laundering routes by heart. How could Huang Shiyun bear to actually kill such a useful lapdog?

Huang Shih-yun's goal was to create the illusion that Fei Chien-hua was dead in front of everyone, while actually hiding him away to continue using him.

"Too bad, she ran into me!"

Su Yang slid backward, silently disappearing into the deeper darkness, then swept into a narrow alleyway like a night breeze. He didn't go to the street, didn't chase the crowds, and with a swift movement, he flipped onto the rooftop.

Looking down from above, the twilight was vast and boundless.

His sharp gaze, like an eagle stalking its prey, instantly locked onto the end of West Street... where a short figure was running wildly along the street toward the canal wharf.

"Um?

""

Su Yang frowned slightly.

The way that figure was running—no!

When ordinary people flee for their lives, their steps falter and their breathing becomes heavy. But this figure, though seemingly flustered, has unusually even strides and lands very lightly. Each time he turns a corner, he uses the wall to deflect the force and change direction... These are traces of someone who has practiced light-body techniques!

"Fei Jianhua knows martial arts?"

A cold glint flashed in Su Yang's eyes.

The information was incorrect.

This steward of the outer courtyard, who had been running the Huang family's black market business for over a decade, was even more secretive than one might imagine.

At this moment, dusk had completely sunk into the night.

Just in time.

Su Yang took out a bronze mask from his pocket and put it on his face, the cold metallic touch against his skin. He then untied the cloth wrapped around his back, put on a black robe, and held a few throwing darts in his hand.

With a leap, like an owl spreading its wings, it darted swiftly between the continuous rooftops.

He didn't walk on the streets, but sped across the rooftops, his eyes always fixed on the fleeing figure below.

Fei Jianhua was clearly very familiar with the city's terrain, deliberately choosing narrow alleys and lanes, and nearly shook off the pursuing civilians several times. But Su Yang, on the rooftop with a wide view, kept a close watch.

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the canal wharf is already in sight.

The murky river water gleamed darkly in the night, and the abandoned warehouses resembled crouching beasts. Fei Jianhua rushed to the end of the dock pier, then suddenly stopped. He whistled three short whistles and one long one at the dark river surface.

As soon as the whistle blew, a small awning boat quietly emerged from the shadows downstream, with a boatman wearing a straw hat standing at the bow.

"The people who were supposed to be there to meet us?!"

The cold light in Su Yang's eyes intensified.

He lay prone on the roof of the warehouse, holding his breath and watching Fei Jianhua stride towards the edge of the pier, about to board the ship, ready to make his move.

"Whoosh!"

Just then, a crossbow bolt pierced the air, not aimed at Fei Jianhua, but straight at the boatman's throat!

The boatman reacted quickly, lifting his straw hat and using his bamboo pole to block the attack!

"clang!"

The crossbow bolt was knocked away.

But this obstruction slowed Fei Jianhua's boarding process by a fraction.

"Did Huang Shih-yun arrange a second layer of protection? Or is it—some other force trying to silence him?"

Su Yang narrowed his eyes. He could clearly see from the rooftop that the person who fired the arrows was hiding behind a pile of cargo on the other side of the dock.

Before I could think it through, things had already changed below!

The moment the boatman deflected the crossbow bolt, three more bolts came flying in a triangular formation! The boatman dodged and weaved with his bamboo pole, creating a blur of motion, and managed to block all the bolts—quite skillful!

Just as the boatman deflected the crossbow bolts, he suddenly felt a life-or-death crisis looming over him!

He tried to dodge, but it was too late. He felt a cold star right in front of him, right at his throat!

too fast!

Just as he had the thought of "hiding," that icy coldness pierced his throat!

"Well----"

The boatman's eyes widened, and his bamboo pole clattered onto the deck. He instinctively reached up to touch his throat, his fingertips brushing against the end of a willow-leaf dart that was almost completely embedded in his flesh. Warm blood was gushing out from between the dart's blade and his skin.

He opened his mouth, trying to shout, but only managed to spit out a few bloody bubbles.

His figure swayed, then plunged into the river with a "plop." Before falling into the water, the last thing he saw was the tall, bronze-faced figure standing at the bow of the boat.

One dart, and he's dead!

Su Yang didn't even glance at the bloodstains rising in the river.

A mastered, armor-piercing dart technique, combined with cultivated internal energy, could take a life within ten paces with ease. This boatman, though skilled in martial arts, was no different from a lamb to the slaughter before him!

He turned his head, his gaze sharp as lightning, and aimed towards the warehouse.

Fei Jianhua's figure had just disappeared through the broken door.

The crossbowmen behind the pile of goods were clearly stunned by the ruthless way the arrows were fired, and they veered off course in mid-air before striking the outer wall of the warehouse with a loud thud.

Without wasting any time, Su Yang moved like a ghost towards the warehouse, raising his left hand along the way.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Three willow-leaf darts were nailed in a triangular pattern to the broken door frame of the warehouse, completely blocking Fei Jianhua's possibility of retreating to the C-level via the original route.

At the same time as 毫.

He saw that a tiny lotus character was engraved on the crossbow shaft nailed to the outer wall of the warehouse.

Su Yang had no time to think and rushed into the warehouse, where he saw Fei Jianhua turn around in horror.

"indivual----"

Before Fei Jianhua could finish speaking, Su Yang's right hand had already gripped his Jianjing acupoint like an iron clamp!

But in that very instant...

Fei Jianhua's seemingly limp body suddenly twisted strangely!

His kneeling posture abruptly stopped, his shoulders snapped back as if dislocated, and his right hand formed a claw, the nails gleaming with a ghostly blue light in the dim light, carrying a chilling, fishy air, as he plucked straight for Su Yang's throat!

Yin Claw Kung Fu!

It was also poisoned!

A cold glint flashed in Su Yang's eyes... This treacherous villain really did have a trick up his sleeve!

Instead of retreating, he advanced, turning his empty right hand into a palm, unleashing a burst of internal force. His palm edge was like a knife, precisely striking Fei Jianhua's wrist pulse!

"Snap!"

The crisp sound of bones cracking rang out.

"ah!!"

Fei Jianhua screamed in agony, and his poisonous claws went limp instantly.

Su Yang's left hand shot out like lightning, his five fingers hooking around the back of Su Yang's neck, and he unleashed his inner force again!

Fei Jianhua trembled violently, all his strength receded like a receding tide, and he collapsed like a dead fish whose bones had been removed.

Su Yang then saw clearly that the young man's eyes were filled with venom, blood was spilling from the corner of his mouth, and his right wrist was bent at an odd angle with the wrist bone broken, rendering his insidious martial arts useless.

"Even on his deathbed, he still wanted to bite!"

Su Yang said coldly, and a short blade was already pressed against his throat.

Fei Jianhua's face was deathly pale, his lips trembling: "Who...who is it...we have no grudge against each other..."

'

"Does anyone want to live?"

Su Yang looked at Fei Jianhua, his words as cold as ice, which, combined with the bronze mask, gave him a metallic feel.

"I want to...I want to live!"

Fei Jianhua's face was deathly pale, and the coldness of the blade made his Adam's apple bob involuntarily.

"Taking the information to your death? Let's see if it's worth it."

A cold, deep voice came from behind Su Yang's mask.

This statement is like a drowning person grasping at a straw.

Fei Jianhua's eyes blazed with a desperate will to survive, and he spoke rapidly, like beans being poured out: "Worth it! Absolutely worth it! Sir, I'm not just an ordinary clerk, I'm the master—no, Huang Shiyun's page since childhood! I've handled all his clerkships!"

"Behind the bookshelf on the east wall of his study is a secret room. The third row of the Analects has a mechanism: push it three times to the left, then once to the right! Inside are his shady records from the past twenty years, as well as invoices for smuggling iron and trafficking people with the Southern Master!"

He panted heavily, greedily inhaling the air, and continued to escalate the situation: "Huang Shiyun—he's the Heavenly Lotus Sect's treasurer in Jingling! A black hand who specializes in raking in the sect's money!! That jade pendant at his waist is his token! Every six months he has to settle accounts with someone called 'Lotus Envoy,' and the next one will be on the third day of next month, at the dilapidated temple behind the City God Temple!"

To increase his leverage, he even went so far as to reveal his deepest secret, his voice low, trembling with sobs and obsequiousness: "My lord, I've done so much for him—all his shady dealings, his contacts, his methods for disposing of stolen goods, I know it all! I also have a box of gold and pearls hidden in Locust Tree Lane in the south of the city, which I'm offering to you! I only beg you to spare my life!"

He stared intently into the eyes behind the mask, trying to find a hint of unease.

He even managed to squeeze out two tears: "I have a good-for-nothing son at home—please, have mercy on me—"

Su Yang's gaze, however, fell upon the inside of his slightly open collar, which he was in a state of excitement... there, on his skin, was a small, faintly visible dark blue-black three-petaled lotus tattoo covering half of his eye.

"So it was as small as a hair!"

Su Yang suddenly realized.

Fei Jianhua was not merely a pageboy; he was likely a dog of the Heavenly Lotus Sect, kept by Huang Shiyun's side for a long time, serving as both a pageboy and an informant. Many of those Buddhist testimonies were probably concealed by him to demonstrate loyalty or for personal gain.

No wonder that when he confessed, he was very clear about Huang Shiyun's secret room mechanisms and clan contacts, but he didn't mention Huang Shiyun's personal martial arts skills or daily habits. He said he was monitoring "the task," not "the person."

Seeing Su Yang's silence, Fei Jianhua assumed he didn't have enough bargaining chips and quickly threw out another one: "By the way! I know where that batch of valuable medicinal herbs Huang Shiyun recently lost is! It wasn't stolen, he secretly moved it to—"

That's enough.

Su Yang interrupted him, his voice revealing neither joy nor anger.

Fei Jianhua was taken aback.

Su Yang slowly leaned down, close to his ear, his voice as soft as a sigh, yet carrying a judgment-like coldness: "The information is somewhat useful, but the life of the person—is not worth it."

Fei Jianhua's pupils dilated suddenly, before shock and despair could fully surface.

"laugh!"

Without hesitation, the short blade swept horizontally, precisely severing the trachea and artery.

Warm blood spurted out, and Fei Jianhua let out a hissing sound from his throat. He futilely clutched his neck with both hands, his body convulsing violently, his eyes rapidly unfocusing. He stared wide-eyed until his death, his eyes frozen in disbelief.

Why can't you get a chance to survive after playing all your cards?

Su Yang stood up, flicked the blood off his blade, and looked indifferent.

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