Chapter 364: Chapter 139: Yue Mankong’s Promised "Benefit"... Eradicate the Roots! Plunder

As she spoke, she slowly slid off her outer robe, revealing her graceful figure. The purple energy in her eyes was so thick it was almost tangible.

But the masked man kept his head lowered, avoiding her gaze.

As Madam Zhang drew near, he suddenly flicked his left hand. A thin chain shot out, lengthening in the air and striking at her like a living serpent.

"This is bad!" Madam Zhang’s expression changed drastically. Her Charm Skill was forcibly interrupted, and she had no choice but to swing her sword to meet the chain.

CLANG!

RATTLE!

But the chain bizarrely coiled around the blade, slithering up its length to bind her tightly in an instant.

To her horror, countless tiny spikes suddenly emerged from the chain, digging deep into her body.

"AHH—!" Madam Zhang let out a piercing shriek.

In that same instant, a residual image flashed across the scene again, and the light of a saber cascaded down like moonlight.

Madam Zhang’s eyes widened. A line of blood slowly spread across her forehead. Even in death, she couldn’t believe someone had managed to resist both her Charm Evil Skill and her beauty.

"D-don’t kill me!"

Zhang Mingyuan collapsed to the ground, shouting with false bravado, "If you kill me, the Zhang Family of Qing Province will never let you go!"

The masked man took a step forward, and his saber flashed again.

A head rolled to the ground, its face frozen in terror and disbelief.

The masked man skillfully searched their bodies for valuables, retracted the Demon-locking Chain, and then stored the large chests from the carriage into the Sumeru Ring on his finger.

After doing all this, he turned and vanished into the vast darkness of the night.

The assassin was none other than Chu Fan.

This was the "benefit" that Demon Suppression Envoy Yue Mankong had promised Chu Fan after he had killed Zhang Wenpeng with a single strike—an opportunity to intercept the remaining members of the Zhang Family and seize their ill-gotten wealth.

A single term for an honest prefect yields a hundred thousand snowflake silvers.

And that was just the legal income an upright prefect could amass in a three-year term.

But for a villain like Zhang Wenpeng, who had thrown in his lot with the Moon Worship Sect and treated the people of Cyan Yang like pigs and dogs, the wealth he had extorted over the years was already astronomical.

With Zhang Wenpeng executed, according to the laws of Great Yan, his family’s assets should have been jointly seized by the Ministry of Justice and the Demon Suppression Bureau.

But of this vast fortune, how much would truly end up in the national treasury and how much would fall into the hands of certain powerful figures, no one could say.

What was certain, however, was that not a single cent would end up in the hands of the "perpetrator," Chu Fan.

Yue Mankong had seen through this, which was why he had pulled a few strings. He used the Demon Suppression Bureau’s authority to temporarily suppress the County Magistrate’s Office and secretly instructed Constable Lu Tao to cooperate with Chu Fan, giving Madam Zhang and the others a "chance to slip through the net" while under guard.

The real time to close the net was when they believed they had escaped to safety.

The banks of the Black Water River outside the North Gate were Chu Fan’s designated hunting ground.

On the other possible escape routes, Cao Feng, Zhao Tianxing, Li Qingxue, and the others had also long since laid their traps.

Madam Zhang thought she had broken free from her cage, but how could she have known that they had merely jumped from a small net into a much larger, more lethal one?

As Chu Fan’s saber rose and fell, ending the lives of Madam Zhang and her son, similar slaughters were taking place almost simultaneously on the other main roads outside Cyan Yang City.

...

「Inside Cyan Yang City, at the County Magistrate’s Office.」

Estimating that the time was right, Constable Lu Tao’s eyes hardened. With a sharp wave of his hand, he led a group of trusted subordinates, storming into the brightly lit main hall with palpable killing intent.

Inside the hall, the County Magistrate, County Captain Cui Baiyu, and others were gathered in discussion.

Seeing Lu Tao and his men barge in, the County Magistrate’s face darkened, and he was just about to rebuke them—

"BANG!" Lu Tao slammed a heavy wooden chest directly onto the floor.

The chest split open on impact, and dazzling gold, silver, and sparkling jewels spilled across the floor.

Atop the pile of treasures, there was a pair of gloves made of a special material, emitting a faint glow—the Black Gold Silk Gloves!

The young constable whom Chu Fan had once saved stepped forward at the right moment. In a loud, righteous voice, he declared, "Reporting to you, my lords! All these valuables were seized from County Captain Cui Baiyu’s home! His wife has already confessed. This is ironclad proof that Cui Baiyu colluded with the Moon Worship Sect and accepted bribes from Zhang Wenpeng’s family!" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Cui Baiyu’s face went deathly pale. He pointed at the gloves, his lips trembling like a sieve. "Th-this... I admit to this money, but these gloves... I’ve never seen them before!"

"Still trying to argue!" Lu Tao gave him no room to explain, his furious shout booming like a thunderclap. "Cui Baiyu! For colluding with the Moon Worship Sect and secretly releasing an imperial fugitive, the evidence is undeniable! You deserve death!"

Before his voice had even faded, the Long Saber at his waist was unsheathed with a CLANG!

The light from the blade flashed like a bolt of white silk, carrying an unstoppable resolve!

"SPURT!"

Blood sprayed into the air!

Cui Baiyu didn’t even have time to circulate his Primordial Qi for protection before his head was sent flying into the air!

Warm, fresh blood splattered all over the County Magistrate and the other officials!

This was the first time Lu Tao, a Divine Power Realm expert, had revealed such tyrannical strength in front of them!

The County Magistrate and the other officials were dumbfounded, their bodies as stiff as stone, as they stared at Lu Tao, who stood with his saber drawn, radiating an overwhelming Evil Qi.

Although they had heard that Lu Tao had been decisive and ruthless during yesterday’s encirclement of the Moon Worship Sect, they had never imagined he would be so audacious—storming the main hall of the County Magistrate’s Office and publicly executing a County Captain!

...

「Outside the city, deep in a dense forest.」

Outside the hidden cave where Chu Fan and Zhao Tianxing had previously stashed the stolen money from the Fishery, a masked figure in black appeared as silently as a phantom.

HISS—

At the edge of the cave, two small snakes poked their heads out alertly, flicking their tongues.

A plume of smoke suddenly rose, and two slender figures, one cyan and one white, materialized like wisps of smoke—it was the Snake Demon Sisters.

The Cyan Snake looked at the empty-handed Chu Fan, whose aura was completely restrained, and paused. "Did you fail?"

Chu Fan pulled down his mask, revealing his true face. He walked straight into the cave, his tone flat and emotionless. "Killed them."

The Cyan Snake immediately hurried after him, her voice urgent. "You killed them, so where’s their stuff? My sister and I hauled back several chests!"

"It’s all here." Chu Fan walked deeper into the torch-lit cave.

Cao Feng, Li Qingxue, and the others, who had been waiting for a while, immediately came forward to greet him.

In the widest part of the cave, chests of all sizes were piled up like a small mountain.

Seeing Chu Fan arrive empty-handed, their faces were filled with confusion.

They knew Chu Fan’s personality well; he would never return without accomplishing his goal.