Chapter 57

“Thank you.” Xia Qingchen pursed his lips and smiled.

Li Weifeng clenched his fists tightly, killing auras radiating from his eyes. One could feel his overwhelming feelings of hatred seethe.

“Everyone don’t move, I’ll kill him myself!” Li Weifeng walked over in large strides, his killing intent boiling to a great peak.

But Xia Qingchen remained seated, only placing down the wine cup in his hand gently.

“Even if they wish to move, they might not be able to do so.”

As if in reply to Xia Qingchen’s words, all the bandits on the long table blacked out and fell unconscious.

They either lay forward on the table or backward onto the floor.

“Clink clank clink clank.”

A series of sounds rang out.

Li Weifeng was taken by great astonishment and he chided. “You’ve done something…”

Before he could finish his words, his head started to ache and he felt giddy. His legs were weak; his body started to wobble.

He held onto his head that felt as if it was going to burst, seeming both shocked and furious. “You… What did you do?”

Xia Qingchen walked over with his hands behind his back, wearing a cold expression. “I just added a little condiment in your wine.”

Knock-out medicine!

Knowing that he had fallen to Xia Qingchen’s trick, Li Weifeng clenched his teeth and fled out of the cabin while he was still conscious.

However, he had only moved for one to two steps when he felt a tight feeling in his legs. They had been tangled up by a golden thread.

He had lost control over his body, and his legs couldn’t budge. Thus, he could only fall to the ground.

This fall made his head feel even heavier.

Knowing that he had sunk into danger, Li Weifeng said, “Xia Qingchen, I’m from the martial pavilion after all. Can you let me die a presentable death in the hands of the martial pavilion?”

Xia Qingchen squatted down, wearing a smile despite his gaze still being icy cold. There wasn’t a hint of a smile in his eyes.

“No!”

Li Weifeng said in a sorry state, “Aren’t you even willing to show some leniency toward someone who is about to die?”

Xia Qingchen’s smile became even colder. “If I were to show you leniency, will you show me some in return after you’ve forced out the knock-out medicine in your body? I don’t think you will!” He threw a glance at Li Weifeng’s hands.

Hints of snow-white powder had gathered in his palms and then forced out of his body.

Those powder were the components of the knock-out medicine.

Li Weifeng was making use of the time when they were chatting to circulate his martial arts to force out the knock-out medicine from his body.

No one knew better than Xia Qingchen of the effects this knock-out medicine had on cultivators.

People at the medium constellation stage would be completely knocked out, as well as those in the earlier phase of the major constellation stage.

However, for someone like Li Weifeng, an expert in the middle phase of the major constellation stage, he would be able to forcibly force the medicine out of his body.

“Tutor Li, you shouldn’t have come to the Myriad Longevity Manor.” With a flick of his finger, Xia Qingchen sent the golden thread tangled around Li Weifeng’s neck.

“While you’re amongst the bandits, there’s nothing I can do to you. Yet, you have to send yourself before me. Then, I can only accept your head!”

Li Weifeng bellowed out furiously amidst his despair. “You little b*stard! The bandits won’t let you off!”

Xia Qingchen let out a faint smile. “Is that so? It just so happens that I plan on paying a visit to the bandits’ nest! You’ll have to chat with the bandits on the road to the netherworld to find out the result of my visit!” After saying that, he pulled his finger!

The golden thread that was as fine as hair immediately sank into Li Weifeng’s neck, slicing it off entirely!

The bloody scene caused the students in the cage to draw in a cold gasp.

Li Weifeng, who was in the middle phase of the major constellation stage and had been an advanced martial tutor in the martial pavilion, had been dealt with just like that?

Everything happened too quickly, making them feel as if they were in a dream.

Xia Qingchen drew back the golden thread, wiped it clean, then slowly opened up the cage.

The many students felt very thankful to be saved.

“Teacher, let’s escape quickly.” Shaoxuan was feeling a little scared.

Xia Qingchen nodded. “En, of course we have to escape. But, before we leave, we must bring back the heads of all the bandits.”

Ahh!

The students looked toward the bandits who had fallen unconscious, feeling apprehensive.

Could it be that he was asking them to kill?

They had never killed anyone before, and so they all stood stiffly on the spot.

“Have you forgotten how the bandits have massacred the innocent lives in the Myriad Longevity Manor, or how they had hunted you down?” Xia Qingchen stared at them coldly.

“In one’s lifetime, one mustn’t commit acts of great evil, nor commit acts of great kindness!”

Showing kindness to people who had sinned greatly would be a blasphemy to the innocent people they had killed!

Only after hearing that did the students force themselves to use their rusty skills to kill the bandits who were deep asleep.

“There are a few more people left out. Attack them in groups. If possible, capture them alive. If it’s not, then kill them!” Xia Qingchen ordered.

The helmsman and the patrolling bandits only totaled to four people. Their strength was at the third fold-level of the medium constellation stage.

But how could they stand against so many students?

Under the overwhelming attacks, three died and one sustained serious injuries.

Xia Qingchen personally interrogated the only one who was left alive. “Where is your bandits’ nest? Speak up, and I can give you a quick death! Otherwise, I’ll bring you back to the martial pavilion’s sky jail!” The martial pavilion’s sky jail had such a vicious reputation that the person didn’t dare to hide anything, handing over a brand new map.

It turned out that to prevent being surrounded and attacked, the bandits were very sly and tended to change their location after every half a year.

Currently, their hideout was on a small island by a wide water domain.

“Why don’t you just hand him over to the martial pavilion to interrogate him? Why do the additional work?” Zhou Xuelin asked.

She had tidied up her appearance and now looked radiant.

Moreover, she no longer wore the cold and arrogant expression she did in the past. Her gaze was warm as she looked at Xia Qingchen.

“It’s like I had said. It’s such a rare opportunity that the bandits have come to invite me. How can I pass down on their goodwill?” Xia Qingchen kept the map and said, “Zhou Xuelin, you take the lead to bring everyone back on this ship.”

Zhou Xuelin asked, showing concern, “You’re going to head to the bandits’ headquarters by yourself?”

Xia Qingchen nodded. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

After saying that, he darted into the cabin, packed the things he needed, and took a small boat heading southward by himself.

After four hours…

When the day was breaking, Xia Qingchen arrived at the destination.

A small island with a huge lake in the center came into sight.

He was still dressed as a bandit, and he quickly jumped onto the shore.

Swoosh——

At the instant he landed, an arrow shot out and landed in front of his feet.

“Password!” someone in the dark called out.

Xia Qingchen said, “A thousand rivers reunite where the mountain doesn’t meet!”

A password was required to enter the island. He had found out about this from the surviving bandit.

“Pass!”

It was only with that did Xia Qingchen manage to enter the island successfully.

Figures darted about on the island. All of them were members of the bandit group.

The items that the bandits had snatched could be found everywhere, piled up in rows.

“The leader finally agreed to share the ten Yunluo Sacred Leaves snatched from the Whitecloud City with everyone.” said two chatting bandits who passed by.

“Haha, you can quit dreaming. The Yunluo Sacred Leaves will only be shared with the Red-Cowls Ten Devils. You won’t get it.”

“That’s true. The Red-Cowls Ten Devils’ potential is much greater than ours. The leader will naturally place more emphasis into nurturing them.”

…

Xia Qingchen quietly listened to their conversation.

It turned out that the bandits also had a system similar to the martial pavilion, in which they would nurture the younger generation.

Members of the younger generation who showed outstanding talent in martial arts would receive additional emphasis to be nurtured.

These younger members were the children that the bandits had seized when they rummaged through the cities. They had brought these children up to be loyal to them.

Now, the younger members had grown up, becoming a generation of strong experts.

Out of which, the ones who were ranked in the top ten were known as the Red-Cowls Ten Devils.