Bang!
Su Heng's burly figure, like a black meteor, plummeted from the sky and heavily landed on the ground.
He created a crater, scattering a large amount of rubble and dust.
"Demon Suppression Bureau Chief!" Wang Xindong, Luo Shuang, and others upon seeing this, all breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Heng looked around, his gaze briefly resting on their faces. He first frowned slightly before he finally asked, "What did you just see?"
"We..." Several elders of the Demon Suppression Bureau looked at each other.
"You suddenly disappeared, and then the sky surged with wind and clouds, followed by thunder," Wang Xindong said, "The clouds came strangely and left quickly. We only heard a loud bang, and then it was calm, all anomalies disappeared, and we thought it was strange too."
"So it was like that?" Su Heng touched his chin.
He originally thought that the Corpse Mountain was a specific location, but now it seemed it was not just that.
Many conjectures surged in Su Heng's mind, but now was not the time to think about these things.
He looked down and burst out laughing with a loud "Hey".
"You old dog, your life is indeed tough; you haven't died yet." Hong Jiuxiang knelt on the ground, held down by two elders, with his left chest covered in blood, his complexion ashen.
Yet in his eyes still lingered resentment, unable to let go.
He had just forcibly fused with a demon corpse.
As a result, he fell into a trap and was directly possessed by the Red Flame Demon King.
Now that the Red Flame Demon King had been crushed to death by Su Heng, Hong Jiuxiang also regained his sanity.
But his body was drained of vitality, his forehead dull and grey, clearly not long for this world.
"A bet accepted is a bet honoured."
Ultimately, Hong Jiuxiang sighed and pleaded, "But the Hong Family is large, and apart from those Martial Artist elders, there are many ordinary people. These people are innocent. I beg you, Bureau Chief, to spare them!"
"What do you mean innocent, colluding with the demons of Corpse Mountain, whether you Hong Family folks are even human is up for debate."
Su Heng sneered, his expression growing even colder, "From now on, Baihua County is exclusively under my command. I say who is human, you are human. If I say you are not human, then all these thousands in the Hong Family are demons deserving of death—understand?"
"You!" Hong Jiuxiang angrily stared back at him.
"Slap!" Su Heng slapped him across the face, Hong Jiuxiang's head spinning three hundred sixty degrees. A crisp crack sounded, his head drooped limply, and he died instantly.
"Acting beyond your capacity," Su Heng commented as he accepted the white cloth respectfully handed over by Luo Shuang and wiped his hands.
Luo Shuang bowed respectfully again, taking back the handkerchief, folded it neatly, and carefully placed it on herself.
"All the people of the Hong Family, kill them all?" Wang Xindong confirmed.
"Hmm!" Su Heng nodded, "These vermin only waste the air, it's high time for a thorough culling. From young to old, from male to female. Whether dead or alive, chop off their heads, build a spectacle. Dig out even the earthworms in the ground, cut them in half lengthwise, and remember to stir the yolks in the kitchen eggs thoroughly!"
"Understood!" The elders, feeling an intense murderous aura from these words, all burst into hearty laughter.
"There's one more thing," Wang Xindong said, "Hong Dingtian, the heir of the Hong Family, was called away and should have been with Hong Jiuxiang. But after searching just now, we couldn't find any trace of him."
"This underground palace has many tunnels, very complex, hard to trace in a short time," another elder added, frowning.
"Tunnels."
Su Heng's senses spread downward, indeed it was so.
He frowned slightly, then asked loudly, "Has anyone seen where Hong Dingtian went?"
The crowd fell into silence for a moment.
Hong Dingtian was capable of branching out and continuing the family lineage.
This hilltop was about two to three kilometers from the Hong family's fortress, and with the smoke blocking the view, Hong Dingtian couldn't see clearly what was happening inside the fortress. But as they walked through the secret passages, his father's words echoed continuously in his mind.
He was gradually beginning to accept reality.
Stopping here was merely a final confirmation.
"A millennium-old family, a single misstep leading to total ruin!" Hong Dingtian murmured despairingly, looking up at the sky.
Through his blurry vision,
two geese flew by, their calls resounding loudly.
"But this is not the end," he clenched his fist, the other hand tightly pressed against his chest.
Tucked inside the inner pocket of his chest was a secret manuscript about the tomb of Dragon King An Shelie. If he could somehow gain the Dragon King An Shelie's inheritance, with his talents, he would surely be able to elevate his power to an unimaginable realm in a short period.
"When the time comes, I will repay the agony inflicted upon me a hundredfold!" Hong Dingtian gritted his teeth, his chest heaving violently.
The voice squeezed from his throat was full of insane hatred.
"Even the old master couldn't withstand that man's power, which must have reached an unfathomable level," Zhao Zhong urgently advised, "Although we're some distance away from the fortress, it might still be dangerous here; we should leave quickly."
"Uncle Zhao is right!" Hong Dingtian nodded.
"Revenge can wait; the priority now is to leave this place."
"Too bad... you have no future," a cold, emotionless voice suddenly rang out.
A fierce wind erupted.
The grass on the ground rippled and spread downwards.
Amid the thundering roar of the fierce wind, a dark shadow first appeared, then rapidly expanded, and finally, like a meteor, plummeted from the sky and smashed heavily onto the ground.
The ground violently trembled, exploding on impact. Countless clods and pebbles burst into the air, with swathes of grass and flower petals swirling under the golden sunlight.
In the crater formed by the impact, a burly figure slowly rose to his feet.
He was still holding a girl in red, her face pale and terrified, and gently placed her on the soft grass beside him.
"Hong Dingtian, I remember you," Su Heng smiled faintly, "Long time no see."
"You—" Hong Dingtian's face instantly turned pale, "How did you find this place!?"
A traitor in the family!?
But even with a traitor leading the way, the secret passages were complex and convoluted, and some were even rigged to self-destruct, making it nearly impossible to follow them at the moment.
Enormous, profound fear, incomprehension, inconceivable... A myriad of chaotic thoughts filled Hong Dingtian's mind, to the extent that Su Heng's smiling face seemed indescribable, and while the warm sunlight fell on him, it felt ice cold to the bone.
Hong Dingtian trembled all over, stepping back step by step.
"Young master, run!" Zhao Zhong roared, snapping Hong Dingtian out of his daze as he turned to flee. Behind him, Zhao Zhong spread his arms wide, his white hair wildly dancing. Veins swelled and twisted on his face as he lunged forward toward Su Heng.
"Loyal to the end, but unfortunately..."
Bang!
Su Heng extended his hand slightly forward, and Zhao Zhong's head violently exploded.
Continuing forward, he took a step and instantly appeared behind Hong Dingtian.
A hand, firm as cast iron, gently pressed against the back of Hong Dingtian's neck, causing his hair to stand on end and his entire being to tremble violently.
He opened his mouth wide, as if to say something, but Su Heng's fingers had already unhesitatingly descended, snapping his neck with a crack, and definitively ending his life.