Water Ink Panel: Starting with Bow Technique to Hunt the Sun and Patrol the Skies

Chapter 344 25 Kill! The young master of the Xue Family is dead!_2

"Ah!"

The guard shouted, his entire body glowing.

Cracks appeared on the surface of the Da Xu Hand, until finally, it shattered with a boom.

He broke free from the ground with Xue Bai.

However, before he could rejoice, a crimson-gold arrow had already shot right in front of him, piercing through his forehead with precision, extinguishing his life force.

His body instantly seemed to lose its support, falling powerlessly with Xue Bai from midair.

Xue Bai's cultivation was no more than the Jade Link Realm; he hadn't even condensed a "Dan Ying," so he definitely couldn't fly.

But he was born into a noble family, and his physical foundation was very well established, so even falling from such a height to the ground didn't harm him.

He crawled up in a mess, disregarding everything else, and fled desperately through the mountain forest.

Unfortunately, this was destined to be a futile struggle.

Shen Qing released his Divine Sense, locking onto Xue Bai, and swiftly crossed over to land in front of him, blocking his path.

Shen Qing looked him up and down and said, "Why are you running? Don't you want to avenge your brother?"

Xue Bai forced a smile that was uglier than crying and said, "I was just talking nonsense. How could it be you who killed my brother?"

Shen Qing grinned and said, "Actually, you weren't wrong. I did kill your brother."

Xue Bai's expression froze for a moment, clearly not expecting this outcome.

For a moment, his throat went dry, not knowing what to say.

"Forget it, talking more with you is pointless. Anyway, given the chaos of the Jing Luan Assembly now, I doubt you'd survive three days with that brain of yours. As they say, 'early death, early transcendence,' dying sooner is better than later. I've always been one to help others, so I'll send you to the afterlife today."

With that, Shen Qing raised a finger, gathering Qi to form a sharp light that shot toward Xue Bai's forehead.

"No... my father is here... you..."

Xue Bai shouted, trying to resist and evade.

But at such a short distance, with his meager cultivation, he didn't even have time to react.

With a muffled sound.

The crimson-gold light burst from the back of Xue Bai's head, countless red and white things exploding out, splattering all over the ground, undeniably dead.

With a thud.

Xue Bai's body fell straight backward.

Shen Qing remained emotionless, pulling out his Merit Stone, discovering an indistinct blood-red glow surrounding it.

This was something that hadn't been there before.

Indeed, killing seemed to tally merit.

Shen Qing studied it for a while but found no secrets, so he put the Merit Stone back in his pouch, directing his gaze toward Xue Yan and others.

He quickly rummaged through Xue Bai and his guard, then transformed into a Rainbow Light and swiftly vanished.

Returning to the original gathering place, Shen Qing suddenly noticed that everyone's attention was focused on him, the atmosphere subtly changing.

Shao Hongling and others approached, a glimmer of surprise in their eyes, cautiously asking, "Lord Shen, they..."

"As you can see," Shen Qing responded straightforwardly, "they're all dead."

"Ah..."

A Da and Xiao Man behind Shao Hongling gasped in astonishment.

They couldn't have imagined that as soon as the Jing Luan Assembly began, a noble son died so arbitrarily.

The lord before them was indeed formidable.

Shen Qing dispassionately remarked, "It's just a few kills, what's the big deal? Everyone dies in the end."

A Da signaled to the other Yongzhou group, saying, "Earlier those people came over wanting to apologize, Lord Shen, what do you think..."

"Apologize for what?"

"They wanted to cut ties with you earlier, now they want to apologize for it."

"Oh." Shen Qing shook his head, "Tell them there's no need, I never took it to heart."

"Are you accepting them back then?"

"Of course not." Shen Qing gave A Da and Xiao Man a glance, "I meant, from beginning to end, I didn't care about them. Their life or death is irrelevant to me, let's go!"

As Shen Qing turned to leave, Prefecture Chief Dou Wenxi and County Supervisor Yan Xushou, along with the Yongzhou crowd, hurriedly ran over, calling out while running, "Lord Shen, Lord Shen."

They stopped Shen Qing in his tracks.

Shen Qing paused, calmly asking, "What do you mean by this, gentlemen?"

Prefecture Chief Dou Wenxi clasped his fists, speaking with extreme politeness, "Lord Shen, you see, with all the Xue Family members dead, no one to provoke matters anymore, why doesn't Lord Shen rejoin our group so we can tackle the Jing Luan Assembly together? Surely more people mean better odds?"

Shao Hongling couldn't bear it any longer, stepping forward and sneering, "You really have no shame to say that. It was you who wanted to cut ties with Lord Shen initially, and now you're shamelessly begging him back? What, do you treat Lord Shen like a subordinate to be summoned at will? Ridiculous. You've managed to outdo yourselves in both good and bad deeds."

After Shen Qing had slain the Xue Family almost effortlessly, these people saw benefits and began to curry favor, their previously haughty and now humble attitude disgusted her.

"We had no choice, it's hard to go against public will." County Supervisor Yan Xushou quickly added, "Moreover, we didn't do anything difficult to Lord Shen, in the end, he didn't have any trouble killing the Xue family, right?"

"So by this logic, you abandoning him should be something Lord Shen is grateful for?" Shao Hongling stared wide-eyed, "Honestly, I've never seen such shameless people!"

Yan Xushou's face reddened, too embarrassed to speak.

Shen Qing calmly said, "I, Shen, prefer a little peace. For the sake of our colleagueship, I won't make things difficult for you. Take care of yourselves."

Seeing Shen Qing's firm attitude, Yan Xushou and Dou Wenxi deflated like punctured balloons, returning dejectedly to their group.

As soon as they returned, a middle-aged man stepped forward and asked, "What did he say? Did he agree?"

Yan Xushou shook his head.

Someone complained, "Sigh... we shouldn't have acted so hastily."

"Who could have guessed he had such hidden depths, reaching this level of cultivation in no time?"

"What do we do next?"

"Let's leave this place first," Yan Xushou suggested, "I don't think it'll be long before the supervisory troops arrive; it's not safe to stay here."

"Supervisory troops as well?"

Yan Xushou explained, "In a normal Jing Luan Assembly, we only need to fight; there wouldn't be so many routes. But this year's is focused on rebellion suppression, so there will be supervisory troops to enforce combat against the Huangtian Sect. In other words, right now, we're no different from soldiers on the battlefield, just without military constraints."

"Once the supervisory troops arrive, we might not risk our lives, but it won't be pleasant. Look, the noble families' teams have already left early."

"Is it really like that?"

Looking around, they saw it was indeed so.

"This time, only by killing enough Huangtian Sect rebels will merit and achievements stand out; they must be well-informed."

"Let's leave quickly."

Yan Xushou and others looked at Shen Qing and his group, who were looting the corpses, feeling regretful.

They all knew they had missed a valuable opportunity.

"They've gone," Xiao Man remarked.

"Hmm." Shen Qing gathered all the spoils from the Xue family, including numerous Willpower Orbs and pills.

He bundled them up and handed them to Shao Hongling, saying, "Let's go as well."

"Which way should we go?"

"Any route will do."

Shen Qing carefully recalled the contents of the map, realizing every route had noble sons choosing it, meaning they would inevitably encounter other noble sons regardless of their choice.

"Let's go."

Shen Qing waved his large hand, leading Shao Hongling and the three swiftly away, heading toward the hills ahead.

Once they left, several small martial masters without roots followed in Shen Qing's direction, seemingly wanting to seek refuge.