Actually, to him, it didn't matter who was deceiving whom. He didn't want to leave any of these killers, including Yingying, alive, because Shi Chun had made it very clear to him.

Huang Yingying, accused on the spot, panicked. He didn't expect that after this big guy's commotion, this group of tax supervisors would betray him without any hesitation. Not only did they waste his goodwill, but they also trapped him. This damn big guy was killing without blinking an eye.

Now, you couldn't beat it out of him to believe that Wu Jinliang was just a stable hand.

From the moment Wu Jinliang appeared abruptly halfway to intercept a group of killers on their way out, he realized it. How could a stable hand just happen to appear on the route the killers were taking and easily take down a group of them?

Someone with such capability could easily earn higher wages elsewhere; how could he be doing odd jobs at a stable?

His eyes darted around quickly, and he immediately exclaimed, "Little Gao, so you came to save me, you gave me quite a scare. I thought you were plotting against me. It's my fault, my fault, for not knowing your intentions earlier and not daring to speak randomly. Please forgive me, I apologize. Now that the misunderstanding's cleared up, feel free to ask anything. I'll tell you everything I know."

"Is that so?" Wu Jinliang raised his hand and slapped his forehead. "I also blame myself for forgetting to undo the restriction on you, causing the misunderstanding."

As he spoke, he gestured to Lao Changtai with a tilt of his head.

Lao Changtai understood and was about to step forward to lift the restriction on Huang Yingying when the person who had just exposed the situation urgently exclaimed, "He knows the Earth Escape Technique."

"That's right, he can perform Earth Escape."

"If you undo the restriction, he can escape at any time."

The other two killers who could speak rushed to expose him.

Upon hearing this, Huang Yingying's heart sank. He wanted to ask the three if they were stupid. If he ran, maybe having someone alive might deter him from harming them. Even if he killed them, at least someone could leak the news and help them settle scores later.

But the three killers who could speak didn't think that way. They all believed thinking long-term was useless right now. They all knew they had no value to Wu Jinliang and just wanted to seize any chance for survival at the moment.

"Earth Escape Technique? Earth Escape?" Wu Jinliang looked curious and asked Huang Yingying, "Old Huang, can you perform the Five Elements Escape Technique?"

Huang Yingying forced a smile, "I know a little, nothing worthy of high praise."

Wu Jinliang clicked his tongue, "No wonder you can spy everywhere; you have this skill to back you up." Then he nodded towards Lao Changtai, "It's okay, undo it for him."

As he spoke, he gave Lao Changtai a look to keep an eye on him.

He had tied up Huang Yingying before and knew this old guy's cultivation. Despite his age, his foundation wasn't very compatible with cultivation and only had a cultivation of the Great Success level of Initial Martial. With Lao Changtai's High Martial realm cultivation, as long as he kept close watch, even if Huang Yingying could perform Earth Escape, he couldn't get away.

Lao Changtai immediately complied and lifted the restriction on Huang Yingying.

Huang Yingying got up, stretched his limbs, looked at Lao Changtai guarding beside him, and bowed in gratitude. His smile was forced, eager to run but afraid to, and too scared to stay.

Wu Jinliang turned to the killers again, "Why did you tie up Old Huang?"

"He knew things he shouldn't have known."

"Fan Wuzhe, who went to Chao Yue Hall for matchmaking, was arranged by Mei, the Assistant Director, and he figured it out."

"We wanted to confirm whether he had spread the news to others, so we could silence him."

The three killers who could speak hurriedly answered again.

Upon hearing this, Huang Yingying couldn't help but sigh. Seeing the true faces of these killers, he guessed it.

Wu Jinliang wasn't interested in this answer at all, as he had already guessed it. He motioned towards Huang Yingying again, "Did he spread any news externally?"

This was what he truly wanted to ask. This group had the Mother-child Talisman in hand, and he didn't know if Huang Yingying had confessed to anything, nor if they had used the Mother-child Talisman to transmit Huang Yingying's confession.

"We haven't had the chance to interrogate yet."

"Yes, it's not appropriate to ask at the scene of the incident."

"We were planning to find a place further away to ask, but unexpectedly ran into you and didn't get the chance."

The three killers who could speak answered in a hurry again.

Wu Jinliang didn't take sides or believe blindly, observing the reactions of the other killers to see if anyone would seize the chance to strive for survival.

Seeing no reaction from them, he looked at Huang Yingying again to confirm, "Is that true?"

Huang Yingying nodded, "It is indeed the case. I say, Little Gao, how did you happen to block their way?"

"That's not important." Wu Jinliang said as he walked over, tapping a dagger in his hand against his chest, "What's important is why you mistakenly thought I was going after you. After hearing what they said, I suddenly feel your story doesn't add up!"

Huang Yingying was frightened by the dagger pointed at him and was about to open his mouth to explain when Wu Jinliang unexpectedly turned the dagger around, offering him the handle, "Words alone are no proof, let's do something tangible."

"Hmm?" Huang Yingying was puzzled.

Wu Jinliang nodded towards the killers lying against the wall, "Those unwilling to confess honestly, go kill two of them, then I'll believe you."

The killers suddenly panicked; without their mute acupoints undone, what could they confess?

"This..." Huang Yingying showed a face full of resistance. He knew very well that once he killed someone from the City Lord Mansion, there was no turning back for him.

Wu Jinliang didn't waste words with him, directly shoved the dagger into his hand, "Take it, either you go and kill two, or you use the knife to slit your own throat. I won't force you, you choose your way of living. I'll give you five counts, one, two, three..."

Just as the count reached three, Huang Yingying, in a panic, made a hasty decision before his mind could think further, hurriedly stepped forward and struck, stabbing into one.

Not allowing him to think carefully, Wu Jinliang spoke again, "Four..."

Huang Yingying quickly pulled out the knife and swung it at the second person beside him, slashing through the opponent's throat. In haste, he forgot to dodge and got sprayed with a face and body full of blood, which sent a shiver through him, causing his hand holding the knife to tremble.

Bai Qiru landed on the blocking slope, and the staff waiting there hurried forward to report the situation.

After confirming the situation, Bai Qiru scanned coldly around with furrowed brows without lingering, then flashed away towards Dazhi City.

She had just left when two city guards also arrived, landed, and upon seeing the bodies, inquired the staff about the situation.

In the cave, after squatting and killing two people, covered in blood, Huang Yingying had already fallen to the ground. Seeing Lao Changtai glaring fiercely beside, he scrambled to get up after several kicks, then forced a smile worse than crying, holding the dagger in both hands to return it to Wu Jinliang.

Wu Jinliang wasn't sure if he was pretending or what, a demon cultivator was this cowardly, wasn't he bold enough when spying for information everywhere?

As he retrieved the dagger, he suddenly seized Huang Yingying again, with a quick move, Huang Yingying sat leaning against the wall.

"Little Gao, Mr. Gao, what do you mean?" Unable to move, Huang Yingying shouted in panic, having witnessed the other's ruthless killings, with the pungent smell of blood, how could he not be scared?

Wu Jinliang looked at him, then at the others who equally had panicked faces, and slowly said, "For the last stage, let me ask you something. Years ago, in this area of Dazhi City, there was a corpse change event, said to be caused by a mysterious fragrance called 'Death Refusing Incense', whoever knows the whereabouts of 'Death Refusing Incense' has the chance to survive, does anyone know?"

Whether they could speak or not, everyone sitting on the ground had their eyes flickering.

Especially Huang Yingying, with a face full of suspicion, wondering why this person suddenly inquired about this when he clearly wasn't interested before.

The one called Qiu Laosan suddenly interrupted, "I know, there's a place in the city called 'Treasure Hunting Pavilion', they..."

Wu Jinliang cut him off, "Treasure Hunting Pavilion's is fake." He pointed at Huang Yingying, "He took me to see it, it's fake."

Scanning the crowd's bewildered reactions, he turned and passed by Lao Changtai, casually saying, "Seems no one knows, kill them all."

With that, he walked straight towards the cave exit.

Actually, he didn't expect these people to know about 'Death Refusing Incense', testing was one aspect, mainly to show Lao Changtai, as an explanation to Shi Chun.

Judging from Shi Chun's ability to track Huang Yingying's movements, he knew that Chu Jingtang's group hadn't dismissed their doubts about Huang Yingying.

If not for intimidating Huang Yingying, he wouldn't drag things out this long now, it would be much simpler, just silencing them.

Lao Changtai wasn't foolish either. At this point, he naturally understood Wu Jinliang's intention behind the long setup, drew his sword, and the first victim of the slaughter was Huang Yingying, not a fake kill, a real one.

If useless, then directly silenced; if useful, Huang Yingying at least had to face the consequence of killing personnel from the City Lord Mansion, Wu Jinliang prepared the results of right and wrong for him.

What Wu Jinliang never expected was, just as he stepped out of the cave and gazed at the starry sky, Lao Changtai about to slash Huang Yingying, Huang Yingying, full of panic, suddenly screamed hysterically, "I know, I know 'Death Refusing Incense', Little Gao, Mr. Gao, I really know, don't kill me, I'll tell you, I really know..."

The tone was full of indescribable fear and urgency.

The sword-wielding Lao Changtai paused, doubting himself, could it be true, did this old guy truly know?

He turned his head to look at the tall figure outside the cave.

Wu Jinliang was a bit bewildered, could such a coincidence happen? Coming to Dazhi City for 'Death Refusing Incense', he randomly encountered an insider? Then what was his long search for?

He chuckled darkly, then quickly turned back, almost charged in, swinging his arms and legs, and went on a wild beating of Huang Yingying.

He couldn't believe he was fooled, performing so genuinely, even deceived him. If Chu Jingtang hadn't held an extra hand, this would have been messed up in his hands, Spring over there was still bearable, crucially affecting his prestige among Chu Jingtang's people.

Intolerable!

As if beating endlessly, the cave echoed with screams and cries constantly...

On the highest peak in the city, a white shadow descended and was stopped by the guards.

The person was Bai Qiru, she glanced at the blocking guards, didn't force her way, but cast a loud spell towards the inner courtyard of the deep palace, "Bai Qiru requests to see the City Lord."

After a brief silence, a woman's light voice came, "Let her in."

The guards exchanged a look, immediately moved aside to allow passage.

Bai Qiru was in a hurry, striding quickly into the deep palace, seemingly not for the first time here, ignoring the complex of pavilions and paths, showing no signs of hesitation at the crossroads.

Soon, a swiftly approaching maid reached out to bid her and led her in another direction, to a pavilion overlooking the thousands of lights below the mountain.

In the pavilion sat a long-haired woman in colorful garments, with pink cheeks and cherry-red lips, moderately attractive but giving a strange feeling, her hair so long it dragged on the ground even when seated, likely would drag on the ground while standing too.

This woman named Li Xianghong was the current City Lord of Dazhi City, alone raising a cup to the moon.

Glancing at Bai Qiru who nodded to greet, she indifferently said, "What right do you have to freely fly in the city breaking the rules?"

Bai Qiru avoided answering, instead stepped closer and said, "Someone broke the rules, bought a large quantity of spirit rice without paying, killed three of our store's delivery staff at the blocking slope, my husband's whereabouts are unknown, I'm anxious to catch the culprit, unable to explain in time. I heard that Lord A Xun happened to be here, taking advantage of the incident not long past, his sense of smell might still be useful, please quickly help clear this up, it's also to uphold the rules of Dazhi City and bring justice."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.