Mentioning Iron Pen Elder, the villagers of Huangyang Village were somewhat indignant. The Iron Pen Elder sought shelter during the night, and out of fear that the old man might die outside, they kindly took him in. Little did they expect that the old man would refine life-extending lamp oil using the lives of four children from their village!
Seeing some disturbance below, Zhao Yue’s subordinate, the bearded Jin Yiwei guard, let out a "hmm." Although not loud, the use of the Divine Embryo Divine Power in his voice made all the villagers’ eardrums buzz.
The initial indignation was also shaken away by that hum.
Zhao Yue scanned his surroundings with satisfaction and said, "Who wants to explain?"
No one made a sound below.
Chen Shi saved Liu Fugui and avenged the village’s three children. Although the country folk did not understand the laws of the Great Ming, they still clearly distinguished between kindness and enmity. With Chen Shi being kind to the village, how could they betray him?
"Not speaking? Sticking to your code? Country folk are truly naively endearing."
Zhao Yue could not help but laugh, leisurely saying, "You think he has been kind to you, therefore, you don’t want to expose him? Ignorance. Is any act of kindness greater than the Emperor’s law? Fools! If you don’t say who did it, you are all accomplices and will be sent to prison!"
His voice suddenly became stern, "Once in prison, you’ll be skinned even if you don’t die!"
Zhao Yue slowly rose to his feet, walking between the kneeling villagers, he came in front of Liu Fugui and examined the child, smiling and saying, "Little boy, the injuries on your lips, eyes, and nose look like they were hooked out. You must have been harvested for your essence to refine the life-extending lamp oil, you’ve suffered a lot, haven’t you? Do you still remember who saved you?"
Kneeling on the ground, Liu Fugui dared not move but stiffly said, "I won’t tell!"
Fugui’s mother anxiously pulled the boy into her arms, fearfully glanced at Zhao Yue, and quickly averted her gaze.
Zhao Yue instantly understood.
"Gentlemen, Iron Pen Elder using children to refine life-extending lamp oil is one issue; he is guilty and the national law will deal with him. That he was killed by someone you hired is another matter. You hiring someone to kill him, using extrajudicial means, is already contrary to the laws of the Great Ming. My Zhao family seeking revenge for Iron Pen Elder and the Zhao family housekeeper is a third issue. You are country folk, ignorant, and don’t understand the complexities."
Zhao Yue stood among the crowd, looking around, held up three fingers and said, "I will count to three, and if no one speaks up by then, don’t blame me for enforcing the law. One!"
He withdrew one finger, and his Jin Yiwei guards encircled the villagers.
Zhao Yue withdrew the second finger, with still no one revealing the murderer of Iron Pen Elder.
He sighed and withdrew the third finger, "Three! Helian Zheng, administer the punishment!"
Helian Zheng, the bearded Jin Yiwei guard, was about to issue the command when suddenly a big burly man stood up from the crowd and blocked Zhao Yue’s path; it was San Wang.
San Wang opened his arms, shouting, "Don’t lay a hand on him! Are you reasonable? Your Zhao family’s Iron Pen Elder killed three children in our village to refine oil, your Zhao family is at fault! From ancient times it has been said... One life pays for another..."
Helian Zheng swung the Three-eyed Fire Gun, hitting him on the forehead with a bong, angrily saying, "Disrespectful to a superior, you are courting death!"
The Three-eyed Fire Gun, forged from fine iron and weighing over ten pounds comparable to a heavy hammer, smashed onto San Wang’s forehead. Instantly, San Wang was dazed, his face covered in blood, his body swayed, yet he did not fall.
The Jin Yiwei guards all exclaimed in surprise, saying, "The skulls of country folk really are hard; he didn’t die from that hit!"
Realizing his strike had taken San Wang’s life but the country man clearly dead, yet not falling, made Helian Zheng lose face, he then swung the firearm again with force.
Immediately, San Wang’s brain burst, his knees buckled, and he kneed on the ground, collapsing.
Zhao Yue stepped back to avoid getting his clothes dirty with brain matter.
He stepped over San Wang’s body and walked out from the crowd, and immediately, the sounds of whips cracking and screams followed.
Zhao Yue didn’t look back, his gaze sternly fixed on the central ruins of the temple in Huangyang Village.
Representing the laws of the Great Ming, his authority was inviolable; even the village deity of Huangyang Village, despite their own people being victimized, did not dare resist and could only watch helplessly.
After a while, Helian Zheng and a few Jin Yiwei guards, their faces and bodies spattered with blood, came up behind him with smiles, bowing and saying, "Sir, a woman couldn’t withstand the punishment and confessed!"
Zhao Yue, with his hands clasped behind him, replied indifferently, "No one can escape the law after harming people of my Zhao family. Who did they hire?"
Helian Zheng replied, "A little talisman master named Chen Shi, residing in Huangpo Village, his household also includes a grandfather who is a Talisman Master."
"Little talisman master?"
Zhao Yue was greatly surprised, puzzledly said, "Iron Pen Elder and Zhao Ming the housekeeper were not weak; this little talisman master managed to kill them?"
A chill wind blew, carrying a bloody figure that floated erratically to the outskirts of Huangpo Village, only to be blocked by the dry nurse of Huangpo Village, dancing her branches, preventing entry.
"I want to see Talisman Master Chen! I want to see Talisman Master Chen!"
The ghost sobbed in the wind, pleading for the dry nurse to let him in, but the lady on the old tree, in her prime as a twenty-eight-year-old, remained unmoved.
"Let him in." Grandfather appeared under the moonlight, his voice cold.
The woman on the tree gazed coldly forward, her voice tinged with sternness, "If he enters and harms someone, who would bear the responsibility? I guard the village; no external evil can invade!"
"Not letting him in, consider your roots dug up," Grandfather said indifferently.
The woman snorted but no longer obstructed.