Chapter 61: Digging Up Silver

“Aren’t you fleeing anymore?” Xiao Ran taunted him.

A gush of Immense Righteous Energy soared into the sky. The powerful golden light was like a bridge that pierced through air to connect heaven and earth, illuminating the entire night sky.

As the infinite righteous force pressed downwards with the expanding golden light, its overpowering might crushed down mercilessly.

“Break!” Xiao Ran commanded.

The beam shot down from the sky, clearing everything in its path.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

The power and ruthlessness of the other party’s fist was unparalleled, and even space itself could not withstand it and emitted a low wail.

However, in the face of this overwhelming Immense Righteous Energy, they were like fireflies and sparks of stars, which crumbled on contact.

Bang!

The Deputy Hall Master from Yama suffered serious injuries in the aftermath. He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backwards hundreds of feet, leaving a terrifying drag mark on the ground before coming to a stop.

“You… you’re also an old monster from the Four Great Institutes!” The Deputy Hall Master pointed at Xiao Ran with a trembling finger, terror spreading through his heart.

Xiao Ran took a step and re-appeared in front of him.

The Immense Righteous Energy that filled the sky returned to Xiao Ran’s body.

“Why are you talking so much nonsense?” Xiao Ran gave him a kick.

“Speak! Where is the tax money?”

“I… ”

Knowing that the character of this group of people were as stubborn as donkeys, he anticipated that they would not tell the truth if they were not taught a lesson.

With a wave of his hand, Xiao Ran cut him off. “I know you’re stubborn.”

Activating the Heavenly Slave Divine Finger, he fired fifteen shots of finger forces into his body all at once.

Right now,

his Heavenly Slave Divine Finger had already reached the level of Dominating Refinement.

The effect of torture had increased another two-fold over and on top of its original power.

Even someone as strong as the Deputy Hall Master of Yama, could not withstand it.

He clawed at his flesh, wishing he could dig out his bone. The pain penetrated deep into his soul. As he clawed at his flesh, he rolled and writhed on the ground.

Fortunately, he could not read Xiao Ran’s mind. Otherwise, he would have felt he died a wrongful death!

A few minutes later,

Xiao Ran temporarily relieved his pain and asked again, “Where’s the tax money?”

The Deputy Hall Master breathed in the fresh air. The feeling of surviving a calamity was really wonderful. “With Daoist Priest Xuan Yang.”

“Where is he?”

The Deputy Hall Master recounted what happened earlier.

“You guys are really very unlucky,” Xiao Ran commented.

“Where is the training manual of the ‘Celestial Varg Guards’?”

The Deputy Hall Master shook his head. “I don’t know!”

“Didn’t you guys do it?”

“Malevolent Earth previously accepted a mission from an employer. His target was the ‘Celestial Varg Guards’ manual. Then, his secret stronghold in the capital was wiped out in one go. It even turned into a lake. According to our investigation, all the clues pointed towards the Divine Sword Guards and the Sacred Martial Bureau.” The Deputy Hall Master elaborated with a strong feeling of resentment.

“If they hadn’t been destroyed, we wouldn’t have entered the capital city. I wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable state.”

“Did you send someone to kill me two nights ago?” Xiao Ran asked.

The Deputy Hall Master’s pupils constricted as he looked at him in disbelief. “You, you’re Xiao Ran?”

“Yeah.”

Whump!

Everything that the Deputy Hall Master could not understand before, he understood now in this instant.

It was no wonder that Malevolent Earth and the others had been wiped out in one go. It was no wonder that the subordinates he had sent had never returned. He had messed with the wrong guy.

At this moment,

he felt very aggrieved and thought that his luck was simply too unbelievably bad.

“Who hired you to steal the ‘Celestial Varg Guards’ manual?” Xiao Ran asked again.

“Hellfire Granny!”

“Where is she?”

“I think you killed her.”

It was only then that Xiao Ran recalled that there was indeed an ugly old woman with Malevolent Earth that night.

“Any other clues?”

“No more.” The Deputy Hall Master shook his head weakly.

With a clap of his right hand, the Empyrean Conflagration Holy Fire burst out from Xiao Ran’s hand and burned the Yama guy to ashes.

The Golden Tome of Creation flipped open to a random page and displayed four items. 850,000 Mastery points, 80 years worth of Martial Arts Evolution, 80 years of soul cultivation, Thunderfire Golden Essence Pill.

As expected from a martial arts warrior who was about to break through to Level 2 of the Profound Realm, the rewards reaped from his demise were generous.

He added the 850,000 Mastery points to the Apotropaic Divine Lightning.

After the attributes were refreshed,

Apotropaic Divine Lightning: Genesis

He was now 350 years away from advancing to the next step in the Martial Arts Evolution.

In terms of Spiritual Master Evolution, he was 140 years away from breaking through to Level 4 of the Earth Realm.

After consuming the Thunderfire Golden Essence Pill, he strengthened his physical body. Once he had fully digested its medicinal power, his physique alone was comparable to Level 6 of the Grand Master Realm. He could feel his body imbued with explosive power.

He cast his eyes around.

Several powerful auras could be detected heading his way, including a familiar aura. It was from Qin Fangzhen.

“Better leave this place first,” Xiao Ran muttered to himself.

The moment he vanished, Qin Fangzhen and some other men appeared on the scene.

He looked at the debris-strewn ground around him and the remnant Immense Righteous Energy and evil aura lingering there.

With a deep frown, Qin Fangzhen said, “Judging from this Immense Righteous Energy, it looks like a Great Scholar took action and dealt with the people from Yama.”

“Other than Old Gu, there are other Great Scholars who showed up?”

Qin Fangzhen shook his head. “We’ll discuss this again tomorrow. The most important thing now is to go after that wolf demon and kill it.”

The other men nodded and left quickly.

On the way,

Xiao Ran bumped into Little Zhou. Tailing him discreetly were two people from the Sacred Martial Bureau.

Seeing Xiao Ran, Little Zhou ran over. “Brother Xiao, it’s really not easy to locate you.”

“What happened?”

Little Zhou said excitedly, “There’s a clue! Just now, our Lord sent a message saying that he found an important trail. A Great Scholar from the Dragon Lake Institute is pursuing the wolf demon. Deputy Sword Master Qin and a few others are tracking the Deputy Hall Master of Yama. They suspect that he has something to do with the missing ‘Celestial Varg Guards’ manual and asked us to rush over immediately.”

“…” Xiao Ran was at a loss for words.

“Let’s go over quickly. We won’t be able to get a crumb of credit if we’re late,” Little Zhou said anxiously.

“There are two flies following us. Let’s get rid of them first,” Xiao Ran said.

Under Little Zhou’s puzzled gaze, Xiao Ran disappeared and reappeared in a flash in front of the two guys from the Sacred Martial Bureau. Under their stunned gazes, he knocked them out with a palm strike.

Little Zhou rushed over and was shocked and furious. “They’ve been following me?”

“Have more confidence in yourself, they thought you are worth it.”

In a rage, Little Zhou kicked them hard. After kicking, he still felt unappeased. “No! We have to teach them a lesson.”

He then ripped off their clothes and tied them together with their belts.

Clapping his hands, he finally felt satisfied. “Let’s see if they still dare to do this in future.”

Both men then left.

They rushed quickly to the courtyard of Yama’s hideout.

Apart from them, Li Heng and his men were there too.

“What took you so long?” Shen Yiming asked with a frown.

“My Lord, they’ve sent men to follow us,” Little Zhou complained unabashedly.

“Let’s note down this debt first. We’ll deal with them when we have the chance,” Shen Yiming said.

He pointed to the surrounding ruins.

‘Dig 3 feet down and see if you can find anything useful.’

The two of them separated and teamed up with the people from the Spiritual Divinity Bureau.

Li Heng also wanted a share. He waved his right hand and ordered, “You guys go too!”

Shen Yiming and Ling Qing’er had a tacit understanding and immediately stood in front of him.

“My dear Ling, if someone wants to steal the credit for our effort, what do we do?”

Ling Qing’er’s smile was radiant. “Beat him up!”

Without warning, they dashed towards Li Heng, flanking him on both sides.

“You guys are too much!” Li Heng was furious.

Not surprisingly, he was badly beaten up again. In the end, his subordinates had to carry him away from the scene.

As he was being carried off, he stared balefully at the ruined yard. “I’ll be back. The credit is mine. No one can take it from me!”

Right at this moment,

Little Zhou’s excited voice could be heard coming from the courtyard. “My lord, come over quickly. Brother Xiao and I have dug up some silver.”

Pooh!

“No…!” Li Heng was so incensed that he spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.