According to an old saying, punches depended greatly on one’s age and strength. It was the same for swords.

In the past, nobody knew that Dao Shou of Liu Lang Dao was the brandy nosed old man who guarded the door of Yanta Academy. After today, this fact remained unchanged.

Shen Leng knew clearly that these people were bad and evil. They were people who would do anything for money. Hence, Shen Leng attacked them ruthlessly, without holding back at all. However, when his dagger landed on that elder, he did not just see that it was a life that was lost. He was also saw his unwillingness to accept his destiny.

The water bandits on Nanping River often said that if they did not have to worry about basic necessities, they would not want to be a bandit.

This was a bunch of bullsh*t. It was as nonsensical as it got.

Hence, Shen Leng saw that when the old man fell to the ground, there was a look of reluctance in his eyes. It was not something to feel any heartache over.

If a bad person did bad deeds because he was unwilling to accept his destiny, it did not mean that he was not a bad person.

There were still several remaining members of Liu Lang Dao – at least forty to fifty of them. They saw Dao Shou getting defeated, and held onto their daggers even tighter.

Shen Leng thought that they would fight to the very end. However, they did not. The assassins fell to their knees. These fellas who were willing to do anything for money held their daggers to their necks. Thereafter, a small portion of them slid the daggers across their necks. The rest of them trembled in fear. Someone from the group yelled and started running away. The rest of them followed suit.

Shen Leng saw that and did not try to stop them. It was uncertain what he was thinking about.

“Without Dao Shou, it brought upon the demise of Liu Lang Dao.”

One of the assassins that was laying in the puddle of blood struggled to lift his hand and tried to grab one of his comrades that was trying to escape. He muttered, “We made a vow in the past…”

If one broke a vow, naturally, they would not get struck by lightning. These thugs, who were willing to do all evil, had values that they held close to their hearts too. Some of them chose to keep them, and some of them chose to abandon them. This belief was loyalty and brotherhood.

When Shen Leng saw the corpses that fell to the ground, he was in a daze. Mr. Shen was right – the human heart was the most complicated thing in this world.

However, he knew that things were not over yet. He had to do something to make sure that after he left, anyone who thought of harming Meng Changan would be afraid and think twice. Hence, he found a mop in the warehouse and used it to write a couple of words with their blood on the ground.

Kill Meng Changan, kill Shen Leng.

Master Cha flipped back through the window. She stood next to him and saw those words. She frowned. “Inauspicious.”

Shen Leng grunted and wiped away those words.

If they wanted to kill Meng Changan, they had to die in the hands of Meng Changan first.

Master Cha could tell that Shen Leng was experiencing mixed feelings. In fact, it was the same for her. When the assassins killed themselves, they did not hesitate at all. It all happened very naturally. This was the difference between groups and individuals. If there was only one Liu Lang Dao assassin here, he might not necessarily have committed suicide. However, when one person did it, it made it easier for the rest to follow suit. If one person got up and ran, it would make it easier for the rest to run as well.

“Let’s go.”

Shen Leng reached out his hand. Master Cha placed her hand on his. Shen Leng realized that Master Cha’s hand was icy cold.

Today, Master Cha broke the rule against killing.

Deng Ji Restaurant.

At this timing, all the other customers of the restaurant had already left. The hall was empty. A few of the waiters that stood to one side were yawning. However, they did not dare to leave. That was because their boss was drinking tea on the second floor. Every day, their boss would sit on the second floor for an hour or so, before he went home on time. Everyone knew that their boss really respected his wife. But there were some people who commented that he was afraid of her.

Today was an exception. The boss was waiting for someone.

Meng Changan changed out into a fresh set of clothes. When he got back, he looked a lot better than before. However, when he walked, it looked slightly odd. After all, he was being stabbed hard. The doctor in the academy had applied some medication on his wound, and also dressed it well. Nonetheless, he was still in pain.

He smiled apologetically, and started to order some dishes.

Somebody passed through the hall and ran up to the second floor. Meng Changan turned around and looked. The person who ran up the stairs was someone who was skilled in martial arts. Even if he tried to make his footsteps heavier, he could not conceal it from Meng Changan.

On the second floor, a middle-aged man wearing a white robe lifted his head and looked at the young man who just entered. He shook his head slightly, “When will you ever learn to be calm?”

The person who went up was around twenty-something years old. He was a very energetic young man.

“Master, it’s done.”

He only said three words. He smiled very widely.

“It’s not worth being that happy over.”

The middle-aged man put down his cup of tea. “It’s not that we cannot touch the members of Liu Lang Dao. But rather, we can’t be too careless. Liu Lang Dao has no rules or bottom line, but we do. If the owner asks about it, it’ll be difficult for me to explain. After all, we are bounded by something.”

He did not explicitly spell out what it was.

The young man grunted. “Fortunately, someone started it.”

The middle-aged man replied, “Head back first. Tonight is destined to be a non-peaceful night. If I sit here a while more, those fellas would be rest assured. After all, they are helping us.”

The young man lamented, “The three of them are so lucky.”

The middle-aged man shook his head without saying anything.

After Shen Leng and Master Cha left the pier, they rushed straight to Deng Ji Restaurant. The massacre at the pier did not stop because of their departure…One of the assassins leaned against the wall and walked. He wanted to leave that area as soon as possible. Suddenly, he got slightly distracted and before he could snap out of it, two people decked in white stood in front of him and behind him respectively. They both stabbed him in the front and back concurrently.

Next to the platform at the pier, three assassins jumped into a small boat, preparing to leave. When they undid the rope, they heard footsteps. They lifted their heads and saw a row of people decked in white on the platform. It looked as though they were wearing mourning clothes. The sinister vibes and murderous intent filled the air. They were so scared that they went pale. Thereafter, arrows shot out and the three of them collapsed on the boat.

One of the assassins married a local woman. Their house was close to the pier. When he got to the door, he was thinking about how to explain to his wife and get them to leave Changan as soon as possible. Just as he placed his hand on the door, before he even pushed it, it opened by itself… When the assassin was in a daze, a dagger came stabbing from behind the door. It stabbed him in the heart.

When Shen Leng got to the entrance of Deng Ji Restaurant, the young man at the restaurant had already gone back to the warehouse by the pier. The men in white silently collected all the corpses and dumped them in the warehouse. The young man felt that it looked very disorderly, making it uncomfortable to look at. He felt very perturbed and decided to arrange the corpse nicely. It looked more pleasing to the eye.

“If they wanted to kill Meng Changan, they had to die in the hands of Meng Changan first?”

The young man read the words left behind by Shen Leng and realized that a part of it was already wiped off. He wondered if there was more to it, or did the person write incorrectly?

However, he liked the style of the young man who left behind those words. Young men probably think the same.

“Master Bai, they have all been killed.”

An assassin in white came over to say that. He was very respectful.

Everybody knew that apart from the secretive Head Master, the two scariest people within Liu Yun Hui were Black Eye and White Tooth. When this young man smiled, his white and neat teeth could be seen clearly. The ones that could inflict serious damage were probably his canine teeth.

“Take a chair over.”

White Tooth instructed, “I will wait here for a little while more. You may leave.”

The huge group of men in white evacuated in an orderly manner. It was so quiet that all they could hear were footsteps. As they departed, it seemed as though it would inflict a lot of hurt if they were to trample on someone’s chest.

Not long later, a group of people appeared at the pier. The leader was the third-in-command of Guan Tang Kou. A strong smell of blood came welcoming him from afar. When he opened the door of the warehouse, the young man in white sitting on the chair seemed to have fallen asleep. After Guan Tang Kou’s third-in-command saw him, he gritted his teeth. He turned around and left.

There were not many people in the triads that could make people leave upon seeing them. White Tooth was one of them.

Even if Guan Tang Kou’s third-in-command were to shatter his teeth, he would not have the guts to touch him. When he left, he started cursing. “F*ck that dude…that bunch of mad dogs must have accumulated a lot of money all these years. Liu Yun Hui refused to share a single cent. How are the rest supposed to play the game?”

Yanta Academy.

The headmaster of the academy, who had not shown his face in several years, went to receive a guest in the middle of the night. Even though the visitor was not of a status high enough that warranted his presence, it involved more than one to two people in the academy.

The visitor was Changan’s chief constable. He was a man with a square face, and an honest character. He was already in his forties. When he was younger, he must have been a very sharp person. Presently, he was slightly uncomfortable sitting right before the headmaster.

“You want to take him?” asked the headmaster.

The chief constable Xue Qian nodded his head. “He carried a human head and walked into Deng Ji Restaurant. So many people had witnessed it. In any case, we definitely have to investigate this…I know I should not be bothering you, but Meng Changan is a scholar in this academy…hence, I have no choice but to be presumptuous to make a trip here. Please do not hold it against me.”

The headmaster spoke in a strange tone. “Yes, he is a scholar here. After all, the academy still falls under the jurisdiction of the law.”

Xue Qian eased up a little. “Yes, that’s right. Thank you so much for your understanding. I am extremely grateful…”

The headmaster was silent for a few moments before he spoke, “From the looks of it, you don’t understand what I’m trying to say…the academy is still under the jurisdiction of the law. Nobody should challenge the dignified Great Ning laws. However, scholars of the academy are scholars of the academy. If they did well, they will be rewarded by the academy. If they made a mistake, they will be punished by the academy. Any crimes will not be tolerated. Murder within the academy…”

When Xue Qian heard heard these words, he immediately got up and bowed. “I’m sorry for being rude. I will head back first.”

The headmaster grunted. “Go back first. If the magistrate asks about it, repeat what I said to him.”

Xue Qian bent over as he walked backwards and left. After he stepped out of the door, he turned around. He thought to himself: The rumors were right about the headmaster. He is very unreasonable…

Fortunately, I’m of a low status. I’ll leave this matter to the magistrate to think of a way to handle it.

In Deng Ji Restaurant, Shen Leng was rather embarrassed when he sat down. “There are so many dishes here. If we don’t drink a little wine, it would be rather regretful.”

Meng Changan replied, “Why can’t you drink?”

Shen Leng said, “I’m referring to you.”

He happily took the pot of wine in front of Meng Changan and placed it right before himself. “Sir is extremely stingy. Every time he allows us to drink, it was only one cup. Now that I get to drink a lot more, I find it a little hard to get used to it.”

Meng Changan’s mouth twitched. He was injured, hence he could not drink.

But he was Meng Changan, and sitting across from him was Shen Leng. If it was someone else there, he would not drink if he was not in the mood for it. However, Shen Leng came all the way to look for him, how could he not drink at all?

After three rounds of wine, the two young and inexperienced young men were flushed. Shen Leng laughed and asked him why did he not thank him.

Meng Changan downed his last cup of wine and put down his cup against the table hard. “You are stupid Leng, my father took you home to ward evil for me. Why should I thank you?”

Master Cha was taken aback.

Meng Changan lowered his head and muttered, “In the future, I will ward off evil for you instead…”

Master Cha suddenly had an epiphany. The reason why stupid Leng asked him that question, was because in Shen Leng’s eyes, a ‘thank you’ was more than enough. But in the eyes of Meng Changan, saying ‘thank you’ was not enough at all.