“What? Zhou Bao has returned and he’s alive? Didn’t you say that Zhou Bao stirred up a lot of trouble in the Sea Area and was punished by the Powerful Divines there?”
At the fringes of the Wuyang Region where the Wang family’s territory lay, Wang Hua’s face was ash white. He slammed the table top and viciously eyed the four experts standing in front of him as if he was about to swallow them whole. “Now what? All of you, tell me, now what? That guy is crazy, just crazy! Now that he is back and knows that I have been spying on his land, he will definitely attack me!”
“Be calm. Just look at yourself! Are you behaving properly? You are a lord now and you have a status in court. You’re just a rank lower than that Zhou Bao. What’s there to be scared of?”
“Aunty, how can I not be scared!” Wang Hua looked up at Wang Yue-er who reprimanded him and his expression grew even more gloomy. “He is Zhou Bao. He dared to stir trouble in Mingyi School and even harmed the Elders! I can’t deal with that kind of person. I said before that we should only make a move once we have reliable news. You couldn’t be bothered to listen! Now he’s back and he’s coming for revenge. How can I not be scared?!”
“That will not solve the problem!” one of the four experts sitting across from Wang Hua said with a sigh. “We can’t avoid a misfortune. Who would have thought that Zhou Bao could have escaped from the chaos in the Sea Area!”
“Could that not have been foreseen? Could that not have been foreseen? Do you think you can pacify me with that excuse? Don’t forget that it was because of all of your confident vows that Zhou Bao would fall right into the trap that I decided to work with Kunlun Mountain. Look at what has happened now! Look…!”
“So Kunlun Mountain is also involved!”
Just when Wang Hua was raging, a humorous voice drifted to their ears from the door. Subsequently, Zhou Bao’s figure elegantly appeared in the house.
“Zhou Bao?!”
“Zhou Bao!”
“Zhou…!”
…
Time seemed to have frozen all movement. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Zhou Bao.
“It’s good that all of you are present here. That saves me the trouble of searching for each of you one by one!”
“What… what do you want to do?”
Wang Hua stood up and looked timidly at Zhou Bao as his body retreated subconsciously.
“Nothing much. I only just want to kill all of you!” Zhou Bao grinned sinisterly.
“Swish, Swish, Swish!”
As if pre-arranged, the four experts who hailed from Kunlun Mountain stood up in a flash. Wang Yuebai also stood up hastily. His gaze bore a trace of vigilance, and with a wave of his hands, he broke an eccentric Jade Talisman.
“Interesting!” Seeing the Jade Talisman crumble in Wang Yue-er’s hands, Zhou Bao’s eyes flashed as if he had seen something interesting. He reached out his hand and caressed it.
In the instant that Wang Yue-er crushed the Jade Talisman, a ray of green light instantly wrapped around Wang Yue-er. At the same time, there were also odd spatial vibrations surrounding the green light, as if it had opened a strange passageway.
But just as Zhou Bao reached out his hands, the green light froze immediately. The spatial vibrations also disappeared in a flash and the strange passageway had been cut off.
“Snap!”
The fragments of the Jade Talisman fell to the ground. Wang Yue-er stood astonished and eyed the smiling Zhou Bao in shock. “You… what do you want to do?”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Just as Wang Yue-er was speaking, a few sounds were heard. The four experts from Kunlun Mountain were slashed into pieces by a mysterious, formless Sword Qi. The fragments of their bodies fell to the floor and the smell of blood permeated the entire house.
“What do I want to do? Kill all of you of course!” Zhou Bao laughed coldly, eyeing Wang Yue’er’s forehead.
“Bang!”
Along with another faint sound, a layer of golden light appeared in front of Wang Yue-er with a tap of Zhou Bao’s fingers. But under the control of Zhou Bao’s fingers, the golden light was like a punctured balloon. A popping sound was heard and, subsequently, Wang Yue-er’s body was seen to be rigidly upright, trembling a little here and there.
“What… what do you want to do… you… you did what… no.. this… this has got nothing to do with me! It was not my idea, it was all theirs! They should be your targets, not me! Let me go, please, let me go!”
The scene was so odd that it shook Wang Hua to his bones. Upon facing Zhou Bao, he had already harbored hidden fears. And now that he had seen Zhou Bao’s true strength that he used to kill his protectors, the experts from Kunlun Mountain, without even moving, he almost collapsed. As he saw Zhou Bao approaching him, he pleaded incoherently.
“Hmph!” Zhou Bao had no interest in talking to him. With a gentle caress of his sleeves, Wang Hua immediately turned into a waft of bloody mist, diffusing into nothingness.
“I didn’t know that you had a rare treasure to protect you. However, its quality is nothing like a Pure Yang Celestial Device. How can it protect you from death?!” After killing Wang Hua, Zhou Bao then fixed his gaze on Wang Yue-er. He could not see through this woman. She seemed to carry a few Celestial Devices with her that deflected the tap of his fingers just now. But who could deflect Zhou Bao’s attack so easily?
After Zhou Bao’s monologue had ended, he watched Wang Yue-er’s body dissolve, as if by the wind, and turn into dust that disappeared from the reaches of the earth.
“So what if you were not directly involved? You’re the one who brought up the idea to spy on me and that was caused by your foolishness! Wang family, I murdered your family’s disciples and direct descendants, what reaction do you have? And Kunlun Mountain, previously I showed you mercy and now you have the guts to attack me?! You must be purely looking for death!”
Thinking about the four experts sent from Kunlun Mountain, Zhou Bao’s eyes flared with rage. Since he had already killed the Wang family, he might as well kill Kunlun Mountain also!
However, Zhou Bao was destined to be disappointed. When he reached Kunlun Mountain, he helplessly discovered that it had already been turned into a wasteland. Upon closer inspection, it was ruined only recently. It was as if it had anticipated Zhou Bao’s revenge and in response, it prepared itself by galvanizing all its residents to move away and to leave a barren land behind.
“Kunlun Master is outstanding. Decisive thoughts with efficient news sources. It seems that he had anticipated my revenge and took this step as a defensive measure. Hmph, I don’t believe that you can hide from me your entire life!”
Standing on the barren lands of Kunlun Mountain, Zhou Bao shouted.
Long live the Jin Dynasty for 3 years, 4 months!
The scene was peaceful. Nothing could be detected.
The news of the joint plot of a few sects to murder Ye Qingtian was naturally not known to the average martial arts practitioner. The average man also was not in the know. The only news that interested the people and was related to the killer Zhou Bao was this—after being imprisoned for 3 months, this killer once again went on a rampage and killed the Wang family’s Wang Hua and took Wang Hua’s land as his own.
Zhou Bao had also killed Wang Yue-er, which was sure to be of interest to the martial arts world.
Wang Yue-er was not only a direct descendant of the Wang family, she was also the first beauty in the martial arts world 20 years ago that attracted many handsome lads. Although 20 years had passed, Wang Yue-er’s beauty had not faded with age. Conversely, she had gained an aura of charisma. For Zhou Bao to kill such a beauty was such a terrible loss!
“What a vicious man! A vicious man that destroyed something so precious! This Zhou Bao is really vicious!”
“This Zhou Bao is a nut, a truly crazy man. He actually dared to do this, to kill the entire Wang family’s descendants with his own hands?! Does he take the Wang family to be nothing? The Wang family is a well-known family and one of the Jin Dynasty’s most powerful!”
“What nonsense! What well-known and powerful family? Don’t forget, Zhou Bao severely hurt the Wang family’s first master of martial arts three years ago. The Wang family didn’t have the guts to do anything then. For someone as talented as Zhou Bao, within 3 years, his capability would have improved by leaps and bounds! You think he’d still be scared of the Wang family? He dared to attack Mingyi School!”
“That’s true. Zhou Bao did attack Mingyi School single-handedly. Why would he care about the single Wang family? The Wang family has played with fire this time. Let’s see how they handle this matter!”
Over the following few months, the entire Jianghu was talking about Zhou Bao’s violent murder of the Wang family. Everyone was discussing how the Wang family would deal with him. Even if they could not win a fight against him, they had to at least make a fierce response.
Unexpectedly, the Wang family remained silent, extremely silent. They had no reaction, not even a fierce response. They acted as if nothing had happened. Their response was truly unsettling.
It was not only the Wang family that did not speak up. Everyone began to realize that only the people of low ranks discussed this matter. All high ranking officials and powerful families that lasted for millenniums did not make any response about this matter. Regardless of whether one was friend or foe of the Wang family, there was no response at all.
It was not normal. It was extremely abnormal.
The oddness of the lack of response added to the gossip among the people of Jianghu. This topic persisted among the people for many months before it died down and was replaced by another significant event in Jianghu.
Zhou Bao and the Wuyang Region also calmed down. They made no moves. In fact, Zhou Bao had no time to kill anyone else. He was busy cleaning the spoils of war brought back from the Five-dragon Regions.
The spoils of war were satisfying beyond measure.
For a practitioner, the best treasure one had would always be kept on them. In the underground palace of the Rolling Dragon Palace, Zhou Bao had killed 30 Demonic Immortals of the Dragon tribe and seized all of their treasures. Except for the old items that he returned to Ji Yeyue, he kept all of them for himself.
And these 30 Demonic Immortals from the Dragon tribe were the core support of Rolling Dragon King’s family. One of them was Rolling Dragon King’s most beloved Third Prince. Their treasures were bountiful, leaving Zhou Bao delighted with surprise.