#113 - Why must Xu Ming die? (4000 words)

Watching that妖 woman fly away, Xu Ming did not chase after her.

This doesn't mean that Xu Ming was so captivated by this妖 woman that he couldn't bear to chase after her and kill her.

It was because there wasn't enough time.

The Dao Pattern Eye consumed too much of his physical strength. If he chased after her and failed to kill her, and then he collapsed from exhaustion, only to be killed by her in return, that would be a joke.

"Alas, my cultivation realm is still not high enough."

Xu Ming deactivated his Dao Pattern Eye, panting heavily as he sat down to the side, sweat constantly pouring from his forehead.

If his cultivation realm was high enough, if he had enough spiritual power and physical strength to activate both the Dao Pattern Eye and Blood Qi Berserk simultaneously, even if it was only for a few minutes, he couldn't even imagine the explosive power that would be generated during those few minutes.

He could have even taken墨竹儿 by surprise and killed her just now.

Unfortunately, all of this was just wishful thinking. He was currently not strong enough to support two buffs that consumed so much physical strength.

Xu Ming fed himself a Qi Replenishing Pill, recovering slightly, and then headed to the county government office.

The Li family and the Western Regions Black Lotus Sect were definitely related. Perhaps the reason Yu Ping'an didn't seek revenge on the Li family was because of the Western Regions Black Lotus Sect.

The Western Regions Black Lotus Sect might have some weakness of Yu Ping'an's.

He needed to tell Xu Pangda about this matter and write a few letters to Wu Du.

As for what kind of reaction Yu Ping'an would have after seeing this letter, he didn't know.

Returning to the county government office, Xu Ming went directly into Xu Pangda's study.

Although it was already late at night, a candle was still lit in the study, its light flickering on the figure inside the room.

Xu Pangda was still looking at the evidence files he had collected these days, trying to bring down the four great families of Baihe County.

Watching everything Xu Pangda had done these days, Xu Ming felt quite gratified.

Most officials, when they first enter the officialdom, want to serve the people wholeheartedly and bring benefits to the area, so they are very resentful of evil.

However, as time passes, as they delve deeper into the officialdom and encounter various difficulties, some people become increasingly disappointed with the officialdom, while others are eroded by sugar-coated bullets, gradually losing their original intentions.

And now, Xu Pangda, under such circumstances, had persisted for almost a month without showing any signs of giving up, which was already a remarkable thing.

Because the previous few任 had given up and resigned themselves to fate, Xu Pangda already had enough reasons to convince himself to do the same.

But he didn't use that reason.

"Fifth Brother, what's wrong with you?" Xu Pangda was startled when he saw Xu Ming.

Xu Ming's chest was torn, his lips were stained with blood, and his face was pale, making him look as if he had been drained by a fox妖.

"It's nothing. I was just walking along late at night when someone tried to kill me," Xu Ming said, drinking a large pot of tea and sitting down in a chair.

"? ? ?" Xu Pangda suspected he had misheard. "Someone tried to kill you? Did they know who you were?"

Xu Ming smiled. "Of course they knew. Or rather, it was because they knew who I was that they wanted to kill me."

Xu Pangda stood up and slammed the table heavily. "This is outrageous! Within the territory of Wu! And in a town! Someone actually dared to kill a court official?!"

"The person who tried to kill me was the eldest young master of the Li family," Xu Ming said with regret in his voice. "Originally, I was thinking of sparing his life and then using him to uproot the Li family and even the other three powerful families of Baihe County.

But I was too naive.

Since the other party dared to kill me, they would naturally not leave any evidence. How could they allow me to capture someone alive?

When that eldest young master of the Li family was almost captured alive, he directly exploded into a cloud of blood mist, not even leaving a fragment of clothing behind."

Xu Pangda frowned. "There must be a mastermind behind this, otherwise the Li family wouldn't have such胆子."

Xu Ming nodded. "The mastermind is the Black Lotus Sect. I encountered that圣女 of the Black Lotus Sect. She wanted my life."

"Black Lotus Sect?" Xu Pangda was even more confused. "Fifth Brother, when did you have a feud with the Black Lotus Sect?"

"I don't know when I had a feud with the Black Lotus Sect," Xu Ming shook his head helplessly. "Could it be that during those years in the Blood Floating Pagoda, I killed some members of the Black Lotus Sect?"

"Our Wu country has always severely cracked down on the Black Lotus Sect. There are many people who have killed Black Lotus Sect members, but to be so valued by the Black Lotus Sect, to the point where even the圣女 comes to kill you, is probably a first."

Xu Pangda looked at his younger brother.

"But it's good that you're okay, Fifth Brother. You should go back to Wu Du as soon as possible. I'm worried that the Black Lotus Sect will continue to be unfavorable to you. This time, the Black Lotus Sect underestimated you. Next time, they'll probably send some长老 over."

"I'm not worried about that."

Xu Ming thought for a moment.

"I have the jade pendant given by His Majesty. If any cultivator in the Golden Core Realm attacks me, the mountain and river luck contained in the jade pendant will activate and save my life, and the mountain and river luck will lock onto the other party.

I'll wait until I've used this life-saving charm before considering it. I don't want to go back to Wu Du in such a disheveled state.

In short, this is my business, Third Brother, you don't need to worry about it."

Hearing what Xu Ming said, although Xu Pangda still wanted to persuade him, he finally decided against it.

His fifth brother was not the kind of reckless person, not to mention the years he spent training in the Blood Floating Pagoda, experiencing countless life-and-death situations. He trusted his fifth brother's decision.

"How is Third Brother doing now? Is there any progress on those cases today?" Xu Ming changed the subject.

Xu Pangda shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"No.

Currently, half of those who accused the four families of Baihe County have withdrawn their accusations.

Even for those who have not withdrawn their accusations, I can't find any evidence at all.

Even besides the parties involved, there are no other witnesses.

The people under me are still being insincere and disobedient.

I really want to take a sword and kill them all!"

Xu Pangda's eyes, red from working day and night, were very tired.

"Actually, I have a method," Xu Ming said with a smile.

"Oh?" Xu Pangda sat up straight immediately.

"After I rest for a few days, I'll go to the homes of those four powerful families, and then..."

Xu Ming told Xu Pangda the idea he had previously told Fang Ling.

At first, when Xu Pangda heard it, he thought Xu Ming really had a good plan, but the more he listened, the worse Xu Pangda's expression became.

"Absolutely not! Absolutely not!" Xu Pangda said to Xu Ming, "Fifth Brother, not to mention whether your strength is enough to really set foot in these four powerful families, do you know what kind of criticism you will face from the court if you do this?"

Fifth Brother wanted to use the special privileges given by His Majesty to first kill and then report to the four powerful families of Baihe County, first disrupting these four powerful families, and then collecting evidence.

Admittedly, if this method was really used, it might be possible to break the situation, because once the backbone of the four powerful families died, the network of relationships of these four powerful families would be directly cut off, everyone would be frightened, and those who were threatened by these four powerful families would be more confident to stand up.

Admittedly, Fifth Brother has the jade pendant given by His Majesty and the right to kill first and report later.

But the problem is that the Shangfang宝剑 is only the Shangfang宝剑 when it is not drawn. If it is really drawn, the backlash against the sword holder is also extremely great.

At that time, those courtiers in the court will take the opportunity to attack Fifth Brother in any way, and I wouldn't be surprised.

After all, other people want to be the驸马爷, or want to be relatives of the驸马爷啊.

"Third Brother, I have made up my mind, so don't try to persuade me. If we continue to drag on like this, I will accompany Third Brother in this Baihe County until your term ends, and there will be no progress.

And those common people are indeed very pitiful.

It would be better if I hadn't seen them, but if I have seen them, I want to solve their problems.

Cultivators pay attention to a clear mind, but our generation of martial artists is the same.

If I don't even dare to do these things, wouldn't I be timid and afraid to throw punches in the future? How can martial arts continue?"

Xu Ming's tone was very serious, and he sounded extremely righteous.

In fact, Xu Ming had a small reason, which was to see if he could get rid of the Wu Dynasty court at all, or to make the Wu Emperor give up the idea of marrying Wu Yanhai to him.

Now the Wu Emperor is indeed treating him well, and has even betrothed his daughter to him. If he directly leaves the Wu country and goes to the world, he would feel a little bad.

So he simply deliberately courted death appropriately, made himself have some stains, and then was attacked by courtiers, or even made himself a commoner.

Or rather, he would court death to make the Wu Emperor no longer want him to marry Wu Yanhai.

Not marrying Wu Yanhai is the best result.

This doesn't mean that he hates Wu Yanhai.

Because working in the court will not affect his lifespan, and he can also rely on the country's machinery to obtain a lot of cultivation resources.

For him, the Wu country is a large sect, and relying on a large sect can always get a lot of benefits.

However, if he continues to stay in the Wu country.

Next time, the Wu Emperor will definitely bestow marriage again, and if he refuses again, it will really not be good.

One refusal to marry is to realize his ambitions, and two refusals to marry is to disrespect people.

How should he put it, he just doesn't want to get married so early. When the time comes, he will have a son and a daughter, how can he still be free?

In simple two words, it is "fear of marriage."

"Fifth Brother... you..."

Looking at Xu Ming's firm eyes, Xu Pangda took a deep breath, stood up, and bowed to Xu Ming.

"Fifth Brother, on behalf of the wronged people of Baihe County, I first express my gratitude to you! Please rest assured, Fifth Brother! If the imperial court blames you, it will have to get past your Third Brother first! Your Third Brother will risk his life to find evidence of the four tyrannical families in Baihe Town!"

Looking at his Third Brother's appearance, Xu Ming was also stunned for a moment.

Xu Ming felt that his Third Brother seemed to have imagined something.

In his Third Brother's mind, his image might have already become a "selfless, people-oriented" glorious and great figure.

Perhaps his "disregarding himself and advancing bravely" had stirred up his Third Brother's passion, strengthening his belief that he would fight to the end for the people at all costs.

"Third Brother, there's really no need to do this," Xu Ming cupped his hands in return, a little worried that Xu Pangda would do something foolish!

"No!" Xu Pangda's eyes were firm, "Fifth Brother, your Third Brother will advance and retreat with you!"

After flying away from Baihe County, Mo Zhu'er arrived at a mountain peak in the suburbs.

Mo Zhu'er walked to a large rock, took out a jade pendant, and placed it in the groove next to the stone.

In the next moment, a crack opened in the boulder in front of Mo Zhu'er, and a cave appeared.

Mo Zhu'er walked into the cave, and torches illuminated the entire cave, turning it red.

"Welcome, Holy Maiden."

Deep in the cave, disciples of the Black Lotus Sect stood guard on both sides of the cave.

Mo Zhu'er ignored them and walked straight into her stone room.

The door closed, and Mo Zhu'er set up a barrier in the room, then took out a black stone and placed it in the central magic circle.

As Mo Zhu'er pinched her fingers in a magic seal, chanting obscure and difficult-to-understand incantations, black lotus flowers bloomed from the stone.

Suddenly, the lotus dissipated, forming a phantom of an old man.

"Disciple greets Master," Mo Zhu'er knelt on one knee, respectfully saluting.

The old man's eyes stared at Mo Zhu'er: "Was the mission completed?"

Mo Zhu'er raised her head: "The remaining ten pairs of virgin boys and girls will be sent to the Black Lotus Sect's headquarters in three days."

The old man shook his head: "What this master is talking about is not these things."

The old man stared at his disciple: "Xu Ming's life, Fang Ling's heart, have you obtained them?"

"Reporting to Master, this disciple was just about to report this matter to Master," Mo Zhu'er said in a deep voice.

"Oh? Speak."

"Although Xu Ming is a Heroic Soul Realm martial artist, his physical strength is extraordinary, far surpassing the martial artists this disciple has killed before, and he is also a sword cultivator.

Although from the perspective of spiritual power, he is only a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, the sharpness of his sword energy is probably unmatched even by ordinary Cave Heaven Realm sword cultivators.

Moreover, his eyes are a bit strange."

"Strange? How strange?" the Black Lotus Sect Leader asked.

"Xu Ming's eyes can display an obscure and difficult-to-understand rune. I don't know if it's a problem with Xu Ming's eyes, or if Xu Ming knows a spell that this disciple is unaware of. This disciple's illusion has no effect on Xu Ming," Mo Zhu'er said truthfully.

"." The Black Lotus Sect Leader's Dharma image fell into silence, as if pondering something.

"It seems that that Xu Ming is more interesting than we thought," After a long time, the Black Lotus Sect Leader said with a smile, "What? You don't have the confidence to kill him?"

Mo Zhu'er lowered her head: "This disciple can't take him down for the time being. To be on the safe side, this disciple left first and will discuss it later, but this disciple is still confident in killing him."

The Black Lotus Sect Leader carried his hands behind his back: "Disciple, this master is very relieved with you. The task of assassinating Xu Ming is entrusted to you. Don't let this master down."

"This disciple understands," Mo Zhu'er nodded in salute, "It's just that this disciple has a question. Xu Ming is indeed a genius, but why must Xu Ming die?"

"You don't need to understand," The Black Lotus Sect Leader's projection became increasingly dim. As the Black Lotus Sect Leader's figure disappeared, the last words echoed throughout the room, "Since someone is paying a high price for his life, then we must satisfy them."

Mo Zhu'er lowered her eyes slightly: "Understood."