Luo Bingfeng? This familiar name appearing at such a juncture felt somewhat odd, and it finally caught Qianye’s attention. “Luo Beingfeng is your… third uncle’s good friend?”

“Yes, they were more or less the same age, and he taught third-uncle most of his secret arts.”

Qianye asked, “Was the person they saved a woman?”

“Yes, someone called Nan. What, you know her?”

“What happened afterward? What about your cousin?”

Zhang Xuance’s expression dimmed down. “My cousin’s talents were not below my third uncle’s at first, but after his death, she vowed to avenge him by killing that giant beast herself. She cultivated day and night, but one day, an accident destroyed one of her origin vortices and damaged her foundations.”

Qianye felt emotional after hearing this. Since the founding ancestor decided the human cultivation system, almost every cultivation art was built upon this path, the core of which were the nine origin nodes. These nine nodes, vortices, and crystals were condensed from nothingness and acted as pillars for all secret arts.

With one of them damaged, the eight remaining ones would never be able to push her to the next level. This also meant that Zhang Xuance’s cousin would never become a divine champion even if she could cultivate the remaining eight to perfection and reach Qianye’s level. A ceiling had been placed over her accomplishments for this lifetime.

A genius had fallen just like that.

On that topic, everything had happened because of Luo Bingfeng’s adventure. Nan Nan was saved, and she stayed with Luo Bingfeng thereafter. Meanwhile, Zhang Buzhou’s hopes of bloodline succession were forever severed. Even a weak-minded fellow like Zhang Xuance was being treated like a treasure right now. It was impossible for Zhang Buzhou not to feel any pain.

After hearing this, Qianye gained a rough understanding of why Rui Xiang had a sword with Zhang Buzhou’s origin power back then.

It turned out this heavenly monarch hadn’t forgotten any of that.

At the thought of this, Qianye’s impression of Zhang Buzhou fell once more. He glanced down at Zhang Xuance, asking, “How much longer does Heavenly Monarch Zhang need to remain in isolation?”

Zhang Xuance could not understand this question. “How should I know?”

“Where is Heavenly Monarch Zhang undergoing isolated cultivation?”

The young man inhaled deeply after hearing this question. The malicious intent within these words struck him square in the face.

“Y-You… don’t tell me…” Zhang Xuance stammered.

Qianye broke into a laugh. “What? Look at how frightened you are.”

Zhang Xuance was both embarrassed and furious. “I know you’re extremely bold, but the day Heavenly Monarch Zhang comes out of isolation is the day you die.”

“But he’s not out yet.” Qianye’s indifferent reply caused the man to choke up.

Qianye kneaded his temples gently, saying, “Enough, I don’t have time for idle chatter. Shut up if you don’t want to return with limbs missing.”

“I…” Zhang Xuance didn’t know how to react because he had never encountered something like this since birth.

“I can also help you if you want to die.”

This time, Zhang Xuance noticed the faint killing intent in Qianye’s voice. Chilled, he couldn’t help but curse inwardly, but the words “this madman” never escaped his lips.

Qianye glanced down at the silent crowd. “Has the rebellion been quelled?”

Zhang Xuance’s expression changed drastically. He really wanted to say “you’re the rebel!” but ultimately couldn’t find the courage.

A Dark Flame mercenary head stepped forward. “Most of the fights have concluded. Some resistance still remains in certain corners, but they’ve been surrounded as well. None of them will escape!”

Qianye nodded. “Still resisting, huh? They think they have Zhang Buzhou to rely on, so I won’t dare to kill them. Relay my order, leave no one alive.”

“Yes!” The mercenary head left in large strides.

Qianye’s eyes landed on the merchant group to the left of him. He said to one of the managers Song Zining had left behind, “This Young Master Zhang claims that your groups spent a good deal of effort when he arrived in Southern Blue. Not only did you offer money, but you have also helped him suppress the dissenters. Is that right?”

The major merchant groups immediately became frightened.

Song Zining’s manager replied, “That was indeed the case. Those who fielded troops include Manager Yu Cu of Myriad Gold Group, Manager Wang Fen of Boundary Group… and those who offered money include Manager Xun Si of Alloy Shield…”

The man listed over a dozen managers in one breath.

Someone could no longer resist the urge to jump out and roar, “Song Mingxi, you were the first to surrender. What gives you the right to talk about us?”

Song Mingxi replied calmly, “I surrendered on the seventh young master’s orders, how can I be the same as you people? Besides, we’re merely craftsmen who can’t fight or kill.”

These words affected all the managers here. Everyone felt that this person was rather shameless.

A few of the managers felt that the situation wasn’t quite right. They knelt down hurriedly, saying, “Sire, the situation dictated our actions back then, we had no choice! Please check clearly!”

Qianye’s reply was rather calm. “This Young Master Zhang said our Dark Flame isn’t well trained, that there were no more than a handful of good people. Well, a handful is still a handful. Which of you has helped this young master judge things?”

The managers were drenched in cold sweat.

Noticing that things weren’t going well, one of them stood up and said, “Sire Qianye, there were some misunderstandings in the past. Since you’re here, things will naturally go back to the past. All the merchant groups, including our Myriad Gold Group, will compensate you for your loss.”

“Myriad Gold, huh? So you’re Yu Cu?” There was no expression on Qianye’s face.

“Yes, that’s me.” Yu Cu squeezed out a smile, saying, “Our humble group’s director happens to be my brother-in-law.”

Qianye paid him no heed as he issued the order, “Kill the managers of all the groups that have contributed military power and confiscate their properties.”

“You! You’re mad! If you dare kill me, Myriad Gold Group won’t let you go!” Shocked out of his wits, Yu Cu shouted with a stomp.

“Myriad Gold Group…” Qianye said after some thought. “Keep him in his manager’s uniform and hang him outside the city.”

Many people were already drenched in cold sweat, but now, they were almost dripping. Qianye had made it clear that he was going to shed all pretenses of cordiality with the big merchant groups. For all the other managers at the scene, Yu Cu was a clear example of their fate.

“We’ll fight it out with this madman!” someone roared.

However, he hadn’t even finished speaking when a light flickered before his eyes. A beam of green light spun around his body and cut off all of his hands and legs before slowly pulling away.

Qianye slashed at the speed of lightning but sheathed his blade in a rather leisurely manner. The upgraded East Peak was indeed easy to use, and every movement of the blade radiance felt as though he was moving his arm or finger. The manager only realized what had happened after the sword light had drawn away. He started screaming.

“How do you want to fight it out with me now?” Qianye mocked the man before turning toward the ashen-faced managers. “You’ll have an intact corpse if you surrender peacefully, and the other people from your group will also survive. Only this kind of fate awaits those who resist, and we’ll investigate who in your group participated in the rebellion.”

A manager pointed at Qianye with a trembling finger. “Y-You! You’re destroying Southern Blue’s workshop system! Sire Zining would never do something like this.”

“Zining is not here now,” Qianye replied indifferently. “Myriad Gold isn’t the only group we can do business with, the same goes for every other group. It’s fine even if the workshop system is affected. If we can build up something before, why can’t we build it up again later? Compared to present profits, I’d rather everyone realizes that I will cleave off the hands of people who try to reach for my belongings.”

The merchant managers turned quiet out of fear. Qianye didn’t even give Zhang Buzhou any face, as proved by how badly beaten Zhang Xuance was. Who among these merchants could have a higher status than him?

“As for those who contributed money…” Qianye pondered for a while, “we’ll let them off this once provided they pay the same amount.”

Many of the grimacing managers heaved a sigh of relief.

Next up was the handling of other minor affairs related to the rebellion. Qianye left all of this to Song Zining’s men and returned to his residence with Zhuji.

His courtyard had been thoughtfully remodeled into Zhang Xuance’s residence. One had to admit that the place was far better now than when Qianye had left it.

It was just that Qianye saw several naked women when he opened the courtyard doors. It would seem this young master was no small enthusiast in this regard.

Female mercenaries had to struggle constantly between life and death, so most of them had little interest in sexual matters. It wasn’t easy to tell whether these ladies were forced or willing, and Qianye wasn’t about to check them one by one, either. He simply ordered his men to take these girls away.

After closing the courtyard doors, the impatient Little Zhuji began running around the place. She looked and touched things everywhere, curious about everything she saw. From time to time, she would exclaim loudly.

“This statue is interesting!”

“This drawing looks awesome, I think we can exchange it for some good food.”

“This chair is so comfy…”

“What a big bed!!!”

Unable to endure it any longer, Qianye called out, “Zhuji!”

The little fellow appeared before Qianye with a swoosh and stood there obediently. This surprised Qianye a bit. He carefully touched her head, saying, “What’s wrong?”

Little Zhuji said poutily, “I’m scared.”

“Of what?” Qianye’s eyes turned blue as he scanned the surroundings for hidden experts.

“You.”

The little fellow's words almost caused Qianye to stumble. Sighing softly, he looked into the girl’s bright eyes. “Why are you scared of me?”

“I’m afraid that you’ll get angry and eat me.”

Qianye didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He rubbed her head hard, saying, “You can run if I’m going to eat you.”

“I won’t be able to escape, I can’t defeat you in battle, either. A-And, I don’t dare attack you…”

She really treated him as a father, but also as a natural enemy.

Qianye felt rather distressed.

At this moment, a voice arrived from outside the courtyard. “Sire Qianye, the City Lord wishes to see you.”

Qianye’s expression turned cold. “Let him wait there.”

Qianye never realized that it was only in front of Little Zhuji that he would reveal his gentle side.