Chapter 368: Chapter 139: Yue Mankong’s Promised "Benefit"... Eradicate Root and Branch! Plunder

Fang Xiaotian and the several clan elders stared wide-eyed, their breathing growing heavy.

Three-Striped Elixirs!

In Cyan Yang City, these were priceless treasures you couldn’t buy even if you had the money!

And Chu Fan had just given away two bottles of them!

They looked at Fang Qingqing in disbelief. They had never heard of her being so close to Chu Fan that he would personally deliver such a lavish gift!

After handing the items to Fang Qingqing, Chu Fan took out another bottle of Elixirs and offered it to Fang Xiaotian. "Clan Leader Fang, your cultivation has reached the Fifth Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm. This bottle of Barrier-Breaking Pills might help you glimpse the gate to Divine Techniques."

Fang Xiaotian accepted the Elixirs, his hands trembling slightly. He thanked him profusely, "This... this is far too precious! Young friend Chu Fan, my Fang Family is indebted to you for this immense favor!"

Chu Fan just smiled faintly and cupped his hands in a salute. "Everyone, take care."

With that, he turned and left, his figure quickly disappearing beyond the manor gates.

Only then did Fang Xiaotian fail to contain his excitement, turning to his daughter. "Qingqing, when did you become so friendly with Chu Fan? Why have I never heard you mention it?"

Fang Qingqing’s cheeks flushed red. She pressed her lips together, unsure how to explain.

Her guard, Shi Qingyi, quietly explained the reason...

It turned out that three years ago, after his parents died, the Chu Family’s fortunes declined. Chu Fan fell into poverty and had gone to the congee stand set up by the Fang Family outside North City several times to fill his stomach.

The Second Miss also often went to the congee stand to help out, which was how the two met.

Later, the Second Miss was tracking the Moon Worship Sect and joined forces with the "Ghost-faced Man" to fight their enemies on multiple occasions.

This culminated in the battle in the Blood Saber Sect’s valley, where they fought side-by-side to slay the powerful enemy, Huayang.

Now, everyone knew that the Ghost-faced Man was Chu Fan.

"Chu Fan came today, most likely to repay the Fang Family for the kindness of providing congee back then," Shi Qingyi concluded.

Hearing this, Fang Xiaotian and the clan elders fell silent.

They recalled the day the Nine Nether Spirit Locking Array was activated. Chu Fan had appeared like a God of Slaughter incarnate. Where his blade flashed, flesh and blood flew. In the end, he had shown no mercy, decapitating the County Magistrate Zhang Wenpeng with a single strike.

So decisive and ruthless... Who would have thought...

"A drop of kindness is repaid with a gushing spring. That must be describing a person like him," one of the clan elders sighed with emotion.

Only Shi Qingyi, watching her mistress’s lonely profile as she lowered her head and caressed the Demon-locking Chain, sighed silently in her heart.

’For Chu Fan, perhaps this is just repaying a debt of gratitude.’

’But for the Second Miss...’

The Patriarch and the clan elders didn’t know, but she saw it clearly.

Back when the Ghost-faced Man used the "Nine Blood Soul Blades" to cut down three masters from the Moon Worship Sect, and the entire city mistook him for a Blood Saber Sect killer, the Second Miss had ignored the gossip and the danger, going every day to wander and wait near the Blood Saber Sect’s headquarters.

Wasn’t it just because she wanted to see that masked figure one more time?

Unfortunately, few things in life go as one wishes; regrets are many.

Some people are destined to be mere passersby in each other’s lives—fated to meet, but not fated to be together.

In truth, the Second Miss was already brave enough.

To cast aside her maidenly reserve and wait day after day in that den of vipers, she had already summoned immense courage and taken the most difficult step.

It was just that Chu Fan... never knew.

And the Second Miss’s unspoken feelings were ultimately sealed away with his departure on this sun-drenched afternoon, transforming into a sigh no one would ever hear.

When you are young, you shouldn’t meet someone too stunning...

Shi Qingyi looked at Fang Qingqing and sighed again in her heart.

...

The night was hazy.

In the courtyard of the Chu Family ancestral home.

Chu Fan handed the deed to Lu Tao.

After arriving in this world, he had thought more than once about selling this ancestral home for some cultivation resources.

Who would have thought that now that he was leaving, the house was still in his possession.

The moon was bright, the stars were few.

Lu Tao remained silent the whole way, escorting Chu Fan to the foot of the city wall.

"This is far enough," Chu Fan said, stopping.

Lu Tao nodded. A thousand words were stuck in his chest, but they ultimately coalesced into two: "Take care."

Chu Fan gave a slight nod, then his figure flickered, and he rushed up the city wall as if walking on level ground.

The night wind sent his robes fluttering...

He stood on the battlements and glanced back at Lu Tao, who was looking up from below.

Then he took one last deep look at the city below—this Cyan Yang Ancient City, with its countless lights, which he had once fought and bled to protect.

Without another word, he turned around. His body, like a falling leaf, silently drifted down outside the city and melted into the boundless night.

Lu Tao kept his head raised, remaining motionless long after the figure had completely vanished.

Watching the departure of this young man who had appeared out of nowhere, completely changed his destiny, and saved the entire city’s populace, he was overwhelmed with mixed and complex feelings.

If he didn’t have an elderly mother to care for at home, he really wanted to cast everything aside and follow Chu Fan to the wider world of Qing Province.

Lu Tao subconsciously touched his chest, where several cool, white-jade porcelain bottles and a stack of silver notes were tucked against his skin.

The bottles contained Elixirs that Chu Fan and the others had given him after intercepting the remnants of the Zhang Family. Each one was worth a fortune—something a minor Constable like him might never earn in a lifetime of hard work.

In all his years as a Constable, he had always maintained his principles, never extorting the common people, and had lived a modest life.

He never expected to end up with such a windfall from the "inheritance" of a corrupt official like Zhang Wenpeng.

Some of the silver notes were left by Chu Fan for the neighbors who had helped him.

As a Constable, he couldn’t protect all the people in the city, but he could at least protect the neighbors who had helped Chu Fan.

Lu Tao also hadn’t expected Chu Fan to remember such things before leaving.

It seemed he hadn’t forgotten a single person who had helped him.

Even the Fishery, once controlled by the Blood Saber Sect, had changed hands and fallen to the Fang Family thanks to Chu Fan’s secret intervention.

The Fang Family, however, believed they had taken the Fishery through their own strength.

The young man who had fished on the Black Water River for two years had not, in the end, forgotten the fishermen on the river.

Lu Tao sighed, recalling the time he had gone to investigate after Liu Da and a few other ruffians were killed, and had discovered Chu Fan’s vigorous qi and blood.

Looking back on it now, it felt like a lifetime ago.

All of it felt like an unreal dream...

...

「Meanwhile, deep within the Yunlong Mountain Range.」

In a crude mountain stronghold built against a cliff, the scene was entirely different.

Torches were CRACKLING, illuminating faces that were coarse and full of malice.

"Heaven-Flipping Saber" and his band of brigands were gathered around, feasting on large chunks of meat and downing big bowls of wine, creating a constant ruckus.

"Damn it all!"

A burly man with a fleshy face slammed his wine bowl onto the wooden table, his face red with rage. "The news has spread all over Cyan Yang City! They’re saying we ambushed Zhang Wenpeng’s wife and kid and stole all the gold and silver he scraped together! We’ve been framed but good!"

"Exactly! What bastard did this and dared to let us take the fall!"

"Do they really think the name ’Heaven-Flipping Saber’ is just for show?"

The others joined in the cursing, the air thick with the smell of alcohol and anger.

At the head of the table, the bandit leader, "Heaven-Flipping Saber," did not join the shouting.

He was powerfully built, with a vicious scar across his face. At this moment, his expression was dark, his fingers rubbing his wine bowl, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.

He wasn’t particularly afraid of a siege from the Government Office. The last time the Cyan Yang Thousand Commander led troops into the mountains, hadn’t he led them on a wild goose chase through the forest like he was walking a dog, forcing them to retreat in disgrace?

But this time, he smelled a different kind of danger.

This matter involved the Demon Suppression Bureau.

The mere thought of the three words "Demon Suppression Bureau" felt like a huge stone pressing on Heaven-Flipping Saber’s heart, heavy and suffocating.

He had indeed done some dirty work for the Moon Worship Sect in secret, and he had also handled some filthy business for Zhang Wenpeng.

But when had the Moon Worship Sect or Zhang Wenpeng ever truly treated him as one of their own?

He was nothing more than a disposable pawn.

And now, because of this incident, his name, "Heaven-Flipping Saber," was even more famous in Cyan Yang City than Zhang Wenpeng’s had ever been.

Far from making him proud, this sent a chill down his spine—as if an invisible storm was brewing in the shadows, ready to tear him and his entire stronghold to shreds at any moment.

’Those big shots from the Demon Suppression Bureau are arrogant. They wouldn’t deign to notice a mountain bandit like me, let alone send someone specifically to deal with me.’

’But... what if people from the Demon Suppression Bureau really do come?’

The thought popped up, uncontrolled.

The corner of Heaven-Flipping Saber’s mouth twitched violently as his gaze shifted toward the wooden hut where he lived.

Inside the hut’s window, a woman in a black robe glanced at him before slowly walking past.

’If that’s really what happens...’

’Then there’s nothing for it but a bloody battle to see who’s harder to kill!’