Chapter 1917: Malicious
Qin Guangyuan and Qin Yongde were roused from their suffering by the familiar voice, looking up in disbelief and calling out, "Aunt?”
“It’s me. You two have really suffered,” Qin Wanru replied; she couldn't help but wipe her eyes.
“Eldest cousin, second cousin…” Chu Huanzhao and Chu Youzhao murmured; they couldn't help but clutch the railing too. Their eyes became completely red.
“So it was Huanzhao and Youzhao… Who would have thought that you would see us in such a sorry state,” Qin Guangyuan said with a bitter smile, his expression forlorn.
“Cousins…” the young women sobbed.
Zu An ordered the jailer, “Open the cell!”
“That is against the rules…” the jailer said weakly.
Zu An didn’t say anything else and just calmly stared at him.
The jailer shivered and didn’t dare to say anything else. He took out a silver key and opened the door.
Qin Wanru’s group immediately rushed in to check their conditions. When they saw the two's broken legs, they didn’t know what to do in that moment. They panicked and couldn't help but sob.
Zu An squatted down by the two of them and said, “I failed to guard against this kind of thing. I ended up letting these two brothers suffer.”
Qin Yongde endured the pain and forced a smile, saying, “It doesn’t even have anything to do with you, so don’t worry about it too much. Our Qin clan has suffered even worse injuries on the battlefield. What's the big deal with just this? With our cultivation, we should be able to recover after some time… Ah, it hurts, it hurts, don’t press on them!”
Zu An retracted his hand and said, “The bones have just been broken. With the regenerative ability of a cultivator, you should have been able to recover with some good medicine. However, your condition is strange. Someone has imbued a sinister intent that continuously tears at your injuries. A normal recovery would be practically impossible.”
“Ahhh!” the Qin brothers cried out, and their faces became deathly pale.
Qin Wanru’s expression paled. She quickly said, “Our Brightmoon City has a divine physician. How about I invite him over? He will definitely be able to cure your injuries.” Even though that Ji Dengtu’s perversion was extremely annoying, for the sake of her nephews’ wounds, she still had to seek him out.
Jiang Luofu frowned slightly. She naturally guessed who she was talking about. After all, Ji Dengtu was her brother-in-law. She sighed when she thought about her big sister’s fate.
Zu An said, “There's no need to go to such trouble. I can cure it myself.”
Then, he pressed down on their knees and used the Heaven Devouring Sutra. The strange aura in their legs slowly began to be drawn out. His mastery over the Heaven Devouring Sutra had already reached a completely different level, to the point that it didn't injure their original energies at all. Soon after, strands of visible black energy left their knees, and all of it entered Zu An’s palm.
The others clicked their tongues in wonder. Chu Huanzhao was worried and asked, “Brother-in-law, will this black energy harm you?”
“Don’t worry. I’m fine,” Zu An said with a chuckle.
Huanzhao really is a considerate little cotton ball. She immediately worried about me in this kind of situation.
Now that the Heaven Devouring Sutra had merged with the Kun Peng skill, however, he could fully refine even the most vile things if he absorbed them.
The black energy soon became fainter and fainter. Eventually, it completely disappeared. Zu An thus retracted his hand and took out a bottle of ointment, applying it to the Qin brothers' knees. Then, Qin Wanru and the others quickly helped them bind up their wounds.
Qin Yongde and Qin Guangyuan were amazed. They remarked, “Huh? Even the pain has been greatly reduced! There’s no more of that bone-penetrating pain.”
Zu An chuckled, saying, “Don’t worry, that sinister energy has already been removed. Now, if you just recover normally, your legs should be just fine.”
“Ah Zu, thank you so much!” the two of them said seriously. They were about to bow to him, but he stopped them.
“We’re all one family, so what need is there for such formalities?” Zu An replied with a chuckle.
The Qin brothers’ expressions also eased a bit. They replied, “That’s right, we’re all one family.”
Little sister Chu really found a good husband.
The Qin clan had been a bit enraged when they heard of the matter and felt that she was a gorgeous flower stuck in a pile of cow dung. Now, they knew just how deeply mistaken they had been.
Jiang Luofu pressured the jailers who watched over this place into a corner, saying, “I clearly ordered all of you to watch over them. Why do I see them like this now?”
The jailers had looks of alarm as they protested, “Miss Jiang, there are many things petty soldiers like us cannot stop!” While speaking, their gazes couldn't help but dart over to the Ministry of Justice officials.
When Zu An saw that, he walked right up to Ye Ping and immediately struck his face a few times to wake him up. The other Ministry of Justice officials didn’t know the entire course of events, so it was still this vice minister who knew the story most clearly.
Ye Ping gradually woke up. He felt that his head was ringing for some reason, and only slowly came to his senses. He instantly erupted into rage, yelling, “Do you know what you are doing? You actually hit a court official! This is treason, a crime punishable by nine generations of execution!”
You have successfully trolled Ye Ping for +666 +666 +666…
Smack!
What he got in return was a loud and clear strike to the face.
“You still dare to hit me…”
You have successfully trolled Ye Ping for +444 +444 +444…
Smack!
Another slap.
“You dare…”
You have successfully trolled Ye Ping for +222 +222 +222…
Smack!
Another strike.
This time, Ye Ping finally closed his mouth.
Zu An was a bit dissatisfied.
What a contemptible individual. Why is he giving me fewer and fewer Rage points with each strike?
He had just used up all of his Rage points and had been hoping for a chance to get some more to buy some Marrow Cleansing Pills. When he thought of that, he raised his hand again.
Ye Ping’s entire body trembled. He said faintly through his swollen face, “Don’t hit me anymore… Just ask me anything you want to know…”
“Why did you do that to the Qin clan and Murong clan?” Zu An asked seriously.
Ye Ping hesitated. When he saw Zu An raise his palm again, he quickly replied, “This was someone else’s idea! I was merely carrying out an order.”
“Whose order was it?” Zu An shouted.
“King Dai, and also the Meng clan…” Ye Ping said quietly.
Zu An’s expression turned cold.
Could it be that those two felt wronged in the court session today and directed their rage toward the Qin and Murong clans?
“Did you also snap their legs? You really are vicious, even leaving behind that vicious scheme so they'd never recover,” Zu An said coldly.
“It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me…” Ye Ping protested as he hurriedly waved his hands.
Qin Guangyuan said, “He was the one who ordered someone to break our legs, but the one who did it was someone else. He was entirely wrapped in a black cloak so we couldn't see his face, and seemed to be an elder.”
The others looked at Ye Ping furiously, exclaiming, “Where is that black-cloaked man now?”
Ye Ping quickly waved his hands and said, “I was only taking care of this for someone else too! That black-cloaked man wasn’t one of my people, but rather King Dai’s subordinate. He left after completing the task, so I don’t know where he is now, either.”
Zu An’s eyes narrowed.
This King Dai really is extremely vicious.
Jiang Luofu gave him a worried look. In the past, he had killed King Jin because the other side had offended him. Was he planning to target King Dai now, too? If he killed two kings in succession, not even his identity as the libationer would be enough to hold off the pressure from both sides, right?
“You villain! You actually dare to give the order to break my cousin’s legs?!” Chu Huanzhao cried, unable to hold herself back. She took out the Wailing Whip and sent it down on Ye Ping.
“Ahhh!” Ye Ping immediately screamed like a stuck pig. He rolled on the ground in pain.
His companions all turned to look in his direction.
Isn’t Sir Ye going a bit far with his acting?
It’s just a young girl’s whip, how much could it hurt? Being whipped by such a pretty young girl like this is clearly a reward, no?
Suddenly, Chu Huanzhao gave the other Ministry of Justice officials a look. She didn’t feel satisfied and sent her whip lashing out again.
“Ahhhhh!”
Several miserable screams filled the air at the same time, and the officials all rolled across the ground. Now, they finally knew why Sir Ye had screamed like a pig just now.
Because it f*cking hurts, damn it!
Zu An smiled inwardly. The Wailing Whip was good at magnifying the pain one received. It wasn’t so easily endured.
Chu Huanzhao was still angry. She continued to lash out with her whip.
Qin Wanru felt that beating a Ministry of Justice official in public like this wasn’t too good, but when she saw how much the Qin brothers had suffered, she couldn't swallow down that resentment either.
At worst, we’ll just return to Brightmoon City and bring our three thousand Red Cloak Army troops here!
After he was whipped several times in a row, Ye Ping finally couldn't take it anymore. He quickly said, “Please don’t hit me anymore… I want to atone for my mistakes…”
“How?” Zu An asked as he stopped Chu Huanzhao.
“The black-cloaked man also went to the two state dukes. The two of you need to hurry and save them. You might just be able to salvage something,” Ye Ping said weakly.
“What?!”
The others were all shocked.
Right, since they even did this to the Qin clan’s third generation brothers, why would they let the Qin clan’s lords go?
They had been so preoccupied by Qin Guangyuan and Qin Yongde’s miserable conditions that they forgot about that. They all quickly ran back in the direction they had come from.
Qin Guangyuan and Qin Yongde tried to struggle to their feet, but they were stopped by Jiang Luofu, who said, “You two are injured, so don't move recklessly. Otherwise, you'll really become cripples. At that point, there really won’t be any hope for you to get your revenge.”
When they heard what she said, the two brothers finally sat down again. However, they still clenched their fists tightly, blood even coming out of their lips from biting too hard.
…
Soon after, the others hurried to the rooms where the Qin clan dukes were held. Their statuses were special, so they both had their own rooms.
Qin Wanru could see that her father’s limbs were still intact and he only had some old wounds from torture. She couldn't help but sigh in relief. It seemed that the two state dukes’ statuses were special, so the tortures didn’t dared to act recklessly. However, for some reason, her father seemed to have aged much more compared to before, and he seemed to have become skinnier too...
Zu An’s expression changed. He rushed straight in and grabbed Qin Zheng’s hand. He could only feel a weak pulse, as if it could disappear at any time. More importantly, he couldn't sense the slightest fluctuation of ki. Qin Zheng’s awe-imposing aura from when they had first met was nowhere to be seen anymore! His hair was grizzled, and his body had also become a bit shriveled, as if he were just another ordinary elder of the secular world who could pass at any time.
When he saw Qin Wanru’s confused expression, Zu An said gravely, “The state duke’s cultivation has been sucked dry. He has already become a cripple!”