Chapter 25: Chapter 22 "The Death of a Filial Son
"Give it up; you're done for, you little runt." Li Dian snarled as he pounced towards Qing Yu.
Qing Yu, with the approaching figure of Li Dian reflected in his eyes, remained utterly indifferent.
As the distance closed, and Li Dian was about to capture the mysterious youth, he was overjoyed.
"What's going on, my body isn't obeying me..." Li Dian felt his whole body stiffen, unable to move his hands or feet, only his fingers could still move slightly.
Li Dian fell in front of Qing Yu in a dog-eating-shit posture, his head hitting Qing Yu's boot. Following him, the Great Elder and the Second Elder also hit the ground.
"Since you guessed that I was the one who poisoned Li Qiuyan, did you not consider the dishes you ate tonight were all served by the junior waiter of this establishment? With my proficiency in poisoning, how could I miss the opportunity to add something to your meal?" Qing Yu squatted down, smiling as he looked at the unwilling expression in Li Dian's eyes.
Li Dian strained to turn his eyeballs to the right, staring at Qing Yu, "Who... exactly... are you?" His words came out with great difficulty.
However, Qing Yu did not answer directly but instead stood up, glanced around the tavern, and said, "You don't seem to be stupid; how did you fail to notice that the atmosphere in Yang City has been quite tense recently?"
He turned around, drew the Bishui Sword from behind the counter, and with the long sword in hand, walked towards the Great Elder and the Second Elder, who were lying not far from the dining table.
"The atmosphere in Yang City is not good lately. Why would you come to eat in the Zhang Family's tavern during such times? Did you really think the Zhang Family and the Li Family are on good terms?" As he spoke, Qing Yu held the Bishui Sword upside down and stabbed downwards, the tip piercing through the Second Elder's throat and nailing him to the ground.
The Great Elder, seeing his companion's eyes beside him lose their luster, cried out in fear, "Don't... Please... spare me..."
He wanted to beg for mercy, but due to the drug, even his tongue was not nimble, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence.
But Qing Yu did not immediately move to kill him; instead, he went out of his way to explain to Li Dian, "Yang City is too small to accommodate four families. The Li Family's business greatly overlaps with the Zhang Family's, so if one wants to take action, they naturally must first swallow up the Li Family to strengthen themselves."
"No... That's not right... You're... framing us." Li Dian was not foolish. Qing Yu's blunt words clearly had ill intentions.
"Oh my," Qing Yu exclaimed, not surprised, "You found out. But it doesn't matter, it's enough for you all to die in the Zhang Family's tavern."
Qing Yu stepped on the Great Elder's back, who, sensing his imminent demise, struggled desperately.
"Don't blame me; it's your own fault for standing in the way of the unification of Yang City."
After hearing this, the Great Elder seemed to realize something and struggled even more fiercely, his eyes brimming with deep-seated hatred and unwillingness. However, he ultimately died with his eyes wide open, clinging to his resentment.
Qing Yu looked at the traces that the Great Elder thought he had hidden well under the side table of the dining table, showing a satisfied smile. After much ado, he had perfectly adhered to the principle of a villain's penchant for monologuing, all for this bit of evidence.
"Well, it's your turn to die now."
Having achieved his goal, Qing Yu did not wish to waste more words and cleanly finished off Li Dian.
"Despicable and shameless poisoning, with malicious intent to incite discord. Rewarding the host with 100 Villain Points." The system notification rang in his ear, its content as unpleasant as ever, but Qing Yu was used to it. After all, every time he heard such notifications, it meant Villain Points were credited to his account. Qing Yu was more than happy to hear them; let the unpleasantness come even more fiercely.
"100 Villain Points, not bad at all. Along with the 150 points for giving Li Qiuyan the Three Corpses Brain God Pill, and the 100 points for providing strategies and poison to Li Xin, that's a total of 350 Villain Points."
"Should I save up the Villain Points and aim for the Intermediate Lottery, or should I go for the Basic Lottery now..."
"Never mind, I have the Exorcism Swordsmanship to accelerate; my moves can turn the rotten into the miraculous, so I'm not lacking techniques, and my Inner Strength doesn't need replacing. Better to save up for the Intermediate Lottery."
Qing Yu walked out of the tavern and disappeared into the vast night.
Li Pingsheng put down the teacup in his hand and looked toward his eldest son, Li Qiusheng, who was entering from outside, and said, "How is the investigation going?"
Li Qiusheng's eyes were bloodshot, filled with veins like a furious beast ready to choose its prey at any moment. The murder of his mother and younger brother had clearly deeply affected him. His voice hoarse, he said, "I've already interrogated the house servants who accompanied Qiu Yan on his trip. Qiu Yan sneaked out last night and went to Chun Gui Pavilion to compete with the second son of the Zhang family to see who had better stamina. He took an aphrodisiac he got from the pimp there."
"Didn't I ground him? Who let him out?" Li Pingsheng slammed his hand on the armrest of the Grandmaster Chair.
The day before yesterday, Li Qiuyan, on his way back to the Li Family, happened to run into Li Xin's mother, who was just leaving the Li family house to look for Li Xin. He casually kicked her. Unfortunately, that kick caused Li Xin's mother's old ailment to flare up again, and she died. To suppress the matter, Li Pingsheng had forbidden his always outspoken third son from leaving the house that night.
"It was... mother..." Li Qiusheng stammered out.
Li Pingsheng wanted to say something, but though the words reached his throat, he couldn't bring himself to speak for a long time. Although he had never believed in karmic retribution in his life, at that moment, he felt a sense of the cycle of cause and effect.
Li Qiusheng felt the same.
The two of them remained silent for a long time.
After a while, Li Qiusheng broke the silence, "The three members of the Iron Saber Association who came to pay their respects yesterday were killed last night at a bar owned by the Zhang family."
"The three who dressed in sackcloth and performed mourning rites for Li Dian yesterday?" Li Pingsheng would not forget those three fools who caused trouble. With such a disgrace occurring in the Li family, Li Pingsheng had intended to keep the matter under wraps, handle it quietly, and after some time, pretend it was due to a contagious disease to secretly hold the funeral rites. However, the very next day, the three from the Li Dian family showed up in mourning attire, wailing all the way to the Li family and only leaving after kneeling there until evening.
Now, everyone in Yang City knew that the Li family had lost its matriarch and the third young master in one night, and all sorts of rumors were swirling outside.
Furious, Li Pingsheng had those chatterbox maids and house servants who spread the news beaten to death with rods after Li Dian and the others left.
If Li Dian and his group hadn't died last night, they wouldn't have survived many more days; Li Pingsheng had no intention of letting them off.
"There were no signs of struggle at the scene. The three of them were simply poisoned and then someone pierced through their throats with a long sword," Li Qiusheng continued.
"Are there any clues?"
"Next to the leg of the table near one of the bodies, an 'Mian' character was found carved into it. It seemed to be etched by the victim's fingernails."
"'Mian,' Song?" Li Pingsheng immediately thought of the Song Family of the City Lord Mansion, his expression growing grave.
"It's a possibility. Of course, it could also be the Zhang family trying to cover up their crime by framing the Song family. The tavern's owner was also found dead in a private room on the second floor of the bar."
"Could the Sun Family be involved?" Li Pingsheng thought of the Sun Family.
"The likelihood is small. The Sun Family's several strongholds outside the city have also been swept clean recently; no one survived," Li Qiusheng replied.
Li Pingsheng's expression became even more somber, "It seems that someone wants to unify Yang City and has started to make their move."
"This, could it really be the Song..." Li Qiusheng's first thought was of the most powerful Song Family.
Li Pingsheng cut him off, "Continue to investigate. Don't jump to conclusions just yet."
"Yes," Li Qiusheng bowed, "I shall take my leave."
As he reached the door, about to leave, Li Pingsheng's voice came from behind, hauntingly, "Look into Li Xin."
Li Qiusheng's eyes sharpened, and he walked out the door without a word.
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