Chapter 90

Zhao Ning’s lips curled up as he said mockingly, “You only realized now?”

“You…” Little Zhou was about to explode and he drew his sapphire light sword to fight him.

Xiao Ran pressed his palm on his shoulder and met his puzzled gaze. “Let this be a lesson to you.”

“Brother Xiao…”

“Stay here and be good.” Xiao Ran interrupted him.

His face was expressionless.

“Drugging and injuring an envoy should be punished according to the law.”

Zhao Ning said disdainfully, “He has already turned into a piece of trash. Do you think you can turn the tables around by yourself?”

The people outside rushed in and drew their swords. They pointed their swords at Xiao Ran and surrounded the two of them.

The die had been cast, and victory was within his grasp.

Zhao Ning gave an ultimatum. “There’s only one way out before you. Listen to my arrangements obediently and give our assessment a good grade. If you put in a few good words for me when you return to the capital city, I’ll spare your lives.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple, right?” Xiao Ran replied in a teasing fashion.

Zhao Ning took out two poisonous pills from his chest pocket. “This is the Centipede’s Hundred Feet Pill. Its effect will erupt every month. When it flares up, your entire body will twitch and you will wish you were dead! As long as you cooperate obediently and don’t spout nonsense when you reach the capital city, I will send the antidote over on time.”

“You really have balls of steel. One trick after another. It seems that you’ve already planned this well in advance and you’re just waiting for us to fall for it,” Xiao Ran said.

Clap! Clap!

Zhao Ning slowly applauded him. “You came to your realization so quickly. No wonder the higher-ups sent you here. If there had been more people or a Gold Sword Guard was leading the team, I might not have the guts to do this.”

His face was filled with malevolence.

“You have only yourselves to blame for being weak.”

“Indeed.” Xiao Ran nodded meaningfully.

In a sudden flash, he launched his attack.

The Painted Ancient Fan unfolded and faced them for a moment. Rays of golden light rushed out in a circle. Everyone, including Zhao Ning, was sent flying.

He was instantly seriously injured and fell to the ground.

He struggled for a long time but could not get to his feet.

Zhao Ning was shocked. He pressed his palm on the ground and retreated to the back. He said in disbelief, “You’re clearly only at Level 1 of the Master Realm. How did you injure all of us with just one move?”

His gaze landed on the folding fan in Xiao Ran’s hand.

“Could it be due to that?”

The Painted Ancient Fan was obtained from Qu Bo’an.

“You have some foresight.” Xiao Ran walked over unhurriedly.

Seeing that Little Zhou was still in a daze and had yet to recover from what had just happened, he snapped at him, “Don’t just stand there. See if he has the antidote on him.”

“Okay.” Little Zhou quickly ran over.

After locating the antidote on Zhao Ning and consuming it, he recovered the spirit energy that had vanished earlier.

“I treated you guys sincerely, but you! You secretly drugged me!” Little Zhou scolded him angrily.

He straddled across him and gave him a severe beating.

Xiao Ran watched calmly until he was done venting his anger. Then, he ordered, “Cripple his skills.”

“How dare you!” Zhao Ning glared at him.

“My brother-in-law is the local prefectural governor. If you dare lay a finger on me, you won’t be able to leave this city.”

“Don’t talk about your brother-in-law being the prefectural governor. Even if he was the duke, there is no room for negotiation about crippling your dantian!” Little Zhou said without mercy.

A ray of green light condensed on his fist and he smashed it into his dantian.

“Don’t…”

Zhao Ning spat out a mouthful of blood. The force of the fist penetrated his body and violently destroyed his dantian, causing him to faint from the pain.

“Wake up.” Little Zhou gave a scornful snort.

He stepped on his five fingers and crushed them.

Crack!

He then mashed the crushed fingers under his foot until it was a bloody, gory mess. The victim woke up to the pain.

“Ah…” He let out a wretched cry which spread to the outside.

Those who heard the commotion quickly rushed over.

Seeing Zhao Ning and the others lying on the ground in a miserable state and Xiao Ran and Little Zhou glaring at them menacingly, they did not know what to do.

“Kill them!” Zhao Ning yelled with bloodshot eyes, desperately clutching at any last chance to save himself.

The group of men hesitated, unsure whether to attack.

“Are you all deaf?” Zhao Ning roared at the top of his lungs.

Most of them did not move. They all knew Xiao Ran and Little Zhou’s identities.

Once they attacked, they would die a horrible death if they were discovered by the higher-ups.

Only five people rushed up with ruthless expressions and charged towards Xiao Ran and his companion.

“Brother Xiao, you shall be my backup. It would only dirty your hands for you to deal with these ugly pieces of shit!” Little Zhou quickly rushed up to engage them.

He darted between them, leaving a few afterimages in his wake.

A chilly light tore through the air and dozens of beams of sword light landed. When he stopped, the five of them had turned into corpses and were lying on the ground.

Holding the sword dripping with blood, he stared mercilessly at the remaining men.

“Zhao Ning offended his superior and plotted to murder the envoy. Are you going to be an accomplice to the wicked?”

“I wouldn’t dare!”

Little Zhou pointed at the fallen guard. “If you want me to believe that you’re not accomplices, you have to show me your sincerity.”

There was no shortage of smart people in the crowd.

They braced themselves and walked over to stab Zhao Ning.

Someone started and the rest of them knew what to do. They all left a sword gash on him.

The slashes didn’t hurt his vitals. They only made him bleed. It wasn’t enough to kill him.

“What do we do now?” Little Zhou walked over.

“Take all of them down and interrogate them severely,” Xiao Ran ordered.

The men around them arrested the injured men and marched them off.

Zhao Ning was given special care. He was bound with chains as thick as a baby’s arm and was secured with leg shackles.

A few moments later,

after completing the assessment of the base station, it was discovered that Zhao Ning pocketed two-thirds of the resources for training and developing skills that were regularly disbursed by the authorities.

There were hundreds of special cases in Horizon Prefecture. This was an alarming figure.

Anyone who needed Zhao Ning to take action had to cough up money.

On top of that he still had three principles. If the case was dangerous, he wouldn’t take action. If the money given wasn’t enough, he wouldn’t take action. If there were disobedient people involved, he wouldn’t take action.

The accounts ledgers were even more chaotic.

After taking a look, Xiao Ran could not stand it anymore. It was all fake accounts from beginning to end. From Zhao Ning’s subordinates, he learned that more than 80% of the proceeds from the Divine Sword Guards’ businesses here had been embezzled by him.

He often found all kinds of reasons and asked the higher-ups for money.

Even his subordinates’ salary had been delayed for six months.

“This guy is worse than scum. They are all comrades working for the same organization. How can he have the cheek to cheat his own men?” Little Zhou scolded severely.

He looked at Xiao Ran, then asked,

“Brother Xiao, what do you plan to do with him?”

“Deliver him to the capital city and lock him in the Celestial Dungeon. Let him have a taste of the power of the foul Yin atmosphere,” Xiao Ran said.

“Okay, I’ll arrange it now.” With that, Little Zhou left.

The Golden Tome of Creation flipped open to a random page and displayed two items. Even with all of them added together, the reward was pitifully little. It was only 200,000 Mastery points and 20 years of Martial Arts Evolution.

“This is really too miserable.” Xiao Ran shook his head.

He added the 200,000 Mastery points to Summon the Wind skill.

Its attributes did not change, but its power increased by 30%.

He was ten years away from breaking through to Level 6 of the Profound Realm in the Martial Arts Evolution.

Not long after he left, Little Zhou quickly returned. “Brother Xiao, the prefectural governor is here.”

As he spoke, the prefectural governor barged into the room with his men.

“You’re Xiao Ran?”

Xiao Ran looked at the surrounding Divine Sword Guards sternly. “As members of the Divine Sword Guards, you actually let an outsider barge in. Are you all trash?”

One man felt aggrieved by his accusation and blurted out. “He’s the Prefectural Governor!”

Pow!

Xiao Ran’s palm landed and sent him flying. He then said, “From now on, you’re fired.”

He turned to look at the Prefectural Governor.

“Who gave you permission to come in?”