179: Please spare my life!

Hong Sanqian panicked.

He jerked his head up, looking at Ye Chen with a smile on his face that was uglier than crying.

"Mr... Mr. Ye! It's a misunderstanding! A huge misunderstanding!"

"Back then, I was only following orders!"

"It was Li Meier's command! I... I didn't dare to disobey!"

"And I brought you to the Hidden Sect. Even if there's no merit, there's the effort I put in. I led the way for you, betrayed my sect, I... I..."

He was sweating profusely in his anxiety, trying to use his minor contribution of leading the way to offset his past blood debts.

However.

Ye Chen didn't even look at him, only frowning slightly. "Did I give you permission to speak?"

Hong Sanqian's voice came to an abrupt halt, leaving behind only endless fear.

He understood.

With Ye Chen, merits were merits, and faults were faults.

The merit of leading the way might have bought him these few extra days of life and allowed him to kneel here and beg now.

But a blood feud was a separate account.

Ye Chen scanned the other twelve people and spoke indifferently.

"A life for a life, a debt for money."

"It is the way of the world."

Upon hearing this, those thirteen people were like cats whose tails had been stepped on, instantly exploding!

Survival instinct overwhelmed their fear as they all wailed and defended themselves.

"Mr. Ye, spare our lives! It was all that poisonous woman Li Meier who forced us to do it!"

"Right, right, right! It was the Sect Leader's order! We are just pawns following orders!"

"We are innocent! We didn't want to do it either!"

"Miss Liu! Miss Liu, you are a great person! Spare us! We will serve you like cattle and horses!"

...The cries and pleas for mercy blended together, sounding exceptionally piercing on the silent square.

Ye Chen looked at them and asked softly.

"Oh?"

"Then back when you made your move, when you looked at the old, weak, women, and children of the Liu Family, when you watched them beg, cry, and bleed..."

"Did you think they were innocent too?"

"Did you, even for a single moment, think about showing mercy?"

The light words were like the sharpest sword of judgment, instantly piercing through all their excuses!

The wailing of those twelve people stopped abruptly.

The expressions on their faces turned from fear and pleading to despair.

Indeed... back then, when they were killing in high spirits and looting happily, when had they ever thought about the innocence of those people?

When had they ever felt a shred of pity?

From ninety-year-olds bedridden with age.

To infants who hadn't even been weaned.

Had they ever stopped their hands because of them?

Ye Chen didn't speak further, just watched them quietly.

The twelve people looked at each other, seeing a desperate madness in each other's eyes!

"Run!!!"

Someone roared, and the twelve figures, like startled rabbits, suddenly sprang from the ground, fleeing for their lives in different directions across the square at their fastest possible speed!

They were afraid!

Afraid that Ye Chen would strike in the next second!

Afraid of Liu Qingluo's bone-deep hatred!

They only wanted to escape from here!!!

However.

Just as they had rushed out less than ten steps... "Ugh—!"

"Ah!"

*Thud!*

"..."

The twelve figures, as if their strength had been simultaneously drained, suddenly stiffened, their forward momentum coming to a sharp halt.

Following that, the light in their eyes rapidly faded.

In the next second.

One by one, like felled logs, they fell flat onto the bluestone ground almost at the same time!

Stirring up a small cloud of dust.

There was no more sound.

They were dead.

Dead cleanly and efficiently, silently and without a sound.

There weren't even any wounds or blood.

All the Hidden Sect disciples still kneeling, including Great Elder Lin Xuanchen, underwent a drastic change in expression.

They widened their eyes, looking at those corpses in utter terror.

The restriction... was real!

It wasn't just a verbal threat!

A single thought really could kill a traitor instantly!

At this moment, everyone's awe and fear of Ye Chen climbed to an unprecedented peak!

Lin Xuanchen prostrated himself on the ground, his forehead pressed tightly against the cold stone, cold sweat soaking the clothes on his back.

Only one thought remained in his mind... from now on, the Hidden Sect... no, they themselves, must thoroughly turn over a new leaf, never again harbor any secondary intentions, and certainly never do evil again!

Ye Chen seemed completely unsurprised by the instantaneous deaths of those twelve people.

He slowly turned around, his gaze falling back onto Hong Sanqian.

Hong Sanqian's body was trembling violently, his eyes filled with terror.

Ye Chen said indifferently, "Whether you can live or not depends on Qingluo's wishes. This is what I promised her."

Hearing that Ye Chen had handed the decision to Liu Qingluo, Hong Sanqian abruptly changed direction and began kowtowing incessantly to Liu Qingluo.

"Miss Liu! Eldest Miss Liu! Spare me!"

"I was also following orders!"

"I felt regret in my heart after doing it! I'll serve you like cattle and horses, I'll atone... please spare my dog life!"

Liu Qingluo watched him kowtow and bit her silver teeth.

"Hong Sanqian."

"Do you still remember a sentence you said back then, when you led people to surround the Liu Family Manor and ordered the fire to be set?"

Hong Sanqian jerked his head up, the blood on his forehead mixing with cold sweat and flowing into his eyes, making his vision a blur.

There were too many arrogant words from when he was killing and burning; he didn't want to remember any of them.

"I... I..."

He opened his mouth, his throat dry.

Liu Qingluo took a deep breath and said coldly.

"You said—"

"'When the killing is done, chop up everyone in the Liu Family and throw them to the back mountain to feed the wild dogs.'"

"You said, 'Things that dare to offend the Miss's eyes don't even deserve an intact corpse.'"

Hong Sanqian's face instantly turned as pale as paper, and his whole body began to tremble violently.

He remembered.

That day, amidst the soaring flames and the cries of the Liu Family, he had indeed said those words.

And it wasn't just talk; he had truly supervised his subordinates as they dragged several corpses to the back mountain and chopped them up... "I... I was only..."

He wanted to explain, but Liu Qingluo didn't give him the chance to finish.

The dagger in her hand traced a cold arc under the moonlight—

*Slash!*

The blade sliced open Hong Sanqian's neck.

Hong Sanqian's eyes widened to their limit, his hands clutching his throat in vain, but he couldn't stop the blood from gushing out between his fingers.

In the next moment.

His body swayed and fell forward onto the ground, twitching twice before becoming still forever.

Liu Qingluo withdrew her dagger, stood quietly for two seconds, then turned and bowed slightly toward Ye Chen. "Benefactor, my revenge... is taken."

Ye Chen nodded slightly and then stretched.

"Alright."

"The show is over, and the revenge is taken."

"Everyone go back to your own homes and find your own mothers."

He tilted his head toward Liu Qingluo. "Let's go, Qingluo."

Liu Qingluo followed silently.

The two turned and walked toward the bluestone path they had come from.

"Hey, wait for me, Brother Ye!"

Chu Niubi limped after them, the pain in his crotch from the split earlier not yet subsided, making his walking posture quite comical. "I'm going back with you! I don't want to stay on this crappy island for another minute!"

Ye Chen didn't look back, only waving his hand casually as a sign of permission.

As soon as they left.

Lin Xuanchen was the first to stand up, feeling a sense of having survived a disaster.

The Hidden Sect... from tonight on, would no longer exist.

The other disciples also stood up one after another, their faces filled with awe.

Lin Xuanchen calmed down slightly and said in a deep voice to everyone.

"Listen up, everyone!"

"From tonight on, there is no more Hidden Sect in the world! We are no longer people of the Hidden Sect!"

"Mr. Ye was benevolent, giving us a way to live and even more so, a... chance to start over!"

His gaze was like lightning as it swept over every person.

"Let the past die with yesterday!"

"From now on, everyone turn over a new leaf and throw all those former crooked ways into the sea!"

"If anyone dares to use their cultivation to commit evil, oppress the innocent, or secretly practice those harmful methods again..."

He paused, his voice suddenly turning harsh with unconcealed killing intent.

"There will be no need for Mr. Ye to act; I will be the first to clean out the sect and send him to see Li Shan and his daughter!"

The square was solemn.

Then, hundreds of people bowed in unison.

"Yes!"

"We obey Elder Lin's command!"

"We will surely turn over a new leaf and become new people!"

Lin Xuanchen looked at the dense crowd of heads before him and sighed softly.

"To be able to repair an energy center..."

"Such means are unheard of, nearly a miracle."

"Mr. Ye is so young, yet has such cultivation and such divine abilities..."

He shook his head, his voice carrying emotion as well as a trace of awe and expectation.

"This martial world... no, this world, is likely going to be moved because of him."

"That we can follow in his wake, who knows if it isn't a blessing?"