22: Money moves people

As soon as he entered the Zhou family courtyard, he saw three masked men in black, besieging Zhou Yun and her father, Zhou Quan.

Zhou Quan shielded Zhou Yun behind him, his Body Protection Talisman shimmering with light, controlling a conical Magical Artifact that constantly moved through the air, struggling to cope with the three men's Magical Artifacts.

The spiritual energy shield emitted by the Body Protection Talisman flickered on and off, clearly unable to last much longer.

Zhang Qingxiao knew the situation was critical; after assessing the situation, he immediately acted.

He condensed three blue-purple Fireballs, attacking the three men respectively.

The three men showed no panic; the moment the Body Protection Talisman's spiritual energy shield was shattered by the Fireball, they immediately took out another Body Protection Talisman and activated it.

They perfectly countered his Fireball Technique and Spirit Arrow Technique attack.

“Brother Zhang… be careful!”

Just as he was about to use the Spirit Arrow Technique to continuously attack the three men's spiritual energy shields, Zhou Yun's voice rang in his ear.

An inexplicable sense of crisis instantly rose from the bottom of his heart.

He immediately knew something was wrong; instead of advancing, his body retreated, and he quickly turned around, indeed seeing two more people in the shadows operating Magical Artifacts, attacking him.

He slapped the Storage Pouch at his waist, and a Body Protection Talisman was immediately activated, followed by a Magical Artifact longsword appearing in his hand.

He dodged the first round of Magical Artifact attacks from these two at an extremely fast speed, arriving beside them in the blink of an eye.

He swung his sword, fiercely chopping at one of them.

“Crack!”

Within two or three breaths, Zhang Qingxiao had chopped five or six times, and the opponent's Body Protection Talisman's spiritual energy shield could no longer hold up.

Zhang Qingxiao worried the opponent would take out another Body Protection Talisman, so while shattering the spiritual energy shield, he casually launched a Spirit Arrow Technique, aiming directly for the opponent's forehead.

A muffled groan came, and the Spirit Arrow Technique directly pierced through the man's forehead, pinning him to the dirt wall behind him.

Then, the man fell straight back onto the ground.

After killing this masked man in black, Zhang Qingxiao turned and came to the side of the other person.

At this moment, two of the three men attacking Zhou Quan also aimed all their Magical Artifacts at Zhang Qingxiao.

With three Magical Artifacts attacking simultaneously, even though Zhang Qingxiao had achieved success in Body Refining and was extremely fast, he couldn't dodge all of them.

With a resolute heart, he took out another Golden Light Talisman and activated it directly.

Then, ignoring the attacks from these Magical Artifacts, he wielded his Magical Artifact longsword and fiercely chopped at the other person in the shadows.

This person wanted to escape, but their speed was completely incomparable to Zhang Qingxiao's.

Within one or two breaths, the spiritual energy shield formed by the Body Protection Talisman on his body was shattered, and his chest was pierced by Zhang Qingxiao's Spirit Arrow Technique.

After killing the two, the remaining three felt that the tide had turned and wanted to slip away.

“Since you’ve come, don’t leave.”

Zhang Qingxiao naturally wouldn't let them go so easily; with a cold laugh, he swiftly rushed between the three with his sword, coordinating with Zhou Quan's Magical Artifact attacks, and with a few quick slashes, he shattered all the spiritual energy shields on the three men.

This time, without waiting for the opponents to continue using Body Protection Talismans, he directly launched three Spirit Arrow Techniques, aiming straight for the three men's vital points.

The Body Protection Talismans on the three men were too late to activate.

They watched helplessly as they were struck by the Spirit Arrow Technique, dying with regret and falling to the ground.

Even in death, they couldn't understand why Zhang Qingxiao's Spirit Arrow Technique could achieve such a level.

“These people came for me.”

After killing these five people, this thought immediately surfaced in Zhang Qingxiao's mind.

Although the situation was tense just now, he saw it very clearly.

With the strength of these five people, killing Zhou Quan and Zhou Yun would have been a piece of cake; there was no need to cause such a big commotion.

“Many thanks, Fellow Daoist Zhang, for your timely rescue.”

“Our father and daughter have nothing good to repay you with, so let my humble daughter offer herself in marriage…”

Zhou Quan saw that the danger had been resolved, and his mind immediately became active; he pulled Zhou Yun forward and said earnestly.

“Father…”

Zhou Yun hadn't expected her father to be so shameless, starting to babble nonsense even before the corpses of the villains were dealt with.

“Zhou Daoyou, let’s deal with these corpses first.”

“We are all neighbors; helping each other is only right, no need to be so polite.”

Zhang Qingxiao was pondering who exactly wanted to deal with him when he heard Zhou Quan's utterly speechless remark; not wanting the other party to continue, he quickly changed the subject: “There’s quite a bit of spoils this time.”

“Indeed, surviving a great calamity means future blessings.”

Upon hearing about spoils, Zhou Quan immediately became interested and quickly joined in, searching through everything on the bodies of the several individuals.

“How could it be him…”

When he pulled back the mask of one of the masked men in black, Zhou Quan was directly stunned.

He knew this person; he was someone from their alley.

The day after the Utility Disciple living area began to descend into chaos, he even went to Master Zheng of Talismans's house with them.

If he remembered correctly, he should have been the leader of the third group.

Pulling off the masks of all the others, this sight made Zhou Quan even more furious.

“These people are truly despicable; we asked them to stand guard at night, but instead, they stole from us.”

“Tomorrow, I’m going to find Master Zheng of Talismans and demand an explanation.”

Zhang Qingxiao had also recognized the identities of these individuals but did not show anger like Zhou Quan.

He already understood in his heart that this matter might be inextricably linked to Master Zheng of Talismans.

It was very likely that Master Zheng of Talismans had orchestrated it, and then these people acted to kill him and seize his wealth.

“Father, lower your voice.”

Zhou Yun, seeing her father speaking without restraint, quickly stepped forward and covered his mouth.

“Since they can do it, are we not allowed to talk about it?”

“If everyone acts like this, then what’s the point of guarding at night? Everyone might as well just look out for themselves.”

Zhou Quan removed his daughter's hand and continued to grumble, though his voice was noticeably softer.

“Zhou Daoyou, these few people might have also acted on their own.”

“Don’t spread this matter for now; I’ll find a time to go to Master Zheng of Talismans’s place to inquire about the situation.”

Zhang Qingxiao said this merely to appease Zhou Quan, but he had already made up his mind.

Since they dared to scheme against him, he wouldn't be blamed for being ruthless.

Within a short period, two groups of people had already set their sights on him, which made Zhang Qingxiao secretly regret that he should have hidden his tracks when stockpiling and selling Medicinal Pills.

Now, many Cultivators near the alley knew that he was an Alchemist and frequently went out to purchase various supplies, medicinal herbs, and other items.

As the Utility Disciple area became increasingly chaotic and various supplies grew scarcer, the number of people wanting to seize his wealth would surely increase.

“This is also good.”

Zhou Quan was not a fool; he quickly realized that these Cultivators were likely targeting Zhang Qingxiao, not their father and daughter.

The spiritual rice, ordinary white rice, white flour, and various medicinal herbs that Zhang Qingxiao had recently stockpiled were quite valuable.

It was normal for it to attract attention.

He just hadn't expected that the first ones to act would be acquaintances and neighbors.

After dealing with the five corpses and sharing the items left by these people with Zhou Quan and his daughter, Zhang Qingxiao returned home.

“Brother Fellow cultivator Zhang, are you uninjured…?”

Liang Qiaoer had stayed in the courtyard waiting ever since she heard Zhang Qingxiao leave, feeling extremely uneasy.

She was afraid something might have happened to Zhang Qingxiao.

It wasn't until she heard the fighting across the way stop and the sound of Zhang Qingxiao talking to his neighbors that she gradually calmed down.

“Just now, you weren’t scared, were you?”

“I’m fine. It’s getting late, Liang Qiaoer, you should go rest quickly.”

Zhang Qingxiao saw Liang Qiaoer waiting for him outside the room and sensed the young girl's unease.

He walked over to the young girl, stroked her head, and said in a gentle tone.

…